Popped on the scales this morning and surprisingly (LOL) my weight has crept up by almost five pounds! Although we eat healthily, I’ve been sneaking some compensatory treats (half a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food that Son foolishly left unguarded in the freezer, the one-glass-at-the-end-of-the-day-Sauvignon that morphed into two or three glasses, you know the sort of thing), and so I am now officially Mrs Blobby. I am sitting at my computer in unintentionally tight jeans looking longingly at the Versace collection for H&M – thanks Twitter for alerting me to this unlikely designer/high street partnership, although I shan’t be indulging as a) they don’t do size 22 and b) if you actually click on wonderful sexy little black dress shown above, it is unavailable and c) is not long enough to hide my puffy knees.

Anyhow, back to the kitchen to tend to my super healthy soup – after the scales shock, went foraging in the fridge and came away with some two week old celeriac and a few wrinkled parsnips; have added onion, chilli flakes, stock and masses of chopped coriander and it’s bubbling away on the Aga.


Postscript: Oh dear. While whizzing at top speed, the base of my blender came away and so did the soup! Spooned it back into the saucepan and it actually tasted OK, despite the additional flavour of kitchen worktop.