Thursday's better

Hello dear readers!! How are you today? I have to say, I'm feeling better today. Much better actually. And that's partly down to you. I'd like to say a big thank you to the lovely three ladies who left me messages yesterday, they were GREATLY appreciated. Honestly, you put a smile on my face, so thank you very much !!! It's funny how comforting words from a stranger can cheer you up, because even though they are indeed from an absolute stranger, they are com-for-ting. And that is priceless. So once again, thank you.

Now, onto colourful and cheerful things. I reckoned you deserved a little bit of that today after yesterday's post!! You may remember this little hearts needlepoint thing I made a little while ago. Well, after having looked in countless shops (and I mean countless), I finally found a perfect little frame for it the other day. So here it is, waiting to be hung somewhere in the kitchen/ living room:

Honestly, you won't believe how hard it was to find 1/ a square frame and 2/ one that was remotely the right size. So when I saw this one, I pounced on it. Literally. I'm planning on giving it a neighbour on my wall, one I received as a birthday present and never got round to showing off. It's a wooden chopping board with a little leather string.

But let's face it, it's waaayyyyyyyyy too cute to be used as a chopping board, I think it's more likely to be used to present things on, like little nibbles, don't you agree? While we're on the topic of birthday presents, I don't think I mentionned I got a couple of cookery books.

The first one is James Martin's Desserts and the second Pam Corbin's Preserves. Those two books are simply scrumptious. The recipes all seem fabulous and have given me so many ideas, I can't wait to try them out. In the meantime, tonight I've got to start on 2 cakes, equally important. The first one is Boyfriend's birthday cake. The second is the Christmas cake. Oh yes. I feel slightly guilty because it means I can't go to one of my colleague's leaving do tonight, but I can't delay the start of either of those cakes (due to weekend to be spent away from home, and funnily, a birthday date which is most definitely set in time). I won't be able to say why I can't come though, I'll just have to say I'm really really busy, because otherwise she's going to think I'm a right nutter. Oops.

ps: I have just been told by Boyfriend to add something to today's post. He wants you all to know that last night's dinner was amazing. Now, not that I want to take all the credit, well maybe I can!! To be fair, it was really tasty!! So if you want to give it a go, here's what you have to do:

1. Fry a chopped onion, some cauliflower, some red pepper, some garlic and some chopped ginger in a pan.
2. When the veg is soft, add the leftover meat (roast duck in our case) and stir.
3. Add a couple of tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce (or a mixture of honey and chilli).
4. A couple of minutes before the end (ie a couple of minutes before your rice or noodles are cooked), add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, some freshly chopped parsley and a little bit of lemon juice.
5. Serve up and enjoy!!!