Happy 29th February!!

So today is an extra day in our year! It seems fitting to do something new or exciting. I'd love to have done something truly wild or lifechanging but unfortunately I'm not that extravagant.

I did however do two things I've never done before and have wanted to do:

Make shortbread.

Really, I've never made shortbread before so thought it was time to rectify that. I used a trusty Mary Berry recipe (100g flour, 100 butter, 50g caster sugar, 50 rice flour/semolina) and added cream and strawberries on top. The good thing is that they are so rich it's easy to limit yourself to just one!

Read a book in a day.

The books I tend to read are not often short or easy, also I work a lot so reading a book in a day is unfortunately not something I ever get a chance to do.

Today though I put my lunch hour aside to read A Song of Lunch, which is actually a long poem rather than a book. I really enjoyed it. The poem took about 40 minutes to read-literally a song for lunch if you like. For those who haven't read it or watched the television adaptation, the poem is about the lunch date between a man and his ex, whom he still loves. She is happy and married. He is decaying and full of regret. They meet in an Italian restaurant they frequented whilst together, shabby and past its zenith, the downturn in its fortunes seems to mirror the man's. The man gets increasingly drunk and as truths emerge it gets quite quite uncomfortable at the table. Witty and intelligent. Worth making 40 minutes for...

Enjoy the extra day!!!