Food focus

Garden is all tidy thanks to JD scrubbing the patio and me tidying up the borders. We have added some more plants, replacing the horrid funereal lily in the front border with a pretty evergreen bush with small, white, scented flowers from Dec-Apr. Very nice!

And today we managed to get 1/2 round of golf in. It started sunny but soon got too cold and windy for a full round. But thanks to the cut short golf I managed to get time to cook a sunday roast. This week a very pretty lamb shoulder, deboned and tied into kind of a flower shape by mr butcher.

I cooked it on the hob in a pot, having browned it off in a separate pan I put in in the pot then fried some onion/garlic/cloves/sage/rosemary in the pan and deglaced ith with port and poured over the lamb. In the pot also went a liter of chicken stock so that the liquid level went up to 1/2 the lamb and I grated some lemon zest on top of the lamb before putting the lid on and leaving it to cook. Cooked for about an hour til the meat was 65 degrees inside.

Very nice. Here is the recipe that I based my concoction on:

http://welshfarmorganics.co.uk/organic-recipes/organic-lamb-recipes/roast-boneless-shoulder-recipe/

I am now using the liquid to make a soup, having added some spelt, carrots and turnip. Should make a lovely almost Scotch broth style soup. Warming and nourishing I am sure. Should cheer me up over next weeks lunches.

Its raining and I am working late on a Friday

but it has been a good week. Nice and sunny to start with and to be honest I quite like a bit of wind and rain as I can sit inside without feeling guilty. Got an interesting lamb cut that I am roasting so that should perk me up as well (its lamb shoulder deboned and tied up so it kind of looks like a flower, v nice)

As it was waffle day on Wed we had waffles this week. Spinach ones with smoked salmon for 'main' and then just plain ones with jam. Oh how I love waffles!

Spring has sprung.

Weekend update:

Friday - In Vino Veritas and then Lily Allen. Excellent stuff!

Saturday - Lunch with Heidi in her garden. Ireland won Six Nations Grand Slam so JD very happy.

Sunday - Gardening and then golf at West Hove. Managed in 3 hrs so had time to make a lovely dinner of Pot roasted Guinea Fowl with Savoy cabbage. Lovely!

St John

On Friday EL and I went to St John and loved loved loved the food. With the main we had a side dish: Welsh Rarebit. It was just sooo nice that EL chased up the recipe and I tried it yesterday and can confirm its fab.

I didnt have any Guinness so took a cup of John Smith's smooth and it still tasted v nice. Especially nice on sourdough bread from the St John bakery, but am sure its also nice on normal bread. I have a small pot in the fridge now that will be used over the coming days, am quite sure JD will love it too.

Fergus Henderson's Welsh Rarebit (serves 6)

-a knob of unsalted butter
-a Tbs. of flour
-1 tsp. Coleman’s Dry English Mustard Powder
-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
-1 cup Guinness stout
-a very long splash of Worcestershire sauce
-1 pound mature strong Cheddar cheese, grated
-6 pieces of toast

Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour, and let this cook together until it smells biscuity but is not browning. Add the mustard and cayenne, stir in the Guinness and Worcestershire sauce, then gently melt in the cheese.
When it’s all of one consistency remove from the heat, pour out into a shallow container, and allow to set.
Spread on toast 1/2 inch thick and place under the grill.
Eat when bubbling golden brown.

Oh, oh, oh! Pick me! Pick me!

I am a sad, sad person. But I quite like challenges and lists and Cosmo quizzes. Here is a new one I nicked off Articuno's blog. She says she doesnt have friends so I am sure she wont mind if I take it up.

Every answer needs to start with the first letter in your name. All answers need to be real, no made up words! You cant write the samw word twice or write your own name as an answer apart from for question 1.

1. What is your name? Eva
2. A four letter word: Even
3. A Girls name: Erica
4. A Boys name: Edvin
5. A Profession: Economist
6. A colour : Eggshell
7. A piece of clothing: Evening dress
8. A dish: Eton Mess
9. Toiletry: Eczema cream
10. A place / city: Eden
11. A reason to be late: Epilepsy
12. An expletive: Easy!
13. A film: E.T.
14. A drink: Elephant charger
15. A bank: Erasure
16. An animal: Emu
17. Streetname: Eriksgatan, Enkoping.
18. Car: Escort
19. A song: Eagle (Abba)
20. A celebrity: Eric Idle

This was trickier than I thought! EL - give it a whirl now that I have taken all the obvious 'E' answers (mwahahahah!).

Food

EL and I went to St Johns today. OMG. Good food. Lovely restaurant. So full. Can barely breath.

I had bone marrow with toast for starter and chitterlings for main. Dessert - Eccles cake and Lancashire cheese. Mmmm....

AND we saw Fergus on the way out. I tried (unsuccessfully) not to stare. He is quite sexy.

Oh and by the way - total now stands at £419. I was aiming at £150, I guess I hadnt realised how generous people are. Love Comic relief. But the film clips makes me cry.

Goal smashed!

Now at over £300!

Go me.

Quiz Queen

It went very well! We had 12 teams contending for the prize (Red Nose day wine) and filled up half the pub.

Tax won, so now we know why they do no work, they are busy reading up on general knowledge...

I have raised over £200 so far and am continuing to beg, bully and cajool my collegues and friends for more.

Begging and bullying

I am organising a pub quiz tomorrow. Well I have sorted out the venue and got someone to do the questions and also sent out masses of emails harassing people into coming.

Fingers crossed we will be about 50 and all will pay (at least)£2 each for the pleasure. So I am aiming to raise at least £150 as I am also bullying people into giving money without doing the quiz.

Here is the site if, per chance, you fancy donating a bob or two. All for a very worthy cause - Comic Relief. Or buy the Tom Jones with Nessa & Bryn.

www.myrednoseday.com/evova

Blushing

I would say that in general I dont lie that often about books that I havent read (well possibly I might have done at uni about 'Ulysses' by that Irish bloke but probably not since then). Anyway, this article made me think through the books I do read and love and possibly wouldnt admit to except I think its silly to have pretentions around what books you read, films you see, tv series you follow.

Nr 1: Barbara Cartland. Anything by her. I have probably read most, bought second hand and then passed on to greatful friends (you know who you are)

Nr 2: Fantasy. I cant remember any of the storylines and that is the charm. Fairy tales for grown ups and quite addictive.

Nr 3: Childrens fiction. Not just HP and Northern Lights, but other random series that are written for anyone from 10-14 but probably not with a 35 year old in mind.

My best is when you combine nr 2 and nr3 - like Lirael or Twilight or Wintersmith. Does it get better than that?

Barca

Oh Barcelona was great. Cold but great. We had too much to eat and drink. Walked a lot and spend a lot of time on top of a tourist bus wishing we had brought warmer jackets.

Loved the snail restaurant. OK v touristy but how can you dislike a place that has a chicken bbq window, makes you walk through the kitchen to get into the restaurant and serves grilled pork belly. Mmmm. I had 1/2 grilled rabbit. That was good too. As was the deep fried leeks, the snails, the paella, the Pepers de padron, the wine, the snail shaped bread, the garlic mushrooms, the creme brule and the nougat ice cream.

The other meals were good too.