Reading, filters and yet more baking!

It was lovely to read all your comments and your own posts inspired by my piles of books the other day - thanks so much for your interest and your own fascinating views on reading! (And also on toys, whey and the other varied posts recently - it is great to hear from you, especially as I'm still a little too ill to get out and about). But of course, my post was about the books, not their contents, so I thought I'd show you a selection of what's actually been on my bedside table recently. The snow is outdoors, not in the bedroom, you'll be glad to hear. The thing about recommending books to other people is that I don't always know how they'll respond - for example, I do a lot of my reading with a sort of 'filter' which I don't even think about much. I aim to get what I can from the book and kind of filter out any bits that seem irritating, pointless or just plain wrong. But I know if I recommend a book to a certain person who has the opposite bedside table, he will often be so annoyed by the irritating, pointless or possibly wrong bits that he gives up the book. It seems a shame to me - there is so much good in many books that we may as well read them to gain the 'gold', and just ignore the 'dross'; sift the 'wheat' from the 'chaff'... I wonder if you read the same way?

I made Lululiz's friend's muffins using more whey! This proves MummyMad's theory that the whey can be substitued for buttermilk, at least in some recipes. Thanks for all your other suggestions too - I found a good ricotta recipe on the net thanks to your advice. Look at the pretty preparations! Thrifted sillicon cases, used for the first time, and a Sarah Smith cleaning cloth sent to me by the great and generous Liz herself.

They made a lovely addition to our tea yesterday - very healthy, very orangey. I substitued loads of things, because we didn't have all the ingredients in our cupboards, and it all worked - farine de blé noir (buckwheat) for wholemeal flour, and raisins and dates for the blueberries. Fresh blueberry season at the farm down the lane will trigger another round of this recipe, I hope.

This funny little photo shows you some of the cheeses from Ben's work canteen - he found they (and other foods) were frequently thrown out so he and several others salvage various bits and pieces at the end of the day! It's not exactly how we would buy cheese but it's free and it's better than seeing it chucked out. I can't eat it because of my low salt requirements, so I carry on with the home-made stuff.

And finally a lovely local bread, pain d'epis. Epis are the grains of wheat - can you see how each section is like a grain? A very popular loaf in our family, when we splash out for it.