A busy day

The great de-clutter continues.  I just do a little each day and have even gone through my cookery books and magazines, pruning . . .  That is a BIG one for me as I love my cookery books and it is hard to shed any, but I figure there are plenty left to keep me going.

I also had a reshuffle of the books on this shelf, and got my "Farm" series books together (Tudor Monastery Farm added after this photo taken).  If I organize them now, when we come to pack LATER IN THE YEAR (power of positive thought about moving and all tha!), I will have things properly categorized - most of the other collections already are.

No longer needed - all to go.

I also got busy in the kitchen, and cooked up a Cheat's Chicken Pie.  Basically it is two chicken breasts, fried off in a little oil and drained, (or you can just add left-over cooked chicken from a roast, which is what I usually do), and add a tin of Campbell's condensed Chicken soup, let down with a can of water, add a few peas/mixed veg of your choice and simmer very gently until meat is cooked.  (Note: when cooking for fussy husband, there is a HUGE variety of things I cannot add to the meal, onions included!)

Roll out a sheet of ready-made flakey pastry and cook in a hot oven.  Voila!

Being a cheapskate, I trimmed off the last couple of inches of the rolled-slightly-thinner pastry, brushed it with milk, grated cheese over it and rolled it up into a knot to cook at the same time and provide a tasty snack:

Excuse battered old enamel plate - it's the one we cook Sardines on, and however much you think you have removed the oil, you are always proved wrong next time you use it!

The bananas now have a temporary new home - an old cracked cast iron skillet. I try to keep them seperate from the apples, oranges etc in the main fruit bowl, or else they get over-ripe very quickly.

Meanwhile, one of our neighbours came round and we had a lovely chat, and I got back to baking once we'd set the world to rights.  I had a tray of blueberries I had put in the fridge to defrost and forgotten aabout, so they HAD to be used up promptly.  As Steeleye Span played in the background, I rustled up some Blueberry Muffins (I have to say, these are even NICER when they are Raspberry Muffins!)  4 to eat now, and the other 8 now in the freezer.

Then I made a batch of Cornish Fairing biscuits (these are ginger biccies, basically, but SO much superior to anything boughten).

So, a useful day all in all.  I have a change of painkillers (v. short term) and they have helped me sleep better, and hopefully the pleuritic pain is under control again (it was ghastly from last week when Doc put me on a-b's that I KNEW wouldn't work). 

A day out in Leominster and Hay-on-Wye today, so I shall take my camera and report back later.