Tere

Done a bit of home bottling of booze in the last few days. Applejack is in the freezer to concentrate, and I bottled up a demijohn of mead and a demijohn made from white grapes from a neighbour's polytunnel. And then this morning I finished off Prunes in Armagnac from this recipe http://chezpim.com/drink/pruneaux-larmag . We will see how long I can resist giving it a taste!

I love Aldi. It's not my regular shop because it doesn't have all the things I want (and doesn't do online) but I go in every now and again. They tend to be very good for continental deli products (salami, parmesan) and they have good stuff at Christmas (cheap panettone, nice pate, that sort of stuff).

that squid looks so gorgeous!

OK, so, what happened was somebody here posted a creamy cucumber dill dressing on a simple salad and I couldn't get it out of my head. So I sous-vided two good quality but farmed salmon fillets (skinless, but I didn't realise at the time, I'd had skinned and crisped separately otherwise) at 50 degrees C for about 45 mins, realised they were close to done and got the final veg cooking, but switched the SV supreme demi off and left them in for another 15 mins maybe? The dressing I saw reminded me of tzatziki so I did a very simple grated cucumber, dill and low fat creme fraiche dip in generous quantities. Paired with the contents of a jar of stuffed vine leaves that really should have been used up and heavily pan fried courgette, pan fried in a generous amount of the generic spicy / herby oil that came from a purchase in Provence some years ago and gets added to with random herb / spice oil, and I only ever use in frying and baking.... It was yummy, one of the best improv meals I've done. the sour cream cut through the spicy fattiness of the courgette and the sous vide really worked out. It looks like a dogs breakfast in my lighting though! I was intending for it to be more Scandi and bought leeks and intended to use the Anja potatoes that are kicking around, but then I remembered the vine leaves and fusion went in a different direction

yes, that was so pretty

Pics (terrible) will come on the dinner thread but I just wanted to record that on skinless good quality salmon fillets, 50 degrees C for about 45 mins then left in a cooling waterbath for 15 produced the best salmon fillet I've ever cooked sous vide. P.S. not vacuum packed, just freezer bag packed. This one trick has revolutionised my sous vide cooking. I got my kit out, set it up for temp, left it while I went to get the hubby, came back, bagged it, did everything else, ate it. So so easy

I've had lemon chicken cartilage as a bar snack in Japan. Very tasty, if not calorific.

Easter is a four day weekend where we have planned to do a huge amount of garden work, so it will involve frozen instant pot chilli and cornbread, last portion, something mushrooms involving frozen mushroom ragout, a meal out at the local Michelin star for my birthday, and a.n. other, probably a roast chicken, since I am doing a leg of lamb this weekend

Pasha? http://nami-nami.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/happy-easter-with-pashka.html

I made this as a layer of my wedding cake and it was pretty tasty, and I don't like fruit cake! http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/easter-simnel-cake.html

I am really looking forward to this.

I just linked the pic. It's lovely. And very rare to have a full set, even with such a popular pattern, judging by eBay

rotuts, the service at the bottom

Welcome! You sound like you will be at home here

I might showcase my great aunt's sherry glasses with a personal beverage sometime. Yes, the same great aunt that I inherited the dinner service from (and I got some saucers cheap off eBay for my soup bowls so wootwoot! )

Welp, I'll give this one a go. If it doesn't work out for me I'm happy to post it on (and I will keep an eye out in the charity shops here - the company does seem to pop up now and again, both my wine coolers for my holiday lets are from them and were immaculate thrift shop purchases). Interestingly this site is suggesting several low and slow bakes to season. I had to scrub it back obviously, who knows when it was last used, but I think I'll try this method of seasoning. http://www.cooksinfo.com/bread-pans Might be the impetus to go and get some free starter from Price's of Ludlow

Sadly they don't seem to be listed on the website as being for sale but they do turn up on eBay now and again, so it's worth keeping an eye and having a custom search going

Replying to myself in the hope it will help a future browser too! This object is a terracotta bread baker by Henry Watson, who helpfully have a website with instructions: http://www.henrywatson.com/about/product-instructions/bread-baker-instructions/ Doesn't seem to be a requirement to soak going on, anyway.

Congratulations!

I did a charity shop clothes run to the local hospice shop on Saturday. I came away with two proper gallon glass demijohns for £2 each (a quarter of the price of new, and I would have to trek to Shrewsbury to get them), and a terracotta bread baker for £3: No instructions, but Google (or here somewhere) will provide, right? I love the retro look of the original box. It had been used but is now pristine after a scrub and a dishwash. This company do natural wine coolers which you soak in cold water, so I am wondering if a similar technique would be used here!

I have planted whitecurrants redcurrants and blackcurrants in the fruit cage, and I was reading Pille's blog Nami Nami recently and she even has a green variety. They are all very different from currants and they are all berries. I despise currants generally although I will put them in fruit cake etc. for my husband.

Yes. I used to host dinner parties and would do my very best to limit well meaning arrivals to alcohol, or dessert if they must. My peer group did a lot of mad banquets in our 20s to which you were expected to contribute a share of the ingredients so thankfully that wasn't too much of an issue

I think this is sensible. I am also of the opinion that you could go for a British casserole if you want a non carby dish, but they are very much winter food so I am struggling to think of a recommend for a Florida April. Think stew basically, anything cooked slowly. Casserole to me is synonymous with Dutch oven I think, if that helps at all? I would stick to a main course as I could see the host might have starters / desserts to hand. If you like this route I can stare at Delia tomorrow

No pic because I burned them a bit, but hot cross buns toasted, with lashings of proper salted butter.

I am crossing my fingers for no snow too. Our winter has been incredibly mild this year and a lot of things are ahead now.