strange to be on marvel hill / i've walked some years to find

Since moving into a house with sofas and comfy chairs I have come across a new problem. When in a comfy chair with no table nearby, it's really hard to pour tea from a pot into a mug without the lid falling off the teapot ("doing a Mirat"). Of course, I would never do a Mirat, but to pour a good cuppa I have had to perfect the art of balancing a mug on my knee, leaving two hands on the teapot. A blend of Jasmine and "Pure Energy Blend" (a tea containing pineapple) turned out to be a good idea this evening and served as good practice in the above tea technique

I should probably say something more on the subject of my current abode. I moved in several weeks ago, but it wasn't until a week ago that everyone was here together. Living with a bunch of girls means that preparing a big birthday cake party on friday was almost pain-free. We had 11 cakes and some savoury food, with around 25 people to eat it, so unsurprisingly we have all eaten almost nothing but cake all weekend and it's still not finished. Louise gets the prize this evening for cooking a wonderful roast lamb - it's sad for her that Scotland lost a rugby match though. I saw some of the game but I have no comment on it that you couldn't read on the bbc website really - I'm no expert on the subject. On the cooking theme, it seems we have a brownie expert in Ruth, a cookie expert in Louisa, a cheesecake expert in Jo, and a general cooking phenomenon in Maria, in addition to Louise's newfound talent in roast dinner (and all the other wonderful food she makes). Living in a house with a living room, a sofa, a dining table, a new oven, a garden, a TV, wireless internet, and several cupboards of tea; this is going to be a good year!

PS the jelly I made for the party did not all get eaten, but it was a fun thing to make. I'll post a picture sometime