Photo diary: week 49, project 365

 One more week, and the school is over for a Christmas break. My younger son is counting the days, though Sash would most likely miss college, as it's his social life and variety from the same things we do at home.

My husband was away for a week, and I'm just tired of doing everything on my own. Though holidays bring their own challenges and issues, at least I won't need to get up in the dark to prepare breakfasts for everyone, and make sure nobody forgets their lunchboxes and other things. 

I'm taking part in the #penandinkchallenge whenever I have a chance, doing quick sketches with inks and pens. One of the prompts for the past week was a Christmas wreath. 

Another prompt was a Snow globe. I used one of the old photos of Eddie as a reference. He was about 3 years old, and loved his Elmer the patchwork elephant snow globe. We still keep it somewhere in the house.

I keep getting emails with offers from The Tomato Stall, and placed an order a week before. It arrived this week, a big box of fresh tomatoes which smell like summer, and some tomato-based products. I love the smell of tomatoes, for me that's one of the nicest scents. 

On Wednesday morning, after Sash left for college, I went into town to meet my friend for coffee and chat. Like me, she comes originally from Russia, and we have a lot in common. 

One of the recent books which I would recommend is Fannie by Rebecca F. John, a modern retelling of Fantine's story from Les Misérables. It's told from the perspective of this vulnerable tragic heroine. In this feminist version Fannie acquires a rebel-like, almost insurgent personality. Her body might be broken, but her spirit is not subdued. 

This book will be published in February by Honno Welsh Women's Press. I got an advance copy. 

One of early Christmas gifts for Eddie was this Polar bear bedding set. He found it funny.

One more of my drawings for the week. The theme was Elves. I used Diamine inks and markers.

Eddie's friend was coming over after school, and I decided to bake some gingerbread. I wanted to use a special carved board for biscuits, which was a gift from Sophie Anderson, the author of several wonderful books. 

The gingerbread has lost its definition after baking, though you can still see the bear. I should try to experiment with a different type of cookie dough to see if I can get the printed design more pronounced.

I've been trying to find a recipe for oven-baked tomato jam, which I've seen some time ago. I believe it was an Italian chef. Was it in a book, in a food supplement, who knows?! I searched high and low, and even appealed to my foodie friends on FB, but nobody seems to know what I'm talking about.

I found a variation of the recipe in one of my cook books, but that was not exactly what I wanted.

Anyway, I made a batch of oven-baked tomato jam, using some of the Tomato Stall produce. It was so tasty, I quickly made another batch, this time with the frozen cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves. I can happily eat the whole jar.

What else did we do in the last week?

We started watching Hawkeye on Disney +. It's not bad at all, though I find the female protagonist super annoying. I don't know if she's meant to be endearing by being so bubbly and "exuberant". She behaves like a child, and she is supposed to be 22 years old. 

Another series we began to watch is Alex Rider season 2 on Amazon. Eddie's a big fan, he read all the books in the Alex Rider series. It's pretty good, if you enjoy action films/series for young adults. I only laught at the "Russian" name of Yassen Grigorovich. Sorry to disappoint you, Anthony Horowitz, but Yassen is a totally made-up Russian name.

I've read The Scarlet Dress by Louise Douglas which I enjoyed very much. It's the second book by the author I read this year. If you have an Amazon Prime, this book is free on Prime Reading. Highly recommended, if you love psychological twisty mysteries. The descriptions of landscapes are so atmospheric, you can almost see yourself wandering around the Severn Sands on a gloomy day.

At the same time I re-started reading one of the books I picked up on NetGalley in spring. I didn't like it then and dropped it, then decided to give it another go, but I find it tedious. And of course, until I write a review for it on NetGalley, it will be a blot on my profile as an unfinished project. What do you do about the books on NetGalley that you don't enjoy? 

How was your week? Are you looking forward to winter holidays?

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