Mmmm....curry!

I decided not to plan a menu this week and therefore took no list with me on my food shopping trip; I wanted to stay within the budget and see what I could make with the ingredients I found.   A leg of lamb, reduced to approx. £4-£5 per kilo was tossed into the basket as was braising beef at £6 for 4 huge steaks.   A few trays of free range chicken breasts were added too, along with fresh coriander, chillies, ginger, potatoes, pasta, yoghurt and other substance and sundries.

The chicken was made into a tasty Green, Creamy Chicken Curry which I served to my friends on Thursday night with some home made flaky pan bread.   I was rather pleased with how it had turned out; a good bit of spice but not too hot, the coriander and lime juice coming through the creamy sauce and mixing pleasantly with the rice.   I had had a very busy day baking cupcakes for a launch night which I attended with Anne before our other friends arrived at my house; add to that, making the curry as well as painting decorations for the school fair and, in my rush, I forgot to have dinner.   On arriving home, the curry, which was meant for a late supper was instead heated right away, the rice cooked and the bread re-warmed in the pan and served with no photograph as my stomach couldn't stand to wait.   We all enjoyed it.

We had leftovers tonight along with a quickly prepared lamb curry using the leftover leg of lamb we had on Sunday, rice and pan bread.

 Slow roast leg of lamb...

rubbed with a paste made from garlic cloves, fresh thyme, olive oil, soft butter, ground cumin, sea salt, black pepper and smoked paprika.   Rub all over lamb.  Put oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 3.5 for 20 minutes, then turned down to150 degrees for 2.5 - 3 hours; at this point, pour a cupful of stock and white wine into roasting dish.   Check every hour to ensure stock/wine gravy doesn't burn away.   Add some water if needed.   Throw in potatoes, carrots and a quartered onion as well as garlic cloves in the skin for the last 45 minutes-hour.   Let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes.  If veg not ready, turn up oven and keep cooking during the rest period.

Served with peas cooked in stock and leftover mash.

 Green, Creamy Chicken Curry

 Ok, so one thing you should always, always do when you are making up a recipe is take notes.   Me, I like to think my brain is the size of a planet when actually a pea is more accurate so the retention of information will stay with me until I get to a computer, right?   Wrong.   I remember all the ingredients but since I tend to work in 'dods', especially the first time, all these measurements are approximate.   Stick with the basic guidelines, and ye cannae go wrong!

Ingredients:
 For the chicken:
8 chicken breasts....half the amount or use whatever is required
Marinade the chicken in the following mix:
Small tub creamy yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons curry powder
Lemon juice (toss the lemon in there too, once juice extracted)
Sprinkling of turmeric
Grinding of black pepper

Once marinated...overnight or at least 4 hours....place onto a baking tray and bake in oven, 180 degrees (medium) for 20 minutes.   No need to turn.   Remove from oven and add to sauce when ready.

For the sauce:
1 25g packets/ 2 large handfuls coriander...if you dinnae like the green stuff, ye'll no' like this curry!!
Juice of 2 limes and zest from 1 lime
2 garlic cloves
Approx. teaspoon of cumin, half teaspoon coriander,quarter teaspoon fenugreek seeds, 2 cardamom pods, half cinammon stick, 1 clove, a few black pepper corns, ground turmeric all ground together in a pestle and mortar
Big dod of ginger....i.e. approx. 3 inches
2 green chillies, deseeded plus one whole chilli, slit a little down the middle
Small tub double cream
Thick Greek style yoghurt, approx. same amount as double cream
3 tablespoons coconut milk
2 good handfuls ground almonds
1 red chilli, deseeded and very thinly sliced into strips

Blend together: the ginger, garlic, chillies (not the whole one) and coriander.   Add the spices, blend and then the lime juice.   This should make a nice paste.

Melt some ghee or a mix of butter and oil in a deep pan over a medium heat.   Add the paste and cook for 10 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.  You may want to turn the heat down after the first five minutes and add a few drops of water if necessary to stop the mix catching.

Add the cream and stir into the mix.   Then add the yoghurt and the coconut milk.   Add the whole chilli.   If you want the sauce a bit thinner, add a little stock.   A teaspoon of sugar and a good sprinkling of salt should be added although you could omit this.   Leave the sauce to simmer with a lid partially on.   Add the chicken when ready.   Thrown in the thinly sliced red chilli and the almonds.

Simmer gently together with the chicken for at least 20 minutes; the chicken should be cooked through (obviously) and will be tender.   Add the juice from a lime or lemon if you prefer and another good handful or two of finely chopped coriander.   Taste, season if necessary and serve.

Boiled rice, lamb and potato curry, green, creamy chicken curry and quick pan bread

 Curry close up!

The Lemon Madeira Cupcakes for the new product launch were frosted with a mix of pale pink and pink vanilla butter icing and topped with flowers, leaves and butterflies.   They tasted yummy.

Ingredients:

250g softened unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 large eggs

210g self-raising flour

90g plain flour

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy.

Grate the lemon zest into the bowl.

I made a double batch so I grated the first lemon and used a zester for the second to give longer strips.

Add a tablespoon of flour with one egg and mix together; repeat until all eggs are incorporated and add the remaining flour.

Add the lemon juice and mix until combined.

Place paper cases into a cake or muffin tray.

Add approx. a large tablespoon of cake batter to each paper case.

Bake in oven 170, gas mark 3 for approx. 20-25 minutes or until golden; use a skewer inserted into a cake to check they are cooked; it should come out clean.

Make frosting by mixing sieved icing sugar with soft butter, a little at a time until fully incorporated and creamy, adding colour of choice and vanilla to taste....a few drops at a time!

Frost cakes and decorate.

Enjoy.

I made thai fishcakes;
Disaster!
The Thai green sauce was delicious but I totally mucked up the cake; it tasted nice but not great, far too greasy and in need of much simplification.   Back to the drawing board; I'll keep you updated.

Aww...except look at the expression on Lucy's face.....*shiver*

The Very Merry Month of May

I have a trip planned to France and London in May; holidays for me are like buses, none for ages then they all come along at the same time, causing chaos.   May is also home to husband's birthday, a concert, 5 school holidays, 6 birthday parties, the school disco and parent's day.   Top that with friends donning the Bermuda shorts to fling caution to the wind/snow/thunder and lightning by dragging out the dusty BBQ and you've got a pretty hectic month.   It's got nothing on June though..........

None of this is complaining, you understand; au contraire, I am veree 'appy, mademoiselles.   It's just a wee bit "aaaargh" and a wee bit "when-do-I-do-the-laundry".   

But since it's still only April, we shall sit back and smell the roses/smoked brioche puffs/mince and tatties.   I have a few days until the madness and fun begins.

I was remiss in my homely duties today because shopping, despite being on the list was forgotten; instead, I went to yoga....wonderful, tiring.....then met Shona for coffee and lunch....lovely.... and straight to the school to draw and paint circus decorations....strange.   I made macaroni cheese when I got home, explaining to Kelly along the way what 'necessity is the mother of invention' means; she asked why the cheese sauce tasted even more delicious och, she's a flatterer that 'un than normal although I did get "um...it needs some more pepper, mum"...there's always a critic....and I explained that I only had a little drop of milk left so I used cream for the rest of the white sauce before adding the cheddar cheese.   Hence my use of the phrase regarding mothers and necessities.

This week, we've had................

Chicken and Olive Stew with dumplings

Curried Parsnip Soup with Quick Pan Bread

Spaghetti Sugo (Spag Bog by any other name)

Lucy's favourite!

 

 Happy kids

Potato and Butternut Squash Soup

Lemon Roast Chicken stuffed with Savoury Rice

Plus roasted carrots, potatoes, onions, butternut squash, 

steamed broccolli and green beans and baby boiled tatties.

I shall make a new shopping list up tonight, do the trip tomorrow and add it this week, along with one or two recipes.   Have a wonderful week, bloggy peeps.

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.

It's all meme me!

I love Sunday dinner. It can be roast beef or lamb, chicken or turkey. It's occasionally a ham but that doesn't matter. What makes a Sunday dinner is all the little extras that accompany the meal, the amount of time it takes to make...all afternoon...and the amount of time it takes to be eaten...3 seconds flat. The sitting around afterwards, chatting, picking at the remains and laughing with family, children and friends is the best part. Well, not really, you know me better than that; the food is the best part but it's a close second. Meh.

I love cooking for big numbers because you can make lots of different dishes at such cost effectiveness, I positively glow from the thought of it. These days, when I cook a joint, I usually always go for a large piece as meat once cooked slowly can be reheated and used in any dish your heart desires; curries, stews, sandwiches, soups, to name but a few. Even with chicken, I tend to cook two at a time and the second one gets used over the next few days. Hey, even electricity costs money so little savings help towards the big trips to...um...Canada or suchlike.

This Sunday, I cooked one paltry wee chicken but it was free range, stuffed with tarragon, lemon and sea salt, drizzled with olive oil and dotted with butter.

I served it with baby roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and turnip with some chopped up gammon and thyme all in a little olive oil and sea salt. We had green beans, petit pois (wee peas) and roast potatoes. Don't you just love roast potatoes? We like our potatoes of every description so we also had potato boulangere:...which is potatoes sliced thinly and layered between a sprinkling of chopped, sauteed onion then covered with an equal mix...around 5fl.oz. of each.... of stock and milk, dotted with butter and baked in an oven for 45 minutes. Drooled over! 350/180 or gas mark 4.

There has been no shopping this week; you may not have heard.....!, but I'm going on holiday tomorrow. There is still plenty of food in the cupboards, fridge and freezer. Brian has suggested taking the kids to school in their pyjamas so that someone will feel pity for him and cook everyone dinner. He is a chancer but is only kidding. He is perfectly capable although we have had offers of help already from the lovely women of Glasgow.
_________________________________

Little Miss Blogger tagged me for this meme, my first ever. Thank you, my bloggy friend, I shall do my best.

The rules are, erase the answers already listed and fill in my own then pass it on to four bloggers of my choice. So here it is:

1. Who is the hottest Movie Star?
The hottest movie star of all time has to be Clint Eastwood. Ever since I saw him in a cowboy hat, walking across a dusty, wild western town, me at the tender age of 8, I was smitten. Over the years, I've watched every film with glee but when he walked onto my screen as John Kincaid, I wanted to seek him out and propose. And he's a great director!

2. Apart from your house and car, what is the most expensive item you have ever bought?
My sofas. They cost thousands of pounds years ago when sofas still cost the same as a car. I still have them. I hate them. I really, really hate them.

3. What is your most treasured memory?
Apart from the children being born? I have so many. I remember dreaming that I was pregnant with twins; I did a test the next day and lo and behold, I was indeed pregnant. At the scan, I shared my thoughts and the doctor confirmed that there were two little 'uns in there. I was so happy until she said "let me see if there are any more...."; that wiped the smile from my face.

I also remember Kelly telling me she was going to teach me to hope at the tender age of three. I was so touched, tears pierced my eyes; that was when she got on one leg and started to hop round the room.............we laughed for a loooong time.

4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child?
Tiny Tears doll.

5. What is the biggest mistake you have ever made?
My mistakes have led me to here.

6. 4 words to describe yourself?
I really love coffee.

7. What was your highlight or low light of 2008?
I started yoga which I love and my wonderful mother in law died.

8. Favorite Film?
This is one I cannot answer; there are too many. The last film I saw (for the umpteenth time) which I loved was Now, Voyager starring Betty Davis...."who needs the moon when we have the stars". I have it on video tape. Yes, video tape.

9. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you.
I once had nowhere to live.

10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be?
Elastigirl, the mum from The Incredibles. Except, unlike her, I can also fly.

The four bloggers I am tagging with this Meme are:
Anna
Beagle
Barbiephobia
Tommy
_____________________________________
My blogger friend Amy from Mama Drama gave me this smile:

"The Spreading the Smile originated from Vicki at Frugal Mom Knows Best. According to Frugal Mom "there are no rules or expectations, just the hope that you will pass this on, to however many people you want. The hope that we all have at least one nice thing to say to a least one person. One genuine, nice thing that might make them smile. Or even maybe something to thank them for. Let's spread the smile to as many faces as possible."
I'd like to pass it on to all of you. Please pass it on in turn.

No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk...or Eggs, or Salt, or Scales

I had a small 'accident' today; on preparing the Yorkshire pudding batter, I seemingly slipped on something and nothing, pulling down a bowl filled with eggs, salt and milk alongside the electric whisk, scales, glass and my dignity with me. We all ended on the floor, me in a heap, ankle (....for those of you who read about my other 'little' accident....the SAME freaking ankle...) all askew, milk and eggs running down the counter, into the toaster and all over the floor running away in all directions, trying to cover as much floor space as possible.

The new electronic scales lay upside down, seeped in milky batter, a glass tottered around the floor, little shards glinting from my big toe. I sat there, horrified and then yelped out loud at my own idiotic, irritating stupidity. Kelly came running through, all concerned to see her mummy lying in a heap, uncooked Yorkshire pudding surrounding her; she;d have been less shocked if it had been blood.

She tried to come to my rescue, the wee soul but I told her to go get daddy who no doubt sighed when Kelly suggested that there had been an accident. The clumsiness of his daft wife (who has realised that these 'episodes' happen 1 month apart...)must irk, especially as he usually has to pick up the pieces; he came down the stairs to rescue me.

Before he arrived, as I sat with my face in my hands, I saw two little feet heading towards me; I peeked out from between my fingers to see Fraser suddenly freeze, take in the situation and slowly retrace his steps backwards, like a cartoon burglar, hoping to have not been seen. This was less to do with the fact that he didn't want to help and more to do with him thinking he'd somehow, somewhere, get blamed. He is of the Bart Simpson school of "It wasn't me!" even if caught with cookies in his hand and chocolate round his face.

Brian cleaned everything up, fixed the scales although they kept saying 'error'...a bit like my head...and I sighed, got out more eggs, weighted scales and started all over again. To add insult to injury, I had to use the hand whisk as the electric ones had egg yolk running up inside the plughole.

We eventually had a meal of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, buttered baby jersey potatoes and a variety of vegetables. With gravy. Lots of gravy.

Vintage Kitty....I couldn't leave a comment or message, then I saw your wee tag; hope everything is ok! x

Pan-Fried Children with Gravy

These kids are driving me crazy! I've decided to have them for tea. This is what they think of the idea:

Warning: Mild Screaming

The weekend was really lovely. The house we booked was much better than it looked on the webpage and it looked pretty damn good; the photos did not do it justice, for instance, we had no idea that the kitchen would be so lovely, spacious and well equipped or that the huge bedrooms, all ensuite would be tastefully furnished or that there was even a balcony with a great view and the smell of lavender coming from huge pots next to the garden.

We were the first to arrive and the kitchen was my first port of call as I was cooking dinner that night. I prepared roast lamb by stabbing a leg joint with a knife and placing inside thin slices of garlic and sprigs of rosemary. I sprinkled on some salt and pepper and wrapped it in foil. I cooked it at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes and then turned it down to around 160-170 for a further 2.5 hours, maybe longer...I was sipping the wine by then and everything became slightly warm and fuzzy...

I made my bbq sauce but this time, I added in two star anise and some ground fennel seeds just as the onion mixture was ready. I cooked these for a further minute before adding the soy sauce etc. Totally worth adding these if you can find them.

I had previously prepared my lamb koftas; bloody nora, I loved these! Especially with the bbq sauce. I think they'd also make great burgers and the low fat content really appeals.

We served the lamb with plain boiled rice, tsatziki, roasted tomatoes with thyme and Parmesan, with a little help from Ian, a lovely salad prepared by Val, pitta bread, olives and caramelised onions....except I forgot to reheat the caramelised onions and they sat in the fridge, cold and forlorn. We 'rescued' them the following evening by enjoying them with the BBQ. The BBQ was prepared and cooked by my friends whilst I sat back and enjoyed; the wonderful potato salad, pesto marinaded chicken, Aberdeen Angus steak beefburgers, tomato and mozzarella salad to name but a few was a feast to behold and I stuffed myself silly.



We visited nearby Coldingham Bay with it's wonderful beach, ideal for surfers. It was raining but we didn't care. We built a dam and a town to be destroyed. Val seemed to take great pleasure in this...my respect for that gal just grows and grows. Ann stood at the back to catch any 'real' children who may get swept away and I of course, supervised after one solitary dig.

What goes up....


Must come down.

Karen and Anne

I've just been to the pub (guess which one) with the gorgeous Karen and Anne. It's now past midnight but I promised lamb koftas and lamb koftas you shall get, Karen, my friend!

Tomorrow, we are going away with a few other families to a lovely house in St. Abbs near North Berwick, Scotland. I've been cooking up a storm all day and have so far came up with caramelised onions, roast lamb, what looks like a thousand filo pastry muffins with a variety of fillings including goats cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, cheddar cheese, Parmesan etc. They look and taste lovely. These are the easiest but most impressive looking little starter dish; you basically cut filo pastry into squares then oil the muffin tin, place in the first filo layer and press it down, brush with butter or oil (I used olive oil) and repeat four to five times. Don't worry about the edges, the rougher the better. Then fill.

My first filling was tomatoes, salt and pepper, goats cheese, some fresh thyme and rosemary. The second batch was similar but with caramelised onions...you get the idea. Anything you want. Then, for every batch, pour the following mix in carefully...1 egg, about 4 fl. oz. double cream and a huge handful Parmesan cheese; whisk together and pour into each muffin until half to three quarters filled. Bake in oven at 170 degrees celsius for around 10-15 minutes...basically, as soon as they go brown and the cheese is bubbling and golden. Keep your eye on them after the first then minutes.

Wonderful munch...scooby snacks....crunch...

Lamb koftas were made to go alongside the roast lamb. I'm going to make my homemade bbq sauce in the morning but this time I'm going to add ground fennel and star anise...oh yes, my friend, time for some good old experimentation! I'll report back of course.

The bbq sauce will be brushed atop of the lamb for the last ten minutes of cooking and also used to brush over the lamb koftas.

Lamb Koftas
* 500g minced lamb
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 2 tsp ground coriander
* 2 fat garlic cloves , crushed
* 1 tbsp chopped mint
* oil for brushing
Mix together all the ingredients until well blended. Divide into 6 balls, then roll each ball on a board with a cupped hand to turn them into ovals. Don't worry if they look more like lumpy brains...

Thread onto 6 skewers and brush with oil. I shall also be brushing it with bbq sauce at the last minute.

To cook on a griddle: heat the pan until you can feel a good heat rising and cook for 3-4 mins each side. Don't turn until they are well sealed or the meat will stick to the grill or pan. Season if you want, and set aside. Serve the koftas with yogurt and spiced flat breads or as I plan to do, tsatziki, pitta bread and a whole host of other accompaniments.
To BBQ:
Put the meat skewers on the grill over a medium heat for about 3-4 mins each side.
BTW...140 calories per Kofta!!
I've not cooked these before so I'm a little premature in posting the recipe...I can't see how it could possibly go wrong though.... ;O) Good luck Karen.

I'll post the other recipes when I return my lovely blogger friends. I leave you with some photos...far too many photos...of my filo muffins.

Tea in the House

I arose on Saturday morning incredibly early after only a few hours sleep to catch the train to the bus station. I met Graeme, my friend who was coming with me and we caught the T in the Park bus to Balado, an abandoned airstrip near Kinross and Perth. By the looks of some of the passengers, the party had obviously started early, possibly from the night before, with vast quantities of alcohol being consumed...this was the 9am bus...not by me of course, I'm beyond such revelling...but it was fun to watch the carry-on and listen to the spontaneous sing song that broke out now and then and the cheer when the bus pulled into our destination.

We were met by hundreds, if not thousands of people littering the area outside T in the Park with beer bottles, rucksacks, boxes of wine, discarded wellies and themselves. It looked like many had camped there from the Friday night, no doubt waiting for their weekend tickets to become eligible, waiting for friends or trying to buy a ticket from passers by or touts.

We entered through the hospitality entrance, thanks to the wonderful Mairi and Gary who had got me the tickets and entered a nice, quiet field with a huge bar, enormous T in the Park chair (think Alice in Wonderland size) and clean toilets. Relief. The field was filling up by early afternoon but the bar remained accessible, we could always find a seat and the music coming from behind the giant sized radio was excellent leading the entire filed to break out into spontaneous song, particularly when Sweet Caroline was played!

After burger and chips and a pint of Tennent's lager (mines was a shandy!) in the Balado Bar and Lounge...it has to be the first meal at a festival...we entered the main area and explored. It was a sight to behold; there was an amazing flag art installation which looked just brilliant blowing in the wind, a huge blue Toblerone pointed stage tent which turned out to be King Tuts Wah Wah Hut and hundreds of other food, drink and music emporiums which made Balado Airfield Scotland's fifth largest city for that weekend.

The sun shone beautifully and all the girls rocked the Kate Moss look: a multitude of welly designs, mainly Hunter (the kind the Queen wears) with the shortest of skirts or shorts, tanned legs and quirky make-up. The lads were in a variety of cheeky t-shirts, costumes and dresses...yes, dresses. There is something about the British male that just loves any excuse to dress up in as feminine a way as possible. They all appeared so comfortable, especially the crazy guy in the fur coat, apron, fishnets, blonde wig, eyeliner and huge sunglasses.

I never got his name but along with his friend the fireman, they were the funniest double act of the festival. They plonked down beside us and regaled us with tales of their disaffected relationship and encounters at T in the Park. Their long suffering friend Heather was glad of a reprieve and after apologising for leaving them with me, danced away to The Ting Tings...which we missed most of, listening to their patter instead...but I laughed so much, it was worth it. The fireman told us that the day before he was dressed as Peter Pan and how he got really annoyed that people kept mixing him up with Robin Hood; he pointed to his sword and asked them all "Does that look like a bleedin' bow and arrow?".

We saw a succession of amazing acts but in some ways (many will disagree), the best was Bjorn Again, a tribute Abba band who started off the Saturday by getting the entire audience to it's feet, singing and dancing. Whoever booked them deserves a medal...ingenious. It got everyone ready for more. The best act of all however, amongst a lot of great acts, was Seasick Steve...."I'm lyin' there in the glass, in the GLASS, in the grass". He was funny, self-deprecating and talented..."see this? (holding up a guitar with three strings).."this is a three stringed piece of s%^&" and then began to play it beautifully, then did the same thing with an an actual stick with one string.

I was delighted to see Squeeze play and hearing them sing the classic 'Up the Junction' live was a highlight of the weekend. Paolo Nutini and Elbow were really good of course although the lead singer of Elbow was talking rather a lot of mince to cries of "sing already, ya numpty!" and Lady Gaga left me perplexed. A huge crowd descended on the NME stage to watch Lily Allen but the sound was awful (not due to her singing) and we left after a short while.

On Sunday night, Snow Patrol were delayed because the Blur singer was rushed to hospital but yet managed to be ok in time to come on stage late. We saw some of Snow Patrol but missed Blur as we had to get the bus home but I'm guessing he may have gotten a hard time from the crowd as many did not believe the story being fed.

But enough of the music...this is a food blog after all. If I had to score the food I'd give it ten out of ten. I think there may have been a problem with the noodles from a particular establishment however as the entire festival site became Noodle City; noodles littered everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Apart from the usual festival grub of burgers, fish and chips, falafel, chinese food and donuts there was Healthy T; they served homemade stovies, porridge, hog roasts, fresh seafood from Loch Fyne, smoked-in-front-of-your-eyes kippers from Spinks, sushi, stone baked pizza, noodles and freshly cooked pasta, to name but a few.

After our burger and chips and several performances, we headed over to Healthy T for some good Scottish fayre. I started with Cullen Skink, a fish and potato soup and then a salmon roll: freshly cooked pink salmon in a wholewheat bun with falafel mayonnaise and salad leaves in a lovely dressing. Truly delicious. Graeme went for the stovies which they inexplicably served with beetroot and oatcakes...we think because they'd bought plates with three sections and for no other reason...but Graeme said it was good. As the weekend progressed, I had a hog roast roll with crackling and mustard...wish I'd seen the apple sauce first...a smoked kipper, spring rolls and donuts with milk chocolate dipping sauce. This weekend was worth it for the food alone.

Now that I'm home, all I crave is a cup of tea in the house, the Sunday Papers and a lazy day. All have been provided, along with bacon rolls and a small antipasti for lunch. Thank you, husband.

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Rice

Ah, lazy days and Sundays...we chilled out today, read the papers, had some bacon rolls and made some bread. I halved my dough and made some rolls as well as bread but they didn't turn out that great...good enough though to be eaten with butter and jam whilst warm and I've chopped up the rest to make croutons and breadcrumbs for the patties and soup later this week.

We had our roast chicken tonight, with the rice stuffing, roasted parsnips, carrots and potatoes with steamed broccoli and green beans. Everything was then covered in gravy of course, made with the juices from the roasting pan. I served it all with the home made bread and lashings of sugar free lemonade.

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Rice
1 large free range chicken
Knob of softened butter
For the stuffing:
60g butter
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
200g basmati rice
500ml chicken stock
4 tablespoons chopped parsley

Blend or chop very finely the onion and garlic. Melt the butter in a pan and fry onion and garlic mix until soft and starting to colour. Add the rice and give everything a stir. Add the stock, bring to the boil, clamp on a lid and simmer really gently for 15 minutes. Preheat oven at this point to 220 degrees C /gas mark 7. Once rice is cooked and all water absorbed, mix in parsley and season with pepper (salt if required but I doubt it).

Spoon the rice into the chicken cavity and secure with cocktail sticks. Rub the chicken with the butter, sprinkle with salt and whatever herbs you have to hand...I used dried thyme...and place in oven for approx. 1.5 hours. 30-40 minutes before the chicken is ready, throw in the root veg and potatoes, depending on how well you like them cooked.

When ready (juices run clear) place on plate, cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Steam the broccoli and green beans and serve.

Food for thought.

I realised immediately that my resolve for not drinking too much would be put to the test by who turned up and how good the band were. I'm not for a minute attributing blame for my gin habit to those friends who buy double measures (you know who you are) but it can and does add to the quantity consumed; add a good band with excellent covers and you never know what could happen.

As it turned out, the band were good, including a particularly well versed Pink Floyd rendition (although the Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover kind of threw me off track, despite taking me right back to my youth) and a Kasabian number. The people were not the kind to force feed anyone and in fact, in that particular crowd, I'm probably the imbiber. This was no bacchanal evening however and a few gin and tonics with a glass of wine thrown in met our needs.

I was unsure beforehand of course and took the precaution of having scooby snacks ready in the fridge, lots of bottled water and a low fat, tasty dinner just an hour before going out. Cannae take that hangover, girls.

I opted for a undyed smoked haddock fillet and having quantities left of pesto sans pine nuts, I decided to try it with the fish. Pesto goes amazingly well with lemon sole and that is in fact one of my favourite dishes: lemon sole with pesto, crispy courgettes, spinach and sauce verde. More on that later! I placed the fish on foil, smothered it with the pesto and squeezed a little lemon juice atop alongside a few thin slices.

I packaged up the foil and placed it onto a tin, ready for the oven. I then chopped up a selection of tomatoes, spring onions and red pepper, mixed it all with a little pesto, added some fresh thyme, salt and pepper and placed in the tin alongside the wrapped fish.

The fish and salad veg was placed into a hot oven, bottom shelf as the chicken was cooking for the kids and Brian on the top shelf, for 10 minutes. I served it on a bed of mixed leaves including watercress and spinach as well as some rice and green beans.

T'was yummy!

The kids and Brian had roasted lemon and thyme chicken, roasted pearl potatoes, thrown into the chicken 30 minutes before the end. Once the chicken was cooked, it was plated and wrapped in foil to rest. The heat was turned up on the oven and the potatoes put back in-they start to caremalise at this stage because of the lemon juice and chicken gravy still inside the dish. That was served with rice and green beans.So, today, I awoke with only a very mild sore head, thanks to the water, toast and butter and sleep I had last night. It was all go today with parties, walking and the likes so the traditional rolls and bacon were consumed with some frozen yoghurt and berries as an afternoon snack. I felt in the need for some stodge but needed to get it from somewhere other than the chippy! So I made my own version of fried fish and chips....calamari. The recipe for this is as follows and it really was perfect, not too high in fat and I'm full and happy.

Salt and Pepper Calamari with Mixed Rice
A handful of calamari, washed and dried. Calamari is incredibly cheap, the amount I used costing around 70 pence.
Sesame oil
Flour
salt and pepper
Chilli flakes
Vegetable oil for frying
Cooked Rice (I used yesterday's leftovers)
Chopped peppers, cucumber and spring onion and whatever else takes your fancy.
Green Beans

Drizzle over the calamari a small amount of sesame oil, salt and pepper, and mix. Roll in the following mixture: two tablespoons flour, lots of freshly ground black pepper, a good pinch of sea salt, chilli flakes to taste.

Pour oil in pan to cover bottom. Get really hot and add the calamari in batches...don't crowd the pan. The secret to tender, tasty calamari is to treat it like meat: you either cook it very quickly over a high heat or stew it slowly for a long time over a low heat. Cook quickly until the outside turns brown and then turn over. This should only take a few minutes. Place on kitchen towel to dry.

Mix chopped veg into the rice, sprinkle over some soy sauce and place the calamari on top. Eat with chopsticks and enjoy. Hangover, begone!