I've Started So I'll Have to Finish

Eileen - I think that she may have persevered if bear had been more enthusiastic (he's flatter than a burst bubble at the moment) and said that she was happy to substitute piano lessons, so I'm not writing her off. The problem from my side is that I don't think that bear would put in the work, and until he is willing to do that then I will sit on my hands. In general, I'm incredibly indulgent of him, but I believe that he is at an age where if he wants to do something then the effort has to come from him. He's been getting plenty of hugs, though. 

Sharon - buying books is good (well, I would think that!). I am getting to the stage where I'm not exactly sure what's likely to land next. 

Bless - it's a funny year for plants. And to be honest, it's not a bad price for that amount of basic yarn, so it could be worse. I suspect that bear will rediscover an interest in music in the future but right now I think that it's a little overwhelming. 

A little while ago, I ordered a selection of dried peas and beans from Hodmedod. They sell that sort of thing and is British based, and I'm trying to support British farmers. Apart from anything else, it's less distance to travel, so better for the climate. Besides, they have awesome stuff like blue peas and black quinoa. Tonight I put some mixed peas to soak - that's a mix of Red Fox Carlin, Black Badger Carlin, blue peas, yellow peas and marrowfat peas. I brought them to the boil. Meanwhile I filled the thermos (magic braised burning pot) with boiling water. When the dried peas were at the boil, I emptied out the thermos, added the drained peas, a stock cube and fresh boiling water. Tomorrow I plan to drain them and put them in to slow cook with some rice and veggies cut small. I forgot to take a pic, of course, so here is the old pic of the magic braised burning pot.

And because I've started, I'm hoping that I'll finish. I also have a small bag of finely diced frozen chorizo, which I plan to sizzle briefly to get rid of the 'frozen' and add. The meat is a garnish rather than the main course. Both of the men approve. I have turnip, parsnip and swede in the fridge and some onion. I'll add black peppercorn and perhaps some mixed herbs with a stock cube and I'll see how it turns out. 

The veggies that I picked up came to maybe £2. I can't remember exactly and the turnip isn't on the website to check. The frozen diced chorizo is and costs £2.35 for 250g (just over half a pound). The reason I got the frozen stuff is that I'll probably use less than a quarter of it, and continue to add it as required to various bits, so say 60p. I used maybe a quarter of the 500g bag of mixed peas, so say 60p again. Even with the rice and all the seasonings, I hope to feed three of us tomorrow and then perhaps feed me again on Friday lunch, and without stinting on the portions, for less than £4.50. Mind you, I may cook up some of the frozen cabbage in the freezer as well, or some peas, to round the flavour out. It won't bump the price up that much. The frozen cabbage has no waste, lasts, and a quarter of a kilo bag of frozen shredded cabbage is 50p. 

Bear only had one exam today, but had retreated to his room by around 6pm as he has physics and computer science tomorrow and he wants to do well. He is a lot more relaxed than he was at the start of the week, so fingers crossed that things will go well for him. 

Writing stuff - another thing that I've started is getting together some short stories from my blog, adding some new stuff and getting ready to publish as a very short collection. The promotion of Dinner at Dark as a free book went quite well, so I am hoping that this will be able to do the same thing. I'll keep you updated as I go, but today I spent $20 on a book cover from Get Covers so now I need to get on and finish the dratted thing. I want to make sure that there is some new stuff included, and I'm tidying up some of the old stuff as well. But now I've ordered the cover, I need to get it all finished as if I publish it in print, they will need a page count to get things like the spine correct. Please wish me luck. 

Hugs and good health to all.