This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Aug-21: Dinner was Creamy Blueberry Chicken Salad (web; CL/aug14). I used chicken from the last roast that I did (via the freezer). Blueberries from our own plants. (Which Ed told me about after I'd defrosted some. Have to make some kind of dish tomorrow to use them up.) That didn't look quite enough, so I made a salad of some roasted beets, a small can of corn, cilantro, and a lime vinaigrette. No dessert.

Tuesday/17-Aug-21: Used some of my roasted beets plus some leftover brick hanging around in the fridge to make, more or less, Beet and Feta Samosas (MadeIndia, p48). We had them as a starter while I was finishing the rest of dinner. Not as good as expected; the filling was better than the baked result. Dinner was West Indian Salmon Patties (web; GD). As before, I made four patties instead of six and two are now in the freezer for another night. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262), a regular. Made a quarter recipe and still have some left to tart up for another meal. For after, I used yesterday's defrosted blueberries, plus the remains of some raspberries and strawberries I impulse-bought last week, to make Easy Berry Cobbler (MC; HandyBook). We're full.

Wednesday/18-Aug-21: Pizza out tonight before a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/19-Aug-21: Shopping today. Our favorite boulangerie is on holiday till September. 

Dinner was Spicy Grilled Fish (Q&E, p74) with salmon. Good stuff. It surprises me to find a new, good recipe in this book, since I've used it so much. There was a quarter recipe of Rice with Mushrooms and Mustard Seeds (Q&E, p102) for a side and Fresh Tomato Salad (Q&E, p107). Some store-bought riz au laits with caramel for after.

Friday/21-Aug-21: Dinner was a half dose of Pasta Pentimento* (EatingTog, p170) over whole-wheat spaghetti. Good stuff for so easy. For a salad, there was a halfish dose of Favorite Broccoli Salad* (web; GD; GD). This was good, if not something that went especially well with the pasta. Knowing that Ed doesn't like raw broccoli, I cooked it very briefly in the pasta water. (Was just surprised to find this salad on my DoMeAgain list! I wrote then what we said tonight at table, that this would be very good for a bbq.) For dessert there was some Jam Tea Cake (GD) with apricot jam. 

Saturday/21-Aug-21: In the morning I made the sauce for tonight's dinner, and salted the chicken for tomorrow. 

Dinner was a half dose of Pasta in Chilli Tomato Sauce (HomTrav, p222); this would have served three pretty eaisly. Served over linguine; have a bit left for a lunch. Tingly stuff. An Italian tomato sauce with ginger, chilies, and chili oil. Tasty. 

Some Jam Tea Cake for after.

Sunday/22-Aug-21: Dinner was Romertopf Clay-Baked Chicken, Stuffed with Serrano Ham and Olives (MedClay, p76). I cooked the stuffing separately. This was finished in a, to me, unusual way.  The chicken was taken out of the oven and out of the pot. The bottom was then emptied (to make a sauce with the juices), topped with a wire rack, the chicken put on that, and all back in the oven for another 10min. I've never seen this technique before, but it made for a nicely crisp skin, not usual for Romertopf.

Served with Lemon-Roasted Potatoes with Bay Leaves* (VegHarv, p231). This was good, of course, although I could have cut the potatoes into smaller chunks. I used the rest of my roasted beets to make a small version of Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180), an old favorite.

More Jam Tea Cake for after; it'sgetting a bit dry now.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Nov-19: Stir-fried veggies tonight, using up the teriyaki sauce I made on Friday. Added some strips of cooked pork from the freezer. Over plain rice. Pretty good stuff. Chocolate-covered corn flakes.

Tuesday/26-Nov-19: Dinner was, sort of, Nigel Slater's Chorizo, New Potatoes and Cucumber (web). The recipe is a good idea, but a little weird. It calls for 600g of chorizo for two people. I used a 200g link, and that was plenty. And only 250g of potatoes. I probably used about 350g; I stopped when they started rolling off the scale. But the effect was quite nice. Ed thought it was pretty enought for a picture.

For dessert there was Crème au Chocolate Express (web, VPG). I might write this one up to save since it was easy and tasty. I made a half recipe of what was reported as 6 servings; we will have 4 servings out of the half.

Wednesday/27-Nov-19: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Lillian's Tasty Noodles (HomTrav, p214). This was pretty good and helped by a dose of my homemade habernero sauce. Without thinking, I made rice as a go-with; will freeze this up for another time. Then we had the last two portions of the chocolate pudding.

Thursday/28-Nov-19: Not the Thanksgiving we'd planned, with a trip to Bordeaux. But nice enough, a bit tiring for the over-ambitious cook. Ed thought we'd do our shopping today, rather than tomorrow as planned. So rather than a quickie dinner (with maybe a quick trip to the local butcher for some turkey scallops), it turned out to be a bit more elaborate. At Leclerc, I spotted a goat cheese topped with cranberries. On toast, that turned into our starter with a bit of arugula, walnuts, and lemon vinaigrette.  For the main, there were individual versions of Shane's Arrosto di Tachino con pancetta ed Erbe Aromatiche. I've done this before. Still good. And there was, of course, some Cranberry-Port Relish (MC). And smashed sweet potatoes and steamed snijbonen. Made a nice gravy to go with all using chicken stock and the herbed wine that the turkey cooked in and some pleurotes. For dessert, I made a Pumpkin Cake (MC) which will take us a week to get through. We're full. I'm tired.

Friday/29-Nov-19: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Madras Fish Curry (Foolproof, p46), with swordfish. Yum. Not too hard to do; takes a bit of time. Served with Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Green Chilies (Foolproof, p90). Also good. With plain basmati rice. Some mini ice creams for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight, with a new starter.

Saturday/40-Nov-19: Both of us feeling icky today, Ed with his fungus bum, me with sinus or a cold. Yesterday I thought it was just because I was cleaning dusty stuff; today it's still there. Haven't gotten better or worse, but sinuses are burning.

Dinner was One-Pot Bacon Chipotle Mac & Cheese (web). I made essentially a whole recipe for two, with maybe just over 3 cups of milk. Used lardons for the bacon. Lots of cheese and chipotle. Pretty good stuff. Interesting thing about this recipe is that the pasta is cooked in the milk for the sauce. Then a mixed salad, with leftover cabbage, arugula, lettuce, and all the goodies. Some chocolate covered cornflakes for after. We're full.

Sunday/1-Dec-19: Dinner was pasta with some veg sauce from the freezer. It was good. I made a salad, but we didn't eat it. Two chocolate squares for after. (We're mostly eating the pumpkin cake for breakfast.)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: none
Cookbooks of the month: n/a
This month: #4 PASTA: no for November, no for December; #5 BREAD: yes for November, no for December; #6 GUESTS: no for November, no for December
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-May-19: Dinner was Crispy-Fried Prawns with Curry Spices (HomTrav, p84; cookbooker). These were quite good, if a bit salty. Served with plain basmati rice and Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/21-May-19: Dinner was a half recipe of Gigli with Chickpeas and Za'atar (web). Very ample servings they were. Good. And a plain salad with only croutons to dress it up. And some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Wednesday/22-May-19: Dinner was, more or less, Stuffed-Squid in Scrambled Egg Sambal Sauce (web). I didn't have medium squid, but used 200g, 13, small squid. And didn't make the "dried chili paste" from the previous recipe, but used sambal from a jar, finishing off the huge one that Bill brought us. This was a bit salty, but quite good. Served over rice. Meant to do something with snijbonen, but forgot. HD ice cream cups for dessert.

Thursday/23-May-19: Shopping today. Forgot something important for Sunday's meal, so will have to make a return trip in the next days.

Bought some of the first decent asparagus of the year; we had those for a starter, with lemon-butter. Dinner was Curried Salmon Steaks with New Potatoes (ClayCook2, p84; cookbooker). Really delicious this was. First thing I've made from this book. For dessert, I used up the filo to make a little tart with a blueberry and mascarpone filling. Yum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/24-May-19: Bill arrived today. For dinner we started with Lamb's Lettuce and Beetroot (BEFCC, p32) which is an old favorite. For a main there was Creamy Paprika Chicken (ClayCook2, p56), another good one from this book, along with a double dose of Spätzle (MW@Home, p203). Froze some spätzle afterwards. Dessert from the boulangerie.

Saturday/25-May-19: Lunch out followed by a lecture/tour at the Resistance Museum in Chasseneuil. Munchies for our evening repas.

Sunday/26-May-19: A bit of Mediterranean food tonight. Our main was Tunisian Chicken Tagine with Brik Pastry (MedClay, p100; cookbooker). This was pretty good. Served with Moroccan salads, a half recipe of Grated Cucumber Salad with Oregano (Morocco, p73), which we've enjoyed several times now, and Carrot and Golden Raisin Salad (Morocco, p77), which was new and good—even Ed liked it. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Römertopf cookbooks
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Mar-19: We went to help Cath clear out the barn today and she fed us a meal. Later we had some corn chips and that was about all.

Tuesday/26-Mar-19: Our meal was Grilled Soy Sauce-Mustard Chicken Thighs (HomTrav, p143). This was easy and yummy. Ed bbq'd the chicken. As a side there was Stir-Fried Cucumbers and Courgettes (HomTrav, p181). We've had this before and like it a lot. And some plain basmati rice. We ate outside even though it was a mite on the cold side.

Wednesday/27-Mar-19: Busy day out. I had an ENT appointment and we did shopping nearby at Grand Frais and Biocoop. Buddy came along, but didn't do well. He threw up at some point and was massively unhappy for the rest of the trip. Looks like we've got a carsick dog. :-(

Dinner was Spicy Pork and Potatoes from India (Mustard, p158; cookbooker). I belatedly realized this was a vindaloo with potatoes. And way too many of those. I halved the amount asked and could have halved that again. Edible, but nothing special. Served over rice. For some vegetable, there was Green Beans with Mushrooms (Q&E, p86), using up the oyster mushrooms in the fridge. As a condiment, we each had a Egg Pickle of India (Mustard, p152; cookbooker) from the batch that I made a couple of weeks ago. I liked this; Ed, not being a pickle person, didn't care so much for it. But, in spite of the name, it's not an Indian pickle like lime pickle, for instance. It's more a nice snack, or for a ham sandwich, or chopped in a salad. We ate late and were full but we finished off a package of rice crackers with dark chocolate afterwards.

Thursday/28-Mar-19: Shopping today. Thursday is now our usual day, since my French lesson moved to today. That's ok since it means we can get our bread from the good boulanger in Taponnat.

Dinner was Pan-Seared Tuna with Olive-Wine Sauce (web; CL/jan97). My tuna bits were not 2" thick, so I cooked them for a much shorter time. Still it was good, and the sauce delicious. There was also our standard, store-bought Moroccan couscous and Tomato-Cucumber-Feta Salad (web), which was very tasty. I made a half recipe of this salad, but only a quarter of the dressing; this was a good choice. A nice meal altogether. For dessert, we had a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Friday/29-Mar-19: I buzzed up the leftover juice and veg from last Saturday's Garlic, Mushroom and Olive Chicken Thighs, added some broccoli and pasta and called it soup. Some Morbier for after.

Saturday/30-Mar-19: It was supposed to be pasta today, but it seems there's just too much to do to take the time.

On Thursday I bought more than 2 kilos of pork sauté on sale. Today I made a bunch of Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161). Froze that and and the rest of the sauté in meal-sized portions.

I meant to make fresh pasta tonight, but I was too busy with other things to get that done. Another month without pasta. Dinner was Spaghettini ai Gamberi, Pomodoro e Capperi—Spaghettini with Prawns, Tomatoes and Capers (ClassPasta, p73), about a 2/3 recipe for the two of us. This was pretty good, but not great. It should have had smaller shrimp or bigger/thicker pasta. Then a salad. And then some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/31-Mar-19: Lots of leftovers for dinner. Two lamb chops, eggplant relish, potato salad, and broccoli from last Sunday. The broccoli didn't didn't hold up well, but the rest were yummy. Green beans and mushrooms from Wednesday's sort-of Indian. Thought it might not be enough, so I grilled five chipolatas. We're stuffed.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: The Incredible Secrets of Mustard
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Jan-19: After deciding that I'd continue with my cookbook-of-the-month project, I decided on C&B, from which I've cooked only one so-so recipe, as my February book. I chose some recipes and put them on the plan. Then decided I really didn't want to make any of these. Off the list with them, then on to my next choice, Stews. The time got late, so I ended up making tomorrow's planned dinner tonight. That was a half dose of Stir-Fried Spicy Lemon Grass Vegetables (HomTrav, p190). This easy to assemble and tasted pretty good. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Tuesday/29-Jan-19: Nice dinner tonight. This morning I made a half dose of Curry d'Échine de Porc Coco-Citronelle (C&V; web). (The web version is not the same source, but it's the same recipe.) I put everything in the crockpot and cooked it all day on Low. Knowing that French recipes are short on spicy things, I used the full recipe amount of curry powder and didn't seed my chile. At the end, I forgot the cilantro (which would have made it prettier) and the lime juice. Had a half lime sitting around, so we shared that, which made it really good. Served with rice and a half dose of Thai Cucumber Salad (Cost, p143). This is really good. Amazing how stinky those dried shrimp are before they're made into the dressing. Some Häagen-Dasz ice cream cups for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/30-Jan-19: The car wouldn't start this morning, so I didn't go to French. Boo.

Shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Garlic Butter Baked Salmon in Foil (web). This was easy and very tasty. It was accompanied by some pasta (mafalda) with argula pesto (from the freezer) and some snijboned, boiled in the pasta water, before the pasta. All good. Followed by some store-bought riz au laits.

Thursday/31-Jan-19: Had an idea to make fresh pasta, but the day was just too busy. Instead we had fresh tagliatelle from the freezer with Tagliatelle coi Ceci (ClassPasta, p98). This was pretty good. I made a whole recipe and we ate it all. Then a big salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Friday/1-Feb-19: Dinner at Cath's today. I took Fresh Ricotta Cheese and Limoncello Cake (web; recipe). Used only 1cup of sugar; made only about 2/3 of the glaze.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/2-Feb-19: Finally put up the chicken stock that's been bubbling away on the stove.

Dinner was a half dose of Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings (Stews, p94; cookbooker). Ed had a mini ice cream bar for dessert, while I did without. Both of us munched on the limoncello cake during the day, and we're saving the rest for tomorrow.

Sunday/3-Feb-19: Ed and I both were full from our hot lunch (from the freezer), so I didn't make any dinner.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: n/a for January, Stews for February
This month: #4 PASTA: no for January, no for February; #5 BREAD: no for January, no for February  #6 GUESTS: no for January, no for February
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Jul-18: A bit of shopping today to get food for the next days and a replacement pergola. Really all we needed was the canopy, but this was a cheap one and it's an all-or-nothing proposition.

Our meal was a Barbecued East-West Pork Satay (HomTrav, p109). Put this on to marinate before we went out. Easy and yummy. Skipped the Sesame and Chili Oil at the end; thought I might actually make a bit of this, but lost my round tuit. As sides there was plain basmati rice and Stir-Fried Cucumbers and Courgettes (HomTrav, p181). This was good. I cooked the veggies a bit longer than Hom asks and they were nicely done, but a bit crunchy still. Ice cream bars for dessert.

Tuesday/17-Jul-18: Our meal was a halfish version of Sayyadiah—Fish with Rice (Roden, p170; cookbooker), made with lieu noir. Pretty tasty, but an odd recipe. Served with Tourneto—Israeli Cucumber and Bread Salad (Roden, p66), a soup-like soggy salad that I liked but Ed not so much. Fruit for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/18-Jul-18: Made Roden's Chocolate Cake (Roden, p414) to take to Cath's for dinner. Easy, nicely low-carb, but dry and not especially tasty. Too bad.

Thursday/19-Jul-18: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half-dose of Curried Potato And Red Lentil Salad (web; cookbooker). This was yummy and definitely a do-me-again recipe. Served with corn on the cob I impulse-bought on Monday. For dessert, we finished of the chocolate cake with lots of cream.

Friday/20-Jul-18: Patrice and Wim came for dinner again. We didn't coordinate, so they brought brochettes from Leclerc while we had Garlic Dijon Shrimp and Salmon Foil Packs (web), both cooked on the barbecue. The salmon was good, but the shrimp were overdone. One side was a part recipe of Herbed Greek Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese (web). This was quite good, only needed 20min for the second part of the baking (as opposed to 40min asked). And I made a side dish loosely based on Eggplant or Zucchini with Tomatoes (Roden, p286) using zucchini and some tomato sauce from the freezer. This is like something I'd make myself, really didn't need the recipe, and quite tasty. They brought some toetjes for dessert in honor of Max's 25th birthday.

Saturday/21-Jul-18: Went to prepare the marinade for tonight's chicken and discovered all my ginger was bad. :-( Finally settled on Key Lime Grilled Chicken (MC), with four thighs, as an alternative. As sides there were the last of yesterday's potatoes, rewarmed; yesterday's zucchini with tomatoes, room temp; and some steamed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes. For dessert, some ice cream that had been in the freezer for a long time, with a peach, and apricot, and some red currants. We ate well.

Sunday/22-Jul-18: Meant to make something with the blueberries I bought to take to Cath's, but they were all moldy. Pooh.

Dinner was Kousa Bi Gebna—Zucchini with Cheese (Roden, p292; cookbooker), using our first zucchini harvest of the year. This is meant as a side dish, but I served a whole recipe as a main vegetarian dish. (We'll have two meals.) Very tasty.  Followed by a salad. Then some mini ice cream bars. We're full.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitcchen

Monday/21-May-18: Stormy day today, with a swarm of bees, who disappeared just before the beekeeper arrived, just to make it interesting.

Our meal was Carrot-Lentil Soup with(out) Rosemary-Garlic Croutons (BoldVeg, p52). (Didn't have the oomph for the croutons, but it wasn't a big problem.) Pretty good soup. Served with Baguette Sandwiches with Asparagus (web; cookbooker). All good.

Tuesday/22-May-18: Our meal was a half recipe of Chipotle Shrimp Coleslaw (web), served over long-grain brown rice. We bought thought the coleslaw might be a bit weird, but very good. The brown rice gave a nice underlying chew to go with the crunch. I had just less than 150g of frozen cooked shrimp and was too lazy to open another package. More would have been better. Still, a tasty and enjoyable meal. Mini ice cream bars for dessert

Wednesday/23-May-18: Shopping today.

When we got home, I made some guacamole to eat with Doritos that Cath got us.

For our meal we had Fish in a Green Sauce (Foolproof, p50), made with tuna. This was yummy. The sauce was a bit runny because I added too much water. As sides there were Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Green Chilies (Foolproof, p90) and Potatoes with Cumin (Foolproof, p94). The cauliflower was good. My medium cauliflower, though, was about 1.7kg; I'm wondering where Jaffrey finds large ones weighing 450g? I used about 300g of florets, which was a bit much for the two of us. I had some nice newish potatoes, so didn't peel them. No matter. We ate generously and well.

Thursday/24-May-18: Pasta today. I made Southwestern Corn Pasta (PastaMach, p73; cookbooker). Served with Cilantro Pesto from the freezer. Pretty good stuff. Then a big salad. Then Ed made a little fruit salad (apples, strawberries, and banana) with mascarpone cream. We ate yummily.

Friday/25-May-18: Our meal today was Stir-Fried Thai Green Curry Chicken with Aubergines (HomTrav, p152), over rice. This was quite tasty. I used about half the meat (skinless, boneless thighs) with more or less all the sauce. Fast if you don't count roasting the eggplant, which you can do ahead. Ice cream for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight

Saturday/26-May-18: Stormy day today. Many electric outages. There was an outage of several second which turned the stove clock off. When stove clock isn’t set the ovens don't work. Oops.

I started a loaf of bread based on Ratio. I'd typed out the recipe, but managed to get the ingredients not in order of use, so ended up with too little salt, and almost too much yeast. (That's when I realized something was wrong.) The yeast seems to be working at least a bit in the loaf-to-be. The bread is in the fridge overnight to be baked tomorrow. Think my yeast is on its last legs. There is a bit of activity in the bread, but I couldn’t get much proofing action in. Will toss it.

Our dinner was Spicy Pork Rolls with Minted Yogurt (200Budget, p130; cookbooker). This was super yummy with turkey scallops, rather than pork, and no minted yogurt. We're a bit short on veg this week, but I found this easy and delicious recipe for Roasted Thai Curry Cauliflower (web). And then there was rice. We ate well. Even though we've had Thai two nights in a row.

Sunday/27-May-18: Finished off the Ratio bread. Pretty darn good stuff.

More storms this afternoon.

Our meal was Ten-Minute Asparagus and Brown Rice (web). Nothing 10-minute about it if you make your own brown rice. I liked this; Ed didn't. Oh well.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Apr-18: This was a day for using up leftovers. I defrosted some chipolatas, and we had them with leftover cauliflower salad, hominy, roast potatoes, and sweet potatoes. A nice mix. Finished the St Felicien for afters.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/10-Apr-18: Another day of using up leftovers. Stir-fried rice. Had MW@Home on the counter, but didn't really use it. Sloshed together stuff for a sauce. Cooked some eggs. Onion, garlic, green bell pepper strips, peas. Leftover rice from last Friday. Good it was.

Wednesday/11-Apr-18: Shopping today.

Our meal was a half recipe of Stir-Fried Beef with Five Peppercorns (HomTrav, p126), using the last faux filet I defrosted for Sunday. This was good stuff, easy to make and tasty. I didn't much like the suggested noodles as accompaniment; rice would have been better. As a side, there was Broccoli in Fragrant Wine Sauce (HotWok, p156). This was nice, as usual. For dessert, I finished my chocolate Easter bunny. Ed finished his in one big session many days ago.

Thursday/12-Apr-18: Cath came to eat today before we went off to see a little art exhibit. We started with a mâche and beet salad, as in BEFCC, but with the dressing from Pomiane's beet salad. For a main with had Whitefish en Papillote (BestPC, p60), with lieu noir; brown rice on the side. When we got back we had coffee, tea, and Cath's apple&blackberry crumble.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/13-Apr-18: Our meal was Spanish Supper: Chicken Morcilla and Sherry (BirdHand, p10). I used only three thighs, since that was in a packet, and but boudin noir made it extra. I tossed in two artichoke hearts left from yesterday. Served this with polenta to soak up the juices. For a starter we had beets and mâche with the rest of Pomiane's dressing. Tastily stuffed we were.

Saturday/14-Apr-18: Our meal was Spinazie Omelet met Zalm en Cottage Cheese (web). More or less. The picture here looks more like a pancake than an omelet, while mine looked more like scrambled eggs. Nevermind, it all tastes very good together. Next time, think I would make two single omelets, fold the thinly sliced spinach (or arugula) into the omelet, then top with cheese (I used pyramid goat cheese), pine nuts, salmon, and chives. Followed by Tomato and Cucumber Salad (BEFCC, p24), which was a nice dish.

Sunday/15-Apr-18: Our meal today was a halfish recipe of Nigel Slater's Aubergine Ragu with Cream and Parmesan Lentils (web). I used a whole eggplant, which was fine for the two us; everthing else was close to half. More shrooms wouldn't hurt. Thought Slater's lentil-cooking time was a bit short, but maybe mine were old? Good and filling, your basic brown meal.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4 #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BirdHand
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Mar-18: Our meal today was Yellow Split Pea Soup (O&C, p159; cookbooker). Now, yellow split peas are only marginally more interesting than green split peas. I'm not sure why I thought adding some olive oil, an onion, and some chopped garlic was going to do something special. No, just some (quite well-cooked) yellow split peas. I made two of the suggest toppings, Pickled Red Onions (O&C, p159; cookbooker) and not-too-Wilted Cilantro Topping (O&C, p148; cookbooker).

These were good enough, but the best topping was some healthy slogs of Chipotle Tabasco. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Tuesday/13-Mar-18: I had lunch out today. Ed fended for himself.

Wednesday/14-Mar-18: Shopping today.

Our meal was a half recipe of Stir-Fried Prawns and Scallops in Black Bean and Tomato Butter Sauce (HomTrav, p88). This was pretty good, although the scallops shrunk a lot; I'll try to avoid that brand in the future. Served over basmati rice, with Mom's Cabbage Salad (MaiPham, 96) made with the end of a chineeskool. Ed thought this was a five-star cabbage slaw, even though I forgot to add the cucumber and mint leaves. Oops. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Put a pair of skate wings on to marinate overnight.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/15-Mar-18: Our meal was Pan-Fried Skate with Vinegar, Dill, Shallots, and Tomato (O&C, p341). This is only the second time I've cooked skate, more successful than the last time, but not sure I need to do it again. This is fairly easy, and the sauce was quite tasty with the fish.

For a side, I heated up some of the Yellow Split Pea Soup and topped with Pickled Red Onions, when went with the skate sauce quite well. And there was Fried Eggplant with Feta and Basil (O&C, p276), which was good, a nice addition to one's eggplant repertoire.

Friday/16-Mar-18: I ate lunch out with a friend, while Ed fended for himself. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/17-Mar-18: I made a full recipe of Broccoli Meatballs with Garlic-Tomato Sauce (web). I used half the amount of canned tomatoes and still had plenty of sauce. Formed as patties instead of balls. They were good. Served with brown rice. Ice cream bars at the film later.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/18-Mar-18: Discovered this morning that I'd defrosted the wrong bits of chicken for what I'd planned to cook. Oops. Quick replan.

Because there was an eggplant in the fridge wanting to be used, I made Clay Pot Chicken (O&C, p417), made with four thighs in a cast iron Dutch oven. This was quite tasty, although the veggies kind of disappeared. (I forgot to take a picture.) Served with orzo. Followed by a big salad.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: O&C
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Jan-17: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Seared Scallops with Citrus Ginger Sauce (CL; web). Easy enough and pretty good. Served with rice noodles. And, vaguely Alice Chen's Ginger Green Bean Salad (HomTrav, p58). The green beans at the shop last week were pretty ugly, so I got some of the beans that snijbonen are made from, haricots coco in French, can't remember the English name. Sliced them up and used like bits of regular green beans. This was easy and quite tasty. We finished off the Peach Pudding for afters. I'm stuffed.

Tuesday/17-Jan-17: The one thing I needed to do before going to the ENT early this afternoon was do start the crockpot for dinner. What did I forget to do until I was walking out the door? Yes, start the crockpot. So Ed did it, and fairly successfully. He got the recipe assembled, in the crockpot, crock set to Low, but forgot to turn on the transformer and didn't notice that the crockpot didn't get warm. (The switch is a bit touchy, so you always need to check that it gets warm.) I got home, expecting to smell good cooking, and there was nothing. Anyhow, it was cooked on High, and we had Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef (web; cookbooker) with rice and some steamed broccoli for dinner. Very good it was too. Mini magnums for dessert,

Wednesday/18-Jan-17: Shopping today. Dinner was tuna from the pressure cooker served with parsleyed buckwheat crozets and steamed broccoli. Mini magnum for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/19-Jan-17: Somehow I looked at my meal plan and made Saturday's dinner tonight. That was slipping a big gear! So tonight we had ravioli from the pressure cooker. Followed by an enormous salad. No dessert needed.

Friday/20-Jan-17: A late start this morning, while I finished a book. Then a late lunch, and an even later dinner. But it was delicious. We had Indian lamb and spinach from the pressure cooker over plain rice. For dessert, there was a half recipe of Caramelized Apples with Pistachio Cream (Q&E, p122). Didn't whip the cream or use the pistachios, but it was tasty nevertheless.

Saturday/21-Jan-17: Early dinner today, so I could iron in the evening. I made a half recipe of Potato and Leek Gratin (VC4E, p282), which was good. And then a big salad. And then some mini magnums for dessert.

Sunday/22-Jan-17: We lunched out today. Some fruit for a snack later.

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