domestic short notes
Domestic short notes:
1. Our weekly farm outings are spurring me on to expand on my cooking repertoire. We've just about done with apples but now I have a big carton of fresh prunes that are not really very sweet, so I think I'm going to stew them and serve them with some roast pork. Tonight I baked the pumpkin that we bought over the weekend - it is called a sweet lightning pumpkin and it can be baked entirely whole in the oven. It turned out marvellously, filling the kitchen with a great caramel-y smell. The Bun ate more than half; Bao was much too obsessed with the sausages I had also served to care too much about the pumpkin. We'll definitely be having more of that again soon.
Slice the top off the pumpkin and bake. Easy peasy.
2. I'm now a fan of Lorraine Pascale's How to Be a Better Cook and watch the TV show every week. Compared to the other TV chefs, her recipes seem more accessible and practical for the average cook (i.e. me). Last weekend J and I baked her chorizo and lemongrass scrolls, and yesterday I made her baked courgette fritters which turned out awesome, even though I didn't make the marinara sauce to go along with it. The kids aren't enthusiastic about eating their veggies so we tend to eat the same few (tomatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots, courgettes, mushrooms, spinach) which I know they will accept, and it's great to find kid-friendly recipes that help me broaden, if not the variety, then the ways in which I cook them. I'm considering getting one of Pascale's cookbooks, although generally I tend to cook via google instead.
3. Last Monday night J and I were watching TV when he felt a drop of water fall onto his lap. We looked up and discovered to much horror that there was a crack in the ceiling and droplets of water forming at intervals along the crack. Hurriedly the sofa was pushed away and the carpet rolled up, and J got a bucket to place beneath the drippiest bit of ceiling. I slept fitfully that night, half-listening out for a gush of water pouring into our living room. Our apartment is on the top floor and above us is the rooftop garden and a swimming pool! Thankfully I managed to see our concierge the first thing in the morning and explained in butchered French what had happened. He came up to look at the ceiling and together we organised a visit from the plumbing folk. It seems like a pump room problem, and one of the plumbers who spoke English promised to call back and follow up. One week later, the ceiling is all spotted with water damage and they still haven't called. I told the concierge this who shrugged and said the ceiling issue is 'pas grave' (not serious) and that it will take three weeks for the room upstairs to dry out. Three weeks!!!
1. Our weekly farm outings are spurring me on to expand on my cooking repertoire. We've just about done with apples but now I have a big carton of fresh prunes that are not really very sweet, so I think I'm going to stew them and serve them with some roast pork. Tonight I baked the pumpkin that we bought over the weekend - it is called a sweet lightning pumpkin and it can be baked entirely whole in the oven. It turned out marvellously, filling the kitchen with a great caramel-y smell. The Bun ate more than half; Bao was much too obsessed with the sausages I had also served to care too much about the pumpkin. We'll definitely be having more of that again soon.
Slice the top off the pumpkin and bake. Easy peasy.
2. I'm now a fan of Lorraine Pascale's How to Be a Better Cook and watch the TV show every week. Compared to the other TV chefs, her recipes seem more accessible and practical for the average cook (i.e. me). Last weekend J and I baked her chorizo and lemongrass scrolls, and yesterday I made her baked courgette fritters which turned out awesome, even though I didn't make the marinara sauce to go along with it. The kids aren't enthusiastic about eating their veggies so we tend to eat the same few (tomatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots, courgettes, mushrooms, spinach) which I know they will accept, and it's great to find kid-friendly recipes that help me broaden, if not the variety, then the ways in which I cook them. I'm considering getting one of Pascale's cookbooks, although generally I tend to cook via google instead.
3. Last Monday night J and I were watching TV when he felt a drop of water fall onto his lap. We looked up and discovered to much horror that there was a crack in the ceiling and droplets of water forming at intervals along the crack. Hurriedly the sofa was pushed away and the carpet rolled up, and J got a bucket to place beneath the drippiest bit of ceiling. I slept fitfully that night, half-listening out for a gush of water pouring into our living room. Our apartment is on the top floor and above us is the rooftop garden and a swimming pool! Thankfully I managed to see our concierge the first thing in the morning and explained in butchered French what had happened. He came up to look at the ceiling and together we organised a visit from the plumbing folk. It seems like a pump room problem, and one of the plumbers who spoke English promised to call back and follow up. One week later, the ceiling is all spotted with water damage and they still haven't called. I told the concierge this who shrugged and said the ceiling issue is 'pas grave' (not serious) and that it will take three weeks for the room upstairs to dry out. Three weeks!!!