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[Recipe] Fish cakes

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We had leftover veg from making food for the beastie so I decided to get creative.

I mixed the mashed root veg (potatoes, carrots, swede) with a tin of flaked tuna, some grated mature cheddar, a bit of tabasco, some parsley, onion salt, pepper, and some breadcrumbs to thicken the mix. After forming into patties, dredging in egg wash and coating with breadcrumbs seasoned with paprika, I pan fried on both sides to color the cakes then finished them in the oven for 15 minutes at 220. Very nummy indeed!

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Anna, Good. Florian, Bad.

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We had a BBQ this weekend – one last shindig before Lennart and Leen leave for Belgium. Joe and Matthieu weren’t able to make it, but Juan Antonio, Florian & Anna and Phil and the kiddies were able to come (jeez, his kids have grown!). As usual in these matters, I made waaaay too much food. I had three packs of sausages, burgers and I’d marinated some homemade tandoori chicken. That was accompanied by corn on the cob, a cheese plate and crudites. Katy went mad in her own inimitable way with the puddings.

It all went down smashingly. I’m really happy with how the chicken turned out, and I do have to say that a small-ish BBQ (by North American standards) filled with 18 sausages, 8 burgers and 10 chicken breasts was an impressive sight to behold. Smelled bloody good too :) I think I’m finally hitting the bottom of my gas cylinder. Not bad considering that I’ve had it for 4 years now… The weather gods were clement and we had nice breaks of sunshine and the wind kept it to just a nice temperature. It got a bit chilly near the end but people were stuffed with enough calories so that it didn’t matter. Juanan kept mentioning how unfair it was that he’s the one with the reputation as a big eater when compared to the bottomless pit that is Flo’s gullet :) Lennart says that it’s because Florian has a better PR machine :D

Pictures are online here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/BBQ_sept_2009/

I’ve come to the conclusion that BenBen finds us boring. He’s been uber-grumpy in the last week or so. I took him into Saffron Walden on Saturday while Katy was having a jaunt with Donna and I didn’t hear a peep from him while I was at Waitrose, or the butchers or the market. And, of course, he was flirting with all the preeeety laaadiiiies he could charm (he’s going to be a heart-breaker, that one). As soon as I got him home though, where it was just me, he was less than thrilled. Same thing for the BBQ. He loves being passed around and was all giggles and charm. When people left, grumpy baby. QED, we’re boring. Katy says that it’s impressive just how much he doesn’t mind being passed around, even when we’re not in sight. I was in the kitchen getting food ready and Katy was in the dining room setting things up and the beastie was quite happy with Leen or Anna. It’s what he’s been used to, I guess. He’s been going to nursery since he was 3 months, so for him, it’s just another preeeeety laaaady to charm :)

Once the beastie was asleep for the night, Beckie came over to keep an eye on him and we went to see Moon. It’s a good movie, if slightly creepy in the beginning. I don’t think I’d buy it, but I was happy to see it and I’d recommend it for a good sci-fi movie with an old-school feel to it.

Moon (2009)

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I need a vacation from my vacation

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I’ve been on leave since last Wednesday and I can’t really say that I’m rested and relaxed. I spent Wednesday cooking tons of food. We went to the seaside on Thursday with Katy’s parents. That was a nice day, but ended in a less than pleasing note when the beastie – exhausted and probably having had a bit too much sun – melted down after being put to bed. It’s always a bone-searingly scary experience when he wakes up wailing after being fast asleep. He just never does it and I always worry about the worst happening… Friday was my birthday and I spent a large part of it in my kimono. That was good, and Katy went nuts with prezzies and wrapping paper.

Katy’s parents left on Saturday and we had a quiet day. We went to the market to pick up some veg and do a quick shop at Waitrose for some food for a fondue we planned for dinner. The evening was nice, but the night was very short because the beastie had another episode of at 4:30 am. He’s been really grumpy since Thursday, and has been drooling a lot and running a bit warmer than usual. We thought it was just teething pains. This morning though, he was roasting! We called the docs and they said to keep an eye on him and call back if we’re still worried. The rational part of me things it’s probably just a cold. He’s been snuffly and snotty in the past 2 days. The irrational part of me just wants to go to the corner shop and buy a pack of fags and chain smoke and worry. The problem is that the irrational part of me has a louder voice these days.

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Yomigaeru Aiyan Sheffu!

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Watashi no kioku ga tashika naraba†…Iron Chef was a television program produced by Fuji TV in Japan from 1993 to 1999. The format of the show showcased an eccentric gourmet named Chairman Kaga and his team of Iron Chefs.

The Iron Chefs, handpicked by Chairman Kaga himself, were prominent and much respected chefs within their particular cuisines (French, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian). In each episode they were pitted against a challenger from Japan or abroad and for one hour each contender was expected to cook a multicourse meal using a theme ingredient chosen by the Chairman.

The battles tended to be very intense with the chefs scrambling to complete as many dishes within a one hour timeframe. Following the one hour contest, the prepared dishes were then served to a panel of tasters. These tasters comprised of Chairman Kaga with his invited guests (typically famous personalities and food critics). Upon completion of the food tasting, the tasters would then judge the food against certain criteria and then Chairman Kaga would announce the winner.

Of the 300 episodes of Iron Chef that aired in Japan, roughly 180 of those episodes were dubbed into English when the Food Network picked up the program to air in North America. It’s one of the shows that I really miss from Canada. However, the internet being my friend, I’m currently bit-torrenting an archive of 156 shows, which I will shortly inflict on Katy :D

†If my memory serves me correctly…

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