Christmas and Beyond

As I sit here typing, balancing a bowl of heavily salted, roasted jumbo cashews whilst nursing a large G&T (and yes, Husband#1, now you can taste that two year old gin is quite fine), I'm worrying about the excess of cheese - particularly Stilton - that may go off in the fridge.  Is there a Stilton dessert that I can cook for Husband#1's birthday tea on Sunday? Already I have planned broccoli and cauliflower (blue) cheese for lunch on Sunday: is it possible to then have a Stilton soufflé as a starter for tea, followed by a Stilton and fig cheesecake (for example) for dessert?

May have to research that fig and Stilton cheesecake. Could it have a hovis biscuit base? It's sounding quite nice, but then maybe that's the part of me that's desperate not to waste. Certainly a cheese sauce will be created and frozen as there is a lot of blue cheese - bought in a panic of Armageddon proportions. What if they run out? It was beautiful last year, we need double this year. Maybe triple. Goes out of date on January 3rd? Not a problem to us. I over-estimated even out glutton. Oh dear.

So, let me go through what I've eaten in the last few days - ashamedly I have put on a 'few' pounds and will put on more before the sobriety starts. I believe it all started on Christmas Eve with Baby Big Girl's birthday party, an inspired 10am beginning with platters of cut fruit, two bought Spanish Omelette's with garlic mayo (well done again, Husband #1) and some Sainos Blueberry Mini Muffins. It all went down very well and guests were expelled at 12pm. Fish and chips, pork pie and various pickles provided energy for the rest of the day. 

Christmas started at 8.10am, waking up both children (wow!) and going downstairs for croissants and brioche. Then came Kathaleean's Christmas Dinner - never a meal to be missed. Turkey, bacon covered sausages (called..?), sausage stuffing, sage and onion stuffing, chestnut stuffing, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, sprouts, roast potatoes and mash. Oh, I forgot bread and cranberry sauces. I ate it all apart from the mash (a little excessive, Kathaleean?) and then moved onto the leftover sprouts, chestnut stuffing and parsnips. Excellent. Christmas pudding was also good with brandy sauce and custard - I've never been one to make up my mind. Tea wasn't necessary,

Boxing Day is my big one and it was tough - by 8pm I was laid out on the sofa pathetically unable to even lift the TV control. Serious fatigue. But the afternoon was good. Twenty noisy, hungry and thirsty guests (including a Meat-Eating Vegetarian, the Gluten Free Sister and the Child Who Eats Nothing) were all happily catered for. Starters were nibbles, put out as and when I thought of them - bread sticks, crisps, dips, squid in ink sauce, capers, gherkins, saucisson and plum tomatoes all appeared and disappeared nicely (eleven year old nephew - a treat to feed and upon whom to administer new tastes!). This was all followed by chicken in  cider sauce with leeks and carrots and optional, separately roasted chorizo. An adaptation of (Sir) Rick Stein's Spanish dish due to the Gluten Free Sister, but tasted good and was easily done. Then for the Vegetarian who has become the Meat-Eating Vegetarian, I'd made a Mushroom Stroganoff. In fairness I've made it a few years running now and everyone likes it, so it isn't especially for those with morals, just those with taste - but imagine my surprise when the Meat-Eating Vegetarian took a slice of ham to go with her Veggie Stroganoff and then polished off the Child Who Eats Nothing's chicken...

So to dessert: white chocolate and lemon mousse, which didn't set properly but tasted well so who cares? - and an Ina Garten Tarte Tatin, executed delightfully by Husband#1.

It was all good - but good enough to be absolutely physically spent by 8pm? Not sure. Will I be a professional chef? No. Will I cope if I owned a nice little café? Probably not. Will I do Boxing Day next year? Probably...

And so back to the future. My pizza is ready (it IS Friday after all) and I sit here researching what to do with Stilton. Answers on a postcard are very much needed.

Kathaleean's Turkey Soup - 2nd Best Meal at Christmas

Two days and Counting

Will I get to the end? Who knows. A presentation in briefing this morning brought a new meaning to nerves, add to that a day of assessment and a lunchtime meeting, and the chances are that exhaustive collapse before Friday are high.

And even before that there are high chances of food poisoning. Last night I realised that the beautiful vegetable tartes I'd bought for a lunch were use by yesterday. We agreed that money was too scarce to ignore them and so they would go to work today. Who forgot his? That's right. Husband #1 had a fresh, free school lunch whilst I ate salmonella and something akin to Norovirus. It tasted good. Probably all the better having been left out on the side in a hot office for the morning.

So to tea, which was a beautifully reheated lamb tagine, which I originally made for the girls but was too spicy, accompanied by a larger portion than necessary of rice - so what, I then ate three Ina Garten sized cheese straws. Ha ha ha.

Yes, that said cheese straws - baked by husband #1. Baking, on a Wednesday?! Yep. And my, they were good. Puff pastry, Gruyere, Parmesan and cheddar with dried thyme, salt and pepper. What else could you make?

Following last week's food fest on Saturday, with the lovely risotto and white chocolate and lemon mousse, I'm having to think long and hard about future (Mc)Cookings. I haven't used some of my ingredients for ages as I'm relying on my freezer stocks, but cooking is good, relaxing and satisfying. Being important as I am now becoming at work ;-) I am somehow going to have to have a think about how I reorganise the rest of my life. Or even just organising it in the first place would be good....

I don't want to hit an unGodly weight, become diabetic, have a heart attack or my kids to go to school in unironed gear. Something's got to give here - and I don't mean my zipper.

Hibernation? 10 Minutes Sleep Would Be Good.

Things in life just now are disorganised to say the least, so to emphasis that I'll start this post with a picture of the Gals pizza:

Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper

So, working extra hard and extra late on Wednesday was fine as Husband #1 was cooking a three course extravaganza and would greet me at the door with a large glass of red wine as I arrived home at some ungodly hour after 9pm. Whatever. Someone had different ideas: OFSTED.

So I had to buy (out of my own money) my own tea. And worse still I had to get Husband #1's favourite takeaway (the expensive version) and extra treats and snacks to 'sooth' his troubled being. I got home at 10pm. The takeaway was delicious, I have to say, though and I also enjoyed the many extra treats and it was well worth it to have bought a couple of Cobra beers.

So since my tough day on Wednesday I have also been a single parent. It's tough, but hey I don't have to do it all the time so I can cope. Husband #1 and I will never spilt up, no matter how I joke as we wouldn't be able to agree over the children. Neither of us could cope alone :-).

And forward to Saturday. I don't remember much in between except that Baby Big Girl has regressed and had two 'night feeds' - wow. (Just what you need in the middle of the night just having done a 17 hour day and the day before OFSTED.) Tonight the parents are coming for tea as a thank you for the ridiculous bed building event of last week. For the first time in months I'm doing REAL cooking with my own recipes and everything! We are having saucisson, giant capers, gherkins and cavalo nero stir fried with caramelised garlic for the starter, followed by a smoked haddock and black pudding risotto with leeks and a poached egg. For dessert, I'm experimenting for Christmas: a white chocolate and lemon mousse (last year I may have called it Panna Cotta).

All I did was melted two bars of Green and Black's white chocolate in 600ml double cream and then added 4 tsp of lemon curd. Today I've made four separate ramekins but on boxing day it will all go into one bowl and get scooped out. It tastes lovely and has indeed set. I'll see what it's like when we eat it - but I think it's be good for Boxing Day and the gluten free sister.


White Chocolate & Lemon Mousse

I'll update with the risotto when it's done. Cross fingers!

Smoked Haddock, Black Pudding & Leek Risotto with Poached Egg
 

Hibernation

It is official. I am going into hibernation. I'm not sure when as work and children, in conjunction with seasonal commitments have all to take some priority. But I know I will go into hibernation because I am building up my fatty layers so that I stay warm over the long months ahead.

Husband #1 isn't helping. He keeps buying snacks and goodies. It's a little like when Hal kept secretly fattening up Lois on Malcolm in The Middle. Little things like swapping the skimmed milk for semi-skimmed, adding an extra 1/2 spoon of sugar to her tea etc etc. Currently he's planning a lovely tea for tomorrow night as I'll be working late and he's treating me. Not sure quite what, but we are having chips (on a week night!!) and he did say something about his meal 'not requiring vegetables.'

I have to say I'm looking forward to the weekend as I'll get to cook something nice. Not sure what yet, but I think I'll do something new. Maybe I'll come up with something which will prove useful for Boxing Day (remember the gluten free sister?). I've seen a make ahead dessert, but it includes amaretti biscuits. Thinking I could swap those. A shoulder of lamb would be good as I hear gluten free pittas are quite good. And maybe I could do something new with the salmon - who needs croute anyway? There was once a delicious flour free cake in the Sainos magazine which was lovely but I lost the mag and Sainos were too tight to forward the recipe after the fact.

Oh well. Sleep now calls. It won't be the long one tonight, but I'll take what I can, safe in the knowledge that I won't freeze.

A Three Hour Nightmare to Start the Day

Someone along the A1 today had it worse than me, but what a nightmare - it took three hours to do a 40 -50 minute journey to work. Three hours, of which 90 minutes was spent desperate for the loo and trying to get to services on either side of the road, both of which were closed - I believe because they were too tight to let desperate motorists use their loos. Esso, (on either side on Barnsdale Bar) you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. And no, you don't do a 'stock take' at 8.30am on a Monday morning on one of the countries busier routes. Shocking.

And so today started well with Weetabix for breakfast and a packed lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely. Potato and onion tortilla (sold in Sainos, vacuum packed) with garlic mayo and tomatoes. delicious.

It's the nieces birthday, however and unfortunately there were crisps and cake. Can you believe it is possible, in half an hour, to eat sufficient crisps and cake to be too hungry for tea? Well it is. That said, there is still half the pot of Stilton left over from last night. That will need finishing later. Just quality assuring for Christmas, you understand.....

The Bed

What a day today has been. Set the alarm for 7.30am as the new bed was being delivered between 8 and 10am. Woke up to the doorbell ringing at 8.50am. Never has poor Biggie Big Girl been taken from her bed so quickly as we paid an extra £20 for the pleasure of it being carried upstairs. More about seemingly dubious and excessive charges later.....

So up we got, breakfasted quickly (tomorrow with the Cinnamon toast there will be only slow-paced relaxation) and got the girls dressed ready for Granny and Grandad to come over help put it up and swap round Baby Big Girls room. I'd even bought in extra ham and scufflers in case they were still with us for lunch.

Well.

The Bed

Many ham sandwiches, four cups of tea, a mince pie with whipped cream, a white chocolate cookie and a partridge in a pear tree later they've finally been able to go home and all is done.

It is 7pm. Eight hours of bed up-putting later and they've finally been able to relax on their day off. Oopsie. A dinner invite has been issued for next Saturday evening as I think it is more than well-deserved. Husband #1 is perusing Ina recipes as I type looking for luxurious delicacies to serve.

And so, whilst waiting for my asparagus to roast, my mayonnaise to garlic itself up and my steak to steakhouse itself and fry a large pile of chips, let me go back to seemingly dubious and excessive charges. Well, the place who sold us the bed offered to make it up it for £80. After this day, what a bargain that seems. Lesson to all: pay the money!

Tea: makes everything worthwhile

America

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Being a working mum who cooks is tough....

....but someone's go to do it.

Work is really tough at the moment - but fantastic at the same time. Food has gone downhill of late and there's been little in terms of new ideas or innovation, which is a shame. In fact today's weekly trip to the supermarket was done entirely from memory and so, having returned home and taken stock of what I have available to me I have the following meal list for the week:

 Tomorrow night will be a treat though as we've got loads of jacket potatoes in the garage so it will be asparagus, roasted in olive oil and sea salt dipped in garlic mayonnaise followed by a Barefoot style Steakhouse Steak and homemade, very deep fried chips and yet more garlic mayonnaise. Whilst I'm thinking about it I may just also do some onion rings as we also have quite a few of those lying around. I may as well have one last good meal before the chaos begins: Baby Big Girl is moving into a bed tomorrow and I dread the consequences. I've planned Cinnamon French Toast for breakfast on Sunday but may be too shattered to make it. The fear is tangible.

In the  meantime I'm starving. Last night a decision was made NOT to collect more milk from the One Stop due to the likelihood of yet more chocolate entering the house. Both blue and red were needed, but between the remaining blue and what green we had, I decided that we could manage at least for Baby Big Girl's bobby and our cups of tea (breakfast might take a kicking, but possibly not). Didn't the little pest take the opportunity last night to demand her first 3am bobby in about 10 months. What a nightmare. So definitely no breakfast followed by a meeting with someone important led to me eating the biscuits left over from last night's meeting for breakfast. At sainsburys I then ate a sample of breaded ham - it was nice, though I like mine sliced much thinner. Then I tried the piccalilli flavoured cheese. Disgusting. Had to have more breaded ham to get rid of the taste. And now I'm waiting for pizza - chicken, caramelised onion and green pepper. The favourite and just what a cold night in requires.

On a humorous note, glad to inform you that Baby Big Girl raided her sister's advent calendar. She went straight for number 24.  Clever girl that one....

Bonnie Tyler Style

Over the weekend I've had some dodgy throat moments, the worst at 3am on Saturday morning when I was in some real pain and had to take paracetamol that Husband #1 went to fetch for me - he's just bought a few more years of good McCookings.

Friday night's pizza was a pesto triumph with gouda and emmental instead of mozzarella plus I added slightly more tomato puree than I usually would. Saturday was Christmas Tree Day and so a simple tea was all that was allowed: a few weeks ago I'd bought cheeses which hadn't been eaten (amazing in this house) and so I made some bread, cut a pear and we had that with a celery, walnut an parmesan salad, courtesy of Husband #1. 

I have to say the bread was lovely - even if I say so myself and even though I only made half a portion (Nigel Slater recipe and he is of course, generous!) there was still a huge chunk to throw away to the birds on Sunday morning! Of the cheese, we had a stilton, a reblochon and another one which was a Spanish ewe's milk cheese and quite delicious. So busy were we from Christmas Tree decorating and then tidying up, we were even too full for chocolate. Don't know how to move on from there....

That night I put a lovely lamb shoulder joint into the oven on a bed of onion, carrot, garlic and boiling water - covered in a tightly sealed foil tent - on 140'. The smell in the morning was unbelievably good and by 1pm the lamb just fell off the bone - in fact the bone simply fell off. Teamed with home made tzatziki (mint, lemon, yoghurt and garlic), pitta bread and red onion, it was a real treat.

And this all followed a lovely breakfast of banana pancakes. I had to make up the recipe, but 250g flour, 1tsp baking powder, 40g melted butter, 2 eggs and some warm milk (200ml? I forgot to measure - but enough to make a thick batter!) seemed to do nicely. Then I added 2 large mashed bananas and cooked in a non-stick pan. No fat required. Even Baby-Big-Girl ate two and she never eats more than a single pancake.  Biggie ate two and a half! By the way, clearly there was also maple syrup involved.

But I realise why we in this house never eat Sunday roasts; Husband #1 was asleep shortly afterwards and I was dozy enough to allow the girls to strategically place stickers all around the room and glue cut out leaves (I cut them out!) onto doors and worktops around the downstairs in the quest to create a jungle theme. Clearly already bored of Christmas.

And so to tea. Planned to be a jacket potato, it soon turned into a rather excellent treat of yet another block of blue cheese with a glass of wine at 10.30pm. Oh well. I can diet next year.