Toddler Cooking

Flyingpops gave me pause the other afternoon by saying "This is what you were waiting for wasn't it? It's so good to see you two pottering around together"...and I was like "Eh?", but on reflection I actually think it's true, just lately Thomas' comprehension and ability to intelligently participate has absolutely *rocketed* (not that he wasn't extremely clever before) meaning we've been able to engage in increasingly complex ways...rather than just "What's this Thomas?", or "Can you see the (whatever)?" it's becoming conversation - "What do you fancy doing Thomas?" "DRAWINN!", "Okay, what shall we draw?", "Outside! Chalk!", "Oh, okay, you want to draw on the blackboard outside?", "Blackboard!" (once outside) "Okay, what are we drawing?", "House! Tree!", "Okay, here we go" (scribble, scrape)..."Daddy, Chalk Thomas!!", "Oh, okay, here's some chalk for you", what are you drawing?" "A CIIIIRCLE!!!" (and he draws a large, messy oval - Saying "Egg!" as if he meant to do that all along) etc. etc. ;)

Cooking is another fine example, when I'm in the kitchen rattling pots and pans, Thomas is usually to be found standing at the gate yelling "OPEN! OPEN! COOKIN' PEEEZE!!", if allowed, he runs in shouting "STEPS!! UP!! SEE!!" (and again, if allowed) he climbs up the steps and hangs on at the top, pointing out and naming everything he can see (and trying to eat anything tempting looking). When it comes to preparation he knows how to add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, add a pinch of salt to heating water (he, in fact, reminded me the last time we boiled some potatoes) season meat with pinches of salt and pepper, can go to the garden on request and retrieve chives, rosemary and/or thyme (usually mixing them up, of course as they all look fairly similar, and admittedly gets lost trying to find mint, but that's a bit high up for him) and obviously also stands a better-than-average chance of being distracted by the odd ant/woodlouse...it's amazing how enthusiastic he is, and how generally *capable* he is becoming...he can even (when watched) carefully stir sauces on the hob (as long as you remind him they are hot each time he goes to put the spoon in his mouth)... ;)

Another of his tricks is to help crack the black pepper for the week using the pestle and mortar (although I have learned only to put a *few* pepper corns in there for him to bash away at or he just eats it by the handful, much to Mummy's displeasure and Daddy's stifled snigger)... ;)

The most impressive achievement so far? Asking him to tell me how we went about making pasta the other day (retrospectively) and him (thoughtfully) answering (including some fairly long finger sucking pauses) "Onion...chop...OIL! Frying! MEAT! Maaato! COOOKING!!!" - Okay, there were a few more things that went in there, but that's a basic bolognese recipe right there (quoted from his memory) if I have ever heard one, and he, not even two years old!

Well done, clever boy! :)

Easy First Birthday Food

Here we go, the spread we did for Thomas' family birthday party-

- join me, if you wish, to go into more detail about some of the treats we made -

Sausage Aeroplanes - take Porky Whites Surrey sausages (the best British sausage) and fry them in a little oil at a medium temperature, turning occasionally for around fifteen minutes, allow them to cool, then slice in half (length ways) to form the body of the plane, next, take some cracker bread and, using an extremely sharp (non-bevelled) blade, slice them in half (also length ways) to form the wings, now slice a small triangle of cheddar to form the tail fin and open a packet of Hula Hoops, removing two that are reasonably circular...the last thing to do is to open the "glue", which is a tube of primula (or similar)...start with one piece of cracker bread and use two little blobs of primula to attach the Hula Hoop "wheels" then just lay the sausage onto it (this stops it falling over), squirt a spot of cheesy glue onto the top of the sausage and pop the top wing into place (hold it for a second) and then do the same with the tail, preferably serve right away, if not chill the planes to set the "glue" or a few bits may fall off...

Bagel Snakes - Hard boil a dozen large eggs (start with a pan of cold water, add a little salt, pop in the eggs, then bring to the boil and cook for seven minutes), allow them to cool, remove the shells (roll them on a chopping board, bash the rounder end where the air pocket is, nip the membrane and then peel the shell off in one go working in a circular fashion), roughly chop them and add a small jar of mayonnaise (mayonnaise has a high PH and acts as a very good preservative, contrary to what you may have heard) and a good grind of cracked black pepper. Slice the bagels in half (into two rounds) and then chop these in half to make semi-circles, then arrange them into snake shapes, smearing them with a generous amount of egg mayonnaise, then decorate with chopped chives, olive or baby tomato eyes and thinly sliced red pepper tongues...
Egg Mushrooms - Cook up some *more* hard boiled eggs (same method as above) then when cool, carefully slice off the top and bottom, then half some large, ripe English tomatoes and balance them atop the eggs, using Primula to decorate them with spots, slice some cress to make "grass" to decorate the plate you present them on...

Cheese and Pineapple Monster - this one is really easy, everyone knows how to make cheese and pineapple on sticks (pro-tip though, get the cheese out and bring it up to room temperature first, especially if it is Cheddar, this reduces the crumble factor when inserting the cocktail stick), for the monster's body, just carve a mouth out with your sharp knife, then take a slice of Gouda or plastic American cheese, make a small slice and cut "teeth" from it and arrange in the mouth, tomato eyes can be attached with more cocktail sticks...

Sea Monster Rolls - Just normal submarine rolls, I happened to fill these with tomato, mozzarella, shredded basil, ham and a drizzle of olive oil, then I inserted bulbous eyes from mini cheese biscuits, and slicing a hole in the back and sides, cucumber fins...

Birthday Train - this was extremely simple, no cooking involved, just buy a couple of chocolate Swiss rolls, a load of sweets (for decorating) for glue use a mixture of icing sugar, cocoa powder and a little water, a bag of dessicated coconut, a little water and some green food colouring for the grass, Jammy Dodgers and Rollo's for wheels, Matchmakers for the rails and chocolate fingers for the sleepers! Then just go crazy, in a good creative way, only took us about 10 minutes and looked really good... ;)

Hope that has provided some inspiration! ;)

New Washing machine and cooker repaired

Oh bliss, oh rapture...! After what seems like an eternity living in the dark ages, everything (pretty much), seems to be working again in the house...believe it or not, as of a couple of weeks ago, not only were we completely snowed in, but both our washing machine and our main oven decided to simultaniously give up the ghost...! Normally (well, previously normally I guess), this wouldn't have been so much of an issue, but with all of the clothing (albeit tiny clothing) that Thomas manages to get dirty (in one way or another), even one single week's worth of washing seems to now fill about 6 large Tesco "Bag for Life" containers... <:0

To get us through this unhappy predicament, a procession of sticky bagfulls has been greatfully paraded to our neighbours (while the snow was impassable for 4 wheeled vehicles), and thence to various relatives, until, thanks to an incredibly welcome donation from my folks, and a careful bit of negotiation by Flyingpops and her folks we finally got our new machine delivered last week, and it was fitted by Flyingpops' dad on Saturday morning to great sighs of relief (and many, many washloads of muslins and bibs)... ;)

To top things off, he then pulled the back off the oven and successfully fitted a new heating element, thus saving us roughly £500 buying a new oven, so yesterday (to celebrate) we had a lovely dinner of heavily peppered roast beef and roast potatoes...thanks Pops!

(Of course Thomas was lots of help)... ;)

Wusthof Hollow Edge Santoku Knife

Yes! Finally found out what they are called (my powers of internet search haven't failed me, I've just been passively coveting and sitting here hoping the answer would drop into my lap - as it did)...You *never* (well, very rarely) see a celebrity chef without one of these incredible knives, the indentations in the blade stop whatever you are slicing from sticking to it! Simple, total genius! I will never growl at a carrot again with one of these in my hands...thus - I want - A Wusthof Hollow Edge Santoku Knife...and when I've got it I'll put it next to my impossibly light Kyocera ceramic knife...nice and safe and dry and sharp...

Chop chop... ;)

Anthony Bourdain - A Cooks Tour?

So, with Dad safely back home, time to move on to other matters, one in particular was my total confusion as to what on earth an old, chain smoking, heavy drinking, greasy New York oaf was doing presenting an (albeit distinctly sensationalist) travelog-style food tour series on UKTV Food...I speak, of course, of Anthony Bourdain...my first thought was - "How on earth does this guy know what any of that is tasting like with a cigarette sticking out the side of his mouth?" - my second thought was - "Perhaps he doesn't actually want to know what a still beating cobra heart actually tastes like"...anyway...a revelation this morning, I have started reading "Kitchen Confidential", the book that propelled him to fame, and suddenly, everything is clear...he's the closest thing the Americans have to Gordon Ramsay...

The book, however, beats anything Mr Ramsay has written (hands down), although littered with similarities, he's unbelieveably frank (to the point of painful, retrospective self derision) and glitteringly funny, constantly full of facinating anecdotes, and at this point, I'm only about a third of the way through...didn't even bother to pick up a Metro on the tube this morning, and was still reading when I got out of the lift on the 20th floor...

Roll on lunchtime... ;)

Hugh's Chicken Run - Part one

Well, that was really interesting, not too gruesome, apart from the routine "weeding" and culling (from the snippet at the end of the show I think it all starts to get a bit much for Hugh tonight), can't be nice to have to break the necks of helpless chicks all day...quite contrary to his (publicly visible) nature...really can't wait to see how this pans out, as they are obviously doing their very best - if anything - it's made the battery farming industry go *up* a little in my estimation, which is not what I expected at all...!

Oh, and Channel 4 seem to have got a few things online already for Gordon's Cookalong, the ingredients list (cue a country-wide drought of hand-dived scallops, decent serloin steak, desiree potatos and crunchie bars), the equipment list (which looks quite scary at first glance, but is actually pretty simple stuff), and a video to prepare you for making the scallop starter...(only a couple of minutes long)...

The Big Food Fight C4

No doubt you've seen the ads on TV (Hugh, Gordon and Jamie running through some woods), well, here we go, Channel 4's "The Big Food Fight" all starts tonight with part one of a three-part documentary called "Hugh's Chicken Run" showing what happened when Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall *attempted* to investigate the intensive poultry farming industry (basically the door was slammed in his face), forcing the producers to go through the process of setting up their own (with Hugh at the helm)...quite how he copes with this (following his idillic time at River Cottage) remains to be seen, but I suspect it's going to be an extremely messy (and disturbing) ride designed to further shame the supermarkets into buying proper free-range stocks instead of 2p or 3p-per-carcas genetic freaks...

Good.

Also on the agenda is to get all products that contain egg (like mayo) to display the source of it clearly on the package, at the moment Hellmann's apparently uses battery eggs (update - whoops -sorry NFU-that should be "intensively farmed eggs"), even though it is a premium product, I have to say that suprised me a little...and they are obviously serious about it too, Jamie Oliver today firmly bit the hand that feeds him by slamming Sainsbury's for not turning up to a public debate on the subject he had organised...again good...his shows follow Hugh's on the 11th of January...

Looks like something might be about to happen about battery farming as finally the pressure is being brought to bear in the right place (i.e. not the farmers), just a shame it's taken so long, and so many other fearful documentaries (and RSPCA investigations) that have been largely ignored by the public in favour of cheap meat (I'm guilty here too, free range prices do make me think twice before choosing quality and cruelty-free chicken for my table) but if the basic benchmark for "acceptable" levels of cruelty in husbandry could be raised a just a little then buying premium meat won't be the *only* option...

On a less sticky note, Gordon Ramsay is going to be running some "how to cook" webinars to get your skills up to scratch followed by a one-hour long one-off live show (on the 18th of January) called "Cookalong live" where you literally cook alongside the master in real-time to create a 3 course meal...!

It's all terribly exciting, so well done (albeit a little prematurely) Channel 4...sounds fantastic! ;)

Another wonderful day...

...so Flyingpops has terrible tooth-ache *again*, work is stupidly busy *again* and we had a lovely trip planned to go and see "Ready Steady Cook" being filmed on Friday in London which we now have to cancel as we are finalising the re-mortgage of the house and this is the moment the surveyors need to attend, at a stupidly awkward moment, right in the middle of the day so we can arrange everything with the current favourable interest rate...oh and the CAMRA beer festival is going on in London, and, no doubt, I will miss it for the 5th year in a row too...life is just all being wonderful like that right now... :(

Oh, two things went right, my first rental DVD from Amazon arrived today (£3.99 for infinite disks per month (two at a time) with the first 14 days free), and two super cheap (£8) Xbox 360 games turned up...spent most of the evening playing a very calming gardening Sim, then shot about 100 terrorists in the head...

Microplane Grater review

Well, you rarely see a celebrety chef using any other kind, Anthony Worral Thompson sold this one to me (indirectly) by doing a quick demo on TV on a block of cheese (grating half a pound in about 3 seconds flat, with very little effort), so I had to have one...this was difficult for two reasons -
1) I had no idea what they were called (only what they looked like)
2) All the shops I looked in didn't stock anything remotely similar in appearance
- I even put the description on my christmas list (to no avail, and you can never underestimate Flyingpops' ability to do her research), so I was pleased, when in the gastro-mecca of Padstow, to find one (just one, mind!) in a crowded little kitchen shop (which amazingly *didn't* belong to Rick).

Anyway, the story goes, an American housewife (these graters originate from the States, which explains *some* of the difficulty sourcing one over here) was trying to zest a lemon, and failing miserably, in desperation she went into her husband's workshop and grabbed one of his tempered steel wood shavers (which worked a treat), thus inspiring the range...

And they are awesome, and sharp in the extreme, if you get one, resist the urge to touch the cutting edge, I almost cut my finger with my ginger experimental poke...trust me, if you can find one, you'll never want to go back to a flimsy sheet of blunt tin ever again... ;)

Jamie's Journal - Jamie Oliver loses the plot

This, in my opinion, is an absolute disgrace, Jamie Oliver has clearly completely lost it (including any respect for the public) if he expects anyone in their right mind to pay £12.99 for a completely empty notebook!

The blurb on the back, which I really should have read more carefully in the shop (at least I only paid £4, and all of that went to charity). I hereby reproduce the only words that Jamie Oliver had to type to earn his £12.99 per copy (if he even bothered to type them himself) -

"Hi guys... I absolutely love old cookbooks. You know the ones, they are a bit tatty, they've got stains all over them, and smudgy fingerprints where your mum or Nan held the page in the middle of mixing up some ingredients. Some of the ones I've found have scribbles in them - little notes or hints to make the recipes even better. Now, I believe that anyone's capable of writing the next cookbook. I mean, look at me, who would have thought that the kid worst at English in school would be writing cookbooks for a living one day? So have a go in this journal! Who knows, your scribbles might one day be treasured by your great-grandkids..."

Well, was that worth the cash? Happy with your purchase? To quote Gordon Ramsay "You've got to be taking the f*cking piss, haven't you?"

Skeletomuscular Assessment

Well, after much poking and prodding (even some of the ultra-sonic variety) the professional medical advice is to just whip off the splint (Woo Hoo!) and try and use it as normal (and come back if I have any problems)...I'm not pretending it doesn't hurt to do so, but I'm just so relieved to be rid of all the strapping I'm going about it with optimistic enthusiasm and putting up with the occasional wince...(loosing the reflexive-whipping-of-hand-up-to-opposite-shoulder when anything (even very remotely) threatens to bang my hand may take a little longer... ;)

Best sign of recovery - enthusiastically making a huge bowl of pommes de terre boulangerie last night when *I* had already eaten and Flyingpops' told me she didn't want it with her quiche...it's just about being *able* to do it again... ;)

Traditional Thai chicken red curry recipe

Okay, so harking back to before "the break", I stocked up on all the ingredients required to cook traditional "Gaeng phed kai" or Thai red chicken curry (picture duplicated below for your convenience) having been so inspired by Douglas Chew-

- this was basically all the bits I didn't have in the cupboard or growing on the windowsill/in the garden, namely - Coriander seeds, Fish Sauce, Fermented Shrimp Paste, Coconut Milk, Galangal, some nice fresh dried chillis, some fresh lemon grass and a big old block of palm sugar...without further ado, on to the recipe (it's 2 stage) -

Traditional Thai Red Curry Paste Recipe

1. So, from scratch (the quantities I supply here will be sufficient to make 4 large, spicy servings of any Red Curry, but I happen to like Chicken) grab your mini blender (or pestle and mortar) and put in the following ingredients -

10 Dried red chillies (stalks and all)
7 Cloves of garlic (take the skins off)
1 Inch cube of galangal (dried is fine, in a pinch a similar quantity of fresh ginger might work instead, but I haven't tried it..)
1 Inch of lemon grass (if it's the bottom inch chop the root bit off and throw it away)
half a teaspoon of lime zest ("kaffir" lime if you can get it otherwise ordinary lime will do fine)
5 Black pepper corns
1 Tablespoon of coriander seeds
1 Teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 Teaspoons of fish sauce
1 Generous teaspoon of fermented shrimp paste or "kapi", as it is known (this stuff is STRONG!)

Now, I know this seems like a lot of chillies, but don't worry, this is simply the proportions we need to get the correct basic paste mixture (we decide how hot the final dish is going to be later)-

2. Whizz it up (or spend 25 minutes grinding (choice is yours)) then immeditately put it into a totally airtight container and pop it in the fridge...

3. The next thing to do is to wash up your blender (right away) or it may accumulate the same delicate aroma as the paste (you'll know what I mean when you do it), so get it all properly clean now
3. If you have the time, give the paste one nights rest to let the flavours really work into each other ;)
4. (Gordon Ramsay Voice) - Traditional Thai Red Curry Paste - Done... ;)

Note - this paste will keep for a month in the fridge, so you can comfortably make it *well* in advance of the dish itself...one thing though, make the container airtight as I said, if not, well...your milk/cheese (anything in there, in fact, that is sorbant and mild) may not be quite the same again... ;)


Traditional Thai Chicken Red Curry Recipe

1. Okay, so you are now ready to start cooking, ...You'll need the following (for each portion) -

1 Large (or two small) neatly trimmed chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces, get free-range if you can, local free range is ideal)
Half a tin of coconut milk (you can get it in Tesco now)
Half a teaspoon of lime zest, "kaffir" if you can (for bonus points ;)
About ten large leaves of sweet basil (fresh)
2 Tablespoons of fish sauce
1 Inch square chunk of palm sugar
A little splash of vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon of fresh coriander leaves (for the garnish)
Your fresh homemade paste from the fridge

Add - (and this is essential) - Lots of Basmati Rice
(I'll leave the cooking method for that up to the side of your chosen packet though)

2. Heat up a medium-sized frying pan...Add your dash of oil and between 1 and 3 tablespoons of the red curry paste (bear in mind, one tablespoon is *very spicy*, 3 tablespoons is traditional Thai and will most likely induce a fatal heart attack in anyone unaccustomed to the raw power (start small, you'll still *love* it, and work your way up (next time you cook) if you feel the need)...Fry it fast, keep it moving around so it cooks evenly, and don't let it burn...

3. While the Curry paste is cooking, quickly shred the basil and crush the palm sugar, now, at the first hint of the fine fragrance (not burning, no black bits please...if you are in any doubt as to when the fragrance is present you can normally tell because all non-curry eaters will now have left the kitchen (if not the house) because of the strong aroma) immediately add the coconut milk and let that simmer until you see oil forming around the edge -

4. Now, add all of the rest of the ingredients and slow the cooking down to an energetic simmer

5. Turn your chicken regularly and cook for a couple of minutes (until the chicken is obviously done) the time to this will vary depending on how small you made the chunks, but it's no more than 5 minutes (this is a lightning dish to cook)...

6. Serve over the rice, make sure you pour all the sauce over too, it's wonderful soaked into the rice, and garnish with a generous handfull of shredded coriander leaves...

7. Traditional Thai Chicken Red Curry - Done...

Enjoy... ;)

Thai Ingredients

Went out and got all the bits I didn't have in the cupboard, namely coconut milk, palm sugar, fish sauce, fermented shrimp paste, galangal, lemon grass, coriander seed (and I also got some new dried chillis, my old ones were getting on a bit... ;) Thai Red chicken curry next week, from scratch... ;)

update - documenting this on hold now until my finger is better, but, following my instructions Flyingpops' has now cooked this *extremely* successfully for me, twice! Can't wait to have a go myself! It tastes wondeful! I err'ed on the side of caution with the chillis (the prescribed 10 seemed a *touch* on the adventurous side) but I'm confident I can cope with the power after the (5 chilli) experiment...So, recipe, pics and maybe some video in a couple of weeks time... ;)

Hot Weather - BBQ Tesco Moroccan Lamb (£2!)

Well, one good thing about the hot weather...plenty of opportunity to get the BBQ out... ;)

Had Morrocan style lamb chops yesterday, didn't prepare them myself, got them out of the emergency BBQ kit stored in the freezer, they are from the Tesco "£2 per bag" freezer range and are...absolutely wonderful...!

Slightly spicy (I add a bit of extra chilli and some cracked black pepper just to be on the safe side) with rich, sweet tomato and zingy citrus overtones...20 minutes in the oven then finish them off over the coals to get some crunchy bits...(beware though, the other offerings in the range don't really come up to scratch, it's a diamond in the rough)...yummy... ;)

ITV Saturday Cooks

Well...what can I say...Anthony Worrall Thompson, Ken Hom and Gino D'Acampo...three wonderful, professional and personable celebrity chefs...put them together and what happens?

None of them manages to recommend a specialty dish (admittedly) apart from AWT right at the end, but that was in the caller vote! It's almost painful to watch Ken Hom suggest an Italian-style stir fry to a caller asking for advice with her wok and then so transparently, and guiltily look over to Gino for approval, leaving Gino to awkwardly suggest a lame rissoto stir fry and AWT to have to finish off by cautiously listing the core components of what the caller was actually after - a classic Chinese recipe - thus forcing him into looking back to Mr Hom for approval...THIS IS NOT GOOD...

Don't get me wrong, these chefs all obviously have a huge amount of respect for one another and are awe-inspiringly skillful...but next time guys, just stick to what you know best...I'm not sure anyone in England really wanted to hear Ken's Italian-American-Chinese stir fry pasta carbonara fusion recipe (tasty or not)...his classic Chinese recipes? Gino's classic Italian? Now you're talking!

Bring it on, I'll be all ears...(promise)... ;)

The Urban Chef BBC2 / The Prince Albert, Kings Cross

Cool! A new (ten part) TV show starts airing tonight on BBC2, it's called "The Urban Chef", it's set in Kings Cross (i.e. right around the corner from me!) in the restaurant owned by new-face celebrity chef Oliver Rowe, not sure of the name, but it apparently lurks behind the dark green facade that was the "Prince Albert" pub at the actual Kings Cross...now, this is interesting for two reasons -

1. It's nearby, and apparently fairly reasonable, so I might be able to go and eat there...(although I wish I had found out about this before the TV show, as it's going to be impossible to get a table now as a result)...
2. He is a man with a mission, every single ingredient used in the resturant has (by self imposed rules) to be locally grown/produced and sourced from within the M25...(so where does he get his black pepper from then? ;)

Anyway, hopefully I can get back in time to see the start (1830hrs)! ;)

Update - Missed about 5 mins, but a really good show!

Update update - Finally made it to the resturant to eat! Check out my pics and write up!

Tesco Value Hand Blender

So a few weeks back now we spotted what looked like an absolute bargain in the form of a Tesco (Value range) hand blender, being just shy of £5...We bought some fruit, Greek yoghurt, runny honey etc. got it home and started making "smoothies" for breakfast, which was fantastic (more on that later) but after less than a week we started to notice the unmistakable smell of melting electronincs coming from the engine section, so, like the Tesco value steamer, it went back and was replaced by a top of the range one (now it is clear that it will be used and not just gather dust in the cupboard), in this case a Braun Multiquick Advantage -

- which comes with a lot more toys, not least a mini blender (which I have already used to dice an onion (in about 4 seconds)) and is all dishwasher safe...most important though is the ease with which one can make a breakfast smoothie...

I've made up a few recipies already, notables include -

• Banana Desert Special which consists of 2 bananas, 2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt, a squeeze of runny honey, a tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter, a scoop of vanila ice cream and an ice cube...(it's quite sweet though, beware!)
• Flyingpops' Pomegreat Delight - 1 banana, a good slosh of Pomegranite juice, one third of a large mango (diced) 3 large strawberries and a handfull of grapes
• Fink's Kiwi-Peach Chiller (my current favorite, although I do wish it didn't look like something that came out of a poorly cat) - 3 ice cubes, 2 tablespoons of greek youghurt, a kiwi (the flesh of, scooped), 1 banana, a de-stoned peach (no need to remove the skin) and 3 strawberries...yum... ;)

I'll be honest though, pretty much anything you throw in there seems to work as long as you have the banana as a base...got some pears ripening at the moment, a passion fruit and my own strawberry plants are heavy with green fruit...so plenty more opportunity to experiment, if i find any more killer recipies I'll let you know... ;)

Laughton update - breakfast

Just finished making and eating my fry up for breakfast (yum) after a thoroughly enjoyable but rather late night session with Flyingpops' folks and the foot saviour who wishes to be known as 'Vodqueen', which ended up in the seating section of our tent in the early hours of the morning... ;)

The weather today really can't seem to make up it's mind, awoke to rain first thing, and now it's really sunny, just hoping we can pack up dry later on...anyway, on with the show! ;)

Barbecued spare ribs with Peri Peri and Mango...

...for supper last night, prior to cooking marinade in a mixture of sliced peri peri, mango, olive oil, garlic, sticky american-style smoked BBQ sauce, a generous grind of pepper and a good few shakes of tabasco habanero sauce (omg! Tabasco now comes in gallon jugs!) for as long as you can, then stoke up the BBQ.

Meanwhile soak your sweetcorn in water (for at least ten minutes), pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and put the ribs on a baking tray, bake them for 25 minutes, turning once, then, when the BBQ coals are completely white and the heat is intense, cook 'em, turning frequently and moving them away from the worse of the flames that will spring up when the oil hits the coals...they only need a couple of minutes...

Take the sweetcorn out of the water, chop it into four bite-sized bits (cuts down on the greasy face factor), put them on a skewer and liberally cover the kernels with butter and a nice grind of seasoning, then cook on the coals...

Oh and Flyingpops had a veggie burger, but I've no idea how Mr Tesco made that...you'll have to check his blog... ;)

Evidence of Global Warming...

...(if further were required) is that I have now had my second BBQ of the year (Peri Peri pork ribs with Mango, got some new marinade from the tiny African shop in Redhil), the weather reports were quite correct, it was glorious....

- (okay, perhaps a bit too much propellant on reflection there ;)...The first one was last Saturday - 29th April - which was admittedly only marginally good enough (Flyingpop's opted to eat her kebabs in the living room), so I checked back on the blog and last year the weather didn't get good enough until the 16th of May...that's a pretty dramatic jump! So it looks like global warming is real (and making our weather better)...Damn... ;)