A friend called in last night with half a carrier bag of quinces for me last evening. It is only the second time I've ever got my hands on them so I'm looking forward to playing with them. A friend at church brought me three jam jars this morning so I reckon they will come in very useful.

I popped into Asda after church to get some milk. They did not have any skimmed milk which is what I prefer in my tea but they had just reduced lots of packs of meat. So we will be carnivores for the next couple of weeks but very inexpensively.

2 x 450g/500g packs of pig liver @ 32p each
2 x 450g packs of lambs kidney @ 50p each
1 pack of 2 large chicken escalopes @ 80p (treat for my husband who loves them)
1 very large pork chop @50p
3 pork steaks @ £1
550g of very lean diced pork @ £1.50

I love liver and onions and we also do a nice rice/veg/kidney risotto-like dish. They had steak reduced and pieces of cod and sausages but I was getting worried about not being able to fit everything in the freezer. What I've got there will do at least 14 days' meals and hopefully rather more when I've got my thinking cap on straight. You can be sure that every meal will still be having a bit of marrow in it to pad it out : ) Our onions and potatoes are still going strong and there are parsnips and various other bits around that we haven't started yet.

We've had a couple of eggs this week from the hen who had moulted most. Some of her feathers are not fully grown back yet but she is looking so much better - and obviously feeling more like herself if she has started laying again. She has not laid since August. The others must be feeling a bit more wintry because we only had 6 eggs yesterday from the 14 hens young enough to still be in lay. They miss their afternoon corn as they have gone to bed before I get home from work now that the clocks have changed. I miss seeing them as well. In another week or two, we'll have gone to work before they get up too. I'll only see them at the weekends then. Not only do I miss their funny antics and cheerful clucking but I miss being able to check them for signs of illness etc as well.

I've got my annual review tomorrow morning at work. Accountability is all very well but I hate the hoops you have to jump through. I just want to get on with my job and forget the hoops and jargon.