In which I finally post pictures of my Easter chocolates and I discover a fantastic use for leftover risotto!

Apologies for not including the results of my chocolate making sooner. Let’s just say that so far, 2012 has not been my year.

In which pets that don't belong behind bars are, and pets that do belong behind bars aren't...

Thought you might be interested to see how big Otto is now. These prison shots were taken when Dino was doing some work in the yard and decided he didn't need close canine supervision.

In which time passes and we still haven’t posted… nor have we mentioned any books until now.

I recently read a book  (which I won’t name, those of you that have read it may recognise it, those of you who don’t won’t have it spoilt), which I was very much enjoying, right up until the point where one of the main characters suddenly dies.  I had not expected this. It hadn’t been the sort of book that leads you to the supposition that there will be no happy ending.

In which we finish one year with a Moroccan tagine and start a new one with an apple and oat cake.

2011, the year that was … harder than we expected.

It’s been a long time between blogs and I’m sorry about that. 2011 didn’t end up being the year that I’d hoped. For one, studying and working full-time was much harder than I expected.  It made me extremely conscious of how much time I must normally waste. On top of that stress, we lost Wilhemina, Norman and, just a few days short of 2012, we lost Chuck Norris too. We almost lost Otto Macduff to a tick just before Christmas and had to watch Chester suffer on his own for the week Otto was at the vets. We had our share of illnesses and personal ups and downs. We ate more than our normal quota of takeaway and for a while cooking was just a necessity.