A sign of middle age!

Phew!  Christmas and New Year out of the way and not too much of an increase to the blood pressure or the waistline although on Christmas Eve when I went to collect the turkey that I'd ordered, my heart did beat a little quicker than usual, when I was told that by the shop that they had no record of my order!  A break down in their communication system had occurred and fortunately I had a receipt to say that I'd ordered the blessed bird! Now I'm a reasonable man, most of the time, so I politely suggested that as I had proof of order, they had better find me the 13lb gobbler or else there would be one or two, well seven, unhappy bunnies in the house!  After much rummaging around in the fridge they miraculously found me a fresh turkey so I left the shop breathing a rather huge and audible sigh of relief!

My blood pressure was further raised on Christmas day when the cooker decided that it had enough of having food shoved into it and went on a go slow protest.  The leaky door didn't help matters and the kitchen was probably hotter than the inside of the oven.  So 5  hours after the bird went in and it still wasn't cooked, a degree of panic set in!  The splendid Christmas fare that was supposed to be served at 5pm was around 2 hours late - still splendid but by then I had passed caring and the empty bottle of Croft's Original stood proudly amongst the debris in the sink!

Have you ever noticed that when electrical items go wrong, it's never just one  - they tend to go in threes!  Sure enough, my ipod went kaput and the tumble dryer nearly caught fire!  Not the first time the latter has happened in this house! The last time, Sue and the girls had to be rescued by some burly firemen!   So it was with a certain amount of anticipated financial hardship that we trawled round the January sales to purchase a new oven and tumble dryer.  I guess one of the signs of middle age is when you get excited when a new cooker arrives!  I was like a 5 year old waiting for Father Christmas to bring my presents!  It was duly delivered and wired in and I couldn't wait to use it - so the fish pie that came out of it the following day christened the pristine and gleaming Bosch 3D air fan double oven!  The tumble dryer I got less excited about and at least we may be able to avoid the internal house fire for a few more years!  The ipod will not replaced as I am now penniless and so am in need of a big lottery win if I am to be able to pay for our next big project, 3 weeks in Malaysia to celebrate Sue's significant birthday, in June!

Finally, on the menu this month, there have been a number of well tried and tested recipes, I particular liked the pan fried duck breast with a spicy plum sauce served on a champ mash and wilted spinach - rich, filling and tongue tingling.  This month has also seen my cookery book collection growing - Leith's Cookery Bible was a great purchase and I was given by my sister a copy of The Cannon Cookery Book, first published in 1932!  The section on Rechauffe Cooking caught my eye and I read with interest that "However carefully a housewife caters, it is extremely difficult, and well nigh impossible to avoid leftovers" - Good luck to all you housewives out there with your leftovers!

The New Bosch!