Mrs Next-Door and helping out your dentist

We are very fortunate in where we live. Reading is big enough to be interesting, yet not so big that it is a sprawling mass. We have a well regarded University, with all the benefits that brings, plus a very diverse ethnic and cultural population. I love it.

However, there is a problem with Mrs Next-Door. The family next to us is Pakistani, with 4 small boys. We are separated by a high wall, so cannot see each other. But my kitchen door and her kitchen door face each other. In this hot weather, both doors have been open and that is the cause of the problem.

Twice a day, the most delicious, mouth watering smells ever come wafting across the wall. I don't mean just that smells nice, I mean seriously considering sacrificing your first-born. Fin and I are on a very fixed budget, but I can't count the number of times we have succumbed and phoned for a takeaway from our favourite Nepalese restaurant.

So yesterday, I surfed the web for a couple of recipes and Faithful Fin got the ingredients from the Co-op and a local Asian store.

Don't they look fresh and appealing?

With my trust iPad beside me, I set to and made bhindi bhaji:

and Bombay potatoes:

We had them with naan bread. They did taste lovely, if I say it myself.

Now to Helping out your Dentist, as in the title of this post.

With so much fresh produce, I felt almost duty bound to counteract the healthy benefits. So I decided to do toffee bananas and ice cream.

There are many recipes for this, requiring sugar thermometers or glasses of cold water. I have a trust recipe that I will share:

Put 2 very large tablespoons of butter in a pan.

As it is melting, add an obscene amount of sugar.

Decide that probably a bit more sugar won't harm and add it.

Get your little glass jar of cinnamon. 

As you attempt to put in a little, too much will inevitably fly out. Don't worry, just stir it in.

Add bananas (each sliced into 3).

Cook, stirring almost continuously until either you get bored or the toffee sauce starts to pull together.

Serve with ice cream.

Forget that melted sugar is fiendishly hot and take a big spoonful, thus causing a blister in the roof of your mouth.

Enjoy and make a note in your diary to phone for a dental appointment.

Ooooh I do like a postal delivery

Yarn and associated supplies are in abundance in our *ahem* compact flat. I was, however, in desperate need for more toy stuffing. Now stuffing is legitimately in the 'need' category - when it's gone, it's gone (as supermarkets are fond of saying). This contrasts sharply with 'needing' more yarn, which can usually be translated into 'I have no need of, but seriously desire to acquire more, yarn'.

Fin was feeling pretty grotty (7 weeks post operative) as her eye is still not sorted out, so suggested I order on line. Ooooh, Aladdin 's cave!

'Love Knitting' is the most amazing yarn store. I ordered at 4 p.m. one day, and it arrived at 10 a.m. the next day, with free postage.

This is what 6 bags of stuffing look like (Atos is a pretty large collie cross, and he takes up most of his 2 sweater sofa):

These giraffes were what required the stuffing:

I have modified the Kornflake Stew pattern slightly, to give them shorter and chunkier necks, legs and arms. This design appeals to me more, being of the shorter limbed, chunkier persuasion myself!

These 2 are the first items for my nascent Etsy shop. I must admit, I really love the organza gift bags they are in. In the past, I have always used tissue paper. Given that soft toys are quite difficult to wrap, I have never been totally satisfied with the result. This seems to solve the problem and also allows the purchaser to see what has been bought, before handing it over to the recipient: