Hi there its ME....on weekend activities - Monday, 6th January 2014.

Despite the rain lashing down and the dark clouds overhead, I'm off to add kitchen waste to my composter.  The pile is growing steadily, with a good mixture of kitchen trimmings, paper, egg shells and tea bags - oh and Alice's hair-brushing's.  I'm trying to keep the mix well-turned to ensure it "cooks" well but, the dear SO was quite right, its quite hard to stir it up with just a large garden fork.
However, needs must, so I get to grips with the problem and, with a lot of huffing and puffing, I do eventually manage to get my mix well-turned-over.

I shall get a box of Garotta very soon - it's an additive to help break up the food waste particles, thus hastening the whole process of decomposition-into-compost project. I've also added a plastic cover to help with warmth;  like all good recipes, a little warmth certainly helps the process!

With a mug of welcomingly hot tea to hand, I joyfully sink my teeth into a slice of Polly's Ma's home-made rose and beetroot cake, made with rosewater from Sainsbury's, to give a delightful "smokey" flavour to the moist crumb.  The cake was dressed with a lovely cream cheese icing, too.

Alice and I walked home  thru' the rain, she splashing in and out of the puddles with me trailing after her!!!

At home for lunch, of toasted Marks and Spencer Made Without Wheat bread, houmous, rocket, topped with Sainsbury's tikka chicken breast and toasted seeds and coffee, while both of us dried off after our wet walk home!

A spot of baking and making my own gluten-free recipe pastry for sausage rolls and mince pies, which we heartily enjoyed over the weekend.  And now, they've all gone, oh dear!

Shall I make more, mmmm!???  We'll see.

Shall I make a gluten-free rose and beetroot cake too - well, we'll see about that too, hey?  I also have an idea to make a beetroot, carrot and date cake, with a Philadelphia Cream Cheese icing.

Oh goodness me, those sausage rolls were good and, on Sunday, I sliced one up and served it with hard boiled eggs, with a creamy stuffing of egg yolk, houmous and soured cream, flavoured with chilly powder, black pepper and sea salt, all topped off with red cabbage, for a quick Sunday lunch snack - see here -

A good weekend all round, for comfort and good eating, but I was somewhat bothered by the BBC news reportage of Ministerial comments about "ancient woodlands", "environmental damage" and "biodiversity offsetting".  Thank goodness, for Campaigners the Woodland Trust and Friends of the Earth.

You do have to keep an eye on what's going on elsewhere too?

Daisy