New Toy

Quite a while ago, W spotted and bought for me some sausage skins thinking (rightly) that I might like to make my own sausages. I've had them for a while as I didn't particularly rate my chances of getting the filling into the cases without some form of help, and that help has now arrived. Behold, my sausage stuffer! Tomorrow it will be pressed into service; my first batch is going to be an Italian-style coarse pork and fennel sausage, which I plan to cook with a variation on Carbonara but with Pappardelle and leeks. Lets hope it all goes to plan.

On a completely different subject I had my five minutes of fame this morning when my name was read out by Anneka Rice on her BBC Radio 2 programme. She has a 'Rice Cracker' slot where people write in and suggest quirky, funny or just plain unusual songs and this morning she played my suggestion. If you happened to hear it (or happen to listen on catch-up on the BBC Radio Player - scroll to 107 minutes in), I can assure you the record is not my normal taste in music although one I like and that brings back memories!