Friday 12th January

Congratulate me.... I was soooo tempted to just stay in my pyjamas and dressing gown aaaaallll day....... but I managed to engage 'sensible' me. Although I reckon heads, slippers, thermal t-shirt and warm thick sweater isn't far off. There are times in winter when I am tempted to just switch from one pair of pj's to the best in the morning, especially when I don't have to go anywhere. But then I remember the number of times I've been 'caught' by deliveries, visitors and neighbours...

Pickles; sitting in the crockpot since noon today has been my take on Delia Smith's Venison in port and Guinness with pickled walnuts, from her 'Christmas' recipe book. I made this about twenty years ago; it totally blew our budget at the time but I remember how delicious it was, although I was dubious about the pickled walnuts when I read the recipe. 

I've used beef instead of venison, beef stock instead of Guinness, and added onions and celery. I had a little taste of the liquid a few minutes ago and I have high hopes...

I did a dead quick try out of these olive sprig bookmarks I've committed to. Ten minutes in a space in my 'One Book to Rule them All' diary;

The plan is that I will produce a sheet of A4 watercolour paper with 5 bookmarks on it, and someone else will photocopy it onto card and guillotine them. That's a much smaller and easier task; once I've finished the cross-stitch-in-progress I'll get on with it.

Finally, here's a bit of silliness I tripped across in my Commonplace Book from 2021;