When Julia returned home today one of the jobs I told her I had done was “blogging”. I’m not sure it’s actually a job, or that there’s much effort involved. However, on viewing eBay I realised that I hadn’t blogged. I’d sat down at the computer with the intention of blogging but I’d drifted off, checked a few auction results, looked up “cruciverbalism” (another word my spellchecker doesn’t like) (you will have to ask Derrick what it means) and cooked a pan of Italian-style sauce to go with the meatballs tonight.

I’m hoping they are going to be better than last night’s meatballs, which I managed to overcook and douse in quite a dangerous sauce. It was honey, soy and chilli but it became quite clingy after cooking, coated my tongue in burning sugar and then set on the plates. In culinary terms, I have had better nights. It tasted good, but Health and Safety probably wouldn’t have been keen. The meatballs, having been browned, left, then reheated, had a tough coating a and fought back when I tried biting them.

Tonight’s sauce won’t be quite as clingy and will be divided into two parts – one for tonight, one for tomorrow. I will cook the meatballs when we need them.

The other “job” of the day, which I accomplished successfully, was sitting in the back room of a shop drinking tea and talking about the old days. It may not be particularly hard, but you do need certain skills, such as a functioning memory, and broad knowledge of deceased dealers and an infinite capacity for depression and dullness. I score highly on all subjects.

Mainly, however, I must confess to researching bartitsu for a project I am starting. And I ate lentil soup. It was quite good but needs some work. However, it was cheap and, by grating the carrot as advised by  Helen (Growing out of Chaos) it became easier, quicker and less dangerous, as my dwindling knife skills are not called into use.

The start of an Italian-style sauce.