Toby asked for broccoli cheese soup last night. It’s so unusual for him to voluntarily eat anything green that I went home via the vege shop for two heads of broccoli.

I winged the recipe, but it was something like this.

Chop & fry a couple hundred grams of bacon (six-eight middle rashers). In the bacon fat, fry a chopped red onion. When you get ( Read more... )

Someone posted something (on facebook, natch) that got me thinking.

I don’t want to be needed. Need implies someone is dependent on me. Need implies that I am something they can’t get anywhere else. Need implies weakness, that only I can fill a gap, that they have no choice but to depend on me. Need implies that I have no choice but to be there ( Read more... )

Last night took me from “I have no idea what dinner’s going to be” to “pasta with bacon and gouda / blue brie sauce” inside of about 40 minutes.

Here’s how it went down:

Remove bacon from freezer, nuke enough it can be chopped.

Pasta spirals + water + cast iron pan + stove.

Cast iron frypan + butter + olive oil + stove.

Chop bacon, apply to pan.

( Read more... )

It occurred to me this evening that I MIGHT want to review my definition of ‘easy’, where cooking is concerned.

I made devilled sausages, with spinach served over rice. I considered this a very easy dinner to make.

If I explode the process out, though…

Put rice & water in saucepan, apply heat. (This bit: actually easy by anyone’s standards.) Less ( Read more... )

I’ve been trying to post this for awhile and every version wavers between stupid or ridiculously pretentious. I am giving up and sharing it anyway.

Mum used to wonder, when I was a kid, where I got my love for the sad music from. We’re very different, me and Mum - she’s a cheerful soul, through and through. Not that she’s never unhappy - her life’s ( Read more... )

I’ve worn glasses since I was five. They’re not exactly my favourite thing.

I hated wearing glasses at school. They were ugly, they got in the way, they fell off my face, a particular little toad by the name of Natasha took delight in taking them off my face and throwing them away so I had to go looking for them and constantly got in trouble for ( Read more... )

I experimented with cheesecake last night. I’ve never enjoyed doing the painful crush-biscuits-with-butter exercise for a cheesecake base, especially as we don’t /buy/ biscuits so I have to make them and THEN crush them and ugh.

So, experiment.
200g butter, melted
1c flour
1c sugar
three or four? cups of fine dessicated coconut.
Mixed all of the ( Read more... )

It was fifth wedding anniversary yesterday (where DID the time go?)

Toby waited till I got home from Paddington Thursday night, and it was officially past midnight, then exploded in a CAN’T WAIT ANY MORE MUST GIVE PRESENT NOW.

He’s built me a new computer (it’s been a while since I had a new one) in a mini-ITX case I’ve been lusting after. Geek ( Read more... )

There’s a few people in my friend’s circle doing the 101-things-in-1001-days. It’s our fifth wedding anniversary today, so I’m starting mine now, and I’m going to fudge the 1001 days bit to “my 35th birthday”, as I’m more likely to actually remember when that end date is!

My list is in Dropbox, and has 60 things on it so far. I figure I’ll work ( Read more... )

One of my missions in life is to find vegetarian dishes that my husband will eat, without asking where the meat in the meal is.

For whatever reason, it occurred to me on Saturday that I’d never made felafel before. As I have a bunch of chickpeas in the freezer - I soak/boil beans and chickpeas etc in bulk then freeze - why not?

Approx 600g of ( Read more... )