Andrew is home for the holidays and I thought it would be nice for us to cook together and try some 'student type' recipes that he may wish to do when back in his university accommodation. Next year he has a nice studio flat with his own kitchen and he is looking forward to experimenting.

Mexican food is always a hit and he has got Fajitas off to a 'T' so I thought we could try Taco's for a change. Now I don't have many Mexican cook books and to be honest those I have lack depth. Not to be deterred we dug out Tex-Mex Cooking edited by Jillian Stewart. I am not sure where I got the book from and I have never cooked a single recipe from it.

Andy prepared the mince according to the recipe, frying it off in oil with some onion and garlic and letting it cook before adding the seasoning. We also made the Taco sauce on Page 30 which was quite simple to make, frying off the onions, garlic and green pepper before adding the spices, seasoning and reducing over a moderate heat.

Whilst this was cooking we prepared the accompaniments, spring onions, lettuce, cheese and avocados, sitting them on the table alongside the soured cream. 

The mince looked really dry and unappetising and when we opened the box of Tacos we found half of them broken. Not to be deterred we carried on regardless and heated them up in the oven.

Adding the ingredients to the Tacos was a really fiddly affair and nothing seemed to fit satisfactorily and it was in fact easier to pile the food onto the half broken ones.

The meat was as unappetising as it looked, the Taco sauce was tolerable and the accompaniments were just that accompaniments which were rapidly becoming the 'main event'. 

After we had eaten we all felt unsatisfied and looking around the devastation in the kitchen I felt peeved that I had to clear up so much for such an awful meal.

It was not Andrew's fault and he, a typical young man of his age, ate everything anyway! The recipe, like the rest of the book, lacked substance and as I was with him every step of the way, I can assure you that he prepared and cooked in accordance with the book. Fortunately it does not appear to have knocked his confidence and we shall cook an old favourite tonight instead Tomatoes and Balsamic Pasta.

There are now only 83 cookbooks on my shelf ... this one has been sent to the charity shop and I pity anyone who gives it a go.

Have you ever watched Inspector Montalbano on BBC 4? He is an Italian Police Inspector solving crimes on the island of Sicily and after a shaky first episode we have become more ardent fans. In addition to quirky story-lines Montalbano is a great foodie with delicious fresh Sicilian food being eaten in great quantities during every episode.

One dish that comes up time and time again is Pasta with Broccoli. As you know Mike is not a great vegetarian but I was intrigued and managed to convince him to let me give it a go. "What gives it it's taste? It sounds bland." "Well Montalbano loves it so why don't I look for a recipe and give it a go?" So that's what I did, finding this recipe in the River Island Cook Book by Ruth Grey and Rose Rogers. Their secret ingredient is salted anchovies where the fish are salted in large barrels or tins and those preserved in olive oil are no substitute. I managed to get a small jar of these little beauties in the supermarket and without any further ado I started preparing the purple sprouting broccoli, garlic and sauce ingredients. 

The hardest thing was carefully slicing the broccoli horizontally ensuring  there there was a bit of leaf, stem and head on each portion, the rest of it was a breeze.

Whilst busy cooking away Andrew arrived in the kitchen "What's for dinner, mum?" he asked when I told him his face screwed up "That sounds absolutely vile, do I have to eat it?" "What's wrong with it?" "Everything!" "Don't be a baby, give it a try and if you don't like it you can have a pot noodle or something" "Can't I have a take-away?" "No ... go away"

I served dinner up with rigatoni as opposed to Conchiglie which are large pasta shells as Mike is not fond of big pasta shapes. The sauce was thick, as you pureed half of the broccoli mixture, and a lovely light green. The taste was delicious and Mike loved it. "More anchovies next time," he suggested  "and I would definitely have this again. I know why Montalbano likes it so much" "What about you Andrew?" I asked. He looked nearly as green as the pasta sauce "It's OK ... just .... don't make me eat it again!" So a mixed review this time. In my opinion it was flavoursome and light and I will definitely give it another go, especially with Mike being so enthusiastic about it ... but I will wait until Andrew has returned to University before I do ... poor soul!

I have been having a bad few days. It all started last week when I downloaded an album onto i-tunes and it did not recognise it so I started to manually input the album title and artist when i-tunes match went berserk and before I could say "Mine's a pint!" it had amalgamated over 3000 songs into one album. This had happened to me before but not to this magnitude and after several days trying to undo the damage manually I could take no more and deleted the library and am now currently downloading my music library again one album at a time. 

The second disaster occurred when I was in the middle of an enormous pile of ironing and the iron just stopped working and no amount of coaxing, fuse changing or cursing would make it start again.

The final straw came when I tried to heat up my lunch and my Siemens Combination Steam Oven just refused to turn on. It is fair to say that the air around the Richards' household is blue at the moment.

This was not perhaps a good time to try a new recipe but as the ingredients had been purchased, there was nothing else that could be done except get on with it. Todays recipe is an Artichoke, Onion and Thyme Tart from Daniel Galmiche's French Brasserie Cookbook. It is only within the last few years that I have felt comfortable making pastry and I like to try a tart now and again as it makes me feel like a 'grown up' chef and this one seemed a little bit unusual.

I started with the pastry recipe on Page 23 and it turned out a little bit wet, but not to be deterred I carried on regardless and put it in the fridge to cool as I sautéed the onions. I am very wary of trying to deal with fresh artichokes and tend to use preserved artichokes in olive oil, or even antipasti, instead. I do recommend, however, that you buy the most expensive ones you can afford or else you can find that you are spitting out tough indigestible leaves which makes you a little less than elegant at the dinner table.

The recipe calls for blind baking and I was a concerned when I removed the baking beans (actually I didn't have any and used dried black eye beans that I had in the cupboard instead) and found that the pastry was a little damp underneath and there was a hole in the bottom - but refusing to be downhearted, I just scraped the dough off the greaseproof paper and filled the hole.

The finished product was good, perhaps a little bit bland but the pastry was very flaky and light and the artichokes delicious. It would make a nice lunch in the summer to share with friends over a bottle or two of wine. In fact I am thinking of my friends now and am determined to make it when they next visit. Let's hope the Cumbrian weather allows a bit of sunshine next month.

A second vegetarian meal for Mike and he seems to be unconcerned by the prospect. "I take it you'll be wanted some meat tomorrow night then?" I asked "Not necessarily." He replied as he wandered off into the living room leaving me somewhat shocked and a little bit smug. Another success in spite of the omens to the contrary.

Since returning from India on my yogic experience I have been searching for vegetarian meals to tempt my carnivorous husband and picked up Gordon Ramsey's Ultimate Cookery Course. Mike loves rostis and fried eggs so I was convinced that this one was going to be a winner. "Do you fancy this for dinner?" I asked as I showed him the beautiful picture 'I could do a chicken breast on the side?" "That looks great," he replied "Doesn't need the chicken though. Two eggs each should be enough." That went even better than expected so a vegetarian meal for the night was in order.

It was a very easy dish to prepare and if I had got myself a little bit more organised I could have prepared it all in advance in preparation for a final fry off half an hour before tea time. The potatoes are par-boiled and then grated, the leek shredded and fried off in a little butter before mixing it all together and frying off.

I don't know why but my rosti didn't meld together very well and when I turned it over, using a plate it kind of slid out in a mess and so I patted it back together again as I returned it to the pan to heat up the other side.

Mike was in charge of frying the eggs and as we only had one frying pan large enough I put the rosti in the oven to keep warm whilst he fried them off. I will have it noted on the record that I only had one egg - not two!

The finished product was rather delicious and had a really lovely taste to it with the sweetness of the leeks and the nuttiness of the gruyere transforming the dish into something rather special. I must confess that I served it up with some baked beans - so al a carte dining it was not but rather good just the same and a great supper dish.

For those of you who have been paying attention I am travelling to Gatwick on Friday and then onto India on Saturday with my son Andrew for a a yoga teacher training course leaving my poor husband behind me. Mike is really nervous about our trip and becoming more disconsolate the closer we get to 'D' Day. So I asked him to find a meal he would like me to cook so we could have a lovely evening at home. He chose Pomme de Terre a la Normande au Gratin from Page 44 of Jane Grigson's book 'The Cooking of Normandy' accompanied by Poulet Vallee D'Auge on Page 78. I started with the potatoes slicing them very finely by hand as I do not own a Mandolin and then soaked them in water before drying thoroughly in tea-towels. Pulling it together was really easy and it didn't take long before it was nesting in the oven. Interestingly Jane Grigson did not detail what temperature to cook them at, only stating that it should be a slow oven, fortunately I had another book which advised me that a slow oven was 150 degrees. During cooking my sister Ann rang and also had the ingredients for the potato dish and decided to cook the same for tea - hopefully she will let us know how she got on. The chicken was also easy to prepare and the flaming of the chicken with calvados nearly removed my eyebrows. I had some leeks left over from the potato dish so I gently fried them off as well as some mushrooms which Jane Grigson had stated in her recipe could be added to the dish if you felt like it. 

Mike had opened a bootle of his finest wine to celebrate and we tucked in. The potatoes were outstanding but I felt I had put too much stock in and would reduce the amount next time. The chicken was ok, and Mike did love it. I used half fat creme fraiche and felt that the sauce had separated a little so would use full fat next time. Overall it was a good experience and I would certainly try it again, and as the last meal I would be cooking my husband for a month it was a good one and Mike declared the meal a real feast and that it would have to last him for the next 28 days but fortunately I am taking him out for dinner tomorrow night so I know I will manage to get at least one more meal in him before I go. 

I have been making bread regularly for a while now and the Kitchen Aid is brilliant at kneading and mixing as I don't have the patience to do it myself and always stop too early. However, reverting to my true form I have found one recipe that works (Pain Ordinaire on Page 72 of Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno's book named Bread) and Mike has become rather bored of it. I have seen Paul Hollywood on TV and have seen his new book called Bread in the shops and couldn't resist giving it a go. My first effort was the Bloomer on page 23 but I managed to put too much water in it and the final result bore a close resemblance to The Quatermass Experiment, though the taste was rather nice - hopefully the picture below will give you an idea of the result. Not very 'bloomer' like!

Tonights effort was the Beef Cobbler on Page 80. I just loved the picture as the stew looked so unctuous and I liked the idea of the cheese and rosemary scones on top. The recipe was easy to follow and sat cooking in the oven whilst I prepared the scones. I didn't even need to use the trusty Kitchen Aid as the ingredients were just gently mixed together briefly so that even I had the patience to do it by hand. As I had prepared dinner a little bit earlier than required, I left the stew in the oven on a low temperature for an extra hour before cranking up the heat and plonking the scones on top for 25 minutes. The finished product looked remarkably like the photo in the book and the stew tasted delicious. I was not too fond of the texture of the scones as they cooked in the stew and next time I think I would cook them separately and serve them on top when plating. Overall a success and I think I would try it again, an interesting twist on the usual beef stew and as the scones are really easy to make without the need for any rising time they make a great alternative to bread.

Well nowhere ... yet. This retired life is exhausting and I have spent weeks rushing around. We have been having more work done on the house and there is nothing to fill your day like making cups of tea for the workers and clearing up after they have gone. At least for now they have gone and peace has been resumed. We have been having the utility room re-vamped and other bits and pieces and the decorator finished yesterday much to our relief. We had to leave the doors open though from the utility room into the garage to let the doors dry and headed out to Newcastle to return Andrew back to university with clean and ironed washing (he excelled himself this time - it took four loads in the new and beautiful washing machine) and a big bag of food, guess who paid! We had a great meal in Newcastle and the review can be found in the restaurant review section. When we returned home from a lovely evening we found that the cats and walked over the varnished door plate and then walked all over Mike's 1969 MGB with varnished paws - he had just got it back days before from the garage as he had had it re-sprayed. The night took a downturn from there. An emergency call to Geoff our decorator resulted in the suggestion to rub lightly with a rag just dampened with turps - bearing in mind that Mike had been told not to wash his car for a couple of weeks to let the paint harden - he was devastated but we followed the instruction and in the cold light of day it appears to have done the trick. What a relief!!

I also have to confess to having bought another cook book Paul Hollywood's "Bread" and have already tried his basic white recipe which went down very well. I will be updating the books list tomorrow with further details.

I am also getting all of my things together for my big trip to India and leave in 8 days time. Andrew and I are heading off to Goa for a month to complete a Yoga Teacher Training Programme and are incredibly excited. I will be updating the travel blog, Indian electrics and internet connection willing, so if you want to share the journey with us we would love for you to join us. The course includes accommodation and food and we will be on a vegan diet with 75% raw living food so it will be quite an experience. It is situated minutes from the beach and the weather is hot hot hot - a nice change from the weather here in wind swept Cumbria. I hope you can join us on this adventure.

Thank you for bearing with me in getting the blog fully up and running - it is a journey and I am really enjoying this change of life.

Namaste

I love my Kitchen Aid, as you can probably tell as it graces the front cover of my web-page. I bought it a couple of years ago and adore it. It is beautiful to look at and it makes baking cakes and bread a doddle, especially as I am not very patient and never beat or knead things long enough if I have to do it by hand. 

I first broke my Kitchen Aid 5 months after I bought it. I was trying to make croissants from the Bourke Street Bakery Book and the mix was too big for the capacity of the bowl and it ground to a halt. I was devastated, but Mike came to the rescue. He likes machinery in the same way I like cooking and after researching the problem on the internet we discovered that the worm gear, which is designed to fail in case of overload, had gone and a replacement was ordered and the machine was duly fixed.

The 2nd time my machine broke it was not my fault ... honest! The machine just ground to a halt when I was baking bread and when Mike took it apart the grove pin in the worm gear assembly had worked itself free. Interestingly this is in the same bracket where we replaced the worm gear on the first occasion. Fortunately Mike is getting to be a dab hand at taking it apart and fixing it.

Now it has broken again ... and it is still not my fault! It is the same problem as the last time and the groove pin has worked it's way out again. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it's a small little sucker but the KA won't work without it and the force of the machinery hitting it when it came out has caused it to bend. Mike has fixed it again at the princely sum of £6.99 plus P&P and if this part fails again we will have to replace the whole worm gear assembly as there must be a slight fault in it - hey ho!

The good news is it is now fixed and I have promised to make Mike a cherry cake to celebrate. It is a recipe I found on the internet and is from Delia Smith's book of cakes. The KA makes it a breeze to make and I omit the almond essence as Mike finds it a bit overpowering if included. I ice mine with plain water icing which is, I believe, a Scottish variant. 

It is great to be baking again, after a week off I'm getting withdrawal symptoms.

A romantic dinner was planned for New Year's Eve. Andrew, having turned 18 in August had advised us months ago that he would be out on New Year's Eve and not to wait up for him! What would we do then? Food was normally rubbish when you went out and we were way past partying until the early hours, we would be lucky if we made midnight.

I have always wanted to cook beef wellington (Page 36) even though I had never eaten it so the plan was to have this romantic dinner and cook it together.

I went out and purchased all of the ingredients and it was when I saw the size of the two beef fillets at 400g each that I suspected that I had misread the recipe and that it was designed for four and not two. I was right. It was going to be one big meal. The fillets cost me £16 each from my local butcher which I thought was rather good as a fillet steak in a restaurant would easily set you back £25 each, even in Carlisle, and these little babies feed two so £8 a head for the meat was not too bad. Let's hope I didn't mess it up. 

"Whatcha doing new year mum?" asked Andrew the day before "Dad and I are having a romantic evening, and we're going to cook beef wellington together" "Oh" he replied and looked a little crestfallen "Why?" "I was planning to stay in as I'm going to a mate's party in the New Year so we are saving our money and not bothering with New Year's Eve but I don't want to get in the way" This was obviously the reason why I bought too much beef ... there were now three of us for dinner and I would have to cook it by myself. Secretly though Mike and I were both pleased to have our son at home with us and not drinking himself under the table with the rest of the revellers.

The recipe has lots of stages but each stage was straight forward and the instructions were simple. Mushrooms were fried off until all of the moisture was gone (according to Gordon this is called a duxelle) and the whole fillet is wrapped in parma ham before being encased in the pastry. I used frozen puff pastry and found the wrapping of the fillets a little bit fiddly but it worked well and the red wine sauce was superb. I cooked the fillets direct from the fridge and they were very rare, I like them that way and I just got away with it with the boys due to the quality of the steak but next time I would take them out of the fridge an hour before cooking so they would cook easier and hope the pastry would forgive me.

I will definitely be trying this recipe again and am sure I can improve on it. This book has much more promise than my other Gordon Ramsay efforts. Perhaps next time it will be a romantic dinner for 2?

We have had such a busy week since we returned from France with workmen in everyday as we are getting a couple of rooms decorated. There has been no time for anything and tonight was the first night that we felt we could sit down and have a nice meal accompanied by a bottle of wine. As usual I tried to get Mike engaged in helping to choose dinner but once his bacon sandwich is on the table for breakfast he does not have the imagination to think beyond that to dinner time.

I must now confess that I have bought yet another cookbook - making this number 81. It is The River Cafe Cook Book by Rose Grey and Ruth Rogers and whilst flicking through it this morning I came across this recipe on Page 72. "How about this Mike?" is asked cheerfully "Penne with Tomato and Balsamic Vinegar" He raised his eyebrows which, after being together for 24 years, I knew meant "You must be joking .... it's got no meat in it". I persevered "It looks really interesting, it has 10 year old balsamic vinegar and pecorino cheese. It'll taste fab." "OK," he replied "I like the idea of the balsamic vinegar, I'll give it a try."

Another easy recipe lay ahead of me - the sauce consists of garlic, basil and tomatoes with the garlic being cooked slowly over a low heat until it starts to turn golden. The sauce simmers for about 30 minutes and once the pasta is cooked it is mixed with butter, basil, pecorino cheese and of course the balsamic vinegar. It looks a little bit unappetising in the pan and perhaps some shredded basil over the top may brighten it up a bit but the smell was fantastic.

"Wow" said my carnivore of a husband. "This is great - I'll have this again anytime"

I think that the quality of balsamic vinegar is crucial to the success of this dish, so my advice to you is to buy a really good quality one which should last you longer in the end as you will need to use less of it in other recipes.

Bon Appetite.