Today I’ve been working on a project that I’ve been putting off all summer….because I was scared of it. You know, one of those projects that you kind of hope the fairies will take care of in the night, but then they don’t!

It’s for Katy for the Stitch Tease bee…..a 24″ block based on this fabric…..

Woooooaaaahhhh…cool fabric ….but I’m way outside my comfort zone here!

Anyway today was the day. No more messing about. 10 days late and punctual girls (ie me) don’t feel comfortable with that. So bite the bullet and get on with it.

And you know, it really wasn’t half as bad as I’d anticipated. Just so long as no-one minds wobbly lines….and I don’t think Katy does, ‘cos hers were a bit wobbly too. Click here to have a look at Katy’s blocks that got us all started many months ago.

I can’t show you mine because it’s a secret. But here’s just a little peek and you’ll have to imagine the rest!!

Sometimes when I dip my toe outside my comfort zone I realize how much good it does me…..and how nice to be able to cross something so scary off my to do list! Attagirl Katy – you’re doing us a favour really you know!

Helen

Thank you so much all of you my friends out there in blogland. Yet again you came up trumps and on a day when I was feeling rather out of sorts, you cheered me up and gave me a shove in the right direction with all your comments and stories.

It all made me realize that the boredom and frustration of cooking for unappreciative families does get to us all sometime. I’m a completely normal mother!! I’m really going to try to follow the advice that a lot of you gave, to get the kids cooking so that they actually realize what’s involved. I wonder how they will react when I say yuck to what they’ve made! (Actually on pain of death none of the children are allowed to say yuck at the dinner table. They learned long ago that that results in instant banishment and no food and so they really truly never go there!)

I also tend to do what Susan recommended – reading cookery books and sticking in little bits of scrap paper where there’s something that looks scrummy. I realized though that what I don’t then do is go back and make the recipes I’ve marked – so I’m going to make an effort to do that and hopefully make some new and delicious dinners that will fill me with a feeling of immense satisfaction and love for cooking. (Don’t laugh, we all have to have a dream!)

You also put me onto some really cool foodie blogs: check out Katy’s new food blog: http://southbeachpinterestproject.blogspot.co.uk

and this one that Sherri recommended : http://www.ourbestbites.com

All this upliftingness lead me to huge culinary efforts for dinner last night. I started with the Barefoot Contessa‘s Chicken Stew with Biscuits…

mine looked just like the picture in the book…

I thought it was divine comfort food, but one child picked out all the carrots and another all the peas and when my other half came in late from a meeting he declined having any leftovers warmed up for him on the grounds that it looked strange. It wasn’t strange at all, it was yummy.

For dessert I followed with a Victoria Plum Streusel (except mine was made with damsons) from a Country Living magazine recipe. This was pretty time consuming and involved about 52 stages including making a very nice sweet bread dough. Served warm with cream it was to die for, but was rejected out of hand by the two little picky buggers and my husband. My elder daughter and I  absolutely loved it though.

All of which made me feel that maybe it wasn’t just the kids that were to blame for the lost mojo. I think Mr H and his sometime stickinthemudness and reluctance to try new things or anything that may conceivably be English might just have something to do with it.

What do you think?

Helen

As things stand, if I was to get my one wish today, here’s what I’d wish for……someone to come in daily and cook healthy (and calorie-free) varied meals (including shopping for the ingredients) which would be loved by parents and teenagers alike.

That’s all.

Nothing too difficult about that really.

In fact it would only be taking over one of the multitudinous roles that I’m expected to carry out every day.

Not too much to ask for….but unfortunately, as you’ve probably guessed, it isn’t going to happen.

The trouble is, I’ve lost my mojo…..it’s gone, fled to the hills and as a result disaster is looming. I’ve already been told that it was about time that there was a bit more variety (when I served lasagne for the second time in 3 weeks – lasagne is a lot of work, right and it’s my guaranteed ‘everybody loves it’ menu….what the heck!!!). Last night’s dinner was a complete disaster – the meat was so inedible that I threw it in the bin before we’d even started and told everyone to make do with mash, veg and what was, if I say so myself, a spectacularly delicious gravy. I won’t be taking an unidentifiable slab of meat out of the back of the freezer and trying to wing a Brassato again 🙁

So what would you do?

I have a husband who eats out a lot in nice restaurants and has high standards, so fish fingers and the like are a no-no. He’s also a bit anti-British (what’s that about?). None of the children will eat fish or any of the things that I love (aubergines, anchovies, hummus etc), one of them barely eats enough to fill a fly and I’m always surreptitiously on the lookout for eating disorders (although I suspect she consumed enough junk food outside the house to keep her going for a very long time). All have long days and have to find their own lunches in the city and I do move mountains to try to make sure that we eat a family dinner together, even if there is a shift system on some evenings when people are out doing sport.

It’s all left me feeling deeply,deeply uninspired and every day I just rake around in the freezer trying to find something that will do for dinner with the minimum of effort and preferably no shopping involved.

It’s not good.

This morning at 6.15 am, this was the sight at the breakfast table….

I’m now filled with dread at the thought of trying to write a shopping list and head down to Migros.

What would you do? No, what do you do when this feeling strikes, because I’m sure that there isn’t a woman out there who doesn’t feel like this sometimes?

I need your help….failing that, please send your fairy godmother my way!
Helen

Today I put the finishing touches to my Just Swell sewing machine cover. I’m happy with it – well I always am happy when I finally get round to doing something I’ve wanted to do for ages! – but I am clearly not capable of fundamental maths or taking measurements accurately. It’s too long – and I only realized once I’d already done the quilting – duh…..anyway, it can just tuck under a little and as I’m the only person who will notice it and I can live with it, I guess that’s OK!

The pattern and fabric are both by Camille Roskelley – the fabric is Bliss – and it really is bliss too – lovely stuff. Sigh…I think I’d like to be Camille Roskelley when I grow up!

Helen

Remember this?

I started it ages ago and now it’s finally reached the top of the pile and needs to be finished: Just Swell – a sewing machine cover by Camille Roskelley in yummy scrummy delicious Bliss.

I shall, as I often do, be going for a variation on the theme! (mainly because I have only limited yardage and quite  a lot of a jelly roll to play with. Also because I am now a world zigzagging expert!)

Helen