Kerala

My daughter just got back from a field trip to Lisbon. She loves her daddy:

We were on a Norway cruise recently and stopped at some tiny towns along the coast. Obviously, I bought some tinned fish. I've had some flu like illness over the last 24 hours so lunch was pretty unceremonious. Tasted good.

I can't quite tell if you're pulling my leg, but if you're not, that's amazing!

Everything looks delicious, but... what in the name of physics is going on here?

It's cold and windy late November. So, my wife's favourite: Shepherds pie. And equally for dessert: Tarte Tatin.

Every. Last. Bit. Just how I grew up. Although I'm not so open about scraping the bottle when I'm in company!

TKMaxx has a little gourmand section which often has some tempting surprises hidden away. Portuguese sardines. Must buy! Very nice. Sadly only one tin available and little chance of the same brand popping up again any time soon. Interestingly it seems to be from the same cannery as La Rose- or the other way around! A little history

I didn't want to go too off-topic. We were only here for a few hours. Wet and windy pre-Christmas Scandi weather. Very Nordic vibes The lights streaming towards the 2 o'clock position are the funicular tram. The seafront's painted houses stretch back quite a long way with old rickety wood and brick structures. Now mainly shops, bars and hotels, I imagine in the past they would have been involved in various fishing service activities.

We find ourselves in Bergen, Norway. My dinner was turbot with trout caviar, wilted spinach, pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and a green sauce, possibly a very mild pesto. The missus had fish and chips, which she rated 9.5 Truly outstanding. The battery was crisp, strongly seasoned, and the fish was very moist and tender. We ate at the fish market on the harbour front: I wish I had several days just to eat my way through this place! Lovely people, too!

Why not go All American? Chicken wings and other Superbowl stuff?

My mother in law made an egg dish with yoghurt, flavoured with toasted ground sesame seeds. Very Nepalese, I remember she always did these at "parties." I usually bake the eggs with the biriyani, but MiL was keen to get involved, and it made for a bit of variety. Nice.

Lamb biriyani From the Dishoom cookbook. I've increased the meat ratio, but flavours stay consistent. Here's a bit of the prep We had a small crowd over for dinner last night. This went down so well!

That's quite a plate. I've never put crisps (as we call them in the UK) on a plate of curry, although I do think chips ( British English) with curry is one of the great serendipities of the 20th century. I'll try the crisps. Plain boiled beans with curry? I'm not sold. "He likes to cook this curry and I like to eat it" sounds like a great arrangement! Happy times!

I've never done that from frozen, @rotuts. Looks way too easy! This is my standard chicken drumsticks prep. Cheffed the tendons, deep cuts on the flesh as they were rather large pieces. Salt, pepper, ras el hanout, EVOO. 20 minutes at 200C.

Sainsburys supermarket posh line. "Taste the difference." I don't know if I've posted this one before. It's expensive for a supermarket brand so I'm a bit begrudging. I have to say, it's very, very good. Different to the Portuguese boutique tins, maybe better. Clean, firm flakes, not fishy, and a fuller taste to the olive oil.