The smell of basil

Lately I have been testing my culinary skills, and to my amazement I've been turning out some edible dishes. The two I tried today were quite tasty if I say so myself. Originally, my trying new dishes stemmed from joining Weight Watchers (something I'm proving to be only partially devoted to). I didn't want to be tied down to only ready meals. I also wanted to try cooking things that Andy and the boys would eat as well. Today I made Keema - an Indian mince with vegetables, and it turned out to be something I liked the taste of, but more importantly, Alex did too. The next thing I tried was Lentil Casserole and I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm actually looking forward to making this dish for a few people I'm pretty sure will like it as well. I'm not sure Andy would be struck on it, but I'm sure he'll try it. This is the dish that I used the fresh basil for. Hrrmmm. Just to type out those words seems deviant of me, as I've never aspired to be one who spends much time in the kitchen, although I do cook, when the mood strikes . The amount of new food I've been attempting to cook though is a whole new experience and one that I don't dislike. Provided the recipe is easy to follow, I'm willing!

Because he hates it

My Nanny never left the house without donning a hat. She was a proper lady who looked good in almost any style of headdress and whenever I see hats of a certain style, or happen to see photos of the royal family, my thoughts often go right back to my Nanny and how lovely and elegant she looked whenever she was in public. What cheers me is that I think she passed the ability to wear hats on to me. There are few hats that I don't suit, but they are usually small styles that look bizarre on my rather large cranium. I was so excited last summer when I was to attend a proper English wedding (Andy's brother's) and knew that it would be at least one opportunity for me to don a large, gorgeous hat, of the variety you see at almost every English wedding. No one seems to do this back in Nova Scotia anymore. I remember advising my mother-in-law that she'd be more than welcome to wear a hat at my wedding, but she'd likely be the only one. If she didn't have a problem with that (and why should she?) nor did I. However she declined.

I am digressing.

My point is, that no one else in my family ever seems to wear a hat. I think my sister's don't because they don't think they look good in most hats, but I can't say, I never see them in one. When given the chance, I enjoy wearing a big, gorgeous hat and actually feel 'like a lady' for a short time (how very far from the truth you must be thinking), and people often tell me how great I look in hats. There is one style of hat though that has come into style, a hat that Andy says makes women look like 'American Train Engineers', or quite plainly 'a stupid mess'. My neighbour was wearing one the other day and I told her how great I thought she looked. Brittany Spears however was photographed in one and I did think she looked stupid - but in all fairness I think it was the angle she was wearing it at. The more Andy commented on this hat style though, the more determined I was that I was going to buy one. So the other day while shopping in Nottingham with Tasha I came across a hat stall selling all sorts of hats for only £5 each. One in particular stood out and I hesitantly tried it on, figuring there was no way it was going to fit my big head. It did. And it didn't look too bad (or at least Tasha and I didn't think it did). The more I looked at it the more I liked it and it matched my outfit that day so I figured for a fiver it would be worth it if I only wore it once. More importantly it would be worth the look on Andy's face when he saw me wearing the hat he absolutely abhors...