procrastinating

and the news!

My apologies for a rather later post than usual this weekend - I have been epically procrastinating on all things work for the past few days. Instead, I have:

• intermittently horror-read the news - could not have put it better than Christina Patterson in this article;

• cleared a unit in the kitchen which has in various incarnations been a bar and a baby-changing area, put up shelves, painted them in Dimity, and turned them into a cookbook-overflow shelf:

Original cookbook shelf, overflow flows nicely, I think

• weeded & tidied up the garden;

• made a spring-ish display table (the Beatrix Potter containers are an ongoing pea-growing competition - so far Mia is winning. But I did have to rescue all the dried peas and re-plant them because the children drowned each pot in water as soon as I turned my back)

But where is the sun?

• and as an update on last week’s post, I spent an entire day refining planting plans for the children’s nursery, because with INCREDIBLE good luck, the head-teacher said she also wanted to put borders in on the land around the nursery - ‘but wasn’t sure which plants to choose.’ Why here’s a spreadsheet I prepared earlier! (It is possible she now regrets mentioning it, because she got this by EOP along with an Excel spreadsheet of costings, descriptions, a supplier list and suggested minimum quantities.)

Then I could have started on some work except that I…

• exhausted myself with all the above and had to take to my bed (with a box of Ferrero Rocher);

• saw a commercial property to let up the road, and started wondering about opening a dream-café;

• firmly reminded myself before making a moodboard or spreadsheet that I do not have the means, knowledge or time to open a café, or, crucially, have any business-sense;

• felt sad about this;

• went down to The Kitchen Table in Dorset and spoke to a BRILLIANT audience about The Roasting Tin books, which was technically work, but didn’t feel like it because Sarah & Jon there were such marvellous hosts, and the guests so lovely to chat with afterwards. Also ditched my phone and read The Woman in White on the way there and back;

With lovely readers - queue for books behind! Photograph by Melanie Aldridge

And finally since I can procrastinate no more, I am delighted to share with you the good news (which I wanted to share earlier in the week but there was a press embargo thing) - I have A NEW COOKBOOK COMING OUT NEXT YEAR!

It’s called ‘Thirty: Simple Half Hour recipes’, and it’s full of everything I’ve cooked over the past couple of years - low effort, but still elevating the everyday. Lots of the exciting flavour combinations that you’d expect, easy to put together on a weeknight (and, as you can guess, quick.) You can of course pre-order should you be keen - closer to pub we’ll have lots of exciting events, perks for subscribers and you’ll be the first to get sneak peeks of the book (shooting the pictures in May!)

Anyway, the bad news, the reason for all this procrastination, is that I NEED TO HAND IT IN AND THE END OF THE MONTH. Which means no more sloping off to the garden, creating dream planting plans, repainting corners of the house, rearranging bookshelves or opening fantasy restaurants, just buckling down and getting the last recipes done. AAAARGH.

Trying to remind myself that I did manage to hand in all my other books on time, and felt quite happy about that afterwards:

With all the books! Photograph by Melanie Aldridge

Oh also a VERY important question for you if you’re an existing Roasting Tin fan - what size do you think the new book should be? There was strong audience preference at the Kitchen Table event for the book to be the same height as the others - what do you think?

With that, I will leave you to a hopefully peaceful evening, I might take myself out for a restorative hot chocolate and a dog-walk. Till next week! xx