Winter

One of the things I dislike about our short winter days is the way that the darkness makes me think that it's later than it really is. Often we end up eating ridiculously early, as I think that, because it's been dark for a while, it must be dinnertime. And that seems to compress the short day even further, since, if it's an overcast day, it can be dark by 3.30. Conversely, in summer when the days are gloriously long, we end up not eating until ten...

I'm actually looking forward to cooking dinner tonight, though, because it's going to involve lots of garlic which means that I can use the nifty garlic-peeling device that my folks brought back from Canada.




It's a dishwasher-proof silicon pot-holder that also works as a trivet, a jar-opener and - weirdly - as a garlic peeler. Just roll it around the garlic clove and rub firmly, and the skin peels off like magic. Even more fun than the whack-the-clove-with-the-back-of-the-knife method.

We're going to watch Gaslight tonight after dinner - one advantage of dark winter evenings is that they're far better for scary movies than sunny summer ones!