In our house, we read books. My husband piles them like stalactites beside our bed. I stash one in my bag as I run out the door. Little e sits, making concentration noises and turns pages.

A few years ago, in the interests of making space, I needed to reduce the number of books I had. I decided that I would only keep what I could unreservedly recommend. No more “Well, you can borrow it, it's a good book but I didn't like...”

I'd love to share a list of books I can't live without. The list would go on and on as I remember "just one more". For fear of writing a school book report, if the house were on fire and I had to grab a book for each of us, here's what I'd save.

For Him – The Things They Carried

For me – The English Patient

For Little e – The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Things They Carried was the first book the my dearest recommended to me that I actually read. Not wanting to sound like a dust cover, but it really is a poignant depiction of a young generation finding themselves in another's war. (For years I confused Poignant and pungent, understandable really, but couldn't work out why the diary of Ann Frank was supposed to stink).

The English Patient was my Herodotus. I would clutch it throughout university and consult it whenever I was love lorn. No situation was ever as bad as being alone in the cave of swimmers waiting for help. This book might be a bit hard to find in the rush of a fire, however, as my dearest has packed it up somewhere that I can't locate.

The Hungry Caterpillar won't be hard to find at all. Little e has two copies now – one board book for reading herself and a “Two Person Book” paperback for bedtime stories.

You can't start them on good books too young as far as I'm concerned.

Note: I have heard that there is fabric that goes with this book and I would snap it up in an instant were I able to find it here. I'm watching Lily Boot's sampler with interest too.

I am still going on the quilt along with only a few stars left. I was waiting until star 9, but sometimes I'm just a little impatient.

I had an excuse to make real cupcakes over the weekend. These opportunities don't come along often so I grabbed it with both hands. Blemgorf had some beautiful panda cupcakes a while back so I just had to try them. So here goes...

I don't often get time to make real cupcakes. Though, I do use my silicon cupcake moulds a lot. They spend most of there time in the freezer holding & moulding baby food. It's also nice to know that there is always something cool in there to chew on for sore little gum.

I got excited about cupcakes last year. Patty cases were hard to find here so I bought everyone that caught my eye. I get a excited about the decorating rather than the recipe as no recipe has been able to match the Edmonds Cookbook one. When I confessed to a friend that I now have 7 different cases, she told me it was OK. If it's a hobby you can have as much as you like. I'm clinging to this as I justify my various stashes.

It's OK, It's a hobby. .

Edit: I have just found out about a cupcake swap over at Rachael Rabbit. The timing is very co-incidental and I'm really looking forward to it. Thinking up non-edible cupcake recipes already.