Dinner, 10/2/19: Slow-cooked lamb shanks with rosemary and garlic

This is an excellent way to cook lamb, but gave us way too many leftovers. With three of us, we didn't really need 4 lamb shanks, but unfortunately, they only come in twos. Don't get me wrong, we'll eat the leftovers, but it will take a while to get through!

Year Long Declutter, week 6 (84 items total)

This week's items include some more things from my sewing cupboard - some thread I don't use (thick, waxed, hand quilting thread) and some extra measuring tapes (I had about 8) - some of the regular thread and a measuring tape is going to Sarah, as is thiis nice wooden chest, which I had metallic threads in - it took up a lot of space in the cupboard for what was in it, so as she was interested in it, I passed it along. (It's not a family heirloom or anything; I got it at a jumble sale.)  Also, I went through all the instructions and receipts, which we keep in a folder, and threw out receipts for things which are out of warranty and instructions for things we no longer have. And finally, some worksheets and test papers for a child who I no longer tutor.

Dinner, 9/2/19: Courgette, Artichoke, Mushroom & Black Olive Tart

Similar to pizza, I realised after the fact, but there was no cheese, so it was a bit less substantial. We also had salad with it. If you use butter-free puff pastry (don't know whether mine was or not) this would be vegan.

Book 11: I am the Messenger, Markus Zusak

Interesting idea, enjoyable. I tried to resist all along comparing it to The Book Thief, and I think I just about managed that. Hard to know what to say without spoiling it, but it was fun and a little bit (but not too much) thought-provoking.

Dinner, 8/2/19: Pizza!

Dinner, 6/2/19: Saag paneer

This was good, but was a little fiddly. I might do a few things differently if I were to make it again.  I did really like the slightly crispy paneer.

Dinner, 5/2/19: Bang Bang Chicken Wraps

One of the boy's favourites, for his birthday...

Book 10: The Killing Moon, N K Jemisin

I enjoyed this - it was an interesting concept and Jemisin writes very well. Not sure if I'll pursue the second one or not - it didn't resonate quite as much as some fantasy and it's not left on so much of a cliffhanger as many books in series (I think this one is a series of two).  I wouldn't object to reading it, but there's so much to read; I'm not sure how strongly it will call me.

Dinner, 4/2/19: Chunky Potato Chowder

Soup. With potatoes and tomatoes.

Dinner, 3/2/19: Chili bean cornbread cobbler

I really liked this, and liked the cornbread cobbler topping.  Sarah objected to the bits of corn in the cobbler; Geoff objected to the cornbread.  Picky eaters, sheesh!

Year Long Declutter, Week 5 (70 items total)

This week's items include a couple of cookbooks I don't use, a shirt which Sarah never wears, some items cleared out from one of my sewing cupboards (more of that to come later, as I go through the cupboards), an old bath rack (replaced by a newer one, so not sure that technically counts as decluttering!), a scarf which came with a new top - I won't wear the scarf, though, so it's off to the charity shop - and a pair of kitchen scissors which are no longer really sharp, and which keep coming apart.

Dinner, 2/2/19: Cheesy Courgette & Dill Pancakes

These were nice, but no nicer than many others we've had, and they were very messy to cook. Not sure they are worth adding into the rotation of fritters and fritter type things.

January Roundup

WHAT WAS FOR DINNER, JANUARY 2019

• 31st: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 30th: Pasta with Brussels sprouts and pancetta
• 29th: Vegan Oven Fajitas
• 28th: Courgette and Onion Quinoa
• 27th: Squash and Fennel Lasagne
• 26th: Mini toads in the hole
• 25th: Spanakopita
• 24th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 23rd: Spaghetti with lemons and olives
• 22nd: Borlotti Bean, Pancetta & Pasta Soup
• 21st: Mushroom & Chard Frittata
• 20th: Greek Beef & Onion Stew
• 19th: Leek, Potato & Gorgonzola Tart
• 18th: Prawns with ginger
• 17th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 16th: Penne bolognese
• 15th: Roasted fine beans with chickpeas and tamarind
• 14th: Salmon teriyaki with courgette noodles
• 13th: Barbecued Spare Ribs (K out)
• 12th: Out to dinner before the theatre
• 11th: Out to dinner with John & Angela
• 10th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 9th: Chat Patay (Chickpea & Potato)
• 8th: Vegan Spaghetti Puttanesca
• 7th: Black Bean, Cashew & Tofu Stir Fry
• 6th: Giant Butter Bean Stew
• 5th: Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Harissa
• 4th: leftovers
• 3rd: Santorini style spaghetti
• 2nd: Butternut Squash Soup
• 1st: Vegan Lancashire Hotpot

January Book Update

I liked the way I kept track of my book reading last year, so I'm going to do something similar this year - just monitor books in and out, without any pressure to declutter or read things in order, etc. I'm once again setting a goal to read 100 book in the year - I read 102 in 2018. Otherwise, my only goal is to keep reading and keep enjoying books!

In January: books read: 9; books out: 2; books in: 5; books on windowsill: 59

And here's the breakdown for this month: 

• I read one book which my class is using for homework this term (The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond)
• I removed two books from my windowsill which I won't ever get around to reading
• I read a crime novel I picked up recently in the RA bookshop (Vengeance in Venice, Philip Gwynne Jones)
• and the latest Inspector Gamache book (Glass Houses, Louise Penny)
• I bought two books in the charity shop and three in Waterstones on a trip to Wimbledon at the end of the Christmas break
• I re-read Matilda by Roald Dahl, in light of having just seen the musical - I was curious how much it differed from the book
• I read three books from my list (Alberto's Lost Birthday by Diana Rosie, Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker, The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward )
• I read a book which came from school, which was the sequel to one I read last year (Moonlocket by Peter Bunzl)
• I re-read a book we own (Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman) as I have come across references to it a couple of times recently and it sparked me to want to revisit it.

Here's the updated list of Books to Read in 2019. These are the books hanging out on my windowsill upstairs, waiting to be read. Or discarded. But hopefully, read. I started the year with 60 books on this list - you can see how long the books have been knocking around by the dates in brackets.

1. 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...)
2. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South (2014)
3. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (would be a re-read, bought shortly after his death - spring 2014 - as I was reminded how much I enjoyed it and I didn't seem to own a copy - think my old one fell apart, probably...) 
4. Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman's Creek (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
5. Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
6. Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram (Abe Books, July 2016)
7. Susan Barker, The Incarnations (charity shop, July 2016)
8. Neil MacGregor, Germany: Memories of  a Nation (birthday present, Nov 2016) (This book isn't technically on my windowsill, it's downstairs because I keep thinking I might have a go at reading it, but haven't really got around to it yet...)
9. Orhan Pamuk. A Strangeness in Mind (Christmas present 2016)
10. Andrew Taylor, The Ashes of London (passed to me by Geoff after he read it, April 2017)
11. Mark Haddon (Introduction), States of Mind: Experiences at the Edge of Consciousness (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
12. John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries  (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
13. Mikhail Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita (charity shop, April 2017)
14. Jane Smiley, Early Warning (Abe Books, May 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
15. Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
16. Ernest van der Kwast, The Ice Cream Makers (Amsterdam, August 2017)
17. Lucy Worsley, A Very British Murder (Waterstones Oxford, August 2017)
18. Lucy Ribchester, The Hourglass Factory (charity shop, Farnham, September 2017)
19. Alexia Casale, The Bone Dragon (Waterstones Piccadilly, October 2017)
20. Sebastian Barry, Days without End (Abe Books, January 2018)
21. Ursula K LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Watersones Piccadilly, January 2018)
22. Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (passed to me by Geoff, Feb 2018)
23. Bella Pollen, Hunting Unicorns (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
24. Jojo Moyes, The Last Letter from your Lover (Charity Shops, March 2018)
25. Jojo Moyes, Sheltering Rain (Charity Shops, March 2018)
26. Sebastian Faulkes, A Week in December (Charity Shops, March 2018)
27. Marcus Zusak, I am the Messenger (Charity Shops, March 2018)
28. Jose Saramago, Blindness (Lisbon, April 2018)
29. Margaret Atwodd, Oryx and Crake (passed on by Geoff, April 2018)
30. The Killing Moon, N K Jemisin (Waterstones online, April 2018)
31. If we were Villains, M L Rio (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
32. Spark, Alice Broadway (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
33. The Mime Order, Samantha Shannon (Abe Books, May 2018)
34. March, Geraldine Brooks (Abe Books, June 2018)
35. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins (charity shop, June 2018)
36. Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2018)
37. The Disappearances, Emily Bain Murphy (Waterstones Picadilly, July 2018)
38. Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys  (Waterstones Picadilly, July 2018)
39. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (charity shop, July 2018)
40. The Murderer's Ape, Jakob Wegelius (Waterstones Wimbledon, August 2018)
41. The Terracotta Dog, Andrea Camelleri (passed to me by Geoff, Sept 2018)
42. The Snack Thief, Andrea Camelleri (passed to me by Geoff, Sept 2018)
43. Even the Dogs, Jon McGregor (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
44. Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
45. Scythe, Neil Schusterman (Waterstones Piccadilly, Sept 2018)
46. Alice, Christina Henry (Waterstone Piccadilly, Sept 2018)
47. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas (Waterstones Wimbledon, October 2018)
48. Winter, Ali Smith (Waterstones Wimbledon, October 2018)
49. The Mistletoe Bride, Kate Mosse (charity shop, November 2018)
50. Milkman, Anna Burns (Waterstones online, December 2018)
51. Hillbilly Elegy, J D Vance (Waterstones Piccadilly, December 2018)
52. The Dry, Jane Harper (Christmas present, 2018)
53. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (Christmas present, 2018)
54. History of Wolves, Emily Fridlund  (Christmas present, 2018)
55. Theft, Peter Carey (charity shop, January 2019)
56. The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy (charity shop, January 2019)
57. The Music Shop, Rachel Joyce (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
58. Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
59. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)

Dinner, 30/1/19: Pasta with Brussels sprouts and pancetta

I usually make this recipe with orechiette, but my bag of orechiette got covered in face cleanser, when the face cleanser spilled in the shopping delivery and had to be thrown entirely in the bin. (It was nasty.) So, luckily, I had backup pasta, and we used farfalle instead. Tastes just as nice.  The brussels sprouts are sliced really thin and the bacon and cream with this are great. We really like this dish and highly recommend using sprouts this way if you are one of those people who isn't really sure about sprouts.

Dinner, 29/1/19: Vegan Oven Fajitas

This is from my Roasting Tray Cookbook, which I really like -easy recipes which you just stick in the oven and let cook on their own. This one is sweet potato, peppers and beans. I added an extra tin of beans (black-eyed peas) to bulk it up a bit, as we always eat a lot, plus I thought the leftovers would be nice. But it was great - some of us added grated cheese and some yogurt drizzled on; I didn't, and it was still excellent. I did add lettuce for a bit of crunch in there.

Book 9: The Same Sky, Amanda Eyre Ward

This was two parallel stories - a couple going through the heartbreak surrounding a failed adoption and a young girl trying to make her way from abject poverty in Honduras across the US border to join her mother, an illegal immigrant working in Texas. Eventually, the two stories intertwine (though not much); the contrasts and similarities are well done and intersting and the book is a strong portrait of the characters, and well written.

Dinner, 28/1/19: Courgette and Onion Quinoa

This is anothe recipe from the River Cottage Veg cookbook; the texture combination of this was fantastic and we liked the flavour, but felt it wasn't quite a complete supper (even with bread) and either needed another dish on the side or something else in it. One to experiment with, I think.

Dinner, 27/1/19: Squash and Fennel Lasagne

A recipe from a new (to me) cookbook: River Cottage Veg, a gift from my friend Kirsten. It was really lovely. Geoff thought it had a little too much squash and would have preferred more fennel, but I thought it was a good ratio (as did Alex. Sarah doesn't like fennel, so although she agreed, I didn't really count her opinion).  Would definitely make this again. We used parmesan in the meal, but you could use any hard, flavourful cheese if you wanted to be sure it was vegetarian.

Book 8: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (re-read)

Having recently come across several references to this book, or things which brought it to mind for other reasons, I decided it was time to visit it again - a sign from the cosmos.  As good as ever. 

Year Long Declutter, week 4 (56 items total)

So, this was mostly clearing out the bathroom medicine cabinet. Clearly I am the only person who ever does this.  Here are some very dried up coughdrops, an empty bottle, three empty tubes of hydrocortisone cream, and a couple of other misc things.

And this one has some more medicine cabinet stuff, my old fitbit wristband which has stretched loose quite a bit (and has now been replaced) and a misc. kitchen item.

Dinner, 26/1/19: Mini toads in the hole, green beans

Book 7: Moonlocket by Peter Bunzl

The second in a kids steampunk adventure series, which I read the first of recently. Our library at school had the second, so I couldn't resist borrowing it to read. It was cute.

Dinner, 25/1/19: Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

Dinner, 23/1/19: Spaghetti with lemon and olives

Dinner, 22/1/19: Borlotti Bean, Pancetta & Pasta Soup

A nice, hearty, wintery soup. Yum.

Dinner, 21/1/19: Mushroom and Chard Frittata

The mushrooms in this frittata were planned, but the chard was a fortuitous leftover, which worked really well. One of the advantages of the girls not being home most of the time is that we can eat things like omelettes for supper - the three of us all like them, and there's enough to feed three without making much of anything else, maybe some bread and/or salad on the side.

Dinner, 20/1/19: Greek Beef & Onion Stew

A nice slow cooker stew, which allows me to have a leisurely afternoon and evening, because it's been cooking all day... Makes the house smell good as well.

Year Long Declutter, week 3 (42 items total)

A number of notebooks (mostly given to the girls over the years, I think) which are going to school for the prize box, etc. A set of coasters which I never use because I have been given coasters I like better. Some photo paper which I never ever use because it's A4 - I did keep one packet of glossy and one of matte, but I don't need 2 or 3 of each as I almost never use it (my printer prints on 4x6 size very easily).

Some empty boxes, the old battery and charger cable for my laptop (I replaced both a while back, one a time and was keeping the old ones in case - in case of what? who knows.); some batteries which had exploded a bit in the drawer, and so on.

Dinner, 19/1/19: Leek, Potato & Gorgonzola Tart

Yum.  And apparently, I can still win a game of Carcasonne while cooking dinner. (I think Gorgonzola is not technically vegetarian, but you could sub in a veggie blue cheese really easily.)

Dinner, 18/1/19: Prawns with Ginger

Excellent taste to this, as well as good contrasts between textures. I added the green peppers; they weren't in the recipe. There's a reason dishes like sweet & sour involve both peppers and pineapple - the bitterness of the pepper plays nicely off the sweetness of the pineapple. Definitely a keeper.

Book 6: Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker

This is a "modern classic", from the 60s, and though I feel I ought to have heard of the author, I'm fairly sure she's new to me. I admit that this was a book which I was entirely drawn to by the cover - though of course, if the blurb hadn't sounded promising, I wouldn't have bought it. I thought it very good, though I did find myself thinking how you can sometimes really tell when a book was written by its style - even quite modern books. This one felt very much 50s/60s to me. 

Dinner, 16/1/19: Penne with Bolognese ragu (Geoff cooking)

Tasty, as always. Geoff used some of the Herbs de Provence which the kids brought back from France this summer, which added a very nice flavour.

Dinner, 15/1/19: Roasted fine beans with chickpeas and tamarind

Despite the look of it, this is not vegan, or even vegetarian, as it contains fish sauce as one of its five ingredients. I reckon you could find a substitute for it (perhaps vegetarian Worcestershire sauce) which would create a similar effect, but I haven't tried that. This was excellent, though, really enjoyable. It's from John Whaite's book "Perfect Plates in Five Ingredients", which I like a lot.

Dinner, 14/1/19: Salmon teriyaki with courgette and sesame noodles

This one is from my spiralizer cookbook -the spiralized courgette is only cooked a tiny bit at the end, with some edamame beans. Very tasty, and nice and healthy and light.

Year Long Declutter, week 2 (26 items total)

Second week - still stuff from the junk drawer. All going in the bin except the very large paperclip, which is going to school to go in the raffle prize box. I think it came from a Christmas cracker.

Most of this is also to be discarded, except the ball pump, which is also going to school. Clippers which don't cut well any more, a rubber covered in ink, and so on. No one needs this stuff!

Book 5: Alberto's Lost Birthday, Diana Rosie

Picked this up a while back at the Kingston Hospital Donation Book Shelf and finally got around to reading it. It was a cute story, I enjoyed it.

Book 4: Glass Houses by Louise Penny

The latest in the Gamache series. Another fairly dark one, though of course, well written and gripping as always.

Dinner, 9/1/19: Chat' Patay

This was a really tasty chickpea and potato dish - we liked it a lot. It's not really enough for a meal on its own, so I'd cook something else - a vegetable dish, like spinach or something - with it.  We had a substantial salad and a big plate of fruit along side.

Dinner, 8/1/19: Spaghetti "Puttanesca"

Not strictly puttanesca, as no anchovies, but really yummy, and really liked the addition of the broccoli into this. We did have a good laugh at the recipe, though, which asked for 10 kalamata olives, in a recipe which supposedly serves 6 people.  I put the whole jar in!

Book 3: Matilda, Roald Dahl (re-read)

Having recently seen the stage production (and having seen the excellent 1996 film many times) I was curious as to how they compare to the original, so decided to go back and re-read it. Plus my current book, while excellent,  is kinda depressing (crime novel, lots of stuff about the "war on drugs") and I needed some light relief.

Dinner, 7/1/19: Stir Fry with black beans, tofu & cashews