05.07 pm

Crikey, I’m all puffed out after having raced around Dalaran before I logged out and came here! I’d been looking up a brand new cooking recipe wot I learned in the Broken Isles today, so that I could make Demelza and Wynterthyme some fitting food to sustain us in our new and somewhat confusing quest chains! Er… it was a recipe for (*shudder!*) “Dried Mackerel” (and thank all the powers that be that I don’t have to actually eat the hideous sounding stuff! *shudder!*) and required Silver Mackerel x 5 (per portion) and a Cooking Fire. The Cooking Fire I had, the Silver Mackerel I didn’t have, so I quickly switched out of Wynterthyme to become Ambermyst, our Auctionator and Banker in Stormwind, ran across from the Banking Chambers to the Auction House (without checking to see how much gold I had on me first! Typical Ambermyst…) But… were there any Silver Mackerel to be had on the Auction House!? Luckily for Demelza and Wynterthyme, there were – tons of them! Seeing that these Silver Mackerel cost between 7 and 10 gold each, and because she hadn’t checked to see how much gold she had on her, Ambermyst only bought one stack of twenty, which she then posted off to Wynterthyme in Dalaran, and logged out. Wynterthyme logged on and ran for the Hotel Kitchen to do her cooking. “Dang!” exclaimed Wynterthyme “Why can’t I make Dried Mackerel, now that I have the… oh!” Yes, that’s right Wynterthyme, the recipe works a lot better when you remember to collect the fish from the – now terribly smelly – letterbox! So she collected the fish, and without even wiping the letterbox out, raced back to the kitchen. She constructed twenty pieces of Dried Mackerel, put ten of them into the Guild Bank (which now smells suspiciously like the letterbox!) for Demelza to collect, and put the other ten into her Magickal Fridge of Holding* in her backpack, logged out, turned back into me, and started writing! So that’s why I’m just a trifle hot, sweaty, and puffed out! 😉

However, I digress! We had a very good day in the Broken Isles today – I went up two levels, to level 102, and collected lots of nice new Herbs, and Julian (Demelza) went up one level, because she already went up to level 101 yesterday – and today she went up to level 102, so we’re both about even now… Demelza died twice, I died once, our poor Pets died multiple times, and we both gave our “Feign Death” abilities a good, solid work-out! I must remember to turn up my gamma settings though – I keep forgetting to, so when it’s dark, and there’s a lot going on around me, with special effects flickering and pulsing all over the place, and lots of people running this way and that – all I can see is a dark, smudgy blur! But we had a good time and accomplished a lot today, and no doubt we’ll sneak in a few hours of playing here or there during the week, while we wait impatiently for next Sunday! 🙂 Oh, I learned today that we can’t get hold of the elusive Essence Swapping whatever-it-is, to change Hati’s (our new wolf Pet) appearance, until we reach the level “cap” at level 110! I also had a bit of a quick squiz at some of the other players who were flying breezily past – they all seemed to be level 105 or higher, so in another three levels (or hopefully sooner!) we too should be able to earn our wings and fly again! 🙂

And that’s really about all there is to tell you about our day in the Broken Isles today! We scored some fairly good quest rewards, managed to knock over a lot of the smaller quest chains, and learnt a fair bit about the Lore of the new Expansion – so now I can get onto all the “good” bits! 😉

Food stuffs. Last night for dinner Julian made one of our favourite dishes – the Lamb and Harissa Lasagna with Feta and Oregano! As I think I mentioned last night, the new brand of Harissa that we’re using is just a touch hotter and spicier than the older brand, and it was just enough to give the lasagna a decent bit of a kick! I’m not a great fan of overly spicy food, but this was “bang-smack, spot on” – and extremely yummy and delicious! After dinner, Julian divided the leftover lasagna into individual portions, in individual containers, to cool down enough to put in the freezer – and there’s enough left over for four meals! It really is very economical, as well as being so delicious! For dessert I had one of my just-ripe-enough-to-eat yellow Nectarines, and one of my Vaalia Lemon Creme yoghurts. Today for lunch I had another sandwich made from the whole-meal bread with the sesame seed crust, with a different type of chicken chunks in it, chopped lettuce, and basil-pesto hummus as a butter substitute – unfortunately Julian forgot the Lemon Herb Dukkah (so I’m going to demand a double lot tomorrow! 😉 ) but even so, it was still an extremely delicious sandwich! Tonight being Sunday night, we’ll be having omelets for dinner. I’m not sure what Julian’s planning on putting in it tonight, but no doubt it will have crispy bacon, some of the cheese that he used last week that went so well in the omelet, fried onion, tomato, diced capsicum or maybe even some of the char-grilled peppers that he used in the lasagna last night – but never fear, I’ll fill you all in on what was in the omelet tomorrow night. Tonight for dessert I think I’ll have one of my Corella pears, and an Apple Le Rice.

Weigh-in this morning. Was still not a very pretty sight, but at least I didn’t go up again (that’ll probably happen tomorrow! 😦 ) I went from 65.5 kg to 65.5 kg – I stayed the same, which I suppose (says she grudgingly) is better than going up another three to five points! 😦 Oh well, we’ll see what tomorrow brings, won’t we!

Which pretty much brings me up to tomorrow – as it was Father’s Day today, Julian got a card and a very nice George Foreman “The Champ All In One Grill”, which (apparently!) Sears, Bakes and Grills, and which he can hardly wait to experiment with tomorrow night! 🙂 Next Sunday, he says he wants to be lazy, so the whole family’ll be going out for lunch – all Julian has to do is make up his mind where he wants to go! Our cleaning lady won’t be here this week because she was here last week (she comes fortnightly) so I should be able to get a good run-in with either Silverhands or Zelenka – I might actually stick with Silverhands tomorrow – she’s only got a few more levels before she’ll be able to fly in Azeroth, and at the moment it’s becoming quite important that she learn to do so as soon as possible! Josh will be here in the afternoon, which will be great – but that’s about all that I’m sure of about tomorrow! Auric, Dapple and Flipper are all chugging along quite nicely, as is what I can see of the garden and the veggie beds (I really need some sort of foot covering that isn’t my shoes (because I hate them so much) that I can wear when I go outside!) and really, that’s about “it” from me for tonight! However do drop in again tomorrow night, even if only to find out if my weight did go up again, or if it’s starting to calm down a little (“down” being the operative word there!) and whether Julian and I got to play with Wynterthyme and Demelza again, or if it was a totally Silverhands and Zelenka sort-of day. But until then, please do try to bee good, don’t forget to stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight, and remember to always drive carefully, to keep warm and dry, especially when it’s cold and wet, and to look after yourselves… but above all… please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂

*Magickal Fridges of Holding – are very handy little devices that come, free, with every pouch, bag, or backpack in World of Warcraft (which is probably why they’re all so danged expensive!) They weigh about as much as a butterfly’s antennae, and are physically smaller than a dried pea – but they can contain anything and everything from *shudder* Dried Mackerel, to Haunch of Mammoth, or even feasts for a Raiding Party of 40 or more! …and don’t you just wish that they existed in Real Life?! 😉