Gratin Dauphinois
I've had a couple of fun dinner parties in the last weeks. Funnily enough, a number of friends who came along have recently embarked on new relationships. When asked if their new squeezes were coming along, it appeared that they weren't even told. I guess I'm the scary friend these days ;-)
Tonight I'm doing yeast pastry stuff for tomorrow and next week - watching dough rise for the white and rye bagels for a party tomorrow, wholemeal and semolina baguettes for next week. If you don't do yeast baking, I really recommend trying it - it's actually not very complicated although there are a couple of tricks to learn, and it's very satisfying, both for the relaxed, slow process and also the yummy results!
There's a decadent (and yet so very simple, it's cream and potato and garlic and an interesting kind of German bacon I found at the market this morning) gratin in the oven, and I expect to eat sometime before midnight. Yay.
I'll be participating in a workshop on Tuesday on improving the customer experience at railway stations this week - never done this kind of thing before but I hope that my enthusiasms (good wine bars at stations, anyone?) will get translated to bricks and mortar, haha.
Wednesday evening is theatre night, and I've rounded up a couple of English-speakers to go and help support a new theatre group who're putting on History Boys.
There's been unexpected small-scale progress on a whole bunch of issues at work. But the emotional cost of pushing people to do their jobs (well, or even just at all) seems a bit high compared to actual results, enough that my management tree has been encouraging me to take at least two or three 'compensation' days off a month. I have been, not unexpectedly, taking them up on this offer.
Late next week I'll be going to Portland in the US Pacific north-west for a long weekend, which will be interesting, not least for the time-gap since I was last there - when flares were in, laugh.
Typically, there's a houseguest arriving while I'm away. Since C has already done this before (and was half of the story of how my current kitchen was unpacked and sorted out without my intervention), I'm sure it's not going to be a problem.
I'll be seeing a few friends and family next month, especially during a bit of a boozy day in London. I'm not normally a birthday person, but it's all getting quite exciting with people planning to rock up from near and far (with a few who were even at the dimly-remembered 21st bash) and an itinerary of dinner and drinks in places ranging from Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Bray to Zwolle (restaurant dinner booked there for more than just reasons of alphabetic correctness).
Tonight I'm doing yeast pastry stuff for tomorrow and next week - watching dough rise for the white and rye bagels for a party tomorrow, wholemeal and semolina baguettes for next week. If you don't do yeast baking, I really recommend trying it - it's actually not very complicated although there are a couple of tricks to learn, and it's very satisfying, both for the relaxed, slow process and also the yummy results!
There's a decadent (and yet so very simple, it's cream and potato and garlic and an interesting kind of German bacon I found at the market this morning) gratin in the oven, and I expect to eat sometime before midnight. Yay.
I'll be participating in a workshop on Tuesday on improving the customer experience at railway stations this week - never done this kind of thing before but I hope that my enthusiasms (good wine bars at stations, anyone?) will get translated to bricks and mortar, haha.
Wednesday evening is theatre night, and I've rounded up a couple of English-speakers to go and help support a new theatre group who're putting on History Boys.
There's been unexpected small-scale progress on a whole bunch of issues at work. But the emotional cost of pushing people to do their jobs (well, or even just at all) seems a bit high compared to actual results, enough that my management tree has been encouraging me to take at least two or three 'compensation' days off a month. I have been, not unexpectedly, taking them up on this offer.
Late next week I'll be going to Portland in the US Pacific north-west for a long weekend, which will be interesting, not least for the time-gap since I was last there - when flares were in, laugh.
Typically, there's a houseguest arriving while I'm away. Since C has already done this before (and was half of the story of how my current kitchen was unpacked and sorted out without my intervention), I'm sure it's not going to be a problem.
I'll be seeing a few friends and family next month, especially during a bit of a boozy day in London. I'm not normally a birthday person, but it's all getting quite exciting with people planning to rock up from near and far (with a few who were even at the dimly-remembered 21st bash) and an itinerary of dinner and drinks in places ranging from Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Bray to Zwolle (restaurant dinner booked there for more than just reasons of alphabetic correctness).