Mini digger in the house

This is what was the garage and will be our central heating room, laundry room and small workshop.

Doug and team have started digging out the floor in the garage so we can insulate then lay concrete and not reduce the head room too much. It is quite low in there so we don't want it any lower. 

Doug also dug up some concrete that used to be against the wall to the left of the photo with the hammer on the mini digger. Unfortunately one of the hydraulic hoses sprung a bit of a leak so there is more to be done in the garage still.

Less useful now it is Spring

I started making an old down jacket of mine that I ruined in to a jacket for the dog quite a few months ago. It didn't fit her very well before I started

I have almost finished it now although it needs a button or velcro or something at the waist. I am not sure she is really impressed as she keeps trying to bite it off. Ungrateful! I am sure she will apreciate when it is cold again.

Air traffic control strike

I am in London on a Thursday evening which is all wrong! I should be at home!

French air traffic control are striking so my flihgt was cancelled. I have a (very expensive) BA flight at the crack of dawn tomorrow instead. 

I hope the proposed strikes over the next 2 weeks do not happen!

Sad to leave

nIt is normally hard leaving Doug (and Poppy) at the end of the weekend, but today seemed harder than normal. Perhaps the longer stay over Easter and the idyllic weather. We did some skiing, went out for dinner, did some gardening, planned the house (again!) and played with the animals.

View I am driving away from

London is a whole different world! Which will be fine when I get there, but I feel sad now.

Roof insulation finished, what now?

The roof supports are sorted out and all the insulation is in place. Much quicker than the main house with more people working on it and a simpler layout of the roof (no A frames). Plus Doug is an expert now.

There are many cracks around the place that we look at and wonder if they are growing...

We seem to have come up with a lot of ideas for floor plans, here is the latest.

We have moved the boot room and pantry back to the middle of the house so the downstairs isn't so open plan.

Upstairs is the bottom of the picture. The garage has a temporary toilet so we can live in that end of the house (ie with the bedroom above too) while we do the rest of the house.

As work will now start on the garage we need to be finalising the plans really soon, to a certain extent anyway where plumbing etc will need to be put in place before we insulate the walls of the garage.

Purple sprouting

Not sure if we have a different variety to last year or what, but the purple sprouting is just sprouting now. I love it. The kale also has gone to seed and the flowers taste quite similar - but even better raw than purple sprouting does. I could just eat and eat it. Quite healthy depending how much butter goes on it! Went well with roast lamb for our easter dinner.

Easier egg vanilla ice cream recipe

This is the original http://laviealapetiteferme.blogspot.fr/2014/08/vanilla-ice-cream-recipe.html

But I get lazy about separating eggs... so here is an easier version. Tastes just as good I think - although people say the yolks make it have a silkier texture - can't say I notice the difference.

300ml proper full fat milk (from your Jersey cow - or 250ml normal milk and 50ml cream)

1 large egg

Vanilla

50g sugar (more or less to taste)

Put everything in a pan and put over a medium heat. Whisk as it heats until it reaches around 70C and looks like custard (it coats the back of a spoon). Pour in to an ice cream maker and follow the makers instructions. Should be delicious!