First off today pictures from one of my current WIP the Punky Peacock Mini-Handwarmers

This is what Miss Stash cooked for our Dad's day lunch today, it came from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking and is Dry-Fried Szechaun Beef only we made it with chicken and was equally delicious.

This was my contribution to lunch, at the complete opposite side of the cooking spectrum, Apple Crumble.

Yesterday the Adult Education Spring guide came out in the paper. I am always excited to see what they offer as there are always at least a 100 things I'd like to try in it.
This time round I was taken with permaculture, sustainable design, yoga, salsa, hooping(OMG!!!) and just about all the cooking and food related ones (including one on making Camembert and sour cream!).

Alas while in the time stakes I'd so be a millionaire, in the actual liquidity I am bit of a pauper. At over $100 the yoga has been crossed off my list. While I appreciate I'm paying for the benefit of someone's time and expertise I just wish that everything wasn't so expensive! And for those inquiring minds, that $100+ price tag is the concession price!

In the summer the main park in town has free activity's like yoga and Tai Chi funded (at least partially if not all) through the local council. But thanks to the local weekly paper that comes around I discovered that there is some talk of trying to set up these sorts of activity's in the small park that's about 3min walk from my house. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I certainly would be quite excited if they managed to get it off the ground.

Although with how the weather has been it's hard to imagine going to the park for anything! But it has been perfect for Curry in a Hurry, which reminds me while picking up the green curry paste I finally found yellow curry paste! I've always wanted to try Nigella's Yellow Thai Seafood and Pumpkin Curry although she also talks about going vegetarian with it as well leaveing out the seafood and adding chickpeas among other things which also sounds yummy.

What's all the hoopla about?

Look what was delivered by a man in a van earlier today!
What could it be now??? A bird? A plane? A speeding bullet? Superman?
Ahh shiny! My precious!
Mine is the "Disco Tiger" and Miss Stash is the "Ruby", which I looked at and nearly ordered because it looked suitably goth but was torn between gothdom and tigerism, a hard place to be. Miss Stash stepped in and changed her original choice as she thought she'd much like one with red better.
Here's a photo we tried to take to show, as Miss Stash told me when we ordered how the Tiger would go so much better with my hair! Not perhaps the best shot, but you get the idea.
After all that, I am glad I got the Tiger, I did have doubts I mightn't like it as much when it got here and I saw Miss Stash's red Ruby one. But now they are here the Ruby is no where near as gothy as I expected and I must admit red is an excellent colour on Miss Stash, it just makes me look like Death warmed up.

Now for the important points!
1. It is so much fun, even if I am terrible at it.
2. My dad of course upon seeing the hoops had to have a turn himself.
3. Miss Stash's bold claims to being short and not needing to worry about hitting the ceiling/lights were soon dashed.
4. An idea of how much room is in one of these babies, Miss Stash and I can both fit inside one with space left over, granted not much, but it's there!
5. Following on from point 4, our minds then boggled at just how big the Tandem hoops must be!
6. I only hope by the time summer officially happens I'm adept enough to pop down to the park and practice - in public! Eeep!

More thoughts of the day brought to you from the Darkside....

There is some seriously tasty things at school, and I am not talking about simply what the cafteria offers up to eat. (However there fruit slads where delish however the last one put me off as the pineapple was sour and rock hard.) A pity there all so young, I'm not ready to join the Cougar tribe yet. Theres plenty of other misbehaviour I can get up to inbetween now and then.

I am sooooo excited about hooping it's not funny, I can't have a conversation that dosen't eventually come round (tee hee!) to it with anyone at the moment. I haunt You Tube and hooping forums looking to get my fix. One of my faves has to be this one - Klara Lova .
And thnaks to a year of Sheila Kelley and her S Factor my hips move pretty good now so bring on the hoop!

There's a "Doctors & Nurses" night coming up in the school bar, yep, people get to come dressed up as Doctors and Nurses and I do believe there are prizes and best of all $5 cocktails! I may have to pop along if I'm free that night and see the hijinks and imbibe a free drinks.

We hae recently acquiered new TV channels locally and while I can get channel GO!, and very pleased about it I am, I love Seinfield! And a bit of Dog the Bounty Hunter (is his son good looking or what?). I am disappointed the dedicated sports channel One is High Definition only and my poor sad Standerd Definnition tv won't play it. Which is a tad disappointing not that I like sport, and I don't think I'll miss not be able to see Extreme Paintball or 101 motor sports, but I was keen to see UFC Wired. You can't be a fan of wrestling and not know about UFC, sheer nosiness prompts me to want to see what it's all about. Note to self - search You Tube.

I signed up for a "mature age student" acedmic workshop (with free lunch!), while I was mostly keen on the free lunch the prospect of having a workshop on essay writing seemed really helpful. Unfortunatly the majority of people who RSVP'd for this also had a clash with classes. So they've moved the day and time and now it clashes when I have a class. Farewell free lunch, I'm sure given the chance we could have gotten to know each other well.

Just thought I'd write a few points, far too much on my mind to write something cohesive today.

1. School rocks! If Law didn't mean trekking to the opposite end of the state I'd seriously consider majoring in it.
2. Yoga is good. It does offer up some quietness in my head for a little while. Nice to focus on nothing for a short while.
3. Seriously dejunked my home, I'm amazed how much stuff was just rubbish essentially. Next is the wardrobe, although it's been slightly sad in some ways. OMG I remember buying and wearing that about 10 years and 4 sizes ago...yeesh!
4. Princess Farhana one of my fave ladies has a blog! Very exciting. I first struck her in burlesque performances but she's also quite an accomplished belly dancer while I knew she specilised in Egyption she seems to have branched out in other forms most notebly the style that's got me intrgued Tribal Fusion.
5. Miss Stash bought me a Hello Kitty Halloween toy from one of those vending machine like gumball machines. While not overly enthused about Hello Kitty I do love the Halloween aspect of it, I so need the other 4 designs!!!! Tee hee!
6. The Moody Blues yarn I'm knitting up looks not blue at all but is extremly funky and once I finish my mini-hand warmers I am going to knit some lacey wristwarmers with what is left.
7. I found Stephen Fry a bit quick last Sunday night, but loved Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment on Tuesday. Having just done a crash course start in what is law and where it comes from it was doubly interesting because I could relate it to something I already know.
8. I love YouTube, where would I be without it? It offers up many joys that make me squel with delight Steven Tyler and hooping are just two of them.

Alright enough thoughts for today. Now I need to finally decipher how I get my Twitter widget on my page....

Thought 9....
Just finished sitting through Dance Your A$$ Off, there was pole dancing on the ad for it. Pole dancing is next week apparently or the "stripper pole" as they call it. While I can't see it being featured on Dancing With The Stars here, there was a Latin American show called Dancing For a Dream where one week they had pole dance. There were some clips up on YouTube, and talk about hot, hot, hot! While I'm not quite expecting that on next week's Dance Your A$$ Off, I would like to see it crossing-over into more of the main-stream.

Always on my mind

I haven't blogged in awhile I know. I keep meaning to write one, I sit down and stare at the blinking cursor while I try to find something to write about.

The trouble is there are so many things I'd like to write about, literally gazillions, there is always so many things that peak my interest and I want to talk about. Things I like, things I hate, things I lurrrve and things that make me go PHWOARRRRR!!!

But I stop and think will any of it make good reading? Is it all just meaningless dribble? The Internet is a wonderful thing it allows anybody to write about anything.
I also like being a square peg myself the fact it opens up an entire world of available square holes, this rocks and makes me feel better no end.

I never seem to make it to the cinemas to see anything despite my best intentions, but I am hoping to get to Bruno or the new Harry Potter before they close. Also in movie news I am both eagerly awaiting and dreading the World of Warcraft movie. It could be so good or so awful....
Another movie I'd like to see is the Hooping Life when it's finally released. Hooping looks like such fun, besides I've thrown myself at enough other things one more shouldn't hurt.



See uber fun or what?

What the???

Mobiles, crop-tops, perfumes: Would YOU buy these items for your children?

We all knew the world was mad didn't we???

Knitter warm thyself!

Here they are finally done, I finished them on Tuesday, I wore them out for the first time today, not quite warm enough for today's weather unfortunately I don't think. May need to work on something thicker.
(Side note: Still the only project on Rav is mine, I am Googling now, someone else somewhere has to have made these???)

I was out yesterday, and had taken my needles and the yarn to start the matching leg warmers to go with my new arm warmers but discovered I had forgotten my pattern. Always something, but the elderly lady I was visiting lent me some needles and offered me a selection of yarn choices from her stash so I'd have something to do.

I give you what I have dubbed Bubblegum Lolita...

The yarn is something she bought from a discount store while holidaying in Queensland, I'd take a confident guess that it's acrylic by the feel. But anything else about it is a mystery.

I am making a textured scarf with it, a very simple 6 pattern repeat and I absolutely love it. It is so not what I'd normally buy myself, but the colours were so funky I couldn't resist them at all.

I'll try and take a picture of the current view outside, a real pea souper if ever there was one. And having watched the a documentary about the alleged Vampire Princess from Bohemia who may have inspired Bram Stoker, well what can I say? Now I'm all inspired!
Edit - Here it is! Imagine if you will a mad woman hanging out a window to take this, a wild haired woman in slinky arm warmers having vague photo journalist aspirations...

(Another)Edit - Not sure about the swirly smoke, maybe someones fire? I don't think I really got what I was hoping for.

Doh!

I've mislaid my diary which had my piece of paper with all my details of the arm warmer I was working on written in it.
Because I last worked on it, about three weeks ago, I don't even remember where exactly I was up to.

I am most annoyed because I am up to the middle pattern section and it was flying along at great speed and I actually thought I would be getting it done and starting my leg warmers by now. It's just driving me mad.

But aside from that I have been keeping some very unsociable hours watching P!nk and Bill Bailey. Made my stomach sore after attempting to do belly rolls, eventually got it, rolled up from the bottom to the top, then top to bottom and back up again, then down. And then I couldn't get it to do anything, must have been a bit of a fluke.
What prompted this was I got a new DVD, arrived from America in a week which surprised me, I wasn't expecting it for at least two the usual time for anything to get here. I've been quite excited about it as it's with Ariellah who I have read loads of good reviews about both the DVD and of her live workshops people have attended. The DVD also has quite an extensive yoga section for both warm up and cool down, and since yoga is about the only sort of physical activity I am actually quite reasonable at I feel I am getting some use out of my DVD if I decide I don't like belly dance after all.

Until now I have been obsessed with Sharon Kihara (if Angela from Bones and Abby from NCIS had a love child it'd so be Sharon). Attempting to blunder along to her DVD, 10 out 0f 10 times my upper abs will work, 9 out of 10 my lower ones won't and I don't have nice floaty graceful arms either. Personally I think I look like some mad person trying to fly, only in slow motion.

I keep debating about baking, I seriously think a chocolate cake is in order. One with chocolate frosting, yum! Or even just Nigella's Totally Chocolate Choc Chip Cookies again. So good!!!
Although something I haven't eaten in forever and I am madly craving Welsh Rarebit!

Much to my excitement I did actually find frozen raw prawns that Nigella always talks about and I am always despondant I can never find in my supermarket. I brought them home and popped them into the freezer, I've always wanted to try the yellow Thai pumpkin and seafood curry she had in Nigella Bites. Although while I have always seen red and green Thai curry pastes, I have yet to strike yellow? But I saw someone on one of the cooking shows making something the other day with yellow paste so there may be hope yet, but it is possible to sub out red or green according to Nigella so I may have to make a green version. There's always green curry paste knocking about as it's in the Curry in a Hurry which is an absolute gem of a curry.

Something else I am loving at the moment is the new TV series Castle, it is exactly what I have been looking for! It's not just another crime show, which Miss Stash suggested it might be. We watch it every week now, I like that it's actually funny and it's not too serious about the writer they need to have solve their crimes for them. Miss Stash finds it has grown on her and she really likes it now. But tonight we find out if we like the new Miss Marple. The last one truly got my goat, Miss Marple is just the harmless fluffy little old lady sitting knitting, remarking how someone reminds her of the butcher's boy or the so and so's nanny. The last Miss Marple wasn't like that at all, she was a bit too forward and they did have a tendency to fiddle with the stories a bit. Some of them they took the artistic license a bit too far I felt.

I'll be watching tonight with bated breath and a vodka cruiser in hand!

Tweet tweet!

No I have not acquired a little birdy, but signed onto the Twitter madness. You can find me there as DarksideKnitter and mostly hear about how much I loathe Economics and my fears for my impending doom as the exam rolls around. It's the day after tomorrow. Eeeep!

Twitter has also allowed me a bit more of a glimpse into the life of Matt Hardy. Long time readers will be familiar with my lust fueled obsession of Mr Hardy. For new readers unfamiliar he's kind of the non-thinking woman's Mr Darcy.
Since I also have a lustful obsession with food I have been following with great enthusiasm what he's been eating, yep he tweets about it, I know where he went and what he ordered. Which I find most intriguing, but mostly because I love hearing about what people are cooking and eating or ordering and eating as the case may be.

But getting back to what I most want to talk about, is this too much information? Is telling us all this merely pouring petrol on an already lit fire? Someone with far more game than I have actually rang the restaurant Matt Hardy tweeted about while he was there and asked to speak to him. While I like having this kind of all knowing all seeing look into his life, well I like this about everybody's life, I am quite nosy I love knowing how other people live.

Well if anybody gets any phone calls that are heavy breathing followed by "So what are you eating tonight?" you'll know who it is. It is I suppose slightly classier than "What kind of underwear are you wearing?".

School's Out!

Well not exactly summer, maybe winter, and technically there is still exams, but I am taking a couple of days to decompress, which are very very badly needed.
I'm just a teeny tiny bit stressed and crabby, but the final assignment went in today so I can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being.

The second arm warmer is knitting up quicker than the first, I think because I have the pattern still etched in my brain. After this those leg warmers are going to fly by! Yeah! Then I can plot what to make next and buy some suitable yarn for it, double yeah!

Having seen the new issue of Family Circle I am in love with a chunky yarn rug, just the sort of thing I need now the weather is getting cooler and I have more evenings free to watch late TV! Or simply re-watch Bill Bailey DVD's. Miss Stash can't get over how often I can quite happily sit through these even though I've seen them a thousand times.
Well what can I say? It makes me laugh everytime, it's never not funny. Which is I think is a really wonderful thing.
And I am also really inspired by the Owl Song, especially as just before seeing it I spied an Owl-omtery someone had made. Very cool! I love owls they are such beautiful birds.

I anticipate to get most of the second armwarmer done tonight, just make myself at home in a comfy chair and get stuck in.

I find myself with just 2 weeks of classes left at school which includes 3 tests and 1 massive project!
Then the joy of study week, the blasted Economics exam would fall on the very first day of the exam period, fortunately not till the afternoon, if it had been 8am I don't think I would have coped at all.

I caught some of Insiders on ABC, and how scary is this, I actually knew what they where on about when they had a chart on screen talking about deficit and GDP. I can't believe I know that! Or that I can actually relate it to something in Real Life. Weird.

Writing a blog post is just another attempt to put off studying for Economics, I really don't like Economics. I'll be glad when it's all over, however I would have liked the exam to be on the very last day giving me a bit more time to revise.

On the other hand Bus Info Systems is shaping up to be my star subject, Distinction on my first assignment and then a High Distinction on my first test! I've got one test and the big project to go (and no exam another reason I love it!) so I'd like to give it more time to keep my good streak going.
I've unofficially decided (as my mind never seems to stay made up)to stay for an extra year and squeeze in a second degree, probably no surprises here, computing. Alas I fear (or should I say know) for a degree in computing at some point there is programming. Yuck.

My life at the moment is a major explosion of recipes and knitting patterns, possibly as I subconsciously seek to occupy myself with things other than school work. We had Curry in a Hurry the other day, every time I eat it I can't wait to eat it again. So nice, I'd also like to do the Irish Cream Tiramisu again.
Since I am kind of in the mood for something sweet, Instant Chocolate Mousse or the Holiday Hot Cake with Eggnog Cream would also be nice. I love steamed puddings haven't had one in years, and I just so happen to have a bottle of Advocaat lurking about in my cupboard. A lot of obscure liqueurs lurk in my cupboards.
There's just something very retro about them all, and cocktails in general and I love that! It's like cookbook's from the 60's and 70's, it's like looking at another world!
Most excellent!

Onwards and upwards! Or maybe that should be downwards?

***EDIT***Had to add the latest photo!



***End Edit!***

After handing in an assignment yesterday lunchtime I was able to go home and get stuck in to my knitting, I had Happy Days in the DVD player and I just knitted merrily away.

This is where I got up to last night by the end of Midsummer Murders...just two pattern repeats to go and then the final rib and casting off! So working down to the hand is perhaps the description I want? Or working up to it?
Mine is the one and only project for the Slinky Arm warmers pattern on the Rav. Which I am disappointed about as I would have loved to have seen other people's of this design. I may have to Google and see what turns up.
As Miss Stash said to me it is kind of an obscure book, roller derby themed knit book is not going to be as wide spread as say a SNB one. (Of which I am still waiting to hear more about the next one!)

Heres a couple of lovely shots of me actually modeling the arm warmer, the first allows you to admire the fab colour changes and the second will hopefully give you a close up of the "clover" pattern!

And does it ever feel good on! Really lovely, I can not stop raving about this yarn! I'm actually wondering (not in this colour though) how it would do for Intolerable Cruelty?

A hasty photo!

I was so enthused I had to take a photo and post it as soon as possible, I am so in love with this pattern. Although I think my hasty slightly average photo skills perhaps do not really do it justice and Ravelry does it less always cutting off the right of my photo's!
You think I would have learned to not put things in the center of the picture and more to the left.
This is Moda Vera Picchio in "Bark", as you can see it goes from green to light grey to what looked like blue last night but this morning in natural light looks like a darker grey? But having completly changed my mind again this is so the colourway I am seeking out again for Ondine.

A photo or two, and just maybe a blog post!

I have finally taken some photos of my knitting that has had most of my devoted attention, the fact that it's finished or almost finished should be the giveaway!

Anyway to start a mug I bought this afternoon in the supermarket I saw it and couldn't resist, it's called according to it's bar code sticker Merlin Cat.


These are my first pair of socks! Long time readers will be familiar with my many single socks and for once I knitted a pair! These where basic tube socks so no heel, and knitted up in no time in a thickish yarn.


This is my current project on the needles, the Easy Access Legwarmers from Knockdown Knits, almost finished the second one. Now all I need is to shop for suitable buttons!

This is the headband from Knockdown Knits in Moda Vera Picchio in the colourway "Fusion" at the time I got it I could only find one ball in this colour way. Katt told me today at the knitting coven that they have more in again in this colour so I'll have to pop in next week and try and get some more to make Ondine with.

And as for the Moda Vera Picchio in "Bark" I bought originally to make Ondine with after I could find no more in Fusion I have decided to use it instead to make a pair of Slinky Arm Socks and a pair of Slinky Leg Socks from Knockdown Knits. (4 projects so far from the book!)

Still to come I need to invest in some more Moda Vera Picchio in "Fusion" so I can finally knit Ondine and some black 4ply to make the Gothic Temptress socks! But not until after the Slinky Socks are done!
It's my new stash policy, only buy yarn for projects I am intending to start right away! Second step is finishing some of my many WIP's, third step is actually finding what's in my stash and trying to find uses for it.
I have managed so far to knit up straight away the last round of yarn I bought for specific projects and am using up some yarn I unearthed from my stash to make gloves for Miss Stash so I feel I have got off to a good start with my new approach.

This has been hard as I was in my local yarn store to buy a set of double points and was quite tempted by some 20ply they had in. I could think of at least 2 projects I wanted to do in this. Although the Patons Kalidascope was seriously tempting as an alternative for Ondine as well.
Alas my queue on Ravelry just gets longer, mostly with arm warmers. I love arm warmers! And a lot are in about 10ply so I'm shopping round for a 10ply yarn with good colour choices to keep me occupied as well.

Could it be?

I have finally got the result for my Economics assignment, 3 out of 5! Yeah!
And it appears much to our delight Miss Stash and I on our group project for Bus Info Sys, we may have a distinction! I told Miss Stash my best work was done under pressure yet she doubted me.

Fortunately most of my bag contents has dried out, my pattern magazine is slightly wibbly from where it got wet and then dried out but that's really neither here nor there. I'm planning to take the hat out to the knitting coven tomorrow, we're having Mexican! OMG yumtastic!
And while the hat is in that fiddly decrease stage, and I do need to think about where the decreases should be, but aside from that it's safe to knit while talking.

Things are going well at the moment, add to it my excitement on discovering an illusion knit pattern is now available as a free Ravelry download! It used to be in a book I am sure of it, but I'm non too fussed what happened with the book because I know have the pattern!
It's a pair of arm warmers with an illusion of an x-ray. Very uber cool! Or at least I think so. I love Illusion knitting, my only piece to date is the Alien Illusion scarf from the first SNB book but I am very keen to knit up the one from Son of SNB as well, something else I think is uber cool, the video here on the US Pole Federation just sums it up even more. One day I aspire to be half as bendy and strong as that!

Miss Stash whipped up Jamie Oliver's Pot-Roast Meatloaf from his last book Ministry of Food. And it was absolutely delicious! Very yummy! I helped supervise the sauce while it was simmering and spooned it around the meatloaf before replacing it in the oven. Just the minor jobs.

I'd like to report about what I have cooked recently which hasn't really been anything remotely interesting, although stay tuned for I am so my mother informs me having a crock-pot day. Miss Stash will bring her little 3.5L one over to our mothers, I'll bring my 6.5L (my 5.5L is already at my mothers) and we will set them up and have a big cooking day.
No idea what we are making yet for our grand cook-up but I am hoping to make at least one batch of chili.

Because I was out yesterday I found myself having to dash home in the rain, I now have my bag and it's entire contents laid out in an effort to dry it, fortunately overnight it has got rather dryer but it included my Sorbet hat I was working on.

Apparently I am the last person in the world to know that there is a new Anticraft up. I need to go away and think what else I could fashion the patterns into for everyday wear.
Never mind hte merkin what I'd really like is a Murloc!

Click click clickety click!

Well still very much on the needles are a number of things but my time is being divided between a beret made with Moda Vera Sorbet for me, a pair of Beer Gloves from Son of SNB in Cleckheaton Tweed for Miss Stash and a garter stitch wrap out of ye olde Caressa 7ply for my mother.

People keep asking about my Vintage Hues scarf I was knitting, it's almost done, but I just need to go back and undo the last pattern repeat and do it again. Those are the four most "active" projects at the moment.

I'm on the search for a suitably priced sub for SWTC Karoke, and I am wondering if the new Kaleidoscope from Cleckheaton will do the trick? It seems to be a similar ply, and colour number 6 on the website seems to be just the colour I'm after for my project! Quick search online reveals a general price of about $5.50 to $5.95 a ball, much better then the Karoke which I found on one Aussie site for $18 a ball!

Which brings me to my next thought, and a question to all my fellow knitters out there, do you as a knitter like getting knitted gifts???

I ask because I was thinking most of my knitting is 95% for me, there is a odd assortment of things left over in the 5% mainly for charity with the odd requested item for my mother (currently a wrap because I keep hearing about how much she needs one sitting up in the evnings) or in an odd twist of fate something for Miss Stash who actually does knit quite a lot for herself as well.

And I think personally giving another knitter something knitted is like giving a crossword fan a book of crosswords that have already been done. I will admit sometimes I have seen things other knitters have knitted and I have just had to have it!

I finished the square! Yesterday afternoon, and am now in a sea of indecision. I would like to make a new pair of socks, then there are the yoga socks I'd like to try and of course I should take my Peacock scarf back to the last garter stitch row and re-do the pattern bit...

Today is Mock Lasagne day in the crock-pot, the recipe comes from the Crockpot-Lovers group on the Ravelry. And I'm hoping if it doesn't get all cold and rainy again this afternoon it may do so tomorrow as I am keen to make the Gingerbread Latte from the Year of Crockpotting.

Ticket's for Pink's Australian tour went on sale last Friday and apparently they only sold 10 over the counter before they ran out due to all the online and phone sales! People had been queuing since 5:30 in the morning to try and buy tickets. You'd be disappointed after all that time. Unfortunately the nearest Pink is getting to me is Melbourne so I wasn't rushing to get a ticket, a trip interstate moves it from a luxury to a dream!
I have had to content myself with Pink - Live at Wembley on DVD, it's the I'm Not Dead tour. That will be the DWC and my new Friday night viewing I think for the next couple of weeks, sometimes we have Cher on her Farewell tour. Which is also pretty exciting, but I may need to get some Madonna to balance it all out.
But tonight is Dirty Dancing night!

What's that smell???

I tried a new experiment in the slow cooker today, my mother had grand plans as I have just recently bought Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food and have been unable to talk about it till now since I was giving Miss Stash a copy for her birthday.

The plan was we'd make the Chicken and Leek Stroganoff from MoF, well it only feeds two so first we were going to multiply it to go round 6 (my grandparents are up visiting hence the mad desire of my mother's to cook something from the new book, or more to the point to get me to cook something from the new book). This plan gets changed into chicken and leek stroganoff in the slow cooker. Only we don't have a recpie for a chicken stroganoff in the slow cooker, so we adapt a beef one.
It tasted alright. Can't say it looked very appealing. But there is a success story here, I made at long last the Totally Chocolate Choc-Chip Cookies from Nigella Express. I've just finished eating one as I type this. OMG! So, so very good! I will be making another batch to pop in the freezer, perfect in a time of crisis, also some chilli. Chilli is always good.

Some things didn't make the baking rotation today like Date Gingerbread and Raspberry Scones. But there still on the ever growing list of things to make.

But the big question is, is it really okay to get high off doing yoga? I understand endorphins get released while doing exercise, but after a session of yoga I feel like I'm floating on air!
Speaking of fun workout's, how do you fancy busting a move with Mr Burlesque?

Note to self practise wearing high heels! Dammit if Mr Burlesque can, surely I can!