Friday 10 December 2010

10 things

My mind is addled this week. I have a cold, which has left me feeling slightly delirious and other-worldly.  This is therefore the perfect moment to share with you a collection of random thoughts that are skitting through my head this morning.
  • This Clara doll, from the Nutcracker, is utterly amazing.  I am itching more than ever to make a doll from Hillary's book.
  • My new-found tea obsession continues.  I went to the Twinings Shop, right opposite the Royal Courts of Justice at 216 Strand, at the weekend and stocked up on the Rose Garden tea and various other enticing flavours.  Twinings also have a lovely online shop, and at both shops you can buy individual teabags to try out different flavours.  C reports that the apple, cinnamon and raisin one is wonderful, G likes the Blossom Earl Grey, and my friend J just sent me some bags of Twinings Chai tea which is like drinking a hug, it is so lovely ( I thought that the chai might be too sweet, and I really don't like sugary tea, but happily it is unsweetened for you to add your own sugar - or not).
  • I've bought the new Carol Ann Duffy book for O for Christmas.  There is a beautiful window display to promote it at Foyles in Charing Cross Road, which if you are nearby is well worth a detour to go and admire.
  • Tyrozets are the best sore throat sweets around.  They have anaesthetic in them so they actually work.
  • I am yearning to go back to Switzerland.
  • I have had to adjust the quantity of pasta I cook.  After years of cooking pasta for the family, I know precisely how much pasta would feed all four of us, and leave a box of leftovers for somebody's lunch the next day.  But G's ironman training and C's new and enlarged pre-teen appetite have thrown everything into disarray.  For a while there were no leftovers on pasta days, then there were no leftovers and people complained they were still hungry.  So I started cooking 50g and then 100g more at each meal. There are still no leftovers though, and C is still growing and G is still training, so I may have to cook even more soon.
  • C and I are watching Sherlock on a Sunday evening on BBC3.  It is a series of just three programmes, which were first shown over the summer, but so very good.  The final installment is this coming Sunday but the previous episodes are still available on iPlayer.
  • For the first time ever I had to rip back some knitting.  I feel more like a proper knitter now.
  • The Archers has a new website, which is perfect for losing hours of your precious time at.  I particularly love the three minute explanation of The Archers by Stephen Fry and the build up to the 60th birthday celebrations in January.
  • To ease my longing for Switzerland, I bought this tin of Swiss chocolate biscuits from M&S.  They are very good.  And because I bought them, I get to keep the tin afterwards.

9 comments:

  1. Oh, I got all excited then, thinking there was a new series of Sherlock. We loved this.

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  2. I'm so crazy for those ringlets! Love the biscuit tin. And have frogged a good bit of knitting in my time--ack. Hope you're feeling much better very soon. Have only just gotten rid of the cold on this end.

    K x

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  3. Oh I do love a nice linky post - the Carol Ann Duffy looks amazing and the Twinnings Tea website...how fantastic - I am so excited by it.

    The Clara doll looks fantastic - I'm only people say good things about that book, which is making me wonder whether it's one to buy.

    Wishing you a lovely weekend,
    Florence x

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  4. Sorry...even I don't understand myself there...I think I was trying to say: I've only heard people say good things about that book...

    My interpreter seems to have gone home early for the day...bleugh. My mind feels all tangled up with a cold. x

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  5. I bought the same book - the cover alone was enough to sell it to me. Hope you can shake the cold, though I'm not sure it will mean less scattered thoughts - I think it's just this time of year.

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  6. I LOVE Sherlock, it's a great series.

    Hope you feel better soon.

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  7. That window is great! Wish we lived a bit nearer and I could see it. Good idea about the tea tasting, nothing worse. Than a whole box of something not quite right. Hope. The cold is better soon, take care

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  8. We saw the Sherlock episodes on PBS here. Thoroughly enjoyed them, much to my surprise, as I am a big fan of the books, and don't often like modern adaptations. Loved reading this post and thinking about all you guys are doing these days.

    Ann

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  9. Tyrozettes do rock, they are always in my handbag.
    I had already ordered the cinnamon apple and raisin and the chai teas before I read your blog.
    I have coveted that tin of bisqwuits in Marks and Spencers.
    Sherlock was brilliant-R and I both watched it and loved it.

    The madness continues....!! See you Friday-whoopee!!xxx

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