ENGLISH MUM

So I often get emails asking after Little C and Lou.  D battles cheerfully on, holding down a full time job as well as combining Mum/Dad duties at home.  It’s now, unbelievably, nearly two months since their Mum died and with the added childcare pressures of the summer holidays, it’s a wonder he doesn’t spontaneously combust. Happily, Little C and Lou are cheerful, muck-in with everybody...

What is it about Heinz tinned soups?  They’re actually pretty disgusting – I mean, how do they get that gelatinous texture?  It doesn’t bear thinking about.  And the mushroom flavour, which is #1′s preferred choice, is frankly revolting.  Too creamy, oddly grey in colour and, well, mushrooms don’t really taste like that, do they.  And then there’s the tomato flavour. ...

So me Ma’s visit all passed in a happy blur. Oh, apart from the bit when Bertie disgraced himself by eating her knitting needles- sorry Ma. Oh, and that other bit where Bertie disgraced himself by hopping into her bed and frightening her silly when she returned from a nocturnal trip to the loo – sorry again Ma. And yesterday I found myself dropping her at the airport again. Still, no point dwelling...

So you’ll like this one. Hubby, being a bit weird, can’t eat pasta at all – makes him gag, apparently (oh the drama). But he loves noodles, which as far as I’m concerned are exactly the same as pasta so I just substitute one for the other. When he comes home late from work I often put some noodles on as they’re quick and knock this chicken up, or sometimes I just do the chicken...

Seeing as our favourite Sunday lunch of all time is roast lemon chicken, I feel we’re somewhat wasteful with the leftovers as generally I’m too squeamish (or too knackered after the whole Sunday lunch palaver) to bother about picking over the considerable remains of 2kg of chicken, and it just goes in the bin. This Sunday, then, I made a mental note to save the chicken, and spent a mind-numbing half...

We had a right laugh yesterday. C&J came to dinner and I decided to rustle up a dodgy approximation of a Chinese meal. Actually, it went really well and although not particularly authentic, it tasted okay. I had that last-minute flap when everything suddenly either became ready or needed doing at the last minute, but that’s the beauty of having friends round, because they either don’t care, or...