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My favourite things to do include eating tasty food, reading a good book and ruminating on and chatting about all of the things that happen around us. So this blog aims to bring these together with the dominant factor being the food! Recipes, places I have eaten, feasts and festivals, places to buy or taste, cookery books to browse and meals eaten and enjoyed will all be here. Mittens - mittens are maybe seen as children's gloves but they are much more effective at keeping you warm. I prefer the ones you get where it is a pair of fingerless mits with a mitten covering you pull over your fingers. This means that if you have to do something that requires full finger movement, you don't have to either take your gloves off or struggle with woolly challenged fingers. The fact that your fingers mingle in the mitt mean they share warmth rather than being trapped in their own lonely chilly wool finger. I got mine from Monsoon Accessorize although you can probably get some that are more robust from outdoorsy shops. Hot tea - I have posted before about making a right proper pot of tea . It is even more important when trying to conserve and create heat to warm the pot and your cup before making and serving your tea. In this weather dishes become very chilled and will therefore leach heat out of your food and hot drinks. So also warm plates before serving dinner etc. Have a bath - having a lovely warm bath is often the only time when I feel completely toasty and warm. It works a treat in cold weather. My key tips are to swirl warm water arond the bath before starting to fill - like warming a giant pot for tea! - so the bath has the chill taken off it. Make sure the bath is warm but not to hot - you don't want chilblains . I fill 2/3 full to a medium temp, get in, then add hot water as required. If you plunge icy toes into very hot water you could end up with painfyul feet. To make the bath more special than just a way to heat up,...

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