The Bubbling Cauldron

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

I have no blips for today, so here instead is a picture of a dinosaur which Shenée sent me.

Today I had an all-day workshop scheduled with Ellie. The thing is, she was plopped into a HUGELY dysfunctional team about 3 months ago. 

This is one of the reasons I wanted to join the team. Firstly to give her an ally, but also because I actually LIKE tidying up mess. 

The team has been struck recently by a wave of resignations. Now it is just Ellie and two "Eeyores" as she puts it. 

And it is TIRING to be the Tigger when you are surrounded by Eeyores.

So I wanted a day of she and I having fun together and going through all the things so we can start tidying up the mess and making fart jokes but sorting things out while having a few larfs and coming up with a plan but also snacks. 

You know? A workshop.

In the event of things, it did not happen. First of all people kept SCHEDULING MEETINGS with us. They did not respect the sanctity of WORKSHOP. 

Secondly Ellie has had a tough week (outside of work) and so I said if she would rather stay home with AJ that would be fine and we could do the things another time. She protested at first but finally agreed and now we are going to workshop in the office next week instead.

I still spent hours with her today though. We made a start online and actually came up with some good stuff. She's a smart woman, full of energy and although my brain is different to hers - I'm more of a methodical thinker and found myself saying "WOOOAH!" to her on occasion because she was going so fast - we work well together. 

For example, we started the day by talking teapots. I showed her the Rachel Hale kitten teapot and this prompted her to bring out her entire COLLECTION. It was a nice start to the day.

At one point we had to join a boring meeting with a man who clearly had never operated a computer before and so we spent the whole time trying to make each other laugh by writing messages to each other in silly accents. 

Nevertheless. A good day. And Ellie is very sweet and always thanks me at the end of the day for the time we've spent together. 

I sometimes have to pinch myself and remember I'm at actual WORK. It is SO effing weird.

(I saw Smock on the train the other day. She said hello and was pleasant. I didn't tell her that I'm currently writing a story for Hani and Zay in which "Smock" is the villain.)

In other news, Ellie has set up a WhatsApp group called, "The Bubbling Cauldron" which you (Fat Pete and Princess) are welcome to join if you would like. (Just let me know). It is going to be our recipe sharing chat. 

So far, only Ellie has shared her recipes. I will paste her recipe for "Chicken Pom Pom Pie" below. 

If you would like to contribute, but don't fancy having recipes texted to you in New Zealand time you can always pass them to me and I can do so on your behalf. 

S.

ELLIE'S CHICKEN POM POM PIE RECIPE
100 grams cubed chicken breast or thigh
6 streaky bacon strips cut into small squares
1 white onion or medium leek (diced)
1 can condensed pumpkin soup
1 container of sour cream
Grated cheese
Pom poms (okay, so these are like mini hash browns which come in the frozen food section in NZ groceries. You may have to bog up an alternative or go with rostis or something).

Sweat the onion or leek, then fry up the chicken and bacon (drain juices).
Add the onion/leek to the chicken and bacon then mix in the pumpkin soup and sour cream.

Put this mixture into an oven dish and then add the grated cheese, place the pom-poms on top and bake until the pom-poms are nice and crispy on top. (Ellie adds that you CAN put on the pom-poms first and THEN the cheese, but she prefers a crispy pom-pom).