Long time no chat {chatting with Patrice}

Patrice!!! It's been TOO long! I am guessing it's chilly there with you, so it's a chat by a warm stove, somewhere? Let's face it - the WHOLE of the USA is cold just now, pretty much. And the parts where it doesn't look cold, it actually IS for the places you are looking at. Florida. Coats. Yes! It's true! My friends in Florida are COLD!! Here, it's just wet and windy. Yuck. With a capital "Y". I have to say, however, the sun is shining today. We are flooded between here and the Church, though. It turns a scant 5 minute trip, into closer to 15 minutes. It may not seem much, but it's a big deal around here! We live in a river valley, and there is a little bridge between the villages. However, if it rains hard, the road approaching the bridge ends up under water, so it's a "no go". They now block the road when it floods, as some prize pillock usually tries to get through the flood, and ends up having to be rescued by the Fire Brigade.  Onto a nice chat, mincemeat flapjack in hand... 

1. How much baking did you do before and after Christmas? Do you get more inspired to bake when the temps are cooler?

This was probably the least baking I have done in a LONG while, over a Christmas period. Part of the reason is answered by question number 2. Since realising I have issues with gluten, I bake FAR less. It's naughty, really. Me not baking so much, simply because *I* can't eat it! Part of it was also that I baked less during this pregnancy.  To start with I was feeling ill, then I had to rest, then I just got out of the way of baking regularly, then I had Tabitha. So, you see, mitigating circumstances reduced my baking anyway.

So, Christmas. I baked cookies, with my friend. Actually. That's not true. Leah did pretty much all of it herself. I helped decorate a few. Literally, a few. She also did most of that, too!

Other than that, I baked virtually nothing over Christmas. I made a chocolate torte for my family coming. I made some mincemeat flapjack, which I can eat. That was it!!

As we were at home for Christmas, on our own, I didn't even make any desserts. The children are not fussed with desserts, and I was hardly going to make them just for Robert, especially as he had just had some surgery and was not feeling tickety boo. On Christmas day, the children had "make your own ice-cream sundae" and LOVED it!

I have previously baked a LOT at Christmas - mince pies, chocolate yule logs, cookies and cakes.  It was nice, in a way, to have a rest from it all this year!

I must do more baking, once the Christmas gifts of chocolate and tins of biscuits have all run out. 

2.  Do you have any food intolerances or allergies?

Yes, indeed I have.

I realised at the end of last year, that I was having a lot of tummy troubles. It had got to the stage of wakening in the night, feeling sick. I felt grotty all the time. So, I did an eating programme called Whole30. It cuts out problematic food groups for 30 days, then you can reintroduce things and see what happens.  I felt brilliant when I cut them out! I realised, from doing it, that gluten was a MAJOR one, and dairy to a lesser extent. 

I now have virtually no gluten. (The odd thing, which I pay for later, but not as badly as I did having it all the time...) Also, very little dairy. Cream I avoid totally, and yoghurt. I have a very little grated cheese on my bolognaise and on chillli. It's not the same without. (Again, I pay for it later, but not in a huge way). Also, a little butter in some cooking. 

I miss cakes.

That's all I'm saying.  Or I may dissolve into a hysterical, weeping mess, at the memory of my loss....

3.  When was the last time you were in a restaurant?

Now, are we counting chain type restaurants, that dish out the same old same old? Or, are we talking fancy schmancy, where they change the menu regularly.

For the first, it was just before Christmas. I took the children to Pizza Express, using my Tesco vouchers! (Free dinner - who can complain?!?) I was especially thrilled, as I realised, before choosing to go, that they do gluten free options!! It was the first time I had pizza for a LONGGGGG time! Yum! 

Just a couple of weeks before I had Tabitha, we all went as a family, with some friends, to Frankie and Bennys. It's a family favourite to go there, and as it was Joshua's birthday, we went as a treat. Gammon steak and chips is my normal, but I shared a meat  platter with my friend, as a change. Yum yum!

Robert and I have been out to some lovely places in years gone by, but they are not the kind of place that is conducive to family dining. So, Pizza express, Frankie and Bennys and Toby Carvery it is, then! 

(Sorry, to my friend, Lydia, if you are reading this blog post - too many food references.... )

4.  What's your favourite accent(speech)?

Erm, am I allowed to say "Scottish"??? Being my own accent, and all??

I say that, because living in England I rarely hear a Scottish accent, so when I do, it makes me happy and makes me feel connected to my place of birth. I can hear a Scottish person speaking from a long way off - my ear picks it up very quickly, and connects to that person. Inevitably it becomes the topic of conversation. "You're a long way from home".... 

I do like hearing a someone speak English with a Spanish accent, or hearing someone speak in Spanish. It's very soothing, I think.

Also, hearing someone speak Chinese. I love the intonation - they way the sounds go up and down. My friend is from Singapore, and she has taught her youngest to be bi-lingual and speaks often to him in Chinese. I love hearing her do that!

5.  My favourite Bible Verse is "But my God shall supply all your needs, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus". Phil 4 :19

It's a promise I cling to every day. It became my favourite verse when the Lord showed me that it is not just talking about your need for "things", but your physical, spiritual and emotional needs, too. These things are far more important than any "thing" you may need. God supplies all I need for every day. I may feel like I am missing something, but if I don't have it, God does not think I need it! If I need it, God supplies it, wonderfully and graciously. What a great God!

Don't forget to pop over to Patrice for a chat, and see what the others folks on the porch are saying, too!