The oven's still going

Oh, right. Thanks for the reminder Erina :)

So the other thing we've got in the oven -apart from leftovers from last night's dinner- is a baby. But before I get into that, let me digress for a moment: Esther, the BBC recipe worked like a dream! It's perfect for those with short attention spans, like me. For anyone else who's interested, that was my maiden stab at a vegetarian shepherd's pie ... and just so you know how authentic it was, when Ste had his first forkful, he thought he tasted LAMB in it! Phwoar, like a REAL shepherd's LAMB! Indeed, what unfathomable magical results flow forth from the sacred combination of leek, peas and canned kidney beans.

Righty. Now having been with child for about 24 weeks makes me ... no greater an authority on anything that I wasn't already an authority on before (huh?). Except for the history of Sino-Tanzanian relations during the Cold War. But there is one value-adding comment that I can make about my first trimester. I was obsessed with 2 things: first, whether Peanut (for that is what Ste and I christianed the rather peanutty form darting around in my underbelly) was getting seasick in the wide expanse of the Amniotic Sea; and second, whether Peanut would spin in a clock-wise or anti-clockwise direction if I travelled between hemispheres. And no, it wasn't merely an academic exercise - I WAS actually due for a long haul trip.

Well. I was utterly shocked and dismayed when neither Doc Rabner (hitherto an English-speaking obstetrician of respectable Swiss quality) nor Ste (the bloke who knocked me up in the first place) entertained my urgent concerns about the health and welfare of the little legume. But I resolved to not be downtrodden by these hateful, spiteful, MEN.

Speaking of whom - where is Ste anyway ... it's nearly time for my back rub. And HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!!!