Very Small Feet

As you know I have been out in charge of Christmas dinner. And by default, husband was away, I had to sort out all the presents... and school engagements...  And I wished the Christmas would be here already some time around 15th December.  I found it all super stressful...  But as this blog post title suggests I learnt few things too.  Firstly I understand how stressful it is to cook the Christmas dinner/lunch. We agreed that next year we are doing it together.  Then it’s totally ok to ask for stuff that you want. But I did find it odd to do so and for the 1st time I bought stuff that hubby wanted and not to think about it my self. Made me feel very strange. But now I have the sleepers I wanted and tickets to see Scummy Mummies show.  It’s super fun to be just at home with just family. We didn’t have anyone over, just us. We did what we wanted and when we wanted.  And in the end of the day it is all about kids.  We played with new toys. At some po...

I would like to apologise for not finding time... Well and then the blogger wouldn't work for me. Maybe it's me... Very hurt, blogger!  But I also have been busy. Last week Egg man wasn't very well, picked up a cold in the play group. So all the entertainment was at home.  We rediscovered Sailormoon, well I have. At times it was rather challenging to keep a snotty baby happy. But we managers, even men our Grammy for lunch on Sunday. Egg man does enjoy the trips out and wagamama do great food for him to try out ... Noodles, shiitake mushroom, chicken katsu.  Mumming is very busy! I was making food for Boy too...  Edgar is tying so much food and flavours ... And he is also active lately... Crawling walking... Terrorising pets:)  Bunny is being a good sport! And every runs up to him:)  The fish however are in trouble... With Edgar tap tap taping on the side of the tank...  We actually have to get gates, but...

When I was in my 1st trimester of pregnancy all I wanted was chillies, curries and spicy food.  That fun period in life affirmed my love for kimchi . You know it is that totally delicious Korean food that they cannot leave without. Koreans even had it developed as food in space so the Korean astronauts won't miss it during the long missions! Now that a cult food! But where to get it so the spiciness won't blow my head off.... For some reason I have this thought in my head that I won't be able to fit the pram in the Asian shop around where we are so I never went looking for it. But luck will have it there is a simpler recipe in Hemsley and Hemsley book Art of Eating Well. So husband been foraging for Chinese cabbage and fish sauce. Yeah, get your sauces and noodles form Asian supermarket, authentic and cheap!  Actually just found a very similar recipe just now on www.kitchn.com here And just like this I went on adventure of making my very own kimchi. It is a...

When I met Steve all I could do is not a very nice pasta and pancakes .. I'm sure I could have done more but it was just me so I was not interested in spending much time in the kitchen...  How things have changed! Like yesterday for example I have spend an hour making purées for little man.  Today I was making one amazing tomato salad:)  On that way it has been inspired by Raymond Montblanc, catch it him in iplayer on Kew on a Plate . Such a fun program.  Then before that I was inspired by my friend Nourishing Chloe . She made these crunchy chick peas... I took her method and used it on corn instead. Came out a hit chewy. Our rented oven is not great! Like really not great! But want I am really enjoying at the moment are the smoothies! With spinach or kale... With something added for sweetness like mango or banana or frozen berries.  Cooking is easy! I wish some one would have told me is before:) 

Superfoods.... well I also got excited about quinoa and kale...  Although quinoa might be a bit boring. Frankly I am not very sure what to do with it but trial and error I guess.  First things first, as you know I am a big fan of Kym Non-Stop... and that girl loves kale! Here is a video to prove it. It's just too funny! I have massaged some kale... and made a fun salad. I loved it, hubby not so much.  To make my fun and healthy salad you will need Kale Smoked Mackerel Orange  Lemon Half a bulb of Fennel (medium size) Cooked and cold quinoa Some seeds for crunch Olive Oil  Salt Massage some kale with salt, lemon juice and olive oil. It will make it tender and lovely. Just watch out if you have any cuts on the hands. It'll sting!! Chop up the fennel. Peel and cup up orange. Flake the mackerel.  Now assemble this bad boy. I have layered all the ingredients starting with quinoa, kale, fennel, orange, mackere...

I just love Putanessca.... and it's so easy to make. Takes just few mins of your time, and if I can do it, you can do it!!  So first of all fun fact, Putanessca means prostitute in Italian. So we will be learning a prostitute pasta. The ingredients can be found in average Italian fridge and they cheap and cooking legend has it that ladies of the night used to have it before going out because it is rather nutritious.  So here is what you will need for the sauce Anchovies (I normally put 2 little filets in, or more if you want more flavour) Black olives (take the stone out, or get pitted, chopped) Apparently however the ones with stones in are more flavoursome, but hey I get like a medium size jar for only 59p.. don't judge me. Garlic (I love garlic, so I used two cloves just for me) minced Capers (brine-y goodness) Tomatoes (cherry, plum, or whatever, it's rustic, and besides we don't know what that prostitute has in her fridge) Chilli Flakes (gives t...

I love food. I love cooking but I have to be in the right mood for it. Or you know, hungry with stuff in the fridge. So if you read the last post you saw the picture of my last dinner adventure Seafood, leeks, garlic and linguine... oh and cream! Pretty much it actually, you just cook the pasta, while its cooking, chop up the leek, garlic clove. Sweat them off in the deep pan still soft. I used store bought cooked seafood (prawns, mussels, squid). Add it to the leeks and garlic, warm it up... add cream. In some crazy skinny madness I got single cream and it did not work that well, but still did the trick in binding all of this loveliness together. Toss pasta into the pan. Do not put any cheese in, do not be mad! Seafood and cheese do not mix... do not know why, but it is just bad taste! I did put lots of freshly grated black pepper on. 

Lately have have not been happy normal self, I felt very useless and slightly depressed... I was in need of cheering up and do something that would make happy.  So these things are... Fun films, I recently watched Pitch Perfect It made me really happy. For more details about this fun filled film you can see on my joint blog with Owen  My Favorite Film .  Straight after I watched Easy A and House Bunny  with lovely Emma Stone and Anna Faris... I just couldn't stop smiling. But then I felt down again... So I baked and cooked And watch Sailor Moon... Oh how these girls make me happy! But it has to be subbed not dubbed.  These are the things that make me relax and happy again.

I miss having the veg delivery from lovey people at Riverford, they do deliver in Bath so I'm singing back on! But we did have a lot of organic onions hanging about our pantry, so we spend our early morning making onion soup. Well there is however a bit of the problem with cooking onion soup from organic onions... these guys are so so strong!! I was weeping over the chopping board and had to give up in the end. It also took quiet a while to cook the soup... but it was delicious! Lovely really hearty. We used as a basis this  this recipe from Nigel Salter ... Oh how I love his cooking show, just so pretty! However we did add some garlic, and used red wine and chicken stock. Also few dashes of balsamic vinegar were added for extra sweetness. I do think the trickiest thing was not to stir the onions, you have to let them be soft lightly brown and caramelized  That's the best kind! I say...

And whatever hubby says there is always food in the fridge. Just have to make it! First I made a green soup few days back... Took some lovely broccoli  with some strange triangle like veg (also like broccoli) that I got in my weekly veg delivery form lovely people at  Riverford ! Great service by the way!  So I took an onion (also from my veg delivery), some garlic and sweated them together in our shiny pot, seasoned them too. Peeled and chopped a medium size potato and kept on stirring these guys in the pot, then added the green things:) Add the stock in. I simply used the chicken stock cube, simmer all these veggies till tatoes are soft. To make it extra nice I have blended it in our blender... oh it was not a margarita but still delicious!  I did not add any cream, butter or Stilton...it would have been nice, I am staying good... more or less:)  However hubby did bring some nice artisan bread with s...