Dinner, 19/1/15: Leek, Potato and Rocket Soup

Modified a little - I added the rest of the bag of rocket to the soup while cooking, so it was more rockety. And increased the quantities a bit. We had bread as well, of course...

Dinner, 18/1/15: Macaroni Cheese & Salad

After a long day out up in town, we wanted something easy and tasty - mac and cheese it is!  And I made loads, so there should be some leftovers for lunch for at least one day - maybe two or three...

A Day in London with some friends

Dinner, 16/1/15: Baked Country Chicken, potatoes, courgettes

This was a nice, Indian flavoured chicken, though I'm not sure it was substantially better enough than regular baked chicken to make it worth the effort of making a marinade and remembering to use it the night before.

Dinner, 14/1/15: Sausage and Lentil Traybake

A very easy midweek supper - using the tinned lentils made it very quick and straightforward. I had some merguez sausages in the freezer from the farmers' market, so I used those. We had this with baguette and the only thing I would change is having more baguette so we could put more of the sausages in baguettes. Maybe serve with a green salad as well, just so there was a little more veg.

Dinner, 13/1/15: Broccoli pasta with parma ham breadcrumbs

This was a nice, easy pasta dish, a little different from some of the ones we have regularly. It might go in the rotation!

Book 5: The Long Way Home, Louise Penny

This is the latest (both to me, and unfortunately, that has been written) in the Gamache series - and while it lacks the intensity of suspense of the previous one (which had been building up for a number of books in several areas), it was still a compelling story with a clever and unexpected resolution. And frankly, I wouldn't have wanted another one as intense as How the Light Gets In, anyway!  I've really been enjoying this series a lot - a visitor left one of the books with me (A Trick of the Light - I think  number 7 in the series) when she came to lunch as she knew I read some crime fiction, and as I really enjoyed it, I went back and followed the series from the beginning. They are very well written, particularly becoming tightly-woven and polished after the first few (which are still good, don't get me wrong) and I enjoy not only the characters, but the settings, most of which are quite foreign to me. This one is a bit more personal than police, but that's ok too - it works, and works well. It will be interesting to see where she goes from here!

Dinner, 12/1/5: Roasted Parsnip and Parmesan Soup

Using pre-roasted parsnips from the other night, so it was very quick and easy. And made parmesan biscuits to go along with it (yes, I cut them with the snowman cutter instead of the usual circle - so?)

Dinner, 11/1/15: Beef and Aubergine Tagine

This is a slow-cooker recipe, which we've had before, though not recently. I like to do a slow-cooker meal on Sundays when I can, as it gives the illusion that the weekend lasts longer, as I don't have to use the bulk of the end of my weekend in the kitchen cooking. We take what we can get!  Last time we made this, I had noted that we thought it would benefit from some veg thrown in a bit later for more texture, so I used one small aubergine to start and added a second about halfway through the cooking time. Which was nice - the aubergine was still soft, but there were some identifiable chunks there, much to the disgust of my children. There was also a note that we'd like more lemon - I didn't add more lemons as I only had a partial jar, so I just used what I had.   From the Cookbook I (heart) my slow-cooker, by Beverly LeBlanc.

Book 4: The Seas, Samantha Hunt

This was a short, bleak, poetic novel, dreamlike in many aspects, but also compelling. The story of a 19 year old girl living in a an unspecified small, cold, dreary, alcoholic, northern (American) place, with a mother but no father (him having walked into the sea when she was a young girl). The unnamed protagonist is in love with an older man, himself haunted by his experiences in Iraq. I constantly found myself unsure which aspects of the story were real and which were in her head - or rather, I should say, which were "actually happening" rather than "real", as I am reminded of a great line from Harry Potter - "Of course it's happening inside your head,  Harry, but why should that mean it's not real?".  Something completely different from the last - and from the next, as I have collected my latest (and indeed, the latest written) Louise Penny from the library today, so it's back to crime fiction for another book or two!

Dinner, 10/1/15: Roast Duck with Roast Potatoes & Parmesan Parsnips

The duck was on sale on Ocado (online supermarket) - about half price, I think - so it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. And with the parsnips also on sale (buy one bag get one free) it seemed sensible to buy them, roast them all, and put aside some of them to make roast parsnip soup later in the week - a nice quick weeknight supper that way. 

Dinner, 9/1/15: Sausage, Oven Potatoes, Green Beans

Sausages from the Farmers' Market - mmm.

Book 3: Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch

This is the latest (fifth, I think) in a series about the side of the London police force which deals with all things strange and magical, including (but not limited to) demons, faeries, revenants, genius loci (gods/goddesses of places), magicians, ghosts, and so forth. It's written with humour and plotted cleverly, and both Geoff and I enjoy them very much. This one was a bit of a departure in not being set in London, but there are reasons why that worked very well. It's a good series if you like police procedurals with a heck of a lot of weird stuff thrown in (but thrown in well & thoroughly dealt with). But read them in order - in particular, reading the first one (Rivers of London) first is a must.

Dinner, 7/1/15: Courgette, Spinach & Pesto Tart

Another tart, though this one very different, as it had puff pastry as a base. It was basically an exercise in using things up, inspired by a friend who consulted me for a similar using-up exercise (though her tart ended up very different). This was just a sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry from the freezer, with some leftover vegetarian pesto from the half-jar in the fridge (of which there are still a few tablespoons to use - it was a large jar), some bits of courgette from both my own and my neighbour's fridge (we are cat-sitting and house-minding, and got gifted all the perishables left when they went away), a half-bag of spinach (wilted and squeezed out) left from the girls making healthy smoothies with their new smoothie making thingy they got for Christmas*, and three different ends of cheese (again from both our house and our neighbours). It was excellent.

*The girls have been experimenting with lots of types of smoothies - the most popular tend to involve frozen fruit and juice or coconut water (also the easiest/quickest to make) but the spinach one - on a green theme, featuring also cucumber, green grapes, mint and a bunch of other stuff was actually the best tasting one yet...

Dinner, 5/1/15: Chili Chicken, Stir-Fried Oriental Vegetables

No recipe for the vegetables - just some mix oriental veg, stir fried, with soy sauce on at the end. The chicken was from this recipe (although I threw in another chili as I had three) and was really tasty - quite spicy, but that's good for us - and the vegetables weren't spicy, so it was a nice balance.

Book 2: Arabella, Georgette Heyer (re-read)

I've been a fan of Georgette Heyer for a long time, and have read (and re-read) many of her books, though I'm sure not quite all of them - she was very prolific. She is a clever plotter of historical romances, and the characters - and her observations about them - often remind one strongly of Jane Austen; the main difference of course being that Austen was observing her contemporaries. Frequently when I feel a bit lazy in my reading - not adventurous to try something of unknown quantity, or - as in the case this week - when I am looking for a quick read that I can put down if need be - I turn to Heyer. I also love these new, larger format paperbacks and try to pick them up whenever I see them in charity shops, etc - much easier and more pleasant to read than old, small, yellowed paperbacks!

However, Arabella is happily settled with her gentleman and my own husband has finished reading the book we ordered from the library to both read, so it's on to something completely different...

Dinner, 4/1/15: Potato, Taleggio & Spinach Tart

Technically, this was a potato, reblochon & spinach tart, as Sainsbury's had no taleggio yesterday. But who's counting!  We've had this before, with various cheeses. and always enjoy it. The crust, because it's a bread crust rather than pizza, makes it very filling (tonight I made the dough for the crust in the bread machine - and remembered to start it early enough to give it the long dough cycle, rather than the quick pizza dough one), so it goes a lot further than you might think.   Another recipe from Good Food magazine - it can be found online here. 

Dinner, 3/1/15: Golden Veggie Shepherd's Pie

Another dish we've had before a number of times - it's our favourite of the various non-meat shepherd pies we've tried - just has a really nice, deep flavour. Usually I just make a partial version of the recipe, as it makes enough for two pies (the second a bit smaller than this one). But this time, I forgot to cut back until I had started cooking, which is fine - just means we'll be eating this a second time in the week - makes a nice, no effort weekday supper anyway, so it's not a problem.  This time I chopped the mushrooms really fine as well, as I always get loads of complaints from 2 out of 3 kids about the mushrooms (or, more accurately, 2 out of 3 don't much like them - only one complains like the world is going to end). This is a recipe from Good Food Magazine, and you can find it on their website, here. 

Long-tailed tits

....are a pain to take a photo of, as they are very ephemeral on the feeder - really like to flit and fly. But here they are, holding still for just about long enough to snap a picture...and then they were off again!

Book 1: Watership Down, Richard Adams (re-read)

This book was mostly read in 2014, as it has been my bed-time book  with Alex - we finished it up tonight after the panto. It's actually the second time I've read it aloud (I read it to the girls many years ago) - I've read it a number of times, not sure how many but quite a few, and it's always a firm favourite - and it always gets me. No matter how many times I read it, I'm still tense, wondering if the rabbits will succeed in their endeavours (no spoilers!) and if the plans will come together this time. That's the sign of a great story, I think - that it can do that even when you actually know how the story will come out. It was Alex's first time, though, so he got to encounter all the great characters for the first time; Hazel, Fiver, BigWig, Keehar, General Woundwort and so on.  And the older I get, the more I enjoy the stories and fables the rabbits themselves tell. I keep meaning to get a really good grip on where Watership Down is, so I can make sure we drive past it some time if we are ever in the area, but never quite get around to it!

Dinner 2/1/15: Vegan Lancashire Hotpot

This is a meal we've had many times before - it's a favourite from the Simon Rimmer cookbook "The Seasoned Vegetarian". I've cooked a number of things from that cookbook, and I think we've enjoyed all of them, but this is certainly our favourite. It just tastes really rich and glorious. I often add mushrooms as well. 

The recipe can be found online here, if you want to give it a try - even confirmed meat-eaters will enjoy this, I promise!

Book Plan for 2015

While I AM the type of person to obsessively make lists about things, I don't usually plan out what books I am going to read in the coming year - and I still don't intend to do that. What I do intend to do, though, is try to read as many of the books which I own, which are on my unread/to be read shelf as I can, and (here's the really tricky part) not buy any more books, even in charity shops.  I'm not really sure I can actually do that, so I'm going to allow myself a couple of freebies - unplanned ones. But I'm going to try hard.  I will, however, allow myself to take some books from the library - I have a couple of series which I am looking forward to finishing this year, and there are two or three books on my list of things I'd really like to read which I will either order from the library or ask for, for Mother's Day or Birthday presents.

The picture above of course isn't a prediction of which ones I will choose for my favourites of 2015 (though I wouldn't be surprised if some of them appear on it), but I wanted something visual in the post, to keep it from being boring. Most of the titles used in the collage are either ones I've read before or books by authors I've read other books by. But not all of them.

To help myself out with this monumental reading task, I'm going to make a list of all the books which are on my shelf and then I can cross them through when I either read them, start to read them, decide I don't like them and send them to the charity shop, or decide I'm never going to read them and send them away unread (this probably won't happen with many, as I have winnowed this selection down quite a bit already).

In the past, I've done a monthly review of books read (not all the time, but often) - I'm not going to do that in 2015, as it frequently becomes this hideous task looming over me and I have to work up a lot of effort to do it - or at least, it feels that way - instead, I'm just going to do a little mini blurb about each book as I read them - far more easy (I hope) to keep up with...

Anyway. To kick that off, here's the list of books I have waiting around to read - some of these are books by authors I've read and enjoyed before, some are books I've always meant to read but haven't got around to, some are books that looked interesting in the bookshop/charity shop/whatever, a few might even be gifts I've received which I haven't got to yet. And one or two are books I've read a long time ago and want to read again. I think there are about fifty of them, but I haven't counted (though I will once the list is made!) Most of these, I don't know how long I've had them, though a few I can date - and then feel guilty about not having read yet!

1. Karin Altenberg, Island of Wings
2. James Anderson, The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy
3. Gerhand Bakker, The Twin
4. The Small Hours, Susie Boyt
5. Bill Bryson, One Summer: America 1927
6. Michael Collins, The Resurrectionists
7. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (this one would be a re-read)
8. Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
9. Jim Crace, Harvest
10. Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues
11. Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
12. Jim Fergus, One Thousand White Women (Summer 2013)
13. Anne Fine, All Bones and Lies
14. Ford Maddox Ford, Parade's End (Nov 2012 - birthday present - bought after the BBC adaptation - but I knew I wouldn't read it straight away as I wanted to let time pass from the adaptation.  Enough time has probably passed now...)
15. E M Forster, Howards End
16. Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Christmas 2014)
17. Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career
18. Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling
19. Patrick Gale, Rough Music
20. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (re-read, bought shortly after his death - spring 2014 - as I was reminded how much I enjoyed it)
21. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
22. Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
23. Rumer Godden, Kingfishers Catch Fire
24. Laurie Graham, A Humble Companion
25. Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
26. Nicholas Griffin, The House of Sight and Shadow
27. Jane Haddam, Glass Houses
28. Laurell K Hamilton, Bloody Bones
29. Samantha Hunt, The Seas
30. Jennifer Johnston, Foolish Mortals (Autumn 2014 - charity shop find)
31. Anjali Joseph, Sarasawati Park
32. Jim Lynch, The Highest Tide
33. W Somerset Maugham, The Magician
34. Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs
35. Kate Morton, The Distant Hours
36. Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
37. Kate O'Brien, The Land of Spices
38. Regina O'Melveny, The Book of Madness and Cures
39. Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table
40. Anuradha Roy, An Atlas of Impossible Longing (Winter 2013, bought in a cheap shop in Oxford)
41. Kathy Reichs, Spider Bones
42. Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Watcher in the Shadows (Christmas 2014)
43. Richard Russo, Straight Man
44. Simon Sebag Montefiore, One Night in Winter
45. Muriel Spark, Memento Mori
46. Mark Slouka, The Visible World
47. Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Summer 2013 - a re-read, as I read it when a teen)
48. Magda Szabo, The Door
49. Amy Tan, The Valley of Amazement
50. Scarlett Thomas, Pop Co
51. Barbara Trapido, Frankie and Stankie
52. Rose Tremaine, Merivel
53. Rose Tremaine, Music & Silence
54. Barry Unsworth, Losing Nelson
55. Barry Unsworth, The Ruby in her Navel
56. Ayelet Waldman, Love and Treasure (new in December 2014)
57. December, Elizabeth Winthrop

So there they are - 57 books I own which I want to get through before buying (many) more books. I know there are a few I will borrow from the library during 2015 - one, indeed, is already reserved, though Geoff will read it first (Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch - the latest in a series we both like) - I will finish off the Southern Vampire mysteries by Charlaine Harris, there's one more Louise Penny I haven't read, I want to read The Miniaturist, there's a new Marilynne Robinson out...  Life needs to be more full of free time, so I can read more!  Still - I read around 100 books in 2013 and quite a few in 2014, so 57 in 2015 shouldn't be impossible, even with a few sidesteps.  Wish me luck!