La Creperie - Home of the Hags!

[QueenLush]

Are you all nursing hangovers or just clearing up the post Christmas mess?

Herbs, have you not heard of belts? And LOL at village hall in Walthamstow! (I had a mate who lived up there for a while, but I never did go and visit him )

Wilbur, it sounds like a great party. All you need is a hot tub

Yes, hemlines are short at sec school - tis always a cause for DH's concern when DD goes out to school! I think she looks great. And so do the boys!!!

The skool DD1 is likely to go to is quite well-known for the brevity of its skirts. They do look quite terrific, I must say .

But belts are then all bulky under tops, which is the last thing I need... Hmm. Have to go now, and still can't decide on correct trews.

I want gold sparkly trainers. Or silver ones. Mine have chickens on them. I shouldn't admit to that on a style and beauty thread, should I?

I have done most of the cooking for Monday - huge pot of bigos, large pot of mushroom goulash for the veggies. Will make cheese pierogi tomorrow, but possibly one big one rather than fiddly small ones. And cheesecake and poppyseed roll (both easy), and that's me done. Will make some raisin pumpernickel bread and possibly sourdough as well and pop in the fridge tomorrow night for a slow rise. (You may have noticed that I am stuffing them with carbs...)

What size are your feet?

Or these at the more mutant end of the spectrum

MrsS, if only I lived in Paris..... What is cheese pierogi? sounds delish!

I am in trouble for Improper Dishwasher Loading (if I were a bloke I would be accused of deliberate hopelessness). OTOH my sister has texted me to say my nephew has to do a facebook page for Guru Nanak (Sikh founder) for RE homework. We speculated, blasphemously, on the equivalent for Jesus. (I reckon Twitter would be even better, mind.)

2 large aubergines,
2 onions
4 toms
3 cloves of garlic,
Olive oil
Paprika (teaspoon)
Lemon juice
Peel aubergines in strips (don't remove stalk). Slice open top to bottom on one side. Scoop out seedy bits and keep. Sprinkle salt inside and leave to drain for 30 mins. Clean salt out and dry. Heat oil in frying pan and cook aubergines for 10 mins turning. Take out of pan and leave to drain. Fry onions , chooped scooped out aubergine, and garlic (finely chopped) for 5 mins. Add toms (finely chopped), paprika, lemon juice, tiny amount of sugar and seasoning. Place aubergines back in pan and open up and stuff with Tom mixture. Pour rest over top, add a little water and some more oil if desired. Once sauce is boiling, put lid on, turn heat down low and cook for at least 45 mins. Once cooked leave to cool. Will keep for a couple of days and even better after 24 hours......

Everyone sounds like they are having fun, but I am glad I am not out tonight (still snowing here). About to watch Borgen!!!

BD, that's Imam bayildi is it not? Yumyum. Only wish I could get any of my family to eat aubergines.

Have spent fraught afternoon in a town far away trying to buy bras for dd. None available in sensible teen styles locally. I suppose they must all be wearing New Look's best, all under-wired and hookerish.

There was a craze for makeover parties round here when dd was about 10. Even one in a stretch limo. Ghastly. Still, no one seems to do that any more. They've all grown out of it..

Off to watch Borgen now. Children are v. v. disappointed because we have only torrential rain here instead of the snow we were threatened with. Ah well.

Tipping with snow here, and the DCs are still up, running around in the garden throwing snowballs at each other. We have had family here (minus brother, who cried off the moment the first flakes fell), but as they invited themselves they did at least bring food, so all I had to do was a few jacket spuds.

What is this Borgen of which people speak? Some must-see TV I'm clearly missing.

I have had much champagne and now off to bed. Cheese pierogi are like a little pasty, but they are made with bastard sour cream pastry which needs a delicate hand (which I don't have), and stuffed with a mixture of feta cheese and cottage, all whizzed up together in the food processor. Will be making manana.

Ceilidh a right good laugh, with requisite amount of chaos, especially during 'strip the willow'. Should have put a frock on - everyone else had made an effort. Sparkly shrug meant I just about got away with it. Super walking home in the magical snow, too.

My gold sparkly trainers were from Juicy Couture, in the sale years ago, and are a wardrobe staple. I heartily recommend you buy some.

Here they are. But mine are gold.

CV Borgen - Danish drama about politics (not as dry as it sounds!). Has just finished on BBC 4 but might be able to catch it on the iPlayer.

Also: two lessons from last night.

1 Sideways gallops are challenging to the pelvic floor

2 I may not look as old as I feel. Someone I've known for ages thought I was early 30s.

Cheesecake made, raisin pumpernickel bread proving, just mixing the sourdough. Poppy seed roll in oven, as are muffins for the DDs. Bigos made, goulash made, so all that will be left for me to do tomorrow is the cheese pierogi. And as I have decided to use boughten, ready rolled pastry, this will be a simple matter of assembly tomorrow, rather than putting it in the oven. Now need to tackle the untidiness of the flat, but DDs can be bribed to help with that while I go and have a nice lie down.

Should I leave the bread dough to do a slow rise in the fridge overnight or bake now and refresh a bit tomorrow before serving it?

Too technical a question for me MrsS! Taking ds to pictures and then Japanese for lunch....stopped snowing here, is turning to slush.
Herbs :) at the early thirties, no one, but no one, could mistake me for early 30s :)

Oh my, MrsS. I hope your family and friends realise how lucky they are. Mine are only lucky to the point that I have recently learned to not burn fishfingers most of the time.

No snow or ice here. Not even any frost. Daffodils still trying to flower in the garden and ds and dd are most peevish about the springlike aspect of everything. "Why do we have to live in a rubbish place that never gets any snow?"

Herbs, we all know you have a portrait in the attic

Herbs, result .
Friends last night spotted a wedding photo and couldn't believe it was taken 12 years ago - I have not aged well

MrsS, I'm afraid I'm not very good on bread - making it, that is. I'm great at eating it

Snow fell here last night, and is still here, but seems more like ice crystals than snow. Just sent DH and DS out for some milk and the paper and pp photos for DS's ski pass - told them to walk slowly , so no doubt they will be sodden from snowball fights on return. DD is being teenagery and moaning alot/not doing her revision for exams starting tomorrow.

Herbs - how nice!

You know that moment when someone asks your age, you tell them, and they go, "oh, you don't look it"? Well, I don't get that answer anymore.

I'm just defrosting with a cappuchino after a sledging walk with the DCs. I road-tested my new snowboots and my feet remained toasty-warm all morning. We have about 6 inches here, as we are on a hill, but I think the roads are sufficently clear that school/work will be unaffected tomorrow.

How's the snow where you are?

I reckon I've been looking a badly preserved early 50s for a while. However, I have just found out something that has cheered me up. I may be a baggy-faced old boot BUT I can do full press-ups. Several of them, in plank position and everyfink.

Admittedly, said complimentary friend was pretty pissed.