A Busy Weekend

   Gorgeous day yesterday - up in the high teens and I sat out in the sun for quite some time between bouts of garden tidy up. Lucy was here for the weekend and we had a couple of long walks. She is becoming much better behaved while on the leash.

   The monthly dance at Crescent School last night and I danced every dance but came home with aching feet. It took me forever to fall asleep despite a soak in the tub with Epsom Salts. Lucy kept me company as I tossed and turned. The clocks went forward overnight but I woke up before 9:00 a.m. Steve and Alison came for Lucy around 2:00 p.m. and I headed back to bed and slept until 4:00 p.m. so feel back to normal.

    Not as mild today and overcast with a chilly wind so no time in the garden. I used some chunks of stem ginger lurking in the fridge to make a gingerbread cake which is very tasty albeit a bit crumbly. I sliced it for the freezer but nibbled all the broken bits! Just a bowl of soup for lunch. Leftover stew and cabbage for dinner and still some left for tomorrow, that's three meals for the price of a half pound of beef. Apart from the gingercake today was a low carb day. Good for me!

It Feels Like Spring

   Out without a jacket for  a few hours this afternoon. I also saw some robins (a sure sign of approaching Spring) and, unbelievably, a woodpecker looking for bugs in my Mountain Ash tree! It was sunny until late afternoon when the temperature started to drop. I walked down to the corner store for a battery for the gas fire remote, and it was getting quite chilly. I had a tour of the garden before the sun went down and there are now lots of shoots appearing.

   Tennis this morning with Hendrina, Swan and Lillian and we had two good sets but ran out of time to finish the third set. I went straight from there to progressive bridge with the RTO group - six tables of very welcoming players and free coffee and cookies!  There were quite a few people there who also play at the senior's centre I attend so it was helpful to have a few familiar faces. I was once again, probably, the weakest player but no one complained and I managed to make a few contracts.

   Nothing exciting for dinner - just some leftover macaroni to which I added onion, a mushroom, some cheese sauce and some peas and, on top, panko breadcrumbs and grated parmesan - very tasty. However, I had some camembert on crackers with grapes before dinner - my special treat!

Baba Ganoush

   Well, the Baba Ganoush was excellent - I won't need to eat for a couple of hours and there's still some left for tomorrow. I'm having liver and onions for dinner tonight so will wait until around 7:00p.m. to eat. It doesn't take long to cook.

   The sun was shining most of the day and the temperature was above zero for a while this afternoon. I sat out getting some of "the D" for about half an hour but it got a bit chilly. The wind was from the south-west but still a bit cool.

   I had an early start today as I had to be on the computer by 7:00a.m. to sign up for the Spring and summer fitness classes. I almost forgot to get up in time but I even managed to get into the Zumba class! It's usually so popular there's a huge waiting list. I didn't sign up for yoga as I found it a bit too hard. I might try it again in the fall.

   I tried to load some photos but for some reason couldn't find where they went - maybe they will turn up in a file somewhere. I wanted to show the snow that will probably be gone by next weekend as the temperatures are forecast to rise in the next day or two with rain.

Two Eggplant Recipes

   Snow again this morning - it didn't lie on the paved areas but the grass and borders are well covered. It will be some time until we see anything green. It's strange how we had virtually no snow cover in January and February and have had as much snow in the first week of March as in the rest of the winter months combined.

    I fancied an eggplant when I was shopping this morning and when I got home with it I had a look through my cook books and on the Internet for some recipes, keeping in mind the pasta I brought home yesterday. My first job was to roast the eggplant, some of it sliced and the rest whole. I used the slices to jazz up the pasta with some fried onion and garlic and a tomato. With  a thick covering of cheese it was returned to the oven to bake until brown and crisp on top. It made a hearty dinner and there's enough for another day.

   When the whole piece of the eggplant had cooled, I scraped out the pulp and processed it with sesame paste (tahini), garlic and lemon juice to make baba ganoush. It turned out really well and I will have it with pita or tostitos tomorrow. I can't wait!