e you my ongoing culinary adventures.I have taken a few pictures though, so all
is not lost! John and I are moving next Friday, and although I absolutely adore my current kitchen, I am pretty excited about this new challenge. We are moving for work commitments, but only 60km from our house (I could not face the 130km round trip commute any longer...an John has found some more work there). The new house has sea views, and I hope this will help my cooking inspirations (prawns, cod, sole...here I come). In my last post I was telling you about these pasties I was to make and bake...unfortunately, it did not go 
according to plan, and I had to improvise (I suppose improvising is a part of the cooking element...although it has to be used with small quantities or anything could go extremely wrong!). I started off really well, with all my ingredients chopped and ready, to make the actual assembling of the pasties much easier and quicker. I had anticipated that the heat in the kitchen 
(and generally in the air as, being in Spain in August, the heat IS going to be a problem at some point) was going to be tricky for the pastry but candidly imagined it was going to be OK...and it turned out differently! The dough became extremely sticky and I was only able to shape a few before I had to surrender myself! I then decided to make a huge pasty, I figured out that if it was to work for a tiny one, it would work for a family sized one! And it did! It did not look gorgeous, but it was pretty good (even if I say so myself)...nobody complained anyway!The following week end we were a few having dinner and as I was feeling a bit poorly, I decided to 
be a bit lazy and to do something quick, easy but still scrumptious...home made pizzas! I first made the dought with flour, yeast, water, EVOO and 
a pinch of salt. My faithful Kenwood did the rest of the work until the dought was elastic and smooth. In the meantime I prepared the ingredients to put on the pizzas (whatever you have in the fridge really...and whatever rocks your boat...) and rolled the dought, stuck a few ingredients and it was done! With 500g of flour I did five huge pizzas (I mean, one pizza could feed a normal family of 3!!). I'm lucky enough to have a pretty big oven which could cook all the pizzas in one go! Once again, everything went with nothing esle but praise (how modest of me to specify...).
be a bit lazy and to do something quick, easy but still scrumptious...home made pizzas! I first made the dought with flour, yeast, water, EVOO and 
a pinch of salt. My faithful Kenwood did the rest of the work until the dought was elastic and smooth. In the meantime I prepared the ingredients to put on the pizzas (whatever you have in the fridge really...and whatever rocks your boat...) and rolled the dought, stuck a few ingredients and it was done! With 500g of flour I did five huge pizzas (I mean, one pizza could feed a normal family of 3!!). I'm lucky enough to have a pretty big oven which could cook all the pizzas in one go! Once again, everything went with nothing esle but praise (how modest of me to specify...).You will realise that during the week end, when I can actually cook, there are always a lot of 
people at home an I have to prepare food in large quantity which people will enjoy, without feeling that it is too posh and feeling uncomfortable...this is the reason why I do this sort of 
recipes, easy going friend grub! This lead to my other signature week end recipe, chicken curry samosas. It can sound scary as for the samosas you need the "feuille de brick" a kind of filo sheets which isn't commonly used in everyday cooking, and a bit of practice for the shaping of the whole thing. I first marinated my chicken and thinly chopped 
onions with curry and cumin powder. I fried it, set it aside and added some English cheddar. I prepared the sheets, cut them in half, adding a bit of my now cooled chicken curry stuffing and started folding carefully into triangles. Once all folded, I heated sunflower oil in a pan and fried the samosas for around a minute a side. I let them rest on a kitchen towel to drain the excess of fat and this was that! The first time I made these samosas was with my now known to you BFF1 Cloé. We did them with feta cheese and corn salad (or mâche in French) if my memory's right. She discovered the trick to folding them quickly and efficiently (just like her!!) and she tought me (obviously really well). These samosas are always a success and once the folding skills managed, you will be able to make them with any flavours you want, to experiment and impress your guests, or just to treat yourself!
people at home an I have to prepare food in large quantity which people will enjoy, without feeling that it is too posh and feeling uncomfortable...this is the reason why I do this sort of 
recipes, easy going friend grub! This lead to my other signature week end recipe, chicken curry samosas. It can sound scary as for the samosas you need the "feuille de brick" a kind of filo sheets which isn't commonly used in everyday cooking, and a bit of practice for the shaping of the whole thing. I first marinated my chicken and thinly chopped 
onions with curry and cumin powder. I fried it, set it aside and added some English cheddar. I prepared the sheets, cut them in half, adding a bit of my now cooled chicken curry stuffing and started folding carefully into triangles. Once all folded, I heated sunflower oil in a pan and fried the samosas for around a minute a side. I let them rest on a kitchen towel to drain the excess of fat and this was that! The first time I made these samosas was with my now known to you BFF1 Cloé. We did them with feta cheese and corn salad (or mâche in French) if my memory's right. She discovered the trick to folding them quickly and efficiently (just like her!!) and she tought me (obviously really well). These samosas are always a success and once the folding skills managed, you will be able to make them with any flavours you want, to experiment and impress your guests, or just to treat yourself!
During the week my husband did a homemade improved version of the classic mac & cheese; we all love this recipe, but by adding fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs an lots of love, it was extra special and delicious. I cannot share the meal with you, but I did take a picture...
And, before I rush off to my kitchen for more week end cooking delights, I need to share the birthday cake I made, just last night. Indeed, yestderday it was one of John's son's birthday and I had been thinking for a long time of making a football themed cake. Unfortunately, between my work commitments and the fact that Spain is not big in cake decorating and 
other products to make cakes colorful and funny, I was unable to do what I really wanted. Instead I had to do what I could with what I had (not much...) in two hours (the time between my arrival from work and the actual cake face stuffing! I coulf not find any fondant, which I had plan to colour and use as the grass for the pitch. I therefore used icing sugar with a mix on lemon juice and water (a good balance for having it with a bit of flavour but not too sharpe), tinted it green, used the rolled out white fondant my husband had miraculously found (mind you, it took us a few days to find it, bless him) to do the sides and goal posts...and it was all I could do! I made a sponfe cake with layers of fresh whipped cream and strawberry jam, covered it in marzipan to have a more or less level surface and started decorating. My husband, as wonderful as usual; helped when all went wrong (the icing ran down the side of the cake, it was too hot in the kitchen, it did not set...) and, with our teamwork effort, we ended up with a cake which was reasonably good for a first attempt.
other products to make cakes colorful and funny, I was unable to do what I really wanted. Instead I had to do what I could with what I had (not much...) in two hours (the time between my arrival from work and the actual cake face stuffing! I coulf not find any fondant, which I had plan to colour and use as the grass for the pitch. I therefore used icing sugar with a mix on lemon juice and water (a good balance for having it with a bit of flavour but not too sharpe), tinted it green, used the rolled out white fondant my husband had miraculously found (mind you, it took us a few days to find it, bless him) to do the sides and goal posts...and it was all I could do! I made a sponfe cake with layers of fresh whipped cream and strawberry jam, covered it in marzipan to have a more or less level surface and started decorating. My husband, as wonderful as usual; helped when all went wrong (the icing ran down the side of the cake, it was too hot in the kitchen, it did not set...) and, with our teamwork effort, we ended up with a cake which was reasonably good for a first attempt.As I said at the beginning of my post, we will be moving next Friday, so I suppose my next culinary adventure I will be sharing will be from my new kitchen...I will of course introduce you to my new environment and tools...and will share my new cravings an crazy ideas!
