A Toilet Roll a Day and Other Adventures

Frivolous blog post, but I chuckled massively whilst thinking of these, so when I come back to my blog looking for good memories in the future, I will chuckle too.

0: the number of uninterrupted showers I have taken this holiday
1: the quantity of toilet rolls we've used per day
2: the quarters of toast Booboo will eat for breakfast before asking for a 'deal'
3: the spoonfuls of any meal eaten by Booboo before the request for a 'deal' is made
4: the number of times I need to tell anyone to stop hitting a sibling before they'll even consider it
5: the number of times Husband#1 has wiped the work top, having just tidied up (he tidied 37 times)
6: the number of trips to the loo Husband#1 made in one shopping trip with the girls
7: the number of meals (105 in total) that Biggie has eaten without screwing her nose up
8: the average number of socks (not pairs) on the stairs waiting to go upstairs to the wash basket
9: multiply by 17 to get near to the number of daily sibling fights between Biggie and Booboo
10: the total number of minutes I've had peace and quiet this last six weeks
11: multiply by three and you get the pounds I need to lose (and yet I still won't make skinny)
12: the number of washes needed per week to keep in civilian gear (school uniforms are food resistant)
13: unlucky for some, for me the date of eye surgery I cannot rearrange :-(
14: the number of apparently diabetes causing fruit juices my gals drink per week :-(
15: the number of punches Husband#1 gets before he stops snoring
16: apparently the number of punches it takes me to stop snoring
17: the number of 'matoes' Booboo will eat without question
18: the number of courses Biggie will eat: starter, main, pudding, cheese, fruit, yoghurt etc
19: the number of minutes it takes Biggie to have a wash in the morning, with reminders to keep moving
20: the number of times I hear "I'm telling you off" during the average hour's play

Oh dear. I'm chuckling again, but do you know what? I love it - this chaos and more!

He he he.

Blog Off

I'm really fed up to day, in fact it all started late last night, continued through the night and into the day. It could be that going back to work is making me sad. I just get to know those gals of mine and learn to cope with them as a full time mother when I get pulled away and forced into relying on others and not knowing what to do with them on a weekend. They are so beautiful, funny and clever. In fact, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I feel sorry for those of you whose kids aren't mine! The mood could also be because somewhere, somehow, every thirty seconds or so there was a loud bang last night. It was so loud, I got up to investigate, whilst Husband#1 snored on. I wasn't asleep until after 2am and I had to be up at 7.30am to take the car for another service. That was a great improver of my mood. Not. Massive bill this week and then it has to go back in two weeks time for more work. Great.

So the day started with porridge and syrup for all (even Booboo had a small bowl) and then we went out into town for various things and ended up lunching in the same old deli as earlier in the week - you'd have thought we were made of money!

For tea I've made the girls chicken and sweetcorn soup - a really easy one is this. You sauté an onion and some garlic until soft and then add chicken - thighs are best. I used about 600g. I then stripped four sweetcorn cobs of the sweetcorn (straight into a bowl to avoid spillage!) and added to the pan once the chicken had browned. Finally I added about a litre of chicken stock, maybe slightly more and put the empty cobs back in for flavour. This simmered for about ten minutes when I added a cornflour and water mix to thicken and then served. I have another three portions in the freezer from this mix.

It's pizza night for Husband#1 and I. Garlic mushroom - not my favourite, but it will do. Just make sure to cook the mushrooms before you put them on the pizza or the pizza will be really soggy. I had way too many mushrooms tonight so managed to put some (cooked) in the fridge and we'll have them for tea on Monday on a lovely olive oil drizzled ciabatta.

Life isn't all bad, is it? My glass is definitely half full...

Family Octopus & Chips

And so tonight is Family Octopus and Chips night. I type as the chips are chipping and the octopus is having it's final few minutes in the oven. Very exciting for an octopod fan. The gals keep running in to see if it's ready and I think the lovely brownie sat waiting on the side is only a slight distraction! The whole reason why the gals are having this is that I have literally been begged. When Biggie goes to the supermarket with me, she asks loads of questions about food and I'm not shy to give the answers, believing it's much better for kids to know where their food is from and how it got there. So when she asks the fishmonger (usually a very young lad, not far out of school) how exactly did the octopus die, I don't curtail the answer, indeed if he doesn't give it straight I will interrupt! Here she is, pictured below, helping me to wash one before I cleaned it out earlier this year. I love it that she's so confident with food.

Biggie cleaning octopus for tea



 

So we made the brownies this morning, using a Barefoot recipe again - as I mentioned previously, Husband#1 has an obsession and the gals are often to be seen reading her books, so I had little choice. I have no problem with Ina, but I have to say I've a few recipes which haven't worked out for me and that puts me off. Husband#1 and Ina are synchronised perfectly and anything she can do...It sounded quite complicated and faffy, but actually it was really straight forward and any waiting time mentioned in the book is really short and almost unnecessary. By the time they'd baked the smell was delightful. So I covered in a caramel sauce that I think would make Ina's hair curl, but it was all that was available to me and I'll have to do better in the shops next time - I may even make one myself - but it worked and was so, so good. In fact, we were planning a late night chocolatey treat, but these brownies are so rich, they will do. And I can't wait to add a glass of red wine to the mix...Diet? What diet?

 

 

And finally, the pièce de résistance: Octopus and Chips. Using a (Sir) Rick Stein method of cooking, I out the octopus in a Dutch oven with about 100ml of olive oil (there was about 1300g of octopus, two large ones) and placed in the over on 150* for about 2 hours. In fact it was more than enough time to have a lovely walk out with the gals. Booboo's pushchair (broken at the caravan) went to the tip this morning and even though we did the extra long walk of about forty-five minutes, she did it a treat. We even managed to get a look at the chicken coop on the local allotments - I think we may have some rescue battery hens coming to live with us in Spring! We arrived back to a lovely, if unrecognisable, roasting smell. It doesn't smell fishy, but pleasantly promising something which is going to be very satisfying. I prepared some potatoes for chipping (I use my deep fat fryer, as I feel it's safer) and made some aioli - just a bit of Hellmann's, a clove of garlic and the juice of half a lemon. Once cooked, I drained the octopus, chopped it up and sprinkled with smoked paprika and (for the adults only) some cayenne pepper. Both girls ate with gusto and ketchup, preferring that to aioli, which I don't mind! They ate under their own steam and enjoyed it: that's what I like.

The Best Cook in the Whole Wide Kingdom

Hmmm. About five days left until I'm back to work and I'm feeling restless. We got up very late this morning (my gals are fantastic at sleeping and indeed sleeping in!) and then the whole day cascaded into a disaster of what should have been done but wasn't. We have one day left to get to the tip; the garage is full of rubbish which will prevent me starting my new regime next week (sick of feeling fat, old and tired, increased activity is the only answer), whereas the garden is full of a (very kind) neighbours cast off ride-along toys. They are great for a while (and very much appreciated) as the gals have lots of choice (they still both want the same one, however) but some of them are now well out grown. We also have two broken hosepipes, make of that what you will. On Friday, my car has to be in the garage at 8.30am for a service that should have happened in March, but I was so busy I forgot to book it and had to go with a simple MOT instead. I nearly forgot this holiday as well. Finally, the delicious lamb shanks with orzo failed to be pictured last night and so I can't talk much about those except to say that this is a Barefoot recipe well worth trying. Husband#1 certainly cooks a good Ina, it was superb.

Lunch today was tortilla and salad (the gals don't love me any more for bringing this delight into their lives) which was okay but uninspiring. I have it for lunch on a work day, so it's not special, nor is this version homemade either - but it's great for speed. Tea was more exciting. I took the lovely courgettes picked earlier in the week and battered them in a mix of self-raising and corn flours with some salt, white pepper and iced water. I deep fried them at quite a high temperature and it worked a treat - my batter was lovely and crispy. We ate them as each batch was done, but again the gals weren't overly enamoured and only really ate them because I'd also bought some triple chocolate cookies for pudding (which I hardly ever do, what is happening to me?). To go with the courgettes I made a sweet chilli sauce, and though I messed it up, it still tasted good - chopped chilli and garlic boiled vigorously in white wine vinegar (should be rice but Sainos didn't have any this week) and water with a large amount of sugar. Mine didn't thicken so I think I under-sugared. For the gals, I made a pistou-type thing. I chopped some basil leaves in extra virgin olive oil, added chopped garlic, grated parmesan and the zest of a lemon. The addition of the pistou was, for Biggie and Booboo, the only saving grace that has maintained my status as "The Best Cook in the Whole Wide Kingdom".

Thank goodness!

Well tomorrow, things are hotting up and I'm not sure if I'll still reign supreme at the end. We're baking salted caramel chocolate brownies in the morning (I hardly ever bake, but Biggie was promised, having picked the recipe carefully herself - and I do love to see her browsing through recipes!) and then for tea it is Family Octopus & Chips. I look forward to updating with how this goes down tomorrow! Pictures promised!

Dead City Lights, Jordan Sweeto, Deceptively Innocent and Other Followers

I'm just chuckling at myself today as I'm having to stop feeling too cool. Not sure from whence it all came, but suddenly I have a spate of young, cool musicians and groups following me on Twitter. I've even been sampling EPs on ITunes -  and liking them. In fact, this summer I've turned into quite the Rock Chick as I can also recognise about four Fall Out Boy tunes when I hear them, and I believe they're quite cool? Not bad for a Working Mum Who Cooks!

An odd day today, we decided to shop and lunch out. I started by giving Husband#1 space to buy more t-shirts (he swears there are only 20 -twenty- in his drawers, but I know better) and jeans (at least 10 -ten- pairs hidden away). For a man who works in suits, I feel it's a lot, but hey I'm just jealous as I'm moving into specialist stores if I put on any more weight. Whilst he shopped, the gals and I went to Clark's where to my horror Biggie needed three new pairs. A pair for school, gym pumps for school and new trainers. Wow. Luckily Booboo has had a period of stunted growth over summer, it would seem.

We then went for lunch in Deli Central, which was quite lovely. Husband#1 and I shared the house platter and a cheese platter. The house platter included poached salmon (technically a fish, I know, but still lovely), Yorkshire ham and some rare-cooked roast beef with two cheeses, a selection of salads (pictured below) with various pickles, including balsamic pickled onions and the biggest capers I've ever seen! The cheese platter had five or six different cheeses, pickles, chutneys and a Waldorf salad. Both came with bread and butter and of course we ordered red wine! The girls had ham sandwiches, though I got Brie on Biggies. She was struggling to eat it, so Husband#1 and I shared a smug smile, knowing the additional cheese was ours and we both saved a large gulp of red to go with it, but no, my well-trained beauty ate all ham and cheese and just left the bread. Never mind. The positive is she likes Brie and she also helped us eat the olives.

After lunch we took back my glasses to the shop as one pair massacre my vision, which isn't actually that bad. I only want my eyes to stop hurting during the day and felt perhaps some help on the long commute might help (and yes, additional sleep is planned on a work night). Anyway a few adjustments later I'm still not convinced, so we'll see.

For tea, Husband#1 is cooking lamb shanks. As usual, the kitchen has passed through a few different stages today: clean, tornado damaged, cleanish. He cleans well but never, ever, cleans the work tops or table. Once, having made something with raw chicken earlier in the day, I questioned why he hadn't cleaned the work top and his reply included the fact there was no need as he would be making a sandwich soon. I think that was before we lived together - why oh, why did I not take that as a prediction of the future?! Anyway,  as usual, we will be eating at about 10pm and as a result the gals had to have emergency fish fingers and beans, theirs will be frozen for future consumption. So picture and recipe for the lamb will come tomorrow, but it's smelling very good, don't tell him!

I Was a Girl in a Village Doing Alright, I became a Princess Overnight....

Monday, 26th August 13:30 (pre-soup)

If I spend anymore time with Husband#1, I may go mad. He is running round the house in his dressing gown singing the theme tune from Sophia the First, whilst Biggie and Booboo sit square eyed in from of the blooming programme. He has always been easily taken in by twee children's TV. Sophia is the most morally upright and annoying princess I have ever heard of and as a result she is dull. Children's TV does vary, admittedly, but who can resist Josie Jump or Archie from Balamory? Indeed, I challenge you to look at Miss Hooley and not return her smile when she invites you to join the fun too! Mickey Mouse Club House - annoying, but I can't resist Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggedy Dog and the gals dance to it a treat. Doc McStuffins? Precocious. Dora The Explorer just gives badly translated cultural misinformation: "When we want someone to move out of  the way, we say 'Please.'" Not in England, Dora. We say "Move." Finally, an old favourite in the Madhouse is Peppa Pig. Peppa is spoilt and George is naughty, nothing can save them, but Daddy Pig reminds me of someone, pompous, useless at DIY but generally loved by all. Who could it be? As for Mummy Pig's inability to resist a challenge? Brilliant. She rules.

Anyway, I think I'd better move on from here and warm the Coquina Squash soup I made this morning, whilst ironing - yes, it is true, I can multitask. That the girls clothes are already covered in soup before they have even gone in the wardrobe for wearing is a point I'll just keep quiet.

Monday, 26th August, later (post-soup)

Well the soup had a mixed reception. Biggie claimed to like it but took her time, whilst Booboo was still eating an hour later. Husband#1 had seconds and that's what counts. If grown ups would like it, I'm happy. At least then if the girls are tolerating it their tastes may develop. It was easy to make. First I peeled and chopped two large coquina squashes into about 2cm squares. I rubbed these in olive oil and salt and put into a hot oven (200*) until cooked and browned. It took about 30 minutes and I did it in two batches. Then I sautéed an onion, a teaspoon of ground cumin and three cloves of chopped garlic before adding the squash and about a litre and a half of vegetable stock. I brought it to the boil and simmered for about ten minutes and allowed it to cool a little before blending. At that point you can add more water to make less thick, depending on what you like -  I found ours was too thick. But it was lovely, and cheap. The squashes cost £3.00, and everything else is really store cupboard. I've fed four of us today and have frozen a further three meals for Husband #1 and I for later. I suppose you could also add cream or similar, but it really didn't need it.

This evening we have had BBQ, lovely as ever - nice and simple too. The gals love playing outside and it's nice that we're all out there together. We just had burgers, sausages and sweetcorn, and of course there was French's mustard, Ketchup and BBQ sauce to go on the buns. Two things to remember for next time:

1. Defrost the burgers in plenty of time to avoid a necessary reformation as they all fall apart and stick together.
2. Prevent Husband#1 starting a fire next to the BBQ, especially with greenery - the smoke will force you out of the garden and prevent the compulsory toasting of marshmallows.

Toast! Toast! Toast! Oh Dear.

Tomatoes, butter, jam, lemon curd, peanut butter are all examples of things you get on toast and the list is not exhaustive. Horrifically over the last couple of days there has been nothing available to eat for breakfast and lunch apart from toast. It's shocking from a woman who prides herself in good nutrition for the kids...Booboo, who dislikes porridge and takes a year to eat cereal, has indeed eaten almost half a loaf in two days. In fact I knew we had a serious issue this morning when we ran downstairs for the porridge and reached into the fridge to find there was no milk.

Anyway after a trip to the supermarket, we now have alternatives...hopefully. Husband #1 was able to cook lemon chicken with couscous and broccoli. It wasn't a success; the monsters that are my gals ate the couscous followed by the greenery - that usually always gets left until the end! Trying to get them to eat the chicken was a no-no, thank goodness we'd decided against giving them lemons. i liked it, though, but I do wish he'd branch out and try a recipe from someone other than Mrs Barefoot! No offence Ina, still hope to end up like you and Geoffrey.

Husband#1's Lemon Chicken with Couscous and Broccoli

A short post tonight, tomorrow is BBQ night and soup (no toast) for lunch. I'm making butternut squash soup except that I have some other kind of squash. But it will do!

In my book, like cleanliness is close to godliness, adaptability is close to MichelinStarness.

Dead Ringer For Love and Other Hits

So Friday evening was beautifully rounded off with a flick through the music channels and a discussion about the gals music tastes, which are quite broad and I'm rather proud of them. Both would feel at home in school or nursery singing about the Nativity or other internationally recognised nursery rhymes, but they would also be able to sing about 75% of the words at a Fall Out Boy gig, and many things in between: Cher, Jimmy Eat World, McFly, One Direction, Tiffany and Jesse J are just a small selection. Anyway, we hit upon Cher and Meatloaf doing Dead Ringer For Love and before you could say 'Drunken antics' we'd found the karaoke version on You Tube and were re-enacting the video. Great fun. Begs the question, is there a bad Meatloaf song?

Saturday began in panic as I'd still not decided what to cook for the gluten free, seafood free and offal free brigade who were coming to tea. Steak was out as I can't cook a well-done steak. It's not that I won't, like a proud French chef who refuses the fool a burnt-to-a-crisp offering, I actually can't do it. I once tried for the in-laws and put their steaks on for almost 20 minutes longer than the rest (rare) and they still came out pink. So I just won't do steak if I know it needs any less colour than a medium rare.

I settled on Nigella's Roquamole dip for the Nigella Express book, with a version of my own Aubergine dip and corn chips. For the Aubergine dip I roasted two aubergines, took out the flesh, added the juice of a lemon, some spring onions, some tomatoes and chopped basil. Often I use coriander but I forgot to buy it. It was good and both dips went quickly, Nigella's was the favourite though!

This was followed by a Spanish meal by (Sir) Rick Stein, monkfish with rice and roasted peppers, except my non-fish eating guests demanded that I swap to chicken. It made little difference. The rice and peppers are the best part of the dish and taste out of this world. Sauté one onion (Rick says use shallots, but you buy a big bag and never use the rest) then add peeled tomatoes (Rick grates his, but I'm not as classy), as much garlic as you have time to chop (I did 10 cloves), about half a teaspoon of smoked paprika (I love it) and some dried chillies and cook for five or so minutes. Then I added a litre and a quarter of chicken stock, some saffron and a little salt and bring to the boil. Add 400g paella rice and boil vigorously for five or so minutes. Then lay some chopped, bottled peppers (or skin and chop your own if you have time) and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Rick doesn't stir his but mine needed a little just to unstick from the bottom. Finally take your chicken or monkfish (or whatever!) and cut into inch square pieces. 500g serves 6 nicely. Toss in some more smoked paprika and salt and sauté in olive oil until cooked. Once the rice is done, add the chicken or fish to the top and serve. A great recipe and would even be good without the meat or fish. Rick says to serve with aioli - it does add to the dish, but it is also tasty without. I'm having some difficulties with aioli and home mayonnaise type things at the moment, where once I had no issue and laughed in the face of those who relied on an adapted jar of Hellmann's.  Yesterday, and on recent but previous occasions I have had to do it up to five times before it has worked - a guest was on egg-buying stand-by yesterday, when luckily on my third and final egg I had something close to the required texture. It did the job taste-wise, just didn't look great...

To finish I made Nigella's flour less chocolate brownies, which were loved by all served with chocolate sauce and ice cream.

Gluten-free, Seafood-free, offal-free and well cooked. I can do it!

 

Egg Mayonnaise

Contrary to what I may have led people to believe, there are a fair few meals in our house which can result in havoc: shouting, tears, threats of toys being captured and taken hostage for days. Worse still, my gals are so strong willed that the havoc can actually last well over an hour, making for rather stressful days. We've discussed ways to deal with this. I suggested a time limit - this applies particularly to Booboo, who chews every mouthful a thousand times whether she likes it or not, but when she takes a dislike to food the result can be painful. Seriously, though, I actually think she forgets to swallow. We've thought about just taking food away or not giving pudding, but I have issues with all of those solutions. My gals, like many the world over, are spoilt rotten by their grannies, aunties and elder cousins, all who forget that obesity isn't good, nor are black teeth. So puddings at the Madhouse are mostly fruit or fruit based, with the odd yoghurt or cheese thrown in. If I ban them, I'm banning goodness. So havoc wins every time. Anyway, today havoc reigned at lunchtime. The culprit? Egg mayonnaise wraps. My goodness.

But have I mentioned they both love fish?!

On to this evening: it's Friday, and that means pizza. Today we're having the seafood pizza that up until high cholesterol was diagnosed I wouldn't have touched with a barge pole*. But, I'm not a fool and when something's good, I admit it, even if I don't really want to!

My pizza base is easy and is based on a Jamie's Italy recipe. I put 200g of strong bread flour in with 50g of semolina flour, a sachet of easy use yeast and then a pinch or two of salt and sugar. I use about 200ml of warm water then to make a dough and extra flour to knead. My difference with Jamie stops there. He kneads his dough for about ten minutes. If I reach five minutes I'd give myself a crown - two minutes is absolutely fine, I even do it one handed now. After about half an hour covered with a towel to rise, I then roll it with a rolling pin (though I have used a wine bottle when the rolling pin wasn't available) until it is just larger than my pizza tray (sorry Jamie, I tried oiled tin foil, but it's no good) and place it carefully on it, hand stretching if needed (a little authenticity there).

That's the base! Then I crush three or four (depends on the mood, never less than this) cloves of garlic and mix with about half a tube of tomato puree - and that's the sauce. I spread that on the pizza base and cover with pre-grated mozzarella. I even use a basic supermarket brand, and it is just as nice as the fancy stuff. Clearly toppings vary, but on the seafood pizza I slice a red onion and then add pre-cooked prawns and calamari, usually. Sometimes I get a mix with a few mussels in, like tonight.

The pièce de résistance for this pizza is the final topping. I cook the pizza at about 170 - 180 for about twenty minutes and then drizzle a dressing of chopped basil and lemon gratings mixed with a good extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I love it.

Before and after (sorry having formatting troubles):

*I would point out that the pizza as a whole is not necessarily good for cholesterol with all of the cheese, however a seafood topping is way better than a three cheese (only on very special occasions) or a salami (only when very rushed) and so should be thought as a 'healthier' option ;-)

Breathing is Overrated; Don't Tell Me to Calm Down.

 

The title of this post is actually misleading. Results day is never pleasant; if you care, you're nervous the night before. Fact.

My day has had it's ups and downs and somehow (maybe I'm "growing as a person"!!!) I've been able to focus on the individual triumphs - there have been many - and that's really nice, for a change.

So, calm, and breathing nicely, I collected my glasses this afternoon. All four pairs of them (well I do tend to lose things). Walked from the opticians to the car park wearing my new sunnies and falling into chasms where there were once stairs and knocking bottles of Prosecco from the shelves instead of choosing it carefully (I lie; I would never spill Prosecco). I drove home in them, taking my hand from the steering wheel every five to ten seconds to lift the specs just to test how improved my vision was and what I could read that I couldn't before. The answer? Not much. By the time I'd lifted the bloody things and my eyes had adjusted to the light and lack of aid I was ten metres closer to the sign anyway so the experiments were slightly biased. But I do now have very sore eyes and a headache from no longer having to strain. I might take them back.

Onto food. Last night I finally managed to make the minestrone, having pre-roasted the smoked ham earlier in the evening. Please don't sniff at the authenticity of the recipe, where I live you have to adapt and 'knuckle ends' of palma ham or pancetta are not only hard to get but impossible and supermarkets have refused to sell me them unsliced. I wonder if there is a possible weapon to be made from it? Anyway, I sautéed (I seem to sauté a lot) onion, celery, carrots and fennel with a bay leaf, some finely chopped basil stalks with leaves (home reared!) and three chopped garlic cloves in olive oil until softened. Then I added (a couple of glasses of) red wine, two tins of tomatoes and about a litre and a half of chicken stock, not to forget a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree. I then put in some French beans and left it to cook. As it neared the end I separated enough for last night's tea and put to one side. I then split two tins of borlotti beans, my smoked ham (chopped up into small pieces), and a pack of spinach between the pans. I turned off the bigger pan, which actually contained enough to freeze four full portions, plus a mini gals' portion (without pasta). Finally, I added broken spaghetti to the pan I'd saved for tea and let it cook in the soup - I did add slightly more water to it as the pasta soaked up a fair amount but it also thickened it delightfully.  Sprinkled with parmesan cheese it tasted really luxurious.

Big (Working Mama Who Cooks') Minestrone

I apologise for my lack of quantities on occasion, but you put in what you like! I serve 75g of pasta per person for a main course at tea time, but if having pasta for lunch I use 50g. Last night, as we weren't having bread, but the soup was full of goodies, I put in close to 75g between Husband#1 and I - we were nicely full. It may also be worth pointing out that I didn't add pasta to the frozen portions, I'll do that when I cook it. Last year I made some with pasta and it was really soggy by the time it was eaten. We all learn...

I believe (and don't quote me here) that this is good for the diet, which was going nicely until today, when due to an impatience to find out what was happening at work, I had no time to eat breakfast or even mash a cup of tea and so didn't eat until 2pm, at which point I had one and a half chicken (self-roasted!) wraps with full-fat mayo and I'm about to eat a lovely takeaway curry with beer, wine, chocolate and Prison Break. Sorry gals, I promise that I will go back to the jelly reducing, careful eating on Sunday.

Well, come on, the weekend is now here!

Roast!

Wednesday, 21st August, 00:13

Well, if my hero, Nigel Slater, can name a book Toast, why can't I call my blog post Roast, I ask? Today, I will be making two: chicken and smoked ham. I feel a little like it is the title of a musical*, but I'm not so talented, I'm afraid.

So last night, Husband#1 made tea for all. As you may know by now (or may not, not to worry), he is a big Ina Garten fan. If he and I were to split ever, I'm certain he would cross the pond and stalk Barefoot until she agreed to let him into her posse of trendy 'friends.' Not that he would want to depose the lovely Geoffrey, either. Indeed, Ina and Geoffrey are our role models for marriage; if we can manage to be together as long as them we'll be doing well! But I digress. The meal wasn't an Ina recipe at all, but fish (cod) in a tomato and olive sauce. He sautéed onions and garlic in olive oil before adding a tin of tomatoes, a lot of pitted black olives and some dried oregano. Once heated, he seasoned and added the fish and put in the oven for about twenty minutes, when the fish was cooked. It was served with crushed new potatoes with a little (good) extra virgin olive oil, as Ina would say! It is not a meal that would be out of place on a Saturday night, and that is a huge compliment, with a piece of crusty bread. Lovely, and once again demolished by both gals. It is quite something to see my gals eat fish, they have it gone in seconds. And then the olives - they both (aged 2 and 5) ate quite a few. Proud!

So, today's a big day for Husband#1 and an even bigger one for me as I'm having an eye test. So, I'm overweight, unfit, have high cholesterol, a dodgy back and so it will add insult to injury should I find I need age-related spectacles. Perhaps I ought to go to sleep and I can find out the truth in the morning rather than pontificating!

Wednesday, 21st August, 07:47

Early it is that I've had to rise this morning (and by the language, it seems it is also an earlier century) and the gals are only just rising almost two hours later. Bought up some drinks, Biggie looked at hers, turned up her nose and declared she wanted something else. Booboo is about to be woken with the morning bobby (bottle of milk); the evening one has been put to bed this holiday but I daren't mess with morning bobby just yet.

Wednesday, 21st August, 18.08

Goodness me, a thousand pairs of glasses later, for I do not look good in specs (olde English again!), I am sat with my gals whilst Husband#1 tirelessly crunches data next door. I'm a single parent once again, possibly for the next day or two, so it's not good. My roasts have been delayed - the chicken should have been roasted for lunch, but we ate in the play pub instead, and the ham should have been eaten in minestrone for tea, but is still in the oven and the gals are eating beans on toast. A failure of a food day.

All is not lost, however as the chicken will follow the ham into the oven and I will be starting my minestrone shortly. I intended to freeze a large quantity for later consumption anyway, so it doesn't matter and I can make it whilst doing a little work.

*I mean Roast!, not chicken and smoked ham...

The Diet

So it's bad enough knowing you've got a larger than is good for you jelly, without your five year old telling you it's time for a change.

But what pleasure is there in life apart from food? How can anyone take pleasure from green rubbish and exercise, for goodness sake?

But it's important to her and I love her, plus I'd rather not be hearing about my jelly every few minutes. So there's a long way to go for this working mum (who cooks) but I'm on my way. I'm not saying how much I need to lose but there are 30 to go :-(

So yesterday we had my very own summer vegetable pasta. Straight from the garden I prodded broad beans, washed and chopped French beans (they were a little overgrown so chopping was best) and ribboned a yellow courgette. I sautéed two cloves of garlic, a red onion, some chopped mushrooms and then added the French beans. I put in a little chicken stock and balsamic vinegar then added the broad beans and the courgettes. All was topped off with grated Parmesan and mixed with spaghetti. Lovely. Even the gals liked, Biggie said it was the best meal ever (though I think her fingers were crossed) and Booboo ate it, at least! It certainly made up for the hotdogs we ate for lunch :-)

If that's diet food, I can cope.

The New Tablecloth

My lovely table now has a new tablecloth. No fading at the sides, edges or where Booboo sits in general and therefore warrants additionally strong cleaning gear, just beautiful red checks. It even smells new - how can I describe the smell and make it sound as good as it is without seeming like some kind of glue sniffer-type? It's a little rubbery, PVC like with a nuance of generally new chemicals. It's good.

Today has been the return for the holidays and I'm having to accept that my holidays are sliding away from me, if not entirely gone. But hey there are still two weeks of delightful fun with Biggie and Booboo. Plus Husband#1, who if ever he hides away from me in a dream again will get a rather unusual shock. Just try me, boy.

So it was KC's birthday lunch today, as it was the swap over, so I made a nice lunch of a deconstructed Niçoise salad. There being no tuna at Morrisons yesterday (or saffron, get your shelves sorted, Mr Head Honcho of Morrisons), and me not being a fan of salmon, I went for smoked salmon fillets and steaks. They worked really well. So I cooked and chilled green beans and new potatoes, washed cherry tomatoes, hard boiled six eggs and added it all to a large platter in piles and added black olives and tinned anchovies. I pan-cooked the salmon on a hot frying pan, having rubbed with olive oil. The dressing was sherry vinegar, mustard and extra virgin olive oil. Wow it was much tastier than expected!

Having got home and unpacked, we sat down to chicken, green pepper and caramelised onion pizza and prison break only to discover we'd left the remote control at the caravan. Bejaysus.  So we watched Fish Town and ate pizza and now we're in bed. Not high living, but nice.

The Seafood Festival, Death by Lemon and Other Stories

Sat happily in Redcliffe Farm Café, eating a lovely steak pie and chips, suddenly Biggie screamed and looked in horror at her fish and chips (MUCH improved batter - well seasoned this time!). As we all looked over, trying not to drop our respective chip (me), slice of black pudding (Husband#1) spoonful of tomato ketchup (Booboo), there was the fly. Sat on the side of Biggie's plate. Not on her fish, chips or sauce, but the side of her plate. Well what happened next was a hilarity I only realised about 30 minutes later when suddenly the giggles hit me and I laughed until I cried for a good ten minutes over my banana split. Husband#1, instead of shooing the fly away, like most (I feel) would have done, attacked it with a piece of lemon. Did he hit it? I hear you ask. No. He squeezed lemon juice on it and then scooped it up and knocked it off the table in a very half-witted fashion, which, as I mentioned not very long ago, sent me into a fit of laughter which caused Biggie to laugh hysterically as well, even though she didn't have a clue what she was laughing about. Lemon, the deadly fly killer. One of our greatest jokes is who we would be if on gladiators. I would be Sloth, ("Tonight, Jenny, you are fighting.........Slooooooooooth!" Fash would shout). Husband#1 would be Lemonman.

Anyway, delightful as always, we left the farm and went to the beach where ever jokey Husband#1 put erroneous messages on my facebook whilst dipping my toes in the sea - how did you know, he wondered? It was probably due to the fact that he was sat playing with my pink phone that tipped me off. And you wonder why the #1?

So tea last night was an Ina classic of mustard fish - you'll find the recipes online, but we tried 50% reduced fat crême fraiche rather than full fat. It was nice, served with crushed new potatoes mashed with olive oil. All cooking was by Husband#1 - I have to give him credit.

Today I started with toast, as no one would have porridge with me, but the humous and pesto wrap (chosen by Biggie, who then cried throughout eating) made up for it. I bet Booboo set a wrap eating record - I've never seen a small child eat so quickly.

After a short while at the festival, where we had some crab, badly hewn from the shell by a kindly little lady, we put together the ingredients for Barefoot's seafood gratin - having had to visit two supermarkets. Would you believe that Morrisons in Bridlington don't sell saffron? Goodness me. But it was me cooking tonight, and as I've mentioned before I don't often do well with Ina (Husband#1 would marry her could he get to Geoffrey), but her seafood gratin is divine.

Finally, maybe you can't get saffron at Morrisons in Bridlington, but you can get these beauties (by Monty Bojangles) there. I have never tasted anything so delicious. Cocoa so dark on the outside (I HATE dark chocolate), melting truffle sprinkled full of lovely butterscotch pieces. I think Husband#1 loves me a little bit more for having found these.

Let Them Eat Lobster

So bright and early yesterday morning, Husband#1 rushed off to Arthur's for a couple of lobsters and we weren't disappointed. We don't get much lobster in our neck of the woods (or crab, for that matter, except for Chicken of the Sea jars from Costco - which I made nice crab cakes with a few weeks ago) so we make the most of a week at the coast, spending our money on seafood rather than ice cream*! This summer it's been a treat to share some with the gals - lobster potato salad and a crab risotto were both enjoyed, to varying degrees and both are now fans of prawns. Biggie had a couple of bites of octopus the other night and I've promised we'll have octopus and chips when we're home (it's already in the freezer), it's very good and it's rather cheap. She also loves whelks and both will eat mussels.

We're also trying to save some money - there's talk of an extension (Booboo's room is tiny), a holiday home (caravan) of our own and even a foreign holiday one day but we can't afford any of them the way things are. This means if we can avoid going top our usual restaurants and cafés whilst we're here we will. Fifteen pounds on lobster beats sixty pounds for tea for four with puddings and drinks. Having just said all that, Biggie, who turned five within the last month, is scouring the Argos catalogue as I type looking for things to request from Santa and she doesn't let price get in the way...oh dear, she's found the One Direction dolls and having excitedly shouted at me that here they are, she's now singing 1D songs at the top of her voice. Booboo has joined in. Help.

 

So lunch yesterday was a simple soup, we're eating like it's a Saturday most nights so lunches and breakfasts have to be simple and 'everyday' (do crumpets with full-fat butter fit in with that?!). Today we'll be having pasta with a couple of tins of squid in an ink sauce mixed in. We were supposed to be at the supermarket this morning, to buy some lunch, but we're having a lazy morning and so we've got some tins of squid in ink and we'll mix them with pasta - quick, easy and tasty.

 

So, back to last night, I was supposed to be doing some work whilst Husband#1 was making lobster mac and cheese, however a rather lovely and famous celebrity chef was badgered (by me) and finally relented and gave my blog a retweet and lots of people decided to have a look at my blog. I was of course obsessed with pressing the refresh button to watch the figures increase. The most exciting thing was the different countries - I've had people read in Kuwait and Hong Kong, fantastic! I then became brave and equally badgered a brilliant food critic who also retweeted. I think Husband#1 is ever so slightly jealous! I'm just excited by Norwegian and Russian readers. New Zealand - I keep seeing new ones, I'm like a kid in a sweet shop. That reminds me, Biggie has just told Booboo that she's so sweet she cold eat her. Bless.

 

Anyway, work time wasted (depends on how you look at it) the lobster mac and cheese smelt good, but it tasted even better. Not a combination I fancied before I'd had it first time round, but Husband#1 made it for me as a treat when I came in from a late night at work one dark winter evening and my goodness was it just what I needed. For the proper recipe, google Ina Garten, but it is basically lobster, pasta, gruyere, cheddar, nutmeg, milk, butter (of course, this IS Ina!) and breadcrumbs. The first time we had it we had prawns and a little lobster from Lidl - as I said before, where we live, seafood isn't easily come by - but even that was good.
 

 

I'm going to stop writing now as I need to give these gals some attention (Booboo is now watching me work, she has just announced). I'll miss them when I'm back at work, so if I hear "Mummy" approximately 176 times every 60 seconds, how bad can that be?

21:15
So, Husband#1 is stood with ear to the door of Biggie and Booboo's bedroom. Biggie has claimed Booboo is talking but, we can't hear her, and we are in a caravan with paper thin walls, so we are testing her. The first telling off has just gone to Biggie who was talking and when Husband #1 opened the door, Booboo wasn't in bed. Typical sisters - my elder sister used to tempt me into her top bunk and then work out a great game which always involved me falling out...and of course then getting told off.

Anyway, back to food. We've gone vegetarian tonight after all of the (delicious) stodge of yesterday. I'd lost my mojo and was on the verge of an Ina recipe (they work for Husband#1. but never if I cook) when I thought of an aubergine dip with pitta. So, I spiked and then roasted three aubergines (it was a main course after all) at about gas mark 6 for an hour or so until nice and wrinkly and left to cool. I took the flesh out of the skins and mashed it up. I then added half a chopped red chilli, a crushed clove of garlic, three chopped scallions, the juice of a lemon, a large dash of extra virgin olive oil and some chopped fresh coriander. This mix went in the fridge for about half an hour - could have been longer but we were hungry, but, a fan of lukewarm food (apart from ice cream) I tasted this and decided chilled was the only option!  Finally I served with toasted pitta (I like mine wholemeal) and sprinkled with a little sea salt. A treat and so fresh too - no fancy processing, just a lot of lovely ingredients. It's also good as a dip when guests come over.

 

 

*NB I do intend to but a half price large tub of Ben and Jerry's today at the supermarket. Ice cream still has it's place ;-)

 

If It Doesn't Have 8 Legs, Don't Eat It!

10:00
I'm not too horrified by the man who found, killed and then ate the six legged octopus, I'm more concerned that (from the little that I've read, not a serious journalist I don't feel the need to do deep research) he found it on a beach and decided it was still okay to eat. It's a bit like not-quite-dead road kill, surely?

My octopus is defrosting nicely on top of an ice pack in the kitchen and I'm looking forward to putting it in the oven - it will go in for about 2 hours, with 100ml of olive oil, at a temperature of 150'c (or whatever the oven decides it should heat to). I might add a few garlic cloves as well to see what happens. I really like roasted garlic, so slow roasted garlic might be equally nice; I may also be able to use it to flavour the garlic mayo to go with the octopus.

Husband#1 has just made pastrami sandwiches, which were quite delicious with a few pretzels, gherkins, tomatoes and (homegrown) cucumbers. Even Booboo ate hers, and really quickly.

Biggie has become a fussy eater. Everything she sees me cook, she looks at, turns up her nose and says "I don't like that" or "Oh, I don't really like rice with that." She has grown a massive hatred for cucumber - a vegetable she ate constantly before. And there isn't a fruit I can tempt her with apart from grapes. What is a Working Mum to do? In fairness to her, she is a big fan of baked beans, but the toast has to be on a side plate - as do any fishfingers - in case it goes soggy. Her saving grace is that she loves crab, smoked mackerel, white fish of any kind, prawns, whelks, lobster, fishfingers and is devastated that we're having octopus tonight without her. I've promised that the next octopus to be cooked Chez Working Mum will be for all four of us and with chips.

And Booboo has eaten as quickly as I've ever seen - polishing off her pastrami sandwiches without a word today (and the gherkins were gone in  seconds).

19:43
Since writing the above, the octopus has gone into the oven and has been in for about an hour. It is smelling delicious. Husband#1 (who from here-on-in has requested to be called Handsome Husband#1 - request denied) has just furnished me with a bowl of nuts - I can tell they won't be the first :-)

21:28
And the octopus has gone. Eaten in about five minutes, it was deliciously tender, chopped and sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper and went perfectly with the patatas bravas* and makeshift aioli really well. I squashed the roasted garlic (three whole cloves, not peeled) into the patatas bravas sauce, BTW. Even Biggie managed her first try of octopus as she came out and attempted (even though Booboo was actually asleep, unknown before 11pm at the caravan!) to get into our bed. We got her back to the own with half a tentacle and didn't she just love it. Tomatoes? Yuk. Cucumber? Bleurgh, Octopus? More please.

And that goes for us all!

*Patatas bravas recipe from the Guardian online - third or fourth search result down, How To Make Perfect Patatas Bravas - the one I use is the ultimate recipe and I usually go with the homemade Aioli as well.

Holidays (Part II)

And the holidays continue, this week we're at the coast and that brings in the exciting plans for seafood of all kinds. When we were here a few weeks ago, we bought and froze some octopus (a family holiday herm*, so we have that opportunity) and I'm pretty sure that this will become a meal at some point - probably cooked until tender and then covered in cayenne and smoked paprika and served with some kind of patatas bravas. There will also be lobster mac and cheese, courtesy of Ina Garten, a great inspiration for Husband#1.

Lunch today proved a hit with all - smoked mackerel paté with bagels and homegrown cucumber (a few weeks down the line we'll be able to have homegrown tomatoes as well, but for now shop bought will have to do). The paté is really easy - I get a pack of smoked mackerel (one fillet per person?), cut out the central part with the bones and chop in a bowl with a pot of (lowest fat) cream cheese, the juice of a lemon and, if I have them, chopped chives. Sometimes I deviate and buy a pack of smoked salmon, especially when it's on special offer and chop that in instead. I love the fact that my gals love fish. What would I do in an alternative life? Just conjuring up pictures of the Malcolm in the Middle where Lois and Hal ponder life with girls...not worth thinking about!

For tea, the gals have had (Sir) Rick Stein's chicken (with chorizo) and leeks and carrots in a cider sauce - a great freezer meal and, reminded how much I like it, I'll be making another large pot full for the freezer in the next few weeks. It's a healthy meal as well, especially if you miss out the chorizo, as I've done for the gals and for a midweek tea - surely one only eats a spicy sausage at the weekend?!

Husband#1 and I had a trio of lovely salads. First of all, a (homegrown) cucumber salsa, the recipe idea I pinched from the Taste of Home website. I chopped cucumber, tomato, onion, green pepper, garlic, coriander, half of a chilli and added a tablespoon of lime juice. It was so fresh - I left it for an hour in the fridge to marinate. Then we had crab with tomato and basil in a balsamic dressing - so simple. I took a whole crab (already dressed by Arthur's of Flamborough) and mixed with chopped tomatoes, basil, half a white onion, chopped finely, and then added a dessert spoon of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. It tastes so much more decadent than it is. And finally, hand-squashed guacamole - two avocados chopped up by Husband#1 and mixed with lemon juice.  All served with toasted pitta. It felt really luxurious but was actually reasonably cheap for a holiday/weekend tea but also healthy. These delights followed a nutty starter - we recently discovered wasabi and soy covered almonds, and have become a little addicted. Can't be too bad for you?

The Lovely Trio

On a serious note, I must stop drinking so much on a night. Not one to drink midweek when I'm working, I can easily down four glasses of red on a Friday in the time it takes to eat half a pizza and Saturday is similar. I like wine with food. If I drink, I like to eat. If the food stops, I'm not much bothered for more booze. Unfortunately during the holidays there's always time to eat, hence my glass is always at least half full!

And completely off topic, though there is a tenuous food link if you want to find one...I came away with no swimming costume this week. I have two very nice ones at home, both with hidden tummy control, but like the idiot I am, everyone else had at least two in their bin liners (had bed bugs once, suitcases will never be attractive to me) and I had none. A comfortable size 16, didn't we all have a good laugh about how to fashion some thing from bra and big pants, a pair of Husband#1's 'underwears' as Biggie likes to call them, or even a well pinned blanket. All in the name of covering Mummy's 'jelly'. So we toddled into the nearest town, tried all of the decent-enough shops - well, I chickened out of going into Bon Marché, having seen a swimming costume on sale that looked like it was still alive. There were only two (2) swimming costumes in the whole of the place, one, from M&S, which was sized for the bosom rather than the ass. What about those with small breasts and large asses or vice versa? I couldn't risk it so took the Kelly Brook branded size 14 from New Look and hope I could squeeze. Pretty little thing and a very flattering cut - but, Kelly, you've forgotten that most of us curvy ladies need tummy control...Anyway, whilst trying to cook tea and stop the gals battering each other as Husband#1 has introduced them to wrestling (just what they need), didn't I notice my swimming costume was also made for someone a good deal younger and slimmer than me. I'll look a great sight at the swimming pool. Maybe I should become a Working Mum Cuts (Salad, Fruit and Vegetables)?

Never!

Vegetarian Tonight? Not if I'm a Working Mum Who Cooks!

It's Saturday and, even though for the last and the next three weeks every day is a Saturday, it's special. For that reason, there was no way that battered courgette (you know courgettes, the big green things, long or round) with homemade chilli sauce would do. So, I took Baby Big Gal (at her request henceforth to be called Booboo Big Gal) to her first party and sent Husband#1 to swimming lessons with Biggie and then to Sainos. Half way through I sent a text message suggesting certain treats, but also healthy options thus letting him choose - a guilt passed on is a guilt not felt etc.

Predictable as always, Husband#1 returned with treats galore.

So we ate scallops in a garlic butter, cooked by the man himself, which were very tasty...

These delights were followed by the courgettes, which weren't made totally panic free as I'd forgotten to make the sweet chilli sauce (a doddle, boiling chillies, garlic, rice wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, due to shortage of rice wine vinegar, sugar and water for about 20 minutes - I blended then, but no need). Once done, I made a batter from plain flour, iced water, salt, white pepper and one egg and then dipped in 1cm thick pieces of courgette before frying at about 180' - other words, quite high!

When eaten fresh out of the fryer, these were crispy and yet soft inside. Just right, we thought! The chilli sauce was just that...

Finally we went back to a bad old friend: chocolate bark. How bad can that be? At least one portion of fruit each :-)

On a side note, it's always a delight to give pizza to my beauties, tonight more so as I'm told that tomato purée does indeed constitute one of your five-a-day, useful as I had no jarred roasted peppers to add in as I usually do.

So it's back to the caravan tomorrow and, after pizza for tea tomorrow, I then have the following to use for meals:

Squid

Octopus

Two cucumbers

Am looking forward to the challenge!

Courgettes, Courgettes, More Courgettes and Two Cucumbers!

Well Jack the Greengrocer (or just the friendly neighbour who has an allotment) dropped off two gigantic cucumbers, of which I have a photo if I can get Drop Box to download them in the next few months - it is very slow tonight. Last year, Jack kept bringing us tomatoes, as he had a much better crop than us, but his best treat of all were the globe courgettes that he dropped off every couple of nights - they were delicious, and inspired us to grow our own this year.

Not having had much luck with normal courgettes (everyone can grow courgettes, not sure what our problem is) we went for the globes this year and have now picked two of the biggest for teas this week:

In Sainos, they are charging 75p for these at half the size as well - manky looking things as well. These, lovingly cared for by husband#1, who is VERY proud, are very firm, heavy and (having now cut one up) fleshy.

So, having caught up with an old friend this afternoon (five years is just too long between coffees!), I rushed home to make fritters with pistou. For the pistou, I took basil - the recipe said 15g, but I used more - Parmesan (75g), lemon rind and four crushed cloves of garlic and blended them to a nice smooth sauce by adding olive oil - again, the recipe said 150ml, but I just did it until it got to a consistency I liked.

For the fritters, first I grated the courgettes (it said salt and drain for 1 hour, I just wrapped in kitchen roll and squeezed - seemed to work for me!) and put to one side. There was about 600g. Then, I took about 125g of plain flour, 1 egg and two egg yolks, a splash of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and about 100ml of cold water and made a batter. I then took the remaining egg whites and whipped them up to stiff peaks. Finally I mixed the courgettes and batter together and folded in the egg whites and then fried ice cream scoop sized portions in vegetable oil.

Biggie looked at them and said, "Oh, I don't like those." and "You know that white stuff that Daddy was making? I tasted that and I don't like it." That was the garlic mayonnaise we made as we didn't think they'd like the pistou. So, with a heavy heart I called all to the table and threw a courgette fritter at everyone with a little pistou, a dollop of mayo (apart from for Biggie) and considered how long I'd push my very carnivorous gals to eat the fritters (they are vegetables, you know!) before resorting to ketchup.

Well, to my surprise they devoured the pistou (they are fans of pesto - BIG FANS) and a few fritters each. Biggie was wondering just how the football sized courgette could possibly have hidden itself so well inside a fritter but she still ate them. Baby Big Gal got fed up after the first but, after spooning in the rest of her pistou, ate the chopped up pieces one at a time with the promise of a Babybel to finish.

A success? Yes - definitely!

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to add this picture of my fresh berry and pistachio white chocolate bark, as I was looking through some photos from last week and I'd forgotten how pretty it was - and tasty. Just melt the chocolate (I now do it in 15 second bursts in a glass dish in the microwave, stirring at each interval - nothing bad happens, I promise!), pour onto greaseproof paper and throw on your favourite berries, fruit or dried fruit and nuts. Leave in the fridge to set (or if you are keen to get to it, like husband#1 and I, put it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes and then serve in great chunks. A winner any day!

101 Emails and Counting

Since I finished work for a well-earned holiday, I have received over 100 emails - blooming ridiculous and quite stressful as someone has to reply to them and deal with them - who is it? Me. Oh well. One day all of my hard work will pay off.

In the meantime, I try to relax and enjoy my gals, husband#1, bloggery and most of all, cooking.

Trying to cook on something of a budget hasn't really worked so far, but I'm trying. Yesterday I popped into the butchers (Allum's in Normanton) and bought a few bits and pieces:

Firstly I saw the fillet steak, which I haven't made in ages, and decided to introduce my gals to rare meat. Planned for the weekend, it got no further than 6pm when we all had it, coated in olive oil, Maldon Sea Salt, browned on all sides and oven roasted for about 8 minutes. I let it rest for 10 minutes under foil before it was given the sending off it deserved with homemade chips (which bizarrely turned out half white and half brown) and garlic and lemon mayo. This was all preceded by corn on the cob for the gals and asparagus with more garlic and lemon mayo for us. I'll think about what we'll eat on Saturday later.

Secondly there was some stewing lamb, so I bought it and made a lovely tagine in the slow cooker today. In a sauce of two tins of tomatoes, enough stock to cover and some Ras el Hanout (I added extra cumin, paprika and a cinnamon stick), I cooked the lamb, carrots, courgettes, onions and peppers on a medium heat - when we got home from a lovely trip out it was all beautifully cooked. Served with couscous made simply with water, salt and extra virgin olive oil, it was healthy and quite tasty good job as there is plenty for the freezer :-).

Anyway, lunch today was at Friends of Ham in Leeds - we had the meat and cheese sharing platters and they were so good, with salami with fennel seeds and cured pork belly with rosemary and then a beautiful goat's cheese and a brie, they just had to be accompanied by a large glass (or two in my case) of Malbec. Wow.

So tomorrow we'll be cutting the first of the globe courgettes so I may have more to say then...

Funny Old Day

We went to Scarborough for the afternoon yesterday, having breakfasted on banana and blueberry porridge. Well, I have a couple of bananas that are going off and the kids refuse to eat so I thought I'd try and mix one in after it was cooked - it worked quite nicely, actually although I'm still waiting for the blueberries to work their magic. I had a conversation last night with my mum and can't remember any of what was discussed this morning.

So a quick lunch of tinned sardine wraps (a triumph) and off we went to the beach, where a great time plus a 99 ice cream was had by all. Lovely.

Then disaster struck. Looking forward to the seafood risotto that Husband#1 was planning on cooking that evening, we cruised out of Scarborough following signs to Bridlington which promptly disappeared. An hour later we found another one and got back to the right track only to be stopped by a policeman telling us there was a diversion in place due to an accident. It was already bedtime and the gals hadn't even had tea (fishfingers and beans were planned).

So we changed the plan to fish and chips for the gals and a late night shopping trip to buy the star anise, parmesan and other lovelinesses to go in the risotto, dropped Husband#1 at the chipper and waited...for two minutes. At that point, both gals decided they needed desperate wees so I had to drive them back to the caravan to drive back out again. Disaster struck and I couldn't undo Baby Big Girl's car seat and I had to manipulate her out of it (there were tears) before we could do the necessary ablutions. Then, to get back to optimum safety in the car, four cushions were fashioned into a makeshift booster for Biggie, whilst Baby Big Girl sat in the high-backed booster (there were more tears, she doesn't like change).

We picked up Husband#1 who was carrying three boxes - how do two child portions of fish and chips make three boxes, you ask? God only knows, but there had been rows in the chipper about whether or not it was his order (he said not) or the other customer's order (he also said not). Once opened, we found we were the (not very proud) owners of two extra large fish and chips with a  battered sausage and chips to boot - and it tasted like a bloody old boot at that. Too much food to waste so we all had F&C for tea (R.I.P seafood risotto) - how disappointing is that?