Category:

Simply..learning to ....

1/4/2023

..like cooking.

It helps iif I clear all the surfaces in my very snall kitchen and make it somwwhere I want to be in. I make sure it's warm enough, I have enough light, I have all the ingredients (30 mile round trip on a bus to the shiops if not!). A fresh tea towel, a bowl of hot soapy water so I can wash up as I go.

It helps if I don the beautiful linen apron a friend gave me for my birthday. It's funny just how much difference this makes. I feel like a real cook with this on.

I might put on some music, or a podcast and the scene is set.

I cut the aubergines in half and score them and add oil and salt before cooking them for a bout 40 minutes. Oven at 189C.
Meanwhile I fry some miced beef or lamb, onion and garlic and add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some tomato puree and when the aubergine is soft I scrape out the fleesh and add it to the mix, then layer the sauce into the aubergine shells with some mozarella and basil leaves and pop back into the oven till the cheese on top is melted and golden.

I set a nice table and pour a glass of wine, and realise I have quite enjoyed myself.

1 Comment

Simply..learning....

29/3/2023

12 Comments

..to like to cook. I can cook, I've just never particularly liked doing it. But I love good food and no-one else is going to make it.

I love the results though and I'm extra happy to be sharing it with family.

12 Comments

Simply..those pandemic pounds,,,,

22/3/2023

8 Comments

I reckon I put on about nine pounds during the pandemic. When you are five feet tall that is a lot.

8 Comments

Simply..join me....

18/3/2023

9 Comments

in a rainy day slice of cake and cup of tea..

After greasing the cake tin, have you tried dusting the tin with a light coating of caster sugar? It gives the cake a lovely delicately crunchy edge which is a nice contrasst to the soft sponge.

9 Comments

Simply..romantic February 11....

12/2/2023

8 Comments

Today a friend and I revived Affogato Sunday - a thing we devised during the dark days of lockdown to help keep us sane.

First set a pretty table, then make a pot of espresso and get the ice cream out of the freezer. Get changed and put on some relaxing music. Meet on Zoom/WhatsApp whatever.... Enjoy. Romantic in its way, no?

Loving your suggestions for romantic films - keep them coming please.

I would add Out of Africa, Girl With A Pearl Earring, This Beautiful Fantastic..

8 Comments

Simply..romantic February 5

5/2/2023

8 Comments

Who are your romantic heroes and heroines?

Audrey Hepburn, one of mine, ate one chocolate a day. One!

I am emulating her for romantic February.

I give a little thought as to when in the day I will heve it, and where, and on which little dish.

I savour it.

8 Comments

Simply..pretending....

17/1/2023

4 Comments

..I am in a lovely country hotel with a good restaurant. Fig chestnut and stilton tart with a glass of good wine, by a blazing log fire.

And a spa experience. While outside, it is frosty and starry and there have been a few flakes of snow...
.

With flowers, of course.

Ever the romantic!

4 Comments

Simply..fresh....

10/1/2023

4 Comments

A splurge on freshness to wean me off rich food, sweet cakes and biscuits (a very first world problem I know). I am so lucky to have such beautiful and nourishing food.

And flowers! The smell of those little narcissus....intoxicating.

Here is a salad you might like to try if you too are planning to eat healthy for the rest of January.

One onion thinly sliced, one orange segmented, one lettuce, 2-3 tblsps oil, 2-3 tblsps vinegar, salt and pepper. I can eat any amount of this! It made a nice accompaniment to the last of the brie, onion and cranberry tarts from the freezer.

4 Comments

Simply..goodbye Christmas....

6/1/2023

4 Comments

You've been lovely.

Twelfth Night dinner -wild venison and chestnuts in red wine, followed by home made ice cream with cherries in kirsch. I am so glad I did all that cooking early in December.

Once all the leftovers are eaten up it's back to plain fare..

4 Comments

Simply..delicious....

4/12/2022

11 Comments

A bruschetta breakfast I like to have on a Sunday morning..

Rub a slice of bread on both sides with a garlic clove, cut out a circle from the bread. Fry in a generous amount of good olive oil (careful not to burn it like me!), turn and drop in an egg. Sprinkle with plenty of rock salt and enjoy with a cup of strong tea.

I get this nice Polish bread from the supermarket.

11 Comments

simply..fruity....

30/11/2022

6 Comments

Fruit loaf for the freezer. Instead of sultanas I used mixed dried fruit with peel for a slightly more festive version.

I am enjoying this. Next, venison in red wine.

6 Comments

Simply..sweet treats....

29/11/2022

11 Comments

..for holiday season visitors. I lined three containers with double layers of cling film as I won't be serving 8 - 10 people at once.

I used bought meringues, popped them intto a bag

and enjoyed bashing them with a rolling pin!

I nixed the neringue with the whipped cream adding strong coffee and raspberry liqueur. I plan to serve it with raspberries, pomegrante seeds and a spoonful of the liqueur.

Drizzled some of the strong coffee on top, folded over the clingfilm and put on the lids. Three desserts now in the freezer.

(There is a link to Sarah Raven's original recipe on Saturday's post.)

11 Comments

Simpl..the waiting game....

15/11/2022

10 Comments

..is defrosting the freezer. It takes forever! But I found the last of the bramble and apple puddings and had it for lunch.
Such comfort when the sky is dark and the rain is lashing down.

What is your favourite comfort food in November?

10 Comments

Simply..crisis!

23/10/2022

6 Comments

I fear I am having my very own energy crisis as I still feel a bit feak and weeble (as my daughter once said) after my horrid cough and cold.

Several beautiful apples a day might help. They are gorgeous!

6 Comments

Simply..gleanings....

8/10/2022

6 Comments

..gatherings and sharings..

I have almost a kilo of sloes in the freezer to make sloe gin when I am recovered! I have not made it before. Have you?

6 Comments

Simply..there are times....

7/10/2022

2 Comments

..when only chocolate will do.

2 Comments

Simply..through the red gate....

25/9/2022

4 Comments

..are quince and brambles. Am thinking puddings.

4 Comments

Simply..hungry....

16/9/2022

2 Comments

Thankfully soething mostof us rarely experience.

It was a long journey home from York. Three buses, two trains and a ferry and all connections worked out well until the last one. I had to wait an hour for the last bus. I don't eat much when travelling and all I had had was an egg and a biscuit, so I was truly hungry by the time I got home.

I had eaten out in York at the wonderful Betty's and I had lovely meals made for me by friends, but I have to say that the quickly made Heinz baked beans on buttery toast with a cup of strong tea was the best tasting and most enjoyed meal I have had for ages! Every mouthful utterly utterly delicious!

2 Comments

Simply..anti-procrastination day....

4/9/2022

10 Comments

..is one of FlyLady's best ideas (It's a Wednesday). I kept buying healthy food and not eating it, then I feltt so terribly guilty for wasting food when some people have none, that I kept putting off clearing out the fridge! Eventually, one Wednesday, I just faced it. Some went in the compost, some in the bin, some glass jars went in the recycling, some leftovers in the freezer and some in the juicer.

Some went on a my plate for an interesting lunch. Then it was time to go shopping.

What will you do next anti-procrastination day?
Do share!

10 Comments

Simply..Dark Eyes, tennis....

4/7/2022

2 Comments

..and putting on weight!

This beautiful clematis was an inexpensive supermarket buy, in a very small pot and I read that it is a good idea to grow them on in a bigger pot until they have a stronger root system before planting them out in the garden. It is doing well so far in the greenhouse.

The underside is lovely too.

The weather is awful, so I am still enjoying Wimbledon. So far with my tennis I have had scones and jam, strawberries and cream, white wine and gin and tonics. How many more days has the tournament to go?

2 Comments

Simply Eat..Provence....

23/6/2022

3 Comments

You can always tell a blogger - they photograph their food before they eat it!

It's a wonderful and relaxing treat to have such food put down in frnt of you. Leisurely breakfasts and healthy lunches..

Salads and juices with 7, 8, 9 ingredients.

A restaurant on the beach as the sun set - torches lit the beach after dark and we waded into the still warm sea.

Desserts included the best affogato ever!

All making me rethink my cooking at home..

3 Comments

Simply..there comes a time....

12/4/2022

6 Comments

..when you just have to grit your teeth and spend some money. The old chairs lasted 20 years and will now be recycled, as will the cushions which were so faded you wouldn't know they once had a pattern on them. They were sparking no joy whatsoever!

Breakfast outside on a sunny, if cold, spring morning is sparking joy! The tulips, Purissima, start out greenish, turn creamy then white. They are also one of the very few which repeat in my garden.

Have you had any meals outside yet?

6 Comments

Simply..comfort food!

7/4/2022

12 Comments

100 g each of butter, caster sugar, ground almonds and SR flour.

Beat togeher butter and sugar then work in almonds and flour. With damp hands roll into 20 or so walnut sized pieces. Bake 180C for 10 minutes. Sandwich together with Nutella.

Make on a wet and windy afternoon. Serve with good coffee and pretend you are in Italy.

12 Comments