This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Apr-20: Yesterday's bread was delicious, one of the best whole wheat ones.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Garlic Noodles with Beef and Broccoli (web). I steamed real broccoli and used soba noodles instead of spaghetti and, of course, I used the red pepper flakes. Really easy, and fast, and good. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Tuesday/21-Apr-20: Made another loaf of Carole Walberg's White Wheat Bread (MC) today. It's good stuff.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Asparagus and Olive Tortellini (MC; VT/may96), which I've made before. There were blue cheese ravioli in stead of tortellini. Pretty good. Then a salad. And the last of our chocolate-covered madeleines for after. I wonder when we'll ever be able to get these again?

Made an order at Intermarché and we could pick it up tomorrow!

Wednesday/22-Apr-20: Our Intermarché order included everything I ordered. Yay! Had to jiggle the meal plan a bit, because I didn't expect to be getting fish so quickly.

While dinner was cooking I roasted a pair of red bell peppers so I can make up some pizza sauce tomorrow.

We got 500g of salmon in two pieces. I used one of the pieces for a halfish recipe of Cilantro-Lime Honey Garlic Salmon (Baked in Foil) (web). This was pretty good. Served with steamed haricots verts tossed with some olive oil, lime juice, salt, and red pepper flakes. And some polenta. For dessert there was strawberries and cream.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/23-Apr-20: Made up some pizza sauce this morning and put two batches in the freezers.

Dinner was loosely based on Saumon au Curry et Salade de Riz (VPG; web). Having lots of haricots verts to use, I added some of these. I cut the salmon into cubes and marinated it with Thai green curry paste from a jar, then sautéed the cubes to top the salad. It was pretty good.

Friday/24-Apr-20: Having a Charentais melon that needed using, I made up the broth for Easy Melon Ice Cream (web). It didn't buzz up smooth, so I strained out the gravely bits. Planned to serve them over crumbled cookies perhaps tonight, but we were full, so that will wait for another night. I was thinking they might be good over Vanilla Pecan ice cream.

Made some of Chef John's pita breads (web). Although most of them puffed up nicely, they weren't in two layers for the eating. Much tastier than store-bought, though, so we coped.

For dinner, we pigged out on some yummy store-bought felafels. Served these with, yes, pita breads, and Yogurt-Tahini Sauce (H2CEV, p792). I'd intended to make two sauces, as usual, but this combined the tahini and the yogurt in one and was delicious. Need to get more tahini now, but how? No dessert, since we were both quite full.

An interesting beetle joined us at the end of the meal. Unfortunately no camera was handy. Can't find it in our insect book, so it remains unknown.

Saturday/25-Apr-20: Used up our carrots to make Peanut Butter Soup (GreenBook) for lunch.

Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (MC). It's a bit sunken on top, but I'm sure it will taste okay. I see now I meant to make English Muffin Bread 2 (also MC), but lost the thread when I went to do it. Next time. The bread came out with a bit of a sunken top, too much liquid, as I remember.

Made up some Roasted Cumin. Burnt the first batch though lack of attention, so made a second. I'm now very low on cumin seed.

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, resulting in flooded entry and water under the stereo system. In addition, the passage between the house and kitchen was flooded. Sigh.

Dinner was a half recipe of Best Grilled Chicken Thighs with Garam Masala (CL/jul-aug18; web). This was easy and very good. Served with plain basmati rice and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MW@Home, p173), also good. For dessert, there was some vanilla pecan ice cream with melon crumbles. I thought this was good; Ed thought the melon and pecans didn't go together.

Sunday/26-Apr-20: Sunken top or not, Ed really likes this English Muffin Bread.

Dinner was a half dose of Hard-Boiled Eggs in a Tomato-Cream Sauce (WorldVeg, p517). Served with plain basmati rice and South Indian-Style Green Beans (MJ@Home, p147). All was good. Right at the end of the prep, Ed knocked over the bread machine pan (yes, left from yesterday) full of soapy water, filling some of my little prepared dishes. A mess to clean up. Really shook my pacing. Had to back up and re-prep some things and organize all. Oddly disconcerting. For dessert we split the one chocolate easter bunny we scored this year.

Yogurt on overnight.

Suzanne Dunaway's No-Knead Bread on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 5; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Nov-17: Asian Broccoli Noodle Soup (web) for lunch. Tasty, and quite pittig, although I'm not sure why. Can you have too much black pepper? Mini Häagen-Dasz cups for dessert.

Tuesday/21-Nov-17: Kitchen day today, preparing for Thanksgiving and using up stuff from the fridge..

For lunch there were some pork chops, with Broccoli Stems and Red Pepper Slaw (web) and some pasta, I think it's called Israeli couscous, with a bit of butter and cilantro. The slaw was very good. Made the broccoli shreds with the cuisinart.

Used the chickpeas that I forgot to add to the courgette tart to make some hummus, smerging two recipes. Some for the freezer, some for the fridge.

Made two batches of pâte brisée, Judith Jones' Tart Dough  (Tenth, p256). One in the freezer, one for pumpkin pie. This really is the best pie crust.

Made a soup with bits of leftover veg: some new onions, a zucchini, a bit of broccoli, a sack of young spinach leaves that didn't get used. And garlic of course. Buzzed it up and put it in the freezer.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/22-Nov-17: Shopping today. A big one, for some reason. All the wine boxes running out at once. They now have some bio (organic) products sold in bulk. We got some pine nuts and some spicy cashews, which we devoured.

Dinner was Snapper with Tomato-Caper Topping (web). It would be quick if you didn't have to seed the tomatoes. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. For dessert some super yummy store-bought dark chocolate mousse things.

Made a pumpkin pie, using the recipe from the Libby's can.

Made up a batch of Cranberry-Port Relish (MC), an old favorite, a bit modified rom the VT article where I collected it a long time ago.

Thursday/23-Nov-17: Shopping and ENT visit, then home for cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Can't finish this post until Canon issues a driver to go with the new Mac OS.

Friday/24-Nov-17: We had grilled, marinated bavettes. For a side there were some steamed snijbonen, cut in about 1" lengths, and some Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes (web) without the onion and with some regular potatoes to give something more to eat. I meat to cook the sweet potato yesterday, but didn't get to it. Then, piggy us, we finished the pumpkin pie.

Saturday/25-Nov-17: Dinner was Spiced Chicken with Brown Rice (RealFast, p281). This was pretty good. I cooked it in the oven since I needed the broiler for Broiled Eggplant with Lemon, Basil, and Cracked Coriander (RealFast, p134). We both like this. Gave it an extra squirt of lemon juice at the end. And some brown rice.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/26-Nov-17: Oops, got up late then saw that I forgot to start the yogurt maker. Started it up, but for a shorter time. We'll see what happens.

Our main meal was a halfish recipe of  Hot, Sweet, and Sour Chickpeas with Eggplant (H2CEV, p609), served over brown rice. Some mini ice cream bars for dessert.

I see that I've neglected to keep the food-related books sections on the bottom right up to date. I've finished one of the ones I was reading, plus at least two more. Have a couple of others underway. Something for the ToDo list.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-Nov-15: Meant to defrost the fridge today. Brought all the ice chests down. Oops, there was yogurt making that needed to be cooled. Tomorrow.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Spaghetti with Sardines, Dill and Fried Capers (web). Sardines from a can. Not bad really. The dill and capers were a strong enough taste to stand up to the fish and it all worked out well. Then a salad. Then some of Aunt Essie's Fruit Cobbler (green notebook). I have always made this with a can of peaches, but realized tonight the directions ask for a #2 can of unspecified fruit. Peaches are good.

Forgot to say that I tried two new pastas while we were in Tuscany. A couple of times we enjoyed pici and brought back a sack for us and for a gift. It's kind of like spaghetti on steroids. It's supposed to be hand-rolled, but what we had and what we bought looks to me like it's extruded—too very even to be hand-made. Then there was testaroli. Have never heard of this before and didn't find any references in any of my books that I looked in. It starts as a kind of pancake, then is cut into bits and boiled; it's traditionally served with pesto. Apparently this may be the original "pasta". It's quite heavy and was quite a lot to have before a main course. Glad I tried it, don't need to have it again.

Tuesday/3-Nov-15: Defrosted the fridge today. Not a favorite job. Ed helped by cleaning shelves and drawers.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Hot, Sweet, and Sour Chickpeas with Eggplant (H2CEV, p609), served over rice. Pretty good stuff, and relatively fast. Finished off the peach cobbler. Then (yipes!) some chocolate square with hazelnuts.

On the weekend we picked up the tiles for the kitchen. Had a good look at them tonight. A bit disappointing (not to mention my second choice.) For the edging, the reds don't match. Since they were supposedly hand-made on our order, this was a surprise. The solid reds don't match the figured ones. Worse, though, the bulk of the tiles have cracked glaze (what we looked at definitely wasn't crackled) and the color is whiter than cream, so doesn't match the edge tiles. Not sure what we're going to do.

Wednesday/4-Nov-15: Shopped today. First time I've seen extra-wide aluminum foil. What an advance! I'm still using a box I brought from the US probably at least 25 years ago. Don't use it very much.

Dinner was Arctic Char + Cucumber Relish (CLjan/feb15, web) with Radish & Avocado Quinoa (CLjan/feb15, web). These two recipes made up a Just-for-Two Tuesday article. No char to be found (not sure I've ever seen omble), so I used cod instead. The fish and relish were okay, but nothing special. The quinoa salad was pretty good. For dessert, we had a pair of tiramisus, a new brand. So, so.

Thursday/5-Nov-15: The fourth burner on the stove finally got fixed today. Hooray!

Dinner was Karhi—Vegetable Stew with Chickpea Flour Sauce (WorldVeg, p36; cookbooker). Good stuff it was too. That's all.

Friday/6-Nov-15: Dinner was a half recipe of Pollo Rebozado—Cornmeal-Coated Chicken in Tomato Sauce (TLLatin, p34) served with a halfish recipe of Arroz Verde (TLLatin, p84). The salad is a take-off on Ensalada de Cabalacitas—Zucchini Salad (Ortiz, p237). The chicken was tasty. Cornmeal coating didn't happen. (What do you expect? Beat an egg till foamy, dilute with milk, stir in just a bit of cornmeal, which promptly sinks to the bottom. If a proper coating was the aim, it would have been better to dip in flour, dip in egg, then dip in cornmeal as you usually do for something coated.) The sauce was good (tomatoes cooked with wine) and the sauce leftovers will make a nice salad or vegetable dressing in the next days. The rice was a big hit. For a halfish recipe, I used a small (4-oz) can of chiles, which is usually three, and zapped them together with a bit of stock, parsley, onions, and garlic. (Thank you, staff mixer.) This will definitely get made again. I made the salad at the last minute for a go-with, also using a canned chile, with zucchini, avocado, a shallot, and a bit of oil and vinegar dressing. It should have been chilled, but I did it very last-minute.

Saturday/7-Nov-15: It was clean-out-the-fridge pizza tonight, with roasted cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans, topped with black olives and capers. Not bad. For dessert we had some chocolate bonbons. At the old folks dinner in October, which we didn't attend because we weren't here, the old folks get little boxes of goodies. Pascal brought ours around to us this morning.

Sunday/8-Nov-15: We both had leftover pizza for lunch today, Ed at choir, me at home, so neither of us felt like much for dinner. I made a salad, embellished with some lardons from the freezer that wanted using. The rest of our bonbons for afters.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: yes for September/October; no for November

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Dec-14: On a shopping outing with friends today, I did a bit of shopping at Grand Frais near Limoges. Found some greens, labelled as chard, that looked more like bok choy. So I called it bok choy and made Spaghetti with Bok Choy, Poached, Egg, and Romano Cheese (web; cookbooker). Good stuff, this, and and easy dish to make. We shared a magnum classic (2/3:1/3) for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/16-Dec-14: Yesterday I bought a boxful of chanterelles so I could make Tagliatelles aux Girolles (web) for dinner. And pretty good it was too, although the proportions were a bit odd. For two servings, it asked 450g of chanterelles. They come in 250g boxes and that was plenty. Of course more would be nice, but not really needed. Then a big salad. Then some camembert (the house brand, not as good as others). Then some squares of chocolate with nuts and fruits. We're full.

Wednesday/17-Dec-14: Shopping today. Bought a frozen leg of lamb for a good price. Meant to buy a bunch of chicken thighs, but it turned out to be a mixed package with four thighs and three legs.

DInner was Baked Salmon, a recipe I got from EAT-L. Very simple and quite good. I broiled rather than baking, which probably wasn't such a good idea since the garlic and basil in the marinade got a bit crispy. Served with trio rice and Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216; HandyBook). Then we finished off the camembert and the chocolate bar with nuts and fruits.

Thursday/18-Dec-14: Eating from the freezer with odd bits today. Pork Paprikash with Spaetzle (MW@Home, p203) and with roasted cauliflower and broccoli. Then a mini magnum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/19-Dec-14: Christmas is coming. Eh. Ordered a rack of lamb for our meal. And we bought a tree, a live one that will end up somewhere in the South Forty.

Dinner was a half dose of Cardamom Chicken with Yoghurt and Almond (web), which turned out quite well. It's not spicy hot, but spicy tasty.  As go-withs there were plain basmati rice and Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171), an old favorite.

For dessert, there was Banana Strudel (H2CEV, p880), easy to make and yummy to eat.

Saturday/20-Dec-14: Got our tree today, a live one, but that was about it.

An improv dinner. Sautéed some shallot, oesterzwammen (oyster mushrooms), and garlic, then added the leftover bit of sauce from yesterday's chicken and tossed in some raviolis with cêpes (from the freezer). And a big salad. And more banana strudel.

Sunday/21-Dec-14: Here is something I love about French cooking: This morning I read through a recent issue of VPG (which, I see, is now styling themselves just Gourmand, dropping the Vie Pratique bit). I read an interesting recipe called Terrine de Chou Frisée (dark green cabbage with crinkled leaves), Asperges Blanches (white asparagus), et Poissson aux Herbes. On one side is a little blurb titled "Don't lose anything!" that tells you "With the rest of the cabbage, you can make a velouté ..." and gives brief instructions for what sounds like a good soup. To which you can add some slices of a sausage to make a complete meal. How nice that they're considering leftovers from the beginning. (Terrine things are nice for parties. They travel well and usually serve quite a few people.)

Also on the magazine side, on the advice of a cooking friend, I recently bought an issue of Cuisine et Vins, which sounds a bit pretentious but seems to be chockful of good recipes. I clipped so many that I signed up for a 2-year offer. Like I really need another food magazine. And there's just not time to make all the interesting recipes that I see.

We went to a marché de noël today. Often I buy something for our xmas day meal, but that's already planned. I did splurge on some figs stuffed with foie gras. We'll have one each on the big day for a pre-starter or maybe between starter and main, and the rest will go in the freezer for treats on another day.

Dinner was Pan-Seared Scallops with Walnuts and Spiced Carrots (web). The seared scallops were nice; the sauce OK. Didn't have any walnuts, so used hazelnuts instead. The spiced carrots were just mashed carrots with cinnamon added; I added a touch of ginger too. Too much sugar added to everything for our tastes, even though I cut back quite a bit. Not sure why the nuts needed to be sugar-coated. For dessert we were little pigs and finished the banana strudel. That was good stuff.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: none

IHCC: June Potluck!

And now for something completely different. My potluck this month isn't Nigel Slater. And it's not Madhur Jaffrey. Instead it's Mark Bittman, from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, a rather good vegetarian cookbook I don't turn to often enough.

There was broccoli to be used up, so I decided to make some Creamy Cauliflower (or Broccoli) Soup (p130). I've previously made the Indian Cauliflower Soup variation and I thought I'd give the main recipe a try.

First I needed some vegetable stock. I made a double-dose of One-Hour Vegetable Stock (p101) so I'd have extra for the freezer. This is a fairly straightforward stock to make and the result had quite a lot flavor. (Vegetable stocks are frequently pretty blah tasting.) You spend a bit of time chopping carrots, onion, potato, celery, garlic, and mushrooms. These are sautéed until they begin to brown. Then water is added along with some soy sauce, parsley, and freshly ground black pepper. I measured a bit short on the soy sauce (it was the end of the bottle) and added no extra salt. This simmers for 30 minutes or longer, till you're ready to deal with it. I used some for the soup then froze another five cups.

With the stock ready, the soup was then a snap to make. I heated some grapeseed oil (currently my sautéing choice, rather than butter or olive oil), then added a sliced onion, a chopped head of broccoli, and some chopped garlic as they were ready. Add a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. When the onion has softened, stir in a good slog of white wine. (Feels like making a risotto!) Then add the stock and cook until the broccoli is tender. Use an immersion blender to buzz it smooth. Stir in a cup of cream or sour cream (I used crème fraîche) and serve. Not the prettiest soup I've ever made, but tasty nevertheless.

Check out this week's post at I Heart Cooking Clubs to see what potluck dishes other folks are making this week.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Jun-14: I planned a crockpot dinner when we thought we'd be out for the day. That didn't happen, but I'd already defrosted the turkey, so this morning I started Slow-Cooker Turkey Stroganoff (web), using two turkey filets rather than bone-in breasts. Turned out the filets I got had been brined or otherwise treated; I just hadn't read the label that closely and there was no clue in the name. Good thing, then, that I added only half the salt to the sauce. I was short on mushrooms (a 500g package was hiding in the fridge), so I served over mushroom pasta. It was pretty good actually, and might be worth making again with some unadulterated meat.

Before dinner I made some banana bread with smashed banana from the freezer using a recipe for Banana Cupcakes (SimpSups, p274). Baked into two smaller loaf pans at the advertised temp, but for at least twice the time. Still a bit damp on the bottom but quite tasty. Didn't frost.

Tuesday/17-Jun-14: Shopping today; nothing special, although they did have chicken livers. Some now in freezer.

Dinner was a half recipe of Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms (web), which simple and pretty tasty. I was worried about having enough thyme, but as soon as the pasta was added to the sauce the thyme smell bloomed. Followed by a big salad.

Wednesday/18-Jun-14: Off to Vallée des Singes for the day. Put Sicilian Lentil, Vegetable, and Pasta Soup (SlowItal, p32) in the crockpot before we left. When we were back six hours later, the lentils were still a bit crunchy. Poured the whole lot into a Dutch oven and simmered a while, then added the dilatini (the first pasta suggestion, which I thought might be too small, but was just right). It made a lot, so I froze the rest.  Some banana cupcake bread for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/19-Jun-14: For this month's potluck at IHCC, I made a some of Mark Bittman's vegetable stock along with some broccoli soup. It was good.

Friday/20-Jun-14: Stopped at the store today to get some fish (since we missed our fresh fish earlier in the week) and also found some pretty good looking corn on the cob. Dinner was a very loose interpretation of Po'Boy Sandwich (SimpSups, p172), served with Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC, HandyBook) and corn on the cob. I got blue ling for the fish, fillets which turned out to be quite bony, ugh. I rolled the fish in cornmeal and seafood seasoning, then sprayed with olive oil and broiled rather than frying. They turned out nice and crispy. Should try this technique again. Fish served on ciabattas, topped with coleslaw. The seafood seasoning I used (not Old Bay) was a gift from someone along the way, but was very salty. Decided to toss it. Dessert was two almond triangles from a boulanger, crispy pastry with almond paste filling. All pretty good.

Saturday/21-Jun-14: As a go-with for dinner, I made Cayenne Cornbread (BigGerman, p182) in the bread machine. Except that I forgot to add the yeast, duh. Actually it was better than I'd have expected with no leavening at all. Not going to make a sandwich, but it was good for munching and better crumbled in the soup.

The soup was Chile Bisque (H2CEV, p130), a recipe I spotted while looking at the broccoli soup. Sounded promising, but was almost too bitter to eat. I'll try to salvage the leftovers by adding some beans and corn. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/22-Jun-14: Off to a concert this evening, so we had our main meal in the early afternoon. That was Broiled Lamb Leg Chops on Eggplant Planks with Mint-Yogurt Sauce (Essential, p549). I had only five little chops, so made a halfish recipe. The mint-yogurt sauce was a nice touch, but too sweet even though I cut back the honey. The eggplant slices were oiled, S&Ped, and had minced garlic pressed into the side that was down for the first bit of broiling. They were good. The lamb chops were coated with coriander seeds, black pepper, and salt; instead of crushing and grinding, I whizzed them all in my spice grinder. Broiled, then rested while the eggplant cooked. Served with some orzo. All good. No dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: none

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Mar-12: Yogurt on overday. Further not much happening in the kitchen. Went out shopping and ordered a new exhaust fan that better fits the size of the stove. We need to make the exhaust hole before the outside walls are rendered (stuccoed) next month.

Dinner was the last of the lasagna with a salad. Then we shared half of a Petit Camembert.

Tuesday/20-Mar-12: Before dinner tonight, I made Anne's Anodyne Liniment Cake (BookLovers, p230), the Green Gables cake that was mistakenly made with liniment rather than vanilla. I've got a "pork belly" defrosting since yesterday, but it wasn't ready in time to marinate for a couple of house then cook slow for several hours. So that will have to happen tomorrow. Tonight there was Curried Penne with Shrimp (MC), with some peas added for vegetable matter. I've got a similar recipe that includes peas, but couldn't be bothered to find it. Then we ate the rest of the Petit Camembert, followed by a slice of Liniment Cake.

Wednesday/21-Mar-12: Shopping today. By the time we got back it was a rush to get the Jamie Oliver's Roasted Pork Belly (some issue of Jamie) in the oven. Long cooking time meant it came out at 8pm, too late to be eating. But we ate it. Will pick lots of meat off tomorrow and discard the crackling and fat.

And some Puréed Broccoli (H2CEV, p389), the first time I've puréed something like that. It's OK, would be a better idea with leftovers, rather that starting with a fresh bit of veg.

Also some of Clothilde's Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes. Didn't feel like any dessert at all.

Thursday/22-Mar-12: Dinner was Haddock with a Green Pepper Sauce (MC), using more green peppers. Didn't like the green peppers in the sauce last time; didn't like them this time. Think I'll toss this recipe. For the rest it was good enough. Reheated the small dish of Scalloped Potatoes that I made last Sunday with the extra thinly sliced potatoes; that was good. Roasted some haricots verts with olive oil and lemon pepper; those were good. Some of the liniment cake for dessert; weird stuff but tasty.

Friday/23-Mar-12: Made up some of Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161; MC) today. Then dinner out at a quiz. That was about it.

Have given up on Cook the Books this time. Read the book, but can't get motivated to cook it. Would have to be this weekend, but it just won't happen.

Yesterday I knocked a small (glass) lamp off the table behind the sofa and broke the base. Today I pulled over the reading lamp in the living room and broke the glass shade. Tomorrow the light over the dining table has better watch out! Ed cleverly noticed that the top of the small lamp could be used to replace the reading lamp's shade. It's not perfect, but it will do till we find a proper replacement.

Saturday/24-Mar-12: Dinner was a half dose of Tagliatelle with Smashed Peas, Sausage, and Ricotta Cheese (web), using some of my newly made sausage. Pretty good stuff, fast and easy.

Sunday/25-Mar-12: Went to a concert at 17.00 today, so had our main meal at lunch: Thai Curried Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu (web). Easy, fast, and not bad at all. When we got back from the concert, we had a salad and then some goat cheese and crackers.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD:no, #3 SOUP: no, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #6 PASTA:no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-May-11: Simple dinner of oldies. Coriander-Pepper Pork Tenderloins (MC) done under the broiler; tasty. Zucchini and Feta Salad (MC), with goat cheese instead of feta, since my feta was moldy and there was no spare. Trio rice. For dessert, the last of the Grand Marnier desserts from the freezer.

Tuesday/31-May-11: The leftover Lunch in Paris tagine was still quite good. The two of us ate all of it in two sittings. It was probably enough for 5 or 6. Oink, oink. We started with half the melon and pineau. Followed the tagine with a big salad of mâche. Then some Prune Cake (soon to be MC). Mixed the cake all in the food processor. At the end, I added the prunes (the rest of the pitted ones I got for the tagine) and the walnuts and pulsed to chop them up. While it was baking the gas cylinder ran out; Ed came in to find it clicking, trying to light. Changed the cylinder and relit the oven. Which now decided to take its time to get up to speed. The cake survived and was quite good.

Wednesday/1-Jun-11: Lunched at Flunch today, very missable fast food. For an afternoon snack we had more prune cake. For dinner, I marinated chicken thighs for Asian Barbecue Chicken (MC), good stuff. Served with a side of Sesame Asparagus and Noodles (VegPleas, p81).

Thursday/2-Jun-11: Cowboy Stew from the freezer for dinner. Prune cake for a snack during the day.

Friday/3-Jun-11: Shopping in the early afternoon. I picked up a single cucumber. The checker kept tell me they were on sale 2 for €1, and one was .89 (or some such); I finally convinced her I really only wanted one for the two of us. Got some tomatoes to make oven-dried tomatoes again (this time I'll pay more attention to the time). Started some lemons soaking, to soften the skins prior to making preserved lemons. Made an eggless ice cream "brew" and pitted a bunch of cherries, so we should have cherries and cream ice cream before long.

Dinner was Da Vinci Cod (soon to be MC), a recipe recently collected from EAT-L. Accompanied by some Quick-Glazed Carrots (H2CEV, p278), which were good in spite of the fact that I forgot to add the butter, so they weren't as glazed as they could have been, and some orzo with grated lemon zest, parsley, black pepper, and butter. All followed by a big, simple salad. Then some St Felicien, which seemed a bit off, so we had some cookies.

Saturday/4-Jun-11: Dinner started with Lemon Thyme Marinated Artichokes (EAT-L, soon to be MC). The artichokes I found on sale (2 for €1.50) were huge, I think; three of us (one backed out) at only three quarters each, so we've got seven in the fridge now. The chokes are half steamed, then marinated, then oven-baked to finish. These were very good, but the recipe greatly understated how much lemon was required. I ended up using the lemons I had soaking to make preserved lemons, so that needs to be restarted.

For the main, there was Farfalle with Wild Mushroom Sauce (EAT-L, also soon to be MC). Very nice and relatively low fat. Then a big salad. No time for dessert before we went out to Montemboeuf.

This was the first time Barbara had had artichokes (I knew this), but also a first for avocados, in the salad!

Sunday/5-Jun-11: Wanting to make some chicken stock soon, so for dinner there was bbq'd Devil's Chicken (Tabasco, p83), which is getting to be a standard. We finished the leftover artichokes, warmed in the oven; they were okay, but not as good as last night. And I cooked up some pasta to serve with the rest of the shroom sauce. For dessert, there was cherries and cream ice cream, eggless ice cream, but still oh so good!

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: no, #3 MIDDAY: no
This month: #4 PASTA: May,yes; June,not yet

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Feb-11: For breakfast, I made some Zucchini Raisin Bran Muffins from a recipe I found on the web. Pretty good.

Gray and rainy all day—how depressing. For lunch we had the rest of the Squash and Corn Chowder, along with our fruit. So much soup, we had only light dinner, quite late. I made some Lemon-Sage Tortellini with Chicken and Peppers, a recipe I've done before and only vaguely followed this time. Good enough.

Tuesday/22-Feb-11: Back to Cooking Italy with Fried Calamari (ClassicItal, p319). Served with Roasted Eggplant with Peppers and Cucumber (ClassicItal, p55) and Marinated Carrot Sticks (ClassicItal, p56), both recipes I've made before. I made aoili to go with the calamari, but probably liked them best with just some lemon juice sqeezed on. Had a lot of trouble getting the mayonnaise to work, not sure why. (Had the same problem with the Lime-Chili Mayo a couple of weeks ago.) First batch, in blender, just wouldn't come together. Quick search showed that you could make a new batch and add the old stuff once the new batch emulsifies. So I started batch #2 in a food processor. Still no success, although I gave up quite early. Poured the yolk, mustard, and the bit of oil I'd added into a bowl and finished off by hand. Easy enough, but tiring. Not I've got a double-batch of garlicky mayo to use up in the next days.

Wednesday/23-Feb-11: Shop this afternoon. Dinner was Garlic Chicken Bites (MC), adapted to use, yes, aoili, and spiced up a bit. We thought the aoili went better with this, than with the calamari. Served with the last of this batch of trio rice; have a new brand to try since this organic one is getting really difficult to find. Then a salad of arugula and mâche, using the rest of yesterday's eggplant salad. For dessert, two storebought

Thursday/24-Feb-11: Yogurt on overday.

More of the new year's "packets" for a starter. Main was Homemade Broccoli or Cauliflower Casserole (MC 2BTried), meant as a side dish no doubt, but I served is as a main over some pasta (since we had rice last night). Used aoili in the sauce; mozzarella needing to be used ipv cheddar. Not bad, but not worth keeping the recipe, I think. Some dark chocolate "roses" I found at the grocery yesterday. I thought these were based on oatmeal, but they're cornflakes. Very good.

Friday/25-Feb-11: Used up a bunch of apples from the cheapy sack I bought to make Teddie's Apple Cake (Essential, p752) this morning, and good it is too!

For our midday meal with had Thai Chicken Roll-Ups (MC), wraps with a vaguely Thai-flavored chicken filling, made even better by a squirt of sriracha before folding the wraps. A pretty light meal, but tasty.

Saturday/26-Feb-11: A rommel of a day; tossed the plan for the evening's dinner. Instead I finished off the Indian Cauliflower Soup (H2CEV, p130) from the freezer. We had a bit of pâté for a starter, then some apples, carrots and cherry toms (for me), and then soup. Preferred this variation to the Creamy Broccoli one we had earlier (that I made at the same time).

Sunday/27-Feb-11: Visited the Victor Hugo market in Angoulême this morning. Showing restraint. I came away with (only) some olives, a pair of small artichokes, and some asparagus. So many good-looking food things there. I saw some duck "steaks" that were slices, cut horizontally across both breasts; resisted buying any just to see.

We ate lunch in Angoulême before going to a movie. Just some fruit for dinner.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: yes, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet (and only one day left this month!)

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jan-11: Sally and Mike were supposed to come to dinner before Club Liseron, but Mike is having a bad tummy (we hope not the gastroflu going around), so they bowed out. So just the two of us started with Avocado Corn Salad (MW@Home, p119), always a favorite. Then there was Papa's Cowboy Stew (MC) and Cayenne Cornbread (BigGerman, p182). I used aardappelzetmeel (potato starch) instead of flour to thicken the stew, but used too much so it was a bit gluey. Will make a note on the recipe to use less. Froze the rest of the stew for later.

Authentic French Bread (Magic, but out of head) on overnight.

Tuesday/11-Jan-11: Neither of us feeling very chipper or hungry today. For lunch we had Bittman's Creamy Broccoli Soup (H2CEV, p130that I made and froze up a while ago. It wasn't bad, not as good as Craig Claiborn's broccoli soup, but easier.

For dinner we had a big salad, rocket and mâche, with goodies and a blue cheese dressing of Stilton. I'm enjoying the Stilton (Sally brought it back from the UK) more than I thought I would. I seem to remember having some that was rather harsh tasting, even for a blue, but this is lovely even to munch by itself.

Wednesday/12-Jan-11: Yogurt on the a.m. Shopping at Géant after picking up the Yaris from the shop.

Dinner was Chicken with Lemon-Leek Linguine (Cooking Light oct10, soon to be MC). Followed by a salad. An easy, quick meal, but felt a bit rushed, since I was putting away groceries at the same time.

Thursday/13-Jan-11: Funny dinner tonight. Main course was Spaghetti with Fried Eggs and Pagritata (web, soon to be MC), a recipe for one, double for two. Good stuff. For a sort of salad was Tomates Farcies au Chèvre (VPQ, soon to be MC). I'd intended to make this for new year's eve, but didn't. The recipe is meant as a starter, and would be good as that no doubt. If you were very patient, it would be nice to fill bite-sized tomatoes for munchies.

Friday/14-Jan-11: Dinner at La Bellone this evening with a group from Ed's choir. Further it was quiet in the kitchen.

Saturday/15-Jan-11: Dinner was a quickie, Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Peas (MC 2BTried, a keeper), along with a salad and some cookies for dessert. That was it.

Sunday/16-Jan-11: Judy Heuman's Chickpea Patties (soon to be MC) for dinner, along with Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171). In my hurry to finish, I forgot to add the chopped parsley to the patties, which would have been nice. Wonder if the patties couldn't be broiled or baked, rather than fried in a pan? Anyhow, they were tasty and this recipe came with a nice little sauce of yogurt, lemon juice, and freshly ground black pepper.

Yogurt on overnight. And chicken marinating.

Progress on goals
This week: VEG/FISH: yes, SOUP: yes, MIDDAY: not really
This month: PASTA: not yet

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Dec-10: Made some stock today with the bird carcass that was frozen in the freezer. Meanwhile, I also made the sauce for Cooking Italy's Pappardelle al Sugu d'Anatra. That was dinner, followed by a salad of arugula, and ending with a bit of Saint-Maure.

Tuesday/28-Dec-10: While doing errands and a movie in Angoulême today, we had a small lunch today at Bistrot du Boucher, where we've eaten another time. I fear it's a chain, but the quality is good and the service is fast and friendly. And it's in a convenient place.

For dinner we had the leftover buffalo chicken casserole with a salad of arugula and mâche. Cookies for dessert.

Wednesday/29-Dec-10: Froze up the stock this morning after straining and boiling it down a bit.

Dinner was the duck sauce with tagliatelle again. (Dinner got started late, so I didn't make pasta from scratch.) A salad of mâche; I added a bit of store-bought tapenade to a salad dressing with créme fraîche. (We didn't care for this tapenade, but hate to throw it away. It worked quite well in the dressing.) Finished off the Saint-Maure for afters. Very similar meal to two nights ago!

Thursday/30-Dec-10: Before dinner got started, I started a double dose of One-Hour Vegetable Stock (H2CEV, p101). If all goes to plan, tomorrow I'll make up some of Bittman's broccoli and cauliflower soups and get them in the freezer.

Dinner was Lemonshire Chicken (MC), a tasty, simple recipe. This went along with some asparagus and some steam-sautéed potatoes. For dessert we finished off the ice cream; it had been sitting out about 6 hours and was soft enough to serve. We have learned: Put ice cream in another container before putting it in the freezer!

Friday/31-Dec-10: Julien came this morning to put new thermostats in the ovens. We'll see how long these last.

I used up the broccoli and cauliflower by making Creamy Broccoli Soup (H2CEV, p130) and Indian Cauliflower Soup (H2CEV, p130). Into the freezer with these.

Dinner started with Onion Bhaji (Q&E, p20), which turned out quite well; I used (US) teaspoons to form them, but need to make them smaller still. Next time I'll use my largest Dutch theelepels. Might also try cutting the recipe in half, even though the batter has a whole egg in it. Served these with (Q&E, p113). The main course was Grilled Salmon Steaks with Carom (IndLight, p154) and Rice with Peas (MJ1, p149), with more peas that asked. Used salmon filets rather than steaks and broiled under the grill. All was good.

For later tonight, I've got a stack of munchies lined up, although I'm not feeling all that hungry right now. We have:

• Bombay Cashews (MC), made in the newly working oven.
• Carrot sticks with Indian Avocado Spinach Dip, a recipe from 28cooks, which isn't that promising so far. Of course, I used frozen spinach, guessing at the amount, instead of fresh. Had to beef up the spices to get some taste into it.
• From the marché de noel, 3 kinds of olives and lupine seeds
• A bit of blue d'Auvergne and a small goat cheese (that had been destined for something else, but I forgot to buy an ingredient) with crackers.
• Some little filled pastry things from the freezer to be heated in the toaster oven.
• Some Lindt chocolates needing to be tried out.
• Bailey's Irish Cream.

Saturday/1-Jan-11: We didn't make much of a dent in all our new year munchies. The hit of the evening was the carrot sticks. The avocad0-spinach dip wasn't bad; I suppose the rest will appear as a pasta sauce or some such; maybe I'll freeze a bit of it and see how that goes. We ate some nuts, some cheese, some olives, and didn't bother with the pastries or chocolates.

We had our new year's lunch at La Bellone with Barbara and David down the road, and very nice it was. After stuffing ourselves last night, we weren't looking forward to so much food, but the portions were small enough and it was very enjoyable.

In the evening we watched a show on DVD and tried out a few of the Lindt chocolates.

Sunday/2-Jan-11: Forgot to start yogurt last night, so put it on this morning.

Dinner was a half recipe of Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms (from Eating Well, soon to be MC) and a big salad of mâche. The sprouts were supposed to be with whole wheat fettuccine, and I had the intention to make some (using Diane Kennedy's recipe) but forgot to allow myself time. The sack of sprouts we bought for xmas looks to be about half used now—I think they must be breeding. The recipe was pretty good. Most of the shrooms were shiitakes with a few plain one thrown in to make the volume.

Later we had a couple of chocolates while watching a DVD.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Mar-10: Trying to make a dent in the stock of buckwheat flour, I made Buckwheat Bread (BigGerman, p38). It's good, a tasty and dense brown bread. Yum!

A fast and easy dinner tonight, before going off to the gardening club. It was Radicchio and Warm Bean Salad (ClassicItal, p556). Not radicchio to be found in our local shops, so I used witlof as suggested; the beans were the frozen leftovers from January's embogoné. Kind of a strange idea, but worked OK. Then we ate the rest of yesterday's upside down cake.

Tuesday/9-Mar-10: The new stove (is it Blanche or the White Elephant?) arrived this afternoon. They were missing parts to connect to the gas, so had to return to the store for this. It was 18.30 when it was all ready. I'm coming down with the yucky cold that Ed's just starting to get over and didn't really fell like cooking. Too bad.

So, it was a quick dinner. Cornmeal and Spice-Crusted Scallops (MC), with some steamed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes sauteed in oil and some pasta. That's all folks.

Wednesday/10-Mar-10: Out of bread and we missed the mobile boulanger, so I made some of our old standardAuthentic French Bread (Magic, p22) on Rapid Bake, where it's especially good. This is the only bread recipe I know out of my head.

In the evening we went to at pub quiz at Chez Ciseen, so no cooking. Before we went out I started two kip filets to marinate with a half recipe of Moroccan Chicken Kabobs (MC).

Thursday/11-Mar-10: Skipped the market, but went shopping at LeClerc about noon. After lunch I turned on the ovens, grill, and exhaust fan and let them go for a long hour. Lots of smoke came out of the grill.

Then I broiled an eggplant for a halfish recipe of Grilled Eggplant Salad with Yogurt Dressing (H2CEV, p65). This turned out really yummy. Made basmati rice (1/2 cup, too much); cooking this on the low-low front burner didn't seem to work. It seems like the lowest temp on a medium back burner is sufficient. Need to play with this some more. Put the chicken onto soaked sticks and grilled it. All was good. We finished off a bit of soft goat cheese for afters. Fun playing with the new stove. I wonder how long before it feels natural?

Friday/12-Mar-10: Late lunch and chips after, so I wasn't very hungry in the evening. Dinner was Zalm in Filodeeg, an old Allerhande clipping. Thought I had some fresh/frozen dill in the freezer, but I must have tossed what was left when I defrosted; so had to use dried dill instead. The salmon was topped with a blah ricotta-dill mixture, maybe needed more dill and maybe some lemon zest and juice to liven it up. It was OK, but not worth keeping. Served withLeek Salad with Yogurt-Cheese Sauce (MC) and some boiled potatoes that worked pretty well.

My baking sheet/jelly roll pan only fits sideways in the oven, so it doesn't block circulation in the back. The temperature seemed to be very even. The phyllo packets were evenly browned. Hooray! Having a bit of trouble cooking on the top of the stove because I'm so used to turning the burners down to their lowest, which was pretty high on the old stove. Low on the new stove is really low. Hooray! And it looks like the ovens will go really low, so I'm going to need to make some pavlovas or something similar to make use of the low temps. Where are all those recipes I've been avoiding for the last year?

Saturday/13-Mar-10: There was supposed to be a Cooking Italy chicken tonight, but it got late quite early and I didn't feel much like it. So it was a clean out the fridge veggie stir-fry over brown rice, topped with some Mimelot. After had a bit of Petit Livarot, which was quite nice, and some flan d'abricot from the boulanger this morning.

Sunday/14-Mar-10: Tonight was Cooking Italy's Roast Chicken with Lemon (ClassicItal, p327) with Braised Artichokes and Leeks (ClassicItal, p452) and Dusolier's roast potatoes (in goose fat). The chicken was good; the artichokes and leeks were boring; maybe a vinaigrette will liven up the leftovers. Meant to make Bill's ricotta-stuffed baked apples for dessert, but that will have to wait for another day. More Petit Livarot for afters.

Didn't make it to the boulanger today, so I started some more Buckwheat Bread (BigGerman, p38) for tomorrow's breakfast and possibly lunch.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Feb-10: Sat outside in the afternoon sun to shuck the Moroccan fava beans I impulsively bought on Saturday. I parboiled and peeled them while Cooking Italy's Spinach Soup with Crostini (ClassicItal, p89-90) was cooking for this evening's dinner. Ed read more from Mayle's Bon Appetit while the cooking was going on, and was very skeptical that anyone could taste the difference in salts. I put my open jar of Il de Ré salt on the table and opened the jar of Camargue salt from the pantry. You can indeed taste the difference. Actually, the Camargue salt just tasted salty, while the Il de Ré had a more complex taste. Now I'll have to look for some others to taste.

Tuesday/15-Feb-10: Dinner at the pub quiz tonight. Further, not much action in the kitchen.

Wednesday/17-Feb-10: Made the West Indies Salmon Cakes (now MC) from 28cooks for dinner. Couldn't find canned salmon in the shops here, so I bought 2 cans when we were last in The Netherlands. These have gone back on the list. This was a winner of a recipe. I never like salmon croquettes or patties as a child, but these are really tasty. Froze three for another dinner. They went really well with Carrot and Ginger Quickie Pickle. Served withTurmeric Rice(Q&E, p100) and steamed broccoli. Meant to start some chickpeas soaking for falafel tomorrow night, but discovered I don't have any!

Was pleased to discover in Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian that he doesn't like canola oil. It was not available in The Netherlands, so I've only recently tried it. And don't like the taste. What's this stuff good for? I'd thought to use it as a neutral oil, finishing the first bottle and the backup on the shelf, but I won't buy it again. I'll stick with peanut and corn oils when I need neutral, thank you.

Thursday/18-Feb-10: Went to the market today and it was actually there. Got the usual sort of stuff plus some filets of rascasse/scorpionfish for tonight's dinner. Rascasse is apparently the most important fish in bouillabaise. At the butcher, I got a chuck steak (marcreuse) for the next Cooking Italy assignment.

For dinner we had Baked Fish with Shrimp (MC 2BTried) with the rascasse, which turned out to be quite boney. I used some medium shrimp, cut in half, and some small scallops for the topping. Probably less topping and the smaller shrimp would be better. Also, a dab of white wine in the white sauce topping might be nice. Served with the rest of the haricots verts and some pasta.

Friday/19-Feb-10: Today we had our late Valentine's Da y lunch at Le Roc du Boeuf near Chabanais, a very nice meal and restaurant. After lunch we shopped in St. Junien so we could get some of our favorite trio rice, which seems no longer to be available in the Charente. Also bought some eau de vie to make limoncello and some wine for the Coooking Italy pot roast. Strange that there is no Italian wine available here. There is a bit of German wine (Alsace and Riesling), but nothing Italian.

Neither of us feeling especially hungry near dinnertime, we made a plate with apples, carrots, radishes, tomatoes (for me), tuna rillettes on toasts topped with the carrot-ginger pickle. Good munchies.

Saturday/20-Feb-10: Felt like having falafels recently, so I made them today. Followed Bittman's recipe (H2CEV, p625). They were tasty, but most of them fell apart, so we've got several cups of falafel crumbs to use for something. Not sure what went wrong. Maybe I didn't grind it all finely enough? Disappointing. Accompanied by tahini sauce (Goldbeck, p200) and Fava Bean Hummus (MC) and Cream Cheese and Cucumber Salad (Michoteta) (Roden, p65). This salad is an old favorite which I've neglected for a long time.

Sunday/21-Feb-10: Mad the Beaujolais Buttermilk Coffee Cake again, prior to making the Cooking Italy pot roast. Since my replacement Pyrex dish won't arrive till next month, I made this in a bundt pan, putting the topping on the bottom. But the cake didn't want to turn out of the pan, so we're just cutting our slices directly from the pan. A very tasty cake.

Twas a Cooking Italy dinner tonight. We had Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Amarone (ClassicItal, p393), Mashed Potatoes with Milk and Parmesan, Bolognese Style (ClassicItal, p518), and some steamed broccoli. The mashed pots were a lot of foofaraw for nothing particularly special. Would be better to follow my normal smash potato procedure and add a bit of grated Parmesan while mashing away. And no nutmeg. What a chunk of beef that was! We had dinner. I froze up the same amount (slices and a bit of sauce) for a repeat. Plus more meat and sauce for beef pot pie. Plus almost 8 ounces of beef bits for who knows what.

This week in the kitchen

Monday, we went to get our new cat, Sophie, from Phoenix. Upon our return, I started a pot of chicken stock with the leftover roasted chicken bits. While that was simmering I did with my version of our latest Cooking Italy assignment. All with an inquisitive, new kitty underfoot.

Tuesday, I awoke to find the Mac out of disk and unable to boot following an attempt at a Mozy backup gone awry. We had lunch out (La Bellone) and sandwiches for dinner. I cooked broccoli stalks and a zucchini that wanted using in some of the chicken stock, puréed, and froze it for soup one of these days. Froze 2cups of chicken stock.

Wednesday, it was Lentils and Potatoes with Curry (H2CEV, p600). Not bad for the small amount of effort involved. Served with mango chutney and lime pickle. (Made it with chick stock ipv veg stock.) Never made it to the boulanger, so made bread overnight, Bran 1 (BigGerman, p23). A pretty good whole wheat bran bread.

Thursday, we picked up our new dog from Phoenix, so we had a fast dinner of 4-cheese ravioli and pesto from the freezer, along with a big salad.

Friday, a favorite, Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180) for a starter. Then some pork chops, with sautéed potatoes, and steamed broccoli (with garlic slices in butter). Pork chops were a bit thinner than I thought and turned out a bit dry on the grillpan.

Saturday we were busy, catching up on shopping, hanging out with the new dog and cat, and trying (still) to get the Mac going. Thus a quick dinner, Scallops with Black Pepper Sauce (MC) over rice. The end of a bit of Camembert was afters.

Sunday morning we got the Mac going again -- hooray! -- then spent all the day getting things to right and got started with dinner too late to make pasta and sauce for Cooking Italy. Instead made Eggplant, Red Pepper, and Spinach Curry (MWSunday, p303) served over rice, which used up the end of yesterday's red bell pepper, plus a green bell pepper, plus some frozen spinach. Again with mango chutney and lime pickle and some raita (MJ1).