Thank goodness it's Thursday

The kids are on holiday from today which is great news; I desperately need to sleep in tomorrow. I'm also glad that I get to spend five whole days with them but all I can focus on at the moment is sleeping in. Of course, sleeping in for a mum means getting up at 8am rather than 7am but during that crucial hour, the kids will wake me up and ask me a 1000 questions, all starting with the word 'mummy...?'.

I remember desperately waiting to hear that wee word spoken by my little bitty babies and the first time they all said it, I cried with happiness. These days, I have moments when the word 'mummy' is like hearing a knife dragged across a metal pan. I think that comes with the territory of having three children all saying it at the one time. Motherhood has taught me however that you should be careful what you wish for and, loving my children as I do and also being entirely aware that our time together as mum and little 'un is extremely limited, then an abundance of patience has been gifted to me and I usually..hah.. react with a "yes, sweetheart?".

We had roast lamb last night. Tis not the season but I was in the mood and the kids usually like a nice roast however last night, as last time, it led to a discussion on vegetarianism and the pros and cons of eating animals. I am very forthright with the kids about meat, where it comes from and the importance of eating that only from animals who have been well treated however, recently I have felt myself increasingly questioning my staunch carnivore status.

Kelly would like to be a vegetarian and I already explained to her the merits of eating meat, albeit limited in our diet. She gets to choose at the age of 11 but methinks we might try a little experiment before then. But then, the thought of not having my bacon roll at the weekend brings me out in a cold sweat. And I make a mean lamb bhoona.

The lamb was pierced and slivers of garlic and shoots of rosemary were stuffed within. I drizzled over some olive oil and sea salt, covered it in foil and cooked at a high heat for 20 minutes. I then turned the heat down to 160 degrees Celsius and cooked for 5-6 hours until the meat practically melted away. Normally, I'd add some liquid, e.g. wine to this to create a tasty, steamy atmosphere within the foil and a delicious gravy but I didn't this time shh, don't tell anyone but I forgot.

I served it with roasted root vegetables drizzled with olive oil, honey, sea salt, all roasted at a high heat for 30 minutes until the edges start to go black. I also roasted potatoes by par boiling small, whole, peeled potatoes, draining and tossing in flour and a pinch of salt then placing into a dish with hot oil in it. The hot oil was placed in the oven at least 15 minutes before the potatoes are ready to be cooked. This leads to a lovely, crispy potato. Maris Piper is my tattie of choice!

I thinly sliced a parsnip and deep fried it to make parsnip crisps. Broccoli and green beans were steamed and tossed in a little butter; it was all served with the stock from the lamb, added with a little red wine and some gravy granules to thicken. I had to stop Lucy after her fourth helping of lamb....that girl must have hollow legs....and there was plenty of lamb leftover for tonight's curry.

I cut half of the remaining cooked lamb into cubes and added to some leftover curry sauce from last week's batch. I was planning on Moroccan lamb but there is enough left for that too. I then added a tin of plum tomatoes and four large, fresh tomatoes, quartered. I simmered for one hour and served it with plain boiled rice, cucumber and lime flavoured yoghurt and spiced pancakes made with gram flour. The curry was gorgeous but I wasn't too enthralled with the bread but then, my taste buds are odd at the moment as illness tries to consume me. I'm fighting the little bug-gers.

As I sit here typing, enjoying my cup of tea, I am aware that it is 7pm and I still have a wall to paint before heading out with Anne for a little glass of Viogner at the Burnbrae. She is picking me up just before 9pm and I'm really looking forward to it but here I sit, still except for the typing of course...duh.. and happy.