Kerala

A wonderful tribute. I'm sad to see this, and so sorry for your personal loss.

How did you grow this? I've been thinking about just trying rooting powder on some fresh stalks from the Indian market.

The food looks so beautiful. I miss that kind of rain. You've made me nostalgic. I might have to perversely go back to Kerala mid-monsoon!

IDK. I mean, it looks good an' all...

Saturday lunch. Pork chop, pan-fried purple sprouting broccoli, chilli and garlic oil.

Friday night: Pork chop, mushroom and cream sauce, steamed long stem broccoli and beans. Made by the missus.

White pudding, smoked mackerel, egg. I could get used to this instead of muesli.

Yesterday. The more I look, the more it looks like a face.

@Senior Sea Kayaker It's hot smoked peppered mackerel from Sainsbury's. You can never have too much pepper!

Poached egg, smoked mackerel, avocado.

English braeburns. He added a bit of marmalade, I think that was it. The wife says it was better than mine. I usually add a glug of cider and cook it down, with definitely a bit of pepper. I said it was great, based on the missus's comments. But she's got a sweet tooth. I only had a lick of his, because carbs (idiot imoji) but it was nice. I prefer mine.

I was in Nottingham at lunchtime, getting my mother in law's vintage Omega serviced. I took a few free hours. Lunch was whatever I wanted, and I came across a relatively new place, Risa's Thai. Looking online now, I see it's part of a chain. Chicken larb. Not as piquant as I'd like, but this is The Midlands, so I'm grateful it was at least spicy hot and had some corriander for herbal fresh notes. I would go back to try the green papaya salad.

Cooked for the family again. My brother in law helped out, including a great apple sauce. Roast pork, store bought stuffing balls, chestnuts, fine beans, crackling. Others had mash, but I held off.

So it looks like you have been here before, @BonVivant ? This looks so good. I am following this with great interest.

Oh, boy! Can't wait!

For a bit of variety, I cooked some duck, sausage, pork, bacon and beans in a little white wine, low and slow in the oven. None of that crust-breaking and so on. It was nice, and the family liked it. Nice break from salad for me!

And @Smithy Yes, indeed, I did cook these meals. I mean that I enjoy the more involved processes I usually employ, involving knifework, grinding, sauteeing, spicing, the application of heat, time, love and technique to provide a meal not just for myself but for the family. These salads I have been eating have been tasty, but rather straight forward in their preparation. Nice to eat, but not particularly rewarding to make. It's quite possible I'm just grumpily searching for a reason to give up on this low-carb diet.

Poussin variation. As nice as these meals would be on their own, I'm going to have to think about some alternatives. And I miss *cooking*!

Even Marco Pierre White sold Knorr when he could.

I went to see the 2023 re-release of Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" at the local IMAX. I've had that LP for 35 years but never seen the movie. Just wow! So tonight was going to be my cheat night in my low-carb diet. But look- Nando's with no fries! I did have a beer though. Very nice.

Breakfast from a couple of days ago. Leftover roast lamb sliced in slivers, flakes of pecorino romano and a bird's eye chilli finely sliced all wrapped up in a two egg omelette. With a lovely end piece of baguette. What a time to be alive! Today's self-explanatory breakfast. Maybe not so self-explanatory; the bits that are difficult to recognise are avocado and coleslaw. All under lashings of black pepper.

OK, OK! Same-same, no argument. Butterflied leg of lamb in the air fryer, salad with nectarine, apple, orange and pistachio. There's a smear of gochujang at 6 o'clock, on my plate only. Family loved it. They had some nice bread to go along with it. I'm trying to do a carb-light diet, which I've never done before. I never understood people getting hyped up about carbohydrates before- that's just the stuff you eat protein with, right? Now after 5 days I find myself thinking about carbonara, pizza, ramen bowls, fish and chips, and it's the carbohydrate that's uppermost in my anticipation! That morning slice of toast I allow myself daily is so appreciated.

What an outstanding page of breakfasts! Zero skills, but tasted great!

Just back from another trip to Eddie's in Portugal, again with the lads