#11: Pan-fried salmon and soba noodle soup

'Comfort food'. To me, that's always conjured up feelings of warm but heavy food. Perhaps its due to a heritage where potatoes and bread accompany nearly every meal, sometimes together (chip butty anyone?). 'Comfort food' means pasta, jacket potatoes with piles of butter and cheese, slabs of french toast, hash browns, and - of course - stew. Soups, however, are typically the one dish which falls outside of this 'heavy' category, and as the days get a little cooler here in Perth, I'm drawn once again to comfort foods and soups in particular.

Soba is traditionally served either cold with a dipping 'sauce' or hot in a soupy broth like in this recipe. I like it either hot or cold, but, with my desire for some 'comfort' in this dish, I opted for a hot soup with pan-fried salmon and spring onions. The broth here is water-based, although other recipes suggest a chicken-stock base. My decision was based solely on having forgotten to buy chicken stock (and having none in the house).

Serves 2. 1-2 hours marinading time & 20 minutes cooking time.

 

For the salmon:
2 fillets of salmon
2-4 tablespoons honey
2-4 tablespoons soy sauce
Lots of black pepper

For the noodles:

180g dried soba noodles
4-5 spring onions
2 large slices fresh ginger
5 cups water
1 tablespoon mirin
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Around 1-2 hours before cooking, place the salmon in a bowl and cover with the honey, soy sauce and black pepper. Put aside to marinade.
2. In a saucepan, bring to the boil the water, mirin, soy sauce and sesame oil, along with half of the spring onions (chopped finely) and the ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. With 5-10 minutes before serving, heat a pan of sesame oil and place the salmon in. Cook to your personal preference, I like my salmon soft and light pink on the outside but fleshy and deeper pink on the inside which takes around 7 minutes on a hot ring.
4. Remove the ginger slices and add the soba noodles from the broth and add in the soba noodles. Bring the pot to the boil again and then let simmer for around 4 minutes.
5. Serve up the noodles and soup in bowls, adding the remaining chopped spring onions as a garnish. Finally, place a salmon fillet on top.

Share, a cookbook by Women for Women International

Women for Women International provide support and training for women whose lives have been impacted by war, working in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Southern Sudan and Rwanda. Through a one-year program, women who would otherwise be socially excluded are provided with job-specific skills, business training and education on their rights, enabling survivors of war to become strong leaders in their communities. 

Share (available through Oxfam) is a cookbook produced by Women for Women International. It features dishes from each of the countries it works in, along with recipes from chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Maggie Beer, humanitarians, including Emma Thompson, Christiane Amanpour, Sir Richard Branson, Dame Judi Dench, Annie Lennox, America Ferrera, and Livia Firth, and even Nobel Peace Prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. I bought a copy last week, and have started working my way through some of the recipes. I'm guilty of often using recipe books as an inspirational 'starting point' when I'm cooking: sometimes I purposely deviate from the script, experimenting with different ingredients and tastes, while other times I'm simply constrained by what's in the fridge and I have to adjust recipes accordingly. However I've found that with Share I'm keen to follow the recipes to the letter, particularly when trying the dishes from the Women for Women International countries.

The book is sectioned into 'well-being', 'nuture', 'community', and 'celebration', with recipes aimed at healthy dishes, meals for the family table, and recipes for sharing. The instructions are logical and easy to follow, an despite a heavy leaning towards international dishes, there aren't too many ingredients you'd need to hunt down in a specialist store. The spicy chicken casserole from Rwanda (pictured below) is a new favourite, and is likely to make its way onto the table several times this winter: it's a light and fresh dish with a nice kick to it.

I'll be adding occasional recipe book reviews to the blog - if you'd like to recommend a recipe book that you swear by, please do let me know.

#10: Pasta with roast asparagus, prosciutto and pesto

Things are a little busy in the 52 dishes household at the moment. I've been pulling a few long hours here and there, and as a result dinners have been a bit simpler and easier, aimed at getting me and my husband fed rather than something I linger over. Don't get me wrong, I'm nothing silly like an investment banker or a newborn mother, and I've still been able to make time most days for my daily dog-walk-on-the-beach, but things have been a just a little bit more hectic than I'd like.

This is just a slightly fancier version of pesto and pasta - which, let's be honest, is a student dish - making it perfect for a busy weekday night. We get fresh pasta and pesto from a local Italian grocery shop which also has the best deals on seasonal fruit and vegetables, so we typically throw in whatever is going cheap. However, this was my first time cooking asparagus: I've historically been a bit afraid of it, as I've had some tough and rubbery asparagus before and therefore assumed there was a bit of magic to getting it right. This recipe worked really well though, relying on some oil and white wine to keep it nice and tender (you could substitute lemon juice if your white wine is precious, which it probably should be).

Serves 2. 40 minutes preparation & cooking time.

 

400g pasta

1 onion

8-10 stems of asparagus
Half a cup of white wine

4 slices of proscuitto
4 tablespoons of basil pesto

Flaked parmesan to serve

1. Slice the onion and put in the oven (180-200C) in a small and shallow roasting dish doused in olive oil. Give the onions around 10 minutes to soften before adding the asparagus.
2. Chop the asparagus into 'bite size' chunks and add to the onion dish and pour on a large splash of white wine. Add black pepper and put back in the oven for around 15 minutes.
3. Bring a pan of water with salt and oil to the boil. Add the pasta and simmer for 20 minutes (or according to the cooking requirements of your choice of pasta).
4. Drain the pasta and stir in the pesto and sliced proscuitto.
5. Add the onion and asparagus and serve with flaked parmesan and black pepper.

This goes fantastic with Riesling. We drank Taylors Estate Riesling which is really crisp and citrusy - a great complement to the asparagus.

#9: Homemade mini tortillas with chicken and pico de gallo

The hardest thing about starting and blogging this 52 dishes challenge was always going to be honesty. In particular, honesty about failure. Having made the commitment to cook each week and write a post about it here tied me in to sharing even some of the dishes which went a little bit awry. On a good week I get in the kitchen more than once, giving me a bit of margin for error, while during busier periods I've got no leeway. This last week was one such week.

The weather is turning here in Perth. Autumn (or at least, what passes for autumn here) is around the corner, and before long I'll be able to bust out my casserole dish and eat out of that for the brief period that can loosely be described as 'winter' in Perth. The days are getting shorter, I have to wear a jumper on my trips to the beach, and we've put the duvet back on the bed. All this means one thing - I've got to make the most of light summer cooking while I still can.

That was the driving force behind these tortillas, or 'faux tortillas', since I'm being honest. I've never made tortillas before, and as a result I made the amateur mistake of thinking cornflour is an adequate substitute for masa harina . It's not. It wasn't a complete disaster; I supplemented the dough with plain flour until I could had something malleable and workable (cornflour plus water makes a great, and messy, game for a little child, it doesn't make tortillas). These were then grilled for around 1 -2 minutes on each side. They puffed out slightly (hello cornflour!)  but this made them sturdy enough to be eaten flat with food piled up on top. Messy finger food - perfect for a night in with someone who loves you even when you've got food down your front!

If you'd like to make tortillas, I recommend you follow this recipe from Gourmet Traveller, and learn from my mistakes. The chicken marinade, however, was pretty lovely, so I'll just share that instead.

I'm nothing if not honest.

2 Chicken thighs

1 lime

1-2 small red chillies 

1 tsp paprika

Black pepper

Dice the chicken, chop the chillies finely and add to chicken. Add the juice from the lime, paprika and pepper and leave to marinade for an hour or so.

Eating out in Bondi Beach

Alongside my regular weekly recipe updates, I thought I might begin a highly irregular series of 'eating out in...' posts. Less of a 'where to eat' guide, but rather a 'where I ate' rundown. One of the perks of my current job is that sometimes I get to fly off somewhere new, and as a result, I get to try the local cuisine. Eating out is one of my favourite aspects about being away from home - it almost makes up for the time I have to spend away from my husband and dog - and I will happily spend an hour each day wandering between menu stands which line the streets, making the choice of where I'll park myself that evening.

I tend to eat in cafes. I have something of a homing device for finding spots with free wifi (particularly if I'm away for work), and I'm a big fan of sitting outside. I peer into a bustling cafe and check out what's on everyone's plates, and I love a good wine list.

So here's an overview of some of the places I ate during my time staying in Bondi Beach, Sydney.

Dinner

Cafe Bikini

I loved this small cafe situated under a dirty awning on Hall Street. It housed a simple drinks menu and a short list of dishes, but eating here twice I was really impressed. A slow roasted lamb and feta salad was probably my favourite meal of the trip. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable, and - I might be biased - but anywhere that doesn't shove you on the worst table just because you're eating alone always gets extra points from me!

Mad Pizza E Bar

A family-friendly pizzeria that turns into a nightclub halfway through your meal? Why not! Happy hour starts at 9.30pm until close. Dancing permitted.

For breakfast, brunch & lunch

Gertrude & Alice

A bookshop-cafe is probably my idea of heaven, throw in the 'lucky dip' book boxes and the divine toasted pear and raspberry bread, and this is a level beyond even that! As books go, they stock both new and secondhand books, and will also buy books off you. I sat here for a good few hours working my way through Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall with a cup of tea, and overheard at least three different groups discussing how amazing the halloumi salad was (I might have to book another trip to Sydney just to try it!). Icing on the cake: they're licensed. Need I say more?

Lyrebird Corn Fritters

The corn fritters stall at Bondi Farmer's Market is apparently something of a local favourite, and you're lucky if you don't have to queue for a good ten minutes before ordering up your breakfast. Served up with bacon, sausages and homemade relishes, they're worth every second you're in that queue! I got a plate of fritters on my last morning in Bondi - a lovely way to finish off my time there.

Le Paris Go Cafe
*cash only*
Apparently also great for dinner, this place is heaving at pretty much any hour of the day. It's worth squeezing in here for a cup of coffee or some french toast, although not ideal if you're in a hurry.

Coffee & drinks

Chapter One
Coffee by day, wine by night. If one venue ever summed up my life, it would be Chapter One. There are a few seats outside with a great view over the ocean for watching the sunset and the surf (or just the surfers). Inside its cosy - perfect for when the wind picks up. They also do breakfast and lunch.

The Living Room
Upstairs at the Corner House on Bondi Road. Great drinks list, fun bar staff and quirky furniture. What more could you ask for from a Sydney bar?

Things to note: lots of places in Bondi Beach seem to be cash only, and to make things worse, this is explained only in the small-print at the bottom of a menu. I had to leave one or two places after being seated for this reason as the ATM was the other end of the street - it's worth keeping an eye out for this!

#8: French toast with caramelised pears

I'm playing catch up at the moment, having been away from my kitchen for three weeks in February. So now I'm trying to make up for lost time, which I suppose can only be a good thing. I collected a few recipe ideas I'm keen to try out after eating in some great cafes while I was away. This is one such recipe - I had breakfast at the Tricycle Cafe in the Salamanca Arts Centre while I was staying in Hobart. It was a lovely and relaxed cafe, and a nice hideaway from the busy market in Salamanca Place on a Saturday morning. The poached pear french toast they served was enormous, dished up with a vanilla syrup, cream and currants - it was beautiful but a little too rich for me to be able to finish. I therefore tried a simpler version for a sunny Saturday morning brunch.

I used a soft ciabatta loaf from a local bakery for this recipe, and it was perfect. I'd steer away from anything harder, like sourdough or crusty broad bread, but that's my personal preference. I also used Packham pears, as they're in season in my area, but I'll be playing around with differen varieties and different fruit in future.

serves 2
20 minutes



For the pears:
1 large pear, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon of honey
A generous splash of rum (amaretto might also be lovely)
A teaspoon of vanilla essence

For the toast:
4-6 thick slices of soft white bread (depending on the size of the loaf)
6 eggs
A teaspoon of vanilla essence

Over a low heat, mix the honey, rum and vanilla essence in a pan.

When you have a smooth mixture, add the pear slices and put the lid on.

Check the pears regularly, turning them as required. They should become noticeably soft. The sugary rum mixture will also become tacky.

When soft, remove the pears from the pan and place on a plate at the side.

Melt some butter in the pan with the remnants of the sugary rum mix.

Crack and mix together the eggs and another teaspoon of vanilla essence

Cover each slice of bread in egg and place in the pan. The bread should be turned once or twice, and served up when the egg is cooked.

Place the pears on the french toast, and serve with icing sugar and maple syrup

#7: Twice-roasted lamb shanks with mint mash and carrots

This dish, I'll be honest, was a dual-effort. I love cooking with my husband - glass of wine in hand, sharing the details of our respective days. We don't do it as often as either of us would like: football practice, work and social commitments get in the way. But when we do get together in the kitchen, I relish it. 

This is a much simpler dish than the convoluted name implies. For people who work all day, the concept of slow cooked meat is a little abstract - it's just simply not possible! (Edit: as Annika points out below, it is possible with a slow cooker, but we've currently not got one of these.... maybe that needs to be an upcoming purchase) We got around this by roasting the lamb on a low heat for a number of hours on the Tuesday night before cooking it again on the Wednesday night - slow roasted meat on a working person's schedule.

serves 2


2 lamb shanks
1 onion
A few sprigs of rosemary
6 cloves garlic
Half a bottle of red wine
3-4 medium potatoes
4 carrots
Sprig of mint
Knob of butter

DAY ONE:

1. Slice onions into rings and place these, with the cloves of garlic, in the bottom of a heavy casserole or roasting dish (ideally with a lid, otherwise use foil).
2. Place the shanks on top, pour in half a bottle of wine, some large sprigs of rosemary, and some cracked pepper.
3. Roast on a low heat (around 100^oC) for three or four hours. Keep the meat, onion and gravy mix in the dish overnight.

DAY TWO:

1. Put the meat back in the oven at 150^oC for 1½ hours, then put the heat up to 180-200^oC for the final 30-40 minutes.
2. At this point, you should:
• put the potatoes on to boil - they should boil for 20-30 minutes, until a blunt knife slides into the flesh easily. For this meal, we didn't peel the potatoes first, making a mash with a bit of rustic appeal.
• put the carrots (similarly with the skins and tips still on) in the oven to roast for 30 minutes, doused in olive oil and plenty of black pepper.
3. Remove the meat from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes while you make the mash.
4. When the potatoes are ready, drain them and mash them with diced mint and butter. If the mash is dry, scoop some gravy from the meat dish in to moisten it.
5. Serve the meat up with the rosemary and the soft onion/gravy mix. Remove the carrots from the oven and serve them up with the mash.

I recommend this with a hearty red wine. We went for a Willoughby Park Cabernet Sauvignon, one of my favourite bottles from one of my favourite vineyards here in Western Australia.

Kitchen Garden Inspiration: Samudra

The house my husband and I rent has a gorgeous little courtyard at the back, and in one corner is a raised bedded area which I've been trying to convert into a kitchen garden. So far it's been quite a lot of hardwork with no reward. Strawberries were uprooted by two excited puppies and carrots were eaten by woodlice as soon as they peeked through the soil. My tomatoes had too few nutrients, my capsicum too many. In all, it's taken a long time for anything vaguely resembling success to appear in my garden. However, the past few months have been a little more kind to me, and some veggies are getting themselves established in pots and planters across this small patch of land.

As a result of my gardening endeavours, I've been keeping a close watch for inspirational veggie patches - well, any garden which is actually yielding really. So when we visited Samudra on a recent trip to Dunsborough, I stopped to take a few snaps of the kitchen garden, the fruit of which they harvest and serve up in the cafe. I highly recommend the cafe - they do fantastic vegetarian meals, tasty coffee and the seating spills out next to the garden, making it a beautiful location to grab some breakfast.

Most of the plants were kept shaded from the harsh Western Australian sun, apart from some tomatoes towards the back. Then in various planters were bushes of basil, courgette, heads of lettuce, spinach and kale. Clearly they have much more room to play with than I do, but it was interesting to see a very functional kitchen garden all laid out.

Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll be able to share something from my own kitchen garden... green fingers crossed!

I'm away for work at the moment, so I've let my weekly updates slide and I'll be playing 'catch-up' for a while when I get back. I'm spending 3 weeks away from home in total, spread across Hobart and Sydney, and while I'm enjoying seeing some new places here in Australia, I'm missing home quite a lot too! I've been lax in cooking for myself while I'm away, and what I have made is really not worth sharing. Instead I'll blog about some of the culinary highlights from my travels - so stay tuned!

#6: Gnocchi with bacon and rosemary

In an attempt to start pushing myself a bit harder with this 52 dishes challenge, I decided to try my hand at making gnocchi. Thus far the dishes I've made each week for this challenge haven't been much of a challenge, which I suppose seems somewhat perverse. Unlike many new years resolutions, this one is still going strong into February, and I'm glad of that, but I'd definitely like to start learning a few more new recipes and techniques. So, armed with a couple of potatoes and a recipe I found following a brief "easy gnocchi recipe" search, I headed into the world of gnocchi-making.

This recipe is strongly inspired by the Kitchen Konfidence 'Rustic Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter Sauce', adapted to account for what I had in the fridge at the time (an abundance of bacon). I also opted to simply boil the potatoes at the beginning rather than roast them, given that I began cooking already hungry!

On the whole, these were great, particularly for a first attempt! The gnocchi were soft and light, which made a lovely change from the heavy, stodgy ones I seem to buy at the grocers. However, they weren't the very best looking of gnocchi, as I didn't take enough care when rolling them to make them uniform and smooth, plus some got a little squished as I turned them in the pan. I'd definitely try to do this more carefully next time. Finally, I made these gnocchi for lunch, and I'd likely increase these portions if cooking it for dinner.

Serves 2 (as lunch)

c.1 hour total, including initial boiling, cooling etc.

3 medium potatoes
1 egg
flour for dough and rolling (around 1 cup)
3 rashers of bacon
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
olive oil, salt and pepper

1. Peel, chop and boil potatoes
2. Drain potatoes and mash them in a mixing bowl with some salt. Allow to cool.
3. While the potatoes cool, chop bacon and rosemary into small pieces and fry slowly in olive oil.
4. When cooled, beat one egg and enough flour into the mashed potatoes to make a smooth but sticky dough. This will be about half a cup of flour.
5. Taking small sections of the dough, roll them on a floured surface to make small dumplings. Note: you can then leave these here until you're ready to cook.
6. Place the gnocchi in a pan of boiling water.
7. As the gnocchi cook they will rise to the surface. Scoop them out as they do, and place them in the frying pan with the bacon and rosemary. Do this until all gnocchi are in the frying pan and coated with the oil-bacon-rosemary mix.

Serve with parmesan and a chick flick - this is pure comfort food!

#5: Baked beans on, well, anything.

And just like that January was over. Seriously, I feel like this year might fly by rather quickly. I've been particularly busy with work this past month, which might account for why time has been moving so fast for me: that's the real meaning of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, or at least, that's how I choose to interpret it during particularly busy periods in my life.

As a result dinners have been slightly lazy. If you thought last week's salad was lazy, wait until you read this recipe! This is the quite probably the easiest recipe in the world, and most of the ingredients (and definitely all of the essential ones) can always be found in my cupboards. It’s lazy, and fast, and requires the minimum of forethought. Perfect.

I eat these beans on toast, on a jacket potato, as a side to pork or chicken, or – as I discovered this week – as the tastiest filling in a beef burger. The recipe below makes enough for 2 or 4, depending on what you’re serving it with. Any leftovers keep perfectly well in the fridge for a day or two, and the flavour only improves. If I’m making these as a side to a meat dish I’ll typically make the beans up at some stage early in the cooking process, and then just reheat them before serving up – it sounds lazy, but giving them some time to sit makes the sauce a tad thicker and fuller.

Pictured below is a fuller version of this recipe, but this week's dish was a true pantry-basic, and I just used what was in the house. I used half as many beans as normal, and the result was just a slightly sloppier mixture, but just as tasty.

Serves 4, or 2 with a decent amount of leftovers.

10-15 minutes cooking

1 tin tomatoes (chopped)

1 tin beans (mixed or bortolli work best for me)

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Plenty of pepper and paprika

Dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Put in a pan and cook on a medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes (until beans are all soft and the sauce is thickening). Serve.

#4: Goats cheese, peppers, spring onion & rocket salad

The motivation behind the 52 dishes challenge was to force me to be more creative in the kitchen. It's been fairly successful on some occasions so far, but sometimes that's not really an option. This past week has been a busy one, and I've barely been in the house. On top of that, it's been rather warm, and I've learnt my lesson about trying to cook up a storm in the kitchen when it's nearly 40 degrees outside.

I'd planned to make a couple of small quiches for lunch, but then the thought of turning on the oven was more than I was happy with. I took the same ingredients and just threw them on top of some spinach instead, which was just as satisfying in the heat!

Serves 2

5 mins preparation.

Big handful spinach

1 yellow pepper

3-4 spring onions

75g goats cheese

Chop veg, crumble cheese and pile it all up. I top it off with black pepper and drizzle a tiny bit of siracha sauce on the side for a kick, although this is actually tasty enough without.

One seriously lazy lunch.

#3: Chicken, bacon and halloumi burger

In retrospect, this wasn't the best choice of meal for a thirty-nine degree day. The burgers were delicious, but I do regret standing over a hot hob and grill when simply sitting still was difficult enough. 

Serve with gallons of iced water. 

Serves 2

5 mins preparation, 15-20 mins cooking

2 ciabatta rolls

chicken breast (one large, butterflied into two, or two little ones)

4 rashers streaky bacon

6 slices of halloumi

1 tomato

Lettuce leaves

Mayonnaise & ketchup

1. Cook the chicken breast over a medium-high heat and the bacon under a medium-hot grill - turn both occasionally.  After around 10-15 minutes, place the sliced halloumi in the pan with the chicken, and turn occasionally.
2. Stack the cooked chicken, bacon and halloumi with the tomatoes, lettuce and sauces in the sliced ciabatta rolls.

Enjoy.

#2: Bruschetta with pancetta and pan-fried nectarines

It's been hot here in Perth this week, and the prospect of eating a hot meal has been the furthest thing from my mind most days. This dish was therefore conjured up as I sat on the bus home trying to conceive of a meal that was a bit more substantial than a salad, yet wouldn't require me to consume vast quantities of potatoes or pasta.

It's a very easy dish and it requires no real culinary skills beyond thinking up different toppings.

Serves 2

5 mins preparation, 10 mins cooking

Ingredients:

2 small turkish bread, ciabatta or focaccia rolls
4 tablespoons basil pesto
2 handfuls rocket
6-9 thin slices of pancetta
1-2 nectarines

olive oil and balsamic vingear

Method:

Slice the rolls in half and put under a medium-to-hot grill with a drizzle of olive oil, toasting both sides. While these heat up, slice the nectarines and place in a small frying pan, over a low heat, with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Using tongs, turn these to ensure they're softened all over.

Make up your bruschettas by coating each toasted roll with pesto, then layering rocket, pancetta and the nectarines. I then throw a little bit more balsamic vingear on top before serving up.

#1: Honey, soy & ginger pork chops

I received Dinner, A Love Story from a friend for my birthday last year, and have been enjoying both the writing and the recipes over the past few months. This recipe was inspired by one from the book, bourbon pork chops, which I had tried and loved. I made my variant of these sticky pork chops for my book club group on our debut meeting.

I like to marinade my meat in the bag it comes in. It's not fancy, but it keeps all the juices together, so I can simply tip the contents into a deep pan, cook the meat in the marinade-and-juices mixture, and then serve the sauce/gravy with the meal. Pro tip: don't leave that bag anywhere within reach of your puppy, as you'll spend a good ten minutes chasing her while she dances happily around the garden with the meaty-bag dangling out of her mouth. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Photo courtesy of my friend Rachel

Serves 4

5 mins preparation, 2-4 hours marinading, 20 mins cooking

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

4 large tablespoons of honey

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

a generous dousing of soy sauce

Method:

Rub the honey and garlic into the chops, and place them in the marinading container. Pour plenty of soy sauce in, such that each chop is wet. Leave to marinade for 2 to 4 hours.

On the hob, put the meat and juices into a large, deep frying pan and cook, turning occasionally, on a low heat for twenty minutes or until cooked through (test with a skewer or sharp knife)

Serve with: 

Roast potatoes and salad.

-

I suppose in many regards this blog was inspired by the narrative of Dinner, A Love Story. The 52 dishes challenge that I've set myself for 2014 is an attempt to get back in the kitchen. I've definitely neglected meal times over the past year or so, and my poor husband has carried most of the load with regards cooking. I know that cooking daily isn't a realistic goal for me at the moment, but whipping something up each week, and maybe trying something new now and then - that's definitely a challenge, but one I could possibly attain.

Thus '52 dishes', one each week of 2014 - I'm not promising anything spectacular, but I'll be blogging each one here.

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