A Last Visit

Firstly, I have to say, the day this blog was written was 21 January 2017.  The reason I didn't publish it then, is I wasn't sure if I would ever want to.

Today we went to visit a friend that has Cancer.  Not just any type, but terminal.  It is difficult, to say the least when you go visit someone you know might only live for a few more months, or even weeks.  You always hope you can see that friend again, but the truth is, there are no guarantees.  What do you take to a friend in this instance for a visit?

The Turkish Breakfast That Should Have Started It All

It has finally happened.  The Turkish breakfast I've been wanting to host since last year actually saw the light in April (yes, I know this blog is a bit late, but I was busy).  Baron Laphroaig and his wife, Dr. Pain, joined Husband and I, after a very difficult time in finding the perfect date, for this divine breakfast.  Most of you know that I love to experiment with weird and wonderful recipes, but I wasn't sure how some of these dishes would go down.  I had nothing to worry about in the end as everyone loved everything.

The Breakfast Table

I Was A Busy Person, Possibly (and Another Recipe)

Busy being the operative word, this past weekend I had a field day in the kitchen.  Amazing how creative one can get after 4 weeks of, you know, THAT word.  I decided that I am going to prep for a relaxed week where Husband and I can eat what we want, at least to a degree.  So Saturday rolled around, and the first thing I decided on was a fresh bread for the week as I have been dying to try the Aubergine Pickles (which has my approval, so here is the recipe) with Chilli Jam (which by the way, was gorgeous for lunch, especially as I added a few slices of Gouda which has been in the freezer for the past month).  The perfect sandwich for a Monday at the office.

That Thing Our Grannies Did? Oh Right, Preserves (With a Recipe)

I never thought I would see the day when I would take to the bottle.  Now wait a minute, I'm not becoming an alcoholic, oh no.  I'm referring to preserves.  In my earlier youth (as I'm really not past my youth, at least not for the next 60 years), I never thought I would get into preserves.  I always saw it as a time consuming process and it's so much easier to buy those items.

My first bout of "preserving" was when our Bishop's Hat Chilli plant gave a fair amount of chillies last year.  I came across a Chilli Jam recipe, that I wanted to try for an evening of entertainment we had planned for the same day.  What better accompaniment for a cheese platter than chilli jam, and as it is a Nigella recipe I didn't think it could be difficult.  Oh my word, what an epic royal mess.  Right there I decided to hell with preserving.  What threw me was the use of pectin, which was a, rather expensive, and b, caused me to lose 2/3rds of my jam mixture due to the pectin messing around and causing horrible gooey lumps in the jam.

I Can't Believe I'm On One

I know it's been a long time since my last blog, but bear with me.  There's a valid reason for that.  Husband and I have been on... well, let me spell it, as I shudder to say it.  D.  I.  E.  T.  I have been overweight since forever, and with Husband having found out his cholesterol is WAAAAAY to high, I decided to... THAT word, with him.  Unfortunately, by this afternoon I was having withdrawal symptoms from my kitchen.  Yes, I can get creative with food, and keeping Husband happy with dinner is difficult with the boring foods given on this... plan, however, I think I did quite well the last two weeks.

Pasta Incaciata (No, That's Not a Swearword)

Aubergines, eggplant, brinjals, whatever you want to call them, I have to think of more ways to prepare them.  Our aubergine plant is going crazy.  We've probably harvested close to twenty, there's six more on the bush almost ready to harvest, and a whole lot of flowers.  Fried aubergines is just not cutting it anymore.  This is what lead to the wonderful swearword:  INCACIATA.


I know it sounds like a spell from Harry Potter, but I promise you, this is a wonderful dish to make ahead for the next night.  We would've had this on Tuesday night (the 21st), but I overestimated the amount of pasta needed, meaning we had the leftover pasta for dinner on Tuesday, and the incaciata for dinner yesterday.  I promise you, it isn't as complicated as it sounds.

Egg Free What?!?!?

Before I can go into detail with a statement from Zumba that nearly had me in a seisure I have to mentioun our garden.  As mentioned previously, we grow our own herbs, but we also have a few other food producing trees (if you can call an aubergine bush, a variety of 3 chilli bushes, a blue berry bush, and a pomegranate bush as a few others).  Our aubergine bush has been in overdrive during January, as to date, we have harvested a total of 9 HUGE aubergines, and there's a whole lot more baby aubergines.  Can you say happy plant?