Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been busy.
I got invested as a Cub Scout leader...



I went to London to eat, look at art, drink wine (and sit on a fake Vespa)...



I won a competition to make sushi with a Michelin-starred chef...



and I finally found spiritual meaning. But that's another post!

Yesterday I went to Leatherhead to do some more food testing. I never know what I'm going to be tasting until I get there, but yesterday was the best ever because I was mostly testing steak and chocolate cake. YUM!

I also tested some chicken and mushroom tagliatelle, and it asked how often I ate ready meals. I answered (truthfully) that it was very rarely, perhaps a couple of times a year. The lab technician came over to grill me about it.

Lab technician: You've put you only eat ready meals a couple of times a year? That invalidates your response. What about pizzas? Oven chips? Pies? Frozen vegetables?
Me: (looking dubious) Erm, I use frozen peas?
Lab technician: Quiches? How about frozen pasta or noodle dishes?
Me: I don't eat any of those things... Ooh! What about Innocent veg pots, do they count? They're more of a lunch...
Lab technician: Yes that counts.
Me: (Dubiously) Maybe once a month then, if you include veg pots and frozen peas...
Lab technician: OK, change it on your form then.
[I cross out 'once a year' and tick 'once a month']
Lab technician: Thanks. Have you got kids?
Me: (brightly) Yes!
Lab technician: (pityingly) And you never eat oven chips?
Me: (apologetically) No... Um.. I don't really like them...
[Lab technician looks at me disbelievingly and then leaves]

Am I really such a freak? I cannot recall having ever purchased a packet of frozen oven chips. Surely they must take at least 20 minutes to cook from frozen, and you can make your own from (shock horror!) potatoes in 30 minutes. And they'll be much nicer. How can anyone be so busy they can't spare 10 extra minutes? *shakes head*

I also don't really watch television. When Mattgreen met me, I lived alone and didn't have a TV. I would still quite cheerfully get rid of ours - I probably watch less than an hour a week. But Izzy will be a teenager soon enough, and my mum refusing to let me watch Grange Hill scarred me for life, so I wouldn't do that to her. But really, people who leave it on in the background all the time... WHY? What's wrong with silence, or listening to music, or going out for a walk instead? I find droning TV in the background incredibly annoying. Even Izzy presses mute when adverts come on because she can't bear them shouting in the background so I've trained her well!