hey good looking what ya got cooking...(not me, Allysa!)

the next of my parcels came from the lovely Laura, it actually landed on my doorstep in September. i can remember bringing it in and just popping it on the side because although it was addressed to me it was in an amazon box and from past experience near Christmas or a Birthday i have opened amazon boxes and seen things that i shouldn't have seen...(completely accidently you understand, teehee)

as it was close to my birthday i just presumed that my man was thinking ahead...so later that night when he got home i told him of the parcel. "i didn't order anything" (silly me)...how strange i thought, so i opened up the package and inside was a cook book, "at home with magnolia by Allysa Torey"...just for me.

Laura is another one of my lovely cyber pals...she obviously felt my anguish over cooking and more to the point probably lay awake at night worrying for my children and the horrors that lay before them at the table...

as you can see from the pictures it was easy to fall in love with the book, i read the recipes and took note of important things like..."try to only cook with what is seasonal" very sound advice i felt after all it just stands to reason that anything in season is going to taste so much better than something that isn't...

after reading all the text i then concentrated on the pictures...i knew then and there i wanted to live inside of this cook book...and as i pen this post today and glance at the pictures i have a little pang of regret at cutting off my braids, after all Allysa looks great in every picture and i am sure it is something to do with her hair...

i am getting all excited now about the thought of growing a few veggies, herbs and flowers in our new garden. there are three rather neglected kitchen garden patches that with a bit of tender loving care may come back to life...thank you Laura for inspiring me.

and i am happy to report that i did manage to cook an edible (don't click on this picture Tracy or anyone else that doesn't eat meat) roast chicken in my crock pot a few weeks back. the only problem i am encountering now with my cooking (apart from making it look attractive and appealing) is the fact that our #2 is vegetarian and our #4 has given up eating chicken on the principal that you don't eat a future pet ( i swear i've told you that one before...i think i'm losing my 'razor sharp' memory skills, must be something to do with being 39).

she's finished her blankie ~ Tif