Had another crack at cooking a Sunday roast at the weekend, and I have say that Aunt Bessie can do one!

Even The Duchess said mine turned out better than hers, which is a massive compliment. Still can’t poach an egg to save my life but the lessons are coming along.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to catch US musician Weyes Blood in concert at Wellington Opera House, and apart from an underwhelming support act and being surrounded by heavily pierced and tattooed twentysomethings that made me feel even more uncool than normal it was a great night.

Dressed in an elegant flowing white dress and cape, she glided around the stage like Kate Bush and possessing a beautiful voice reminiscent of Karen Carpenter, she played lots of lovely music like this :-

Her music is difficult to categorise, a sort of indie-folky-chillout vibe some term as “chamber pop” though I’ve never heard of it before. I would recommend giving her latest album “And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow” a listen, quite likely going to be my album of the year.

The Duchess has been passing on her repertoire of recipes to ensure that I eat properly once she’s karked it — hopefully not for some time! — with beef stew and dumplings being the latest lesson.

I made both types of dumpling; the crispy ones that The Duchess favours, plus some soft ones that my Mam used to make. Both tasted pretty good to me, the soft one tasting of childhood pleasures.

It took a surprising amount of work to make – almost as much as a full roast dinner – though partly because I went over the top with the volume, buying 2kg of beef and cutting it up fairly chunky so it took longer than anticipated in the slow cookers (we did so much it had to be split across two!) and left us with some extra portions I can be vacuum seal for her while I’m in the UK. Another one ticked off the list.

PS: Amusingly we’ve become so used to eating mostly Asian food that choosing British stodge is seen as exotic “forrin” food!

Hello again! It’s been a while, ey? Don’t worry, I’m not dead, I’ve just had 6 months of feeling fairly “meh”, lacking the motivation to do much other than work, eat, sleep and walk the doggo. Not depression or anything, just – I suspect at least – mental fallout from a testing couple of years for everyone.

By the end of 2022 I was feeling quite misanthropic and pessimistic about humanity’s chances of surviving long-term given how badly we (particularly those in authority and the unregulated bullshit-storm that is social media) handled Covid, and increasingly disconnected from society.

I’ve spent 2023 working to improve things, attacking the ennui through :-

• Reading up on Buddhism (though not to the point of embracing orange and taking the Bic razor to my head) and practicing mindfulness meditation – worked well if I was already feeling fairly calm, not so much when anxious
• Taking CBD Oil to reduce anxiety and be more calm generally – again it seems to work to some degree, though it’s impossible to quantify to what extent it helps and tastes like you’ve been licking an ashtray.
• Having weekly sessions with a local psychotherapist to tackle some of the reasons what this anxiety is about and what may have happened in the past to cause triggers – if it’s good enough for Tony Soprano it’s good enough for me. This has been really helpful, and while not cheap I would recommend it for anyone feeling like they have mental knots they need to detangle. It’s amazing how many “lightbulb moments” you have while during sessions.
• Taking a month’s break from work to relax and get some spring cleaning and chores caught up with.

With another UK trip locked in for August and an exciting new permanent job set to start next week I’m feeling much more positive and upbeat about the future, for now at least.