Two small domestic considerations

1) I have just realised that I am a champion at stacking the freshly done washing up (I don't use  a dishwasher, see...). The kitchen in my little rented house is tiny, space is  at a premium; it's more like a caravan's cooking space than that of a "proper" house. For over a year and a half I have been adjusting to narrower rooms, tighter corners and a feeling of lilliput, and certain coping strategies have emerged, evolving into some quite skilled space management: of which the stacking of clean crokery, saucepans etc is a salient* example. Everest hasn't a thing over my mountain. On a single drainer, I manage to store and safely stack -for draining- almost all the contents of my cooking and eating tools cupboard. It's artistic, really! When I have my digital camera, I promise you a picture of this extra-ordinary stainless steel and porcelain erection; it's stunning in its equillibrium and it always needs drying... Ah and , please,  don't tell me about those contraptions which are meant to make stacking up easier; I just don't get on with them: I remain  a free spirit.

Which is probably why:

2) Although without a doubt my late mother made  the best mashed potatoes in the universe- starting with growing her own favorite mashing brand of the aforesaid tubers- , and I follow not too far on her traces, I now favour a purely chemical version of that dish (could be related to the vagaries** of the previous item, as you do need quite a few implements to make the best mashed potatoes in the world ; but this is a trade secret, and shall remain so, sorry!). For the chemical version, all you need is a boiling mixture of milk and water and the little flakes of chemicals and puff! in a wink of an eye you have your comforting meal at the ready...Did I mention I was feeling lazy?...I'll probably get fat as well what with all this mashed potatoe and inactivity. Oh, I know, I could always climb the washed up hill in the kitchen....

Off to have some breakfast. Love, and winks of the naughty elf kind a'plenty,

Jocelyne

*health warning: this is a pun!
** I used that word, then I had to look it up to see what it meant in my bilingual dictionary.
     vagary= "caprice"
     ...so, just right in fact! good brain!(pat, pat)