(It's the) Hard Knock Life

Well it is if you’re my laptop. The hard drive had died. Again. And on the new one. To say I am annoyed is possibly the understatement of the century. I’ve lost a ridiculous amount of work, photos and a whole year’s Guide accounts. Much swearing has been heard around the house this week, along with the occasional tearful exclamation about unbacked up work.

Anyway, so this post is not only brought to you courtesy of Annie and the orphans but also a spare laptop from work. Apologies for the lack of pictures, but up and downloading are barred – with any luck this post will be amended next week sometime. Moving on swiftly before I start explaining about the time I was in Annie – of which, thankfully no photographic evidence remains.

Truly, it has been a bit of a hard knock life of late. Computer woes aside, I’ve been exceptionally busy with work and Guiding, and have taken to skipping meals and eating Prêt a manger sarnies for lunch as they seem to see me through. Actually, as someone who doesn’t really ‘do’ bought sandwiches unless I can see them made in front of me, Prêt is the exception to my rule, their ethos is to limit the number of ingredients in their products, have no additives or preservatives and they are freshly made daily (with any leftovers being given to charity). However, calorie content is immense, and whilst not someone who worries about that kind of thing unduly, I do notice that if I eat one for lunch, I can easily not be hungry of an evening. Anyway, before I realise that this post should have been at the very least sponsored by Prêt, I shall move on to...

Life Changing soup™ (link to recipe) As I am sure many of you will recall, this Skye Gyngell recipe has kept me full and happy for nearly a couple of years now. This is the first batch of the autumn, and whilst I was hoping to be able to pair it with some home made bread, I can say with every faith that it was gorgeous. The lengthy ingredient lists have put me off experimenting much further with Ms Gyngell’s recipes but this weekend the call of Batch cooking has been heard and so I will be trying a couple of others of hers.

I would also like to introduce you to Mabel. Mabel is my sourdough starter, a gift from my friend Lucy’s husband Matt. And a daughter/ granddaughter/ second cousin twice removed (you’ll have to decide, genealogy defeats me) of http://doughblogs.com/. Happily residing in my fridge, Mabel is awaiting her first outing this weekend, in the form of a basic sourdough loaf.

I blame the change in seasons, it’s made me want to be all homely, in a kind of ‘wear a pinny and clasp a steaming mug of tea about my person’ way. So hopefully this weekend’s batch cooking will involve: Lentil Ragu from Dinner Diary, Jamie O’s Chilli con carne, a Victoria Sandwich (with Kavey’s Nectarine and Amaretto jam inside) the Sourdough loaf and something that requires roast potatoes – which are my current craving. I will take photos of that lovely lot, but sadly they won’t be seen until Dell manages to collect my laptop (which was supposed to happen yesterday. Grrr. Argh.)