Apple Crumble 30.11.07

They say a change is as good as a rest, so after the trials and traumas of the day it is sometimes a welcome diversion to listen to Robbie's version of the news. This evening he informed me that the British pudding is in decline and that each household only consumes apple crumble 2.2 times per year. I must admit that we hardly ever have a pudding - too many calories, but I do like apple crumble. My favourite is bread and butter pudding with custard, but the custard has to be just right not too thick, but not thin and not too sweet.

http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/news/?id=219

Anyway, Robbie had far more exciting news to share today. He had hardly walked through the front door before he announced that he had something amazing to show me. He proudly produced a thick paperback book from his briefcase and offered it to me as if it was a bar of gold. He even sniffed it and gloried in that new book smell. The cause of all this excitement was the newly printed UK Rail Timetable. Robbie had been bemoaning the fact that they had ceased to produce a printed version of the timetable, but now the Stationary Office have produced one. I can't say that I was quite as excited as Robbie about the new publication, but it was nice to see him looking so happy!

Animal or Vegetable 13.04.07

Many of you will know that Robbie loves to eat and many people have marvelled at his capacity to clear not only his own plate but everyone else's as well. He will eat unspeakable things that I can't even bear to think about such as black pudding and dripping and haggis. However even Robbie has his limits and the general rule seems to be that if it is 'animal' he will eat it and if it is 'vegetable' he probably will not. He eats some vegetables now just to please me but he is not very adventurous - when we first met he didn't eat any vegetables! This reluctance leads to occasional conflict within the family as the girls try to be healthy and eat their '5 a day' but when Robbie cooks he omits the vegetables entirely if he can get away with it. One such episode occurred on Wednesday so yesterday I ensured that we had good fresh veg with our meal, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. Robbie was horrified and was scathing in his response, he reacted as if I was trying to poison him. He ate the carrots but he couldn't bear to look at the cauliflower and broccoli. It seems that it was almost grounds for divorce, thank goodness I didn't offer him sweetcorn (he hates it) that would caused an even worse reaction!