I heard the call of Cthulu or how I cooked me up a mess of squid

Growing up listening to national public radio there was sometimes a spoof spot with a furrin type chef with some kind of Adriatic accent who would answer your questions about cookery and entertaining. And no matter what the question, the answer was always squid.

Q: I'm hosting a children's party for 10 five-year-olds, what do you suggest serving?

A: eh-squid, keeds love-a the eh-squid

Indeed.

I do love squid. I'm not a huge fan of deep-fried or breaded calamari, but I'm often in the mood for squid. Partly, if I'm honest, for the shock value. And the more closely it resembles the original animal, the better.

But I've never prepped it from scratch. I've bought some processed squid from Portugese delis over the year (you can get frozen stuffed squid!) and I've been known to use tinned octopus on pizza. In fact, I've never once taken any animal from corpse to plate. Unless you count shrimp from the Gulf, which I don't.

But this week I saw a show with Jamie Oliver -- Suppers to Save Our Seas as part of the Fish Fight series about choosing more sustainable fish resources. One of his top 10 alternative fish choices was squid. He started with the cleaned body, did some scoring, added some lime juice, popped it on the grill - and blammo - easy squid. Out loud I said "Hey, maybe we should get some squid."

Buddy latched onto this instantly. "Squid! Squid! Squid!" he said. For a boy who won't eat anything unless it's breaded, I took this as a hopeful sign that maybe we could expand his palate. I mentioned the squid idea to the Vol-in-Law and he was almost equally enthusiastic. But I know he does actually eat squid.

So over the week there have been casual mentions of the squid thing and last night the boy asked if we were having squid for dinner. Wow! So I promised we'd go shopping for squid today. And he reminded me when I picked him up for nursery. And we did..

At the grocery store, they only had the one squid. A giant looking thing, that I'm pretty sure took down the Nautilus. I was starting to chicken out on the squid idea.

"Do you really want a squid?" I said.

"Yes, yes, yes!! Squid!"

So...look away now if you're on the squeamish side.

Squid unwrapped

I looked up instructions on squid butchery. Each step was described as easy. It wasn't. But honestly, it probably was easier than cleaning a regular fish. It's just that when I pulled and twisted the head, the guts didn't automatically all come out. Extra knife work was required.

And there were other surprises, too. For example, never did I dream that I'd overhear a conversation from our bedroom that went like this:

Daddy, look at this!

Is that from the squid?

Yeah!

There was an awesome bit of cartilage - looked like a bit of clear plastic. The boy was intrigued.

I forgot to take pictures of the cleaned, skinned squid tube - but here's the final product. And it was tasty.

Squid sauteed in olive oil with peppers and garlic. Fresh parsley. Served over linguine.

But you know what? The boy only nibbled a tiny corner from a bit of squid and then only because we made him.

Keeds love-a the eh-squid? Not around here they don't

That's one dead duck

Here's a lovely image of canard a l'orange from Flickr user franziskas garten. That is for sure one dead duck. Let's hope the resurgent UT can cook up a similar dish on Saturday against Oregon, with some extra zingy orange flavor on top. Chef Dooley (fingers crossed) can provide the instructions for gutting and roasting.

Turnover here is key and notice that in this recipe, you don't.

British cuisine in an easy open packet

It amuses me when those American new to these shores are somehow amazed by the vast array of different flavoured crisps (potato chips) in this country. Beyond the fairly normal cheese and onion, salt and vinegar, and even the slightly poncey cracked black pepper and sea salt, there's a wide selection of the unusually flavoured snack food items. Roast Chicken, Worcester sauce (yes, we know it was Worcestershire Sauce), Tomato and Basil, Thai Sweet Chilli, Chinese Five Spice, caramelised onion and mature cheddar, duck and orange - to name but a few. And there are other snack stuffs, too, like the potato based(?) extruded product Hula Hoops - which has a very popular ketchup and bacon flavor. (I'm guessing that's nasty.)

That's not counting the limited edition crisps that Walkers - the market leader - come out with occasionally such as Scampi and lemon, brie and cranberry, lamb and mint, Port and Stilton. Those were all apparently part of a Christmas promotion. Mmmm - nothing says Yuletide fun like the family gathering around a glimmering, oddly flavoured packet of crisps.

Walkers current promotion is called "Do us a flavour" - a contest where you can come up with your own wacky flaves, send them in (along with a picture of your inspiration) and you and five other semi-finalists can see your bizarre creations on the shelves.

We currently have a visitor in our house who is probably more into the junk food than we are and our rather tame suggestions included:

Me: Sweet and sour chicken
Visitor: Been done
Vol-in-Law: Szechuan chicken
Visitor: Been done.

And the conversation died there.

But I've been racking my brain. There is a flavour I'd like to see produced, but I'm going to hold my fire and actually enter it. Realistically, it's probably too tame. But pulling from the array of classic British dishes there might be some potential. How about...

• Jellied eel
• Jugged hare (hare meat is served in a sauce of its blood mixed with port)
• Squab pie
• Brawn (when the first step in the recipe is "cut the cheeks and ears off the pig's head", the rest of the instructions for jellied pigs head isn't worth reading)
• Bath chaps (pig cheeks in bread crumbs - I guess that's what you do on the 2nd day after you've eat the brawn)
• Laver bread (mmm....seaweed and oats)
• Bedfordshire Clanger (scrag end of mutton with kidneys and fruit - does scrag end mean what I think it means?)

Think I have a winner there? Yummy, yummy - this potato chip tastes of scrag. It tastes of scrag and I like it.

(I'm going to kick myself if I see these on the shelves.)

Help needed for a lazy Southern cook

Hey y'all - I'm jonesing for some biscuit. I was going on about it all day yesterday and I'm still wanting it today. Mmmmm....biscuit.

But my biscuits are SUB-PAR. I have to confess:

Hello, my name is the Vol Abroad...and....[sob]...I can't bake biscuits.


Now, I know I'm not alone in my poor biscuit making skills, but for the Southerner at home there are many ways to compensate. There are the fast food restaurants, there are those biscuits in a can (blechhhh - though flaking apart a Hungry Jack biscuit is oddly satisfying) and there are those frozen biscuits which are actually pretty good. And, of course, best of all there are networking skills - i.e. get to know somebody who can bake biscuits.

Sadly, none of these options are open to me.

Now, I know there are mixes that make kick-ass biscuits. For example, when a cousin of mine worked at a well-known fast food restaurant she stole some of the biscuit mix and baked it up for our Christmas eve dinner which that year was fried chicken and fixin's. Mmmmm - they were good.

You can buy Bisquick in England. But I don't like it. I mean, it's OK, but it's not what I'm going for. I want a biscuit that looks like this.

What dry mix do you suggest? I need suggestions this week, 'cause my dad and brother are arriving on Saturday. They live in South Georgia and East Tennessee, in case there are some regional specialties.

experimental pork

I don't post about recipes or food very often, but I just had to share this.

Last night, for Christmas Eve dinner, I marinated pork loin in Dale's sauce (smuggled from America)and oven roasted it with acorn squash, a sliced fennel bulb and a sweet red pepper. I also baked a quick cheesy grits loaf (or polenta if you must).

It really didn't take very long to prepare - it does take a while to actually cook. I did pre-cook the acorn squash as it takes a little while to get to the perfect soft/sweet stage.

Wow!

I just coarsely chopped the veggies, so mine didn't end up that pretty - but this dish could be presented beautifully.

baby food

Pureed lentils come out about the same way they went in.

health visits

In the UK baby care is split between General Practitioners and nurses called Health Visitors (because they see healthy babies and they visit you in your home during the very early days). For any enquiries about whether something is wrong with your baby, you see a GP who may or may not refer you to a pediatrician. For weight checks and questions about growth and hitting milestones and weaning, you see the health visitor.

As far as feeding goes, the UK National Health Service takes the World Health Organization line of 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, no solids til 6 months. So that's the advice given to average moms of average babies. That's in theory. In practice, things are different.

Cletus is breastfed, mostly. He gets one bottle of formula a day. It's largely for convenience. We did have to supplement early on because my milk was slow to come in and I was sick and exhausted. But we continued with the bottles because it's kind of nice for the Vol-in-Law to feed the baby and for me not to. Expressing hasn't worked out very well for me - so formula it is.

We also continued because of the number one advantage to bottle feeding: You can see exactly how much he's getting.

And that's reassuring when you have a baby who's a little bit of lightweight like Cletus. He's been gaining steadily, but he's in the 9th percentile for weight - that is about 90% of babies weigh more than he does. This past week he went up a bit to maybe 15th percentile - he'd gained 6 oz each week since his last weigh-in at the Health Visitor Clinic which was terrific.

So anyway, the HV said it was a good weight gain. But then she said I might want to give him another bottle of formula each day. She never once asked me about my breast feeding practice or my supply. I thought the NHS was supposed to be supporting breastfeeding!!?? How about having a chat about why I'm using formula to start with (convenience) and how I might ensure that Cletus is getting plenty of nice breastmilk rather than suggesting even more formula which would probably hurt my supply.

Then she said that he might want to start food soon, too to get his weight up. (He's not even four months old yet and is still sleeping through and doesn't seem ready for food) So I said, well maybe I'll start him on avocado or sweet potato when he seems more ready - as these are amongst the highest calorie weaning foods. She was adamant that I should start him on baby rice.Nothing against rice, but given his situation I don't want to fill him up on baby rice which has fewer calories than either breast milk or formula. So, then she said early weaning was not about quantity or quality but rather about getting them used to eating.

So why would I want to give my low-weight baby cereal which might see him getting fewer rather than more calories in a day? Well, I don't guess I would.

I think this advice is bad. I'm not arguing against flexibility. I'm not an adherent to the no solids til six months guideline. And clearly I'm not against mixed feeding, since I do it myself. But I think this advice goes against even the spirit of the feeding recommendations - more human milk for human babies for as long as possible.

A limited success

I finally gave up on the tomatoes - and pulled up the sole remaining plant this afternoon to be replaced with a winter bedding scheme.

That one red 'un is nearly the extent of my harvest. I got a couple of cherry tomatoes earlier in the season, but that's it. It's just been too damp, too cool and too gray for much ripening.

Oh well, better luck next year. Anyone know a good recipe that calls for one bowl of green ta-maters?

A good day

Hurray - the Vols win!



Not that we weren't expecting it - what with Cletus wearing his lucky Tennessee hat and all. I hope the winning doesn't run out any time soon, 'cause the lucky hat is getting smaller and smaller.



-0-

We listened to the football game this morning. It was a good solid win by the end, of course, but there were some worrying moments early on. Still...onwards and upwards - right?

I got the Vol-in-Law to load the game up for me so I wouldn't be in any danger of seeing the score. I kinda knew the Vols won just by his demeanor. There was no evil glint in his eye. I hate to say it, but I think my husband enjoys a bad Tennessee season.

-0-

To celebrate, and just cause we felt like it we went to Bodeans BBQ in Clapham. The meal was pretty good, re-runs of yesterday's college football games were on the TV where Steve Spurrier was looking gloomy and Cletus slept on a blanket on the booth seat through the whole meal. Wooohooo! And on the way home I realised that today marks my first anniversary of quitting smoking.

hyperactive

Back in the 70s, one of the kids in my day care group was forbidden from eating additives and preservatives. That meant that he was on a special diet. He couldn't eat the food that the rest of us ate. Like hotdogs. The only reason it sticks in my mind was that I remember he was served a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a hot dog bun - that seemed to so wrong to me. I still hate non-purposive bun usage.

And why couldn't he eat the hot dog for which the bun was intended? Because his parents claimed the chemicals in it would make him hyper. Crazy hippies. He wasn't badly behaved, at least from what I can remember. But he had to suffer a PBJ on the wrong bread.

-0-

Turns out my nursery mate's parents had the right idea. Apparently all that gook in the food will make kids go crazy. I heard about this in the news briefly and thought - hmmm, as a parent*, maybe I should check that out, maybe you know - do an Internet search. But I didn't, I couldn't seem to stay focused. I dunno, coulda been the fruit loops.

-0-

Fortunately, The Crone Speaks did link the story.

_______
* hey, I think that's the first time I've used the "as a parent" phrase.

Blood sugar bonanza

An article in Wednesday's Tennessean provides recipes using some of the MidSouth's favorite sweeties. Including a cake recipe using SunDrop , that nectar of the gods, which the Tennessean describes thusly:

Quench that thirst

Another popular local soda pop, Sun Drop, which originated in St. Louis, started like many drinks of the day, with the parent company selling its formula to small bottlers across the country. One of the largest bottlers remains in nearby Pulaski, which feeds a strong and fiercely loyal pocket of fans in the counties south of Nashville that buffer the Alabama line.

Fiercely loyal? Addicted more like. Mmmmm - SunDrop. Once only available in a limited area - now you can order the stuff online. Do you think they ship transatlantic? In exchange for a permanent advertising space on this blog?

Hmmm, I think VolMom might know the Pulaski bottler - hook me up, let's make a deal.

Did the eggplant work?

I made the famous labor-inducing eggplant recipe last night. Maybe the flavors need more time to blend. It was really delicious, but like many such things - it will be even better today. And the recipe is huge - so there's a lot left over.

And no - no sign of baby.

Scalini's labor inducing eggplant

Here's an update from the previous countdown post. The eggplant parmesan, made to Scalini's labor inducing eggplant recipe - is in the oven - the flavors blending, the cheese melting, the perfect goodness of al forno. (Hmm...al forno sounds a lot like how I got myself into this position in the first place.)

Accept no substitutions
VolMom suggested a simpler, easier recipe in the comments section of the previous post. That might be all well and good, but I'm afraid I need every step and part of the ritual to take full advantage of the sympathetic magic. Plus, they say that the active stuff is probably in the herbs. The recipe calls for fresh herbs, so I got me some fresh herbs - and no jar sauce - no matter how good it is will be able to compare.

I have tasted the marinara - and it is divine.



It's a lot of work
This recipe takes a lot of effort. There are many stages. But luckily, I had two helpers.

The Vol-in-Law


who grated the cheese.

And Fancy...


...who frankly provided the kind of help I didn't need.



Now, don't worry about cat hair in the sauce - because basically I'm doing this for Cletus. He needs to have exposure to dander and dirt to prevent asthma. I'm just looking after the health of my unborn baby.

And here are some more stages in the process...

The panfried eggplant slices:



and the first layer of the construction:




I'm getting pretty hungry.

Of course, now the kitchen is a total tip. And normally that wouldn't matter, but I am planning a home birth. I just hope the early stages of labor (brought on by the eggplant of course) are easy enough that I can supervise the ViL in a little kitchen tidying.

It's ready!

I just heard my oven beeping. So that's it for this post, I have to go.

UPDATE: I've just noticed that people are landing on this post from a Google search. So... did it work? No. It did not.

I made and ate this at 3 days past my due date. I had it for lunch the second day. We had leftovers again several days later. I am still pregnant 9 days later. I am very overdue.

Was it good? Yes - it was effin' unbelievably tasty. The marinara sauce was great (best I've ever tasted - anywhere) and in itself wasn't that much trouble. I will use that again. If I made this again, I would probably oven roast the eggplant slices with a light seasoning of Italian herbs and a drizzle of olive oil rather than pan fry and I would cut back (a bit) on the cheese. This would save about a million calories and I think it would tast a bit "fresher". That's just me. And the most trouble about the whole recipe was the frying up of the eggplant slices.

Further update: I've noticed this is a very popular post - and I realise that if you're searching for this, you're probably at the tail end of your pregnancy and desperate for it to be over and to have that baby. Well, good luck. I made this just past my due date and delicious though it was, my baby was born 16 days late after three days of labor. Your mileage may vary. Of course, the labor inducing drugs didn't work very well for me either. (Read birth story here if you want). The best thing for me was using one of those swiss balls or birthing balls.

And, of course, you will get your baby in the end. Here are some photos!

Double tagged

I've been tagged again on the 5 fave restaurant meme. So, I'll just link to my original post.

One thing I will say, in my original post I listed pretty much all local places. Yes, London has many, many fabulous restaurants, but I really like going out in my own neighbourhood. I've felt more this way since getting involved with local politics.

But I do have an update. One of the folks I tagged, listed a place called Pizzeria Sette Bello, in Tooting on Amen Corner. It sounded really good and good value (by London standards). I really wanted to try it before the baby arrived, and since it really could be any.time.now. I figured I better go soon.

So we went tonight and we decided to walk, with the option of catching the bus home afterwards. I'm awfully, awfully glad we did walk up there (and back) because I absolutely stuffed myself.

For starters I had the eggplant parmesan - or melanzana parmigiana. I don't know if it has the labor inducing properties of the famous Scalini's recipe, but it was certainly delicious. Really delicately flavoured with a lovely herby marinara.

I also had the pizza, which was very traditional - tasted quite like the ones in Italy - which isn't necessarily a fantastic thing. I'm a big fan of faffy pizza with complicated ingredients put together in an artistic way. But it was still very tasty. I also had a side salad which was big enough to split - a rare thing. The Vol-in-Law had a penne with a creamy tomato sauce which was also very good. I don't think I've ever seen him order anything other than a pizza at a pizzeria.

And then we had dessert. It was a cherry cheesecake. It looked fantastic, like a New York style baked cheesecake. You see, cheesecake in Britain is usually the congealed kind, not baked at all. And it usually has a nasty, non-cheesy, chemical aftertaste. Well, this wasn't a beautiful baked cheesecake, but I have to say it was the best "English" style cheesecake I'd ever had. Light, delicious and with no nasty aftertaste.

But best of all, the place had a friendly, open atmosphere - and great service - so unusual in this country...

Yum. I can't say when I'll go again, given my impending change in life circumstances, but I'd go again soon if I could.

A full day's worth of craving

I want a sausage biscuit.

I have no sausage. My biscuit making skills are poor, and of course you can't just go out and buy biscuits.

However, you can buy soda farls. A tasty triangular soda bread from Northern Ireland. Nearest to a biscuit in the British Isles - except you don't seem to cut in any lard to the recipe - so it's not quite as melt-in-your mouth good. (Though probably not as artery hardening either).
The sausage here isn't meaty or sagey enough for my taste. All-in-all there's but poor substitutes for what I need.

-0-

I want some meat and three. Fried okra, mac & cheese, greens of some sort or green beans - actually I can't decide between greens or green beans - ok, I'll have meat and four. With a side of cornbread. And some ice tea. Oh, I didn't tell you what meat? I don't care - what's good today?

What kind of pie do you have?

-0-

I'm kinda full. I'd like a BLT for supper, with Vlassic dill pickles as a side. No mayonnaise on mine. Just a thin smear of brown mustard, please. Maybe an RC to wash it all down with? In a nod to health, I'd like some carrot sticks, too.

Bidness advisory service

I've see the stuff going around about Mothership BBQ. I haven't had a chance to eat there yet. But I'd really like to try it.

Hang in there, man. Most new businesses have some cash flow issues in their first year. It's tough. I know you're looking for some investors and I hope that's going well. But have you thought about perhaps diversifying a little bit?

Here's one business model you may have overlooked:



Lawrenceburg, TN '96 or '97 - I've been scanning in old photos!

Memery - food for thought

I've been tagged with two memes. One about food and the other about thought.

The first was a while ago, and well, I've just had a lot on my mind. But it was very flattering. From Cup of Joe Powell, I was awarded the Thinking Bloggers award - which is pretty cool because his is a blog that makes me think. But it's poor form to tag back, so I won't.

The meme works like this...which bloggers make you think - the ones that make you go...hmmm, I hadn't thought of that - at least not quite like that. Pretty much everybody on my blog roll is there because of that. (And I need to update my blogroll - all you Blogger to WordPress defectors and just people I need to add)

I'd say Anglofille and Bob Krumm and R Neal (my blogging inspiration, truth be told) and Katie Allison Granju and my old pal at BB & B.

Here are the rules from NewsComa:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote

Food

The other was much more recently and by Melusina - and it's all about where you like to go and eat. Well, here's my list.

1. Oh Boy - Thai restaurant on Garrett Lane - yummy and good value
2. The White Eagle - in Tooting Bec - not sure how much I'd want to eat there in the summer - since it's good stodgy Polish fair - but for heaps of good slavic soul food, you can't beat it. The restaurant is inside a Polish social club - and you actually have to walk through the faux wood pannelled scuzzy bar to get to the nicely appointed restaurant. But it's worth it.
3. At home - OK, it's kinda cheating, but we had some really good takeaway/delivery in our neighbourhood. In particular, a curry delivery joint called Coriander. Sadly, it seems to be shut now - without explanation (so I hope it has to do with cash flow rather than some local enforcement action). So now, if we want curry we have to go to...
4. Lahore Karahi - the Indian sub-continent is a big, big place - and each area has it's own kind of food. I'm no expert on the subtleties of the cuisine, but I just know I prefer the more BBQ flavor of Pakistani food vs. the fruitier, creamier South Indian cuisine. There are a lot of great curry houses in Tooting - including another legendarily tasty one called Mirch Masala.
5. Dim Sum in China Town for example at Gerrard's Corner. Just choose your dim sum off a checklist left on your table and the dishes keep coming. Soooo tasty dumplings. I haven't eaten here a lot, but it's so good and so fun - and since I don't know what most of those little things are so it's always a surprise.

The rest of this meme is a little complicated - so here we go -

Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the state and country you're in:
Nicole Tan (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
Yianna (Athens, Greece)
Melusina (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Vol Abroad (London, England)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

See above

3. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Ok, let’s keep it interesting. I tag:

• Sandra, Here in Korea
• Kim, Stepping Stones (Tirana, Albania)
• Cynthia Rae, Re-Boot, A New Life in Italy
• Vol Abroad, The Vol Abroad (London)
• Michael, Chez Bez (Nashville, TN, USA)

OK, I'm gonna be totally self interested and go for Jen and Nicole who live not too far away from me (and gals - maybe places that deliver...we may not be going out a bunch in the near future). I'm also going to go for folks in places where I might go and eat...so let me throw it out to Chris Wage in Nashville, Tamara in Knoxville, and the Lynnster - just to cover that other grand division - not that I go to West Tennessee much.

Just plain wrong

I love Krystals. I miss Krystals. I liked them as a kid and I loved them as drunk college student when Krystals was the only place open on the strip. No trip to America is complete without dragging my British husband to Krystals where he marvels at my capacity to eat the gut bombs.

But this, this is wrong:

To make Collins' "Krystal Pizza," the only ingredients needed are two large pepperoni pizzas, twelve to fourteen Cheese Krystals and one cup of garlic butter. The Cheese Krystals are arranged on top of one pepperoni pizza. The second pizza is then placed upside down on top of the Krystals and the first pizza.

Collins says the pizzas are then put into the oven and allowed to melt together, sealing the Krystals inside. For the final touch, he suggests poking holes in the top of the "pizza" and pouring on the garlic butter, allowing it to soak down into the Krystals and pizza. After that, it's just "slice and serve" according to Collins.

This is the recipe that got Justen Collins of Maryville, TN a spot in the Krystal Hall of Fame.

Freak.

(HT - Lynnster)

Quinoa for peace and security

I was once in a swanky Westminster bar advising a senior civil servant - the one who was responsible for the UK drugs strategy - what to do regarding opium growing in Afghanistan.

The problem was: he said - the farmers in Afghanistan depend on the income of the opium poppy. The solution was: a replacement crop or source of income. But the problem is: what? He elaborated that Afghanistan is actually a pretty tough growing climate, and poppies do really well there.

I said. "Friend, I've got two words for you. Specialty grains."

He looked at me as if I were mad or drunk. (To be fair, I was at least one of these.) I elaborated - quinoa, grown in the Andes (a landscape like Mars) has all kinds of health benefits, but it's hard to find and people will pay a premium for the stuff. Same could be said for amaranth. I explained how they could introduce the crop, set up co-operatives and promote these grains in the UK and US markets - which could really take off as people start to become more health concious. And sure, it's not quite as glamourous or lucrative as opium poppies, but it would be a pretty good source of income with a little forethought and support.

And what happened? Nada. Bupkiss. Zip.

And Taliban heroin has flooded the global (and especially European) markets.

I really should be in charge.

-0-

I flashed back to this incident because of Kathy's quinoa recipe post.

Fridge cleaning

We went shopping yesterday after a disastrous trip to the park. It was colder than we expected, we were underdressed and cold, we left the park as soon as it started to rain.

As is our habit, we got two shopping carts and split up. Unfortunately, we covered some of the same ground. Ooops. We have a lot of yoghurt now. I mean a lot.

The Vol-in-Law puts the food away. He has a system it's best I don't mess with. On the upside it means I don't have to put the food away - on the downside it means he does go on a bit about using up the fruit and veg we already have in the fridge before buying any new perishables. (It sounds like this...blah, blah, blah)

He was especially disturbed by the amount of fruit we had and the amount of fruit we had just bought. He suggested that I make a fruit salad. I'm not big on fruit salad - but I did use up a full bag of plums making a delicious plum cobbler.




After tasting that, all was forgiven in the fruit overstocking front, I think.

I might have been a bit better with a bit more fruit. But here's the recipe I used. I had to use the batter bubble up from the bottom type of cobbler rather than the biscuit topping type recipe because, well - I wanted to use up milk, egg and use melted butter - since butter in this country doesn't come conveniently packaged with tablespoon and quarter cup markings.