In fact such a busy afternoon that I didn't get round to picking the camera up at any point to share it with you - sorry!A batch of ginger cup cakes are made and cooling on the rack before they get iced with some lovely fudge flavoured icing that I've got the recipe for. I've also completed a batch of mince pies for some friends that are coming round on Saturday. First time I've done these in the new oven though and they ended up in there for nearly twice as long as I used to do them in the old oven. I may therefore have to get Mr C to try one later on to ensure that ... read more
Mushroom & bacon tarts
Whenever I go in a supermarket I'm always on the look out for free recipe cards that they often have available. I'm not so good at actually using said recipe cards when it comes to deciding what to have for dinner.After being amazed at just how many of these I had collected last week I made a real effort to actually make some meals from the various recipes I had collected and I have to say that so far I have been very impressed with the results. One very simple dinner came from a Waitrose recipe for Mushroom and bacon tarts which are served with creamy ... read more
St Pancras Farmers’ Market
It's been a while since I've been through St Pancras station and there are certainly a few changes since my last visit. One of the most obvious, to me at least, is the Sourced Market that has opened near the Thameslink platforms. A quick look tonight whilst waiting for my train home suggested a nice range of yummy things, including a good selection of fruit and veg. It wasn't exactly cheap, but not as prohibitively priced as I initially feared. It was also good to see some clear labelling as to where things had come from allowing the consumer to keep track of the food miles behind their lunch ... read more
Herbs and heather
Bearing in mind we only went for some grass seed it was quite a haul that we came home with.Our planting in the garden is a tad haphazard at the moment in that we just happen to see things that we like, buy them and then try and work out where is best to plant them. One area where I am applying a bit of a theme is around the decking. At one end is the large rosemary that was here when we moved in and around the rest of the deck I'm following it with other herb type plants.A couple of types of lavender have already been planted, but over the weekend I also added another shade of purple ... read more
Chilli medusa
A "quick" trip to the garden centre for some grass seed resulted in a few other purchases. I'm sure I'll follow up with another post about the things we bought to actually go in the garden, but this is one of the things that has ended up inside the house - chilli medusa.From what I've learnt from the internet and the label it apparently is both ornamental and for cooking (surely if it can be used for cooking then it's no longer ornamental by definition is it?) I'm pretty sure Mr C and I will try cooking with it at some point soon - we both like chillies and it ... read more
Toast – Nigel Slater
It's a bit strange, but Nigel Slater is one of those famous chefs that I don't actually know much about. We have one of his cookbooks that Mr C's mum bought him once as a birthday present, but we've not yet made anything from it. I'm not sure why though.My mother in Law recently lent me a copy of Slater's autobiography, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger as she initially thought my mum would like it. It turned out that my mum had already read it, so I thought I ought to give it a go.Toast isn't really an autobiography in the traditional ... read more
Moroccan chicken
Looking back it's been a while since I posted about some of the food that we've been eating - possibly because we've been so busy that after work known favourites have been cooked for simplicity rather than trying something new.This Moroccan chicken recipe is certainly one that we've done several times before, but it's so simple and tasty that we keep coming back to it. The mix of all the various spices gives it a great depth of flavour - that possibly doesn't come over in that slightly grey looking photo! The recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken things, but we ... read more
Cooking with herbs and spices
Only a couple of years or so ago I think the only thing on my spice "shelf" was a little jar of mixed herbs. It's grown quite a bit since then. It's strange, but to me the sight of a well stocked herb and spices shelf is the sign of a good cook, yet I"m not sure that I fit into that category yet.Mr C is the one that has to take most of the credit for helping to expand my taste horizons and consequently my cooking abilities. When we met he was a curry lover, yet I struggled to handle a korma. Chilli was something that I used to back away from frightened.Over time though I ... read more
Italian-style beef stew
Last night's dinner was a perfect meal for a cold winter evening - with a slight Mediterranean edge.Italian-style beef stew is a recipe that we've used a few times before from another book that we have in the 101 range: 101 Meals for Two. As I really don't like them I leave out the olives, but the mix of beef, yellow pepper and rosemary combined with the feta that we sprinkle on top makes it irresistible. I served it last night with some simple mashed potato (sadly not made as expertly as 21st Century Housewife makes hers) but tasty all the same.Sunday ... read more
Chaos
Ae we really only ten days into 2009? Last weekend I remember feeling so organised for going into the new year; now I'm not too sure. So much seems to have happened in these last ten days that I'm not even sure where to start. Sorry there are no photos to accompany my words - I've just not had time to take my camera out of my handbag all week.I went back to work on Monday and was expecting a quiet week before starting all the regular meetings etc next week. Someone else obviously thought differently. I feel like I've been on a treadmill that's been getting faster and faster ... read more