Perennial Anna

Because I had a lot of time to think while I was on hold to our gas and electricity suppliers (I refuse to believe that "Please can this Mr&Mrs account become a Mrs account?" is as complicated and unusual a request as they seem to think. Just as well I wasn't confusing them with Ms-not-Mrs and name changes, though those two will come).

How can a recipe that demands 200 grammes of plain chocolate be described as economy? Anyway, cocoa is the way forward for chocolate baking, not least because when you open the cupboard it is still there. Economy Gastronomy not entirely living up to the first part of its name there (£1 from charity shop).

So I have turned instead to A Girl Called Jack, which is less "You can actually make stuff from scratch, you know!" and more "Surprising uses for economy tinned beans!". Genuinely cheap and nutritious, though, and if I can persuade the children they like bean burgers I will be delighted, because my budget and my Strong Opinions about ethical meat-eating are getting a lot harder to reconcile.

And I might even turn the garden apples and some blackberries from the school run into a crumble, now I have worked out that this week's awful dopiness was not just the five and a half mile daily walk between school, nursery and home (up to seven or more miles if I do anything unusual like go to the supermarket), but also my buying the wrong kind of antihistamines by mistake. Cetirizine makes me very sleepy, loratadine doesn't, but when I was staying in  House With Cat and discovering a compelling argument for not getting a cat of my own the Co-op only had cetirizine, and I had thought I might as well use them up.

And I have been recklessly extravagant and bought a new kitchen bin, when the only things wrong with the 17 year old kitchen bin he brought into the marital flat were its awkward shape that made it impossible to clean, and the fact that I have always hated the colour. It was yellow, as was the washing up bowl. I now have a red bin (to match the microwave), a red washing up bowl, a chrome draining rack and cheap frames for a couple of prints. I do love Wilkinsons. Like Woolworths was, only better.