Because of my views about Christmas and Christmas shopping, we tend not to have piles and piles of stuff in the fridge gradually growing mould like so many of our friends and rellies have.

Even with my scrooge-like attitude to ‘festive fair’ though, I looked into our fridge today to find half a cheese and lentil loaf – left over from our Christmas dinner, served on the day with very traditional roast taters, mashed swede, brussel sprouts (the only time they ever see the light of day in this house is Christmas day, it’s not that I dislike them but I hate faffing around peeling them), roasted shallots and red wine gravy. It’s probably the most ‘traditional’ meal I ever serve!

Anyway, I hate chucking stuff out so I thought about what we could do with the rest of the loaf. I could have just done a ‘remake’ of the Christmas dinner, served with different veggies but I decided to try an experiment.

Tonight’s supper is going to be cannelloni stuffed with the remains of the cheese and lentil loaf, topped with a rich tomato sauce and baked in the oven. I hope it turns out well because if it does, it can become one of my new recipes for my recipe book!!!

While I was rolling the pasta with my birthday pressie from Jan, my little sis (yep, it’s a complete coincidence but her pressies have featured two days in a row), I looked at the clamp and was mulling over in my mind that the need for the new machine was because I’m so ham-fisted that I broke the clamp on my old one by tightening it too hard. I suddenly thought ‘yep, that’s as good a pic for today as any’ and here it is.

So, will the pasta prove a success? I sure hope so because I think we both need a perk-up. DM has been doing his tax return and isn’t in the best of humour and I’ve been chilled to the bone all day because it’s been snowing here and this cottage is still without working Rayburn and only a single fire for warmth. I’ll report back on its success rate tomorrow.

Two years ago, I was educating pop stars with my posting and last year, bizarrely ignored at the time, my shot has been one of my most successful images of all time if you count success as number of hits!