Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Not as moving or sophisticated as his second effort but still pretty impressive for a 21-year-old.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I had no idea this had won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction until I saw it written on the cover. I chose it because I completely adored Strout's first novel, Amy and Isabelle (I remember finishing it, and then turning right back to the beginning because I didn't want it to be over!), and enjoyed the more recent Abide with Me.

Olive Kitteridge is truly Strout at the top of her game. The connected stories - all involving, though sometimes tangentially, the title character - are beautifully written and emotionally intense. Vivid and powerful.

The New England setting made me so homesick.

There was a sadness to it - the hardship in the character's lives. Cold, dark Maine. And me reading it in chilly, dark London.

But I will come back to this, I know. I haven't felt so moved to re-read since discovering Alice Munro many moons ago.

Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym

Couldn't stop myself - had to go for another Barbara Pym. This was a darker, sadder topic than Jane and Prudence - four lonely older people in London in the 1970s - but done with such a light touch, so delicately as to avoid being emotionally manipulative. And thankfully there was plenty of hope at the end. Phew.

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

Sooo lovely. Just what I was wanting. A sweet comedy of manners and romance set in 1950's Britain - both village life and London life covered. Some hilarious scenes about geography students which would be brilliant on film. Something like a Miss Marple without the murder.

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

This isn't a book you read all the way through - it's a reference book - but I thought I'd note that I read the intro and it's really changed my whole attitude about housework. I've cleaned out all the kitchen cabinets (wiping the shelves as well as reorganising pots and pans etc), hired someone to clean the windows and have plans to move the furniture and clean the floors beneath! This book has generally helped me come to terms with what it means to 'keep house' - it's not as bad as I thought.

Reading for Writers, The Kenyon Review

I was really disappointed with the quality of much of the writing in this collection. I guess it is a periodical so a) can't be as picky as with books/have to fill pages and b) don't always have time to edit and rewrite. Best story was from V. S. Naipaul (of course).

Also enjoyed Brian Doyle's 'No'.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Don't usually read much science fiction but enjoyed Atwood's approach, which has some fine writing and real enough characters for me to relate. Thought some of her character motivation/plot elements were hard to buy - perhaps she was dealing more with 'ideas'. Guess it can be hard to balance both. My book clubbers liked the prequel to this - Oryx and Crake - better. Might try that too, soon.

Half books

To make myself feel better I'm going to record two books I've only read half of - one (Probable Future) because I got tired of it, the other (A Mercy) because I was reading it at a friend's house in California, and I had to come home.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay

Nice, breezy summer read. Hate the ad copy on the cover but if you get over that, a nice story of the development of an artist.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Didn't enjoy John Ames as a narrator quite as much as Glory in Home but it had many of the same things to recommend it: good writing; fine, quiet details; interesting theological discussions. I'm so intrigued by the sad Jack Boughton.

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Quiet. Subtle. Sad (but not manipulative). Plain, lovable characters. Such fine writing. So good.

Raisin muffins

This is loosely based on a Maida Heatter recipe but adapted for what I had in the kitchen.

Result: Fairly dense but flavourful and moist. Fresh out of the oven they were sooo yummy - crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Next day they liked being grilled with butter. I would use fewer raisins next time but otherwise utterly repeatable.

2 1/4 c flour (1 1/4 whole wheat; 1 white)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground seeds (flax/sunflower/pumpkin)
1 Tbsp whole oats
1 1/2 c sour milk
5/8 c brown sugar
6 oz/1 1/4 cup raisins

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix milk and sugar in a small bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients - don't overmix. Add raisins. Put in greased muffin tins (filled 10 of mine). Bake at 160C fan (180C/350F oven) for about 35 mins, turning pan front to back halfway through.

Your One-Year-Old by Ames, Ilg and Haber

As parenting books go, this was a good one. I liked that it wasn't a 'how to' book but more observational.

I particularly liked the first chapter, which summarises how many children behave at this age (based on research by qualified individuals). This is good when you've never had kids before, nor been around kids of this age very much (or recently). It answers all those, "Is this normal for this age? Should I be expecting something different?" questions which are often instigated by shouting/throwing food/kicking etc.

It talked some about developmental milestones and 'techniques' which tend to work best at this age but none of it was too preachy and instead focussed on getting through the difficult stuff with minimal damage to all.

I love the Q&As at the end which had to do with sleep - an issue which tormented me for the first year or so of my dear daughter's life (now I see how unnecessary this was, the torment anyway) - which basically said, "Sorry your kid's not sleeping! If you're not getting enough sleep, get some help for yourself."

I have already bought "Your Two-Year-Old" - it's sitting on the bookshelf, waiting.

Pan-fried sardines

I got some sardines at the farmer's market because they were cheap and looked nice and fresh. SWC said he'd never had sardines he liked so I took it as a challenge to make these really tasty.

Result: I thought they were amazing: moist, flavourful and crispy. SWC agreed on the taste but had a hard time with the bones, which I barely noticed.

The original recipe called for cumin in the flour but I was hoping the toddler might eat these too so I left that out. She didn't go for them in the end - might try spicing up the flour next time.

Handful of fresh parsley, chopped fine
4-6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
6 sardines, prepared
Half a lemon
About 1/2 cup plain flour
Vegetable oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Chop the parsley and garlic and mix together in a bowl. Then spread the mixture all over the sardines - inside and out. Lay the fish out on a plate, squeeze some lemon juice over them, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about two hours.

Place the flour, salt and pepper on a large plate. Mix. Roll the sardines in the flour, taking care to coat each fish thoroughly.

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan until very hot. Fry the fish for a few minutes on each side, until brown and crispy. Place on paper towels to drain any grease (there shouldn't be much if your oil's hot enough) and serve warm.

Zucchini muffins

It's called courgette in the UK but when making muffins - such an American item - I call it zucchini.

These were delicious - moist and fluffy inside, with crunchy tops. AND they used up both zucchini (cheap at the farmer's market these days) AND sour milk.

I grated the zucchini in the food processor and it took about two seconds. I could have spiced them up more with some nutmeg or ginger (not that they needed it) - might try that next time if I'm in the mood for something spicier.

3 cups flour (one whole wheat, two white)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 pound zucchini, grated fine
2 eggs
1.5 cups white sugar
4 Tbsp oil
1 cup sour milk/buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients: eggs, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla. Combone wet and dry ingredients. Stir in courgette. Pour batter into oiled muffin tins (makes 12, if you fill them up to the top). Bake at 160C fan (350F/180C) about 35 mins, turning the pan front to back halfway through.

Vanilla pudding II

Here's another vanilla pudding recipe I tried, as part of my ongoing effort to use up milk. It had more steps than 'vanilla pudding I' and the texture wasn't as good: it was a lot runnier, it was only slightly thicker than milk. I think I didn't cook it long enough at the end - with pudding I, cooking an extra five minutes is what thickened it up. I may try this again, and cook it longer, and see how it turns out.

3 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a large stainless steel (or heatproof) bowl whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, eggs, and egg yolk. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk. Set aside while you heat the rest of the milk and sugar. Have ready a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl as you will need to strain the pudding after it is cooked.

First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. Then pour the remaining 3 cups of milk, along with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, into the saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth.

Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean, large heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. If necessary, pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Pour the pudding into six or eight serving dishes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, about two hours.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Vanilla pudding I

In an effort to use up milk, I began searching for a good vanilla pudding recipe (in the American sense of that word). This one was nice, if a little sweet. And it was pretty runny - nice served over fruit or with cake but not gelatinous enough to be served on its own.

3 cups milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Scald 2 2/3 cups of the milk. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch, sugar and salt; stir in remaining 1/3 cup milk. Add the milk/cornstarch mixture to scalded milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Continue cooking vanilla pudding for about 5 minutes to thoroughly cook cornstarch. Serve warm or cool. It will thicken more as it cools.

Corn muffins

We got behind on drinking our delivered milk, so I had to come up with some recipes to use the sour milk. These were super easy and pretty good - great texture, could have been either sweeter or saltier. As they were, best served as side dish or with butter and jam or honey.

1 cup corn-meal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup thick sour milk
1 tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients: corn meal, flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat egg then add sugar, melted butter or oil and milk. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Bake in greased muffin tins for about 25 mins at 160C fan (350F/180C).

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Finished! (more later)

Leftovers carbonara

We often make Marcella Hazen's carbonara recipe, but tonight we had an odd collection of leftovers. Nevertheless, a carbonara-esque meal materialised, and it was delicious.

500 g linguine (normally spaghetti, but we had none)
1 courgette
2 sausages (grilled yesterday)
1 head of fresh garlic
A little sun-dried tomato
1 egg
Parmesan
Olive oil
1 tbsp sherry (or dry white wine)

Chop up the entire head of fresh garlic. Fresh garlic is milder and sweeter than the regular stuff. Saute it in the olive oil for a minute, then add thin sliced courgette, sausage and sun-dried tomato. We use a mandolin to get 0.5 mm thick courgette slices. Saute until the courgette is slightly browned, then add the sherry and deglaze.

Mix the egg (raw) with enough grated parmesan cheese to make a thick paste. Grate black pepper into the paste. Add the cooked pasta and toss until it's evenly coated. Add the sauce and toss again.

Aunt Imme's German potato salad

This is my aunt's German potato salad which I'm recording here for posterity.

I ate this dish several times a year - always at Christmas and Easter - while I was growing up. As an adult I've tried to recreate it several times - with mixed success. I could never get the dressing right. Then six months ago I found out she used the pickle juice!

This would be easier to make in the US than the UK (where we live) because it's hard to get real dill pickles here - and even hard to find really good sweet pickles. Ah well. At least the bacon here is good!

5 lb bag of potatoes
1 lb of bacon
1 jar of sweet (bread & butter) pickles
1 jar of Kosher dill pickles
1 apple

Boil potatoes until they burst - don't overboil. Pour off water. Cut pickles into tiny cubes. Save water from pickles. Fry bacon. Peal potatoes, slice into pieces the size of little finger. Mix pickles into potatoes. Add one-half jar of pickle water. Add one-third of the bacon fat. Taste and add fat and pickle water until it tastes good. Chop apple and add to potatoes. Serve hot or cold.

Our German potato salad

We didn't have the right pickles to make Aunt Imme's German potato salad so we came up with this version, which we had all the ingredients for.

It was great! We used sausage instead of the usual bacon (cause that's what we had on hand). It would have been great with bacon too (duh). Would also be nice served with fresh parsley. We served it with fresh lettuce - a great warm weather meal! I'm sure it would be possible to do a veggie version too - with no meat, just cooking the onions in oil.

[The toddler ate some plain sausage, boiled potatoes with butter, and as much chopped up pickle as we would allow her.]

1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp oil
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
About 1 lb potatoes
2 small sweet and sour pickles
3 small, organic gluten-free pork sausages
About 1/2 a head of lettuce

Boil potatoes until soft. Set aside. Cook sausages on medium heat in a cast-iron skillet, turning frequently until they're firm and cooked through. Remove sausages from pan. Keep on medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to pan and scrape like a madman to remove all the tasty sausage goodness. Add oil and onions to pan. Saute until onions are soft. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Cut potatoes into chunks and put in bowl. Add dressing from skillet to potatoes. Chop up sausages and add to potatoes. Mix well. Season to taste. Wash lettuce, rip it up and dress it with some olive oil. Place lettuce on plate, then scoop some potato salad over it.

Tuna casserole

We thought we had absolutely nothing to eat in the house - and then we realised we had the ingredients for tuna casserole. Not exactly the most sophisticated dish but this is a tasty version - with, notably, no canned cream of mushroom soup (which about 99.9 per cent of the recipes we found online called for).

The toddler was a bit suspicious of it but in the end ate several pieces of fusilli and a couple handfuls of the meat and sauce, once we separated them for her.

If you don't have kids, add some dry white wine or sherry in the sauce and double or triple the garlic. Next time we'll try putting bread crumbs on top, under the grated cheese.

1 pound fusilli

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
300 g tinned tuna
1 cup frozen peas

6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/4 pound grated cheddar cheese

Cheddar
Parmesan

Melt the butter, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the 6 cups milk on low to medium heat, stirring constantly. You'll end up with a nice, thick sauce. Add the grated cheese and stir until it's melted in, then remove from the heat.

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add the mushrooms. Add the tuna. Add the sauce. Add the fusilli. Add the peas. Put the resulting mix in a buttered baking pan and grate some cheddar and parmesan over the top. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.

Pork and veggie stew

I was totally winging it with this one and it came out very tasty!

I wanted to stew some meat because it makes for great family meals - very easy to eat for the family member who still doesn't have all her teeth. The rest was just a mix of what I remember from making other stews and Marcella Hazan tomato sauces (ie, LOTS of olive oil!).

We ate it with pasta but it could also have been served over rice, with potatoes - or even with potatoes cooked in it.

2T veg oil
800g pork

1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
1/2 courgette, sliced thin
About 1/4-1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 head garlic, chopped
2 splashes dry sherry
1 tsp oregano
1 enormous bay leaf
3 400ml/14 ox tins tomato
250ml/1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp flour
(Would have added dried basil if I'd had it. Instead, chopped up some fresh basil and cilantro and used that as a garnish before serving)

Heat veg oil in Dutch oven until very hot. Add cubed meat and brown on all sides. Set aside.

Add olive oil to Dutch oven. Add onion and carrot and saute for a few minutes. Add courgette, mushroom and garlic and cook until veg starts to get soft. Add spices, stir. Add sherry, scraping bottom of pan to remove tasty meat bits. Add tomato and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, put the top and let it cook for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.

When the meat is very soft, remove the lid. Remove about a cup of liquid, and disolve flour in it. Then return flour/broth mixture to the soup. Stir and let cook for a few minutes with the top off, to thicken broth. Season with salt and pepper.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

This was great. Super writing - quiet, reserved, very Scandinavian. Made me want to visit Norway - those cold, running rivers, those thick forests. Left so many things unanswered at the end, but nicely.

Darwin's Origin of Species by Janet Browne

This is a brief biography of Darwin's Origin of Species - its significance within Victorian England, how it came about, who Darwin was and the ramifications his work has had up to present day. Great for someone who's forgotten most of what she learned about this in university.

What really got me was not the evolutionary science - though highly relevant politically today, the science of it is pretty much taken for granted - but the story of how great works happen.

Darwin was mostly unaware of the significance of what he was writing.

Many friends/colleagues helped him develop his ideas, gave encouragement etc - and especially gave council around when he had to publish. It was not created in isolation.

Then there's the reminder that the current reaction to a work has little relevance to its long-term significance (though 'Origin of Species' made a splash, it was not nearly as popular as some other, now unknown writings on evolution at the time - and then there's Mendel, who is mentioned in the book, whose work was only used much later).

Paprika/chili chicken

Paprika chicken is a longtime favourite in our home. It's a tasty, quick, warm meal when you don't have a ton of ingredients on hand. This recipe is based on a dish I saw on Food TV ages ago.

Just today I made the mistake of putting in chili powder instead of paprika - and it was yummy - so now thanks to this happy mistake it's also our chili chicken recipe.

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1-6 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how garlicy you want it)
2 Tbsp paprika or chili powder
1 28oz/800ml tin of chopped tomato
4 chicken breasts, thighs or legs, skin on and bone in
1/2 cup broth or water
1 1/2 tsp flour
2-3 Tbsp yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper

In large frying pan with lid, saute onion in oil at medium heat until tender. Add garlic and saute a minute or two. Add paprika/chili powder and stir for one minute. Add tomato and broth/water and bring to a simmer. Add chicken, meat side down, and return to simmer. The meat should be fully submerged in the sauce. Cover and cook for 10 mins. Remove cover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked.

Remove chicken from sauce and take off the skins (they are not nice to eat when boiled, but cooking the chicken with skin on keeps the meat moist).

Mix flour and water in a small bowl, then add to the tomato sauce. Cook for a few minutes, until sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Add the yogurt/sour cream/creme fraiche and stir.

Return chicken to sauce to warm it up a bit. Serve over rice or pasta with an extra dollop of yogurt/sour cream/creme fraiche, and fresh chopped parsley.

Loving by Henry Green

Read this for the great dialogue - as recommended by 'Reading Like a Writer' - and was not disappointed. Lovely storytelling, unconventional ending and nice to read something older and so not so cinematic in its scope.

Root veg soup

In the quest to consume root veg, I tried this soup recipe and was pleased by the results.

I added more ginger and garlic than it called for, and it could have had even more. But it was nice, especially with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

1 tablespoon oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 lbs root veg, chopped (I used 1 lb beets, 1/2 lb carrots, 1/2 lb swede)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups stock (I used chicken)
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
About 1 teaspoon salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
Sour cream or yogurt

In large soup pot, heat the oil. Saute the onion until it is translucent. Add the carrots, ginger, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add beets and other root veg and water or stock. Simmer the soup, covered, for 50 minutes. Add orange rind, and stir well.

Puree the soup in batches (I used blender). Then season with salt and pepper. Garnish with dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

Korma curry recipes

Wild Boar Korma Curry

Notes: This was good but next time, more fresh garlic and ginger. The paste isn't that zesty. And add chilis or chili sauce at the table (didn't add chilis because sharing with toddler).

2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbsp korma paste
1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c milk
1/4 c water
400 g wild boar
4 dried apricots, chopped
1 cup peas
About half a ripe mango, chopped.

Saute onion and mushroom in oil until soft. Add korma paste and cook for 1 minute. Add milk, yogurt and water. Add boar and apricots. Bring to simmer, cover and cook about 1 to 1.5 hours, until boar is soft. Mix in peas and mango. Cook about 5 minutes until peas are done. Serve with rice or noodles.


--

15/2/10: Finally got this right! Yummy Fish Korma Curry.

1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
3 Tbsp korma paste
3 mushroom, sliced
1 tin coconut milk
1/4 c plain yogurt
One large fillet pollock, cut into large chunks (10-12 ounces)
1/2 cup fresh mango, diced
1 cup frozen peas

Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion for a few minutes, until soft. Add garlic, ginger and mushrooms, and cook for a minute or two. Add the curry paste and cook 1 minute, then stir in the coconut milk and yogurt. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer. Add the fish and mango. Return to simmer, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until fish is nearly done. Add frozen peas. Cook 5 minutes until peas and fish are cooked. Serve with steamed rice and hot mango pickle.

---

Did this with lamb too and it was good...

1 onion, chopped
2Tbsp oil
3Tbsp korma paste
400 ml coconut milk
4 dried apricots, chopped
600g lamb, chopped
1 cup frozen peas


----

This is based on a kids' food recipe from Annabel Karmel - but while the baby didn't go for it, the adults did. And it was super easy. So I got thinking about how to make it more adult-friendly.

Next time: Add ginger and garlic after sauteing onion. Use more korma paste and fewer apricots. Perhaps add a fresh chili.

This is what I made which was tasty but a little sweet and bland:

2 Tbsp oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp korma paste
800ml/28 oz coconut milk (2 tins)
200g dried apricots, cut into strips
4 boneless skinless chicken things, cut into cubes
1 cup frozen green peas

Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion for a few minutes, until soft. Add the curry paste and cook 1 minute, then stir in the coconut milk and apricots. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until the apricots start to soften. Add the chicken, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the frozen peas. Cook another 10 minutes or so until the chicken and apricots are both tender and the peas are cooked. Add a tablespoon of water if the sauce becomes too thick. Serve with steamed rice.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Only cracked the cover on this one because the book club is reading it (despite my protests). Just managed to get through the intro without exploding with hatred at the shallowness. Then tried to push through the first section (so I'd have something to say at the club) but got so bored at her talking about finding an apartment, eating, making cool arty friends, I had to put it down. It makes me angry just writing this blurb, just thinking about the book. Blech.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Finally finished this a couple weeks ago. Got distracted by many things, and then lost the book. It was great. Perfect example of the book that would be hard to 'pitch' or workshop but is oh so worthwhile. Melds the everyday world with an extraordinary one effortlessly - and without unnecessary explanation. You are led and you follow.

Asian-ish salmon salad

This was the result of banging together what we happened to have in the fridge, rather than buying ingredients on purpose. The result was quite tasty.

Notes: It was a little light on sauce, and the sauce might have been better with some lime juice. Also next time, dress the lettuce lightly too.

400g grilled salmon, flaked
2 small carrots, grated
4 scallions, chopped
Fresh basil and mint, chopped
About 1/4 mango, in small cubes
1 head of lettuce

sauce:
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 chili, minced

Thai jasmine rice

Mix the salad ingredients together. Mix the sauce ingredients together. Then mix the sauce with the salad. Make a bed of lettuce on a plate, put the hot rice on top, then put the salad on top of the rice.

Beef enchiladas

We finally broke down and made Mexican food at home. Our nice Aunt Sarah had sent us some enchilada sauce (tasty - thanks!) so all we had to do was make tortillas and the filling.

Result: Very tasty! Need to work on making tortillas softer. It could also have been spicier (maybe add more chili to beef?). If we get this recipe down, we're really never returning to the States!

The tortillas:

If you live in the sort of glorious locale where good tortillas (i.e. no additives and very tasty) are available at the store, by all means skip this step and just buy a pack.

250g plain white flour
150ml water
5g (about 1 tsp) salt

Knead ingredients together until smooth. Let sit for about 30 mins. Divide into eight. Roll each portion into a ball. Roll until 2-3mm thick. Place frying pan on medium height. Cook for about 1 minute on each side. Wrap in tea towel to steam. [Note: Mine were a little tough. Not sure if they were too thick, or needed to be kneaded more/less. Will investigate purchase of tortilla press.]

The filling:

1 3/4 lb ground beef
2 small onions, diced
Half a head of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 cup enchilada sauce
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil in a large frying pan. Add the beef and spices and saute until browned. Add the enchilada sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.

The assembly:

3 cups enchilada sauce
8 tortillas
1 1/2 cups grated cheese, we used a mild cheddar

Put a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a baking pan. Using a plate with raised sides, place some enchilada sauce on the plate then put a tortilla in, flipping it to cover both sides lightly in sauce. Distribute the meat and 1 cup of cheese amongst the tortillas, folding them and placing them seam down in the baking pan. Once they're all in the pan, cover them with the remaining enchilada sauce, then cover them with the remaining cheese. Bake the result at 200C/400F until the cheese is bubbly and maybe a little crispy, about 20 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole and chopped green onions.

Yam neua yaang (Thai beef salad)

A friend sent us this recipe, and it was fantastic.

400g beef sirloin, lightly grilled and thinly sliced
200g cucumber, peeled and shredded
50g onion, sliced thin
Fresh herbs, chopped
Whole lettuce

2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1 hot chili, minced
1 clove garlic, minced

We can't grill in our flat, so we pan fried the steak the way Best Recipe recommended: heat an iron skillet for 10 minutes, add a little oil, salt and pepper the steak, and cook it for 5 minutes on the first side, 3 minutes on the second. This was supposed to give us rare steak, but I would call the result medium or medium-well. Still tasty, but next time I'll cook it less.

We used coriander (cilantro), mint and basil for the herbs, because we happened to have all three. Any nice collection of fresh herbs will likely do nicely.

Mix the sauce ingredients vigourously. Mix everything else besides the lettuce. Add the sauce. Serve over the lettuce. Simple and delicious.

Seared tuna

This is basically a Jamie Oliver recipe, from his first cookbook, "The Naked Chef" - long before he was so terribly overexposed. I didn't have the coriander seeds he called for and I used a lot more garlic. Also I used fresh chili not dried.

It was tasty!

Next time: See if I can create a crispier crust by heating up the pan more.

1 clove garlic
1/4 fresh red chili
3-4 large fresh basil leaves
small handful fresh cilantro
juice of 1/4 lemon
salt and pepper
8 oz tuna steak

Chop up the first four ingredients until they're very fine (or mash them in a mortar and pestle). Add the lemon, mix, then season to taste.

Heat up an iron skillet or grill pan until it's very, very hot. Put in just a bit of oil and spread it thin. Heat more.

Spread the herbs and spices on both sides of the tuna steak. Throw the fish into the hot pan. Cook one minute on each side. Remove from pan, slice into thin pieces.

We served it over leek/tomato fried rice, and with a side of creamed spinach.

Chinese steamed chicken

Tender, delicious and remarkably easy to make.

4 chicken thighs
1 1/2 tbsp sake
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1" fresh ginger, minced
1 chili, seeded and minced

Combine everything but the chicken in a bowl and mix. Place each thigh on a piece of aluminum foil with 1/4 of the sauce, wrapping it tightly. Steam in a bamboo steamer for 45 minutes.

We had this with leek fried rice. It was delicious. Next time, I'll make more sauce per piece of chicken, and, as usual, it could be spicier. Even SMCC said it could be spicier.

Pork katsu with cabbage

The chicken katsu was so good, we decided to try pork katsu.

4 thin pork shoulder steaks, about 500g total
Everything else the same as the chicken katsu

I trimmed the fat from the pork steaks and whacked them thin with the flat of a big knife. The pork was perfect at 4 minutes a side. We doubled the hot chilis in the tonkatsu sauce, and SMCC thought it was spicy enough, but I could have had it much spicier.

We did red cabbage as a side dish. We sliced a whole cabbage thin, steamed it until it was soft, tossed it in a little toasted sesame oil and served it with a little light soy sauce. Quite nice.

Hot toddy

Being sick is a great excuse to booze up.

1 1/2 oz Jameson's
3/4 oz lemon juice
4 oz boiling water
Cinnamon
Ground cloves
Grated ginger
Cayenne pepper
Honey

Smooth.

Chicken katsu

Tokyo diner food, at home.

katsu:
2 chicken fillets
1 egg
flour
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 slice white bread

sauce:
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2" fresh ginger, minced
1/4 tsp dry red pepper flakes

Start by making panko bread crumbs (panko is a japanese brand for white bread crumbs). Don't buy them, they're pointlessly expensive. Whiz the bread in a food processor until it's small crumbs, then bake in a dish at 150C for about 10 minutes.

Beat the egg. Roll the chicken fillets in flour, coat them in egg, then press them into the bread crumbs until they're covered all over. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side at medium heat. I used high heat and they were done on the outside before the inside; we rescued them by baking at 150C for 10 minutes (which worked fine).

Meanwhile, make a tonkatsu sauce, which is a hilarious mixture of ingredients but tasty. Slap all the ingredients into a pan, cook at medium heat, stirring constantly until it suddenly transforms from an odd goo into a nice sauce. It could have been a bit spicier; might try doubling the red pepper flakes next time.

Serve with steamed rice and a veg side dish.

Coffee cake

SWC wanted coffee cake for his birthday so I cracked open the wonderful, 'Classic Home Desserts' by Richard Sax cookbook and made the Quintessential Coffee Cake.

It's not what I think of as coffee cake - I think of a white, fluffy, moist cake with thick brown streusel on top. This cake was made with brown sugar so was more molasses-y. And I messed up the streusel by putting the sugar-butter-flour mixture in the food processor, so when I put it on the cake, instead of nice little buttery-sugary chunks, it was like dusting the cake with flour. Yuck! I saved it by applying copious quantities of butter and sugar to the top of the cake about 5 mins before it was done baking.

So the result was nice. A very moist, soft cake. The topping was crunchy and sweet enough, with no flour chunks - a decent save.

But next time: do the butter cutting with knives and make sure the streusel is chunky before applying to cake. Also may want to investigate other coffee cake recipes in order to achieve My Perfect Coffee Cake. Or maybe just try this recipe with white sugar, not brown?

3/4 cup butter, unsalted
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt thinned with milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F/180C (160C fan). Butter a 13-by-9-inch dish or two 8-inch squares.Cut butter into brown sugar and flour with pastry blender or knives until crumbly. Save 1 cup for topping.

Beat baking soda into buttermilk. Add to dry ingredients. Add egg, vanilla and salt and stir until smooth. Scrape batter into pan, smooth on top. Sprinkle crumbs over the top.

Bake until golden brown, about 30 mins. Cool on wire rack. Cut and serve.

Beef stew with parsnips and carrots

This was an attempt to cook all of the parsnips and carrots we've been hoarding from our veg box - we had nearly three weeks' worth on hand! On that count, it succeeded. On the tasty count, it was pretty good. The gravy/broth was nice but there wasn't enough of it. And it was a little too sweet for my tastebuds.

So... next time add more water as it cooks. And use fewer parsnips and carrots, and instead add some potatoes, and some frozen peas at the end for greenness. Might try substituting beer for wine to make it less sweet. As for all those parsnips and carrots, next time they stack up, try to make a dedicated soup for them which can handle their sweetness (I'm imagining ginger and curry spices will be needed).

Also: The meat was good but I'm not convinced we need to dust it with flour before cooking - doing away with that step might make this recipe even easier.

All our parsnips
All our carrots
4 small onions, quartered
650g stew beef
Olive oil
Butter
Thyme
Oregano
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 bottle red wine
500 ml beef stock
1 can tomatoes

Preheat oven to 160C. Sautee the onions in the olive oil and butter with the thyme and oregano. Dust the meat with the flour and add it, browning only very briefly. Add the parsnips, carrots, bay leaves, tomatoes, red wine and stock. Cook in the oven for 2 hours.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

Just finished this last night. Still ruminating on it. It had a sympathetic narrator, a strong first-person voice, some good storytelling. I was heartbroken by the unfairness to the main character, and liked how the way it was told - with two competing explanations for past events - made me think about the validity of memories.

I was slow to invest, though the writing at the beginning was sharp, but by halfway through I was caught up. Then - the ending. Too much clean wrapping up of the mysteries the story held. A coincidence which seems more and more lame the longer I think about it. I was hoping for some solid hints at what *really* happened but more of it left open and unclear. I have this suspicion that an editor asked for more to be resolved at the end, or the author wasn't sure how to accomplish a more mysterious ending. I dunno. Still thinking about it, eager for the book group discussion next week.

Sausage stir fry

Another variation on the simple Thai-esque stir fry.

1 lb sausages
2 eggs
2 large leeks
2 tomatoes, cut in 8 wedges each
2" fresh garlic, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 chili pepper, sliced thin
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Prepare the sauce in a bowl by mixing together the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and sesame oil.

Cut the sausages into pieces such that each piece is about as long as it is wide. Any sort of nice sausage will do; I've used sweet chili pork, Cumberland, venison, anything good. Heat the oil in a wok and add the sausage. Stir occasionally, cook until the sausage is firm and brown on all sides.

Beat the 2 eggs with a little water in a bowl, as if you were making an omelette. Move the sausage all to one side of the wok and pour the egg mixture in. Move the sausage into the egg mixture and let it cook until the egg starts to firm, then stir. The result should be egg-coated sausage bits.

Remove the sausage and egg, leaving as much oil behind as possible. You may need to add a little extra oil. Add the garlic, ginger and chili and stir fry for about a minute, then add the leeks. Stir fry until soft. Turn off the heat, return the sausage and egg to the wok, add the tomato, and pour the sauce over everything. Stir until nicely mixed.

Serve over rice or noodles.

Sliced duck with mushrooms and leeks over crispy noodles

4 duck breast fillets
2 leeks
1/2 lb mushrooms (we used chestnut mushrooms)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2" piece of fresh ginger, minced
Thin Chinese egg noodles

Put 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok, and heat it until it's nearly smoking. Add the garlic and ginger, and stir fry for about one minute. Add the mushrooms and stir fry until soft. Add the leeks and continue to stir fry until they're wilted and soft. Store the result in a convenient bowl.

Score the skin of the duck breasts with a sharp knife, taking care not to cut the meat underneath, but cutting all the way through the skin. Score the entire breast, with lines about 1/2" apart. Salt and pepper the duck, using a bit more salt than you think, and rub the result into the skin. Heat a skillet until it's very hot (normally we would use an iron skillet, but we used an All Clad instead because we needed the extra space, and it worked fine - we added a drizzle of vegetable oil to the All Clad, which we wouldn't have done in the iron skillet). Place the duck skin side down, and fry for about 12 minutes. All of the fat should render out from under the skin, and the skin should be extremely crispy. Turn and fry for another 6 minutes, then remove and let stand for about 5 minutes.

Prepare the Chinese egg noodles however the package directs. Usually this involves boiling them for about 3-5 minutes. It's easiest to separate them with chopsticks after putting them in the water, and always rinse them thoroughly with cold water when they're done to prevent them from cooking any further in their own heat and becoming mushy.

To make the crispy noodles: Put 4 tbsp oil in the wok and heat it until it's nearly smoking. Add the noodles, and spread them out into a disk about 1" thick. If you have more noodles than will fit, do them in batches - if the noodles are too thick in the wok, they don't come out right. Fry them for 3 minutes, then flip the pancake-esque result and fry them for another 3 minutes on the other side. The resulting crispy noodle disc should slide easily out of the wok (unlike the flipping part, which is always a bit tricky).

Serve a portion of crispy noodle covered in leeks and mushrooms, with sliced duck breast arranged in a line on top. Hoi sin sauce goes nicely with the duck, but I just slather mine with sriracha.

Little Women

Just finishing up Little Women. Got this at the library because I'd somehow never read it and was looking for something light and fun for the trip to the States. Must have forgotten I was travelling with a toddler and thus didn't crack the book the whole time I was away.

Cute and classic - very readable for something written in the 1860's. Quite moralistic but that's par for the course for girls' stories esp of that era. Didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Wasn't swept away by the characters and story.

For a girls' classic my money is on 'Anne of Green Gables'.

Christmas meatballs

In a quest to add Even More Meat to an already delightful spread on Christmas Eve, I made a triple portion of these meatballs using a mix of the Cook's Illustrated recipe and the Marcella Hazan recipe. The real key to these is to get your 13-year-old niece to do all the work. Don't use veal, as it's too bland.

2 slices decent white bread (we used Pepperidge Farms potato bread)
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 lb ground beef
1/4 lb ground pork
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (we used Asiago because it was purchased by accident, worked fine)
2 Tbsp minced parsley
1 Tbsp minced onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
ground nutmeg
ground black pepper

Tear up the bread and combine it with the buttermilk in a large bowl. Mash it with a fork until it's a fairly even paste. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl and mix with a fork at first, and then with your hands, until evenly combined. Use a light touch, as too much pressure will create hockey pucks instead of meatballs.

Shape the meatballs from the mix, using roughly 3 Tbsp of mix for a 1 1/2-inch meatball. Too small and they will be crunchy all the way through; too large and they will be gooey on the inside. Handle them too much at this stage, and you will again get hockey pucks.

Fry the meatballs in a skillet in about a 1/4 inch of nearly smoking hot vegetable oil, leaving space between the meatballs. Turn regularly to get them brown and crunchy on all sides. It takes about 6 minutes per batch.