This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Aug-22: Dinner was a half recipe of Spaghetti with Green Olives, Garlic, and Fresh Mint (VegHarv, p139). This is easy and tasty, over whole wheat spaghetti. Followed by a simple salad, just mixed lettuces and vinaigrette. A Ben&Jerry mini ice cream cup for after.

Tuesday/30-Aug-22: Dinner was Grilled Pork Skewers with Green Mango (Thrill, p158). Meant to serve with the suggested eggplant dish, but the eggplants I bought last Thursday were both bad. Instead I made, more or less, Cabbage-Radish Slaw With Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette (web), using up my chineeskool. And some white basmati rice, as suggested. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Wednesday/31-Aug-22: Indian tonight, all repeats. The main was "Hamburger" Kebabs (Q&E, p27), quick and easy to make (toss all the ingredients in the cuisinart and buzz) and delicious. As suggested served with Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114), also easy and delicious and with pitas for the (non-)Indian bread. For veggie matter, some Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Q&E, p87). I slipped a gear and got yogurt rather than cream from the fridge, but it was still tasty. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Thursday/1-Sep-22: Didn't manage to get ready for shopping today, so had to make do with what was in-house for tonight's meal. We had Curried Rice and Peas (Q&EVeg, p202), which is an old favorite, simple, and tasty.  And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/2-Sep-22: Shopping today.

Dinner was Spanish Vinegar & Garlic Cod (web), which I rather liked, but Ed wasn't fond of the bit of vinegar taste. Served with Sautéd Zucchini with Paprika & Garlic (web); this was easy and very good. (Both of these are from the site Spain on a Fork, where I'm collected a lot of good recipes.) And there was trio rice. Afterwards some Ben&Jerry mini ice cream cups.

Saturday/3-Sep-22: Dinner was a DMA recipe, Chicken with Fennel, Preserved Lemons, and Olives (Morocco, p302). It's easy, but takes a bit of time, and is delicious. Served with store-bought Moroccan couscous. Store-bought riz au laits for after.

Sunday/4-Sep-22: Dinner was Penne con Zucchine—Penne with Courgettes, Mozzarella and Eggs (Top100Pasta, p44; cookbooker). This was quite nice, and easy. Followed by a simple salad. Some coffee cake we got at Kirsty's charity shop for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 10; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Apr-22: We ate from the freezer tonight, Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, along with some cheese and onion sandwiches. A dark chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Tuesday/26-Apr-22: Chris, Jacky, and Hitomi arrived today. 

Dinner was Za'atar Lamb Chops (web; GD); these were yummy as usual. Served with Moroccan couscous (store-bought mix) and two little salads that I've made before, Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154) and Grated Cucumber Salad with Oregano (Morocco, p75). For after there was Cheesecake Ice Cream (Scoop, p62), served with some frozen raspberries. This is a really rich and delicious ice cream, a bit lemony, which was tempered by the raspberries. Delicious.

Wednesday/27-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Cheese and charcuterie for our evening repas.

Thursday/28-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Cheese and charcuterie for our evening repas. Pretty boring, eh?

Friday/29-Apr-22: We had lunch in today between a visit to the Victor Hugo market and the Maison Soulat, the reincarnation of our local coop winery that was wiped out in the big hailstorm in 2018.

For a starter we had a sort of insalata caprese with the beautiful yellow tomato Jacky bought at the market, kind of a surinamse salad. 

 

Our second starter was Salade de Mache au Betteraves (BEFCC, p32), an old favorite. For our main, there was Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca (web; GD) with whole wheat spaghetti. No time for dessert before going off to taste wine.

In the evening there was cheese and charcuterie yet again, with a charentais melon and pineau, and some canelés. 

Saturday/30-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Left the girls at the train station to return to Paris and thence to Texas. 

Sunday/2-May-22: Dinner was Salade met Falafel en Blauwe Kaas (Tip/aug01; web); Tip Culinair is a now defunct Dutch cooking magazine. Fast to make and tasty, but the recipe for two could easily have served three and maybe four. For a starter we had an little insalata caprese with a Coeur de Boeuf tomato. The tomato was relatively tasteless compared to yesterday's yellow beauty. We finished with melon and pineau.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 1; #2 PHOTO: yes;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: yes/no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 2

New Year's Day 2021

Made it to 2021, whew!

There was no starter. I discovered my eggplant was bad, and I didn't have the energy to improvise something else at the last minute. There was plenty of food even though we missed a course.

Our main was Moroccan Mechoui (MedClay, p127). This is Wolfert's attempt to recreate a mechoui where the lamb is cooked buried in a brick-lined pit. She uses a large Römertopf to recreate the effect. The result is delicious meat, falling off the bone tender. Since my shoulder was quite a bit smaller than she asked, I probably should have cooked it a bit less. Ed thought it was a bit dry; I didn't especially.  

I served this with Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika (Morocco, p79) and Moroccan couscous, an organic mix from the health food store, both old favorites.

For after there was Galette des Rois Ecossaise (web), Scottish because of the whisky in the chestnut and almond filling. I forgot to set the timer while this was cooking, so it's a bit browner than it ought to be.

We were full and well-fed. 

All the best for a healthy and happy 20201!

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Dec-20: Used up some of my frozen turkey leg bits to make Chipotle Turkey and Corn Soup (MC). Good stuff. I do have some good recipes tucked away there in Mastercook. It's a shame I no longer have working version and don't want to bother with one of the new alternatives.

The schedule says I'm supposed to make dolmades tomorrow, for my "short" project for the year, but I really don't feel like another day of cooking.

Tuesday/29-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Leclerc today. 

Narrowed down my main course recipes for Friday to six. A start, sort of. Trying to avoid going to Intermarché until Saturday or Sunday mornning, or may even not at all this week.

Dinner was a halfish version of Riz Frit aux Chipolatas et aux Oeufs Brouillés (Régal; web). This wasn't bad, just a bit weird to have a fried rice with no oriental flavorings. Might have been better to stir the arugula into the fried rice and egg mixture for a brief bit of cooking. 

Yogurt on overnight. Overnight Bread on overnight too.

Wednesday/30-Dec-20: Baked the Overnight Bread this morning.

Dinner was a half dose of Penne with Leeks and Ricotta (Pickford, p52), using casareccia as the past. The ricotta sauce was quite good, but the roasted leeks seemed too sweet. It might have been better if the leeks had been sautéed rather than roasted. Then a small salad. Then the rest of the vanilla ice cream topped with a bit of crème de cacao.

Thursday/31-Dec-20: We exerted ourselves and finished off the meatloaf from tweede kerstdag today. We could had meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow, but we did the job tonight instead. Served with some pasta and peas&carrots. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Friday/1-Jan-21: Our new year's day meal is here.

Yogurt on overnight. Overnight Bread brewing overnight.

Saturday/2-Jan-21: Baked off the Overnight Bread in the morning.

I used up a SE Asian-ish lentil stewy thing from the freezer, added water, shrimp and rice, and called it soup. Not great, but edible. More three king's cake for after.

Sunday/3-Jan-21: Dinner was Quiche Saumon et Brocoli (VPG), using the extra bit of salmon we got last week. Meant to make a salad but didn't have the oomph. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: yes
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/10-Aug-20: I picked up an order from Leclerc today after my French lesson.

The sweltering heat continues. We had a big thunderstorm this morning, and may have more in the next days. Thursday it should start cooling off.

Dinner was a half dose of Basil, Shrimp & Zucchini Pasta (web). Pretty good stuff, made with surprisingly little tomato sauce. (I buzzed the proper amount of canned tomato pulp to make the sauce, and froze the rest.) Peaches&cream ice cream for after.

Tuesday/11-Aug-20: Made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17), this time using less water. This is a delicious bread and smells wonderful while it's baking. Although most breads smell wonderful.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Tomatoes and Eggplant over Couscous with Caper Sauce (VegPlanet, p257). I used a preserved lemon for the lemon juice and peel. Feta on top at serving. Quite good, but not quite well-seasoned enough. Finished the peaches and cream ice cream for after. Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/12-Aug-20: No phone and internet briefly in the morning. Dinner was Roasted Masala Lamb Chops with Pistachio & Pomegranate (Jamie). This was good. Didn't serve on flatbread (bone-in lamb chops on flatbread?), but served with Moroccan couscous (from the organic shop) and Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), a tasty favorite. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. (Leclerc Drive has finally started carrying these!)

Thursday/13-Aug-20: Neglected to defrost something for dinner and my mind was a blank, even though there's lots of veg in the fridge. Pizza it was, with the rest of the package of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Started some Overnight Bread.

Friday/14-Aug-20: Baked up the Overnight Bread in the morning.

Dinner was Spicy Turkey Salad (PatSalads, p102). (Wish I'd remembered this book when it was seriously hot.) I had about 300g of turkey scallops (two of them) and minced those rather than grinding. Interesting that the meat is cooked in a mixture of lime juice, lemongrass, and garlic, with no oil involved. It was a bit short on meat, but otherwise I did a whole recipe. A very light meal for two, not four. We started a new packet of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/15-Aug-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Lots of fruit; not much veg, which we're over-endowed with right now.

Dinner was Sweet-and-Sour Salmon in Almond Prune Sauce (Essential, p431). This sounded a bit odd (sauce of prunes, honey, dijon, etc.), but turned out delicious. I'm not sure, but I think everything with pomegranate molasses might be delicious. Served with trio rice and some steamed haricots verts. Store-bought crème caramels for after.

Sunday/16-M Aug on-20: Used more of our plums to make Plum Amaretto Jam (SmallBatch, p50). About a pound of plums (maybe a teeny bit more) make two AH jars. Tastes good. Into the freezer with them.

Dinner was Corn with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p173), which sounded a bit odd, but worked quite well. Served over short-grained brown rice. The rest of the store-bought crème caramels for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #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-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-Feb-19: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Chicken Kebabs with Ras el Hanout (web); should have 400g of skinless, boneless chicken thighs, but I freeze them up in 250g lots, so that's what we had. This was quite good; expect you could also grill chicken thighs, maybe marinating a bit longer. And a halfish recipe of Grated Cucumber Salad with Oregano (Morocco, p73), which we've liked before. And some Moroccan couscous made with chicken stock. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/26-Feb-19: Seemed to have survived my little surgery today (placing two extra-long T-tubes) in my ears.

Ed sort of fixed dinner, carrot sticks and pasta sauce from the freezer over pasta. And chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Wednesday/27-Feb-19: We met Rusty today, then did our shopping.

Dinner was was a halfish recipe of Green Tea Salmon, a recipe from a box of Celestial Seasonings tea. It was good. Served with plain rice and Grilled Romaine with Feta and Nuoc Cham (web; CL/apr18). Finished the Langres cheese for afters.

Thursday/28-Feb-19: House-cleaning.

Dinner was about a 2/3 recipe of Paprika Veal Stew with Dumplings (Stews, p41; cookbooker). I used some chicken to make up the amount of liquid, not wanting to open another can of tomatoes. I just see that I forgot to add the sour cream at the end. Oh well. Then a salad. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Friday/1-Mar-19: House-cleaning again.

Dinner was 20 Minute Garlic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein (web). Pretty good stuff. Might have been nice to marinate the beef in the sauce. Then some torsade (I think) that Ed brought from the boulangerie.

Saturday/2-Mar-19: Used up the rest of the butternut squash for Risotto with Winter Squash (VegPress, p157). Pretty easy and pretty tasty. Used up some chicken stock for most of the liquid. Then a salad. Then some little ice creams from the freezer.

Sunday/3-Mar-19: Chris and Amy arrived today.

For a starter there was Amilcar's Grilled Shrimp and Avocado Salad (BigFlav, p226). This was delicious. For a main, there was Roast Pork Tenderloin with Orange-Red Onion Salsa (BigFlav, p153). The roast pork took quite a while to get done, but it, and the salsa were great. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262), a tasty and easy recipe. The shrimp salad was recommended as a starter and the beans were recommended as a go-with. For afters we worked on a plateau of cheese, Brie, Tomme de Savoie, and Fourme d'Ambert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Feb-17: Dinner was Mille-feuille de Romanesco et de Saumon (web). I realized after serving that this was meant to be an entrée rather than the main dish. Oops. Then a plain salad, croutons only. Then a little dessert using up the last two squares of pâte feuilleté, filled with apple, créme fraîche, dried cranberries, almond powder, etc. Pretty tasty with a bit of cream on top.

Tuesday/14-Feb-17: Read through an issue of C&V this morning. Best issue in a quite a while. Maybe it's too bad I let my subscription lapse.

Valentine's lunch out today. Nothing further happened in the kitchen, except a bowl of popcorn.

Wednesday/15-Feb-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was Pan-Fried Salmon with Gnocchi (web), which was interesting but not great. Ed liked the fried gnocchi, something I don't usually do. Then a salad. We were full.

Yogurt on overnight. (Should have made it last night, but I was too lazy.)

Thursday/16-Feb-17: Early meal today. We had Eggplant with Yogurt Sauce (MC). Thick eggplant slices are brushed with lemon juice and oil, then grilled. This has a yummy sauce of yogurt, feta, finely chopped onion, mint leaves, and garlic, lemon juice, and cayenne. All served in pitas. Accompanied by Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78).

Friday/17-Feb-17: Dinner was Pork Chops with Hot Garlic Sauce (MC). I was lazy and used powdered ginger and garlic, but it was still good. I used some trio rice, the leftover romanesco, and some broccoli to make a go-with salad, which was pretty good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/18-Feb-17: This morning we found that one of our charming cats left us the remains of a mouse head just outside our bedroom door. Found in the night, I suppose.

Back to the pressure cooker for dinner. We had Lamb with Cardamom (Q&E, p30; cookbooker) over plain basmati rice, along with Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171). I made a full dose of the lamb and we managed to eat all of its deliciousness even though that was a bit of a stretch.

I'm making a little mini-project of cooking all of the pressure cooker recipes from Q&E. Have three or four recipes more to go now. Thought briefly about doing this for Cookbook Countdown, but really don't feel like I have the time right now. Why do I feel so busy?

Sunday/19-Feb-17: The cascareccia mouse seems to have disappeared, but today I found traces of the latest mouse, now deceased. This one had a liking for our cantuccini-like cookies, ones from Provence instead of Italy. Looks like I'll have to do a thorough clean of two banks of Ivar shelving tomorrow.

Dinner was a half recipe of Lemony Chicken Saltimboca (CL/nov12, web). This was very easy and very tasty. Served with Clotilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (HandyBook; web), an old favorite, and Roasted Green Beans with Walnuts and Rosemary (VT; web), which was quite good with very little effort.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Jun-16: Parboiled and peeled fêves for tomorrow's meal. Went to a quiz this evening. Nothing further happened in the kitchen. So tired when we got home, I forgot to make yogurt and start the dishwasher.

Tuesday/7-Jun-16: Yogurt on overday.

We had our main meal early today so we could go to a movie in the early evening. We started with sliced melon topped with gelée de pineau, a syrup; the syrup was much better here than it was on pancakes recently. Then we had Fava Bean Risotto (web), which was pretty good. Spinach stirred in with the favas was a nice touch. Then we had the last pair of the apple-mango tart things. Nice meal.

And we found the theater today. And we enjoyed the film.

Wednesday/8-Jun-16: Another early main meal, so Ed could go off to choir practice in the evening. Dinner was Roast Chicken on a Faux Spit with Lemon and Olives (Morocco, p306). Didn't use a "faux spit," but cooked my chickie on a rack (above water). No nice olives available at the store, so I just used plain old green olives. Pretty darn good, though. Served with Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika (Morocco, p79), which is still good. And some whole-wheat couscous, cooked with chicken stock and the carrot-steaming water, and a dash of ras el-hanout. For dessert, some home-made ice cream, which used up cream and crème fraîche from the fridge. We're well-stuffed.

Thursday/9-Jun-16: Last-minute replan. Dinner ended up as Linguine with Shrimp and Zucchini (30MinPasta, p108). Pretty good, all depending on quality of your veggies. Followed by a big salad. Then some mini mags for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Jun-16: Shopping today.

Dinner was Sautéed Salmon with Capers (web). This was okay, but nothing special. Served with trio rice and broccoli and carrots. Some yummy, store-bought vanilla custards. That's all.

Saturday/11-Jun-16: Chopped up the meat from the uneaten chicken half, mixed with an egg and the rest of the couscous. Made patties and baked them while Rhubarb Clafoutis (web) was baking. Sautéed a bunch of veggies from the fridge, a half onion, some red bell pepper, a zucchini, two pencil-thin asparagus stalks from then, for a side. Meant to stir in a small can of corn, but forgot. The clafoutis was good. It's supposed to serve six, but will only do four here.

Sunday/12-Jun-16: One of Ed's choir's had a performance today, a long way away. I stayed home and went to a charity meal with friends. When Ed got home he had something from the freezer for a late dinner. That was all that happened in the kitchen today.

Sometime this week I finished reading Richard Olney's Simple French Food. I liked this much better than his French Menu Cookbook. I got this one when I found it on some top-10-ever cookbook list, but I found nothing that I especially wanted to cook. When Simple French Food appeared in a load of books we took to a charity shop, I traded it for the French Menu Cookbook. (Cookbook shelf space is too limited to justify both.) I don't think I like Olney himself, but SFF has a lot more interesting recipes and useful information, so it will probably stay around for a while.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: yes for May/Jun

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Nov-15: Dinner was a half recipe of Butternut Squash & Coconut Curry (web) served over rice. It wasn't butternut, of course, but one of the squash from our potager. (We think there are eight around the housem, sigh.) The recipe also used a long pepper, which is what was used for pepper by the Romans. Some hazelnut cake from the boulanger for dessert.

Tuesday/24-Nov-15: Dinner was a small version of Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and Lemon (Otto, p122, using three thighs instead of a whole chicken. Very tasty it was. Served with Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), very yummy. Need to remember to make more of this since we like it so much. And then some brown basmati rice.

Miserable weather today, cold, windy, and wet. Made a run to the butcher and to Intermarché. Unfortunately, I think I should have gotten one more sweet potato. I wonder if Ed might go get one tomorrow?

Staying up late making cornbread for the stuffing I'll make tomorrow

Wednesday/25-Nov-15: Was busy all day with Thanksgiving, so dinner was simple: pork paprikash from the freezer over a full dose Spaetzle (MW@Home, p203, too much perhaps, with some steamed broccoli.

Ed went to the store, to get the last bits of things we needed. Then he did his best to help. Not. I assembled the bits of turkey breast for the roulade. there was a join about in the middle of the roll. Trying to help, very unhelpfully, he sharply picked up the roll, right in the middle, so that it almost broke in two. I tied it up as well as I could. Hope it stays together. And then there was the filling and topping for the roulade. I spread about 2/3 of it on the turkey, then set the bowl aside to put the rest on top of the roll. Later when I went to put it in the fridge, it wasn't to be found. Ed had tossed it. This is not the first time he's tossed an essential bit of a meal. Somehow it never occurs to him to ask. More work for tomorrow.

Thursday/26-Nov-15: Yup, we had Thanksgiving. Maybe not the best ever, perhaps, but still nice. Good company. I was pooped at the end of the day.

Friday/27-Nov-15: Leftovers tonight. Stuffing and sweet potato-carrot puff.

Saturday/28-Nov-15: Shopped today. No guard when I went into the store, but Ed said there was one when he went in.

Dinner was Cilantro and Lime Salmon (web); very good. Served with orzo. Followed by a salad. Then the rest of the pumpkin flan.

Sunday/29-Nov-15: More leftovers for an early meal, the rest of the turkey, some dressing and some sweet potato-carrot puff. We went to a movie in the early evening, so nothing further happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Sep-15: Went to Planet Exotica for a (Groupon) day outing. Dinner was mostly from the freezer, some Indian-ish spicy sauce with cooked chicken added, served over brown rice, with Karhai Broccoli (p148, MJ@Home) for a veggie matter. I had one square of chocolate for dessert.

Had a quick look at some of my herb and spice books during dinner. Oh dear, an untapped source of recipes!

Tuesday/22-Sep-15: Yogurt on overday. Well, it started out that way. Ed went to work on the clock on the stove (and fixed it!) and had to turn the electricity off, but didn't think about the yogurt. Three hours or more I noticed that it was off. Tossed it all. This batch has gotten pretty sour, so I think we'll just buy some for the short term. Did notice that the middle jar was pretty far along in the cooking while the outer jars were not. So looks like the heat is not being spread as well as it ought to be. Think the next yogurt maker will not be Moulinex in spite of the investment we have in jars.

Dinner was Moroccan-Spiced Scallops and Lentils (web; Feb2009 Bon Appetit). Not sure where I picked this magazine up; it's not one I usually get. Made some couscous to go with it, but we didn't use them. Served with Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (p78, Morocco), a favorite. For dessert, we had a pair of toetjes I got at the boulangerie after our dentist checkups.

Wednesday/23-Sep-15: Out this morning having a tour of a tannery. Leftover enchiladas and rice for dinner (yea, oven!), with some cilantro-less guacamole. That was all.

Thursday/24-Sep-15: Started on the next squash, making Squash and Cardamom Pie (p101, O&C) for dinner. (Using pine nuts, and coucsous instead of rice or bulgur.) Well, I thought it was dinner, until I put it in the oven and saw that it wanted to cook for an hour and a half. Quickly made a salad from the rest of the leftover couscous and called that dinner. It was good. Followed by freshly frozen Cheesecake Ice Cream (p62, Scoop; cookbooker). Yes, frozen cheesecake is what it tastes like. Good stuff.

Friday/25-Sep-15: Ed gathered some figs from the neighbor's tree, so I've been doing lots of figgy things.

• Made a half dose of Sticky Fig Jam (p195, PutEmUp), giving two AH jars. Tiny sample tasted OK. This one has balsamic vinegar in it. Since the strawberry balsamic jam was so good, I thought this would be worth a try.
• Made a half dose of Fig and Lime Jam (web; CL/jun10). Not sure about this one. It burnt on the bottom, so I only got one jar. We'll see how it is. 
• Made a Fresh Fig Galette (web; CL/aug15). The crust was tasty, but wouldn't roll out at all. Instead of making a free-form galette, I pressed it into a big pie plate, folding the edges over like a galette. Pretty tasty.
• Made Baked Figs and Goat Cheese (web) scaled down for two. This should have been our starter, but Ed was really hungry so we had it as our second course. 

Had the squash and cardamom pie for our first course. It was so-so. The squash is strangely sweet and there was a bit too much lemon juice perhaps. Not a winner. Slices of fig galette for dessert with a bit of cheesecake ice cream or cream.

Saturday/26-Sep-15: The fig galette was yummy for breakfast.

Shopping today, yes, on Saturday. Unexpectedly, it wasn't especially crowded, and everything was pretty well stocked. We walked out with vanilla yogurt instead of plain. Luckily I spotted it while we were packing up and I took it back directly and got the plain one I meant to get.

Dinner was Dorade Citron Vert et Piment d'Esplelette (VPG). Okay, but nothing special. Very badly written recipe. You chop up some new onions, but never use them. I even read the recipe aloud to Ed thinking I must have overlooked something. No. They wanted you to roast thin filets at 210C (400F) for 20 minutes. No.

Served with Salt-and-Vinegar Roasted Potatoes (web). This was a hit. This is similar to Dusolier' roasted potatoes, half-cooked by boiling (with cider vinegar in the water), then shaken (I added this), then baked. Yum. Also some Roasted Zucchini (web), with the zucchini sliced as Clotilde Dusolier suggests. Another keeper. Two out of three isn't bad.

Some mini magnums for after.

Sunday/27-Sep-15: The fig galette has been very good for breakfast these last days.

Oven-roasted tomatoes in the oven.

After considering how many veggies were in the fridge needing to be used up, I changed the dinner plans at the last minute. We had an assortment of dishes, served with pita breads. There was:

• Aubergine & Chickpea Salad (sep11 Jamie; can't find on web). This used the eggplant from the potager. Made about half a recipe since the eggplant wasn't very big. Eggplant grilled, tossed with couscous, chickpeas, ras el hanout, lemon juice, paprika, cumin, and chopped cilantro. Good.
• Oven-Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic, Olive Oil and Lemon Juice (web). A nice-looking cauliflower jumped into my cart yesterday. Used the first bit tonight. This was good, not especially North African, but it went especially well with ...
• Cilantro Zucchini Hummus (web). No chickpeas, so not really hummus, but delicious. I did not peel my zucchini and it was a prettier color than pictured. Yummy.

I was going to make another hummus also, using the chickpeas left from the eggplant salad, but discovered I didn't have a backup jar of tahini. Oops. Inventory fail. So that will wait another day. Didn't really need it, I guess, since we were quite full after eating and the leftovers are minimal.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Jun-15: Dinner was a half dose of Chicken Liver Pilaf with Pistachios, a recipe from the UK Country Living magazine; found it here on the web. It was okay, nothing special. Followed by a big salad.

Put the chicken on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner, which will involve two livers that I saved out. Curious to see how this works.

Tuesday/9-Jun-15: Dinner was Crispy Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives Mqquali (Morocco, p305) with Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78) and plain whole-wheat couscous. The chicken was the first thing I've cooked in my beautiful blue Emile Henry tajine. The breast meat was surprising dry, something I didn't expect when essentially braising. The sauce was tasty, though, with the smashed up livers. Have made the carrot salad a couple of times. Then some double chocolate mini magnums for dessert.

Wednesday/10-Jun-15: Shopping today. Bought some yogurt since yogurt maker is not working quite right and I still haven't managed to get in touch with the vendor.

Dinner was Mustard-Glazed Salmon with Roasted Cauliflower (CL dec14); web). The article has the fish served with Buttery Lentils with Shallots, easy and a nice accompaniment. Trying to use up the veggie backlog in the fridge, there was also French Bean Salad (web), which was quite good. For after there was Easy Melon Ice Cream (web), using up the melon we bought last week and never ate.

Thursday/11-Jun-15: Ate out tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Friday/12-Jun-15: Dinner was a half dose Channing Way Shrimp Curry (ComfortMe, p158). The whole recipe should serve six, and might have; there was quite a bit of sauce left. It was good and spicy, though, served over brown rice. Served with some steamed asparagus and the leftover sauce from the French Bean Salad. Followed by a rather plain salad.

Saturday/13-Jun-15: Started a pot of chicken stock. So many bones in the freezer, I didn't use them all. After tonight's dinner, I'll probably have enough to make another batch.

Leftover chicken for dinner. With trio rice and some grilled zucchini. Double chocolate mini magnums for dessert since I forgot again to get the melon ice cream out.

Sunday/14-Jun-15: Froze 12 cups of chicken stock today.

Ed's choir was singing today, so I put on a crockpot, a half recipe of Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas (web). Luckily I had some taco seasoning already made up, because I couldn't find the recipe I use. Oops. I added some lime juice to the veggies. That turned out to be a really nice touch. Served with grated cheese and some guacamole. When we got home I made some corn tortillas. We were full, but had a spoonful of melon ice cream each to finish off.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-May-15: Bill arrived today and we had dinner out. Nothing in the kitchen today.

Tuesday/19-May-15: Dinner was A Simple Mediterranean Spice-Roasted Chicken (Raising, p74), another goodie from this book. Gayler suggested a couscous stuffing for the chickie; I used whole wheat couscous and served it as a side. Along with Eggplant Zaalouk (Morocco, p93), which was okay, not as good as other salads from this book.

Wednesday/20-May-15: Lunch out, then shopping today. Our dinner, very late, was carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cheese, and an eclair each.

Thursday/21-May-15: Unexpectedly had a Famous Author for dinner tonight. This was what I'd planned, just with an extra person and the claufoutis. We had nibbles with pineau. Then Barbaietole al Burro e Parmesan—Beetroot with Butter and Parmesan (VegCarlu, p38). Not bad, interesting to have butter where I'd expect olive oil, especially in an Italian recipe. Stretched three people's worth of beets to serve four. Then there was Roast Pork Loin with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme, which was a very nice recipe from the now defunct magazine, The Herb Companion. Plus some roast potatoes that turned out especially good. Then some cheese. Then some clafoutis. Yesterday, I bought a kilo of cherries, just starting into season, thinking we could nibble them over several days, but used them for a clafoutis, which is really a quick and tasty dessert, whatever the fruit. Then coffee, then waved him goodbye, till Thanksgiving possibly.

Friday/22-May-15: Dinner in Limoges this evening, before a concert. Nothing in the kitchen today.

Saturday/23-May-15: Out most of today, so I put Jamie Oliver's Spiced Shoulder of Lamb (web) in the oven to cook on low, being reading about when we got home. Pretty good it was. (The recipe is from a Jamie magazine, so you'd think that it would be one his site, but it's apparently not. Boo.) Served with Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (MJ@Home, p87) and Turmeric Rice (MJ@Home, p100). Finished off the clafoutis for after.

Had yogurt on overday, but it failed to set. Can't figure this out. I am using a different brand of UHT milk, but it worked a couple of times. How could that be the problem? Very puzzling. Not to mention irritating that there's no yogurt for breakfast.

And did I mention the bees? They have been appearing frequently in the house, mostly in the kitchen. Yesterday Ed noticed a swarm at the corner of the house. Seems like they're trying to settle in the chimney to the wood burner. Many are dying by the time they get out. Keeping the window over the sink open at least lets them get away.

Sunday/24-May-15: Ed closed the kitchen window as we went out this morning. On our return, an amazing number of bees were there trying to get out. We're keeping a fire going trying to convince them to go elsewhere.

Ate out. Nothing in the kitchen today.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 0
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: no for May

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Apr-15: Just last week, didn't I say to Ed, Looks like we've missed the plague of flies this year. Spoke too soon. They're swarming in the bedroom today, enjoying the warm and sunny weather.

Starting work on last year's taxes, with the idea of doing them all in one go. We'll see.

Still haven't finished reading last month's Time-Life book (Japan), so adding a month to that book and moving the rest out a month. The next is the Caribbean one, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Dinner was Grilled Chicken with Lemons and Couscous (Diaries, p258), first bbq. Easy and pretty tasty. Whole wheat coucous again, not very good planning. We split a magnum classic for dessert.

Tuesday/14-Apr-15: Still sorting tax papers and scanning stuff I've never done over the last year. Ugh.

Tonight was use-up-the-asparagus night, with a half recipe of Linguine with Asparagus and Egg (PastaHarv, p46), very good, kind of a pasta carbonara with asparagus instead of lardons or bacon. I was looking for something in a seldom used book, but didn't succeed. Then a big salad. Then some Soupe Épicée au Chocolate (VPG). I used the wrong chocolate (90%, which needed a bit of powdered sugar added), and just realize that I used 30dl of cream instead of 30cl. No wonder I had to add more and it never got soupy. Oh well, it tasted fine.

Wednesday/15-Apr-15: Yogurt on overday. Shopping after my ENT appointment.

Dinner was supposed to be small and fast, but ended up more elaborate, as these things do. First I made some Prune and Almond Brownies (web), which turned out pretty good, but the recipe is weird. (The original is from Delia Smith, here.) The prunes should have been soaked in armangac; the almonds should have been toasted; both would have been nice. The recipe calls for 330g of sugar. I stopped at 200g, which was fine. Later I saw Delia asks for 225g, which would probably have been ok. Skipping the soaking and the nut toasting made it pretty easy.

Then I made some Crispy Lemon Roasted Baby Artichokes (web), which didn't really work that well. I've never seen anything called baby artichokes here, but there were some very small globe artichokes on sale. So I got two and followed instructions. Not quite as nice I thought they should have been and they could have used another 10 minutes or so in the oven. I made a little sauce with mayo from a jar and some finely minced preserved lemon. That was pretty good.

Then I made a half recipe of Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), which I've made before and we like alot.

This was all to go with a half recipe of Salmon Fishcakes with Garam Masala, Chilli, and Ginger (web), using panko instead of the popped amaranth seeds. Good stuff this. I seem to have been making lots of tasty fishcakes of late. This one was a bit tedious because the recipe called for hand mincing the salmon. Probably the food processor would have worked fine.

Anyhow, all was good, if more work than I intended.

Thursday/16-Apr-15: What a day. Got a good start this morning, hoping to make a major dent in getting our French and US taxes done. Only to discover that one of our accounts had gone haywire in Moneydance. Latest good copy was dated the 12th. And of course I've done lots of work since then getting started on the taxes and just general life. Can't figure out if it was something I did wrong, but not going to waste any more time on it. Have reentered as much as possible and will pick up again tomorrow.

Dinner was fun. Half recipes of Chicken Lettuce Wraps (web) and Jamie Oliver's Broccoli with Asian Dressing (web). Both were really easy, fast, and tasty. Some of the prune brownies for dessert, topped with a good slog of cream. Yum.

Friday/17-Apr-15: Dinner at Café Lombok (Indonesian buffet) before No Direction played. Nothing much happened in our kitchen except for yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/18-Apr-15: Lunch with friends today. Popcorn for dinner. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/19-Apr-15: Dinner was Frittata with Asparagus (ClassicItal, p283), using only four eggs. Good stuff. We ate about two thirds of it. Then a big salad. Then some mini magnums.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-Mar-15: Cooked Jody's xmas lima beans today, intending to use some of them for dinner, but they weren't quite done when we were ready to eat, so I froze them up in small batches. Uncooked they were pretty, white with red markings. Cooking they look a lot like big flat red beans. Taste better than regular limas.

An easy dinner tonight. Soup from a tasty, if bitter, Ancho Bisque from the freezer, with a big can of corn added (a regular size, rather than the tiny ones that serve two), some merguez sausages in chunks, and a can of black beans, lacking limas. It wasn't bad. The corn helped with the bitterness.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/3-Mar-15: Dinner was a half recipe of Lemon Chicken (TLWest, p57). (I wonder how many recipes from how many different cuisines have this title?) Any recipe that uses Angostura bitters has to be worth a try, right? I used four thighs rather than cutting up a chicken. Didn't much like the sugar in the sauce and this meant I couldn't dump the extra bit into the freezer bag with bird bits for the next batch of stock. Served with more steamed gesneden snijbonen and brown rice. For dessert, we had some Angel's Dreams.

Wednesday/4-Mar-15: Shopping this afternoon, a bit late since Oscar had an emergency trip to the vet after a cat fight.

Dinner was more or less a half recipe of Polenta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (web). Was pretty good, although we thought the tarragon was a bit strong. No polenta-in-a-tube here (that I know of, and I probably wouldn't buy it anyhow), so I made polenta ahead of time and let in cool in a dish in the fridge before baking it. This kind of thing would work with any tasty sauce, since polenta is good for that kind for thing. Then a salad. Then some store-bought vanilla yogurts, which were good. Actually I thought I was buying little rice puddings, but these were still good.

Thursday/5-Mar-15: Cleaning cookbook shelves again. Found enough cheese recipes and info clippings that it seems like a small notebook might be in order. Found two books to give away. A mere drop in the ocean. But found a group that I haven't used much that I might try in the next months, as candidates for giving away if I don't find them useful.

Dinner was Creamy Salmon with Lemon and Fresh Dill (web). Easy and pretty good, although the cooking time must be wrong. At a temp like 425F, fish will be done in about 10min per inch of thickness. In 35-40min it must be crisp all the way through! Served with brown rice and a little carrot salad. With a bit salad of rocket and mâche after. Then some squares of chocolate with hazelnuts.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/6-Mar-15: Dinner was Lime-Curry Orzo (FF&S, p136), a whole recipe to serve two instead of four. I misread the instructions and put the spices in together with the ginger, S&P, and lime juice, but it was still quite edible. A bit odd, the curry spices with black olives and feta, but it worked okay. Served with a salad as suggested. Some squares of chocolate with hazelnuts later.

Saturday/7-Mar-15: We misunderstood about going to a movie today, so instead of going to an early  movie and having dinner on our return, we went to a later movie and had our main meal early.

For our meal there were Balsamic Lamb Steaks loosely based on (30MinCook, p180), about as easy it as can get. As go-withs, I sautéed some boiled potatoes and made Creamy Broccoli and Carrot Slaw (web), which was pretty darn good. For dessert, we had some cookies in the car on the way to the movie.

Sunday/8-Mar-15: Dinner was a half dose of an Ottolenghi recipe, Gigli with Chickpeas and Za'atar (web; cookbooker). Pretty good, if a bit dry as chickpea-y things can be. For a side, there was a half recipe of Tomatoes, Preserved Lemons, and Sweet Red Peppers (Morocco, p86; cookbooker), which was remarkably good in spite of wimpy tomatoes and roast red peppers from a jar. Must try this again in the summer. (This book has a number of really good salad recipes.)

Didn't work on my recipe backlog this week, unless you count gathering binder clips and writing paper clips on the shopping list.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Jan-15: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Easy 20-Minute Teriyaki Chicken and Broccoli (web). Pretty good for as easy as it was. It seems like not very much chicken for two people (one kip filet?), so I sliced up the shiitakes in the fridge wanting to be used. Also added some red pepper flakes with the chicken. Over rice. We're full.

Tuesday/20-Jan-15: Dinner was Dijon-Cayenne Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Maple Apples (web). Pretty good, not too hard, takes a bit of clock time, although nothing too busy happening. Might make a nice dish for company. First with had a very French salad of shredded carrots with lemon vinaigrette. Served the pork and apples with the last of the butternut squash gnocchi from the freezer. No dessert needed.

Wednesday/21-Jan-15: Grocery shopping today. Nothing too exciting.

Dinner was Broiled Salmon Steaks with Sauce Choron (KitchHerbs, p208). As suggested, I served this with some sautéed cucumber slices and a salad with baked goat cheese. Also some boiled potatoes, skinny ones, the last in the house. Sauce Choron turns out to be, per Larousse Gastronomique, a tomato-flavored version of a béarnaise sauce (but with a peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato rather than tomato sauce). Pretty good. I liked the sauce a lot; Ed not so much. A nice dinner overall.

Thursday/22Jan-15: Yogurt on overday.

For lunch, I mixed a small can of tuna into the rest of the sauce Choron, spread it on bread, topped with some slices of comté, and put in the toaster oven until the cheese began to brown. Nice warm lunch on a cold day, eaten at the dining table since we never lit the fire in the kitchen today. And it's cold outside!

Dinner at a quiz night.

Friday/23-Jan-15: Dinner was a half recipe of Bulgur and Lentil Pilaf (web) which wasn't bad but wasn't especially good either. Plain. A bit dry. But healthy. Used spelt whole wheat bulgur. Since the spices were North African-ish, I made two go-with salads. First the Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78) that I made a week or so ago—still an excellent salad. Then some Grated Cucumber Salad with Oregano (Morocco, p73), grated cuke, oregano, and black olives. Sounds a bit odd, but worked well.

The Mini is busy upgrading from 10.6.8 (no longer supported) to 10.8.x (Mountain Lion). Fingers crossed.

Saturday/24-Jan-15: Went to a movie this evening. It was an hour later than I thought, so we stopped and got pizzas to bring home for dinner. Probably if I'd cooked we would have eating at the same time. Oh well.

Upgrade is fairly miserable. The old iCal became Calendar and it doesn't work well at all. Between that and my fumbling trying to fix things up, I've managed to lose my calendar data. Me, what lives by my calendar. :-(

Sunday/25-Jan-15: Dilly-dallied trying to get my Calendar back on the Mac and it got too late to roast a chicken. Dinner was kip filets with a pecan-coconut coating from the freezer. Served with some of the  little Drôme raviolis. And a salad. For dessert we split a classic Magnum

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Jan-15: Today's excitement ... My first voice lesson. We'll see how that goes.

Meant to roast a chicken this evening, but didn't feel like it. Quick change to Curried Penne with Shrimp (MC; p49, 365OneDish), an old favorite. Added peas for some veggie matter. Then a salad. Think a bit of chocolate for a bite of sweet.

Tuesday/13-Jan-15: I made myself some cornmeal cereal (Savory, p292) for breakfast, using the fine cornmeal I bought when we were in NL, rather than the polenta-sort. Prefer the coarser one, I must say. The fine grind tastes OK, but no feel in the mouth.

Made apple butter on and off this afternoon, using part of a sack of Canada Grise I got last week.

Dinner was Moroccan-Spiced Roast Chicken with Creamy Cilantro Sauce (web; cookbooker). I spatchcocked the chicken to speed up the cooking, and rubbed most of the spiced butter mixture under the skin (of breast and leg) rather than on top. Very good. Tasty sauce too. I've tossed the leftover sauce and potatoes together to make a little salad for the next days. Served with a halfish dose of Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78; cookbooker), which is definitely a keeper. No dessert needed. (Morocco seems to qualify as a seldom used cookbook, as this is only the second dish I've recorded here. Definitely needs to be used more.)

Before bed, I started up an ABM loaf of White Egg Bread collected from EAT-L. The interesting thing is that it's a tare-weighed bread. You just put the pan on the scale and start weighing things in. In theory you should check the dough about 5 minutes into kneading, but I wasn't getting up that early, so we had it as I did it. And pretty good it was. Now I need to find a simple water/flour/salt/yeast one, or modify my moldy-oldy recipe to fit.

Wednesday/14-Jan-15: Shopping today.

Dinner was Vegetable Quinoa Soup from the freezer (grain!), following by some little red-fruit charlottes. There was a small cup of soup left. I froze it, and have the idea to buzz it up to add the next time I make stock.

Thursday/15-Jan-15: Dinner was Fish Cakes with Herbs and Chiles (web; cookbooker), oh so good. Served with a small bit of Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC; HandyBook), which I didn't make quite enough dressing for; and some garlic-ginger basmati rice, sort of made-up recipe after a bit of wander on the web. For dessert a dab of ice cream with some mango chunks.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/16-Jan-15: Oatmeal for breakfast.

Last week my order for the paperback version of Diaries2 was cancelled, and I impulsively ordered the hardback. Which arrived today. Guess I'll play catch-up for January and read it through the year as I did with the first one.

Forgot to defrost for tonight's dinner, so changed tonight's plan. Dinner turned out to be a half recipe of Hoisin-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw (web; cookbooker). Served with rice. Fast and tasty. The cabbage slaw is worth keeping for itself. The same sauce tasted a bit strong on the chickie, but great (with a dab of extra rice vinegar) on the salad. Some defrosted mixed berries over ice cream for dessert.

Saturday/16-Jan-15: A couple of outings today, so made Lazy Day Slow Cooker Mushroom Soup (web; cookbooker). We liked it. In the end, I didn't have time to mess with the crock pot, so just simmered in a cast iron dutch oven. I see the recipe has been corrected since I printed it and now includes both cream and half-and-half, which seems like overkill to me. I ran out of sherry, so part of that was dry white. For dessert, we had half of another three kings' cake, but didn't find the fêve.

Sunday/18-Jan-15: Went to a concert in Limoges this afternoon. With our post-concert coffee&tea, we finished off the three kings' cake. Ed got the fêve, which turned out to be a dog (pointer). Hmm...

For dinner, Ed wanted some chew in the soup, so I added some cêpe-flavored noodles. Good enough, and easy.

Just thinking that our week has suddenly filled up with busy-nesses. Mondays I have voice lessons. Tuesday afternoons I'm going to a quilting working (take your own project). Wednesday Ed and I are doing a little local exercise group (one of Ed's choir friends has converted a barn to an exercise space); that afternoon is our traditional shopping day. Ed has choir practice on Thursdays. Nothing regular/weekly on the other three days (so far). We've suddenly got a busy schedule.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Feb-12: Today's pubs, the weekly batch of advertising supplements that comes with the post, brought a flyer from Leclerc, the grocery where we shop most often, thanking all their local suppliers. Merci à Tous nos Producteurs Locaux! it says, with pictures of the suppliers and descriptions of their local products, Limousin beef, sausages or all kinds, rabbits, birds, fish, oysters, melons, asparagus, endives, mushrooms, fruits, nuts, bio milk, raw milk, cheeses, ice cream (I've never noticed locally produced ice cream, will have to look for this), spring water, pineau, wine, etc. Fun to read. Can't think of seeing this in the U.S., even at someplace like Whole Foods.

The evening quiz from two weeks ago was postponed till midday today, so that was our main meal. In the evening we made a tray of nibbles, fruit, carrots, almond-stuffed green olives, black olive tapenade, and some St Maure (a chèvre from Poitou), finished off by some of the chocolates we got as a booby prize at the quiz (fourth of four teams).

Made some Whole Wheat Bread (BHGBread, p9), for tomorrow's breakfast, the one I intended to make last week.

Tuesday/21-Feb-12: Now that was some darn good whole wheat bread!

Yogurt on overday. Started up another batch of Preserved Lemons (Morocco, p21) in anticipation of a Cookbooker challenge on this book.

Dinner was a half dose of Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms (web), a really simple, really tasty dish. Served with a salad. Followed by the rest of the booby prize chocolates.

Wednesday/22-Feb-12: Shook up my preserving lemons this morning, first of thirty daily shakes. Made Oatmeal Cake (green book; MC), a recipe I've had for, oh, pushing fifty years (can you believe that?!). Instead of raisins, I used dried cranberries that we got from a Canadian choir we saw last year. The cake was largely devoured when we sat outside with friends for tea after a walk. (About this time last week, it was -15C overnight; today it was 15C in the afternoon.)

Did some Garlic-Herb Bread (Basic/Rapid/M/d) (MC), which was one of our favorites when I was ABM-ing regularly. Another more-ish bread, a bit wonder-bread-ish in texture, but oh so tasty. This accompanied Winter Squash and Leek Soup (Verdura, p170). A nice soup, but maybe not the best as a main-dish soup since it's fairly light and smooth. Only one more butternut squash in the cupboard!

Thursday/23-Feb-12: Dinner was a half dose of Chicken with Fennel, Preserved Lemon, and Olives (Morocco, p302; cookbooker), using up my last preserved lemon. (Thus, another batch on the way.) Served over basmati rice, with a side of Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika (Morocco, p79; cookbooker).

Friday/24-Feb-12: Last night my RSS reader delivered the recipe for tonight's dinner. I made a half dose of Creamy Chipotle Shrimp with Mushroom (web; cookbooker). Really tasty, an Ed favorite now.

Saturday/25-Feb-12: Impulse buy at the grocery ... I've been having an urge for ribs, so saw a poitrine de porc (in two pieces). This is the side/belly on a pig. The front half is like ribs with the stuff we'd call bacon still attached. The back half is just bacon. Unless I discover something new in the meantime, the front bit I'll just cook like ribs and give it a meaty gnaw. (The recipe I learned for cooking ribs: Oven on as low, about 250F. Sprinkle your ribs with a ton of salt and a half ton of cayenne. In the oven till them smell good, hours later. If you like you can finish off with a short stay on the bbq grill or under the broiler. Yum.)

Fish-and-chips (with mushy peas) at a local restaurant tonight. Nothing much happening in the kitchen beyond putting away the groceries.

Sunday/26-Feb-12: Yogurt on overday. Visited two mills today as part of open mills day and lunched at one of them. So we weren't very hungry in the evening. For a little starter/salad, I sliced a beautiful (for winter) ripe tomato I got for something and didn't use. (Too bad I didn't think to defrost some mozzarella earlier in the day.) Then a salad of rucola. And a bit of cheese after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD: yes, #3 SOUP: yes, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #6 PASTA: not yet