mosaic road

All I Need are Cushions !

Cushions and a gin and tonic in hand !! Picture perfect !! These chairs are my latest Ebay acquisition for the bargain price of $62. A big matching trolley style table on wheels was also included. I really have no need for the table so will sell it on . Any takers ?? All the cane work is in fabulous condition. Bring on the halcyon days of summer. I'm ready now.

Moroccan Vegetable Stew

I often find odds and sods in the fridge that did not get eaten up over the weekend. This recipe is all about rejuvenating some of those tired vegies, sad carrots and potatoes in particular. It is a one pot meal too so any reduction in dirty dishes can only be a good thing. I added a big handful of Tom Thumb tomatoes to diced carrots and potatoes, cannellini beans and green peas. All this cooked for quite some time in chicken stock flavoured with cumin and turmeric. We will have it with chunks of bread. I fully intended to cook some quinoa but my culinary motivation has faded drastically as a result of this ongoing virus.

 

Cookie of Today

I made these wonderful cookies today - gingernuts with treacle,ginger, cinnamon and cloves. The recipe was designed for cut out cookies. I did roll the dough into a log and then left it in the fridge while I walked the dogs. When I returned I sliced up the log and sort of shaped the cookies into rounds . I just don't have the patience for doing cut outs. They turned out well and tasted delicious. Although the recipe did not list choc chips as an ingredient I did add some dark Ghiradelli choc chips into the warm dough. They got a bit melty and my dough was wonderfully marbled. 

High Tea

Today I was lucky enough to be a guest at  High Tea at a big city hotel. It was a serene and relaxed affair that started with a glass of champagne. Beautiful ribbon sandwiches - smoked salmon, egg, ham, cucumber - came first, along with mini quiches and even a baby shepherd's pie. The cake buffet was a sight to behold and of course we tried nearly everything. I loved the tiny rum babas, choux swans and thimble sized servings of pannacotta.  {I must apolgize here for very ordinary photographs but I was trying to be a little surreptitious.} The ivories kept tinkling and we kept eating - pikelets, scones, crepes, strawberry tartlets and more. Dizzying numbers of calories but so divine and so worth it !!

 

Heirloom Tomatoes

This beautiful array or heirloom tomatoes came from - would you believe - Costco !! They are also known sometimes as heritage tomatoes. I think this means they are original varieties that have not been "fiddled" with to have tougher skin or to withstand longer times in storage etc.  I just loved the colours and was familar with 3 out of 4 types. Those really darkish green ones were new to me - tasted delicious !!

2nd Bake'n Blog

Staci here is having a second Bake'n Blog party. There was an overwhelming choice on offer but I decided to do Chocolate, Dried Cherry and Walnut Bar Cookies. The recipe can be found on a gorgeous blog here call Passionate About Baking. I loved this recipe and it smelled great even in the bowl - wafts of chocolate and almond filled the kitchen. I am a such a sucker for almond essence and vanilla .

My end result is so much darker but that's to do with a cocoa box malfunction and way more flew into my bowl than the recipe called for !!

Now I am off to cut up this slice and try - can't wait !!

Leftovers

Sometimes the fridge seems to be full of little bits of not very useful amounts of things. When faced with little glad wrap covered bowls of assorted oddments, the answer is fried rice. Needless to say and typical of my style of dinner making, this was a long way off the original version, a very distant cousin in fact. I wonder if there was ever an original fried rice emanating out of Asia and what were the exact original ingredients. I recall having it as a child from the local Chinese take away when we had to take our own saucepans down to be filled up with the food we ordered. I remember the saucepans but not the contents of that specific dish, apart from rice, of course. It would seem that we all now have our own versions to use up leftovers and versatility is the name of the game here !!

Having the Blues

Who wouldn't want the blues when they look like this with their divine fragrance wafting gently around the room. These hyacinths were a gift and they are truly beautiful and  such a welcome touch of spring. They speak of the warm sunshine and halcyon days that are just around the corner/

Caponata Pasta Sauce

I think there a masses of variations of Caponata and I think they are meant to be a chunky type of sauce and I am unsure if there are particular vegetables that make a caponata a Caponata. Nevertheless mine was delicious over pasta and had loads of red peppers, celery and tomatoes diced finely then cooked down to a thickish sauce. This would also be great on a pizza base - maybe that will happen tomorrow ! I love sauces that make big batches that can be frozen for desperate culinary moments.

 

Asleep on the Job

I have had 4 days of a virus, a coldy flu thing and have taken to my bed in the afternoons and risen quite late over the weekend. The fur nursing staff have swung into action, or that should really be inaction. They have slept through my bouts of coughing and sneezing and taken advantage of my laryngitis but on the plus side they have kept me company and kept me toasty warm.