Microwave Cooking made easy

This is a picture of the Battenberg Cake M made in the microwave. Yes! In the microwave. It's from a recipe out of a microwave cooking book that I guess was published right when microwaves were becoming cool things to have around the house. For something which was supposed to make cooking easier, a majority of the recipes are more intricate than any ones I've seen which don't use a microwave. The idea is to use something you would normally use to do basic heating up to make those most complicated meals: things like courgette mousse, potted shrimp and Battenberg Cake. It was a ridiculous amount of effort to make (it seemed) but you know what, it was good. I don't think I'd go so far as to eat microwaved moules mariniere which was threatened to be the next experiment. We'll see. I'm not going to judge till I've tried it. Who needs pots and pans?

Pie

A spicy lamb pie for Tal, Theo and Cecily

Keeping the dinner party alive

Is the dinner party dead? So the guardian asks. I would argue definitely no. But then I love and appreciate food, so why would I not be all for an occasion based around it? A dinner party should be great, whether the food has been slaved over or put together in the kitchen last-minute. I can't not praise it after having gone out to eat at someone's house last night for a pretty perfect interpretation on the theme. E who was our hostess seemed to have a bit of a thing for Japanese food, I think after travelling in Japan. Two platefuls of dumplings were brought out followed by those really thin noodles in a sauce with lots of veg. There was nothing overwhelming about it, and as guests there was no awkward obligation to help with anything as we ate in the living room. About an hour later out came a warm banana bread. I should have appreciated this meal more last night. Sadly no pictures.

My flatmates and I are trying to see if a sort of cooking rota would work, so we will be able to eat together in the evenings and share the cost. There are 6 of us taking part, so we 're basically having a dinner party every night, minus any formal small-talk or wondering when to leave.

Personal feasts

Something bloody to keep iron levels up on a night out - something fresh for the day after.

I walked to the butcher for some pork belly and a steak. The pork belly I'd share, but the steak I wouldn't. When I left home, I decided I'd have to allow myself to splash out on the luxury of some good rare meat on a monthly basis. Perhaps psychosomatically, I feel like my body craves red meat if I have been lacking it. I was born in the wrong era - should be living in a cave wearing sheepskin and waiting for my husband to bring me raw meat. Well, I got my steak this week, and ate it pink as could be - obviously - all mixed up with mustardy new potatoes and salad, feeling slightly silly as everyone around me ate...something else.

And secondly, a new find in my excellent local Chinese fishmonger. I chose mackerel because it is cheap but also because I really like it. There are a few ways of cooking it I've been meaning to try, one being this oat-rolled version by Valentine Warner. I ate it wish the rest of my baby gem and finished off the Dijon mustard. This was probably the best thing to eat with a headache watching a grim BBC drama.

Baking for birthdays

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Two birthdays this week. For the first, R came over to secretly use our oven so D would not see her surprise cakes. Her bag was full of ingredients and a cookbook by a seemingly sloaney-yummy-mummy-turned-gluten-free-baker called something like Chocolate heartache. This is a book which I would never think to buy or even look at in a shop but in fact is based on an interesting principle that cake baking can be done using vegetables in place of butter. Different vegetables work in different ways, some with more water than others - this woman has experimented to find the perfect combinations. It sounds a bit faddy, but makes for quite fun revelations and it meant I used courgette twice in a week for a cake. This time the recipe was 'LA cupcake - virtually fat free and jogging down the beach' (that is exactly the general vibe of the book - each cake gets its own personality..) It was also the first time I'd used rice flour to bake, and surprisingly the cakes were pretty yummy - and green.

We thought that M turning 21 merited a feast of some sort, and following our friends' 3-week long tradition of alternately home-cooked Sunday brunches, I cooked a Mexican breakfast with huevos rancheros, cornbread and guacamole. That was great but I preferred to eat more of C's profiteroles - so light creamy and chocolatey you would never have known they were half-made secretly on her bedroom floor.

We'll need another hidden kitchen space for covert birthday baking operations. ....

I have betrayed one of my favourite coffee shops for another, which is closer to where i am now living. Of course it's lucky that this one is situated to be most of the time on my way out or on my way home, but if there was one I prefered I would make the extra walk. There is no need though as this has become my new favourite. The overall experience is just of a higher quality - the coffee excellent (admittedly I've only sampled their flat white, and their longer coffees look like they're in cups just a bit too big), the space is great because you get to see the bakery (sourdough bread worth buying) and the Swedish china is beautiful. Peter's Yard is near enough to the library that I can take books out for a few hours and have a coffee rather than sitting in a low-lit study pod.

Another nice detour home involved browsing the shelves of my nearest Chinese supermarket. It's funny how suddenly foreignness in terms of packaging makes food so appealling. Little squares of dried noodle dinners look like so much fun! It made me want to be a kind of kooky oriental enthusiast who eats with chop sticks all the time. Then I remembered all of these mini meals have about 50g of MSG in them, so I forgot about all the exciting colours and looked for something else. Then i found plain MSG in a packet.

I asked the woman behind the desk if they sold any tea - had been craving something light and green but wasn't holding out much hope that I'd find anything better than from my favourite Postcard Teas. She pointed me in the right direction, and I am happy to say I walked out with two of my favourite kinds. 'Special Gunpowder' Green Tea comes in a fantastic cube box with a white paper bag inside. In chinese it's called zhu cha which means bead or pearl tea. I've just learned that the English name for it possibly comes from the Mandarin term for 'freshly brewed', gang pao de (sounds familiar..?) That made me laugh..but unfortunately I think the real etymology is the more boring explanation of the rolled up tea leaves looking a bit like gunpowder pellets. My other purchase was some Genmaicha, a Japanese tea with roasted brown rice.

Now I can enjoy my new teapot, one of the best presents I've received lately. I took this picture spontaneously in my appreciation for my tea situation. Please excuse the ridiculous juxtaposition of this and the beginnings of my crocheted grocery bag (!) and some radical feminist article I had to read for my art history course...

The cows and the bees

Took a detour on my way home yesterday initially with the intention to buy some linen for a grocery bag. Came back with that plus a couple of extra treats. A perfect me-sized slice of Appleby's Cheshire to go with the last of the apples in our bucket, and a small jar of Blossom Honey. I was assured by the cheese-man that this honey was so good he would lick it off a pavement. Also that on Friday they'll be selling apples in the shop, which he seemed apathetic to. He works in a cheese shop and he didn't know it was apple season! Clearly missing out on one of the best ever combinations.

And again, the g2 almost annoyingly matching my life - this time with Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall giving lunchbox tips. I feel ahead of the game here, having just adopted a bit of a lust for packed lunch perfection. I sat reading the newspaper with my thermos full of squash and cabbage soup/stew, an apple, half a slice of courgette cake and a ginger biscuit.

There is something so exciting about eating a mini picnic that you have prepared, wrapped and boxed in advance. It makes me feel even better about not spending money to buy lunch that might not be half as good, and that doesn't come in a thermos.. with a 'telescopic' spoon!

The courgette cake was originally going to be made (specially requested) for a friend's birthday but as I'd never made one I thought I'd try it out first. It turned out brilliantly - well, after the second bake in our untrustworthy gas oven - and is equally good with a cup of tea or a dollop of yoghurt.