Bishops, bathrooms and baked potatoes!

Hello dear Peeps! I hope you are all well and bright and bushy-tailed.

Last weekend I was in Munich, at the convention of the Convocation of Episcopal Church in Europe. You can read about it over at The Teapot, should you wish to. As this is a food related blog, I can tell you that the Bishop's dinner, served in an amazing former Palm House of a Schloss, somewhere in Munich, was delicious.

 

There was a welcome drink of sparkling wine, and then the meal. We started with a salad, with bacon crispy bits and tiny croutons, followed by a choice of main courses. I chose roast duck, in a blackberry sauce, with potato gratin and vegetables (over pork, and dumplings) - which was a great choice. The pork-dumpling combo looked really hefty! We finished with apple strudel and creme anglaise (though I'm not sure what that is in German!).  During the meal charming young people (who spoke excellent English) served wine, or beer, in copious amounts. 

Other food, served at the Schloss where we were staying and holding the convention, was of the rather heavy German variety, but it was still perfectly acceptable. The Sisters who ran the place, and their staff, pulled out all the stops for a dinner-dance the last evening. There was lots of tasty food - I particularly liked the Rumanian aubergine dish - I'm not quite sure what was in it (except aubergines!) but it was yummy.

I came home to find we had no bathroom! The workmen had started. We have solved our money worries - not quite to our satisfaction, but we decided to take out a bank loan - and what a palaver that was! Mr FD spoke to an advisor on the phone, & got approval. He then filled everything out on line, and "virtually" signed the papers, only requiring me to do the same. But would it work for me? No! I tried, I went to the bank & they tried, Mr FD came to the bank & they tried again, we came home & tried - all to no avail. Finally, we went into the bank and did it all the old-fashioned way!  When we sell the car, the money will be squirrelled away to pay the bank loan off, so we know that we'll always have the monthly payments to hand. It is so long since we've had any credit like this, we feel slightly uncomfortable about it - especially as we don't have regular income - but the fact that we'll (eventually!) have the car money to pay it off softens the discomfort.

Anyway, the bathroom is coming on...it should be finished by the end of next week. We have been very grateful that some people for whom Mr FD sometimes does some IT work, have said that we can use their holiday home to shower in. They are very rich, and their house has 4 bathrooms (four!!!) so Mr FD & I can use separate showers. We have it down to a fine art now: breakfast at home, wear our scruffs, go to C&A's, shower, change to work clothes and set off for work from there. Thankfully, wre have a sepoarate toilet here, so we have been able to use that, and the basin during the day & at night. Imagine if we'd not had a toilet too!

Food this week at Dormouse Towers is as follows:

YESTERDAY: pulled pork, baked potato, coleslaw

TODAY: Lamb Panang Curry, slow< cookered (not that I have Panang curry paste - I'll use what I've got!) with rice.

MONDAY: Pulled pork again, chips and salad.

TUESDAY: Chilli & rice. Or maybe mushroom risotto. Or maybe Kamchatka. Not quite sure yet.

WEDNESDAY: English sausages, baked potato, beans.

After that, I have no idea! I'm not sure quite when I'm going to get to go shopping this week, so I may be making stuff up out of the freezer. Which is fine, but slightly less organised!

We are going to see The Divine Comedy in Lyon on Wednesday - huzzah! Really looking forward to that.

Here's a link to their recent song "Catherine the Great"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                But today I have to start making 200 handmade cards for the Bishop who wants me to make his Christmas cards this year. Gulp.