The Joy of Cooking

I hardly dare say it, lest I should jinx it, but I am pleased to say...I have my cooking mojo back! At last! I have posted so many times over the past few months about how I wished I could get back into menu planning, and felt the zest had gone out of me a little...well, as you can probably tell from the number of cookery posts lately, it is back!

Yesterday afternoon at work I was stamping books whilst pondering dinner. It was a rainy morning so comfort food was in order. I had a cooked chicken at my disposal, and Carl had expressed an interest in a stew or similar. So whilst I stamped I toyed with ideas in my head. Sketched out possible dinners and mused some more. In the end, I decided to soften an onion in a little butter, then simmer some carrots and green beans in chicken stock, then add in some chunks of chicken towards the end. Then I added a little milk to the veggie-chicken-stock mixture to make it creamy, and a little cornflour to thicken. Then I threw together a cobbler topping scented with rosemary and baked in the oven.

Although the dinner was lovely, what was lovelier was deciding what to make and getting excited about how to make it!

Tonight dinner was extra special, because we finally ate at a table like grown ups, thanks to our local second hand shop! I made 'Tuesday Tarts' although it is of course a Thursday, courtesy of Attic24. I tweaked the recipe a little, using a red onion instead of white, drizzling with basil oil, and adding a sliced tomato to the top of each tart before baking. The best bit is that there are 2 tarts left over for tomorrows lunch.

Now we are sitting in the nearly-dark living room, soft lamp light giving a gentle glow. Coffee scents the air, and a bowl of ripe plums sits between us to be shared.

Wherever you are, I hope you are having a lovely evening

Love

Mimi

xxx