Fat Dormouse getting thinner

Next Week from River Cottage

2012-02-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

So last week certainly had some successes, but I think my favourite meal was the Patatas Bravas. That really was great, and, with the tapas-y type additions that I made, would be a good informal meal to have with friends. The fried chorizo was a tasty addition too.

This picture, entitled "Flemish Girl Feeding A Cat" appealed to me, as our cats are inveterate beggars of food. The girl appears to have been plucking a chicken, when her Mistigris (which I've discovered is a French term meaning "Pussy Cat". I love it, and may well use it for the name of our next cat, especially if it is grey.) arrived. This is SO like Millie - I only need to start chopping anything in the kitchen, and she arrives, on litttle fog feet. to beg or to steal some titbit or other!

I'm starting an experiment this week, (or maybe I will develop it this week and start next) regarding lunches. As I said last week, I just buy "stuff" for lunch with no real planning, and sometimes I buy way too much, and sometimes - like this week - I buy far too little. So I'm going to plan my take-to-work lunch more carefully, and write on the fridge 5 suggestions for Mr F-D to choose from. I'm also going to try (tho' who knows how long this will last!) to make 4 pasty type things each weekend, to give something other than bread for lunch. This is because I've started having something-on-toast for breakfast, (rather than porridge, as I was feeling a bit sick of porridge.) and don't want to have bread for 2/3 of my meals.

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So, lunches next week are: roast veg & cheese with salad, 2 x cheese and onion pasty, meatball sandwich with pickle, and something with eggs (sandwich for me, possibly omelette for Mr F-D) Tomorrow I'll make a butternut squash and coconut soup to have as well.

Other meals:

SATURDAY: Roast leeks with Romesco sauce, bread and cannelini bean hummus. This blog gives more details of how the dish should be made with thick spring onions, but I'm using leeks, and not really chargrilling, but roasting them. Hopefully they'll still be enjoyable. As Mr F-W suggests this dish as part of a mezze, I'm going to also make cannelini bean hummus to try. I can't find a recipe for this - but it's a basic hummus recipe, made with cannelini beans, rather than chickpeas. However, I could have sworn that the recipe said I could use peanut butter instead of tahini, but it doesn't say that now. Hmm. Very strange.

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SUNDAY: Spiced fried chicken, sauté potatoes and salad. Or maybe sauté courgettes. This is from the recipe magazine, rather than Mr F-W. Basically, fry the chicken with cumin, cinnamon and cayenne. Then when cooked, add some almonds to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes and serve. I wonder whether to roast the chicken, with the spices rubbed into the flesh - less oil/butter (as the recipe states 30g butter plus 2 tbsp oil)

MONDAY: Spaghetti Carbonara but made with a mixture of low fat creme fraiche (not fromage frais) and cream cheese. And I'll probably use whole eggs so I'm not left with whites to use up!

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TUESDAY: Sicilean meatballs. I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but it's in my handwritten recipe folder. Here is the recipe; it serves 2 people.

225g minced pork 20g grated parmesan

60g fresh breadcrumbs 2 tbsp chopped parsley

zest/juice lemon 1 egg

25g plain flour 1 tbsp oil

1 large gless white wine 2 bay leaves

Mix pork, cheese, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, lemon and a pinch of salt. Form into 8 balls. Roll in the flour. Chill, if you have time.

Heat oil and brown the meatballs. Don't move them about too much.

Add wine and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Then add the bay leaf and enough water to cover the meatballs.

Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and the juices are syruppy.

Serve, as I am doing, with rice. Or pasta. And a green vegetable.

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WEDNESDAY: Cottage pie with a mashed potato and turnip topping. Do you need a recipe? I can prepare this before Alison comes down for her weekly apero, and just pop it into the oven. It's the last time I'll be able to do some preparation beforehand, as next week I'll be back to a full day's teaching, getting back at 6.15, just before Alison arrives. One of my students is preparing for her Bac Blanc (mock exam) so doesn't want an English lesson.

This image is taken from a French site, which says: La Cottage Pie est aux anglais ce que le Hachis Parmentier est aux français mais d'un point de vue personnel, je trouve la Cottage Pie plus savoureuse que son cousin le hachis parmentier, plus riche en saveurs ... peut être le thym, la worcester sauce, le concentré de tomates et le mijotage de la viande dans le bouillon de boeuf qui apporte à ce plat un goût délicieux, un plat familial et simple mais qu'il est bon de découvrir et redécouvrir ...( translation: Cottage Pie is to the English what Hachis Parmentier is to the French, but personally speaking, I find Cottage Pie tastier and more flavoursome than its French cousin. Perhaps it is the thyme, the Worcester sauce, the tomato purée and the simmering of the beef in beef stock which gives this dish its delicious taste; it is a simple family meal, but one which is good to have again and again...)

Interestingly, all the comments that follow, from French housewives everywhere, are positive. Unlike most of my students who declare that English cooking is crap!

THURSDAY: Dammit, I am going to eat that Quinoa that I bought a month ago!!! But I'm going to try Mr F-W's "winter" version of the still-not-tried Courgette and Onion Quinoa. So we're having Quinoa with leeks and squash. Maybe that will be more successful!

FRIDAY: Winter stir-fry with Chinese Five Spice. This includes Brussels sprouts, which are certainly not my favourite vegetable, and I may not be able to buy them anyway. If that's the case, I'll go for some kind of cabbage.

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Someone has written about this recipe:

"Flipping superb! Who would have thought, sprouts,carrots,parsnips in a noodle stir fry! Made mine using home grown sprouts onions garlic and chillis.Best recipe I've ever tried! Nearly decided on a chinese takeaway but glad I didn't! My missus quite likes Hugh and is now totally smitten after this recipe of his.Cheers" (I do have to admit to correcting the commentator's grammar!)

So there we go. Next Week courtesy of River Cottage. PomPom came for dinner every day last week - does anyone else want me to meet them at the airport?!

PS I received my lovely giveaway present from Ang yesterday. I will tell you about it tomorrow, over at the View From The Teapot. But thank you, Ang.

Apparently, I'm versatile

2012-02-18T06:15:00.001-08:00

Get that! According to Alix at Used-to-Bees, I'm versatile

adjective

1. capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc.: a versatile writer.

2.having or capable of many uses: a versatile tool.

3.Botany . attached at or near the middle so as to swing freely, as an anther.

4.Zoology . turning either forward or backward: a versatile toe.

5.variable or changeable, as in feeling, purpose, or policy: versatile moods.

She has awarded me a Versatile Blogger Award.

Gosh! What a blogging week. First I host a Giveaway, then I win one (huzzah!) and now I have an award. I'm famous!
Apparently, what I need to do now is list seven things about me. Random facts.

ONE

I am particularly wet and squashy over animals (even though I eat them, quite happily) Llamas, cats, kittens, rabbits, dormice, puppies, lambs, donkeys, squirrels...they all make me go "Aah!" Though, I need to point out, quite hastily, that I don't eat everything that is on that list. In fact, of those animals mentioned, I only eat two. You can make your mind up which two.

WRONG!

TWO

I was born and brought up in Liverpool. I don't have a Scouse accent, although one can be provided, if required. Which brings me on to

THREE

I love acting. When we lived in Milton Keynes, I was a member of a very well-respected Amateur Theatre Company,(Stantonbury Campus Theatre Company) and was lucky enough to play Rita in "Educating Rita". That was when my accent came into its own! Among others, I played parts in Dennis Potter's "Son of Man", various productions of Mystery Plays, Nicholas Nickleby, LarkRise to Candleford, Milton Keynes: the Musical, As You Like It, King Lear, Scouting for Boys, Man For All Seasons and several Murder Mysteries, with The Really Horrid Production Company which were great fun. I even performed in the new Milton Keynes theatre when it was first opened, with SCTC, in the musical "Hopes and Dreams" which was written about the beginnings of the city.

Connected to my theatrical endeavours is fact number 4

FOUR

I have performed in a play, especially written for our theatre company, with a part especially written for me (or at least, written with me in mind) by the wonderful Bryony Lavery Within SCTC, there were many excellent women actors (and, sadly, I don't really count myself among that number) who were often fighting (though not literally) for parts. So, as one of the directors was a good friend of Bryony Lavery's, she asked her to come to work with the women of the group and to maybe write a piece for us. What came out of the workshops was the great play "Ophelia", which took, as its inspiration,"Hamlet" but was written from Ophelia's point of view. I was cast as Raag, a servant in the great castle of Elsinore, whose first action on stage was to look up the shroud of the dead king, and comment on the size of his manhood! As I say, it was especially written for me...! I've tried to find more details of the play online, but sadly there's not much about it.

FIVE

I've done this:

That's correct. I have paraglided. Over Puy de Dome, in the Auvergne. It was with a very nice gentleman called Hubert - and while I was up there, flying free-as-a-bird, I was sick-as-a-dog! I do hope it didn't land on anyone walking in the forest below!

SIX

I've written a novel. I just haven't got round to contacting any agents about it. It's called "Teaching Donkeys To Dance" and is about someone who moves to France. Even if it never gets published, the writing process was fab. I wrote it in my first year here, when Mr FD was still working in the UK, and coming over every fortnight. It certainly gave me something to do in the long, lonely days...!!!

SEVEN

I have been on the radio. Twice. Oooh, the excitement! Once was on the Radcliffe and Maconie show on Radio Two. They are now on Radio Six Music, but the feature "The Chain" moved with them. On this, the idea is to suggest a piece of music that is somehow connected to the piece played before (if that makes sense) If they pick your suggestion, they phone you up for a bit of a chat. For me, the piece of music before was by The Flatlanders, so I suggested this song. Can you guess why?! (Incidentally, I was at a show on that tour where that video was taken. Great! Birmingham Areana. A-ma-zing!)
The second time was an interview on Three Counties Radio, and a performance of my character Mary Magdalene, on Easter morning. If you read my Pause In Advent, over on the other blog, you'll read my retelling of Elizabeth's story. This was Mary Magdalene's story. It actually led to quite a few speaking engagements, mostly with Mother's Unions, in the Bucks,Beds&Herts area. I didn't get paid though!

So there you are! Seven random facts about me. I'm supposed to now nominate 15 blogs which I read, to receive this award too. But most blogs I have bookmarked are "award free", and don't want to do this kind of thing. But I will point you in the direction of some of my favourite blogs anyway...
Thistlewood Farm shows Kari's beautiful home in America, where she creates some original and beautiful things.
Bread is Pain tells the trials and tribulations of an American adjusting to life in France - vey amusingly.
Beautytipsforministers does exactly what it says - but is interesting for anybody who is in the public eye
A Thrifty Mrs is really interesting, as Thrifty gives hints/suggestions/practical advice about thrifting and saving.
Odd Socks & Pretty Frocks is written by a Liverpool lass. I enjoy reading her slightly off-the-wall comments on life, and style. I wish I had been that stylish when I was youger
I know that PomPom is well known to several readers here, and so is Floss but I'm adding them anyway. Both give very readable accounts of their lives in the US and in France
And finally, Fraise Lachrymose another who shares her life.

Goodness me! How could I forget... there's also Ang over at Tracing Rainbows. I know she is an Award Free blog, but I wouldn't like to forget to mention her.

I know several of these are Award Free zones, or don't accept awards or participate, but I want to acknowledge that I enjoy reading their blogs, and to say Thank You.

What are we eating this week?

2012-02-18T04:28:00.002-08:00

Last week was changed slightly, due to going out on Wednesday - as you'll have read (maybe!) we went to Alison's to have a raclette with her family and her friends who have been stating at their gite.Here is a link to their website, where you can see their gite, but also some beautiful views of the area where I live. The site was designed by Mr F-D.

Raclette is a traditional cheese based meal of the mountains. Originally a whopping great lump of cheese was toasted next to the fire, somewhat like a cheese doner kebab, and as it melted, it was sliced off on top of potatoes, and eaten with cold meats. Alternatively something like this was used:

Hot cinders or ashes were put inside the "bucket", and the block of cheese placed on top. Then, as it melted the slicery- thing on the right would shave off the melted cheese. We have a much simpler version, shown in my last post, where the cheese is ready sliced, put in little pans and put under an electric grill. But it's still delicious!

Our classic painting today is quite appropriate, as many of this week's meals centre around aubergines, tomatoes and peppers. I know these are summer vegetables, really, and so the food miles value is probably not very good...but I do long for vegetables other than cabbagey brassicas - of which I'm not a huge fan. So I'm afraid, that, this week, I'm mostly buying Moroccan vegetables!

SATURDAY: Aubergine lasagne. This recipe comes from the magazine "Eat In" which I am also working my way through, recipe wise. I've probably cooked about 1/3 of the recipes now. This recipe uses a lot of different cheeses, one of which (cottage cheese) I've never seen in France. I'm adapting it, to use a pot of Cancoillotte (site in French) which is a type of ready made cheesy sauce, which was cheap in Lidl this week. Probably not very cholesterol friendly though, as it says "Pur beurre" (pure butter) on the label!

For 4 people

3 large aubergines, sliced lengthways

250g frozen spinach, thawed.

250g cottage cheese

150g feta

3 shallots, finely sliced

2 x 350g tomato based pasta sauce

75g mozzarella

Pre heat oven to 200°C/GM6. Spray oil on each side of the aubergine slices (or brush them with oil) and place on a baking tray, in a single layer. Bake for 10 mins until tender. Cool slightly.

Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the spinach. Then mix with the cottage cheese, feta and shallots.

Make layers of aubergine, spinach/cheese mix, and pasta sauces in a greased dish. Finish with the pasta sauce.

Top with the mozzarella. Then bake for 30 minutes or so, until brown and bubbling.

I'm using the Cancoillotte instead of the cottege cheese and feta, especially as my frozen spinach is with creme fraiche. So my lasagne maybe slightly less cheesy than this version. But probably creamier!!
Edited On Sunday:This was very nice, but I think my version was a lot sloppier than the one in the recipe! My spinach-&-cancoillotte sauce was very runny, and then I made the mistake of adding a bit of leftover wine to the pasta sauce, so everything was a bit liquid. However, it was very tasty and with a big thick slice of bread, it fed us very well! I'll use the rest of the Cancoillotte spread on two left over tortillas, with grated cheese and a tiny bit of bacon to make a wrap to have with lunch. Oooh, my mouth is watering already at the thought! We'll have them with more of the very, very thick vegetable soup that I made yesterday.

SUNDAY: Some kind of made up chicken, bacon, mushroom pasta dish. I have a chicken breast saved from the fajitas on Friday - I only cooked one, with mushrooms, onion,leek and a red pepper. I think there was plenty of filling, even though there wasn't that much chicken. I did purposely buy the biggest pack of chicken breast (6€70 for two, instead of the smallest, which is what I usually do. It's quite expensive, as I'll only buy Red Label, reared-outdoors, fed on vegetarian food chicken)

Here is a happy chicken
The wraps were lovely - crispy and tasty, as expected. As wraps come in packs of 8, and we usually only have three for our main meal, it is good to find a use for the left over two, other than let them go stale, or go crispy-through-freezer-burn in the freezer. I dry-fried them, added a cheese and cooked bacon mixture, folded them and fried them until they'd gone crispy and the cheese had melted. Delicious! The chickeny-bacony-pasta thing was very nice too.

MONDAY: Veggie curry. I've got two or three "part servings" in the freezer. They're all coming out to make a Melange of Mixed Veggie Curry tonight. With rice (no naan breads left, and I'm really not a naan bread making kind of girl.)
My computer decided to go all Pete Tong on me, so I haven't been able to get online all week. All the updates are done on Saturday. The curries weren't very spicy, but they were tasty enough.

TUESDAY: The postponed Merguez chips and sausages from last week. This is a River Cottage recipe, which I'm serving with a tomato and onion salad.

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Merguez chips were yummy. Not much more effort than usual homemade oven chips, but with a bit more interest. Sausages and salsa-y tomato salad. Fine!
WEDNESDAY: Sweet Potato and peanut gratin. I have linked to this before, as I'd planned to make this a while back, but forgot to buy the peanut butter. Mr FD will be pleased: he loves peanut butter. The only question is, will the jar last between me getting the shopping home and making the gratin?! (As it's only an afternoon, I think the answer's yes. Had it been a few days between the two events, I would have been more doubtful! Actually, I need peanut butter for Saturday's meal too. Hmm. That might be a bit less certain!)

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I wasn't totally convinced that this made a meal by itself, so in the end I caved in and served it with some charcuterie and a green salad. I think I was right: it was nice, but as a main course, I think it lacked something.
THURSDAY: The postponed Quinoa with Courgettes and Onions. Again, this is a link I've used before. I'm a tad dubious about this one - it doesn't look very exciting - but Mr F-W has surprised me before, so let's Go For It!

Thursday was cold and damp and foggy. I really didn't fancy something that was billed as a "summer dish" so I made a hearty pasta bake instead, with the courgettes and onions, with a bit of an aubergine that I had, a leek, some passata and some chorizo. It was rib-stickingly what we needed.
FRIDAY: Patatas Bravas, with sautéed chorizo, and a good hearty mixed salad. This recipe isn't quite the River Cottage one, but it's close enough. It also suggests making an aioli (garlic mayonnaise) to serve with them...Hmmm. I might just do that!

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Oh, the Patatas Bravas meal was fab! I pushed the boat out a bit, and not only made the patatas, but a garlic mayo, some garlicky roast courgette and aubergine, and put out some marinaded peppers and olives. With a glass of Chilean red, this was a delight of a meal! Definitely one to make again. Thanks, Mr F-W!

And so there we are. Some meat, but not too much. We are still eating quite a lot of meat in our lunches - I usually take sandwiches to work, and Mr FD has bread and stuff that's in the fridge. It's been quite a lot of cheese this week. I find it trickier finding healthier options for lunches, as it's usually mostly processed meats (salami, rosette, air cured ham, paté etc) or cheese. I could start making mushroom paté, etc, or preparing a tasty salad to take...but to be honest, when I get home I can manage to prepare dinner for that night. To start faffing round with lentils and chickpeas, and washing salad leaves, is not an appealing prospect. I'll stick with my sandwiches I think. I do enjoy a nice egg mayo sandwich though. Mmmmmmmmmm. I think that will be on the list for next week's lunch somewhere.

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Though, I'm just back to say I've had, for lunch today (Saturday) a big bowl of vegetable soup, made with onions, leeks, garlic, carrots, butternut squash, turnip and tomato. I put in a splash of wine, a chicken stock cube and a vegetable stock cube, some soup pasta and an old parmesan rind. When it came to time to zuzz the soup, I couldn't find the rind, so I just zuzzed it with everything else!! With the soup I had a reblechon and coleslaw sandwich, and I'm now enjoying a cup of coffee and another slice of pain aux céréals with home made rhubarb and orange jam. And this afternoon, I WILL go for a short walk - the weather is beautiful!

Surfing the River Cottage pages

2012-02-11T06:08:00.001-08:00

Hello again, those of you who pop in on a weekly basis! Don't forget that I update each week's page during the week with comments about the dishes. If there's one you're particularly interested in, it might be worth your while popping back to see my verdict. I would like to say that the Warm squash and mushroom salad (about which I was slightlty dubious) was absolutely delicious!

I couldn't give this week's painting a better title than the one it has:

It is called "The Gourmand". I think "gourmand" is a great word, and it does give an idea of how the French see food - as something to be enjoyed. It is difficult to translate: when I have to explain it to my students, I use the English word "greedy" but it's not that. Greedy is a negative term: to be told that one is greedy is a bit of an insult, but to be labelled a "gourmand" is different. It implies an appreciation of food, a love of food - a delight in food. Look at the face of the gentleman above - he is really enjoying his meal! And I like to think that - in general - we are gourmans. Though perhaps we do eat our food a little too quickly: we don't savour it quite as much as we should, and we eat from trays in front of the TV....though that is partly to save on heating the dining room!

Anyway, here's what the Gourmands of Dormouse Towers will be tucking into next week:
SATURDAY: We're having the delayed spoufflé from last week. Last time I couldn't find the recipe online, but I'm happy to say I found it this time. So for those of you who are intigued by the idea of a soufflé with pasta, here is the recipe. It requires quite a lot of faffing about, I believe, but I hope the effort is worth it.
Yes, the effort WAS worth it! And, in fact, the faffing wasn't too bad. I used frozen, defrosted spinach instead of fresh, and beaufort cheese instead of cheddar. I also used half fat milk instead of full fat, and I didn't use an extra egg white. Otherwise I followed the instructions (not much left the same!!) and it was very nice. I might use more cheese next time, but it was delicious as it was.
SUNDAY: Chilli. I've not had chilli for quite a while - the last planned time, I ended up using the mince that I'd bought to bulk out the failed refried beans and I made something that loked very similar to vomit. (To be fair, it wasn't so much the beans that were a failure as the flatbreads) This time, I'm using steak, rather than mince. A British Mum gives her take on a beef chilli using steak. I'm going to try following her recipe, instead of my usual "fling in what I've got lying around" method.But mine will have mushrooms in, because I've got a lot to use up.

In the end, I didn't quite follow A British Mum's instructions to the letter, but, at her command, I added more spices than I usually would - normally I don't use cumin, or coriander - and they added flavour. Very, very nice. And Mr FD certainly approved of the meat lumps in place of mince. Using steaks from Lidl meant it wasn't really much more expensive. We had this with baked potatoes last night, and there's a small portion each for lunch with bread. If, that is, Mr FD received my message to buy it while he was at Shopi.
MONDAY: Mushroom Risoniotto You'll need to scroll down to find the actual recipe, but the author of the blog seems very keen on Mr F-W and his book. Certainly, I'm with her on that - my only real disaster was the aforementioned flatbreads, though there have been a couple of "meh" dishes.

The Mushroom Risoniotto was very nice - but I have to admit to making it a Mushroom-and-bacon Risoniotto. I threw in half a pack of lardons. I also used a bit less cream and some cream cheese. We didn't have orzo pasta, but I used tiny spirals (forgotten their names) and they suited fine.
TUESDAY: We're having Mr F-W's Spicy Merguez chips. Don't be afraid by the beginning of this blog which is in (I think) German. The recipe is written in English. Basically it's big oven roasted chips with a spicy rub and a yoghurty dip. I do feel it needs something more, so I'm thinking we'll have sausages (possibly merguez!) and a tomato/onion salad. Yummy.
It is our friend Danièle's birthday on 15th, so we invited her for dinner. I thought she deserved something better than Merguez chips and sausages, so they are postponed till next week. Instead we had brebis-cheese-on-toast and salad, with toasted pine nuts, followed by chicken casserole and potato-and-butternut-squash dauphinoise. Then cheese and a bought (but enjoyable) tarte tatin. I had plans to make a pudding, but after 6 and a half hours of lessons, which included getting up at 5.45, and having a meagre 15 minutes to shove a sandwich in my gob for lunch, I really had no inclination to start cooking whenI got home. I'd already prepared and cooked the main course yesterday. We had a lovely evening. Happy birthday, Danièle.
WEDNESDAY: This needs something quickish to prepare as Wednesday is the day Alison comes down and we drink a bit too much and eat snacks that are bad for us. So I'm going to cook Kamchatka. I'm not teaching much today because it's school holidays, so most of my private students don't have lessons; this means I'll be able to prepare the Kamchatka beforehand and just fry the eggs when we're ready to eat. It's not really called Kamchatka, but that's its name in our house!

We were out on Wednesday night - instead of Alison coming here, we went there for a raclette with her friends who are staying at the moment. So I ate too much. Raclette is lovely, but it can be a bit heavy, eaten late at night.

Melted cheese, boiled potatoes, cold meats and salad. Delicious, but the cheese does lie rather heavy! So, since I'd already been organised and prepared the Kamchatka, we had it on Thursday instead...
THURSDAY: Vegetable Gratin and garlic bread. The recipe for the Gratin is taken from the "Eat In" magazine that I'm using alongside River Cottage. I can't find a similar recipe to link to, but it's basically leeks, carrots, swede and celeriac baked in stock with a breadcrumb and cheese topping. I'm thinking I may add a little cream to the stock to make the sauce a little more unctuous. And we'll have garlic bread with this.

No Vegetable Gratin tonight.(see above)
FRIDAY: I'm thinking chicken fajitas tonight - stir fried chicken, with a few spices, red peppers and onions, wrapped in tortillas, served with guacomole (Nigel Slater's recipe) and some salad. I may make a quick tomato salsa too. Mmm. My mouth is watering at the thought already.

As an aside, I've just read that there was recently a fairly serious fire at River Cottage HQ. I'm fairly sure that nobody from there reads this blog, but still my best wishes go to Mr F-W and the whole River Cottage team.

I hope you have enjoyed this rundown of what we're eating next week. Don't forget, there's a Giveaway over at my other blog - some of my handmade crafty thingies. But you need to be in it to win it!

Giveaway!

2012-02-05T08:18:00.001-08:00

To celebrate my 200th post over at dormouse.wibsite.com there's a giveaway.

Please do pop over to have a look, and maybe join in!

Here we are again!

2012-02-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

Here we are, back at River Cottage, for this week's menus and planned food. I am finding that this is an interesting project, trying new foods and recipes. However, I am finding that I'm missing some of the old favourites too: maybe I've been a bit ruthless. Perhaps it has been a bit too much "out with the old, in with the new!" but equally, I have been challenged out of my comfort zone, to use old ingredients in different ways, or to use new ingredients. Maybe in March I'll have a week of going back to old familiar recipes, just because I can!

Entitled: She's Not Been Using River Cottage Veg Every Day!

I think the husband of the lady pictured above might get a bit upset if she started using the River Cottage Veg Every Day - it looks as though he is very fond of his meat! I can't identify everything there, but there's certainly some kind of poultry, a rack of something like lamb or maybe beef, plus something more rabbity looking at the back. However, I do have to report that Mr FD has been very good - very little moaning about less meat. And some positive comments about my cooking in general, so I'm happy about that!

So:
SATURDAY: Porotos Granados. This is basically a bean and squash soup - here is the River Cottage recipe. It's one of the reasons I changed my mind about the soup I'd planned for today. We had Butternut squash soup instead of the planned Leek-and-bean soup - too many beans might have been dangerous!!! The Porotos Granados looks as though it will be tasty.

Edited (on Sunday)to add: the Porotos Granadas may have looked as though it was going to be tasty, but the best comments Mr FD and I could come up with were "bland" and "meh". I may have overcooked the squash, as it was a bit tasteless, and maybe I should have got rid of my paprika in the Great Spice Purge, but this was unimpressive at best. Not something to be making again. There were both leftovers in the pan (as I'd cooked a lot) and leftovers on the plate (because we were bored with it.) I'll use the leftovers in the pan to make a soup - with some tomato passata and a bit of chilli, and maybe some more vegetables andbeans it should make an acceptable soup at least!

SUNDAY: Slow cooked chicken in red wine sauce, roast potatoes and green beans. I haven't used my slow cooker very much - often I find the resulting sauces/gravies a bit thin and watery for my taste, but I'm willing to persevere. This recipe is from the "Eat In" magazine (but looking on the Schwartz site, to find the ingredients of the mix, I see it's a direct copy from there). It uses a Schwartz "Chicken In Red Wine" sachet, which I certainly haven't got, and I'm sure that will include a thickening agent. But I guess otherwise it's a mixture of herbs and dehydrated red wine (as the recipe doesn't include red wine in the ingredients!) I'll busk on the ingredients, using red wine (d'oh!), herbs and maybe some cornflour.

(Edited on Sunday:) Forgot to get the chicken out of the freezer. So it'll be fast cooker chicken casserole! But as I need to put the oven on to roast the potatoes, I might as well use all the heat and make the casserole in the oven. I may make a cake too...how does a plain sponge with blackberries sound? I have a recipe for rhubarb-and-raspberry cake (absolutely gorgeous!) I could try it with blackberries instead. It may go a slightly grey colour, but it might work...

(Oh dear. Mr FD has got back from his afternoon walk and I think he may get cross. I haven't looked after the fire and I think it's gone out. Oops. To be honest, I've been so cosy in my study -it's -10° (at least) and I'm wrapped up in my Slanket with the oil heater going! - that I didn't think about it. Sorry!) (He's just got in, and while he wasn't exactly cross, he did say "Did you not think to look after the fire?" I just pointed silently to the previous few sentences! He smiled and kissed me. Then he went to watch the rugby.)
Casserole was fine and dandy - lots of wine, mushrooms, herbs, served with green beans, roast potatioes and roast parsnips. I made a blackberry cake too. The blackberries sank to the bottom, but it still tastes good!
MONDAY: Spinach spoufflé Here is another blogger's take on the Spoufflé (no, it's not a typo. It's called spoufflé because of...the spinach? the pasta? I'm not sure...) It looks as though this will be tasty. Probably to be served with a green salad, as it will be quite filling. I'll be using frozen spinach though as I couldn't find fresh leaves in Carrefour - and forgot to look for them when I went to Grand Frais for the squash.

E(on Wednesday) toAdd: We didn't have this in the end. I was teaching until 5.00, and didn't get to leave ILS (my language school) (well, not "my" language school, but the language school where I work) until 5.30, so I didn't get home until almost 6.30. I really didn't want to be messing about with pans of bechamel sauce, so I postponed the Spoufflé until next Saturday, when I'll have more time, and went for: Mushroom and ham puffs (which were in the freezer) with baked potatoes and baked beans. I tarted up the baked potatoes by scooping out the cooked flesh, mixing it with half a ball of mozzarella that I had in the fridge, plus a bit of grated beaufort cheese. Then I put it back in the skins and grilled to go brown. I also cooked a few more mushrooms.
TUESDAY: Leek risotto with chestnuts. Now, I'm not a great fan of chestnuts - don't like the texture at all.It's too much like liver for me. - but I said I'd try everything except goats' cheese and beetroot, so here we are. I wouldn't usually link to the Daily Mail but here is Mr F-W himself's recipe. As printed in the Book. So it makes sense to direct you there. I didn't buy real chestnuts, I'm afraid. Mine are in a jar, rather than vacuum packed, but I wasn't going to faff about with roasting and peeling something I don't really like!

E(on Wed) to add: This was very, very pleasant! I liked the chestnuts, and didn't find the texture off-putting, possibly because they were well crumbled, and fried in a bit of butter. The risotto was very nice too - admittedly, a fairly bog standard risotto, but none the worse for that. I think I would like a bit of parmesan in it, though, and will add it next time. Now though, I have 150g of chestnuts, which, according to the jar, must be used within 72 hours. That was over 12 hours ago, so I only have 60 hours to go....Lordy, what CAN I make?!
WEDNESDAY: I'm not really sure what's happening. We've been invited up to Alison and Gérôme's for drinks (usually she comes here) because it's A's birthday the next day. She said "It'll be quite substantial"so I'm guessing the snacks will be a bit more than just crisps. I'm taking up some hummus . I'm not using Mr F-W here, but the tried and tested Nigel Slater's recipe. this isn't his, but it's close enough. The only Nigel Slater hummus recipe I could find on line was one with broad beans...Not one that appeals much. I'm glad that's not in Mr F-W's Book (though Carrot hummus is. I'm not too sure about that, although I have read rave reviews of it elsewhere, so I will have to try it.). Anyway, I won't plan anything for tonight, but I'll have a jar of pasta sauce and I can throw together a quick meal should we require it.

I ate at my friends' house - Mr FD didn't go, because he wasn't feeling well, but I had roast pork, broccoli and roast potatoes. And a bit too much wine!

THURSDAY:Beef and black bean sauce stir fry with rice. When I reorganised my spice tray (old washing up drainer) last week, I discovered (a) a lot of out of date spices and (b) a sachet of black bean stir fry sauce brought over by Steve and Cathy last year. So I threw away the spices and plan to use the sachet of sauce today. With green peppers and onions and maybe some beansprouts (tinned, which are by far the easiest to find here in France) this should be a good spicy dish. Oooh, look, the photo I inserted has gone to the side. I rather like that! Even though it should be at the side of Thursday's piece rather than Friday's. Oh well!
This was nice, but not as spicy as I'd hoped.

FRIDAY: I'm going to try a warm salad tonight: Mr F-W's Warm Salad of mushrooms and roasted squash Now, I'm not a great blue cheese fan - in fact I don't like it - and this recipe uses blue cheese. He does mention the possibility of using a firm ewe's cheese - which I know I can get at Lidl - so I may make it with blue for Mr FD and with the ewe's cheese for me. I don't think that's cheating, do you? Because this is "only" a salad - although it is quite substantial - I'll make a pudding tonight. There's blackberries in the freezer and apples going brown in the veggie rack(see the week before last's post) so I think blackberry-and-apple crumble is called for. Mr FD will be pleased: he's a pudding man.

Do you need a recipe for this? I wouldn't think so...but let me know if you do!
Oh! Oh! That salad was fantastic! I made big crunchy croutons too, which gave an added texture. Mr FD feels the blue cheese that I used wasn't quite full flavoured enough (It was a "Bresse Bleu" type.) but it was full enough flavoured for a gal who doesn't like blue cheese. I'll be making it again. It was great.

And so, there is next week's culinary delights. If you like this, please comment. I sometimes feel like I'm talking to myself here!

Sorry, I forgot to say...if you're here for the "Impossibilities Challenge" my report on that is on my other blog (dormouse.wibsite.com) but I hope you enjoyed your visit to this blog too!

I imagined my impossibility (sort of!)

2012-01-31T04:57:00.000-08:00

Over on my other blog (View From the Teapot) you can see how successful I was at imagining the impossibility of crocheting...and the problems I had completing (or not) my challenge.

I think I (just about!) earned my "Badge of Honour". Pop over to the teapot to find out how...

Update on Richard

2012-01-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

I know I've just posted my menus for the week, but I wanted to also post an update on Richard.

For those of you who might be reading this who are new, last year I challenged myself to ride 1,000 km on my bike, in 6 months. Not a great challenge, but for a terminally unfit Fat Dormouse, it was challenge enough. But not only that, I wanted to raise 1,000€ in sponsorship - I knew that if people had given me money, I would have to do the challenge. I need motivation, people! I completed the cycling in time, about a week before the end of August, and thanks to a donation from my sister in October, I raised the 1,000€.
Here is my first blogpost about the Challenge.

This money was destined for the Chisomo Community School (link to site here ) which is supported, in no small way, by our friend Richard, who is renovating a house here in St Just. But also, he is trying desperately hard to build new school buildings, with help from the people of the Chisomo village in Zambia, despite his own not-very-good-health. He puts in a lot of his own money and cares passionately about the children of the community.

But, for some reason which I still don't fully understand, he has been persecuted, falsely arrested and spent time in prison. In his own words: "Police cells, prison, court appearances, threats of deportation, death threats, loss of personal possessions, three robberies etc etc." For nine months he has had the threat of a long prison sentence hanging over him, for, as far as he knows, stealing his own property...All this seemingly instigated by the greed of certain people who wanted to take the property that Richard had provided for the school. Unfortunately, due to what has happened the school building plans have had to go on hold:

" By now the 1000 pupils at Chisomo Community School should be in new classrooms, with a sports field and library. Instead they are still in the cowshed we built, using two pit latrines which are foul. Because of the kindness of two donors, we have been able to start work on securing the cowshed, and we are looking at an appropriate toilet technology to build new ones. Maybe one day, we can revive the plans to build a new school."

Finally, on Thursday, we heard that the case has been dropped.Finally. As he says "Hardly a surprise as they admitted to me several times they had no evidence." Unbelievable!!! Richard included in the email a recap of what he had gone through during his time in prison - really quite distressing that this could happen to someone who has only cared about the poorest people in the country and tried to make life better, using his own money, resources and time.

But we can, at least, be thankful that he is out and his name cleared. But, quite incredibly, he plans on returning to continue his work. Me, I'd be out of the country like a rat from a drainpipe, never to return. But not him, he says "I haven' t decided what to do yet long term, or even medium term, as a lot will depend on Immigration and whether they will allow me to stay as a permenent resident. This status means I can come and go as I please." So, while I wouldn't want to go to Zambia, I will be trying to continue to support Richard and the school, through providing resources and money, wherever possible. Maybe you could also donate something to help Richard continue his work for those who need it so much.

More River Cottage Adventures!

2012-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

After a week of being "off the River Cottage Wagon" so to speak, we're climbing back on again, and eating slightly less meat. However, as Toupargel (frozen food delivery company) are making a delivery on Tuesday, and as our (new) freezer is already full of (old) food, I think I need to make a bit of an effort to clear it, so we will be eating some of the meat therein.
However, here's a jolly fruity old chap to remind me that all these veggies are good for us, and that I should be making more effort to eat my five-a-day. I don't always manage it: I usually have four, which isn't too bad, or four-and-a-half if a couple of leaves of lettuce in my sandwiches count!

Because I write these posts on a Saturday, and list from Sunday to the following Saturday, I have found that I don't usually get to comment on the Saturday food. So from today, I'll list Saturday to Friday menus, so I can comment on Saturday after we've eaten the food. I know what I mean!

So, from last week's post
SATURDAY: Here we have a link to Courgette & Rice Filo Pie from River Cottage. A little like the Spankopitta, I think, but different enough to be worth the effort.

A book review site said, of this dish: The revelation was the courgette and rice filo pie, which made me regret the fact that I'd just cleared my courgette glut – and then found a recipe I would willingly make on a regular basis.That sounds like a recommendation! It will probably be served with yet another salad. It seems bizarre to cook more vegetables to go with a vegetable thing...but maybe a fairly thickish ratatouille might go quite well with this.
E (on Sunday) tA: This was indeed delicious. I baked it for the specified 35 minutes, but the rice still had a bit of a hard edge to it. I think it would need perhaps another 10 minutes - we had the leftovers for lunch today, warmed up, and it was fine. We had it with rat & half-a-baked-potato last night, and coleslaw this lunchtime.
SUNDAY: Steak, vegetable gratin (already cooked & in the freezer - we had the other on Thursday) and ratatouille from yesterday. Assuming there's some left!

No, not THAT ratatouille!

E(on Wed) tA: steak was delicious - I got it from Lidl at a very reasonable price and it is marinaded, with a good flavour and very tender. The rat was fine.
MONDAY: Gnocchi, with spicy tomato sauce and pork fillet. The pork is left over from Friday's sweet and sour. I was going to freeze it, but when we were transferring food from old frezer to new, I discovered there was already some pork in there. So I'll use this today, together with a tomato sauce that's already made (and, yes, you've guessed it, in the freezer.) I'll spice it up a little, and we'll have it with some veggies. But I'm not sure what. It depends what's hanging around.
TUESDAY: Fish pie (freezer) and peasncrots. Nothing spectacular, but the new Toupargel delivery arrrives today I need to make room!
E (on Wed)tA: The gnocchi was fine: it was of a type I didn't know, where you fry in butter for a couple of minutes, uncovered, to crisp the outside, and then cover the pan and keep cooking for another 4 minutes to cook the inside. It was a bit difficult to do, as my frying pan doesn't have a lid, but I improvised with a bread board! The gnocchi were very pleasant. The fish pie was fish pie, with cauliflower cheese delivered that morning by Toupargel. The cheese sauce definitely helped as the fish pie was quite dry.
WEDNESDAY: Spanish pork in the slow cooker. Hah! More meat from the freezer! Mr F-D will die of shock! I've taken the recipe from the "Eat In" magazine, but This recipe is quite close - except I'm using pork, not chicken!! Mine includes some chorizo as well, but the tomato/olive/pepper/spices base is the same. I'm working in Roanne, rather than Clermont, so won't have to leave at an unearthly hour of the morning, so I should have time to prepare the casserole in the slow cooker. We'll have this with bread.

THURSDAY: At last, we're back to River Cottage! Here we have what is described as "somewhere between a soup and a stew, this mushroom stoup is full of earthy flavour, and can be made even more generous with the addition of some little herby dumplings." I won't be making dumplings, as it's difficult to get suet, but I will be making a more "scone-y" cobbler topping. Looking for a recipe online there is nothing quite the same - creamy mushroom soup, yes, Gill's mushroom soup, yes, but not mushroom stoup...but this porcini soup recipe looks fairly close, although Mr F-W doesn't put tomatoes in his stoup.

FRIDAY: Basil, pesto and mozzarella tart, with salad and a baked potato. The recipe is here, but you'll need to scroll down to find it. It is given as "Tomato, thyme and goats' cheese tart" but Mr F-D can't abide goats' cheese so I'm taking one of the alternatives and adding some pesto to the mix, as I won't be finding fresh basil.

We'll probably have 1/3 each for supper and then have the rest for Saturday lunch, with Bean & leek soup, which, unfortunately, one reviewer has said this about: "Gallingly, it's a bit of a fail from the Hugh. I suppose he had to at some point. I mean it's okay, but it's hardly packed with flavour; it's wishy-washy and just a bit meh and I suspect the chilli oil is just a ruse to cover up it's lack of va-va-voom. I'd rather have a heartier minestrone, or leek and potato next time..." Considering last time a reviewer was a bit harsh about a recipe, it was a complete disaster for me, I shall make this with some trepidation.
I won't bother with the recipe, in case it does, indeed, all go pear-shaped. If it's nice, I'll let you know!
E(on Saturday): I swopped around Thursday and Friday dinners as I was due to be out at a meeting for the Artisanat on Thursday, and I thought tart and baked potattoes would hang around better than the stoup. As it was the meeting was cancelled, due to the weather (it was -10° when I got home at 4.00 and by 7.00 it had got to -13°. Brrrr!). The tart was fine - we finished it today with soup (but butternut squash and coconut, not bean and leek as planned.)
The Mushroom Stoup was also fine, but my scone/cobbler topping wasn't - I think I neglected to put in enough baking powder, thinking that the "farine de gateau" (which is basically SR flour) would be sufficient. It wasn't, so the scones looked like small pebbles, necessitating a run round the village to find anywhere with bread. As it was 7.30 by then, it wasn't looking too hopeful, but Petit Casino (our Corner shop) came to the rescue, with some part baked loaves. Mr FD said that the stoup was fine (good earthy flavours, asMr F-W promised) but would be improved with some lardons. I think he may be right!

I've not said anything about losing weight, mostly because I've not been weighing myself, and also because I don't think I have. It doesn't help that I have been making cakes and biscuits...Though my coconut cake (made with half a tin of coconut milk and adapted from a recipe for chocolate banana cake) was a bit dry, and my Cornish Ginger Fairing biscuits were fizzy (too much baking powder) and just a touch overcooked, so they tasted unpleasantly dark brown! But I have some pineapple rings left from the sweet/sour pork yesterday, so I thought I'd make pineapple upside down cake I've no glacé cherries, but, in my opinion, that's no bad thing!

I think Mr F-D will like this. He's a one for cakes and biscuits!
Edited to add that I made the cake, and it was very nice...the creamed sugar and butter gave it a lovely crispy/sugary/syrupy topping, and although I only had 4 pineapple slices left (Mr F-D had eaten one!) it was enough to top the small cake I made. I didn't have any juice from the tin so I used a couple of tablespoons of orange juice instead.

So, I hope you've enjoyed this post and do please comment on anything. I'll be updating it through the week to let you know how things go.

Making a splash with River Cottage

2012-01-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

So here we are again. Don't the weeks go quickly? I updated last week's post as I went through the weekwith comments about the meals. I think the successes were the root vegetable frittata and the Vegeree, both of which were met with approval from Mr F-D. Oh, and the Pork and Mushroom casserole, which was beautiful, but very rich (unlike me, who is neither of those things!)

I am now adding this after lunch on Saturday. OMGiddy Aunt! The Leek-&-Cheese toasties of Mr F-W were out of this world! I used a "Vieux Pavé" cheese - a softish cheese with a rind, reminiscent of Maroilles. It has a stronger flavour than the Cantal I was planning to use. Possibly a tad too strong for me, but not Mr FD. I would say, if you want a substantial lunch (and you're not too bothered about the calories!) try this recipe. It is Fab-U-LUSS darlings!

Less succesful this week was the mushroom curry (well, the rice really, which is nothing to do with the recipe. That was just my impatience getting the better of me!)

Here is this week's art work:

Entitled "What the heck are we going to do with all these apples?"

Actually, that's an apposite question. We were given a lot of windfalls in October/November - I stored them in coolish places, but some are going a bit brown, so I'm thinking I need to do something with them. But, TBH, we're not great apple eaters. I'm really fussy about the type I eat raw-as-fruit (Ariane only, I'm afraid)

so these will need to be cooked in some way. One of my followers, A British Mum, did a guest spot over at OuR KrAzy kitChEn (not sure why there are random capital letters, but there you go!) with a recipe for Apple and Almond cake, which looks a possibility. Otherwise, I may try to be brave enough to try Tarte Tatin, although when a recipe starts with the words "This classic French dessert can be tricky, but it's delicious when it works" it does rather put me off! Equally though, if my friend (who is not the world's greatest cook) can manage it as well as she does, then maybe it can't be that difficult! (especially with bought puff pastry!)

Anyway. On with next week's menus/recipes.
SUNDAY: Chicken & Tomato casserole (from "EatIn " magazine) This includes stuffed olives and looks yummy. I can't find an exact recipe, but this looks quite similar. However my recipe includes tiny Orzo pasta and a sprinkling of parmesan on the chicken. I've just read the recipe that says chicken breasts, but I've bought legs. Never mind! Just cook for a bit longer, I think.

E(on Tuesday) to add: the casserole was very nice with the pasta included in the cooking. We had it with peas. I'd be happy to cook it again.
MONDAY: River Cottage's Refried Beans foldover I've struggled to find a recipe that uses anything like the spices/onion/garlic combo that Mr F-W suggests. However I did find a food blog that talks about the Flatbreads that are included in the recipe and says "I’ve been using these for mexican inspired burrito-type meals. Below with River Cottage Veg Every Day! Refried Beans recipe, which has been one of the least successful things I’ve tried from the book." Oh, well. Nous verrons.
E(on Tuesday) to add:Quite frankly it was an unmitigated disaster! I don't know whether I had the wrong flour - quite possible. I guessed that Mr F-W's "strong white flour" was the same as "farine de pain" but it may not have been. While Mr F-W said that the dough was supposed to be "sticky" I'm not sure it was supposed to be quite the gluey texture it was! It didn't rise and I ended up throwing the whole gloopy mess in the bin, and adding today's planned mince to the refried beans to make something resembling a substantial meal. It looked like vomit by the time I'd finished, but it tasted okay.

TUESDAY: A good, simple beef chilli. We've not had one for ages, and it is something I like. Good and dark and beefy. I'll be making it with beef, but the British Mum recently posted a recipe for a chilli made with chunks of beef, instead of the more common mince. I'll have to try that sometime.
E(on Tuesday) to add: Due to yesterday's fiasco with the refried beans, I have no mince for chilli. This meant I had to buy something else when I went shopping today. I couldn't be arsed thinking creatively, so I've ought some meatballs which we're going to have with a sauce that uses up all the bits from the fridge - peas, mushrooms, one lonely marinaded pepper, half an onion etc. And rice. Or maybe pasta. It depends on whether we're going to Sylvie's tomorrow: we still don't know!

WEDNESDAY: We may be at our friend Sylvie's for dinner: it's not been confirmed yet. If not, I'll do a quick fresh pasta-pesto-and mushrooms dish. The pasta's in the freezer and the pesto is in the jar.

E(on Friday) tA: pasta, pesto and mushrooms - exactly what it says. Except I added some bacon!
THURSDAY: This is a River Cottage recipe, but I am going to cheat and add some sausages (possibly merguez) on the side. Sweet potato and peanut gratin. Here is Mr F-W himself introducing his recipe. We'll have it with a salad as well.

E(on Friday) to add: You can't make sweet potato and peanut gratin if you forget to buy any peanut butter! I made an ordinary gratin, but I mixed sweet potato, ordinary potato, jerusalem artichokes (I love their French name: topinambour! How great is that?! I think it sounds like a medieval musical instrument), and a couple of old carrots, slightly shrivelled mushrooms, sliced onion and garlic. Served with merguez sausages and peasncrots (the Fat Dormouse name for mixed peas and carrots) Mr F-D can't quite believe the amount of meat he's getting fed this week!
FRIDAY: Sweet and sour pork is on the menu for tonight. Taken from my recipe magazine, it sounds nice - and a bit different from the usual stir-fries that I do. The recipe suggests putting a batter on the pork - presumably to make it like the pork balls from a Chinese restaurant. I don't do deep frying, and actually don't think that the batter adds much to the dish as a whole. Stir fried with onions, a couple of peppers (red and green), and pineapple chunks, the pork is mixed with a sauce made of the pineapple juice, ginger, soy, rice wine vinegar and cornflour. I have a suspicion that I may well be throwing in a good glug of the sweet chilli sauce that I found in Lidl this week.
E(on Saturday)tA: the stirfry was okay -I did find that I had no sesame seed oil and no rice wine vinegar, as I'd thrown them out on Monday. This was because in a fit of I'm-not-sure-what I cleared, cleaned and reorganised our big cupboard in the kitchen. Stuff (old, rusted woks) got taken to the recycling bins, and things more than 2 months past their use-by date got thrown away (rather too many to mention, but the vinegar was almost a year too old and the oil over a year...shades of my mother, I'm afraid. At Christmas, Mr F-D found stuff in her cupboards from last century. And some of her herbs are nothing more than slightly green dust!) So, as I was missing a couple of "oriental" ingredients, the stirfry lacked a bit of flavour. But Mr F-D was delighted to have meat yet again!
SATURDAY: Here we have a link to Courgette & Rice Filo Pie from River Cottage. A little like the Spankopitta, I think, but different enough to be worth the effort.

A book review site said, of this dish: The revelation was the courgette and rice filo pie, which made me regret the fact that I'd just cleared my courgette glut – and then found a recipe I would willingly make on a regular basis.That sounds like a recommendation! It will probably be served with yet another salad. It seems bizarre to cook more vegetables to go with a vegetable thing...but maybe a fairly thickish ratatouille might go quite well with this.

So there you are! Next week's offerings. A bit meatier than last week, I think, with chicken, mince, sausages AND pork! 4/7 days with meat instead of 3/7. I don't think I'm finding bills much cheaper eating more vegetables, and trying every recipe in the book, but I am enjoying having different things to eat. Yes, there are some things I won't be making again (Macaroni Peas, anyone?!) but there are definitely one or two so far that will make it onto the "Family Favourites" list when this experiment is over. It's really making me use the recipe book, instead of just looking at the pictures and enjoying the writing: I'm quite pleased that I decided to do this, and while we've got a long way to go, but I'm starting to think "Well, I've got a couple of Nigel Slater recipe books that I've not used much...!"

(I always knew I liked Nigel Slater, and now I know why. He's a cat lover and has three cats.)

Notes as we go through the week

2012-01-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

We were unpacking the shopping, and Mr FD said wistfully "It would be nice to have a bit more meat..." This week is a bit veggie heavy - but I've planned chicken, mince and fish in the next week, so that should make him a bit happier! It was quite a big bill today - 50€ in Lidl, 10€ in Grand Frais (veggies & fruit), and another 50€ in Carrefour. I did pick up a few "big" items, and a couple of store cupboard essentials that I was running out of, but it was more than I'd hoped to pay. I'm not trying to cut back that much, but, like everyone, we need to try to tighten our belts a little.

We are also trying to have two non-alcohol days a week. That's not too difficult, really. I like to open a bottle at the weekend, which usually lasts us through Friday and Saturday evening...I usually end up opening another bottle on Sunday, so that's Sunday and Monday evening. Tuesday is no alcohol, Wednesday is when my friend comes round, and we do usually polish off another bottle. I do wonder if maybe that's a bit too much, and whether we should try to cut back a bit there! Thursday wil be the other no alcohol day. I don't think it's too difficult. I would miss my wine if I didn't have it - I like the taste! - but I'm quite content with a glass of sparkling water instead.

Next Week With River Cottage

2012-01-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

So, Saturday again, and back with next week's menus. Throughout last week I updated last week's post with comments about the recipes tried - so if you want to know how this week's offerings go, you will need to check this post for updates. In general, I would say that the Pasta with greens and Noddy's Sausage Plait were the two real successes, and the others were fine but nothing special. I still have to make the "Macaroni Peas" which is tonight's meal - and, quite frankly, not something I'm looking forward to! (But then I thought the pasta and cabbage would be a disaster, and it wasn't, so I live in hope!) I will let you know my verdict tomorrow.

E (On Sunday) TA: The Macaroni Peas wasn't quite as horrid as I'd anticipated. It was just boring. I didn't want to finish my portion, because I was bored with it! Mr FD suggested that it would be good as a starter (if one made a pasta dish as a starter.) "About a third of the amount would be just right" he said. General verdict: not nasty, but not the best thing I've ever made.

Here I am, at my dinner table...Yeah, right!! We're eat-from-a-tray-on-our-laps I'm afraid. It saves heating the dining room. And the cats can beg for scraps more easily

Any plans to do exercise have been thwarted by a really horrid cold, which has maybe left me with a bit of a chest infection. I am certainly coughing more than I would like - and while last night was fine, the two nights before involved waking up and coughing my guts up for five minutes at a time. Nice! Luckily, for Mr FD, I've decamped to the spare room, and although he can still hear me, as the internal walls aren't very thick (external walls are about 50 cm thick!), I feel a bit better about full-on coughing when I'm in a different room.I also find anything more strenuous than making a cup of tea leaves me a bit breathless - and, while I know I'm unfit, I don't think I'm quite that unfit!

So, this week's menus:
SUN: Just to add (on Sunday) I'm making a parsnip, carrot & butternut squash soup for lunch (and hard boiling an egg. I fancy egg mayo sandwiches!). I've thrown in the odd potatoes from Friday too - they're a bit creamy, so when I add the milk at the end of cooking, they should meld in quite well. I'm also hoping the odd texture won't show once everything's been zuzzed. But for dinner tonight we have:
Pork & Mushroom casserole, with jacket potato, cabbage and carrots. This is the closest recipe I can find, but mine uses Marsala wine (but I'll be using Muscat) instead of red wine. It also suggests having fresh coriander sprinkled on top, but I haven't got any, so we won't be doing that. Nor will I be using dried porcini mushrooms (have you seen the price?!) but adding some Wocestershire sauce to give a bit more flavour. Not the same, I know, but...tant pis!
E (on Tuesday) tA: this was delicious, but very rich. I couldn't quite finish my portion. Lots of cream, plus a buttery jacket potato made for a very full fat dormouse. We had roast veggies with this and a bit of broccoli.
MON: Squash & Chickpea stew. This is a River Cottage recipe - Here is a link to someone else who has made the recipe...She certainly sounds as though she enjoyed it, so I hope we will too! It contains lots of ingredients that I love, so it looks hopeful.

Image from http://moroccanfoods.blogspot.com
E (on Tuesday) tA: The squash & chickpea stew was fine - nothing special, but certainly enjoyable. It had lentils and tiny pasta in so it was certainly filling. I'd make it again, quite happily.
TUES: Vegeree Another River Cottage recipe, which is tagged as a kedgeree without fish. It uses roasted aubergines, courgettes and onions. The roasting of the aubergines apparently gives them a "smoky" taste. I'll have to fry (or maybe poaching would be better) the eggs for Mr FD as he detests hard boiled eggs. This is a link to someone who has made the recipe: I have to say it's a very "edited" version of the recipe - but, TBH, it covers the bare essentials, without going into the details about rinsing the basmati rice and covering the pan with a damp teatowel that Mr FW goes into. Is it necessary to cover pans with damp teatowels? Can anyone tell me why?
E (on Thursday) tA: This was really rather nice. It had the Mr FD seal-of-approval. I followed the faffing about with teatowels instructions, & it certainly made for a lot of fluffy basmati rice. I think I'd probably do it again. There was a lot of rice for the amount of vegetables, though, (I halved the recipe) so I used some in the frittata on Wednesday.
WED: Oven Roasted Roots Frittata Oh, we're going for the River Cottage recipes this week! In order to save time (and energy) I'm roasting the vegetables for this meal at the same time as I roast the aubergines for yesterday's dinner. This is a link to the Tesco recipe site - it is an almost exact word-for-word copy of the Mr F-W recipe. I hope whoever nicked it is paying copyright fees! Even the photo is the same!
E (On Thursday) tA: This was really nice too! Having roasted the veg on Tuesday, it was quick to prepare, although it took about half an hour to brown nicely. We had about 1/3 each, with salad and bread. The plan was to have the rest for lunch today, but we were down in Roanne (spending lots of money on fridge/freezers, vacuum cleaners and food processors!!!) and it was 1.45 and we were hungry. So having spent lots of money, we threw caution to the winds and spent some more going to "La Boucherie" which is a chain restaurant serving great hunks of meat! Mr FD was missing his meat!!!It wasn't haute cuisine, but it was enjoyable, hot and - important when you are suddenly ravenous! - it came quickly. We'll have the left over frittata tonight, or maybe for lunch tomorrow.

This is a different image, from http://www.taste.com.au
THURS: Quick Mushroom Curry. This is from the cookery magazine I mentioned last week. I can't find a similar recipe, but, in brief, it uses a lot of mushrooms, an aubergine, a couple of courgettes and a green pepper, cooked together with curry spices. A fairly bog standard curry, but it doesn't look as though there's anything to make it "saucy". It says "add a little water" if the mixture becomes dry - I suppose the veggies give off water as they cook - but I do prefer a slightly wetter curry. I may add half a tin of chopped tomatoes to give a bit more sauce.

Image from http://www.restaurantsnepal.com
FRI: Quick cook salmon, again from "Eat In" magazine. This is salmon fillets, cooked in foil with lemon and herbs, served with spinach leaves and leeks. Alternatively you can cook it in the microwave, but obviously no in foil! I'm going to be serving it with jacket potatoes, probably, or maybe a quick potato gratin, so I'll bake it in foil in the oven.
E (on Saturday) TA: We're having the salmon tonight...Because Thursday was our "Meat Feast" lunch, we had the mushroom curry on Friday...except I couldn't be arsed following a recipe. I just cut up a load of veggies and added a curry sauce from a jar (Pataks Balti) that Cathy had brought over sometime last year. It wasn't fab - the curry was OK, but the rice was too wet (I'd followed Mr F-W's method, but didn't give it long enough to dry out & become fluffy - too impatient!) and I hadn't seasoned it enough.Never mind. So the Quinoa with courgettes and onions will be saved for another day. I couldn't find Quinoa by itself, but found a mix of grains which included it (in the Bio section of Carrefour), so I'm guessing that will do.
SAT: Leek & Cheese toastie (for lunch) and Quinoa with courgettes and onions . Here is a link to Jenn's page - she obviously loves this recipe. Good, as this is another I'm not sure I'll enjoy. I've only had Quinoa once before and I was a bit dubious about it. As far as I can remember it was a bit of a strange texture. TBH, I'm not even sure I'll be able to find Quinoa in Carrefour here in France, and I'm not planning on trawling Health food shops to find it, so I may end up making it with couscous instead.

Image from http://lacer.wordpress.com
The Leek & Cheese toastie - this is a leek & cheese rarebit, I think. The Guardian has Mr F-W's recipe (scroll down) using blue cheese, but in the book he uses Cheddar. I'll be using the French cheese, Cantal, which is similar to cheddar, although not quite as strong. I think this will be fitting fuel if we are cycling. And will just be full of calories if we're not!!!

More Adventures at River Cottage

2012-01-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

Generally, last week's recipes/meals were well received. No complaints from Mr FD about the reduction in meat, and everything was eaten, although as I added to my last post, the tomato sauce was disappointing.

Here are next week's meals - I'll edit and add comments through the week.

SUN: Chillies stuffed with Beans (except I'm using peppers) Mr F-W's recipe is on this link. The recipe suggests grilling & skinning the chillies/peppers. I'm not sure I'll bother; I'll probably just roast them for 15/20 minutes or so before stuffing & baking.
Edited (on Monday) to add: Mr FD really wasn't very keen on the idea of this recipe, I think, so I swopped it. We had Chachouka (see last week) again, but I threw in some chorizo to add to the spice level. Eaten with bread left over from lunchtime it made a very nice meal. I'll have to replan our beany peppers for another week.
MON: Prawns with ginger - a fairly basic prawn stirfry with a sauce made of soy, ginger and honey. This is served with rice and sautéed leeks. I've taken this recipe from the cookery magazine "Eat In". However, Mr FD will be relieved to see some meat, even if it does have a fishy tang!
Edited (on Tuesday) to add : the recipe seemed a little dry, so I made up a sauce of cornflour, Muscat wine (tho' you could use sherry), rice vinegar and soy sauce. Together with the honey, this gave enough "wetness" to the dish. I didn't faff about with caramelising the ginger as the recipe suggested and I added some red peppers. Otherwise it was a very acceptable dish.
TUES: Pasta with greens, garlic & chilli Here is a link to someone else's site who made this. They used spinach, I'm using a savoy cabbage.

E(on Wednesday) TA: I was ready to not like this meal. It sounded boring and unpleasant, and I was in A Bad Mood. But actually, with quite a lot of chilli and garlic, and possibly too much parmesan, it was much more enjoyable than I expected. I might even make it again some time.
WED: Chicken & vegetable stir fry. This is also from the cooking magazine. A fairly bog standard stirfry, it uses sweet chilli sauce to give it a bit of a kick. I'll use one chicken breast in the stirfry, and one to make Coronation Chicken for tomorrow's sandwiches.
E (On Thursday) to add that it was indeed a bogstandard stirfry. It wasn't helped by the fact that what I thought was sweet chilli sauce was just chilli sauce (of which I now have 4 different varieties!) I added some honey - but not enough, as the jar was almost empty. I used both chicken breasts though, as one looked very miserly, and we had bits for lunch today. I've also forgotten to take the fish out of the freezer, so we may be having sausage plait for supper tonight. We Shall See.
THURSDAY: Fish pie. I have some hoki in the freezer which needs to be used up, so I'll use one fillet of hoki and one of salmon. The recipe includes a bechamel sauce made using Boursin or something similar; that should add some flavour. (I'm fairly rubbish at bechamel sauce) I'll serve this with peas. I'm not giving you a recipe as I assume anyone can make a fish pie. Forgive me if I'm mistaken!

E (On Saturday) TA: It was a fish pie. It was OK. I made two and put one in the freezer (having cooked the previously frozen hoki first). I should have made a bit more sauce, as it wasn't really wet enough. I'll try to remember to make a pouring sauce when we eat the other - or maybe have cauliflower cheese or something similar as a vegetable.
FRIDAY: Noddy's Jammy Sausage Plait (Go, Sir Nod of Holdsworth!) This is the basic recipe, but instead of using an onion, Sir Nod suggests using onion jam or something similar. We have chutney galore and I may even have some onion jam to use. In the recipe magazine "Rock star Noddy Holder shares three of his favourite sausage meals" - you see, the life of an ex-Slade front man is not all champagne and canapés!!!

We shall be eating Noddy's plaits with carrots, courgettes and possibly a tin of baked beans to give a bit of "sauce" to the whole meal.
E (On Saturday) TA: I liked Noddy's Sausage Plaits. We actually had them as sausage triangles, as my circular pastry didn't really lend itself to plaiting. I used peach chutney, which was nice, but maybe next time a little cooked onion wouldn't go amiss. I warmed up a tin of potatoes in a cream sauce, to give the meal a bit of "wetness" but they weren't very nice: they had an odd texture. Next time, just stick with veggies, or something else saucy.
SATURDAY: Macaroni Peas I can't say I am particularly looking forward to this, but I did say I would try everything in the book, and I turned to this page. So here's the recipe (You'll need to scroll down to find it, but it's there.)

I'm not a particular pea fan, so it will be interesting to find out how I take to this recipe.
E (On Saturday)TA: I'm still not looking forward to this one!

As I said earlier, I'll edit and add through the week if I've got any comments on the recipes. I hope you find this interesting and maybe useful. Thanks for your comments - if I inspire someone else to try some new food too it will be great! I think it's too easy to get stuck in a rut of cooking the same cycle of dishes - often all very similar - which can sometimes sap your enjoyment of being in the kitchen. I'm hoping that this will at least get me excited about what the evening's meal is going to be...and if I can spend slightly less on food then all to the good!

River Cottage Veg Every Day

2012-01-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

We received this recipe book for Christmas. (Here is a link to the Amazon page) and , as usual, I flicked through, thinking "Some of these recpes look lovely". But I also dismissed some as sounding a bit wierd,or having ingredients that I don't use...but then I decided that I should really try to use this book. After all, we could all eat more veggies - and probably less meat - and it could well widen my horizons.

So, from this week, I am going to use RCVED at least twice a week for main meals. And I thought I could blog here about the success, or otherwise, of the recipes. I don't think I can reproduce the recipes on my blog, as I suspect that would be a breach of copyright, but if I can find them on the Internet I'll link to them.

As the blog is called "Fat Dormouse Getting Thinner" I will also note any weight loss (and I do need to ose some. I fear - though I've not checked - I've put on all that I lost last year)...But I won't be faffing about with charts that require maths. I'll just add a minus/plus whatever weight.

So: meals this week (Sat to Sat). If the recipe's from RCVED, I'll put it in italics

SAT: Corner Shop Spanakopitta (Link - though not to Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe) . This was really good, served with a potato dauphinois gratin, and vegetables. I made it into a plait (it was new year's eve, so I had to be festive!) It was, in fact, only planned for our vegetarian guest, but the duck that the rest of us were due to have wasn't defrosted!!!

Image from http://erincooks.com/spanakopita-pockets/

My recipe was slightly different, using puff pastry, and only feta cheese. Mr FW also suggested using fennel seeds, which I did, although I'm not convinced they made much difference to the final taste. Toasted pine-nuts were also added with the feta cheese, which gave an interesting other texture to the dish. Certainly I didn't miss meat in this meal - it was very satisfying. We had a quick mushroom paté (see below) for starters,and pavlova for pudding. Yummy.
SUN: Roast duck for the meat eaters, and Chachouka ( link ) (though again, not Mr F-W's) for our vegetarian friend. We had it without the eggs as a vegetable, as well as roast potatoes.

MON: Raclette (melty cheese, woth boiled potatoes, griddled vegetables, and salad, plus cold meats for the non vegetarians)
TUESDAY: Aubergine parmigiana Our friends had left by now, so it was just Mr DFD and I. I was tempted to serve this with cold meats (as I had a lot in the fridge) but then decided I should keep to the meat-free plan. I did add some sun-dried tomatoes and marinaded peppers to the tomato sauce, which gave it a good depth of flavour. Served with bread and green salad. It was very good and I'll definitely cook it again. (Recipe - someone else trying it )

WEDNESDAY: Mr FD's take on Duck Parmentier - using up the left over roast duck from Sunday. It was very tasty but I can't offer you any hints to what he did. A Parmentier is basically the French word for the basic shepherd's pie/cottage pie, but usually slightly less "sloppy" than the UK version. Mr FD's duck parmentier definitely came under the "sloppy" banner, but it was still delicious.
THURSDAY: Moroccan Mushrooms and cous-cous. This isn't from RCVED, but from a magazine I bought in the UK, called "Eat In". As I usually employ the same tactics to recipe magazines as to recipe books, I've decided to do the same with this, and try all the recipes out. Here. is the recipe, but I can't comment on it, as I've not cooked it yet. I suppose I should really wait until after the meals before posting, so that I can say what I thought of it. Maybe I'll be sensible next week!
Edited (On Saturday) to add that this was delicious! I added a bit of chilli to the dish, and threw in a splash of my "Red Pepper sauce with wine vinegar and Piment d'Espelette" so it was a tad spicier than the recipe, but I'd definitely make this again. Served with a slice of the artisan cereal bread bought at the market. Nom,nom.

FRIDAY: Tomato and Mozzarella Risotto This really is Mr F-W's recipe! Mr FD chose this one (well, OK, he chose the number 273 and the recipe is on that page!) I'm making the roast vegetable sauce today, along with a pumpkin, chilli and coconut milk soup for lunch. It's nearly 11.00 already. Where has the morning gone?! I'm going to have a busy afternoon doing all today's jobs! (Ironing, choosing a friend's birthday present, filling in a long form, and phoning to make an appointment - which is something I keep putting off as I hate speaking French on the phone. But the more I put it off, the bigger it becomes! Screw your courage to the sticking point, Fat Dormouse!)
E (on Saturday)TA I found this sauce a little disappointing: the texture wasn't good, although I must admit to not following the instructions. Mr F-W said to push the tomatoes through a seive, but I found that too tricky & time consuming and just zuzzed them. Maybe this was the failure. Also, making it with pale winter tomatoes mightn't have been the best idea; it possibly needs full, rich red summer tomatoes to get a proper sauce.
We had it with pasta, rather than as a risotto, as we ate at different times. I had a "Galette des Rois" evening at my Language school, so I didn't get home until gone 8.00 (having eaten too many pistachio nuts and crisps...Sigh)
SATURDAY: Quick Lamb Tagine from "Eat In".And here is the recipe for this.

QUICK MUSHROOM PATE
Approx. 300g mushrooms chopped finely (chestnut mushrooms are good)
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
2/3 packet of boursin cheese (flavoured or not, as you wish. I used chive and shallot flavour)
25g butter
parsley.chopped

Melt butter and sauté onions and garlic until soft. Add mushrooms and cook gently for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and put in bowl. Add cheese and parsley. Mix well. Put in serving bowl and smooth top. Chill for about two hours. Serve with bread/toast. Or spread on crostini.

Image from http://www.stumptownsavoury.com

I can't say yet whether this "Project" makes my food shop cheaper, as I actually shop from Wednesday to Wednesday, but certainly my shop yesterday, which covers half of the above meals, plus the first half of next week's, was about 30€ less than my average cost. I only bought lamb for the tagine and prawns for Monday's meal on the meat front, so costs were immediately down....but there were other big cost things that I didn't have to buy this week, so maybe it's swings and roundabouts. But I hope it may make us healthier.

Edited to add - I've done all my jobs! Ironing done, friend's birthday present chosen and ordered on Amazon (I won't say what it is, as she might read this blog!), long form almost completed (they want copies of my teaching certificates. ooh-er, can I find them, I wonder.), and appointment made over the phone (Can you believe it - the first appointment is in June!!!! Though, as I write that, I think 6 months to see a consultant is fairly normal in the UK; it's just that I've been a bit spoiled here in France)

Happy Christmas

2011-12-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

This is just to wish all my readers (not that there's many of you!) a very happy and blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

See you in 2012!

Pausing in Advent to bake

2011-12-11T01:06:00.000-08:00

I did some Christmas baking yesterday. Because we're away from next Friday, I'm not doing much, but I'd bought a jar of Robertson's mincemeat from an English bookshop/grocerswhen we were in Pezanas in September, so I at least wanted to make mince pies! I mixed the mincemeat with some more raisins and some peach brandy to make it go a bit further. Despite my good intentions ("I shall tidy up as I go along") the kitchen ended up looking like a bomb had hit it

But I enjoyed listening to my Christmas CDs - A Symphony of Carols, and John Rutter's Christmas carols, seen in the following photo of the tidy kitchen with mince pies:

I also made the dough for my Christmas cookies, but that needs to chill overnight, so I think I'll be baking those tomorrow. I remember how mum used to always have a flurry of baking before Christmas: she was a good cook, and made loads of mince pies, and florentines and, of course, the Christmas cake. However, she wasn't very good at icing the cake, but she had a friend who was. Every year, it would be a special evening when Dorothy and Kathleen came to ice the cake. Dorothy is a relation (second cousin?) of mum's, and Kathleen was her friend who had MS. They worked together, and lived near each other, I think,and Dorothy helped with Kathleen's care, when necessary. Every year they'd come for tea, and then ice the cake beautifully. It was always a sign that Christmas was near! Dorothy is still alive, though in poor health now, but Kathleen died many years ago.

I tried to find a photo of a similar cake to those I remember, but I couldn't. So here's a slice of cake instead!

Mum's Florentines were something else!They were a bit too "adult" for my tastes when I was younger, with dark chocolate, cherries and raisins...I can't find a recipe that looks like mum's though...hers weren't quite the cookie-type things that many of the recipes seem to show, but rather a light, almost meringuey texture of biscuit on top...All I can remember is feeling decadent and grown-up when I stole them (!) out of the tin!

And now, I guess my Christmas Cookies are becoming a bit of a tradition here. I posted the recipe (or rather a link to the recipe) a couple of weeks back. I hope yours turn out well, if you make them. And our other tradition is Mr FatDormouse's Panettone Christmas Pudding. Neither of us like Christmas Pudding, but this is a very popular alternative:

Half a small 500 g Panettone
500 ml milk
250 ml double cream
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
125g caster sugar

Cut the panettone into slices about 1 cm thick, and lay them, slightly overlapping, in a shallow ovenproof dish
Whisk together the eggs & sugar, & then add the remaining ingredients.
Pour the mixture over the panettone.
Bake in a preheated oven (200°C/400°F/GM6) for 20 minutes or so.
Serve warm but not piping hot.

Other recipes suggest adding chocolate chips, caramel sauce etc. but frankly I think it's fine as it is. Maybe use a panettone with raisins, if that floats your boat.

We're leaving for the UK on Friday, and I won't have access to a PC, so this is my last Pause In Advent post. I wish all my readers a very happy and blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year. God bless.

A Pause In Advent 2

2011-12-04T01:59:00.000-08:00

Here's my second Foody Pause In Advent post. For another view on the Advent season please go to the Teapot.

I'm afraid we've broken into the Christmas chocklits! There is a well known brand of chocolate that is sold all over France during les Fetes de Fin d'Année called Revillon - they make the papillotes which are a poor imitation of British Christmas crackers. But I was delighted to find out that their factory (plus factory shop!) is in Roanne, a mere 30 km from where I live, and where I teach once a week. I popped in and bought some chocolates to give to people at work, but also a few for ourselves. Unfortunately, yesterday evening, watching Strictly Come Dancing I heard the white-chocolate-and-coconut chocolates calling to me. Oh! What a siren song! Unlike Odysseus, I did not tie myself to the sofa and ignore their song: I hopped up quickly and went to fetch them. They are delicious!

We're going to Mum's for Christmas, and while she doesn't stint on cheese, cakes, wine,biscuits and other delicious things, she doesn't see chocolate as necessary. Mr FD and I do. So I have bought a "Mystery Cone"of Revillon chocklits to take with us to the UK. But who knows if they'll last that long!

I know Christmas is much more than food and delicious gluttony. But, in our home, and at mum's too, often the best conversations shared with friends and family are held over the dregs of the cheese and dessert. It is often then that we reminisce about Dad, about holidays, about friends and family who have died. It is often when we are chatting like this that I feel closest to Mum. I hope that this year we'll have opportunities to create more memories, and to bring to mind cherished thoughts of those we have loved and lost.

A Christmas Cookie Pause In Advent

2011-11-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

Floss, over at Troc, Broc et Recup' is holding her "A Pause In Advent" event. Although I was unsure, I've decided to join in. But, this is my foodie/diety/exercisy (yeah, right...!) blog. So I'll direct any of you good folk who have come to visit me during Advent over to my other blog, at View from the Teapot

And anyone who would like an Adventy recipe, I direct you to The Pink Whisk from last year. I loved making these Christmas Lebkuchen biscuits...although I didn't have a star cookie cutter, so I cut them by hand. There were some fairly wierd stars last year! I'm thinking I might make these for my friends here in the village. I bought the family three (very cheap but not cheap-looking) cake tins, with "There's nothing better than a good friend...except a good friend with chocolate" on them. I've put sweets in the smallest, and I think I'll put a chocolate cake in the biggest, and Christmas cookies in the middle sized one. As it's Gerome's birthday on 23rd, he can have the chocolate banana cake as his birthday present!!!

Fun and Food!

2011-11-20T04:01:00.000-08:00

First, here's a shameless plug for my other blog - with a link to a post about what we've been up to. Go to View From The Teapot to read about our two days in Paris, seeing Elbow. One thing I forgot to mention over in the Teapot is that we were really lucky to see the band in such a small venue. In the UK now they are Big, and play Big Venues, like arenas, and 50,000 seaters (well, maybe that's an exaggeration, I don't know...) but we saw them in a small intimate club, with about 1,500 people. It was great. Happy, happy smile. Read more about it over in the Teapot.

Here I think I shall give you a recipe for something delicious. This is Axoa, a Basque dish, in the recipe given to me by one of my students. Translation in italics; comments thus:

AXOA

Ingrédients pour 4 personnes (ingredients for 4 people) :

- 1 kg d’épaule de veau désossée (shoulder of veal, boned.* )

- 2 oignons (onions)

- 1 gros poivron rouge (big red pepper)

- 8 piments verts doux (green chillies. This was quite a lot. I think I used 4)

- 2 gousses d’ail (cloves of garlic)

- 2 feuilles de laurier (bay leaves)

- piment d’espelette en poudre (cayenne pepper. Piment d'Espelette comes from a particular area of the Basque region. But any old bog-standard Cayenne pepper would do. Use as much as you wish)

- ¼ de litre de fond brun de veau lié (veal stock. Or equivalent)

- 1 dl d’huile d’olive (olive oil)

- sel (salt)

1) Tailler l’épaule de veau en cube de 1cm sur 1 cm ainsi que les oignons, le poivron rouge et les piments (cut the veal into cubes. And the onions, pepper and chillies)

2) Faire revenir le veau à la poêle avec un peu d’huile d’olive jusqu’à l’évaporation de l’eau. Dans une cocotte, faire suer les oignons, le poivron, le laurier, les piments, l’al avec un peu de graisse (Cook the veal in the pan with a bit of olive oil until the water has evaporated. This confused me...especially as the verb is "put back" - I'd not taken the veal out of the pan. But I browned it anyway, and then carried on. It tasted OK! I wonder if Angelique missed out an instruction about sweating the onions and garlic, as that isn't included in the recipe she gave me. Do as you think fit - you're a grown up and can make your own decisions!!!)

3) Mélanger la viande dans la cocotte avec la garniture en assaisonnant avec le piment en poudre et du sel. Faire caraméliser le tout. (Mix the meat in a stove-top casserole dish, with the herbs and salt. Brown it all)

4) Ajouter le fond brun (add the stock)

5) Laisser cuire 40 minutes. (Cook for 40 minutes. Lowish heat was suggested)

6) Servir avec des pommes de terre bouillies (serve with boiled potatoes)

* If veal offends your sensibilities, you could use pork, but I think veal in the UK , at least, is now seen as ethical (at least for carnivores!) as the standards of rearing are so much better. No more veal crates.)

I hope you enjoy it!

I WILL cycle today!

2011-11-12T04:47:00.000-08:00

As I said last time, I'm not a keen cyclist. But the weather today is gorgeous - blue sky, cloudless, with a slight autumnal chill in the air - and I really think I should haul my lazy a*se onto the bike. I'm not going to go out with the Cycle Club though. I've not been out for three weeks, so I will be far too slow for them: last time I'm sure the young lads in the group had to wait at least ten minutes for me to get my way up the hill. So I've planned a 20 km round trip for me to do - one I've done many times before, and used to find very easy. I suspect today it might be a bit of an effort! 14h30 is the start time. Honest....!

However, in December, it is the Téléthon, which is, I guess, a French equivalent of the UK's Children In Need, a day when people all over the country do mad things to raise money for various charities/good causes.

The Cycle Club always do a joint ride with the Club from St Germain Laval. This year we cycle to St Germain, they feed us, and then we cycle back. Last year the ride was from St Germain to here, and back to St Germain, but it was too icy and snowy, so the ride was cancelled. The food wasn't (of course!), and was provided by the St Just Club...Mr FD told me about the planned route for this year, and quite frankly I can't help hoping that it'll be cancelled this year! There appears to be a lot of hills, so I need to have at least a bit of fitness in my legs! Or else....

Remembering Paul

2011-11-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

This is an important post for me and so I've done another cheaty cut-and-paste. But I wanted those who read this blog but not my other (can be found at dormouse.wibsite.com !) to read this.

For the last few weeks our weekly market has been more colourful than usual, because of the stalls selling both artificial flowers and real pots of chrysanthemums and winter pansies . Winter pansies are called Pensées here in France, which can also, I think, be translated as “Thoughts” – which is very appropriate – because the reason these have been for sale is in preparation for today: Toussaint, All Saints Day.

Here are the real flowers

...and here are the artificial ones

Gradually the cemetary becomes more and more colourful as families arrive to lay flowers or to put plants on the graves of their loved ones. Usually by 11th November, most of these have blown over in the Autumn winds, so before the ceremony at the War Memorial my friend, her children and I spend 15 minutes or so replacing them! We’re usually early for the ceremony of remembrance, as we don’t go to the Church service before, so uprighting all the blown-over plants keeps the children well-occupied.

Here's the cemetary from my study window

If you click on the photo to enlarge it you should be able to see the blobs of colour that are appearing.

I’ve blogged about this before here when I remembered my Father. But today, Mr D and I went up to the cemetary and laid a pebble each on the grave of our dear friend Paul. He died at the beginning of the year. Paul was a scientist, and in particular a physical scientist, with a love of nature and rocks. He was an incredibly generous man, with his possessions, his time, his heart, and he truly loved God. We rejoice that we knew him, but regret the time that we knew him was too short, and that so much of it was shadowed by the cancer that he bore so bravely and, although it sounds strange, almost joyfully. He never showed his fears to us – in fact, he once said to me “I’m not afraid of my death for myself. I’m only afraid of what it might do to Daniele” . A lovely, selfless man.

We didn’t want to lay flowers, or put a plant. For me, that is the family who does this – and, because Toussaint is really a Catholic “festival” and Paul was staunchly Eglise Reformée, I’m not sure the family would want this anyway – but both Mr D and I decided seperately that we wanted to place a pebble on his grave. It seems appropriate that a man who loved geology would like a stone. So we each picked one from my collection: mine was a biggish, orangey colour, about the size of a duck egg, with a hole which, I guess, another stone wore away over hundreds of years, while Mr D chose a small grey pebble, with stripes of white quartz. We walked up together, and stood for a few minutes remembering our dear friend…and then we went a shared a cup of tea with Gilles, another of our good friends here in St Just.

Thank you Lord for the love and friendship of friends and family, here and gone before. May we remember those who have left us with joy and gladness, and may we appreciate those who are our friends in the here and now. It is so easy to take them for granted. Help us to show our appreciation for all they have done for us, and all they give us.

Apolgies and Recipes

2011-10-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Oh dear and ho-hum. I really am rubbish at blogging...and having two blogs isn't a good idea for someone who can't seem to find the time to blog on one! Of course, I could just cut-and-paste, but that seems like a cheat. This blog was supposed to be about my weight loss (which has stopped. Though, as I discovered at the Doctor's on Friday, hasn't actually reversed (much) so that's a good thing), then about my cycling (which hasn't stopped but isn't very regular. I'm a reluctant cyclist, especially in the chillier Autumn days), then about my frugality (HAH! Don't make me laugh!).

So what is the point of this blog? I suppose I should probably direct it at food. That's my favourite topic. If I was a clever photographer I could take great photos of the food that I make, but I'm not. I don't think it's my camera; I think it's my lack of skill. But I can at least post recipes of things that work.

Here are two. The first is for Chilli Jam

1 kg ripe tomatoes

4-6 large red chillies (with their seeds)

6 fat cloves of garlic, peeled

3 thumb-lengths of fresh ginger, peeled & chopped

50g Thai fish sauce

450g unrefined caster sugar

125ml red wine vinegar

Blend half the tomatoes to a fine purée, with the chillies, garlic, ginger and fish sauce.

Put the purée, sugar and vinegar into a deep pan & bring to the boil, stirring. Turn down to a simmer.

Chop the remaining tomatoes into a small dice. Add.

Cook gently for about 1.5 hours, skimming off foam when necessary, and stirring from time to time.

When it's reached setting point (test on a cold saucer from the freezer) pour into warmed, sterilized glass jars.

Seal . This keeps for months and is good with sausages, cold meats etc.

Image from http://lizzieeatslondon.blogspot.com/2009/09/sweet-chilli-jam.html

The next recipe is for BASQUE CHICKEN.

I served this when friends came for a meal. It is good, but you do have to be careful the rice doesn't overcook too much. It was getting a bit gloopy when we ate it - but is delicious. Use strong/extra strong chorizo if you like it spicy!

There are quite a lot of ingredients but it is quite easy. I'm not giving all the details about removing seeds from peppers etc, as given in the original recipe. Just use your common sense.

4 chicken legs

2 large red peppers

2 onions

olive oil

150g chorizo, skinned and cut into chunks

50g sun dried tomatoes, in oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp paprika

brown basmati rice (measured to the 225 ml level in a measuring jug) *

275 ml hot good vegetable or chicken stock

170ml dry white wine

1/2 large orange, cut into wedges

1 tsp chopped thyme

50g black olives

Use a deep pan with a lid, or a stove top-to-oven casserole dish.

Season the chicken joints, and brown in the oil. Remove.

Slice the red peppers, peel and slice the onions, slice the sun dried tomatoes.

Add a little more oil to the chicken pan & increase heat a tad. Add onions & peppers. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes.

Add chorizo, tomatoes & garlic. Cook for a further 2 - 3 minutes.

Add rice, and coat with oil. Then add tomato paste, paprika and thyme.

Pour in stock & wine. Season. Simmer. Place chicken on top, making sure all the rice is below the top of the liquid.

Put orange wedges among the chicken pieces & scatter olives over the top.

Cover with a tight fitting lid & cook on a very gentle heat for 50 - 60 minutes or until the rice is cooked, but retains a little bite (or, like me, until it's gone a bit gloopy). Alternatively, cook in a pre-heated oven (GM 4/ 350°F/180°C) for 1 hour.

* perhaps this was my mistake with the rice. I used white basmati, which I would guess requires less cooking time than the recommended brown rice

image from http://www.lepinparasol.com/toile_basque_coated_tablecloth.htm
(their recipe is different, but it looks quite similar!)

So there you are. Two recipes which I hope you like. As Eleni from Eleni Drinks Tea
said we all need a treat from time to time., so finally, for those of you who haven't been hyper-organised and made it already, I give you my MiL's fab Christmas Cake recipe. Whenever I make Christmas Cake (which isn't every year) I use this recipe and it always works well. The less said about my icing the better though!

PAT’S CHRISTMAS CAKE

20 cm round/

18cm square tin

18cm round/

15cm square tin

450g

currants

400g

225g

Sultanas

200g

225g

Raisins

200g

50g

Shelled almonds

40g

50g

Citrus peel (optional)

40g

110g

Glace cherries

75g

225g

Plain flour

200g

1 tsp

Mixed spice

¾ tsp

225g

Butter

200g

225g

Moist brown sugar

200g

Lemon – rind & juice

4 standard

eggs

3 large

Sherry/rum/brandy (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 200C.
Line sides & bottom of tin with baking parchment
Prepare dried fruit & nuts.
Beat eggs in a bowl.
Cream butter & sugar together in a separate bowl until light and fluffy.
Then add the eggs.
Add fruit, peel and nuts. Mix thoroughly.
Stir in flour, mixed spice and lemon juice.
Mix well and put in tin, pressing mixture into the sides. Smooth top with spoon.
Place cake on a double sheet of parchment/brown paper on a baking sheet.
Bake for 4 hours as directed:

1^st hour	160C
2^nd hour	150C
3^rd hour	145C
4^th hour	140C

When cooked, remove from oven and leave to cool in tin.
When cooled remove from tin, peel off paper.
To increase moistness and keeping time, prick cake on top with skewer and spoon a little alcohol into it. Invert and do the same with the base.

NOTE: The dried fruit selection can be changed to suit personal tastes. I've used dried cranberries, dried cherries, chopped dried apricots, sultanas, hazelnuts, and no citrus peel. Just make sure you keep to the total weight
When you are ready, cover the cake (except the bottom) in almond paste. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours, more if possible. Then ice with royal icing & decorate as desired.

Another HUZZAH! for me

2011-09-29T04:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the rapid double posting, but I've just done my sums - I've raised 889€ for Chisomo Community Trust. If I can persuade my friends to be hyper generous, I may just get to the 1,000! Even if I don't, I am very, very pleased with what I have done.
:-)
But, Richard is still facing serious charges in Zambia. He's in France at the moment, but going back to face his trial on Sunday. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers

Being Lazy...

2011-09-29T01:27:00.000-07:00

...I'm directing you over to my post on my other blog Two Great Weekends (that's the post, not the blog)
Why type the same thing out twice?!

I'mm not very good at blogging. And I think I'm terrible at being frugal - I'd planned great things (see the last few posts on this blog) but none have come to fruition! We're back spending dosh (we had some lovely meals out!) and spending what seems like far too much for two people at the supermarket! I follow this blog of a young single mum, who is amazingly clever at being frugal. She sets herself the target of spending £150 on groceries for herself and her three children a month!!!! I can barely manage to spend less than that a week!

Still, I suppose I should keep trying. But I can't imagine folk are interested in my weekly menus, so I don't think I'll bother posting them - but do, please, tell me if you ARE interested! Suffice to say, we eat some lovely things, some ordinary things and some minor disasters! Today is chicken in a jar of Wagamama's slightly spicy sauce with veggies and noodles. And I'll probably make some mushroom soup to freeze as I got a barquette of 1 kg of mushrooms for 3€...so there is a tiny, tiny bit of frugality here - though I'm not sure how much room there is in the freezer. We may have to eat something to fit stuff in!!!

1,000 € for 1,000 km Cycling Challenge - FINISHED!

2011-08-27T07:40:00.001-07:00

This is a direct cut-and-paste from my other blog. So if you've read it there first, you needn't read it again.

HUZZAH for me! I've finished! I've completed my Cycling 1,000 km in 6 months Challenge - with 4 days to go!!! And, rather fittingly, on the day that we hear Richard has been found "Not Guilty" of the drugs charges in Zambia. Unfortunately, he is still charged with stealing his own property (don't ask...) and stands trial for this in October, but we are still Very Pleased that the first hurdle is passed.
Here are three photos.

Here's the odometer reading 1,000.

Here's a happy me. I won't say how many times I took an "at arms' length" photo until I was satisfied that you couldn't see my double chin!!!

and here is where I was when the odometer ticked over from 999 to 1000 (though I should admit that I had pootled about a bit to make sure it happened here! But it did seem properly fitting.) You can see the Trusty Bike propped up.
I don't think I've made the 1,000€ I was hoping for, although various people have promised vague amounts of money "when you've finished" so I may manage to collect a bit more, but I think I've probably collected about 600-700€. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I'm sure the Chisomo Community SCHOOL will be very happy to use the money to the benefit of the PUPILS.
Now. Will I ever get on the bike again, do you think...? Place your bets, Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets!

I must get in the habit...

2011-08-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

...of not impulse buying.
I was wandering around the market, having bought today's loaf, and I saw the olive man. Mm, some tapenade wuld be nice with lunch, I thought, and before I knew it, 3,45€ was spent. I suppose it's not a huge deal, but those three euros impulse buys add up fairly quickly, and I am trying to save money. Still, it was delicious tapenade, and it went very well with the roast veggies, hummous and feta we had for lunch. In fact the cold roast veggies are something I've not really thought of having before, but they were really delicious. I will have to remember this and make extra when I prepare them for dinners!

However I did resist buying shoes - they are real leather, look very comfortable, fit my inserts, and only cost 20€. But I DON'T NEED SHOES!

What happened there?!

2011-08-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

So much for reducing costs!
I went to Lidl and got over half the things on my shopping list for just over 50€. I was quite pleased with that, and thought that I'd get the other "bits" in Carrefour for maybe 40€. Hmm. As the cashier cheerfully asked for 70€ I wondered quite where I'd gone wrong! OK I bought a few not-quite-impulse buys (dishwasher cleaner, two bags of jam sugar and a squirty bottle) and I knew that some of the things I bought were going to be expensive ( a chicken, cat biskits -boy! they like the expensive ones!! - and one or two other bits.) but I am still a bit dissappointed that it came to over 120€ Never mind! This is only the start, so I shall try to see what's happening and improve.

There were cheaper chickens, but I didn't quite like the look of them: theplastic wrap was loose, as though it was coming off, and, I don't know, I was just a bit dubious! I couldn't buy any frozen stuff as it's a half an hour drive back home, so I don't feel too confident about things not defrosting (especially in today's temperatures.)

Changing the Focus of the Blog

2011-08-16T03:30:00.000-07:00

As I'm not trying (though maybe I should be!) to lose weight as much as I was, I'm wondering whether to change the focus of the blog a little.
There's a lot of debate/discussion/angst going on at the moment about the cost of living and families having to budget more. And to be honest, although Mr FD and I have cut down a little on our spending, I think we both still sometimes forget that we're no longer in the 40,000 pounds-a-year salary bracket (shared) that we were, but rather in the 15,000€-a-year salary bracket. A big jump downwards! Admittedly, we no longer have a mortgage, our taxes are lower, and we're not paying for Mr FD's season ticket. But I'm driving a lot to get to work which eats quite a lot of money. Our supermarket bills (for two of us!) are equal to (or sometimes quite a lot bigger) than that of my friend who shops for four, and although I don't think we waste too much food, there is definitely some wastage because I buy the wrong things, or we don't eat them and they go off. For example, there are five wrinkly oranges sitting in the fruit bowl. I don't eat oranges much - TBH I don't eat that much fruit - and Mr FD hasn't eaten them, he's not been here for 5 days and they've just sat there and got smaller, drier and wrinklier. I've not been bothered to do something with them.

That "being bothered" is part of my problem too. I work fairly long hours (but not prohibitively long) and so quite often can't be bothered to try to do extra money saving cooking/preserving stuff. Evenings are for relaxing in front of the TV, not trying to cook up a batch of whatever uses up 5 wrinkly oranges and a piece of fish. But I'm thinking I ned to try to change my outlook a little and make more of an effort to be bothered. Mr FD works from home, and doesn't have too much spare time, but he could be utilised a little more (!) Also, when I do get home early, maybe I shouldn't come straight to the computer, but try to "be bothered " to do something more productive!

Going back to the cost of our supermarket shop, I rarely have a budget particularly in mind. I have my list, I buy the stuff we need (and maybe the odd treat), I get to the checkout and, while I may gulp a bit at the cost, I get out the debit card and pay. And we don't hesitate, if we need to (or want to!) to pop out into the village and buy something we fancy. I've started shopping in Aldi or Lidl for stuff, but then go across the road to Carrefour to get the other things (the more "fancy" ingredients/food) that they don't have in Aldi.I certainly don't have the time to trail around Clermont to find other shops where you can buy lentils and oats en vrac, but I reckon that Aldi/Lidl are a reasonable compromise. However, we've not really changed our eating habits since moving here and dropping our income. I still buy more expensive cuts of meat, still "need" more expensive ingredients, still cook more extravagant meals. While I don't want to go on a diet of lentils (they have an unfortunate effect on Mr FD) I think I need to reconsider our food intake.

Certain things - however extravagant they may seem - still remain: Mr FD loves his morning fruit salad of pineapple, mango and grapefruit. I like a meusli with lots of fruit and nuts, so I'll add extra. I won't buy chicken or eggs that aren't at least outdoor reared. If I get the choice, all my meat would be of high animal welfare standards, but in France it's more difficult to know from the labels about the welfare standards. BUT there's a new shop opening in the village in September, selling locally farm reared meat and charcuterie. In these tough economic times I guess opening a shop is a brave thing, and we ought to support local businesses...so I think one of Mr FD's jobs can be meat buying at "Le Panier d'Urfé" It might be a little more expensive than Carrefour/Lidl but it will be helping a new shop.

I have recipe books and folders stuffed with recipes that we enjoy and some of them are labelled "budget". While others are certainly much less than budget! Every week I flick through trying to find something I "fancy" cooking...I vaguely plan the meat content, pasta vs rice vs potatoes, and TRY to not choose anything too pricy, but it's not terribly organised. And I don't think of how I can use one ingredient from one recipe in another - so I'm left, for example, with half a pot of ricotta, and half a chorizo sausage. Now, I can quite happily use those up, by throwing them in another dish, BUT they're not needed in that other dish, it's just to "use them up" - so instead of becoming the focus of the meal, they are, if not exactly wasted and thrown away, at best used up.

I find sorting out meals quite tedious too, so I often rush the job. Maybe I should, once a month, spend a couple of hours planning for the month ahead, so it's not such a tedious job each week before I go shopping. Netmums.com has meal planners and advice about planning meals - aimed more at busy mums with children to feed than at busy Fat Dormice with husbands to feed, but still valuable advice nonteheless.

(I'm not sure how many meals I'd get out of that shopping list!)

So, as well as trying to be more organised, more frugal and more sensible with our food shopping and consumption, I'm going to make a bit more effort with this blog. I don't know whether anyone's really reading this, or interested in it, but I'm going to use it, partly at least, to post my menu plans and shopping costs. If nothing else, seeing it in print might help me to pull my shopping socks up a bit more!

At the moment, I'm planning from Wednesday to Wednesday, as that's when I'll be in Roanne to do a big shop. It will change once I'm back working in Clermont, probably to a Monday to Monday shop.
WEDNESDAY
Lunch: Bacon sandwich (Mr FD is bringing home the bacon - literally! - from the UK today)
Dinner: Pommes de terre avec chorizo, cooked with spinach and roasted peppers
THURSDAY:
Lunch: Roast veg (cooked yesterday in the oven) with home made houmous & feta cheese
Dinner:Stuffed peppers (using rice, chorizo, chickpeas & chopped tomatoes)
FRIDAY:
Lunch: Houmous & salad
Dinner:Hot harissa lamb, green salad and cous-cous with chickpeas
SATURDAY:
Lunch: Merguez & onion jam (we need a hearty lunch on Saturday, because of cycling in the afternoon)
Dinner: Puttanesca pasta, & garlic bread
SUNDAY:
Lunch: Pork terrine (cooked on Saturday in the oven with the garlic bread)
Dinner: Roast chicken, roast potatoes, ratatouile (already in freezer), carrots
MONDAY
Lunch: Coronation chicken mix (from yesterday's chicken)
Dinner: Vegetable risotto (but made with chicken stock from yesterday's chicken) - leeks, courgettes, peppers
TUESDAY:
Lunch: Pork terrine (& the rest goes in the freezer)
Dinner: Chicken pasties (from Sunday's chicken) baked beans & courgettes
WEDNESDAY:
Lunch: Smoked salmon paté (made with bits) - & the rest goes in the freezer.
Dinner: Spicy bacon pasta (made with tomato sauce, already in freezer)

I have actually planned three week's worth of food, but I'm not sure how interesting that will be all posted at one time! I'll try to remember to post it each week, plus one of the recipes.
We'll be going "off piste" as it were, now and then, as we have friends coming to stay. Gary's wheat intolerant, so I'll have to think about lunches more carefully as ours are always based around bread.

RECIPE:
POMMES DE TERRE AU CHORIZO
I love this recipe, because it's really, really easy. For 4 people
800g potatoes           200g chorizo              1 red pepper               frozen spinach, preferably in creme fraiche
1 onion                      4 eggs                       seasoning

Peel & cut the potatoes into quarters (ish)
Peel and chop the chorizo into 1/4 (ish) inch slices
Chop the pepper & onion into good sized chunks.
Mix all together with a tbsp of olive oil - if you have chilli oil, so much the better. Season to taste. Put in an oven proof dish. This needs to be quite deep.
Stick in the oven at about 180°C for about 30 minutes until everything is cooked.

Defrost spinach (as much as you fancy) in microwave. When potato mix is cooked, mix the spinach with this.
Make 4 hollows in the mix, and break the eggs into the hollows.
Put back in the oven for about 10 minutes until the eggs have set.
Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

I hope people will comment, or ask for recipes, if they've got this far. Sometimes it gets lonely here in Blogland!!

images taken from Google images

One Very Happy FatDormouse

2011-08-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

I am a happy Fat Dormouse on two counts today. Number 1 is that last week I received a little package from the workshop of Susan Faye at 365catladies I won her "Giveaway" of some stickers to go on the back of leters (D'oh! I've just realised I sent a letter to mum today and forgot to put a sticker on the back!) I love Susan's work - so whimsical and cat-based. I'd love to have one of her custom pieces, with George, Milly and Pomme - and maybe a little "angelic" Pumpkin as well. Maybe when we feel a little bit richer! So a big thank you to Susan for my gift. I love it!

The second reason I'm feeling happy is due to the generosity of the Cyclo Club. They collected money for my cycle challenge, and came up with the princely sum of 208€ for me. That is so fantastic! I will really have to bake more cakes in gratitude. I've not done a count up recently, but certainly with this donation, I'm coming close to 600€, and maybe even more. I really must do a proper calculation sometime soon, but for now a huge big dancing Thank YOU! goes to Les Cyclos de St Just En Chevalet.

Fat Dormouse hasn't been getting much thinner...

2011-08-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

...for quite some time! I lost my motivation and "mojo" a while back. However, I'm not too bothered, as I've not gained (too much) weight since stopping "being careful". However, as biscuit consumption is creeping up again, I need to take that in hand, I think!

The cycling challenge is still ongoing. I've now completed almost 900 km of the 1,000, and I am rightly proud of that. It's not been too difficult, but it has been a challenge, for all that. Generally, I'm a reluctant cyclist, but once I'm out on the bike I quite enjoy it. I'm happy to stop after about 30 km, however. Mr Fat Dormouse is much keener, and he wants me to "push myself", to do more hills and to go further. He thinks I should finish my 1,000 km with a 50 km ride. Why? I don't want to do a 50 km ride. I'm happy doing between 25 and 35 km per ride; I don't want to go faster/further/higher than last time - though having said that, I did decide to go over a 14% (I think that's what Mr FD said it was. Is that steep?) climb when I was out last. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and altho I gave up and pushed a bit of the way, and I had to stop to pant a lot every 250m or so, I was really thrilled once I made it.

I don't think I'll quite manage the 1,000€ target, but that's OK. I've got quite a lot to collect from work colleagues and from the Cycle Club, so I'm guessing it'll be about 700€ in all. That's still good news for Chisomo. Let's hope Richard is at liberty to receive the money. He is waiting for the judgement, due on 29th August, and while it is looking slightly more hopeful, due to a new piece of supporting evidence (which may or may not have ben submitted too late to make a difference to the case for the defence) he could still be facing 26 years imprisonment for doing nothing more than helping the very poorest in a poor country, due to greed and corruption of others.

If you are of a praying frame of mind, please continue to pray for him.
Further news may be found (though I make no promises!) over at dormouse.wibsite.com

Long time no update

2011-06-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

Partly because I'm a little embarrassed by my lack opf weight loss - in no small part due to the fact that I've been making little or no effort to eat particularly well. I've not eaten particularly badly, to be fair, but I have rather relied on my cycling only to keep me on the straight and narrow...

Cycling wise I'm doing better - I'm a few kilometres shy of 600 km done. This is ahead of where I should be, which is 576 km (I've recently discovered that I need to be doing 38.4 km a week, not 37.4 in order to reach the target. It's OK, as I'm still ahead, and I'm definitely doing more than 38 unless the weather's foul). Next week the Cyclos are off on their voyage (I'm going too) to a rather hilly part of the country, but Mr D has worked out a 39 km run for Group 3 along a Voie Verte (Green Way) which is an old railway track - not too many up and downs - so that should be enjoyable.

My money target hasn't increased too much - though several colleagues at work have promised me about another 100€ in total and there is the Cyclo Club money as well. So while I mightn't make the 1,000€ target I should do quite well.

No news about Richard at the moment (see last post). I hope everything's OK.

HUZZAH!

2011-06-02T02:22:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post and a Huzzah! for me!!

I'm a couple of days late - it being 2nd June, not 31st May - but I'm half way through the challenge and I am indeed halfway through the challenge. My odometer ticked over to 500 as I cycled up the hill back home today. Only another 500 to go!

Not a very informative update

2011-05-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

I forgot to weigh myself this morning - maybe it's Freudian.I do seem to have stuck at the 92 kg level for quite some time. But I really haven't been trying on the food front...liquorice allsorts, Tunnocks wafers, crisps and chocolate chip cookies have crept back into the diet (to say nothing of the Lindt chocolate bunny) (but it was only 2,50€ for a big bunny and five baby bunnies. It would have been a crime to refuse to buy it!) While these things are fine on a controlled basis they have been slipping out of control a little. So I need to try to be a little stricter with myself again.

Cycling has been going well - only 17 more km to do and I'll have reached halfway on the Cycle Challenge. Tuesday is my half-way point, timewise and I'm pretty sure I've got no afternoon lessons so I can go out tomorrow. I was pleased with yesterday's ride on two fronts: (1) I got up a certain hill without stopping (this hill is one I've always had to stop on before now to puff and pant) OK, so it was in the Granniest of Granny Gears, but I did it AND I actually wasn't puffing like a grampus at the end. (2) When we got back home, 35 km later, my legs felt as though they could do a little more. I was tempted to carry on, but my back was beginning to play up, so I thought it prudent to stop. Could I just point out the Un-Fat Dormouseishness of the words "I was tempted to carry on".

However, while the Cycle Challenge is going well, news from Chisomo itself is not good. Richard, the Englishman that we know who supports the school, has been arrested. I don't know all the details, having got the story third hand, but it all seems very "political".Apparently, the Powers That Be wanted him to give up the truck that he uses in Zambia and give them the money he was carrying for the school. When he refused, he was taken in for questioning and accused of money laundering and drug smuggling (because some Nytol was found on his person). His trial is on 6th June. We are all hoping and praying for a just outcome.

AAAAARGH!

2011-05-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

Mr FD kindly pointed out that my odometer on the bike was wrong and was counting too many kilometres. Helpfully, he set it back 30 km. So I've done less than I thought. I'm on about 320...there's a long way to go! Really, by the end of this month, I should have cycled 500 km, but I can't see how I can do 180-odd in half-a-month. Particularly as during the week is becoming more difficult - I'm getting up at 5.30 because I have to be in Clermont by 8.00, so I'm dog tired when I get home.

STILL. I will complete this challenge. Though I'm still not sure I'll be keen on cycling at the end of it. I do quite enjoy it when I'm out - but I would be just as happy (if not more so!) not to do it.

1K € for 1K Km Update

2011-05-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on the target. Because of my cold, which lingered on - and still hasn't fully gone - I haven't really felt like doing much. Last Saturday I managed (but it was a struggle) 18 km or so. I had planned to cycle up to friends of ours, but 2 km up the road I could hardly breathe - my lungs were bursting! So I decided to "abort the mission" and go home. However, I'd been passed by a group of club cyclists going the other way, and when I got home they were all outside (we have a public WC across the road from the house) and I felt so embarrassed at the thought of stopping, when they'd seen me huffing and puffing in the opposite direction but 5 minutes before, that I swung left and went down the hill! So I carried on, debated a little further on whether to turn around or continue, decided to carry on and did the full 18km circuit.

Then, on Wednesday, as I wasn't teaching, I went out with the Club. Me and two older guys did 35 km. The last 10 were horrid as the sunshine had turned to howling gale and rain, and I had no waterproof with me, but the rest was good - and I was pleased with the way I tackled the climbs. Fernand told Mr D that I had "roulé"-ed bien. I didn't go out yesterday, as I went into town with Cathy to meet someone for coffee, and to do a bit of shopping (I got a nice cardigan for 10€) and although I'd planned to go today, my back is a little stiff AND I've just done some gardening and feel in some pain. I also drank two beers at lunchtime so I feel quite disinclined to go (mind you, maybe I should go because I drank two beers. They added up to 400 calories between them!)

Anyway, all this means that I'm 25 km behind this week's target. Which is quite a bit really. It's looking as though I need to try to get out twice this week in the evening, plus a ride next Saturday to catch up. While I enjoy the rides once I'm out, I certainly don't feel that keen about going. Mr D says it's like a drug to him, and he gets quite annoyed if he has to miss a ride due to work/illness etc. Me? I'm not bothered.

Still - I do have to say a couple of Thank Yous for more donations to the Cause.

Thank you to Angela for her 10€ contribution, and to Mr D for giving up his Easter Egg to put 20€ in the Kitty.

And a huge THANK YOU! to my former colleague and friend Nikki for her incredibly generous cheque. Considering we've not seen each other for a good 10 years, and only exchange Christmas cards and the odd FaceBook comment, her donation was really, really generous. This brings the Totaliser to:

Date	Distance cycled	Distance to go	Money raised	Money to go
10.04.11	243	757	377€*	623€
17.04.11	257	743	377€*	623€
01.05.11.	309	691	457€*	543€

*£ to € conversions are rounded to the nearest €

So there you have it. There is definitely at least another 100€ to come from the Cycle Club - more than 20 have signed up but nobody has said how much they'll give me! But even at 5€ each that's 100€ - so I'm having to bake cakes for them for the next 6 weeks (at least!)

***

My weight loss continues, though at a fairly slow pace (probably due to the consumption of beer as detailed above!) I'm reasonably pleased however, but do have to note that I have noticed that when I cycle (last week) I lose weight, and when I don't (week before) I don't. Fairly obvious, really...!

START WEIGHT	102 kg	224.9 lbs
TARGET WEIGHT	75 kg	165.3 lbs
AMOUNT TO LOSE	27 kg	59.6 lbs
AMOUNT TO GO	17.7 kg	39 lbs
LOST IN TOTAL	9.3 kg	20.5 lbs
LOST THIS WEEK	1 kg	2.2 lb
WEIGHT THIS WEEK	92.7 kg	204.4 lb

There you have it!

Weekly Menus

2011-04-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

I've not had time to sit down & report my weekly menus for ages...Also, I don't know if anyone's really interested. Let's be honest, I don't know if anyone's interested in this blog, full stop, but never mind! I'm here.
I've spent a few hours recently browsing sites such as the Love Food, Hate Waste one I linked to in the last post, plus others giving planned menus which use up bits from other recipes. Also there have been those blogs written by people trying a lot harder than us to save money. And it got me musing...

Quite often I find myself with a recipe using, for example, half a tin of chickpeas. I either throw in the whole tin (they're good for us...it won't make much difference...etc) or keep them in a box in the fridge until they've gone slimy and then give them to the chickens.
IF I have time to lookat recipes and consider carefully, I could plan better to use up the bits.

The other rather wasteful thing I do is not plan lunches. I just buy paté/charcuterie/cheese etc and let Mr D choose what he wants & make my sandwiches as I want. Which means I either don't buy enough, or I buy too much, or I buy lots of stuff (processed meats) that aren't really good for us.
IF I have time I can plan better sandwich fillings, which are less wasteful, & which are better for us.

Of course, it's always the "IF I have time.."which is the difficulty - although, if I'm honest, I probably have more time than I think I have. It's just I don't often use the time I've got to its full capacity. Watching stuff on TV that I don't REALLY want to watch, or flicking through a magazine, or surfing loads of blogs or The Ship on t'internet isn't always the best use of time - enjoyable though it can be!

Anyway, with a short break from work (Monday Tuesday, Wednesday) I have had time to plan better. So here (for anyone who might be on this blog, other than the tumbleweed that occasionally blows through...) are this week's planed menus:
TODAY:
Lunch: Mr D is cycling to Vichy and back with his friends. (A round trip of Far Too Many Kilometres) I'm treating myself to a mini pizza with goat's cheese.(Mr D doesn't like goat's cheese. He claims it is too "goaty")
Dinner: Spinach & Mushroom lasagne (using up ricotta & 1/2 a ball of mozzarella) plus salad
WEDNESDAY:
Lunch:Roast chicken & grape sandwich filler. (This sounded delicious and filling & quite good-for-us. I will make enough for 4 helpings so we can both have it tomorrow as well. Me in my square bread sandwiches, and Mr D in his baguette)
Dinner:Baked potatoes, smoked salmon filling (uses salmon bits, so not too extravagant) and home made coleslaw.

THURSDAY:
Lunch: Yesterday's filler
DINNER: Chicken & chorizo cous cous, with peas (Just had a frozen food delivery from Toupargel, so I've got peas in the freezer.)
Today's a bit heavy on the chicken, but never mind.
FRIDAY:
Lunch:Homemade houmous + feta and vegetable filler. (This sounds remarkably sloppy, but also delicious. I'm not sure how I'll cope with it as a portable lunch in a sandwich box, but we'll see.)
Dinner: Homemade pizza (using left over pasta sauce, mozzarella from Tuesday and chorizo from Thursday) and salad.
SATURDAY:
Lunch: Same as yesterday. We'll both need fuel for cycling in the afternoon.
Dinner: Keema Karahi (a Pakistani minced beef dish) with naan (courtesy of Steve & Cathy), raita and chickpea salad (using the rest of the chickpeas from the houmous. The chickens will be disappointed, as they love chickpeas!)

SUNDAY:
Lunch: Ham & cheese toastie (must remember to get Pain Pesée instead of a flute today!)
Dinner:Pork with peanuts, rice and tomato&onion salad.

I'm not sure about the calorific value of these meals. Maybe some of thm are a bit cheese heavy, but I think generally there's not too much of a problem. As long as I endeavour to keep portions to a normal size, and we continue to exercise, then I think the weight will continue to decrease.

Here's a website to look at.

2011-04-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

I've just found a great website - http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
Try exploring it...I'm going to try the Fruit Bowl buns - but as a loaf - as I seem to have my 100€ worth of sponsors from the Cycle Club.

I'll do my update soon...but not today.

Happy Easter, everyone.

A Pause In Lent - & My Weekly Updates

2011-04-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

My final Pause In Lent can be found over at View From The Teapot which is my other blog. I hope to see you there!

If you're here for an update, well, here we go:

START WEIGHT	102 kg	224.9 lbs
TARGET WEIGHT	75 kg	165.3 lbs
AMOUNT TO LOSE	27 kg	59.6 lbs
AMOUNT TO GO	19.5 kg	43 lbs
LOST IN TOTAL	7.5 kg	16.5 lbs
LOST THIS WEEK	0.5 kg	1.1 lb
WEIGHT THIS WEEK	93.6 kg	206.4 lb

I' m reasonably content. Still a long way to go, I know, and I'm feeling a little malcontent. I'm a bit tired of bovvering, but I know I need to. I think it's because I have a cold so I'm feeling under the weather. Mind you, two people this week have commented that they can see I've lost weight, so that's encouraging.

And the Cycle Challenge. Well:

HOORAH FOR ME!!!
1/4 of the Challenge is now complete!

I've done 257 kilometres. I didn't go out yesterday, due to a stinky cold, but forcing myself to go out last Wednesday meant that I'm only 2.5 km behind where I should be. I'll catch up easily over next weekend, I should imagine. I am pleased to find that even when I don't want to go out, if I do I enjoy myself. There's a couple of runs of about 14 km each which I can do quite easily now, and I know them well. So, if I really don't want to do a ride, I can do one of these, knowing that "When I get to the cross (...or the field of lambs, or the top of the rise, or the ponies-and-their-foals, or the top of the nasty little climb) I can have a rest-and-a-drink & know that I've only got 12 (or 8 or 6 or 4 or 1.5) kilometres to go!"

So:

Date	Distance cycled	Distance to go	Money raised	Money to go
03.04.11	184	816	377€*	623€
10.04.11	243	757	377€*	623€
17.04.11	257	743	377€*	623€

I put a sponsor form in the Clubhouse for the Cycle Club, and although three people have signed, they've not said how much they'll give me (despite the column headed "Somme promis" - amount Promised ) So the amont of money raised hasn't changed. I'll have to rally my colleagues at the Language School next, I think.

Various musings & Updates

2011-04-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, if you've come via Google links to read my Pause In Lent, you need to redirect to here.

Otherwise, I can update you on my cycling and weightloss.
The Cycling challenge is going well, thanks to the Cycle Club of St Just who keep me on my toes (or should that be on my bike?!) I went out by myself on Thursday - although I didn't feel much like it, and my legs really, really didn't want to work, I managed about 23 km at a fairly good average speed. There's a route which has a nasty little hill in it, but you know that when you've got up that (in Granny Gear, with a couple of stops to breathe!) there's 8 km of almost all downhill. I got up to 45 kph at one point - really scary for me!

Then yesterday we went out from the CCSJ. Odette outlined the route before we left, and it included a climb up to a village called Cremeaux. 6 km of climbing - aaargh! I thought. All the time we were heading towards it, I kept thinking "Ah, we've got the climb to Cremeaux coming up..." and panicking slightly. But, as Mr D had already told me, but I didn't believe him, it was actually not a problem. I did it all in 2nd gear, with only one stop to breathe and drink (I can't drink as I'm cycling.) I was so chuffed when I reached the top with no real difficulties! The route down again is a bit up-and-down, and at one point (oddly not on a steepish climb, but on quite a flattish one) I nearly gave up, but Paul nursed me along and I managed it. Huzzah for me again!

No thank to add today for sponsorship, but I have left a form in the Locale of the Cycle Club, so I hope for more sponsors from that. I've also collared a couple of friends who are over for their holidays at the moment. Hopefully something will come of that.

So my totaliser stands at:

Date	Distance cycled	Distance to go	Money raised	Money to go
26.03.11	126.5	873.5	314€*	686€
03.04.11	184	816	377€*	623€
10.04.11	243	757	377€*	623€

I am 21 km ahead of target for this week. Big enormous smiles.

As for my weight loss, well, that's been slow but acceptably steady. I was naughty last night, as we popped into the restaurant next door to see friends who were having a meal there, and I ended up having a kir and a pudding (dried fruit and nuts in caramel sauce with ice cream and almond tuile biscuits. Absolutely gorgeous...but possibly not very good for the diet!) But, with the exercise as well, there has definitely been a change in my shape! My "overhang" is certainly reduced and it has been noticed!

So, generally a good week has been had by all.

START WEIGHT	102 kg	224.9 lbs
TARGET WEIGHT	75 kg	165.3 lbs
AMOUNT TO LOSE	27 kg	59.6 lbs
AMOUNT TO GO	20.1 kg	44.3 lbs
LOST IN TOTAL	6.9 kg	14.12 lbs
LOST THIS FORTNIGHT	1.3 kg	2.9 lb
WEIGHT THIS WEEK	94.1 kg	207.5 lb

Bear-y Giveaway.

2011-04-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

OK I'm rubbish at this. But this should be a link but I don't think it is. Rubbish! Still...it should link to this lovely site with a great giveaway. Do go and have a look!

Cycling Update - huzzah!

2011-04-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

For those who would like to know why I'm doing this Cycle Challenge, I refer you to my post here. It's partly as a spur for me to start exercise, but also because I'm trying to raise money for a good cause.

Well, huzzah for me, I say. Yesterday was my first outing with the Cycle Club. Bizarrely I was a little nervous - what if they go too fast? What if I need to stop for a drink? What if we go up hills (looking at the scenery round herethat's a given!) and I can't do it? What if..? What if...?

(this is Mr D with a view of the scenery round here. It's not very flattering of Mr D, but it shows the not-flat nature of the paysage!)

I went out with the 3rd group - the "Slow" group. There was me, Odette, Monique and Paul. I was the youngest at 51, Paul the oldest at 30 years my senior (I hope I'm that fit at 81). "We'll do about 25, maybe 30 kilometres", Odette said. Having managed 27 on Wednesday I thought I could manage that, with a bit of support.

So off we go. I find that in fact, they didn't go too fast - it was more the opposite, particularly on the flat bits. If I needed to stop for a drink, I did - but most of the time I kept going, until we all stopped for a drink, a breather and a chat. We did go up hills - but Paul encouraged me to breathe properly, they kept saying "Don't be afraid to mouliner" (that is, to use the Granny gears), they waited at the top, and on the final hill back into St just Odette cycled with me, encouraging me all the way. And I managed it. All FORTY ONE KILOMETRES!!!! That's more than a week's target in one ride!

OK, I admit I couldn't move yesterday evening, and Cantonese Beef in oyster sauce turned into sausage, beans and frozen potato mix, because I couldn't face cooking anything, and I didn't sleep too well last night due to cramp, bad back and leg ache. BUT Goodness Gracious Me! I'm proud of myself! Today's not too bad although my back's still a little sore, but gosh. Clever me!

I have some more Thank Yous to say to people for more sponsorship:

Thank You to Flausa from Ship Of Fools. She's sponsored me for my cycling and I sponsored her for her Edinburgh Moon Walk.

Merci beaucoup à Floss from Troc, Broc et Recup' for a cheque received this week, as well as my friends Mary & Ted back in the UK. I really appreciate your support.

Date	Distance cycled	Distance to go	Money raised	Money to go
19.03.11	64	936	248€*	752€
26.03.11	126.5	873.5	314€*	686€
03.04.11	184	816	377€*	623€

*£ to € conversions are rounded to the nearest €

I'm only 1.5 kilometres behind the target total for this week. I can't quite believe it!

Go, Fat Dormouse, go!!!

P.S. And I've lost almost another kilo this week...Big Smiles.

Fat Dormouse getting thinner

Next Week from River Cottage

Apparently, I'm versatile

ver·sa·tile[vur-suh-tl or, especially Brit., -tahyl]

What are we eating this week?

Surfing the River Cottage pages

Giveaway!

Here we are again!

I imagined my impossibility (sort of!)

Update on Richard

More River Cottage Adventures!

Making a splash with River Cottage

Notes as we go through the week

Next Week With River Cottage

More Adventures at River Cottage

River Cottage Veg Every Day

Happy Christmas

Pausing in Advent to bake

A Pause In Advent 2

A Christmas Cookie Pause In Advent

Fun and Food!

I WILL cycle today!

Remembering Paul

Apolgies and Recipes

Another HUZZAH! for me

Being Lazy...

1,000 € for 1,000 km Cycling Challenge - FINISHED!

I must get in the habit...

What happened there?!

Changing the Focus of the Blog

One Very Happy FatDormouse

Fat Dormouse hasn't been getting much thinner...

Long time no update

HUZZAH!

Not a very informative update

AAAAARGH!

1K € for 1K Km Update

Weekly Menus

Here's a website to look at.

A Pause In Lent - & My Weekly Updates

Various musings & Updates

Bear-y Giveaway.

Cycling Update - huzzah!