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!