kestrel

 I wanted to make a cereal bar – something that Pete could take with him cycling, and I could eat after swimming, for an energy hit.  They’re so ridiculous expensive to buy, and we have muesli sitting in the cupboard uneaten.

I googled a bit, and came up with this:

I soaked the contents of a 250g bag of dried tropical fruit in about 5 tablespoons of apple juice for about half an hour.  Then I whizzed them up in the food processor.

Put 330g of muesli in a bowl, and melted 225g of marg in the microwave.  Added marg and fruit to the muesli and stirred it well.

Put it in a 7" square silicon cake pan, and baked at gas 5 for about 40 minutes.  Cooled in the pan, scoring it into bars when it was warm.

They are very nice but not quite the right texture – they need to be a bit stickier, but I don’t want to add syrup, so I shall have a mull.

Originally posted at Reactive Cooking

I’ve worn glasses since I was ten – so 45 years (eek). I got my first contact lenses from my mother as a 21st birthday present, and since then over a period of 15 years or more I’ve tried everything, right up until extended wear toric lenses, which were wonderful for about a year, and then … weren’t. I gave up at that point.

Now, as I hurtle into badgerdom, I still have astigmatism, particularly bad in my left eye, and wear varifocals. Last time I had my eyes tested, I asked about laser surgery, but they said they could only correct the long distance, and I’d still need glasses for reading/working, so I decided against. To be fair, I felt quite squicked by it all anyway.

Last week I looked at the cost of a lens implant, but it would be over £3k, and I can’t afford it. But it led me to thinking about contacts again. So today I took myself down to Specsavers in Nailsea, who have been my opticians for a few years now. Their contact lens assessment is free, so there was nothing to lose.

They say that they can completely correct my distance vision and astigmatism with daily wear lenses for £15 a month, to include postage and cleaning solutions and everything. *£15 a month* – amazing. *And* they do a free trial. They not sure if they do an extended wear lens to suit my appalling sight, but I know other places do, and I’d much prefer that, but I’ll try the daily ones for a while. This 15 quid is payable quarterly, by direct debit – no cancellation fee, no need to take lenses every month. It all seems too good to be true, and I expect I’ve forgotten to ask some important question, but ne’er mind.

I’ll need glasses for reading/working, but “off-the-shelf” ones will be fine, she said. Needless to say, they didn’t have any lenses to suit an old bat like me, so she’s ordering some in, and I will go back next week to try them out.

After I left, I spent a happy 20 minutes trying on sunglasses in Boots – haven’t worn nice sunglasses for a very long time. All quite exciting, really.

I haz it. ramtops@

much thanks to lovingboth for the invite.