Not buying it birthday presents

It was my birthday over the weekend and I was really pleased that my friends worked in the spirit of our not buying it year with their presents.

K & S gave me the most wonderful green silk scarf from their own stash of scarves, D & S a present of 12 bottles of home made cider, which is as good as the organic home brewed cider we had in Brittany last year, their kids made me fabulous birthday cards with stickers and glitter, and my friend in Germany made me a recipe book that she entitled German Cooking.

In her card she says 'Since you are "not buying it" this year I would like to present you with a home made gift. I collected ten German recipes that are very cheap to make ... they derive from times when Germans had to make ends meet and use whatever they had including yesterday's leftovers. I hope they will add a new flavour to your cooking".

The book is full of fabulous recipes such as Elderberry Soup, Nudelauflauf, Poor Knights, et al and over this year I shall make each and everyone and blog about them. For those of you that have been reading Edna's Recipes, my blog about my mother's cooking, you'll know my heritage is German.

I am extremely pleased to have been given such creative, thoughtful, hand made and recycled presents.