Chocolate Rose

Hello again!

2010-02-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Well, goodness, that was a bit of a break, wasn't it? So, what's been happening?

I moved libraries back in September last year. I'm still doing the admin job. I had a little bit of training to do, Outreach Services staff do laptops kind of stuff.

Oh, and the Intuitive Eating thing finally seemed to start working! I've lost almost a stone since the beginning of December (I'm guessing here as I hadn't weighed myself since August) WITHOUT EVEN TRYING!

Ah, and I was asked to join Boomshanka Tribal Belly Dance troupe last Summer, so I am now actually a performance belly dancer!!! Get me!

I'm back!

2009-09-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Actually it's only because I can't get on Facebook tonight to post on my group there. It's called 'I know what Amy has had for tea, including pudding', and was started up by my friend's daughter. I think she was taking the piss, really, because my status was always what I'd had for dinner! Anyway, the group has about 50 members now, some of them are even people I don't know, and although it is mostly still me telling folks what I've had for my dinner (and lunch and breakfast), it's nice because anyone who is a member can post to it, and share recipes, and people do. Even my favourite author, the wonderful Gwyneth Jones, is a member and occasionally contributes.

Anyway, tonight I'm making pea soup, from my friend Tashadot's blog (Life, Love and Muffins), with homemade gluten-free soda bread. It's all on the go at the moment, so it might be awful, it might be fab. I'll let you know later, and take pictures. I'm also making a gluten-free dark ginger cake which smells divine!!

So, it's after dinner now, I can report back. The pea soup was lovely (I added some mint at Mr F-P's request), so thanks for that Tashadot. My 'accidentally' gluten-free soda bread was a success - I'll explain in a minute - and the ginger cake is effin' gorgeous!!

Tashadot said she had soda bread with her pea soup, and as I'm rather partial I thought we would too - to hell with the potential belly ache from the wheat! Anyway, M&S was completely out, the fiends, so I decided as it's quick I would make my own. 'I've got plenty of flour in the cupboard' thinks I. Well, yes, I had, with plenty of flour weevils in it! It takes me sooooo long to use flour that every time I have to buy new because the bloody weevils get it! I also had gluten-free flour mix, soya, chickpea and buckwheat flours and fine polenta (weevils only seem to like wheat, thankfully!). So I decided to try making the bread with the gluten-free flour mix (from Marks, natch). I pulled a simple recipe off the internet and followed it as if I was using ordinary flour. The result is pictured above, and it's lovely, crunchy and dense and with that slight scone flavour - it'll be fab with jam on!

I got a ginger cake recipe from the Juvela website (they make gluten-free prescription products for coeliacs) and altered it a bit to fit what I'd got. Oh my! I've just had a warm slice, the end off the loaf, and it's delicious!

So, my 2 new recipes are below - you'll have to visit Life, Love and Muffins for the pea soup.

Soda Bread

Ingredients

olive oil for greasing

250g/9oz plain g-f flour mix

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarb

1 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp soft brown sugar

225ml/8 floz live yoghurt or buttermilk

Heat oven to 230/445/Gas 8

Sift the flour, salt, soda and xanthan gum into a large bowl

Stir in the yoghurt or buttermilk (I used yoghurt) with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to knead it together. It should feel soft and firm, not sticky. Add more flour if necessary

Shape into a round and place on a greased blaking sheet

Slash a deep cross in the top

Bake for about 12 minutes then turn the oven down to 200/400/Gas 6 and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes, The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it.

Put the loaf to cool for a bit on a wire rack, but do have some while it's still warm. Lots of butter is reccommended with this!

Ginger Cake

200g/8oz gluten-free white flour mix

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1tsp bicarb

1tsp xanthan gum

100g/4oz soft brown sugar

50g/2oz butter

100g/4oz black treacle

1 egg

200ml/8floz milk

Grease (and line of necessary - I use silicone so it's not) a 2lb loaf tin

Pre-heat oven to 150degrees/300degrees/Gas 2

Mix the flour, bicarb, xanthan and ginger together in a large bowl

In a small pan melt together the butter, sugar and treacle

Add to the dry mix and combine will

Whisk the egg into the milkj, then add this to the rest

Stir it untill it is well mixed - takes a bit of effort

Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean

Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack.

Christmas cake

2008-11-24T07:58:00.000-08:00

I am going to make a gluten-free Christmas cake, or to be more precise, some gluten-free Christmas cakes, as I've got some dinky little pink and blue silicone bun cases I thought would look just lovely. I usually do my Mum a box of mini nice things for Christmas and was about to buy a pretty little cake in John Lewis when I remembered the bun cases. So I'm looking for a recipe quickly before I drink all the rum I bought for it!

On Saturday night I went to Hitchcock's vegetarian restaurant in Hull with the lovely Natasha and the lovely Hannah. It was bloody marvellous. I do get so disappointed by veggie restaurant food, but this was fab. The theme was English food, and there was toad in the hole, shepherd's pie, mushroom and ale pie, Yorkshire puds, roast potatoes, gravy, red cabbage, lots of other veg, cheese sauce, mint sauce, mustard and about 10 different types of pudding!

Mr F-P was a bit poorly last night and had to go to the A&E in an ambulance, doped up with morphine for the pain. Turns out he has kidney stones. It was all rather horrid - not least for him of course!

Anyway, I'll put some pics of the Christmas buns on when I make them.

Paris photos

2008-11-16T04:32:00.000-08:00

The Louvre at night.

Football skills man.

Sunny morning, Mr F-P in Jardin du Luxumbourg.

Chat sat.

Really, the best monge.

Breakfast.

Flowers at the market in the square at the bottom of the road.

Our 'compact and bijou' hotel room...

...and the view from the window.

Chocolat chaud

Paris

2008-10-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Mr F-P and I went to Paris at October half term and it was jolly nice, but I have to say that despite no shortage of vegetarian restaurants, the food was pretty poor. Unless you really, really like shredded and grated raw vegetables! We stayed at the Hotel California St Germain, which was.... I have to say functional. Our room was clean, comfortable and warm (too warm!). It was also miniscule and we had to hang out of the window and peer upwards for about 4 floors to see the sky, as both windows opened into sort of ‘chutes’. But it was quiet at least!

We didn’t have breakfast at the hotel as they were charging €12 each. We found a sweet little cafe nearby where we could get a really good cafe au lait and either a croissant or bread and jam, and freshly squeezed orange juice for €6.90 each. The first morning it was so mild and sunny we were even able to have this sitting outside at a pavement table! The cafe, much to Mr F-P’s amusement, was called the Best Monge.

Our first evening we ate at Le Grenier de Notre Dame, where we’ve been a few times before, and we had the seitan steak, which is fabulous. As I am now ‘an intuitive eater’, and the portions were not only humungous but stupidly expensive, I made Mr F-P share with me, which he wasn’t very happy about. I obliged the manager by having his homemade chocolate mousse and it was lovely. Didn’t eat it all though!

The second evening we ate at an organic place very near to our hotel (the Phyto Bar), and were served much in the way of shredded and grated raw vegetables. Mr F-P was true to form and had an omelette with his, but I opted for the seaweed caviar, which was delicious, a spring roll (mediocre) and there was also a ball of some kind of nutty paste stuff which was really, really delicious, but I can’t remember what it was.

I also obliged with the homemade chocolate mousse again (aren’t I kind?) but found this one too sweet.

Night three found us in the Potager du Marais, behind the Centre Pompidou, facing more shredded rawities. Or at least Mr F-P was. He chose the tofu medallion, which was coated in almonds and was very tasty, but not only was there red cabbage on his plate (horror!), there was also, oddly, half a pear. I thought his head was going to explode! I had the seitan bourguignon, which looked unappetising, and didn’t taste of much. At this point Mr F-P said a few choice things about the quality of French vegetarian restaurant food, and vegetarian restaurant food in general and threatened, randomly, to email Jamie Oliver on our return to tell him that I am the best veggie cook in the world. We were both pretty horrified at the prices too!

Anyway, we drank a lot of cafe au laits (at €4 each a pop!!) and I had hot chocolate a few times as well, because they serve it as a little jug of melted chocolate and a larger jug of hot milk and it’s so much nicer than the stuff we get here made from powder and usually tasting of nothing much at all.

We did have a fab time, and the weather was cold and bright. We visited les Invalides and looked at Napoleon’s tomb and an exhibition of stuff from the 2 World Wars, which had Mr F-P make a few more choice comments, this time about surrender monkeys! We walked in the Jardin du Luxembourg, where the leaves were turning gold and red and orange, and we pressed our peasants’ noses up against the shop windows in the ultra posh shopping district between the gardens and the river. We went up to Sacre Coeur and watched the lights of Paris come on, and saw some juggling lads and a football skills artist.

I'll pop some more photos on here in a bit but Mr F-P needs to use the puter to send some football emails now.

2008-10-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

I finally manged to get an outfit I'm happy with for the Sheffield FC annual dinner at Cutlers Hall. I've been looking for AGES!! I think I'd tried every dress in Debenhams, and even once bought a skirt and then taken it back. Anyway, yesterday I went in and there was an 'occasion wear' sale on, and I got this skirt and top, which I HADN'T tried before, dunno why, half price - which meant £50 instead of £100! The skirt is a 14 and the top is a 12, and they look lovely - I look quite slim in them! Of course I'll be able to wear them separately too, always a bonus. Oooh, I love netty underskirts!! I want to wear them NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Just need some new ballet pumps to go with them, and a long or three-quarter sleeved lacy short cardi now, to cover the bingo wings!). Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! (That's the sound a big grin makes!).

Do you think black net wings with this would be a bit too much?

Gorgeous!

2008-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Found this photo in the Sunday Times magazine and thought I'd share it. It's by top fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier and is simply a double page spread entitled 'The New Sexy' (Mr F-P said "since when was it new for this to be sexy?!"). The text next to the photo says: 'Patrick...... has started photographing bigger women. These meltingly beautiful portraits of earthily glamorous girls are fast becoming the new pin ups. Move over, skinnies: times are changing and now more really is more. Here's to the renaissance of flesh and a little bit more to hold on to'. I was disappointed that there was only one photo - I eagerly turned the page hoping for more! I've searched the net and can't find anymore of this collection of protraits, so perhaps they're not published yet. However, Demarchelier has quite famously said that skinny models are ugly naked! Go Patrick. Isn't she just heartbreakingly beautiful? Contrast her with this model..... nuff said!

2008-09-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Goodness, is it THAT long since I wrote in my blog?! That’s disgraceful. So, what has happened since I was here last? Well, I’ve been to Spain on holiday for 2 weeks, that was very nice, with plenty of €2 Rioja in the nearest shop! We stayed in a rented town house in Almuñecar, on the Costa Tropical. It was gorgeous, but built on 4 floors (not counting the roof terrace). The kitchen was on the first floor and the dining terrace, where we ate all our meals, on the 4th, AND THERE WAS NO TEA TRAY!

While we were there we visited Granada to see the Alhambra, which I’d wanted to see since I was about 12. It was really magnificent. And Granada was lovely, but it was TOO HOT. The whole fortnight was too hot, really, they were having a heatwave in the area.

We also got to see the fireworks to celebrate Assumption Day, on the evening before we came home, which was incredible!

What else?
I started my new job in August, and at the moment it's very similar to my old job except much busier. The real work starts on November 3rd when we start the training programme. Then we'll have 6 weeks of craziness, and then we can relax.

I went to Womad back in July with Mia, camping would you b'lieve?! Bought my own tent and everything!

Here it is!

We saw some interesting bands and some even more interesting sites. These were real fairies, of course. Even fairies drink coffee!

My faves were Babylon Circus, a French Gypsy Punk band, who not only played a really lively set wearing Horse-trader black suits and pork-pie hats in the scorching heat, but did a cookery demonstration as well! Marvellous.

Today's recipe, which I'm baking as I write, is Orange and Olive Oil cake (should have been Orange, Olive Oil and Pine nut, but I forgot to buy any pine nuts, so it's not).
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g (9oz) caster sugar
50g (1¾ oz) light brown sugar
200ml (7 floz) olive oil - probably best not to use cold-pressed organic extra virgin. I think the cheaper, lighter sort is best really, otherwise your cake might not be too nice!
400g (14oz) plain flour (I used gluten-free but the recipe is ornery flour)
1 heaped tsp baking powder
Finely grated rind of one orange
250ml (9floz) freshly squeezed orange juice (or not freshly squeezed, can't see it makes much odds)
40g of pine nuts, or none.

Preheat the oven to 180° (350°/Gas 4).

Brush 2 22cm (8½") baking tins (round ones I suppose, it doesn't say) with olive oil and dust with flour. Actually, as I haven't got 2 22cm tins I used 1 bigger silicone one (oiled) and then made 6 buns as well.

Whip the egg whites till they're stiff.

Beat the yolks with the vanilla till it's pale and foamy.

Add the sugar, whisk that (I used my electric whisky machine thing for all of this recipe), then add the oil a bit at a time and whisk it in.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Add the OJ and whisk it all up nicely.

Gently fold in the egg whites (nearly forgot to put that bit in there!).

Pour the mix into your tin/tins/bun cases whatever (it'd make a heck of a lot of very nice buns, this recipe!) and bake for 35 minutes. That's for the 2 22cm cakes. My buns (oo-er!) took 15 minutes and my large cake took about 50 minutes.

I think I'm going to make some sort of orangey icing for it in a bit, cos I've got some home made butter I want to use up (oh yeah, I made butter the other day, did I say?).

Kohlrabi

2008-06-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

I ordered a Shropshires organic veg box in with my Tesco shopping yesterday, and it had one of these in it. I knew it was a kohlrabi (just one of those little bits of trivia picked up somewhere along the way!) but not what to do with it. Anyway, looked it up on t'internet today, and discovered that apparently it's very popular in Germany, which was useful to know as it helped in persuading Mr F-P to eat it! He's not one for tying new and peculiar looking vegetables. Anyway, the suggested uses for it seemed to be basically grate it in a coleslaw (which Mr F-P doesn't eat anyway, and besides, I bought a tub of coleslaw in M&S yesterday and how much do you need?), cook it in a cream and cheese sauce in the oven for an hour (a bloody hour?!), or mash it in with some spuds. Guess which one I chose. So we had potato and kohlrabi mash (with cheddar and mustard as The Boy is not a mash fan, but tolerates it if it's cheesy!), Quorn sausages in gravy made from a bottle of M&S red wine and rosemary marinade and Bisto granules, and broccoli and cabbage. It was bloody lovely!

Am off to do fake tanning now and dye my hair as the grey is creeping back in. Mr F-P and I are going to a charidee dinner on Friday - I've no idea what it's for (it's at Bramall Lane football ground, home of Sheffield United, so I suspect it may be football related) but as long as I get a good dinner and can wear my posh frock I don't really care. There might even be free champagne again!

Blegh!

2008-06-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

I went for tapas with a friend on Tuesday lunchtime, and we shared a chickpea salad and some white asparagus spears with Manchego and olives, swimming in olive oil, and I had a lovely Spanish fish stew. It was delicious, but unfortunately I think it gave me food poisoning! I had to go home shortly after lunch and spent the rest of the day either sleeping or on the loo! I took Wednesday off too, as I was still feeling very dodgy, and also tired and miserable (Mr Fuss-Pott is away in Germany with a school trip so there was no-one to look after me!!). I'm back at work today, a bit 'wafty' and pathetic, and still very sorry for myself. But at least the fish stew has worked its way out of my system. I had to get a friend to take me to Tesco last night cos there wasn't a thing left in the house to eat and The Boy was getting hungry! So I've not got much to say about food today, except nectarines are nice!

In other news, The Daughter has moved out and seems to be settling into her little flat quite nicely, though I haven't actually seen it since I scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom on the day she moved in, so it could easily be as much of a pit by now as her room in our house was! She did text me the other day to say she was coming round - to visit the cat!

Oh, and that job? I got it! I start week commencing July 14th. Dunno what all the fuss was about.....

Even bigger Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

2008-06-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm waiting now. I had my interview for this job on Tuesday. Five people were interviewed. Four more were interviewed yesterday. The interview team are cloistered in an office now trying to make a decision on which 2 candidates to appoint. I am totally convinced that neither of them will be me! That way, if one of them is me, I'll be pleasantly surprised. But having convinced myself I haven't got the job is not making the waiting any easier. I just feel really sick, I haven't slept very well all week, and I can't eat (a small bonus there then!). I'm trying to concentrate on my trip away this weekend, but it's not working. Someone has just booked me onto a training session for the new financial system (BIG wow!!) this afternoon so at least that might take my mind off it! Oh, it's just too horrible! I wish people would stop coming into the office, or even walking past it! I know all the nine candidates will be stressed with waiting to hear, but the thing is, if I don't get one of the posts, I'VE STILL GOT TO DO THE ADMIN FOR WHOEVER DOES!!!! Gah!

Aaaargh!!

2008-05-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

I WILL finish my account of my trip to Marrakech at some point...... but just not right now.

I've just spent the day at work making up email addresses and dates of birth for 220 pretend people (something to do with training the staff to use the new Library Management System when we get it in a few months). Sound fun? Believe me, it was mind-numbingly tedious! I have also eaten far too much (again - Tuesday was more of the same!). From boredom. And now I've bitten my tongue eating crisps, which serves me right!

I am fatter than I've been in a long time. I don't want to go back to dieting. I love being able to eat nice things. But I don't want to get any fatter either. Just before I ate those crisps I heard myself tell myself (in my head, I'm not that crazy!) that I'd try harder tomorrow! Crapola will I! Tomorrow I have to sit at this desk and probably register 132 of those 220 pretend people - am I going to suddenly be able to take that level of boredom without eating everything within reach? I don't think so!

I'm soooooo tired at the moment too (probably to do with being so fat!). Also been feeling rather sad, with no idea why - it just washes over me in a wave sometimes. I don't want to wake up in the morning, and when I do I don't want to get up, and when I do I don't want to get dressed.

I have an interview on the 3rd of June for a job I really want, and know I can do. It's training the new Library Management System. I already work for the department that does the training. I do the admin. I can do the training too, I know I can. My colleagues know I can. But I still have to go through the 2 hour interview process, with the 2 practical teaching exercises. Because it's equal opportunities! There are 9 candidates!! NINE!! OK, so there are 2 posts, but what if I don't get either of them? I'LL STILL HAVE TO DO THE ADMIN FOR WHATEVER BASTARDS DO!!! I just feel like I really, really can't be bothered to show up for the interview. At least if I pull out now then no-one will be thinking I wasn't good enough to get it. It's just getting through the interview! It's at a much higher level than I'm at now, and there'll be people applied who already work at that level, and they'll know the jargon! It all seems like far too much hard work. Can't be arsed!

Blah blah blah. Miserable sod! Sorry.......

Marrakech Part 3

2008-03-07T03:04:00.000-08:00

Breakfast at Riad Vert consisted of fresh orange juice, bread and jams, and coffee. Mr F-P asked the lady who served us if I could perhaps have some fruit and yoghurt. She looked at me in that same askance manner, and asked me if I wanted banana, orange and apple. I said oui s'il vous plaît, and she said, in French obviously, that it would take about 10 minutes. So I waited and watched Mr F-P enjoying the bread. There was the lovely French-style bread of the previous night, and also what looked like home-made English Muffins, and some little yeasted pancakes. Eventually my fruit arrived - I'd been anticipating a fruit salad with yoghurt. What I got was a plate with an apple, an orange, a banana and a knife on it. No yoghurt ever materialised. Anyway, I ate the fruit, and drank my juice and we battled our way through a great big pot of 'economy' coffee (hot, dark brown water!). Then we set off to 'town'..........

So, said Dominic when we asked him, to get to the main square, the Jmaa el Fna, all we had to do was to go 'droite et droite et droit sur' (right, then right and then straight on). Sounds simple enough, non? We managed the right and then right, but after that there didn't actually appear to be any 'straight on'! We were trapped in the 13th Century and couldn't find our way out. We passed metal workers' yards with little donkeys and carts waiting outside. At one point someone had tipped a truckload of stones onto the 'road' and were patiently shovelling it into buckets and moving it into a yard, while a lot more people who could have helped stood around watching. There were people carrying covered trays of unbaked bread to the communal ovens. Women in hijabs whizzed past on scooters. Car horns honked constantly and we were forever diving out of the way. I'd got flip flops on and after about 10 minutes my feet were FILTHY! Eventually a kindly local took pity on us and offered to show us the way - for a not-insubstantial sum of money of course! Anyway, above is a photo of the Jmaa el Fna from the cafe Argana, where we finally got a decent cup of coffee!

Once at the square it was easy to find ourselves on the map Dominic had given us, and after our coffee, and after Mr F-P had bought some very cheap Converse trainers, we walked to the new town to get some more money. You can't buy Moroccan currency anywhere except in Morocco, so on the advice of some idiot at Thomas Cook's bureau de change, we had taken our spendoes in Euro Travellers Cheques. Don't do this! We could only find one bank in the whole of Marrakech that would change Travellers Cheques, and their bureau de change was closed from 1 to 3 every day! (we didn't discover this pertinent fact until the following day!).

Anyway, in the new town, after a series of incredibly nerve-wracking road-crossing exercises, we settled at a table outside the Grande Cafe du Poste, which is rather swish and seems to be frequented by Moroccan 'yummy-mummies' with designer babies, designer jeans, huge heads on stick bodies, and trout-pouts. We had mint tea, and then coffee (Mr F-P had a cafe Moroccaine, which was a small stripey one in a little glass, and I had iced, which was a massive black one in a big glass with coffee beans on the top). Then we asked for a table inside so we could have some lunch. For lunch I had grilled sardines with tomato marmalade, and Mr F-P had a cheese omelette. There was lovely bread again. They don't even charge for it you know! Then I fell down the stairs! The floor outside the loo - which was upstairs, and was lovely with little flannels to dry your hands on - was being washed when I came out, and I had flip flops on, as I've already said, and the stairs were marble and spiral, and I managed to slip down the last 5 or so, in a skirt, so no doubt flashed my undercarriage to the 10 waiters who just happened to be standing exactly opposite the bottom of those stairs at the exact moment I fell down! What fun!

So after that excitement, and the very small bill, we went off to catch the open-top tourist bus to have a look at a couple of palaces, the Bahia and the Baadi, one a ruin and the other not.

photos here...... http://www.flickr.com/photos/arowan534/

Marrakech Part 2

2008-03-04T12:49:00.001-08:00

Riad Vert.

It’s a traditional riad, which is a Moroccan house, set around a courtyard. These houses turn their faces away from the street. Outside it was MENTAL! Narrow, dusty lanes full of honking car horns and kids running and donkeys and people shouting and all kinds of furore. Once we stepped through the green door, hidden in a little alley off the narrowest street, it was a different world. A short passage brought us out into the courtyard, with palm trees growing in the middle. It was covered with a canopy, because it’s COLD in Marrakech at night in the winter. There were tables set out in the courtyard for dining, and rooms opened off it with sofas and low tables. The owner, Dominic, a rather groovy Frenchman, greeted us and we sat and had mint tea with him and some other guests, also French. I smiled and nodded and pretended to understand while Mr Fuss-Pott chatted away. I’d really been looking forward to that mint tea, and it wasn’t a disappointment (but I discovered those lovely silver teapots need some kind of holder for the handle, as the heat doesn’t know where to stop!).

Monsieur Dominic said that he had put us in a larger room, so I was a bit upset that I wouldn’t be getting the pretty drapey bed – I’d so looked forward to that. The room we were in was lovely though, and the bed was incredibly comfy. I think the room we’d originally requested was on the next floor up and perhaps they didn’t use that floor if they weren’t very full. I will say that although the bathroom LOOKED gorgeous, all terracotta plaster and marble with brass fittings, it wasn't terribly efficient. The shower was passable, I've certainly stood under more dribblesome ones, but the sink was just silly! It was a lovely brass bowl set into a tiled worktop, with a brass tap. Trouble was, the plug didn't work, the tap only trickled, and the trickle barely went into the bowl, it was mostly over the tiles! It took a fair while to get enough water in there to wash your face! There only seemed to be 3 other couples staying at the riad. A French couple who seemed a bit mad (they hired scooters one day and a car the next – totally bonkers!!!), a Polish man living in Switzerland, and his partner, I think she might have been Swiss, I’m not sure, and a very young and rather perfect-looking French couple with a lovely toddler.

After the madcap ride through the streets of Marrakech in the taxi, and having noted how far we seemed to be from anything vaguely resembling a restaurant, or even a shop, we decided we didn’t actually dare to go out of the riad in the dark, so we opted for dinner a la maison. I gather Riad Vert do wonderful meals. Dominic looked at us quite strangely when we explained (well, Mr F-P explained) that neither of us ate meat – most French people look askance at you if you tell them that! In the end we decided on a meal of omelettes, salads and strawberries. That sounded perfect. We got all our stuff sorted out (which means I forced Mr F-P to unpack – he always tries to just leave his things in the case and the case open in the middle of the floor!) and then went down for dinner.

We were served at a little table in the courtyard, under a palm tree. First we were brought a basket of bread and 2 earthenware bowls of ‘salads’, which were in fact cooked dishes. Both seemed to be aubergine based, but were quite different, and equally delicious. I did indulge in some of the bread – it was like French bread but even nicer – golden and really crusty on the outside and fluffy inside. We were also brought a big bottle of water. Then the omelettes came, one each, great big things, gorgeously cooked and oozing with fresh herbs. The waiter left the remains of the ‘salads’ so we had those with the omelettes. Mmmmmmmm! Pudding was fresh strawberries with vanilla yoghurt, and we had coffee to end. It was the most delicious meal. Later, back home, Mr F-P promised me he would email Dominic and beg for the recipes for those aubergine salads.

We went to bed quite early – you’re always knackered after travelling, aren’t you, even if you didn’t have to get up especially early or anything. Funny that. I didn’t get much sleep cos Mr F-P makes little noises in the back of his throat when he’s asleep, and I could hear him despite having cotton wool balls in my ears!

Marrakech Part 1

2008-02-21T13:49:00.001-08:00

Checked in online with BA the day before we flew to Marrakech, so we were straight through Gatwick in the blink of an eye! Never been so fast. Didn’t set the alarm off at the scanner, I usually do! Everything was on time, it was marvellous! My meal on the plane was a bit disappointing. I’d pre-ordered an ‘Asian Vegetarian’ meal, as there was no option for a gluten-free vegetarian one, and I thought Asian would be less likely to be pasta! I got ratatouille and rice (?!), which is a bit of a queer combination, but not ridiculously so. It came with salad and fruit salad, all a bit dull and teeth-achingly cold! I made the huge mistake of automatically saying no thanks to the “would you like wine with your meal?” cos I never drink on planes. Could have put it away for later though, daft cow! The Husband (henceforth known as Mr Fuss-Pott, or Mr F-P for short, for reasons I’ll explain in due course) had pasta, which he said was very nice.

So, we landed all safe and sound in Marrakech after a pretty impressive flyover of the city, due to the wind not being ideal in one direction and the pilot not being able to see a thing in the other direction cos of the sun setting, which gave Mr F-P a bit of a turn (he’d already been whittling about the dangers of us flying together – as if we are the royal family or something!). The airport was fine, like a lot of other airports but with nicer tiles. Got the bags and everything. We’d asked the Riad to send a taxi for us, and there was this chap with a sign that said ‘Riad Vert’’ (which was where we were going) and another one that said ‘Maddison’, which is not our name! So we made ourselves known to him and then we went outside for Mr F-P top have a fag while the taxi driver waited, we assumed for this Maddison person or persons. Anyway, he came out after a bit with 2 young guys, and we all walked out to the smallest car in the world, which was the colour of sand, and the taxi driver disappeared. So we stood and chatted – the 2 guys were Californians who now lived in Belgium, one was a Kindergarten Teacher, the other a Landscape Architect (whatever that is). The sun was going down and blokes were getting down in a sandpit and doing their prayers. It got a bit windy and me and Landscape Architect put our jackets on. We waited a bit longer. Taxi Driver came back, with a middle aged couple (proper middle aged, not like us!), and we started to wonder how exactly he was going to get us all in this teensy little beige car. Then another sand-coloured taxi came up, much bigger, and The Californian Belgians and the Middle Aged Couple got in and off they went. None of them going to the same place as us after all, so what we were waiting for all that time we’ll never know! So we got in the taxi and the Taxi Driver drove out of the car park, and then any similarity to driving as we know it totally disappeared. I think the only rule of the road in Morocco is ‘go’! Anyway, we hurtled round the city’s ring road at about 60 mph, in the heaviest and most random traffic I’ve ever seen. It consisted of: lorries, buses, taxis, cars, motor bikes, mopeds, push bikes and donkey carts! Oh yeah, did I mention there were no seatbelts?

Then we were in through the walls of the city through a ‘Bab’, which we assume means gate, and the 21st Century became the 13th. The Boy’s got a computer game called Assassin’s Creed, set in Crusade era Jerusalem, and the streets looked exactly like that! There were donkeys all over the place, and little kids running by the side of the narrowest streets, and Taxi Driver just kept honking his horn and the kids and the donkeys got out of the way. It’s impossible to adequately describe! Eventually, goggle-eyed, we stopped. Taxi Driver got out of the car, heaved our case out of the boot, locked all his doors and set off up a tiny little alley to an arch through which we could see a green door and the words ‘Riad Vert’.

Most of our photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arowan534/
though flickr won't let me put them all on!

Baked Risotto

2008-02-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made a baked risotto, which was so easy. Here's the recipe, which I nicked from a mag at the hairdressers.

Squash, Pea and Sage Risotto.

4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of crushed or chopped garlic (or 1 tsp of that lazy stuff in a jar)
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage or half of dried
300g risotto rice
200 ml dry white wine
700ml veg stock (I used 2 cubes in boiling water)
300 or 400g diced butternut squash (or other sort - or even some other veg of your choice, I don't think it really matters, though if you use green beans say, you'll have to change its name!)
200g peas (frozen are fine)

Heat the oven to 180 (or 160 if its fan like mine)
Heat the oil and butter, and fry the onion and garlic till its soft
Add the rice and the sage and stir for a few minutes.
Stir in the wine and cook for a few minutes more.
Add the stock and the vegetables.
Bring to the boil and then put it in an ovenproof something, cover it and put it in the oven.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Voila! Grate some parmesanny type stuff on it and eat it up - yum yum!! I did some veggie hotdog sausages with it cos The Boy and The Hubby don't much care for risotto, but actually they liked this. It says serves 4 on the recipe, but we got 6 portions out of it.

A Change

2008-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Decided I needed a new background, and just HAD to have this one - it's called Chocolate is Life!!!! Hope you like it. I lost all my links though, so if I was linked to your page and now I'm not, let me know!

I am a bit giddy with excitement as it is now less than 3 weeks till my trip to Marrakech! This is where we are staying, and that is my bed!!! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Ricotta and lentil salad

2008-01-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't make this today, but I HAVE made it and it IS lovely! I promised it to someone so thought I'd put it here. It's not my recipe, it's from a newspaper, think it's maybe a Heston Blumenthall one - I can only see 'all' at the top of the page!
200g Puy lentils
1 small onion
2tbsp fresh parsley
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp capers
salt and pepper
Olive oil 250g ricotta

Put the lentils in a pan with the sliced onion and the bay leaf, and cover with plenty of water. Simmer them gently for about 20 minutes, till their done. The recipe says remove the onions, but I leave them in, just take the bay leaf out or you might choke! Drain the lentils. Add the lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley and capers (you'll probably need to rinse them first, they're usually stored in salt!). Add a good glug of nice olive oil and season to taste. Slice the ricotta onto 4 plates and spoon the still warm lentils over the top. Mmmmmm........

Almond Cake

2008-01-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

This seems to have degenerated into simply a recipe blog but what the hell! The Husband had a slice of Bakewell Tart the other day, and it looked lovely, so I decided I would make the filling without the pastry, cos I really didn't want to get into making gluten-free pastry - life probably really is too short! Anyway, I found a recipe for Bakewell Tart in a book, and copied out the filling part. Then I timesed it by half. This cake was incredibly easy and absolutely gorgeous!!!
6oz butter
6oz sugar
6oz ground almonds
3 large eggs
2 or 3 tblsp red jam
some almond essence.
1. Melt the butter.
2. Mix the almonds and sugar.
3. Beat the eggs.
4. mix all together and add the almond essence - I've got the natural one and used probably about 5 or 6 drops - it could have taken more.
5. Heat the oven to about 200.
6. Grease 2 sandwich tins and line the bases with paper, grease that.
7. Pour the better into the tins and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes then turn out carefully. 9. Put the jam in a dish and microwave it briefly (half a minute or so) until it melts.
10. Spread the jam on one half of the cake and put the other half on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with cream.
The picture isn't my cake, I took a nice picture of mine but then I put the memory card from the camera in the wrong slot on the computer and I can't get it out!

Another lovely Sunday Dinner!

2008-01-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Today we had Spicy Lentil and Sweet Potato loaf with tomato sauce and salad (and the troops had pasta). Someone mentioned lentils earlier (we were talking about the chicken programmes, and how people say they can't afford to buy free range chicken and my friend said just buy some lentils and broaden your mind!). And I thought, mmmmm, haven't had lentils for yonks, and I love 'em!
I put some red lentils (about 200g probably, but I didn't weight them) in a pan and covered them well with cold water. Then I brought them to the boil and cooked them gently until all the water had been absorbed and the lentils were soft - with red lentils that only takes 15 minutes or so.
In the meantime I sauteed a finely chopped onion till it was soft in some olive oil and then added a teaspoon of 'lazy garlic' and a teaspoon of 'lazy chili' and a good shake of whole cumin seeds. I also thinly sliced 3 small sweet potatoes and boiled them till they were nearly done. When the onion and spices were done I added them to the cooked lentils with about a dsp of veg stock powder and some salt and pepper, and a beaten egg.
Then I greased a loaf tin and lined it with greaseproof and greased that. Then I put half the lentil mixture in and then the slices of sweet potato followed by the rest of the lentils, and baked it in the oven for half an hour.
While it was in the oven I tipped a tin of chopped tomatoes into the frying pan I had done the onion in, added a glug of sherry and let it reduce to a nice thick sauce over a medium heat. When it was cooked I added salt and pepper and about a third of a teaspoon of sugar.
I tipped the lentil loaf onto a serving plate, peeled off the paper and spooned the sauce on top. It was lovely!
For pudding we had the most delicious Chocolate and Chestnut Truffle cake, which I have to admit is a recipe from 'somewhere on the internet', which The Daughter found. I don't know where it came from (it's possibly a Nigella?) - if it's yours, tell me and I'll credit you. It was bloody amazing anyway!

"250g dark chocolate
250g unsalted butter
250g peeled cooked chestnuts (I used a 200g vacuum packet of prepared, cooked chestnuts)
250ml milk
4 eggs, separated
125g caster sugar

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a pan over a very gentle heat. In another pan, heat the chestnuts with the milk until just boiling, then mash thoroughly with a potato masher (or process to a rough purée in a machine).
Put the egg yolks in a bowl and mix with the caster sugar. Stir in the chocolate mixture and the chestnut purée until you have a smooth, blended batter. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them carefully into the batter."
The recipe now says to put the mix in a 23cm springform greased and lined cake tin. I haven't got one of those, so I put it in a greased and lined rectangular roasting tray which is about 10" X 6" (I'm guessing, and I don't think it's terribly important to be honest), but it wouldn't all fit so I also put it in 6 bun cases in a bun tray, and 2 small glass ramekins (buttered) - that used it all up!
I baked it in the oven at 170°C/Gas Mark 3 - the buns and 2 ramekins for about 25 minutes and the larger cake for about 35 minutes.
You can either eat it warm as a pudding, in which case it is deliciously soggy and moussey inside, or apparently, if you let it cool, it sets and goes more cakey. Mine hadn't set yet last time I looked so I can't vouch for that. What I can vouch for is the fact that it is ridiculously lovely. I had my portion with a dollop of Total Greek yoghurt and a splodge of Waitrose blackcurrant coulis (which is unsweetened, so lovely and sharp!). Mmmmmmm........

Polenta - I can't live without it!!

2008-01-04T11:20:00.001-08:00

Well, as I am intolerant of gluten, and so therefore wheat, and can only eat bread if I don't mind severe belly ache and farting afterwards, I'm always on the lookout for good alternatives. Polenta seems to be my saviour these days! I'm using it for all sorts of things. It makes fabulous cakes, with ground almonds, and my polenta and almond Victoria sponge is almost indistinguishable from the 'real' thing, especially with whipped cream and fresh raspberries in it!!
I've just discovered polenta crackers, which are pretty easy to make. The recipe is from 28 Cooks (as is the lovely picture!!), which is a blogspot blog, so is at www.28cooks.blogspot.com, but as usual I've altered it a little. I've got white polenta at the moment, simply because that's what Tesco had in, and I don't know if it absorbs more water than yellow. I do think perhaps that these crackers would look nicer made from yellow polenta though.
3 and 1/2 cups of water
1 and 1/2 cups of polenta (I don't know what weight this is, I couldn't be bothered to weigh it as I've got some cup measures!)
1 tsp veg stock powder
Plenty of finely grated Parmesan (I used the Veggie Parmesan style one, cos as you all know, real Parmesan and the like are made with animal rennet!).
1 Bring the water to the boil, add the stock powder.
2 Chuck the polenta in and mash it around well with a wooden spoon or even a big whisk to get any lumps put.
3 Cook it for a couple of minutes till it's lifting from the sides of the pan.
4 Add the Parmesan stuff and stir well in.
5 Grease a couple of flat baking sheets well with butter or marg or oil.
6 Turn the polenta out onto the trays and, with wet hands cos it's hot and sticky, squidge it all over the trays to make a thin, even layer, tidying the edges up as best you can. Score it into whatever size slices you want.
7 Put it in a medium hot oven (I do about 220) and bake it for about 25 minutes.
8 Take it out, cut it into its slices and put it on a rack to cool.

You could use mixed herbs instead of the cheese if you liked, or marmite in the water, or tomato puree or whatever flavouring takes your fancy! It's scrummy!

Tortilla Soup

I made this today, and it was so popular it immediately became a family favourite! I got the recipe from a book called Soup Kitchen, can't remember who it's by, but again, I've twiddled it a bit.

1 litre veg stock (I made mine up from boiling water and 5 tsp of stock powder cos I am far too busy to be making proper stock!)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 400g tin of tomatoes
6 corn tortillas (you can buy gluten free ones but I didn't cos I was in Summerfield and Summerfield is rubbish! But there's not sooo much wheat in them that they've made me fart!).
Oil (olive or otherwise)
Block of feta cheese
1 large ripe avocado
1 lime
Some olives
Half a packet of quorn chicken style pieces (you could even use 'real' chicken bits if you must!)
tblsp of polenta
smoked paprika
some sort of chili element
salt and pepper

1 Cut the onion into 6 wedges, and peel the garlic. Cook them dry in a large heavy frying pan (I used a non stick cos I have trouble with sticky things!) over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes till they go a bit brown.
2 Put them in a blender with the tinned toms and whizz it all up.
3 Put this in a big saucepan (deep is best, it spits like buggery!) and put it on a medium high heat and cook it till it's reduced to a thickish puree.
4 Add the stock and simmer for about 25 minutes. Then season.
5 You need to add your chili element at some point. I've got a dried chili grinder so I added it when I put the stock in. If you're using fresh you can do the chili with the onion and garlic, same way. Whatever.
6 While the soup is cooking, cut the tortillas into little strips about 2 inches or less long.
7. Cut the avo into chunks and put them in a bowl. Cut the feta into chunks (the recipe also says you could use mozzarella instead, so do, if you like) and put them in a bowl. Cut the lime into wedges and put those in a bowl. Put these bowls on the table.
8 Mix the polenta and a tsp of smoked paprika (or some other flavouring if you like) and shake the quorn pieces in it.
9 In 2 large frying pans heat some oil, and in one fry the quorn till it's crispy, and in the other fry the strips of tortilla likewise (half at a time is best as there are lots).
10 Drain the tortilla strips on kitchen roll.
11 Then, in 4 shallow bowls, share out the tortilla strips and the quorn pieces and ladle the tomato broth over the top.
12 People can add the other stuff as they see fit, at the table, the feta, avo and olives, and the lime juice can be squeezed on top (I think it's really the finishing touch!).

It was bloody delicious!

Mmm, Christmas....

2007-12-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

... dontcha love it?! I'm always so totally lazy over Christmas (no change there, then!), apart from all the cooking, which I love anyway. Made a gluten-free Black Forest Gateau this year (thanks to Delia!) and the now-traditional tofu cheesecake, and we've got mince pies and Christmas cake and yule log and all manner of fancy biscuits and chocolates and toffee, but it's the cheese and pickles I'm more interested in. I LOVE Christmas dinner (sooooo many different things!!) and I also love cooking it, shutting myself away in the kitchen and getting on with it. The Daughter bought me a jar of Hibiscus flowers in syrup, which according to the label you are supposed to put into glasses of champagne, so I am going to have to start drinking that now, ALL the time! How dreadful. Anyway, here's my gateau.

The cat had the most marvelous Christmas too - we got her one of those fleece chairs that hangs on the radiator so she doesn't have to sit on the phone - and a catnip mouse, which we wrapped up and she unwrapped - that was funny.

Back to work tomorrow, with nothing whatsoever to do and no-one to talk to! The only reason I'm going is because I haven't enough holiday left to take the day off! It's going to be a looooooooong day! Still, Friday we're invited to a little party at our friends' house, and Saturday we've got my very best friend and her family coming over, and bringing my Mum with them. We'll be having Christmas dinner all over again!! Yay!! I did soya steak and mushrooms en croute yesterday, Saturday I'm doing sosmix in different flavours, baked in the oven. And there'll be other grown ups to sit round the table amidst the debris and chat after dinner!! That's almost my favourite bit...... we don't really do that - 4 hours to cook it and 20 minutes to eat it and everyone's gone!

Hmmm...

2007-11-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

I don't seem to be writing much about BC or IE do I? Plenty of recipes. Ha ha, That says a lot I guess.

I did have a 'light bulb' moment today. I was eating my lunch, which was a (beautifully) poached egg on 2 slices of gluten free toast with marmite. I realised I was rushing through the egg white to get to the treat of the runny yolk. So I stopped, poked the yolk and made it run over my toast, and ate that first. Then I didn't need to eat the whole lot, and threw half a slice of toast and a bit of the white in the bin! So, a lesson (hopefully) learned there - eat the best bit first then I don't have to eat the rest if I don't want to! I am going to (try to) apply this principle to all my meals this week - wish me luck in even remembering!

Twice this week I've made tapioca pudding. I hadn't had it in years - probably since school! I made it on Thursday night and it was so popular I made it again last night. I did a double quantity and we're just reheating it as we want it. It gets thicker all the time so has to be thinned with more milk - so may very well last forever! It's divine with golden syrup!!!!

Thursday night I also made Lavender Shortbread from my new cookery book, The Scented Kitchen by Frances Bissell. I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it gluten free, so I believe it's OK for me to put it here as my own.

4oz butter

3oz sugar

about 2 dsp dried lavender, sold for teas, not for pot purr (try a herbalist)

5oz gluten free plain white flour mix

1oz polenta meal

Whizz the sugar and lavender in a mill or similar, or grind in a pestle and mortar to blend.

Cream the butter and most of the lavender sugar.

Stir in the sifted flour and polenta to form a stiff dough (add a sploosh of cold water if needed - I didn't need it)

Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper as thin as you can.

Cut into shapes with a cutter.

Grease a baking sheet and lay the biscuits gently on it.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes at Gas3/165 C/325 F, dusting with the remaining sugar 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Remove and lay on a cooling rack to set properly.

The original recipe had 6oz plain flour, and you probably won't need the greaseproof with that. I'm going to use my version to make different flavour shortbreads, as The Husband thinks anything edible with flowers in is a crime against humanity!

Autumn Hafla 2007

2007-11-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night Boomshanka had their Autumn Halfa, which was totally wicked. Here are a couple of my photos from it.

Here's me, dressed up as a gypsy (I blame that Flake advert from the late 70s with the gypsy girl and the caravan!). I have ALWAYS wanted to do this!!

This is 'Tribal Crue' (the lovely Rosie and Monika) doing their first ever duet dance. They were awesomley good, dancing to Motley Crue (hence the name), which was fun.

Our Leader, the magnificent Ruth!!!

Here's me and my friend Catherine, eating some cake and watching the dancing. The food was wonderful. Everyone brought something with a middle eastern flavour to share. The best spread I'd seen in ages!

I have NOT photoshopped this picture (much!) - I'm always this glowy!!! And unlined!

Ginger Cake

2007-11-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

I've just made my gluten free ginger cake again, and I wrote the recipe down this time!! So, here it is, and it is DELICIOUS!!!
(apologies to anyone who has a gas oven, I don't know the equivalent temperature)

Ginger Cake

180g butter
2tblsp black treacle or molasses
120g dark brown, molasses or muscovado sugar
50g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
150g polenta
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp xanthan gum
4 tsp ground ginger
3 eggs
1tblsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180º
Melt the butter, sugar and black treacle/molasses in a pan over a gentle heat.
Mix the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder, xanthan gum and ginger in a large bowl.
When the butter/sugar mix is completely melted, pour it into the dry ingredients and mix well (use a food processor or electric whisk if you like).
Add the eggs and beat all together well. Add the milk to soften the mixture and beat well again.
Grease a rectangular baking tin and line with greaseproof paper. Grease the paper.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30 mins.
Remove from the oven and turn out onto a cooling rack. Remove the paper.
Cut into squares when cool.

A Bit of a Do

2007-10-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

No recipe today (Gosh! Is it that long since I blogged?!). We had Quorn sausages and mash for dinner today on account of a teensy hangover. I did make the most delicious gluten-free ginger cake the other week, and when I get my head round the recipe (I made it up and will probably have to make another in order to write down what I put in it – shame!!) I will post it, as it really was quite delicious!

Last night The Husband and I went to a very posh do indeed, at the Cutlers Hall here in Sheffield.
http://www.c utlers-hall-sheffield.co.uk/
It was Sheffield FC's 150th Birthday Gala dinner, with all sorts of luminaries from the world of football (in which I have no interest whatsoever!!), some politicos, lots of journos, business people, and us. The Husband coaches Sheffield FC Women’s team and also 2 of the girls’ teams. Tickets were, I believe, £150 a throw, though we got ours for nowt! We actually got a nice dinner for a change – being veggies (Husband is, I eat fish but not meat, and it’s easier to say veggie) we often feel short-changed (yes, even when we’ve not paid!) by the food offered at these sort of do’s. We had a vegetable terrine for starters, which was very tasty, and for the main course a flat mushroom filled with a puy lentil mixture and topped with goat’s cheese, with tomato sauce, and the veg and potatoes everyone else had with their roast beef. Pudding was a chocolate torte with caramel sauce and a couple of strawberries (isn’t it always?). I ate all my starter, cos I was dying of starvation by then as the whole thing had kicked off late and the speeches had gone on FOREVER! I left some main course though, cos I was getting full, and I left the base of the torte (we had asked for mine to be gluten-free, but I didn’t dare kick up a fuss over the pudding, cos they’d have taken it away and brought me a fruit salad, and then I’d have cried!). I felt quite pleased with myself. The coffee, as ever, was rubbish, which I mentioned to the lady sitting next to me and she said, yes, it’s always far too strong isn’t it? Wow!! I was just thinking it tasted like water!!! The wine was included, and I probably had several too many glasses of red (there was a glass of champagne on arrival, and we managed to ‘arrive’ twice, as The Husband had to go out for a fag so I went with him, just so I could go by the champers table again!). So today I’m feeling a little under the weather (was off work thank goodness!) and just wanted mashed potato ALL day! I have cried off Belly Dancing tonight even though I know I would probably have enjoyed it, cos I didn’t want to go out and do anything at all! Perhaps I’ll walk to work tomorrow instead.

Next Tuesday it’s my birthday (I’ll be 43 – that’s not right is it?!). Think we’ll have some friends round for a meal next Friday. I’m hoping to collect enough money for my birthday to buy a new ipod, as my old one needs the battery recharging every day now!

The Boy took some photos of us before we went out last night, me in my new frock and The Husband in his rented tux, but they aren’t very good. Or perhaps it’s us that aren’t!!

Cake

2007-10-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a bit radical! At least it is to me. I’ve just made a cake in the microwave. I was sort of vaguely aware you could do this, and have seen microwaveable baking trays. But it had never really occurred to me to try it. But tonight I wanted to make a gluten-free fruit cake, low-sugar, to have for breakfasts with some soaked dried fruit and Greek yoghurt. I googled ‘gluten free fruit cake recipe’ and the first one I found was this microwave one. It’s soooo easy, and as you melt the butter, that makes it even easier. I’ve just tried it, and it’s lovely! I tweaked the recipe a bit to suit what I’ve got (it said 1kilo of dried fruit but I could only find about 500g, it said a tin of crushed pineapple, and I left that out altogether, and I added a lump of muscovado sugar, there was none at all in the recipe, but I thought that it might need it, what with not having the pineapple in). So, here it is:

Gluten-free Microwave Fruit Cake

500g dried fruit - matters not what sort I guess, I used raisins, goji berries (yeah, I know!) and chopped dates, simply cos that’s what I could find.
A good glug of orange flower water (or a few drops of orange essence and almond essence – I didn’t have those).
125g butter
A medium lump of muscovado sugar - about the size of a Cooks matchbox perhaps, I wasn’t really paying much attention.
1 tsp nutmeg (or a good grating)
2 tsp mixed spice (or whatever cake spices you fancy)
4 eggs
125g ground almonds
1 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp bicarb
1 tsp cream of tartar
200g gluten free plain flour

Put the dried fruit and the orange flower water or essences in a bowl and add 2 tblsps water. Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Melt the butter and the sugar.
Beat the eggs.
Mix everything together well in a big bowl.
Put some greaseproof paper in a big glass or pottery oven dish (I used a square lasagne dish) and dollop the cake mix in.
Wodge the top down as flat as poss, stand the dish on an upside down bowl in the microwave and cook on high for 15 minutes.
Remove and when it's a bit cooled, take it out and put it on a wire rack to finish cooling. Try not to eat it all while it’s still warm.

I am going to make some more microwave cakes; I’ll let you know how I get on. It’s all a bit 70’s – I’ll be fonduing next!!

2007-10-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

I’m so fed up! I really don’t want to be on a diet ever again, I love not being on a diet. But I’ve put about 6lbs on since I stopped being on a diet, and now none of my trousers fit me. My jeans and most of my skirts are still OK. So, I said, I need some new work trousers. Perfect excuse for a shopping trip. Well, I spent 7 hours in Meadowhell last week, and tried on about 30+ different pairs of widelegged trousers in about 12 shops in sizes 12 and 14 (and several different lengths on occasion too) and NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PAIR FITTED ME!!!!!! I was so miserable by the time I came home, I was ready to either stuff myself stupid with chocolate or go on a mad crash diet.

I seem to be faced with a dilemma. I can either fatten myself into a size 14, or slim myself back into a 12. What would you do, dear reader? I am not, repeat NOT going to deliberately make myself a size 14!!!!! If it stays cold I can get away with tights and therefore skirts. Perhaps that is my best plan. I’m so down about this. So very down. Perhaps I need to focus on something else, which would be easier with some clothes to put on. I’m fighting with myself every day not to go back on a diet, just to lose a few pounds, just to get back in my trousers.

Anyway, here’s a recipe:

Smoky sausage, chickpea and cabbage soup.
In a big pan, sauté a chopped onion and then put in some chopped garlic, about 3 sliced carrots and about 4 smallish diced potatoes. Then put in a tin of chopped tomatoes and a litre and a half of water. Then put in about 8 runner beans, cut into small slices, and about 5 big leaves off a big leafy cabbage (mine was, apparently, a Hispi, which is dark green and crinkly; it matters not). Also a tin of chickpeas (just the chickpeas, not the tin). Then add 3 or 4 veggie sausages cut into slices (I used Lincolnshire, again, dunt matter, you could even use meat sausages if you must). Lastly add a teaspoon of smoked paprika (or ordinary, but not hot), a good shake of veg stock powder or 2 or 3 cubes, and a spicy element (chilli powder or that lazy chilli, or if, like me, you haven’t got any, a really good squirt of sweet chilli sauce from a plastic bottle). Alternatively you could use the hot paprika instead of chilli, and maybe some BBQ sauce for the smoky bit. S’up to you, and as I haven’t even finished cooking it and don’t know what it’s like yet, it’s all open to interpretation anyway. Smells lovely though!

2007-09-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, my weight had been creeping up a bit since my holiday, but I think it's stopped now. To be honest, I hadn't been trying very hard, and was still a bit in the holiday spirit as far as food was concerned. I feel like I've turned a little corner just recently though, possibly triggered by my horror at passing 10st again! I know that's not a very 'BC' thing to say, but I had made myself a promise that I wouldn't go over 10 ever again.

I'm still struggling with not eating everything on my plate. Not a problem so much at dinner time, as we generally have something that we serve ourselves from a big pan, so I can have a small portion to begin with. But at breakfast it's hard. I've been having greek yoghurt with fruit, honey and a handful of 'Eat Natural' cereal. It's so delicious, and it's breakfast and nutritious, so I'm saying to myself that it's OK to eat it all because it's the most important meal of the day etc. And perhaps it's true, but I need to learn to leave some food on my plate, and I won't learn it that way! The last couple of mornings though, I've tried harder to tune in, and have managed to leave some. Only a smidge, but it's a start.

I still haven't started working my way through the Guru Club stuff, which I started getting back in August before I went away. I need to spend an hour on Sunday looking over the 'tasks' for the first week, and get buckled down to it.

I'm having lunch with a friend tomorrow, looking forward to some nice fish cakes or something. Then Friday evening a few of us are going to the pub after work for a leaving drink and some food (there's a pattern here - can you spot it?). Saturday I've got my mum coming over, which means another lunch out, then in the evening we're going to friends' for dinner. I'm OK with that though, getting much better at leaving food in restaurants, and I've always felt OK about ordering starters for main or whatever. It's my own cooking I can't resist! I made the most delicious roasted veg with veggie sausages tonight! I had an organic box delivered today, soooo much veg!!! I put potatoes, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, courgettes, peppers, garlic and olives in tonight. I had half a bottle of M&S red wine and rosemary marinade left over so I used that too, and some veg stock powder, and Tesco hot dog sausages, and it was bloody marvelous!! The Boy's just come back from the gym, and had a big bowl full and loved it. There's plenty left, so I'll tub some up for Friday's lunch.

Had a marvelous day in Manchester with BC Girls on Sunday. Got a lift from Meadowhell with the beautiful Mousie (the less said about her pranging her car the better!!), and we had a wonderful lunch in Carluccio's in the Trafford Centre. I was very proud of myself for not eating all my lunch, despite it being yummy. I got invited out to dinner with the family on my way home, and as I wasn't very hungry, I had a starter - which was actually massive! Two rolls of smoked salmon filled with prawns, served with salad and Marie Rose sauce. When I got home, The Boy and I watched 28 Weeks Later, which was brill, so I had a very good day.

Anyway, I'm of to bed now. This making the dinner late lark is working a treat. I'm still having a bit of chocolate after dinner, but then nothing else.
Night night.....

and hola!!

2007-08-30T03:40:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again in lovely old England, not missing the sun and the sea and stuff at all (pah!). Had a fab holiday, lots of lazing by the pool, eating too much cheese and drinking Sangre de Torro (the wine, not ACTUAL bull's blood!). That's me and The Hubby by the way, on the esplanade in Torrevieja. I have to admit to sneaking on the scales upon my return (not immediately, that would be a bit disturbing!!) and I had put on about 3lbs. Not bad for 2 weeks of eating ice cream and crisps and drinking cafe bonbons (espresso with sweetened condensed milk, for goodness sake!), and not moving very much! I used my journal a bit on the first day, as I had a couple of intuitive eating-related thoughts. Here they are, for what they're worth......

Sunday August 12th.
Holidays have food-habits too. The worst of mine is eating for the sake of it. I intend to try and avoid this as much as possible. Not easy. The Hubby had a bag of salted mixed nuts yesterday. I did have some, but I paid attention to eating them, and I THINK I had less than I might otherwise have done.
Making the coffee this morning I wished I had cream in it. Three years ago we went to Fuerteventura, and it was impossible to get fresh milk where we stayed, so we took to having long-life cream in our coffee. That can hardly be an ingrained habit! Just something I fancy. But I LIKE black coffee, and that's a GOOD thing. Cream should be an occasional treat.
So, I started the day with black coffee. I'll wait till I'm hungry for my breakfast, then perhaps I'll be able to decide if I want scrambled egg and smoked salmon or fruit and yoghurt. Can't decide right now.
I HAVE decided however, that I am not going to worry about food on this holiday. And yesterday I also decided that I'm not going to worry about meals and mealtimes either. I will eat when I am hungry and (try) not (to) eat when I'm not. If the others want me to cook them a meal then I will, but I will tell them they must ask. Yesterday (we had an odd, jumbled day because of flying) we had our lunch (Hubby and I) at about half 3. Mine was lovely, goats cheese and another sort, salad, crisps, olives and smoked salmon. I wanted to eat it ALL, but became aware that my stomach was full and getting uncomfortable. So I, sadly, left some. I told myself there was plenty more and I could have some more later. That was OK. Then about half 7 I was hungry again, and I felt I wanted hazelnut ice cream (but would have settled for a different flavour as long as it was quality stuff). I definitely DIDN'T want a cheap ice cream in a wrapper. But I felt quite relaxed about it, and knew I probably wouldn't get any till today. In the end I had (most of) a packet of plain crisps instead. I don't really want ice cream now!
Later.... I had half a peach, half a banana and half a plain yoghurt for my breakfast, then I waited, and was still hungry so had 2 corncakes with peanut butter. Actually I STILL feel hungry, but I don't think I really am. I'm going to have a shower and wash my hair and go to the supermercado for some showergel and some brandy. It's hard not to read the paper while I eat alone (everyone else is still asleep!). I've always read something. I have to keep reminding myself not to.

So how did I do? I think I did better than I usually do on holiday. I didn't have ice cream every day. I drank less than I usually do on holiday - I never bought that brandy, couldn't be bothered to carry the big heavy bottle back from the shop!. I tuned in a bit, and I was more relaxed about eating. I ate when I was hungry (I also ate when I wasn't, on occasion, but what I mean is I wasn't thinking, it's lunch time, I HAVE to have lunch). It's difficult when you are out of synch with everyone else - I was getting up much earlier than my Hubby or The Boy and his friend, so when they were having their breakfast I was starting to think about my lunch. Which often meant I needed 'tea' to keep me going till they were ready for dinner, even though I'd already had breakfast and lunch. But mostly I enjoyed myself and didn't worry about it, which is great, and meant I enjoyed my holiday!

Adios Amigas!

2007-08-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, in 11 hours I leave for my holiday. Two weeks in a place called La Mata, near Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca! I'm not going to worry about what I eat on holiday, but I'm also hoping not to eat just for the sake of it - I say that every year!!
Usually, when I go on my summer holiday, I've just spent the previous months dieting to lose weight for the holiday and am planning on going back to the diet when I return, because I haven't lost as much as I wanted to! It'll be interesting to see if this year I can avoid that 'eat as much as possible in the 2 weeks off' mentality.
I'm very much looking forward to buying a kilo of fresh figs for a Euro from the market, to the gorgeous yellow peaches they sold in the supermercado last time we were there, to those lovely knobbly little cucumbers the Spanish have that look like home-grown ones, and to the very cheap brandy!! At least Spanish chocolate isn't worth bothering about!
I've bought 3 new bikinis this year, and I think I look pretty damn hot in them (so does the Hubby!!), as long as I stand very still just so......
So, till I get back, adios. I'll let you know how I get on, and if it's easier or more fun or particularly different being on holiday out of the 'diet loop'!
Tarra a bit!
Ax

What'll it be?

2007-07-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

The other morning I had orange juice for the first time in ages! Y'know, when I'm 'on a diet' I don't drink juice at all. Why waste 'Points'/calories on non-alcoholic drinks?! I can have water or black coffee or tea with skimmed milk or diet coke. It must have been several years since I had orange juice. I'm not a really big juice fan or anything, but it was very nice! I only had one glass, a moderately small one. Then a few days later I met The Hubby after work, and really didn't want coffee, it was only a couple of hours since my last break, and I'd had coffee then. Normally I'd have diet coke (I resent what places charge for bottled water, and, well you can't just order a glass of tap water, that'd be really tight!), but that's caffeine too. Then I remembered I could have whatever I wanted! I toyed with the idea of a nice glass of red wine, but it was only 5pm and that seemed a little indecent, so I had a strawberry smoothie. We were going out to eat later, so it kept me full till then. I must try to remember I'm not limited anymore to either calorie free soft drinks/coffee, or alcohol.

What I did today...

2007-07-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

....was mostly crawling around in a field!! Actually, it wasn't mostly, I only crawled around in a field for about an hour, but that's long enough!

The sun shone today, how wonderful. Isn't it funny how something as out of our control as the weather can have such a profound effect on our mood. It even changes the way we see ourselves in the mirror doesn't it? You know that stupid, stupid thing that happens, where you look in the mirror and you think you look OK, and then you look again a day, or half a day, or even half an hour, later, and suddenly you look hideous!! You KNOW you haven't changed, physically. Neither has your mirror. You aren't even necessarily wearing different clothes. It's not rational, is it? But it happens. And when the sun shines and you look in the mirror, you look a bit better, because you feel a bit better.

Anyway, after a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs on gluten-free toast (with butter!) with The Hubby this morning I set off through town (called at the lingerie sale in M&S on the way, and also picked up some lunch) to catch a bus out to a place called Whirlow Hall Farm, which is on the outskirts, and where you can pick your own fruit. I made a £1 donation per punnet and headed off for the fields. I was a bit over-optimistic and paid for 4. I ate my lunch between the raspberry canes, in the sun. After my hour crawling around (never any midgets or willing toddlers around when you need 'em!) looking under bushes, I had 1 (ONE!) punnet of mixed fruit (gooseberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and raspberries). It's a charitable trust so I didn't bother to ask for my money back, they can't help the dreadful weather anyway, and I bought half a dozen eggs as well. It was 3pm when I set off, and the bus back to town (only one an hour on a Sunday) was due at 3.50 so I walked for about half an hour till I got to a place with more buses.

Back home, I set about the fruit with some apples and a nectarine and some sugar, and have just produced the most delicious crumble! I can't remember the last time I had crumble - being 'on a diet' rather precludes things like crumble, unless you are doing WW 'Core' and fancy making it from crushed All Bran - why would anyone ever want to do that?! I made MY topping with polenta, ground almonds and gluten-free plain flour, with real butter, and brown sugar. I think I ate rather too much, and am bemoaning the fact I haven't room for any more. It might be prudent to hide a portion, as The Boy and The Hubby both had 2 helpings at dinner and are likely to finish it off later after I've gone to bed.

First course was spaghetti with 'meatballs'. Sosmix (a dry packet mix you rehydrate with water and then shape as required, for those who don't know it) balls cooked in a sauce made from tinned cherry tomatoes (plum or chopped will do), an onion sauteed in oil, fresh thyme, green beans and sundried tomatoes. No need to fry the sosmix , it cooks like dumplings in the sauce. I had a couple of slices of yesterday's lentil bake with mine instead of spaghetti, because gluten-free pasta is a crime against humanity! We also had salad. I'm feeling a little bit stuffed now!

So, I didn't manage to be so mindful with that meal, it was just too, too delicious! But I did resist having seconds of pudding, which I REALLY wanted, because I was already feeling a bit uncomfortable. No point in being cross with myself, I went out and picked the bloody fruit, and walked miles into the bargain!

Lentil and Cheese Loaf

2007-07-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

300g Red Lentils

1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cardamom

200g mature cheddar

1 egg, beaten

Oil

Salt and pepper

Rinse the lentils, place in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes or until soft, adding a little more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, fry the chopped onion and the crushed garlic in the oil in another pan, and add the ground spices, stirring to prevent sticking.

Tip the onions and spices into the lentils, season well with salt and pepper and stir in the grated cheese and beaten egg and mix well.

Line a 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper, oil, and pour the lentil mixture in.

Bake at 200º for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool until set.

Turn out onto a plate and serve sliced.

WHY?!

2007-07-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

I'm 42 years old, and I think I've been on one diet or another for about 15 years. I've never been what anyone would describe as 'thin', but on the other hand, I'm not overweight either (not at the moment anyway, though I have been, but only slightly).

I never worried about my weight or size until after I had my second child (he's now nearly 16!), when I did get quite large, for me. It was at that point that I went on my 'first ever proper diet'. I did Rosemary Conley's Hip and Thigh diet, and cooked a lot of things with soya mince and no oils. I was a vegan at the time. I think I've pretty much either been on or 'off' a diet ever since, and we all know that being 'off' a diet is temporary, so you cram as much food enjoyment into that short window of opportunity as you possibly can! I gave up veganism when my son was about 7, so in came a whole host of new and extra things I could eat and feel bad about afterwards. Snickers bars were a favourite for a while! (I don't think I could eat one if you paid me these days!!).

Anyway, I've done Weight Watchers (on at least 3 separate occasions), and am proficient at both the Points and Core plans, and I've tried Slimmer Club UK (calorie counting) and Slimming World (how can a diet where you can eat Smash as a snack ever work?!), the South Beach and the Zone diets, the cabbage soup diet, Slimfast, and an online one called 'Sin and Slim' (!!). I had, until recently, one of the most comprehensive libraries of diet books in existence.

All this time I was nurturing a growing resentment. WHY? Why couldn't I eat normally? Why did I put on a pound a day whenever I came off my latest diet?! Food and all its aspects is one of my greatest pleasures! I love to cook, I love to shop for nice food, I love to read about food, I love to eat it! But I soooo wanted to be slim. The two things seemed totally incompatible. So if I wanted to be slim I would have to forgo my greatest pleasure. If I wanted to indulge that pleasure, I would have to put up with being fat!

Then I realised I was sick of dieting, really, really sick and fed up of it! I don’t need to lose weight for my health. I’m not overweight. It’s just vanity. I’m not stupid, I know I’ll never be skinny, no matter how much I diet. I’ll always have a well-padded bottom. And I don’t want to be skinny, anyway! I just want to be me, and have some fun, and maybe it would make more sense to try to change the way I feel about my body, than to try to change the body itself!

A couple of months ago I read an article in a magazine and saw a mention of Beyond Chocolate. It sparked an interest, so I had a look at the website. I'd never heard of intuitive eating before but what I was reading really struck a chord. I bought the book, and read it through, and I thought, “Yes!! This is what I’ve been groping for. I CAN do this!” And I gave away all my diet books and my Weight Watchers stuff, even the pretty little electronic Points calculator, because I’m never going to need those, ever again! I told everyone I know that I am never going to diet again. Now I feel so much happier and so free. And I HAVEN’T PUT ANY WEIGHT ON!

Sophie and Audrey, the ladies who wrote the Beyond Chocolate book, said that when you stop telling yourself that certain foods are forbidden, you free yourself from their power. YOU become in control. And it’s true! I keep chocolate in the same drawer where I used to hide it before, and mostly I don’t even eat it! Now I know I can have just a little square of proper cheese if I want, instead of extra low fat cream cheese, then if I really want, I’ll have just a little square. I can always have another later. NOT worrying about what I’m going to have for my lunch everyday is so wonderful. I can take something from home, or not. If not, then I can just go to M&S or wherever, and pick up something I fancy, and if that something is pudding, what the hell?!

This blog is going to be about my journey away from 15 years of serial dieting towards a normal, unfettered, relaxed relationship with food. It’s also going to be about my thoughts and feelings along the way. And it’s going to have my recipes in it, because making up recipes is my painting!

Old stuff

2007-07-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some recipes I've pasted in from my Myspace blog (the Spanish style one is new). Apologies to anyone who's strayed here from there and is reading them for the second time.

This cake was effing gorgeous!!

2007-07-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Date, Walnut and Orange Flower Cake

150g brown and white sugar mixed, or just brown
150g butter
150g Glutano mix or flour or polenta
3 eggs
40g bashed walnuts
60g chopped dates
1tsp mixed spice
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp Orange Flower Water or more to taste.

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat together eggs.
Add eggs to butter/sugar, and whisk.
Add flour/polenta, walnuts, dates, spice and baking powder and mix well.
Add Orange Flower water and mix well.
Line 8" tin with greaseproof, and oil or butter.
Pour in mix.
Bake at about 180 for about 30 – 40 minutes. Cover with foil if necessary to prevent the top burning.
Test with a skewer to see if it's done.
Turn out onto a cooling rack, remove the greaseproof, turn the right way up and cool.

Scraping the Bottom of the Tagine

2007-07-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today (this was originally posted on myspace about a year ago) I made Chickpea and Veg tagine for dinner. One with apricots and almonds for me and one without for the philistines. In proper tagines too. Had it with rice baked in the oven with bits of old sticks and stuff in (spices!). T'was very nice indeed. Followed this with baked peaches with clotted cream, or as the Daughter thought I was offering, baked beans and cottage cheese. Mmm hmm! That would be a pudding to remember. A glass of port finished it off rather nicely....

Another soup (I know this is backwards!).

2007-07-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

1. Buy a butternut squash from Aldi for 39p (nb. this will NOT be organic). You may need to do this a few days beforehand, depending on how far Aldi is from your work.
2. Phone your daughter from work at 4pm and tell her to put the oven on, cut the squash into 4, rub it with some olive oil and roast it in the oven for approx 45 mins.
3. Buy some onions and nice bread from M&S (after all, the squash was 39p!).
4. Remember to go straight home from work. Do not go to a bar for cocktails first. IT'S ONLY TUESDAY FOR GOODNESS SAKE!
5. Fry the onions in some olive oil, add a diced big potato (that's a big potato, not big dice) and some floppy bits of veg from the bottom of the fridge.
6. Add about a litre of stock. Cook till the potato is soft.
7. Meanwhile scrape the squash flesh from the skin - your daughter can eat the skin, it's nice.
8. Put the nice M&S bread in the oven to warm up so you can pretend you've made it yourself.
9. Add the squash to the rest of the soup stuff and liquidise it. Put a tea towel over the blender or you will be spending the night in casualty and the rest of 2007 having plastic surgery to your face. Taste it (the soup, not the tea towel) and see if it needs anything, like some marmite, or paprika, or whatever.
10. Serve. If you don't eat bread (like me) and are too disorganised (like me) to have any gluten-free in (because M&S don't sell that!) you can dip slices of cheese in, that's very nice!
11. Follow with an M&S toffee mousse but make your children eat kiwi fruit because you've got 7 as they just keep coming in the organic veg delivery!
Next week - what to do with all those non-ripening Avocados you've collected from your organic veg deliveries!

NB. If you don't have a blender, you can use a potato masher, or so I was told by the colleague I sat next to on the bus home. If you don't have a daughter, you can borrow mine. She will bring her own knife, but will need supervising with gas ovens.

M&S New Potatoes and some Soup.

2007-07-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

I bought some Organic New Potoatoes in M&S the other day. They were quite expensive (but cheaper than a Mojito, which is what happens if I go left when I leave work) but they had kindly washed them ready for me to use. Anyway, on (once again) to soup. Because it's easy and I'm lazy.

To make Celeriac and Potato Soup you will need:
1 large Celeriac
A few potatoes (I used 6 small M&S ready washed New Potatoes, you can use dirty common ones if you must)
A medium onion, or 2 small ones, or even a large one, it makes little odds.
Some sort of stock flavouring (cube or powder, unless you're really fussy and want to use real stock, in which case you need to get out more).
Salt and pepper
Some oil (Extra virgin Olive oil is not, obviously, necessary!)
A machete.

Chop the onion, fry it till it's see through in the oil. Meanwhile, imagine that the celeriac is the head of the person you loathe most in the world and run at it with the machete and give it a thorough killing. Chop it into cubes about the size of a cube. There is no other way to get into a celeriac. Add the celeriac cubes and the potato (also cubed - and washed, if you're common) to the onions in the pan. Fry them for a bit then cover them with water. Put the lid on the pan and turn the heat down and cook it all till the celeriac and potatoes are soft. Put the soup in the blender (not all at once, unless you want it on the ceiling - remember the teatowel protection against facial scarring!). Whizz till smooth. Taste the soup and add stuff till it tastes the way you'd like it to taste. I added some salt, some pepper and a smidge of powdered cumin.

Roman Army Bread

2007-07-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is sooo easy..... The instructions are on the packet, but my way is EVEN easier!Buy a bag of Doves Farm Spelt Flour (that's spelt Spelt). It doesn't have to be Doves Farm, that's just the one I've got. Chuck half of it in a big bowl. Add half a teaspoon of salt. In a jug or somesuch, put 14floz of warm water (that's 400ml for all you under 35's) and add a good squirt/a teaspoon of honey and a little packet of instant yeast. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or other oil if your Daughter has used all the Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil on her supernoodles). I just used a tiny trickle of Olive Oil and some Grapeseed oil. Mix it all for about 1 minute with a wooden spoon. Forget what it says on the packet about 15 minutes vigorous mixing - take it from the laziest cook in the world, it's NOT necessary! Slop the whole lot out onto a greased baking tray, poke it into a vague roundness, and cover it with a (clean) teatowel. Leave it alone for about half an hour. Go and play on the computer. Put it in the oven on 180/370/Gas 4 (not all of them at once, that would be too hot) and bake it for about 30 minutes. Take the teatowel off first, they do burn so! Take it out, put it on a cooling rack and put the cooling rack on the table because there's no point in waiting any longer, now is there? Have it with some soup. I am doing Celeriac and Potato (cos I got a huge Celeriac in my veg delivery this week) and Lentil and Tomato cos The Husband HATES celery so I figured he probably won't like celeriac either. If they turn out OK I'll tell you about them later.This bread is, of course, not gluten-free (no bread worth eating ever is) but it's a bit easier to manage than ordinary wheat bread and worth a little farting if you're not going out!

Mmmm Tofu!

2007-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

In a big frying pan, heat some olive oil. Fry a leek, sliced, then add a courgette, a pepper, some mushrooms and some baby corn cut into strips. Or whatever, it doesn't really matter – not raw potatoes obviously! Then add some shredded cabbage and some rocket or something. Then mix some soy sauce and some balsamic vinegar with a bit of stock powder and a pinch of ginger and a splash of water, and chuck it over the veg. Cook it for about 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat some more olive oil and fry a block of smoked tofu cut into thinnish slices till it's brown on both sides. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and lemon juice and serve it on top of the veg. You can have some bread and butter with it if like – hell you can have a bucket of lard with it if you want. But don't.
It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and it's yummy!

Spanish style supper.

2007-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the first recipe.

I really fancied fried potatoes tonight, so I had to nip into M&S, as I knew there weren't any spuds at home. Of course, I had to buy a 3 pack of organic creme fraiche desserts and a big jar of olives and some double cream as well, seeing as I was there and it'd be silly not to, but I managed to resist a new bikini!

Anyway, on the bus on the way home I mentally searched the fridge and found some courgettes and 2 halves of peppers, which, when I got in, were still there in actuality as The Daughter is away and The Hubby and The Boy won't cook a vegetable that doesn't come out of a tin. So, here's what I made:

First I chopped the potatoes (there were 8 middle-sized ones, no reason) into cubes and boiled them till they were done. Then I drained them.

I heated some olive oil in my big stainless steel frying pan (because you shouldn't put tomatoey things in your non-sticks, they take the coating off!) and cooked half a chili in it for a while, quite low. Then I added a small chopped onion and 2 chopped cloves of garlic and whooshed it all around for a bit till the onion was nice and soft. Then I added half a bag of quorn pieces, cos that's what I'd got, but you could add chickpeas, or even chicken, if you must. Then I removed the chili half, and put in the peppers and courgettes, chopped. I added maybe 3 or 4 oily sun dried tomatoes (the tomatoey element of which I spoke), chopped up, and a sprinkle of veg stock powder and about half a tsp of smoky paprika, oh, and a sploosh of water. No idea how much, but not a right lot.

After that I did get the big nonstick frying pan out, and I heated some more olive oil and some butter in it, and chucked in the leaves from a couple of stalks of fresh rosemary, then the drained potatoes, and some sea salt. Then I fried them till they were nice and crispy and brown.

Then I chucked the fried potatoes in the pan with the veg and quorn and mixed it around. Me and The Boy had some rinsed capers and a few of the big fat olives in ours, but I didn't put any in The Hubby's as he is a philistine and doesn't like em! Delicious!