A Day in the Life of - Surreal Encounter in Shrewsbury & $90 Give Away

You might think that the $90 give away is the most exciting topic on today's agenda - and I have to agree with you. But doing exciting first is a bit like skipping straight to pudding - not character-forming at all - and so, believe me, I have your better interests at heart when I take you through the spuds and brocolli of my day. I went to bed at 2 am turned over some time later and saw Richard's eye open - and asked the time. He said 5.30 - time to get up. How did I get to be so obedient - I was never like this in my teens?? So, until lunch I did 15 kilogram arm raises and step aerobics - also with 15 kilograms. In fact, it has been a 15 kilogram day, wall to wall (literally) so far today and I should have explained earlier that 15 kilograms equates to a box of 10 of our latest books. Lunch had to be fixed on the go - and I am a great fan of reaching for a tin of chickpeas, broadbeans, butter beans, flageolet beans - whatever, draining them and popping them in a mixing pot, adding a couple of cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of cumin and a pinch of salt that have been whizzed together, juice and zest of lemon or lime, slug of toasted sesame oil, soup spoon of tahini and some water and blending to make a hummous spread. You can vary the oil - chilli oil is nice, rosemary infused oil with butter beans is lovely but forget the cumin. Plain olive or rapeseed oil with a good handful of fresh basil is yummy with flageolet. Pile on home made toast. Which today was a bit of an experiment with some Bacheldre Organic Oak Smoked Stoneground Strong Malted Blend Flour that I had picked up from their mill near Welshpool. The malted wheat flakes from the mill are cold smoked over locally sourced oak chippings for 18 hours in the smokehouse. Bliss - I am going to order some more on-line right after I have finished telling you about that $90 give away. But before I must tell you about a surreal few moments I had in the Tourist Information Office in biscuit famous Shrewsbury - not many miles away from the flour mill. Bless the Tourist Information people, they deal with everybody and some most bizarre enquiries. I was standing in line when a German tourist in front of me asked where she could buy Spelt bread. The Welsh ear is not perfectly attuned to German accents and so she was asked to repeat her question. The Tourist Information Guide continued to look puzzled and asked, 'How is that spelt?' Now this is a question so beautifully crafted to elicit the most philosophic facet of the intelligent German mind. 'How is that Spelt?' the German lady mused. 'By God?' She replied a little uncertainly. 'No, by real people,' said the Tourist Information Guide, fiddling with her poised pen. Yep, it was time for me to step in. Just another day in my life. So there you have had it, spuds, brocolli, hummous, oak smoked malted bread and all. OK. Pudding time! To conclude this week's giveaways, what more can I offer that a free copy of our new book? To enter the draw just click on the flying angel and I shall be over the moon to announce a winner next Saturday.