Brrrrrrrrrrr

No going out work today for either Himself or me, because of the snow that fell all yesterday evening and overnight.
What a difference from yesterday. At 10.55am, I heard a now sadly all too familiar, loud low pitched drone and so dashed inside to find my camera, it was another plane bringing back dead soldiers to RAF Lynham and then the drive through Wootten Bassett, which is very close to us,The streets will be again be lined with people, paying their respects. It's very sad that it has to happen at all, but I'm glad the boys were bought home yesterday rather than today, because of the many hundreds that now attend each repatriation, all the traffic is in chaos for hours afterwards. Adding snow to the equation would have made it ghastly for everyone.

I was really grateful to get a phone call from my boss this morning telling me not to come in today, I did not fancy driving in all this snow. I notice that no one else around here has taken a car out either, but quite a few dog walkers have gone past the house.Love this snow doughnut:
Champagne doesn't think much of the snow either, but refuses the indignity of the litter tray!:This Mahonia bush is fairly protected by our outside boiler:

Himself worked from home and I did some BQL 'management' and then some sewing - Hurrah, I finished a UFO destined for our sofa - supposedly for Christmas: Hmm not bad, it's only three weeks late!
To help me through the cold, I also some ate more of our Christmas chocolates he he:-p Now I have a very sweet tooth, but my word these M&S ones are very sweet, even for me:(Oh don't worry, they'll still all get eaten trust me!) These posh Marc De Champagne are really, really delicious:but so rich I can only eat a maximum of two at a time! Pretty box no? These are rather nice too:but again quite rich.

The last of the decorations came down today - ah, shame. I've just got to pack them all away now, urgghh.

Used up the last of the smoked salmon and Philly cheese for supper - this is a lovely, quick and easy to make dish. Should be ready to eat in about fifteen minutes.
Cook pasta shapes, but please do not add any salt to the water. (these usually take about 12 minutes or so to cook)
Chop half an onion and a clove of garlic, and fry in another saucepan in a tablespoon of olive oil until the onion is opaque. Add a large roughly chopped courgette, some torn up fresh basil leaves and some freshly ground black pepper.
You could also add some frozen peas to make the dish go further if you want.
This all takes about 10 minutes.
Then add approximately half to two thirds of a 200gm tub of Philadelphia cream cheese (although mascarpone or creme fraiche works too) stir into veggies.
Stir in roughly torn up chunks of sliced smoked salmon. (Roughly chopped up Bernard Mathews turkey ham is good too)
Taste mixture and add more black pepper if you want - now do you see why you don't need any extra salt?
Drain off pasta
If your pan is big enough stir the pasta into the sauce, but if not tip the sauce over the pasta.

Gah, now if I'd been clever I would have saved a couple of basil leaves for decoration and called it a 'serving suggestion'...... but I'm not.