MPM: 23rd February 2015

Colour me excited - this week D and I are off for my belated birthday meal at the very lovely Yorke Arms.  Then we are spending a night with my parents, and then we are off down to Herfordshire to spend the weekend with a couple of lovely friends.  D is due to be running a half marathon with them - I am due to be drinking copious quantities of coffee and, um, cheering them on.

Of course this means in terms of meal planning that only three nights are to be spent at home (get us with a social life) and one of those nights is likely to be freezer pot luck.  The two remaining are both pasta dishes, since D likes to fuel up the week before a race and I never need an excuse to eat pasta.

So, the rather curtailed plan goes like this:

Salmon fillets with pasta pesto
Lobster mac and cheese.

And that, my friends, is that!  Pop over to Mrs M's to see meal planning posts that actually involve a plan.

Recipe corner: Baked buffalo chicken wings

Chicken wings, popcorn and burgers consumed in front of an American football game (which I find utterly incomprehensible by the way, is that the idea?) may not sound particularly romantic but it was how we chose to celebrate our Valentine's Day nonetheless.  Ever since our New York trip in December 2013, certain items of Americana have become synonymous with...well, love, laughter and celebration.

I don't suppose that the buffalo wings we ate in the Third Avenue Alehouse were baked, so this recipe can't be said to be a true replica, however I thought that my wings, originally from Good Food magazine, were delicious and feel a lot more sinful than they actually are.  I can imagine doing these for supper with some salad, creamy dressing and crusty bread.  You could (in fact, you should) fashion some sort of blue cheese dip to go with them, but since I have yet to figure out how to make that anything less than a gazillion points I shall hold off blogging that one for now.

Ingredients

400g (about 4 large) chicken wings, halved at the joint

For the marinade:

2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tbsp cider vinegar
0.5 tbsp smoked paprika
0.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp Tobasco sauce
1.5 tbsp clear honey

Serves 2, 8 pro points per portion

Combine the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl, adding additional seasoning to taste.  Add the chicken wings, toss well, and then leave, covered with cling film in the fridge - a few hours will do but overnight is optimum.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180 (160 fan).  Line a large baking tray or roasting tin with tin foil or else you will be scrubbing at baked on Buffalo sauce for weeks.  Lightly spray the foil with oil to prevent any sticking.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the wings from the marinade, setting the bowl aside for the time being.  Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.  After this time, drain off any excess oil that has accumulated and then pour the reserved marinade over the chicken, tossing well to coat.  Turn the oven up to 200 (180 fan).

Replace the wings in the oven and bake for a further 30 minutes, after which time the marinade should be mostly evaporated and the wings covered with a spicy, sticky glaze.  Try to avoid eating straight away as you will probably burn your chin.

Shears Yard, Leeds (with cocktails to start)

I'll be the first to admit that I bitched about our move to Leeds when it occurred.  But there is absolutely no denying, not even from a reluctant resident like me, that the city has a far more exciting bar and restaurant scene than is found in many other Northern cities - including, I'll concede, my beloved York.  The thirty billion (figure only slightly exaggerated) students gives it a perpetually youthful feel but even when their loan cheques have run out, there are plenty of young professional types ready to don high heels, sharp suits and hit Call Lane for a cocktail.

Well, I say young professional people - but last Friday saw me hitting Call Lane for a cocktail and I am neither of those things.  But I put on about five times more make up than I normally wear and played willing.

Before I move on to the main event - dinner at the delectable Shears Yard - I first have to give a quick mention to the Black Swan bar/pub/restaurant type place that we visited for a pre dinner drink and that subsequently has leapt straight in to our favourites list.  The espresso martini would have made me weep with joy if it hadn't been for the fact that my mascara was not waterproof.  I am going back very soon to check out the pizzas that smelled, as they emerged from the beautiful bespoke pizza oven, like manna from Italian heaven.

Espresso martini!

So, Shears Yard. We've been meaning to go for a while and if you pop over to the website you will probably understand why - we figured that if the food ate half as well as it read it was bound to be amazing.  It sounded eclectic, slightly eccentric and with a tick list of ingredients designed to appeal.

The setting itself was gorgeous and bang on the current trend for exposed brick work and slight industrial aesthetic, but sufficiently full of  twinkly lights to make it a romantic setting on Valentine's Day Eve (NB: not a thing).  And the well sized bar, which allows patrons to relax with a drink both before and after the meal, was a lovely bonus - I am a big fan of having an area in which to linger in an establishment.

Twinkly!

But, as ever, the important thing was the food - and the food at Shears Yard gets a big thumbs up from me.  I think we knew that we were on to a winner when the bread turned up - black pudding brioche with beetroot butter - tasty and alliterative!  We were so fulsome in our praise that the waiter brought us over a second plate and while my usual policy is to avoid filling up on bread prior to a meal, this was way too good to resist.

An early review of the place found the dishes to be a little try hard, and while chatting with the owner after dinner, he mentioned that they had tried to dial it back.  That said, the kitchen seemed very keen on creating dishes with multiple component parts.  Often, this meant that the individual constituents were slightly muted in flavour - I'm thinking particularly now of a chicken liver parfait definitely situated at the lighter end of the offal spectrum - which nevertheless came to life when matched with the mini smoked chicken kiev and home made brown sauce.

I went veggie for my main course and absolutely loved my cauli cheese spring rolls with charred romesco and curly kale coleslaw.  Good vegetarian food is a thing of beauty and this was original, well thought out and sensitively treated.  D was not impressed (he is a committed carnivore) - preferring to get stuck in to a pressed pork belly dish which he deemed very tasty indeed.  A shared dessert of chocolate parfait with chocolate orange sorbet and a brownie was...well, as chocolatey as it sounds on the tin and beautifully made, even if it didn't push up against any flavour boundaries - quite frankly I don't want anyone to mess with my chocolate.

Chicken liver!

Chocolate!

All in all, a fantastic evening.  As ever, it is an absolute pleasure for me as a diner to come across an independent local restaurant doing exciting, tasty food and I look forward to a continued acquaintance with Shears Yard.  If Leeds keeps on yielding little gems like that, I may not ever be able to leave.

MPM: 16th February 2015

Mmmm, you know how sometimes you look at your meal plan and you just want to eat all those gorgeous sounding dinners in one go?  It's one of those weeks!  Just writing this post is making my mouth water a little bit.

We're not planning to be out and neither are we planning on any freezer diving so it is going to be slightly more labour intensive than has been the norm in recent times.  But the sad truth is, I rather look forward to my hour or so in the kitchen at the end of the day, pottering around with the radio burbling in the background.

Oh, and don't forget people - Shrove Tuesday this week which means it is practically obligatory to have PANCAKES!!

And on with the meal plan...

A Madhur Jaffrey creamy, tomatoey, beautifully spiced prawn curry
As above - pancakes
Pork chop with gnocchi in a mustard sauce
Soup
Sausage and parsnip risotto
Roast chicken with appropriate trimmings

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

MPM: 9th February 2015

Greetings meal planners!  And, for those of you who celebrate such things, happy Valentine's Day for Saturday.  I know it's goofy and commercial but I don't care!  We're out on Friday evening to a local restaurant that we've been meaning to try for ages - the food menu looks really promisingly delicious.  And then on the day itself we are cooking up a romantic dinner inspired by our New York trip (now well over a year ago.  Sigh).  We've even recorded the Superbowl to play in the background and really set the scene.

Now, what else is going on this week?  Tomorrow we are off to Liverpool for a training course so tea is likely to be something quick and light when we get in - sardines or scrambled eggs on toast, something of that ilk. That leaves just four days for the meal plan proper.

Lamb biryani (using leftover meat from the Sunday roast)
Oven baked red pepper and chorizo risotto (bumped from last week)
Soup (of course)
Beef and ale stew with mash and veg

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Time to Talk Day 2015

Today, some of the UK's leading mental health organisations are asking people up and down the country to take five minutes to talk about mental health.  The good news is that by reading this blog post you are doing just that - so have a gold star from me...

  

I've made no secret on this blog that I have had wobbly patches over the years and I have been blessed by great GPs and people around me who were willing to hold my hand when I needed them.  So I thought it important to acknowledge this campaign.

The thing about suffering from depression, or anxiety, or similar disorders, is that they are intangible.  You break a leg, you wear a plaster cast.  You catch a cold, you cough and sneeze.  Even something less immediately obvious, like diabetes - you have a blood test and then you are in possession of a piece of paper that says that there is something wrong.  When I was first diagnosed, quite a long time ago now, I requested a full gamut of tests because I was desperate to find a physical cause for the fact that my mental faculties were all over the place.  I remember almost crying when they all came back normal - a dicky thyroid, low iron levels, these were medical problems.  Being too anxious to function properly - that was not.  Which meant on top of feeling god-bloody-awful I felt incredibly guilty as well.

Depression can be triggered by a traumatic event, by grief or by stress but it is separate and distinct from all of these things.  And while everyone, sufferers most of all, want to hang on to a straightforward idea of cause and effect I don't think that ultimately it is helpful to focus on that to the detriment of coming up with coping strategies.

I don't really know what the point of this post is.  Just, I suppose, to encourage anyone who may stumble across it to take a moment to look at the Time To Change website, or to think about someone in their circle who may be struggling with some of these issues.  There is a wealth of information and help out there - and a good GP should be your first port of call if you or anyone you love is not waving but drowning.

And thank you, dearest reader, for taking five minutes from your day to read this post.  Normal service (whatever that may be) will be resumed shortly.

MPM: 2nd February 2015

January is always such a miserable month that I, for one, am glad to see it retreating into the murky distance.  Bring on February!  I can see blue sky out of the bedroom window, and Pancake Day is just a couple of weeks away.

This week we're launching our inaugural Recipe Book Night.  You see, D and I have an absolute mountain of recipe books - we collect them obsessively, and yet with one thing and another very seldom get round to using them.  We have therefore decided to have regular evenings where we make a point of dipping into the bookshelf for a special meal.  Hopefully some of these will be good enough to get into regular rotation and pep our meal plans up a bit.  This Saturday, I will be cooking a fish dish from Nathan Outlaw's "British Seafood" and D will follow up with a meat dish from Tom Kerridge's "Proper Pub Food".

Also this week, we work on our middle class credentials by going to the opera!  We have been listening to the CD over the weekend and nodding very earnestly at the bits that we think are dramatic.

Elsewhere on the meal plan:

Mussels with cider and bacon (and garlic bread)
Spaghetti carbonara (bumped from last week)
Soup
Oven baked red pepper and chorizo risotto
Roast lamb

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's!

Holy smoke

Apologies for the slightly random and rambling nature of the posts at the moment - I'm just trying to get back into the physical habit of blogging.

Anyway, we had a really quite exciting moment in our kitchen on Saturday evening when we tea smoked some mackerel.*

It is made still more exciting by the fact that these were mackerel that we ourselves caught off the coast of Tobermory in the summer.

Mackerel, just out of the sea.  Sorry guys!

The last few had been languishing in our freezer (seriously, the bloody thing is bottomless.  If we ventured far enough in we would probably find the Holy Grail.)  Having been frozen for so long the texture of the fish was likely to be rather compromised, so we decided that smoking and then blitzing them into pate was a fitting send off.

It turns out that smoking food inside is surprisingly easy.  You need a sturdy pot with a big surface area, some tea leaves and some foil and that is it!  Line the pot with foil, spread out the tea leaves and then take another piece of foil, pierced all over, and lay it on top.  Then add your fish, like so:

Prepare to smoke!

Top with a lid, turn the heat on and leave for...well, I think it took about forty five minutes all in all for ours, but we went back and prodded them at regular intervals to check that all was well and nothing was on fire.

And voila!  Smoked mackerel!  D slipped the flesh from the bones and then we blitzed it with cream cheese, chives, lemon, horseradish and a hefty dose of salt and pepper - this needed quite a lot of seasoning to wake it up.

There is no way to make pate look pretty,,,,

More by luck than judgement, we managed to achieve a gratifyingly delicate smoke flavour that didn't overpower the fish itself,  I was also pleasantly surprised at the relative ease of the process and would definitely give it another go - home smoked salmon anyone?  D and I have both said that we want 2015 to be a year where we attempt some new kitchen projects and this was an excellent place to start.

*(I have just read back that sentence and realised how very tragic it sounds - Saturday night, party night, and we're at home smoking fish.  In our pyjamas.  Is cooking still the new rock and roll?  If not, there is no hope for us.)

MPM: 26th January 2015

It's that time of the week again when we cast our minds over what we hope to be scoffing and quaffing in the coming days.  Hurrah!  It's a quiet week for us - January, in general has been a sleepy, torpid kind of month, but since I'm a sleepy, torpid kind of person you won't find me complaining.

This week is a wee bit meat heavy - I must make an effort to bring more veggie based meals into the rotation.  The excuse, as ever, is that we are continuing to freezer dive and you will be pleased to hear that we are actually reaching a point now where defrosting the bugger is becoming a possibility.

Meal plan:

Haggis with neeps, tatties and onion gravy (we were supposed to have this last night to celebrate Burns' night but it got bumped)
Oxtail with rioja and chorizo
Spaghetti carbonara
Soup night
Fish and chips (at D's plaintive request)
Chilli con carne
A Sunday roast of some sort

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Leftovers

Our Christmas was pretty quiet which, after a trying end to the year, was exactly required.  There were several days where I didn't make it out of my pyjamas.  Unrivalled sloth, that's me.  My birthday falls on the 28th December and, as I said to D, you couldn't have designed a more perfect day if you'd tried - I got up late, had my favourite breakfast washed down with stiff mimosas, then went for a nap (drinking in the daytime makes me sleepy), then watched a couple of films, then ate my favourite dinner, then went to bed.  Not for nothing is my nickname based on Enid Blyton's Sleepy Sloo.

As ever, a big part of the celebrations was the food and we had some unparalleled successes this year, including a sublime Christmas pudding ice cream on the day itself, and a majestic rib of beef at my parents' house on New Year's Eve.  But some of the very nicest things were those meals that were thrown together from the leftovers.

I'm considering buying a turkey breast joint soon just so that D can make another turkey curry.  This was a thing of serious beauty: the meat simmered alongside cubes of potatoes in coconut milk, a splash of cream and mild spices.  We ate little else for two days running.

Traditional Boxing Day sandwiches were a highlight:

Turkey, gammon, sausage meat, strong Cheddar, lettuce, cucumber and a generous swipe of mayo.  We didn't even have turkey on Christmas Day - we just cooked one so I could construct this beast of a thing.  Excuse the photo by the way - bad even by the standards of this blog - this was taken quickly just so I could send it to my Mum.  Who immediately responded with "Wow, that is a sandwich".

Speaking (sort of) of gammon, one lunchtime D constructed little ham hash cakes, fried until crispy and topped with a perfectly poached egg:

A perfect brunch dish.

And as a final hurrah, a couple of weeks ago we used the last of our Christmas cheese to make a tartiflette, that classic apres-ski dish.  If you haven't, y'know, actually been skiing this is almost (almost!) too rich, but with a hefty spoonful of sauerkraut on the side we powered through and D has already requested a repeat performance.  This Hairy Bikers' recipe is a close approximation of the one I used - highly recommended, but go for a good long walk beforehand.  And, possibly, afterwards.

An apology

Dearest, dearest readers of the blog.

I'm sorry that it has been a sad, neglected little thing lately.

I don't see any point in making excuses.  Although I could use the word my beloved sometimes uses and blame it on the ennui.  January seems a good month for ennui.  It is supposed to be the month in which we get going with all of our resolutions and new goals and new challenges.  And, for me, it always feels like a month to hide away.  I don't want to do new things.  I want to sleep and drink tea and wish for brighter weather.

But I am going to make a concerted effort to change.  I love this little blog.  It is a corner of the internet that I can call my own and I love the people who have stopped by here and made it such a convivial place to be.  I will therefore try and post more regularly, even if I don't feel like I have much to say.  The nice thing about blogs is that they are so entirely personal that you can be upfront and talk about things like the fact that January is horrible and crap, and that you miss sunshine and that you love your cat and that you are having trouble getting your 2015 weight loss campaign up and running and you know that there are people out there who will support you.

I have also been told that I am not allowed to just post pictures of Minx and let that count as communication.  Fairy nuff. But, I ask you, if you had this little sweetie on your knee while you overdosed on Netflix, would you be inclined to move her?

No, exactly.

MPM: 12th January 2015

I feel more than a little bit like some sort of woodland creature who has been hibernating for the winter and is only now beginning to stick its nose out of its hole and emerge, blinking, into the light.  Although the weather here in Leeds has been so ropey that it is more akin to blinking into the gloom and drizzle.

What better way to tentatively dip my toe back into the whirlpool that is blogging than a meal planning post?  Hopefully to be followed soon by a few quick Christmas catch ups and a look to the year ahead - I'm not promising anything, mind, because there is still tea to be drunk, a blanket to be snuggled under and episodes of "The Good Wife" to mindlessly binge on (damn you, Netflix).

This week (I'm away Saturday and Sunday, so only five meals to plan...)

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs
Chicken, mushroom and spinach Madras curry
Reuben sandwiches
Soup
Chinese braised pork and plums with noodles

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Have a merry, Minxy Christmas

All best wishes to all the lovely people who have stopped by this blog over the past year.

With lots of love from Seren, D and Minx

Now, what to write next year.....?

Recipe corner: super quick cucumber pickle

I hesitate to call this a recipe.  More of an extended tip.  But it is absolutely perfect for this time of year when, if you are anything like us, you will have a fridge groaning with cold cuts and cheeses.  It is a wonderfully simple, sweet-sour foil to anything from leftover turkey to gammon to wodges of Cheddar.  And, unlike most chutneys, it is quick to make.  Just allow about an hour for the salting and, if possible, a half hour at room temperature for the cucumbers to soak up some of the liquor.

Ingredients

1 cucumber
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp dill*
Salt and pepper

Serves 4, 1 pro point per portion

*I always tend to use dried dill because the real thing is so delicate that is doesn't last. Considering its delicacy, the dried stuff is really pretty good and provides excellent flavour.  I wouldn't be without it in my store cupboard.

Using a potato peeler, or an appropriate attachment on a food processor, reduce your cucumber to fat ribbons (rather than slices or shreds).  Peel down until the seeds just about start peeping through - the seeds themselves can be discarded.

Place the ribbons in a colander and sprinkle over several hefty pieces of good salt.  Toss well/  Then, cover the ribbons with kitchen paper and weight down with a bowl or plate and a couple of tins.  Leave for about an hour so the salt can draw the water out.  Meanwhile, you can whisk together the vinegar, sugar, dill and a couple of grinds of pepper.

When the cucumber is ready, rinse off the salt and then wring it out as thoroughly as you can - I tend to do it in small fistfuls, transferring it to the vinegar once it is, er, wrung.  Then, stir through and, if you have time, leave it to sit for a while to absorb the dressing.

That's it!  C'est tout!  You could try varying the herbs, perhaps adding a pinch of dried chilli flakes for background heat, and you may wish to alter the ratio of vinegar to sugar to suit your own tastes.

Let the Christmas feasting commence!

Hibernation and a tremendous steak sandwich

When a blogger goes quiet for a while it is traditional to start the next post with an apology.  Since I doubt very much that the dearth of ramblings in this little corner of the internet has impacted anyone adversely I am sure that my beloved band of readers will forgive me and allow us all to move on.

So, nearly Christmas: how on earth did that happen?  For me, the majority of presents are wrapped, the lights are up in the living room, giving it a pleasingly grotto-esque feel, but we haven't yet started prep for the lunch we are cooking on Christmas Day.  We'll be getting on to that tomorrow.  How about you?

If you're looking for something a little different but incredibly indulgent to nibble - perhaps on those grey old days between Christmas and New Year, then I have a lovely recipe to commend to your attention.

Basically, you hollow out a loaf of bread, fill it with layers of seared steak and a garlicky mushroom duxelle, smear the lid with mustard before replacing and then press it for a good few hours.  The result is a kind of cross between a beef Wellington and a steak sandwich.  Fabulous.

More precise instructions to be found here.  You're welcome - and merry Christmas!

Temporary abeyance

It's not going to come as any great surprise to any readers of this little blog that the author is currently struggling with the whole weight loss thang.  In fact, 2014 will not be going down in the annals as a year in which great strides were made.  My tracker tells me that I have lost one stone and 6 lbs in total since January.  I'm sure that I could work out the average weekly loss based on that but it would be far too depressing.

Or would it?  OK, I'm not where I wanted to be.  But I am ending the year lighter than I started it - that's good and I'm going to give myself credit for it.  And if I can do the same next year then that will be good too and I'll be closer to goal.  OK, I'd like to be at goal but let's talk baby steps if they're all that I can manage.

There's still time between now and the 1st January to do some good but I'm going to be realistic about it - that's unlikely to happen.  I have an exam coming up in the next couple of weeks which is currently absorbing a lot of my mental energy.  Once that is over, I have work deadlines that I need to manage before I take leave for Christmas which will potentially mean a tough couple of weeks.  There are Christmas parties and festivities forthcoming.  Throwing point counting into the mix is, I think, just one step too far and there's no point setting myself up for failure.

So, here's the plan for the next few weeks.  I'm going to continue to keep a food diary to make myself accountable as to what I'm eating.  I am going to try and eat sensibly, stick to WW portion sizes, plenty of fruit and veg and basically just fuel myself adequately and well.  I will also continue to weigh daily so that I can try and make adjustments if the numbers start to creep up.  But hopefully I can just manage to keep them stable for the time being and then, once January rolls around, it will be back to meetings and a renewed push.

There will be those that say that I am copping out to which I reply, why yes I am.  But knowing when you need to press pause, and doing it in a considered way, is a life skill in itself.  Honest.

MPM: 24th November 2014

Epic fail on the meal planning front last week.  We had the seabass dish, as planned on the Monday, and it then kind of degenerated.  Next week WILL be better.  Actually, starting from today will be better (it is Sunday as I write this) and the plan is to have a lovely roast shoulder of lamb for dinner which will give plenty of leftovers for the coming week.

The pork and plums dish got bumped again but is now scheduled for tonight and nothing save unanticipated natural disaster will prevent us from eating it, goddamit.

Other than that we have:

Warm lamb salad with caramellised onions and houmous dressing
Macaroni cheese
Mussels with cider and bacon
Burmese chicken soup (thank you, Mr Waitrose)
A good old fashioned, stick to your ribs lasagne

That may be subject to a bit of change and tweaking but we'll see how we go.

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Foodie Abroad, The Kitchin, Edinburgh

I've been a bit slow to write about this and I wasn't entirely sure why until D and I were talking yesterday and he said that I was hesitant because I didn't want to write something lukewarm.  I said that it was more like I didn't want to come across as blasé and spoiled.  Because I really liked The Kitchin.  It is a one Michelin star restaurant and it produces amazing food and exemplary service.  But it felt a bit...I dunno, akin to lots of other one Michelin star restaurants producing amazing food and exemplary service.  Which is the sort of comment that is going to get you accused of being blasé and spoiled.  You see my dilemma.

The Kitchin is all about produce and provenance and, maybe when it first started and Tom Kitchin became one of the youngest ever British chefs to earn said Michelin star, that was unusual.  But nowadays, even McDonalds is keen to tell us that it makes burgers from cows who live in the next field over.  Still, The Kitchin do take it impressively seriously - when we sat down we were handed a map of Scotland with many of the main suppliers marked out on it (and were delighted to see that the langoustines come from our beloved Tobermory.)

Let me talk about some of the stuff that I really liked then.  A whipped blue cheese dip topped with toasted buckwheat that was served with flatbreads as a pre dinner snack was so good that we used our fingers to get up every last morsel (and in the picture you get to see my chubby little arms in the background.  Lucky you.)

We both raved about the oyster ragout with salsify tagliatelle.  I think it was the first time that I had eaten a cooked oyster and enjoyed the way in which the cooking process mellowed the intense salinity.  Paired with the buttery tagliatelle, and shot through with confit lemon, this was perfectly balanced, seriously enjoyable and showed a delicate touch at work.

What else.  Oh, well we had the seasonal tasting menu (as opposed to the "classic" tasting menu) which included a delightful sweetbread dish that just sang of rich, smoky autumn.  The pearl barley risotto was a revelation - I didn't think I liked pearl barley!  This was good enough to change my mind.

There was a seriously old school cheese trolley, of which we both heartily approved (although at this point we were flagging and had to share a portion).  And desserts were again, quite old school (when was the last time you had a chocolate "gateaux" that wasn't from a box?) but none the worse for that.  I like puddings to be proper puddings.

So this then was unashamed old fashioned good cooking.  It was the first time in a long time that we felt so full after a tasting menu that we had to roll out of a restaurant (although I suspect the fantastic but ill advisedly late breakfast had something to do with that).  But it wasn't...exciting.  I suspect that this is my problem rather than The Kitchin's - exciting food shouldn't be a prerequisite of running a good restaurant.  It should be about quality, and this The Kitchin had in spades.  If you find yourself in Edinburgh then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, I just don't necessarily think it is somewhere to which we would rush to return.

The Kitchin
78 Commercial Quay
Leith
EH6 6LX
0131 555 1755

MPM: 17th November 2014

The meal plan degenerated slightly towards the end of last week, to the extent that last night we had sandwiches for tea.  Which is fine, I like sandwiches, but as meals go they are hardly likely to win me any Foodie of the Year titles.

So, this week, the plan is to stick to the plan.  D's sister and her fiancee are visiting us on Friday so we're going out for dinner at North Leeds' answer to Polpo.  And tomorrow night I'm off to book group which generally means a hastily scarfed Subway en route.  Otherwise, we are at home and the meal plan looks like this:

Sea bass with saffron braised broad beans and peas, parsnip puree
Corned beef with roast potatoes, swede mash and parsley sauce
Soup
Chinese braised pork with plums (bumped from last week)
Slow roast lamb shoulder with boulangere potatoes

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Weigh in Wednesday: running on the spot!

Previously on WWF: -49lbs
This week: -0.5lbs
Total loss: 49.5lbs

I'm sorry but AAAARGH. What did I say about bouncing around the 50lb mark? This is getting ridiculous!

That is not to say that I am not pleased with this week's result. I have been an angel, a WW angel. I have 24 weekly points left, unheard of! But I suspect that the truth of it is that I gained 2-3lbs during the extended birthday celebrations and then managed to lose them again this week, so the result is (sort of) more impressive than it looks.

I'm missing my meeting yet again this week and am really feeling the lack of that nice structure that it gives the WW week. I knew another week without an official weigh in might prove dangerous so went to an early morning drop in session instead but it isn't quite the same. Still, hopefully things will calm down soon, on all fronts.

Aims for this week: well, a pound will take me to a new meeting low-weight. So that would be nice.

Onwards and downwards, comrades!

Foodie abroad: Out and About in Edinburgh

We had an amazing couple of days in the Scottish capital.  It's such a wonderful city that I'm only sorry that we couldn't be there longer.

Food wise (and anyone who reads this blog will know that it is the main wise there is when it comes to my travels) the main event was a lunch at Tom Kitchin's place in Leith so a more detailed account of that to follow.  Here, then, are a few other quick notes.

The Scotch Whisky Experience on the Royal Mile is well worth a trip if you have a passing interest.  Yes, it's a wee bit touristy, a wee bit gimmicky, but I for one loved the fact that we got to ride on whisky barrels while learning about how the spirit is made.  And the bar at the end is amazing - so many different whiskies by the glass to try!

We went for a dinner at The Witchery - also on the Royal Mile.  No photos I'm afraid - I know readers will be used to a high standard of photography on this blog and the ambient candle light, while beautiful, was not conducive.  The food here was really excellent: my monkfish with cumin spiced lentils and curry veloute was a particular highlight.  We had a bit of an issue with service - our starters took nearly an hour to emerge from the kitchen - but they were knocked off the bill with nary a murmur.  Things happen in professional kitchens, and as long as they are dealt with appropriately then I am not going to hold it against a restaurant, especially when the food is of a good standard.  We told the maitre d' that we would happily return and we meant it.

More excellent food the following morning - at Mimi's Bakehouse in Leith.  A truly AWESOME breakfast - D went for a bacon and black pudding roll which turned out to be the size of a mini submarine:

While I partook of French toast with sausages and roasted vine tomatoes which I am desperate to recreate at home:

The cakes here looked like things of very great beauty indeed and if it hadn't been for the fact that we had to roll out of The Kitchin later that day we would have headed back to get a cheeky slice to enjoy for supper.  And there was bunting!  And lovely, smiley staff who plied us with tea.  If you find yourself in Leith then get yourself along here for a real life taste of the Great British Bake Off.

Happiness Delivery System

Interesting article in The Guardian this Saturday (you can read it here) about women, many of them highly intelligent, successful, slim individuals who regard themselves as feminists and yet hate their bodies and spend vast amounts of mental energy on monitoring their food intake.

My first reaction was "Thank God it's not just me!"

My second was that in writing a blog which is (in part) about, er, monitoring one's food intake, I'm just helping to propagate this completely anti feminist stance that to be valid as a woman you have to meet twenty first century society's rather limited definition of beauty.  Which can't be good.

I suppose the big difference between me and the women in the article is that I need to lose weight in order not to be beautiful (although I would be lying if I said that physical appearance wasn't a motivating factor) but to be healthy by NHS standards.  I have never had any major (physical) health issues weight related or otherwise, and I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible.

And, really, when I sat and thought about it, I realised that the beauty side of things is not the driver for me now, at 33, that it was ten years ago.  Actually, ten years ago, I was pretty slim.  I also was extremely strict about what I ate and took very little pleasure in food a lot of the time.  I think now the goalposts have changed - health is first and foremost and, as part of that, having a relaxed relationship with food.  I love food - I mean, really love it, but I don't want it to take up every waking second.  There are other things to do and other things to be.

Wonderful blog post about said article here as well - in particular, I love the quote:

 I recognise my body for what it is: a magnificent delivery system for all sorts of happiness, big and small.

And as I sit here, with a purry cat nuzzling at me, and a hot cup of Yorkshire tea to hand, I feel profoundly grateful for the small happinesses that make up every day life and that, sometimes, we are in danger of missing while in pursuit of that elusive perfect.

MPM: 10th November 2014

I have NO plans for this week beyond work and study.  Gosh, that's sad.  I do not think November is going to number amongst my best months of the year.  I shall have to distract myself by planning my Christmas shopping.  I saw an amazing fluffy tube the other day that I want to buy the cat but I suspect that she will get more excited about all the balls of chaseable wrapping paper than its contents.

Anyway, seven out of seven dinners at home and seven out of seven planned:

Moules frites
Roast chicken (Sunday leftovers) with cauliflower cheese
Pasta puttanesca
Chicken katsu soup with quinoa (thank you, Mr Waitrose)
Cardamom butter chicken with rice
Chinese braised belly pork with plums
Corned beef with parsley sauce

Yum!  More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

The perfect birthday breakfast

For years and years now - certainly as long as I've been with D - I have always had the same breakfast on my birthday.  Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs.  D shreds some of the salmon through the eggs so that it lightly cooks, then drapes the rest over a toasted bread product (which for preference would be an English muffin) and tops with the golden, buttery scramble.  Mimosas and fresh Yorkshire tea on the side - utter bliss.

This year, D decided that it was time for him to find his birthday breakfast.  A traditionalist, previously he has tended towards the bacon or bacon and egg sandwich, but felt that this was not quite celebratory enough. And so began a quest.  We made a list of potential contenders and for the last few Sundays I have cooked my way through it in order that he could make an informed decision.

We started simple with a deconstructed sausage and egg McMuffin - now, come on, you know they're delicious really.  Toasted English muffin topped with cheesy scrambled eggs and grilled sausages.  V tasty.  V high in points (obviously, points do not count on birthdays, but they do count on most other days of the year.)  The key is to go for quality ingredients.  If you don't have a good local butcher, Waitrose sausages emerged victorious in a recent supermarket taste test that I came across.

Photo from www.nigella.com

Next up, something completely different that I adored, although D was less enamoured - French toast.  I used Nigella's recipe which suggests sprinkling the hot fried bread with granulated sugar to give it a doughnut quality.  With berries on the side I thought this was a real contender.  One tip - slice the bread and leave it out the night before you intend to make it - this will dry it out which in turn means it absorbs the milk and egg mixture better.

Photo from www.theguardian.com 

Omelette Arnold Bennett was another completely new one on me - had heard of it, never cooked it.  It basically consists of omelette topped with a smoked haddock bechamel and cheese and then grilled until bubbling.  I stuck pretty closely to Nigel Slater's recipe although subbed out Parmesan for Gruyere which I thought would have a meltier texture (and on reflection, strong Cheddar would work well too).  I made the fish sauce element the night before so that it was relatively quick and easy to assemble in the morning.  Another one that was utterly delicious although I need to make it again to perfect it - my sauce was not quite thick enough which meant the resulting dish was a little sloppy.

No search for the perfect breakfast dish could ignore that brunch menu staple, Eggs Benedict.  I cheated and bought a jar of Hollandaise rather than attempt to whip it up first thing (I am never at my best in the mornings).  Now I love Eggs Benedict, but this is a dish that I would rather have cooked for me than produce it myself - it's a bit of a pain to try and juggle the grilling of the muffins and the poaching of the eggs all at the same time.  This scored high on D's list, but I suggested that next time we divide and conquer - he will be in charge of the eggs and I'll assemble the toasted muffin and ham base for them.

You may have already seen my smoked salmon kedgeree post so you'll know that this was a great success.  I loved it, and again has the advantage that much of it can be done the night before.  Another serious contender - I thought it might edge it.

We discussed the possibility of a Full English - as with the Eggs Benedict, I tend to think this is one to have out rather than try and cook at home.  D made himself a bacon, egg and black pudding bap while I was in London as a nod - good, he said, but not quite celebratory enough.

We also tried out a Welsh Rarebit for something a bit...left field.  Or as left field as breakfast ever gets.  I stuck pretty much to the Hairy Bikers' recipe, swapping Cheddar for Lancashire, and thought it was delicious but even I, devotee of melted cheese in all its forms, conceded that this was better as a supper than a breakfast. What a supper though - I need to get it on the meal planner soon.  

And so to the final choice - which surprised me, although as D says he reserves the right to change it year on year.  It turns out that the perfect birthday breakfast is....

...Pancakes with grilled bacon, maple syrup and chilli!  This is an April Bloomfield recipe from her excellent book, "A Girl and Her Pig".  It is kind of fusion cooking in the sense that the bacon and maple syrup combo, classic American diner food, is served with crepes rather than the more traditional buttermilk pancakes.  Sterling stuff.

So go on, I'm intrigued - did we miss out on anything good?  Does anyone else "do" birthday breakfasts?  And having done them, am I the only person who promptly requires a digestive nap?  Answers on a postcard please.

MPM: 3rd November 2014

Greetings meal planners!  As you read this (assuming the scheduling function has worked) I will be on a train somewhere between Leeds and the fair city of Edinburgh for a very mini break.  Hurrah.  We have left the cat with her grandfather - hopefully she will get over her phobia of, well, people and emerge from under the bed to see him occasionally.

So both tonight and tomorrow night are taken care of in terms of meal planning - which is to say someone else will be doing the planning and the cooking and we'll be paying for the privilege.  But back into routine as of Wednesday, and the rest of the week looks like this:

Chilli con carne with jacket potatoes (proper Bonfire Night fare)
Soup
Leftover lamb biryani
Isle of Mull sausages with mashed potato and onion gravy
Roast chicken with various trimmings

It looks very rather red meat-ey, so not the most balanced meal plan in the world but the chilli, biryani and sausages are all currently residing in our freezer which we are trying (and, generally, failing) to eat down.  Will aim for something a bit more exciting next week.  As ever, more meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.