the price of milk

ugghhhhhhhhh hayfever. I wrote this yesterday, intending to put it up last night, but i got too distracted by knitting. So imagine it's monday.

I really can’t get over how much the groceries cost me on the weekend. I kept reading things about how food prices are going to go up, and lo and behold, there were up. Maybe it also had something to do with doing the shopping at a different supermarket too.
What got me the most was the price of butter. Normally I pay $2.00 for 500g at Pak N Save. At Woolworths yesterday it was $3.50 or something absurd. $3.50! I couldn’t get over it. I knew prices for butter were going up but by 75% is obscene. I’m going to have to rethink the amount of baking I do – and may just have to change from cookies and ginger crunch to scones. Which just aren’t the same as they lose that nice lightness after a day. So let’s just say I’m glad that we started to grow our own veges – it may just be the one thing we can save money on so that we can afford things like butter and flour.

That whinge over, I had the most amazing breakfast yesterday. Inspired by the boy’s breakfast of banana and peanut butter on toast, I decided to one-up him with peanut butter and slices of apple on spelt and flaxseed vogels. It was, quite simply, divine. One of those breakfasts that are so good I am going to save it for my weekend treat – not because it’s hideously bad for me but because I like it so much I don’t want to eat it so often it loses its appeal.

Despite my grand plans for crafting on the weekend (hand stitched linen napkins, new summer pj pants, maybe a tote bag) all I managed was a peggy square that wasn’t the right size. My excuse? The boy decided to invite a couple of friends over for dinner so I ended up hanging in the kitchen making my first ever butter chicken, flat bread and raita, and some reliable as ever brownies. I was a bit reluctant at first but ended up really enjoying the whole process – planning what to make, what to serve it in (discovering that we seriously lack serving vessels and utensils), and then sitting around drinking red wine, eating and chatting with the evening sunlight streaming through the windows. We’re so going to do it again. I can’t wait. And now I have four boy-less evenings to dedicate to things like (hand stitched linen napkins, new summer pj pants, maybe a tote bag.

I also started thinking about Christmas, while I sat and knitted my half ass peggy square. What can I make everyone without spending too much? And what do you make guys for Christmas? I kept thinking that it would be a bit lame to make the women everything and buy all the boys presents. Hmmm. The other tricky thing is that I would knit them all beanies and scarves, but it’s a tad unseasonal for that in the southern hemisphere. I’m going to have to brainstorm.