Back at work

I was working today, from 9am until 2pm, so it wasn't too bad. I left home early as I wanted to make a start on the emails before the phones opened at 9am, but when I arrived there was nobody in the building! Shortly afterwards a few staff arrived but we had to wait for one of the reception staff to arrive and open up. The weather was horrible, with grey skies and rain, so not very pleasant!

There weren't too many emails to contend with, so I made sure nothing was urgent and got ready for the onslaught. Jo was working with me and we were hoping it wouldn't be too bad... but it was very busy, and continued like that through the whole shift.

As predicted, most of the calls were about swimming or cinema tickets, and at 2pm we were both more than ready to go home! We have had April showers today, with dark stormy skies one minute, and sunshine the next!

Sophie had been out for a wet and muddy walk with Vikesh and Reggie the dog, and they'd had lunch at the pub in Walgrave. She said she would come over and see Mum and Dad with me, and before we went, I bought some chocolate for them. We became caught in a deluge of rain as we arrived at the care home so had to stay in the car for a while until it stopped!

Unfortunately, neither of them was in good spirits today; Mum said she didn't feel well, and my Dad was just plain grumpy, so we stayed for an hour and returned home. We sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea and some delicious cakes that Vikesh had bought for us when he went to Costco at the weekend. It was lovely to sit and have a chat and talk about our respective days.

We managed a game of Scrabble in the evening and Sophie beat me soundly! Serves me right as I beat her yesterday! After dinner, we watched Masterchef, which started this evening! We love the show and we decided to have a game with words or terms that are used throughout the competition, such as:

• Grandmother/mother is a huge influence on their cooking (normally said with a tear in their eye as she's passed away but is looking down on them and being proud).
• Ethnic cooking
• Fusion
• Asian
• Vegan
• Soufflé
• Fondant - either chocolate or potato
• Poached pears
• A "foam"
• A "crumb"
• Soil
• De-constructed
• Home-made pasta in the first round (always a risk!)
• Consommé
• Sous-vide
• Panna cotta
• A contestant crying
• Tuille 
• Gel
• Emulsion
• Inspired by travel/number of countries visited
• Creme pat

Bring on the newbies every week!