I figured I needed an incentive to get blogging regularly again, so inspired by others here’s what I’ve been thinking about this week:

My NaNoWriMo project for last year (let’s call it ‘project P’) was an incomplete mess (long story short: work and life got in the way) and I crashed and burned at around 20,000 words. I have a few other projects on the go which I want to finish in the new year. However, I have a general idea for the shape of Project P now—when it’s time to come back to it and finish it. Unlike some previous novel attempts, I still rather like the characters in this one.

After seeing it on TV a couple of years ago, I finally got round to trying to make Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Not Prawn Toast.’ The prawn substitute is minced chicken. I cut up some chicken breast and minced it in a food processor that’s probably too small. I also used parsley (couldn’t find any coriander) and three times the amount of garlic the recipe specifies (because I like garlic.) I had to fiddle with the cooking time a bit to avoid burning it—maybe suggesting my coating wasn’t especially even. I also needed more sesame seeds than I thought. All that being said, it was delicious. Would recommend.

I bought an amaryllis around Hallowe’en time for something like £8, and it’s just come into bloom—it’s given me two flowering stalks, one of which has now produced three very handsome flowers! I think we’ll call that a success. I’m hoping they’ll stick around long enough to look impressive in the background of video calls. After some success with a £1 hyacinth bulb from Ikea, I also bought a reduced tub of hyacinths which I’ll also try growing indoors—they’re just starting to rise now.