Domestic Goddess

It's still very pretty over the common at the moment, even on a dull day like today.

During my TV fest last night I also watched the first in Nigella's new series. I liked what I saw and made a mental note to check out her inevitable book when I went to Sainsbury's today (I've bought her books in the past and know them to be very good). So I sauntered round to the book section this afternoon and was somewhat surprised that there were no Nigella books on the shelves. Odd, I thought, and somewhat disappointing. I was just about to head off to the vegetable section when I realised that a woman standing by the books was in fact reading what must have been the only remaining copy in the store. It's a big book and she seemed to be engrossed in it so I picked up a book from the fiction section and pretended to read it, while keeping a stealthy eye on her. Eventually, she put the book back on the shelf and pushed off with her trolley. I saw my chance and quickly leapt over to the food section and picked up The Nigella. I then started leafing through the pages myself, checking out the recipes (as best I could without my glasses which were, of course, at home). After a while I became aware of the presence of another woman standing next to me. When I say 'another woman' I can't be sure it wasn't the original one having returned as I didn't look and carefully pretended to be unaware of her presence. Either way, she was clearly waiting to see if I was going to put the book back on the shelf. The heck I was! So I put the book in my basket and went off to get the other items on my list, smiling smugly at having secured the only remaining copy of the book in the village.

But that's not all. While I was paying, I noticed that there was a small rip on the dust cover so I drew this to the attention of the check-out assistant who called the supervisor over. When I explained that the book was damaged but that it appeared to be the only copy left in the store she said there would be another delivery coming in before the week was out but that she could offer me a discount if I was happy to stick with this copy. And so I went off with a £26 RRP book which would have cost £12.99 for £8.49.

And, having now looked through it properly with my glasses on, I am pleased to report that it is packed full of great, so-easy-even-I-can-cook-them recipes that I can't wait to try out...particularly the cookie dough one...