I chose to give away copies of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist for several reasons.

Firstly, and most importantly it is an immensely readable book, which slips quietly into the subconscious of the reader and stays with them for long after pap novels disappear.

Secondly, I applaud Paulo Coelho's approach to those who use filesharing technologies to share his work. He feels that people wanting to share his work is a good thing, and indeed actively encourages it. He has noticed increases in paper sales rather than the opposite effect. His take on filesharing of his work is that it is a complementary activity to traditional publishing rather than in competition with it. Publishers take note ;) His blog is consistently interesting.

Thirdly, it's short. I like short books. I have a bit of a butterfly brain, and short books serve my concentration patterns perfectly. Short, sweet, with impact.

Lastly, it's not perfect. And imperfections make us human.

My 24 copies were given away as follows:

I live in a building with 5 flats in it. I placed one book outside the flat of each of my neighbours.

I gave one to my colleague on the bus, and one to the bus driver on the way to work. I popped into the corner shop opposite my office and gave one to the assistant there, then went upstairs to the deli/sandwich shop and gave one to the lady who makes such generously stuffed sarnies for us.

I gave one to another colleague when I got to the office.

9 down 14 to go.

I plan to take the rest to my class at The Barre tonight, and the remaining books will be given away to random strangers in The Bridge Hotel from 6.30pm onwards. I shall keep one for the bus driver on my way home.

I recently made Caller Herrin' too. Again exactly as per, because it too is perfect. I have a load more knitting pics to upload here, but will save them for another day :).

2 medium aubergines
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon light tahini
2 tablespoons soya cream
olive oil to loosen to desired consistency
salt and pepper

1. Wash and dry the aubergines.
2. Place over a naked flame, or under a very hot grill, and char until blackened all over. This takes longer than you might think, and you need to turn the aubergines regularly. After about ten minutes they will be nicely blackened all over and the flesh will be softer.
3. Put them into a bowl and cover with cling film.
4. Leave to cool.
5. Don't be tempted to move on until the aubergines are cool, as you need that steam to finish cooking them.
6. Once cool rub the skin off and chop the now soft flesh up.
7. Blend everything together adding olive oil until you get a nice consistency - this is a matter of taste. Keep tasting too so that you get something you really like. I sometimes add more lemon juice.
8. Serve with raw veggies and some nice home made bread to dip into it.
9. I guarantee it won't last long.

1/2 loaf wholemeal bread, thinly sliced and spread with vegan spread
12-15 dates, roughly chopped
1/2 pint almond milk
1/2 block silken tofu
5 tablespoons golden caster sugar
pinch of nutmeg
handful of flaked almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
2. Grease a baking dish and arrange the bread in it.
3. Sprinkle over the dates.
4. Whisk together the almond milk, tofu, 4 tablespoons of sugar and nutmeg.
5. Pour over the bread and leave to soak for about 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with almonds then the remaining tablespoon of sugar.
7. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the almonds and sugar have formed a pale golden crust.
8. Leave to cool a few minutes.
9. Serve with fruit puree, vegan ice cream, or whatever takes your fancy.

3 spring onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
8oz cooked peas
1/4 of a lettuce, shredded
zest and juice of half a lemon
1/2 pint vegan stock
2/3 carton single soya cream
small handful of basil leaves (I like the small leaved greek basil)

1. Gently saute the onions and garlic until soft.
2. Add the peas, the stock, and the lemon zest.
3. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the lettuce.
5. Simmer for a minute.
6. Remove from heat.
7. Blitz.
8. Add lemon juice and cream.
9. Blitz briefly.
10. Add shredded basil leaves.
11. Serve.

1 sheet puff pastry
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely sliced
150g mushrooms, finely chopped
200g roughly chopped vacuum packed chestnuts
2 fat cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 generous teaspoon freeze dried tarragon
zest of half a lemon
small pinch of nutmeg
very small pinch of chilli powder
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons soya cream

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sweat onions and leek in oil until softened.
3. Add mushrooms and garlic.
4. Cook for a few minutes until the juices start to come out of the mushrooms, turn down heat and cook until almost dry.
5. Add chestnuts, tarragon, lemon zest, nutmeg, chilli, salt and pepper.
6. Stir.
7. Add cream.
8. Fill a pie dish with the filling.
9. Top with puff pastry, brush with soya cream.
10. Bake until golden brown and delicious looking (about 25-20 minutes should do it).
11. Cool slightly.
12. Eat.

I used a pre-rolled pack of supermarket puff pastry, but you can make your own, though it's a bit of a faff, and there are some good vegan puff pastry recipes.

1 sheet puff pastry
4 large tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon soya cream
oregano
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.


2. Place the rolled out sheet of pastry on to a baking sheet, or better still, to get really even cooking and a nice crispy base, use one of those wire ones sold to cook oven chips on.


3. Brush the surface with cream up to 1 cm from the edge.


4. Sprinkle the cream with oregano.


5. Lay the slices tomatoes over the cream to just cover the pastry.


6. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the tomatoes, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper (I use sea salt and black pepper)


7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.


8. Cool on a wire rack so that the base stays crispy.


9. Transfer to a plate when cool, cut up with a pizza wheel.


10. Chomp, enjoy the taste and the juices running down your chin.

PS I do have knitting content to blog, honest.....

100g plain white flour
100g wholemeal self raising flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
45g golden caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 mashed ripe bananas
4 heaped tablespoons apple stewed with cinnamon
Oat milk
Few drops rice vinegar

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Add banana, apple and enough oat milk to make a loose batter.
3. Add few drops rice vinegar.
4. Mix lightly with a wooden spoon, just until the dry ingredients are wet.
5. I put mine into 6 large muffin tins lined with baking parchment.
6. Bake for 35 mins.
7. Cool.
8. Eat.
9. Enjoy.

1. Saute onion in oil gently until soft.
2. Add celeriac, apple, stock and sage.
3. Simmer for 20 minutes or until celeriac is cooked.
4. Turn out heat.
5. Blitz until smooth.
6. Add cream, and salt & pepper to taste.

This is a sweet comforting winter soup, guaranteed to lift a jaded spirit.

I love a bit of evil knitwear and crochet in a music video.

Here he is, after having tasted the catnip snacks (thanks Tibbsy, he thought they were amazing), and the smelly cheese paste (he loved this Morris), investigating the moulded cheese and cat snack mouse (made by Pat). He was literally drooling as he licked the mousie.

He got more parcels this week than I did..... You are all very generous and Greebo says Thank You to all of you. He says he feels humbled by your kindness.