It's nicely dull in the country. Its not quite warm, not quite wet, and
I am allergic to something in the vicinity - because my nose explodes
every time the door opens to the outside world. Something damp and
fungusy, probably. Hope it passes soon.

I have a new pet - a pot of fermenting milk. I was given a handful of
Kefir grains, a strange gelatinous mushroomy culture, which lurks in a
plastic pot in my suitcase. Every day I feed it fresh milk, and 24
hours later it gifts me a few glasses of fizzy sour mildly alcoholic
liquid which is oddly addictive. Its nice plain, nicer with a few
berries crushed into it, and now I'm looking for recipes...

Kefir is apparently well known and widely drunk in Russia and Poland -
all and any recipes from that region very welcome!