Visitors

Friday evening we had friends over for a meal, it went fairly well, the guest who only eats chicken nuggets was unable to attend so I didn't have to worry about the food. At one point the conversation turned to cleaning & became very competitive, as neither of the other guests work they have plenty of spare time to clean, I took no part as I don't regard cleaning as a hobby!
I have lots of leftover cheese & an assortment of other stuff including bread to use up, I shall work my way through them all over the next couple of days.

We had 2 of the grandchildren to stay from 10ish  Saturday morning until 11ish this morning. They were very good but I'm taking it easy now they've gone. we played with loom bands & did some gardening in the morning. We collected my L&M from work & we went to a local child friendly pub for lunch where both children ate an adult sized main course & pudding. They eat so nicely, long gone are the days when they fell on food & tore at it with bare hands. They have realised that they will not be going hungry any more. Once home & with my L&M here, I was somewhat surplus to requirements as he is the star attraction, last weekend he taught them to play chess  this week he taught them both to play backgammon.  We then a movie night, I made popcorn & we watched a film. 
I had a disturbed night, with constant complaints 'I can't sleep' 'I'm too hot' 'I've got tummy ache' 'I need a drink'. No, not the children, it was my L&M, having problems sleeping!
DGS has strict instructions not to leave his bedroom until 6, but when I got up at 5:15 to go to the loo, his stuck his head round my door to tell me he was hungry, I made him breakfast, pancakes, his favourite, he had another breakfast at 7 when his sister got up, they both had pancakes & another breakfast, scrambled egg & bacon at 9:30 when my L&M got up. At 8 we took the leftover bread & went to feed the ducks, it was overcast when we set off but halfway there the heavens opened, still the ducks didn't mind & came over for the bread, we arrived home soaked & the DGC got back into their pyjamas. DD arrived about 11 to collect the children. Later this week I have the twins as DD is taking all the older children to Legoland.

Let's start Dressmaking

Remember these?

Well today we went into town & I chose these two fabrics

Three bean salad & Falafel recipe

I use three different beans, red kidney, borlotti & flagolet, tinned are easiest, rinse well, stir in a thinly sliced red onion, add a vinegrette dressing & serve.

Falafels
Grate a carrot & an onion, softe over a low heat  in a little oil with a good shake of cumin,when soft  tip into a bowl, add a tin of cooked chickpeas &a handful of chopped parsley, mash & mix together. add a little water if mixture is too dry to shape. Shape into 12 small balls, flatten slightly & fry gently 'til crispy on the outside.
This is like the recipe from A girl called Jack but she adds coriander as well as parsley, I only have parsley in my garden

The corn is as high as an elephants eye

Well not quite, but not far off, it's a line from a song 'Oh what a beautiful Morning' from Oklahoma, for those readers who are too young to remember.

We have an abundance of tomatoes, rhubarb, runner beans. chills & tomatoes.

Buffet Menu

I often complain that my beloved L&M is a fussy bugger where food is concerned, but really he is just a 'meat & two veg' sort of person. He can be reluctant to try new foods, whereas I will try almost anything I've never eaten before. There are a few foods I'm not keen on, celery, green peppers & pears, but I will eat them if I'm given them. The only thing I will not eat is pork as it disagrees with me, anyway, I digress.
Here is the menu for the buffet for eight people.

Garden salad
Couscous with roasted vegetables
HM Coleslaw
HM potato salad
3 bean salad
French bread
Assorted cheeses
Cocktail sausages (for the guest who only eats sausages)
Chicken goujons (for the guest who only eats chicken nuggets)
Falafels (for the guest who is vegetarian)
Cooked meat platter (for the guest who doesn't eat cheese)
Chocolate brownies (special request from hubby's colleagues)
Eton mess (for the guest who doesn't eat chocolate)

Treating myself

I've treated myself to a couple of dressmaking patterns, they are incredibly expensive these days & dressmaking is not a cheap hobby. I bought my patterns from www.jaycotts.co.uk their service is very good, I ordered the patterns on the 31st & they arrived today. I can't afford the sort of dresses I like new & I don't find many in the charity shops. The CS seem to be full of separates & the last dress I I saw that I liked was £20 2nd hand.
I buy Vogue patterns, I think they are the most expensive but even the very easy ones have a good shape to them & I do tend to use them over & over again.
The first one below, I shall make in summer weight fabric & autumn weight. The second one I will make with a little extra ease & wear it as a pinafore dress, so I'll make in autumn weight material. We have a wedding to go to in October so I may make a jacket to go with one of the dresses.
I have some fabric in my stash, I'll check that out tomorrow & if I can't find anything suitable I'll look in Fabricland on Monday when my L&M are going into town for hospital appointments & lunch.

I

Joggers & other muppets

I've only driven about 8 miles today & I've to take evasive action to avoid hitting a jogger, two adults on bikes & a car reversing into me! All of these were coming towards me on my side of the road at different times.
I'm used to avoiding kids on bikes where I live, I drive slowly as I know the kids are likely to be pootling about on foot, bikes & scooters, they are polite & get out of the way. The muppets I mentioned above all either swore at me or gave a rude gesture. Sod it, from now on, I'll just run the buggers over