WHEN IT'S COLD OUTSIDE.. OUR THOUGHTS GO TO HOT FOOD.. HOT AS IN HOT & HOT AS IN CHILLI HOT!

She poked her nose out of the door, pulled it back very smartly and said "it's a good thing I bought yumyum yesterday, isn't it GeeGee?"

For the Beast from the East is a'blowing cold air our way. The sunny warm days of last Friday and Saturday are but a happy memory.

She has pruning to do but she isn't stupid, she'll wait for a week or two to do this, you should do it when it in Winter and although, officially, the first day of spring is on March 1st, it's cold and it's the cold that determines growth on trees, not a calendar!

Carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, a fat cabbage, a bowl of ginger root and a packet of rough chilli flakes were in WW when she came home last night.

Along with a Chinese porcelain bowl somebody donated, there's no 'chop' or mark on the bottom so it isn't priceless but pretty and she'll grow white hyacinth bulbs in it.

We went to bed late last night, for we watched, amongst other things on BBC4, a documentary on Queen Victoria and her nine children, what a simply monstrous mother she was! She had thought Constance was strict but she was a kitten compared to that old witch.

Another programme we watched was on the Iron Duke, aka the Duke of Wellington. An excellent programme with input from the current Duke and his sister, Lady Jane Wellesley and serious military historians. But his disastrous marriage to poor Kitty Pakenham.. oi vey!. was literally the stuff of nightmares.

So we woke up late and were hungry, I was very happy to eat my two eggs, she slurped hot ginger and honey tea and ate a ruby grapefruit. We then drank lots of LapySang to warm our throats and tummies.

We both fiddled about and before we knew it, it was lunch time. Usually she only eats twice a day, a grapefruit starts her day and we have a very early supper.

But on cold days, she eats soup.. no, that is not a typo, she eats soup because she takes a big pan of chicken broth, brings it to the boil, pours in black or red rice, adds chopped carrots, parsnip, ginger root, lowers the heat to simmer and cooks it for thirty minutes.

After twenty five minutes, she adds a handful of mangetout, sugarsnaps, a few sliced mushrooms. A vital ingredient is chilli.. oh yes, she was not born in Malaysia for nothing! A measure of rough chilli flakes make this a perfect lunch for cold day.

We'll be back to tell you what she cooked for us last night and my appalling behaviour when I learnt Head Office said that I'm not allowed to go to the shop any longer 'because someone might be allergic to birds'.. Sigh.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 22nd, 2018.