Imitation

Ellie was dropped off at the usual time. She was very chirpy and after her usual bowl of fruit, asked for some porridge. She made short work of that and two fruit smoothies. It's good to see such an appetite for breakfast.  We dropped her off at school and got on with our morning. Diane had an appointment for her "MOT" with the nurse and I wanted to do some accounts and sort out the road fund license for the Skoda.

After breakfast, I usually go to the freezer to retrieve some meat or fish as the basis for the evening meal. Diane said she fancied some meatballs and I remembered the dish I tried at "Ask:Italian" last week. Could I replicate it? Could I find the recipe? The answer to the first question was open to debate. The answer to the second was a resounding "no". I looked up the menu online and reread the description. How hard could it be?

I needed a trip to Sainsbury's to pick up some items we didn't have in the store cupboard. I then set about planning how I would proceed. With a firm idea in mind, I retired to the Orangery for an hour of reading before collecting Ellie.

Ellie bounced out of school and asked for a stop-off at the park. We were there for quite a while and were just preparing to leave when we got a call from Zoe to say that Ellie had been invited for a play date with Neve. That was it; she was, metaphorically, off and running. I dropped her off with Manisha and Neve and went home to start on the evening meal. Meatballs, roasted red peppers, roasted balsamic red onions, tomato and red wine sauce and mozzarella found their way into the pot; meanwhile, garlic bread toasted. It was a huge success. I must sit down and write the recipe tomorrow.

While all this excitement was bubbling on the hob, Di was on the phone with Jan Mills as they caught up with each others' health status and the latest family gossip.