curlywurlyfi

whoops. actually, I do sometimes (shhhh) put marmelade into bacon sandwiches. but I maintain my position on brown sauce.

whenever we ate gingernut biscuits when we were little, we had to hold the biscuit in one hand and tap it firmly onto the point of the opposite elbow. If the biscuit broke into three parts, you could make a wish, but you had to be silent until you'd eaten the biscuit, or your wish wouldn't come true. is it TOO MUCH COINCIDENCE that this was a rule taught us by our mother, and we only ever ate gingernuts on long journeys?

toothpaste?

ooooh Carlovski, you have a treat in store. go here if you don't believe! the bacon butty debate Fi

red chilli and chocolate bacon and marmalade pork and fennel feta and honey

at home with my parents in Scotland, last meal of a long weekend of birthdays and weddings and golf at Troon before returning to London, real life, work, house-move, etc. Poached smoked haddock topped with a poached egg, grilled bacon and fried Ayrshire potatoes. The rest of the magnum of Carteau du Gay 2001.

this is my take on what I think was a Hugo Arnold recipe in the Evening Standard a million years ago: - top, tail + slice courgettes lengthways, cut into 1" chunks - chunk tomatoes similarly - chunk stale baguette similarly (proportion wise, you want 1:1:2, tomatoes:bread:courgettes, but it's not an exact science) - toss all in olive oil, crushed garlic, chopped parsley, little grated Parmesan, season well - put into tian, drizzle more olive oil, sprinkle more Parmesan - bake until veg are soft and squashy and catching at the edges, and bread (the bits that you can see) is gold and crisp Really good with roast lamb.

hmmmm you're probably right. Would have to peel them, or it might have been for kebabs of the minced meat variety? sorry, need coffee.

someone, and I can't remember who but it's in one of the Books For Cooks numbers, uses lemongrass sticks as skewers for chicken/fish kebabs. never tried it, but thought it sounded like a good plan.

smoked salmon, sour cream, masses of chopped fresh parsley, black pepper + lemon juice stirred through egg pasta. had the leftovers for lunch too - stickier, but still good.

my corned beef hash also features frozen peas, and a Worcestershire sauce jus . Onions, check; corned beef, check; potatoes, check; crusty bits, check; but eggs?? - nope.

only slightly 'Indian', but I love them - toast some cumin seeds, add some oil, then fry some finely diced onion till golden but not too soft. Add chopped garlic + maybe some dried red chilli flakes + maybe some cinammon. Peel + seed + chop some tomatoes (or, if you are lazy like me, just chop them - the fibre's good for you anyway). Steam green beans then toss in big bowl with onion mix + chopped tomato. Sprinkle with chopped coriander. Serve warm or at room temp.

- make leftover lamb casserole - brown up lots of onions, deglaze pan with red wine and or lamb/chicken/veg stock, add rosemary or thyme, maybe some redcurrant jelly, maybe some black olives, maybe a strip of orange peel, reduce sauce to almost the right consistency, add lamb chunks, simmer 10 mins to amalgamate flavours + thicken sauce, serve with mashed potatoes. mmmmmm. - if the meat has not gone dry and can be rewarmed slightly, use to make Nigella's warm lamb salad - shredded slow-baked lamb shoulder on a bed of (from memory) green leaves and mint leaves, with pomegranate seeds sprinkled over, dressing of (can't remember but think that pomegranate molasses could usefully feature, also lemon juice) - delicious tucked into pitta bread with tzatziki, though not v freeze-able - three ingredient curry (I normally make this with leftover turkey/chicken) - slice one onion finely, fry half till soft and golden, add lamb pieces, one tin chickpeas drained, some stock, tbsp of curry paste, simmer 10 mins or so (should be quite thin and soupy). Meanwhile, fry rest of onion till crispy and blackened. Slosh curry over basmati rice, top with crispy onions, eat. Wish you had made more crispy onions now, doncha. Again, not so good for freezing, though you can.

I love this! in my new world order (where, incidentally, I am also banning the colour yellow), using a phrase such as "would you like to go out for a meal" or "how did you enjoy your meal" actually constitutes a hanging offence. I also have a problem with veggies, sarns (UK short for sandwiches), nosh and snags (sausages). But my most hated word is 'grub'. How can a word that means white and bulging insect larva also mean food?? aieeeeeek.

well if you're in Northern Ireland you're probably having the same delightful [read: rain, cold, snow, hail, sleet, plague of locusts] July weather we're having in London, and if you'd like a hot pudding to do with your blackcurrants, you could make good old Lemon Surprise Pudding (the one which turns out to have a layer of sauce, layer of sponge when baked) and toss in handfuls of blackcurrants to the mixture - they work beautifully with the lemon and give little explosions of hot blackcurranty flavour. Other thoughts: - flourless chocolate cake with blackcurrants instead of raspberries (this freezes well. Nigella's recipe is great.) - could you adapt a cranberry loaf/teabread recipe for blackcurrants? - Eton Mess with blackcurrants instead of raspberries. You could add a dash of kirsch and freeze it, or use crumbled amaretti biscuits instead of meringue? - chocolate log with cream + blackcurrants, like a grooved-up Black Forest - mulch them up + use as a sauce for plain cheesecake or a couple of tablespoons when deglazing the roasted duck breast pan - send a couple of punnets to grateful eGullet types?? Fi

I kept thinking of it as 'No Way' - as in, like, no way, dude (say in Keanu Reeves accent for maximum gnarl). so happy about this blog, too! thanks!

is this a Barry Manilow quote?

Ah, vicarious eating, my favourite. Means I can use the calories I save by merely thinking about the food elsewhere. this blog is beginning to be like a siren call, particularly since I had drinks with some friends last Friday and we were discussing The World's Top Five Cities, and after much horse-trading, argument and downright shoving the list ran like this: 1. London (well, obviously, since I live here, me me me me me) 2. Venice 3. Chicago =4. Madrid+ Berlin note absence of New York and Paris. (ducks to avoid hail of incoming from wrathful Americans and Francophiles). And for cheesy baked goods, may I recommend the cheese straws at Baker and Spice? oh sorry, that's London not Chicago. Still, they'll be here when you get back... Fi

Yesterday I was at friends who live in the country and they gave us their home-grown raspberries mulched up with a bit of cream and piped into brandysnaps. It was such an old-fashioned treat, it was lovely! And a jar of home-made strawberry jam... Fi

I remember making a conscious decision at the age of 14 to acquire the taste for coffee. I was at boarding school and it was really uncool if you were invited to some other girl's room for coffee to have to say 'oh actually can I have a glass of water'. It didn't take long, about two weeks as I remember. but, there are things I try and try to eat and just gag (sorry) when I do. Prime example being goat's cheese. I would LOVE to be able to eat this, but (as I've said elsewhere on eGullet) - to me, it's like licking an old goat. And I try, oooh, two-three times a year, just to see if I can do it this time? nope. I've managed to acquire a taste for capers, anchovies, olives, celery, turnip [rutabaga], even beetroot - let's face it, it's an unusual child that says 'oooh good, is this beet??' But goat's cheese defeats me...

clb, it was Ken Hom Cooks Thai and if I can find the instructions I will make it into an Amazon clicky linky. if you like I can PM you the recipe (slightly adapted by me)? Ken Hom Cooks Thai (edit to add Amazon link) (I hope)

the sad fact is yes, they are. I buy them when I see them in the UK summer and have yet to find any that match the flavour of the Mediterranean ones. best thing to do with disappointing apricots is cook them. But I persist, I persist - because that mouth-filling juice-dripping sunshine apricot flavour is so worth it when you get a good one. I have the same problem with figs - the ones I buy in the UK taste like pale shadows of their Med cousins - and yet because I am always hoping to find that elusive perfect one, I always buy them...

a happy weeknight discovery of Ken Hom's recipe for quick-fried pork mince with Thai red curry paste, lots of garlic, lots of chopped basil. served with basmati. Really delicious (I was livid when my dining companion scraped the last of it onto his plate without asking me if I would like any more). Not larb, but really good.

chunk them and toss them with cherry tomatoes, EVOO, rosemary, maybe a few dried red chilli flakes, garlic, s+p, then roast till the tomatoes are sticky and caramelly. Use as sauce for grilled butterflied leg of lamb.

this is where Tupperware is your friend...