Budget dining

I thinned out my tomatoes yesterday. I planted 17 plants in individual pots before I ran out. That's too many isn't it? I still have maybe another 10 growing in the original seed tray. If this experiment goes well, we could have hundreds of tomatoes when it gets warmer. I found a bag of compost in the garage that must be 4 years old. I don't know if it goes off. I planted half the plants in the old compost and half in the new, so we will see what happens. They wilted a bit when I replanted them, but they perked up again.

Another great success this weekend was yesterday's roast chicken. They were on special offer in Tesco, so I picked one up. I do cook a little bit, but I only remember roasting a chicken once before. It was a roaring success anyway. I haven't been brave enough to try roast potatoes yet, but I think I am making that my next culinary goal. It was also very cheap. The chicken was just £3 and we only ate half of it. That's 75p each, plus vegetables of course. I want to roast some beef and make yorkshire pudding.

We continued buying baby stuff in preparation for the big event. We are now fully stocked with all lotions and potions required for arrival day. Isn't nappy cream expensive? God, what do they put in that stuff? We still need a steriliser thing. We are intending to get a "bung in microwave" type. The Tesco version seems to be about a quarter of the price of other units (though there are fewer extras) but it's also 2cm taller than all the others. By my calculation it won't quite fit in our microwave, which is a pain in the arse. We also need a rice steamer and food processor, these are not really baby related however.

The pushchair should come this week. I suppose we should collect it as soon as possible in case of unexpected arrival. It's from a shop near the parent's place, so they could pick it up for us. The dragon wants to go and see the parents on 26 March because it is both mothers day and 4 days before my mother's birthday. I think this is tempting fate because it's 5 days before estimated time of arrival (if we got the dates right). Life is however more exciting with the odd risk.

Apparently wild boar are becoming a problem in Britain. There seem to be several hundred living wild in the rural areas of the country now and, with the only natural preditors being wolves, bears, and lynx, there's nothing to keep the numbers down. There is a move afoot to have them designated game animals so they can be hunted. I quite like the thought of going on a boar hunt. They do that in the Asterix books. I had no idea that any wild boar still existed in the wild, but in Europe it seems that they have become something of a pest in some areas. In some places they have even adapted to urban living and eat out of dustbins like foxes.

In the news today, Tessa Jowell says there was no conflict of interest over a loan application she made, and a large sum of money allegedly given to her husband by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Sounds like she's in hot water. We don't like her though, so I don't think we care very much. Dan Brown is in court over allegations that he copied his idea for the Da Vinci Code from some other works. It was an awful book anyway. Ken Livingston has been suspended for telling a persistant reporter that he was acting like a concentration camp guard. It wasn't a very smart thing to say, but I think the guy deserved it and, as Ken rightly says, no one should remove the mayor from power except the voters. And George Michael has been arrested in London for pocession of a controlled substance. That boy just can't behave himself can he?