How much money would you like to earn? More importantly, at what point would an increase in salary and responsibility no longer be worth it?

I asked my fiancé this question on the back of a news story we were talking about on our community radio show on Friday. (Yes, it is everything you imagine – a hut in a playground, the noise of coffee cups in the background – it’s wonderful.)

“I’m not sure,” he said, “about £120,000?”

“£120,000??” I said. “You can tell you’ve come from London. Who earns £120,000??”

“Lots of people!” he said.

“Well, no one I know.”

The actual tipping point, according to research randomly conducted by Anchor Cheddar, (cheese? why?!), is just £37,000. 91% of the 2,000 people surveyed believe that there’s a point at which the extra salary simply isn’t worth the extra stress and the impact this has on your life. This point averaged out at £37,396. View Post

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They say you can tell a lot about a woman by the contents of her handbag, or possibly her medicine cabinet, I can’t remember which, but personally I think you can tell a lot about someone by having a nose inside their fridge.

Today then I’m going to show you my fridge.

(Lucky you).

Let’s start with the outside. The outside of my fridge is fairly aspirational. It features lots of cut out recipes, most of which I will never cook as they seem to either contain beetroot or sprouts. Nobody else in the house really likes beetroot or sprouts and I can’t see myself whipping up a roasted beetroot and goat’s cheese tart just for me. It was a nice picture though.

"Fridge door"

Also on my fridge is an interview with Barn the Spoon. I love Barn the Spoon. When I grow up I want to be him and live in the woods and contentedly carve spoons quietly by myself every day.

"Barn the Spoon"

Inside my fridge though is a slightly different story. Boyfriend tried very hard after he has done the shopping to arrange things thoughtfully but during the week I scupper his efforts, casually balancing trays of uncooked meats on top of fruit trifles and that sort of thing. In the fridge at the moment a mango sits happily on the top shelf next to some pesto, whilst on the wine rack, alongside the bottle of prosecco, you’ll find perched a bowl of grapes. I thought for some reason that if I put them in a bowl I would be more likely to eat them.

"Inside my fridge"

If you look closely, you can also see that there is at least one type of cheese of every shelf.

If you looked into the door of my fridge, (don’t – it is grubby), you would see that although I have completely run out of all kinds of milk, I do have half a bottle of Christmas pudding wine, some Baileys and a bottle of pre-mixed mint chocolate cocktail. All the essentials covered there I think.

I don’t really want to think about what all this says about me. On the outside we’ve got a nicely organised selection of pictures and cuttings, yet inside is a chaotic mix of cocktails, tropical fruit and cheese. I shall let you draw your own conclusions.

What does your fridge say about you? If you’d like to share your own pictures, please link up – I’d love to see.

For refrigerators, cookers and other buy now pay later electricals, visit BrightHouse who have kindly sponsored this blog post. 

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Today I have a recipe for you, a recipe for the ultimate cheesecake.

We were out for lunch at a lovely restaurant today called At The Chapel in Bruton, to celebrate my sister’s birthday, when I came across said cheesecake recipe. While we were finishing our lunch, the venue was being prepared for a wedding party, and the wedding cake, made of cheese, was taking pride of place on the bar.

"cheesecake recipe"

Please pass the crackers

To make this beautiful cheesecake for yourself, follow my simple cheesecake recipe:

  1. Place one massive cheese on a large wooden board.
  2. Place a slightly less massive cheese on top.
  3. Then add another large, but more manageable cheese.
  4. Finally, finish the tower with an ordinary sized cheese.

Enjoy!

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“I read your blog today in my free period,” said Bee, as I prepared her a wholesome dinner of beans on toast. “It wasn’t that great. I don’t really like it when you try to be serious. No offence. Constructive criticism and all that.”

Indeed. Such tact and diplomacy these teenagers have.

“You just like it though when I write down funny things that you’ve said don’t you?” I replied.

“Well yeah, cos that’s the only bit that’s funny.”

I decide to call her bluff. “Go on then,” I challenge her, “say something funny.”

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A little while ago my friend Emma at Me the Man and the Baby tagged me in a post, asking me to open my fridge to the world. When she tagged me, I looked in my fridge, and just couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of what was basically cans of lager and some cheese. I have been waiting since then for the day when my fridge looked as clean and wholesome as Emma’s, but unfortunately that day has never come.

This is the outside of my fridge, covered in magnets, including the rather funky scrabble magnets that Belle bought me for my birthday this week. The top of my fridge is covered with all manner of junk, including my collection of ‘milk jugs in the shape of chickens where the milk comes out of their beaks’.

Fridge magnet collection

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