Juliette Orton

I  had such a busy week last week what with giving a talk to Chiltern Textiles Group on Monday, teaching stressed GCSE and A-level students Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday and loading up my car to the brim for an exhibition on Friday - all with a stinking cold! I was so relieved to actually get to my Mums house in Sussex on Friday afternoon when I could just exhale. By popular demand I was asked to do an Open House Art Exhibition in my Mums 250+ year old cottage in West Sussex - certainly a change from the clean lines of most galleries! There was a garage sale outside too with various pieces of architectural salvage and knick knacks so there was plenty to see. Excuse the dark photo but unfortunately it was quite cloudy in Sussex last weekend - and very cold. This chocolate box cottage has a beautiful setting with a big garden and a lot of sheds full of stuff that needs clearing (25 years worth!).          ...

As it's been about 10 weeks since I started my Autoimmune Paleo Diet I thought I'd reflect a little on how I'm doing and what I've learnt so far: It's very hard to have any sort of social life on this diet. I have been to several parties where I have just drunk water which I can just about cope with although I do miss a nice glass of red. I also had a funeral to go to this week which involved 5 hours of driving and a lot of food/drink planning which proved quite complicated but I got there in the end I actually really like the food and have never eaten so well. This book by Mickey Trescott is really well written and also useful with some great recipes Having two teenagers, a husband and a dog adds more complexity to mealtimes although I'm not really sure that the dog makes a difference. I do still need to have something sweet occasionally - fortunately not eating sugar makes honey taste ridiculously sweet. I seem to have been ab...