A Mixed Bag

Alas and alack, we don't see our little robins too much. I think they've moved nest so that they are now nesting at the end of next door's garden, and not ours. And while they do fly in for food, it's when they're passing, not whenever they hear the back door open. And I only just ordered some more mealworms by mail order when I couldn't get them in town. I hope they'll be back soon, I am glad we had the time when they were feeding from our hands before they moved on.
We do have a whole bunch of little baby sparrows - on some of them you can still see a bit of the yellow gape at the corners of their beaks, but not too much on this little one.

 
Still on the wedding card trail, as C's colleague just took the punched white flowers, and said she'd like something plainer for the second card. Vodafone seem to have some issues with broadband in the greater Dublin area. Their website (during the brief time I managed to get online) and their helpline said they were experiencing technical difficulties in the 01 and 046 areas, which they were working on resolving. However, when I asked C to look at  boards.ie, he said some people had posted that they just needed to change their username and password in the modem settings. Sure enough, that got me online again,  but I made the beaded dragonflies in the morning while I was offline and watching The Mikado, which I took out from the library the night before. If she doesn't like the dragonfly card - well, our anniversary is in a couple of weeks!

Seen this morning when I went out to get the paper and meat for the weekend.

We had these potatoes the other night. They are not for those who are worried about calories, but I operate on the all things in moderation principle, and while I do believe in using full cream and real butter when it's called for, we also eat a lot of vegetarian and low-fat food. We eat very little processed food - sometimes two or three weeks can go by without even opening a single tin.
The recipe came originally from Ronald Johnson's The American Table, which is a well-worn and well-used book. The onions are my addition, I like the flavour they add to the cream. We have this with steak or with roasts, usually.

Farmhouse Skillet Creamed Potatoes   serves 4
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
2 tblsp / 1oz butter
4 - 5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4" slices (I feel mine are a bit thicker)
salt, pepper and  nutmeg
1 medium white onion, cut into half and then cut into thin slices.

Put the cream, milk and butter into a large frying pan. Add the sliced potatoes and onions and season to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce to a very low heat. Cook gently for half an hour. Turn the potatoes over carefully, uncover and continue to cook for another half hour, till the potatoes are tender and the sauce is thick and creamy. Adjust seasoning and serve.