ENGLISH MUM

So during half term, my adorable twin niece and nephew, Miss Turtle and Mr Jackson came to stay with my two chisellers.  We decided to have a blow-out junk food and video night and Turtle agreed to be my glamorous assistant, tearing herself away from her mobile phone and nail file (how the girl doesn’t have stumps for fingers the amount of filing she does, I’ll never know) for just long enough...

I have my friend and fellow blogger Mrs Wallop to thank for this one.  I was at the butcher’s a couple of weeks ago, and was rather taken by a whole shoulder of lamb, which I bought on a whim because it was cheap.  Shoulder has by far the tastiest meat, but isn’t a pretty joint.  Still, it has… erm… ‘character’, shall we say. Anyhoo, later, when it was sitting staring at...

Every time we have a takeaway from the local Indian Restaurant, Hubby always raves about their Chicken Dhansak.  It’s kind of a lentily, thick and very slightly sweet chicken curry with a powerful kick of chilli.  I’ve been trying to recreate it for a while and I think, judging by his reaction, I’m nearly there.  It’s great served with my cheaty flatbreads and once you’ve got...

So, starting as we mean to go on (eating seasonally, I mean), I thought I’d give a mention to the humble mussel. Now it took me a long time to come around to them. Let’s face it, they look kind of like giant orange bogeys, but a few sunny harbourside holidays in Brittany put paid to any illusions about their fabulous taste. Now I’m a convert. According to Loch Fyne, owners of the most dreamy...

So that’s it, then.  The big day is shortly upon us and I’m looking forward to a small family Christmas (just us, English Grandma and maybe Mad Uncle Ali in the afternoon) at our new little house in Hertfordshire. Wherever you are and whoever you’re with, I wish you all a wonderful, indulgent Christmas. And as always, remember to chill out, have fun, stick on your glad rags, enjoy your precious...

Moving on, then, because frankly, a girl’s got to eat, even when she’s packing.  Here’s a nice, warming, saying-goodbye-to-Ireland kind of pie.  This is the kind of pie to eat with a big pile of mashed potato whilst looking out of your window at the rain driving horizontally across the garden, and feeling smug that you’re not out there, but in here with a big piece of pie. So.  You’ll...

So I’m pretty sure I’ve made these before, but seeing as they’re made with leftovers and we’re such utter pigs that there’s rarely any leftovers in our house, it was always going to take a while.  Yesterday, though, I made a chicken, pea and spring onion risotto and made sure I made some extra so I could give this one a go. First thoughts: it’s damned messy.  I mean, I’m...

So one of my happier experiments in the garden were these little beauties.  They did have a name, but I’ve bloody forgotten now, although I’m sure Poppy’s Mum or GrowUp, my gardening gurus, will let me know in due course.  Yesterday, then, we decided to pick one and test it out.  ‘Ooh’, said #1, ‘cauliflower cheese!’.  ‘Yum’, said I.  ‘Bleurgh’,...

A funny thing happened on Friday afternoon. A chap knocked on the door and delivered an enormous wicker hamper, stuffed with every possible seasonal vegetable you can imagine. I was in the garden, and was, frankly, slightly confused when #2 came out to find me and declare that ’some bloke just dropped off a big box of broccoli and stuff’. Anyhoo, it turned out not to be an anonymous food parcel...

So the ongoing battle here at English Towers is between the chilli lovers and the not-so-chilli lovers.  Hubby and #1 would have us eating amounts of chilli that, frankly, would have normal people running madly around in circles, flapping their arms and making choo choo noises with steam coming out of their ears, whereas me and the small, accident-prone version can only handle a gentle amount of spice. ...