Cooking up a storm

As regular readers of my blog will now, I really enjoy cooking. It's one of my relaxations. Amazingly, after a tough day or week at work, I really do find comfort and calm from messing about in my kitchen and rustling up something to eat from whatever I can lay my hands on.

I must confess, however, I had got myself into a bit of a rut. Same old favourite recipes time after time. Last year, partly in celebration at being able to cook pretty much whatever I liked now that I was only catering for one and partly to get myself out of my rut, I started trying out new recipes again. I joined the local library with the express purpose of getting out cookery books and my Mum bought me a subscription to the fabulous Delicious magazine. And since then, I've been cooking up a storm.

There is something wonderful about creating your own food. One of my favourite things (yes, I'm that sad) is to do a whole batch of cooking, eat what I can manage that night and then divide the rest up into portions for the freezer. Sadly, what I'm not so good at doing is labelling what I've made so defrosted meals can sometimes be a bit of a voyage of discovery!

Probably another reason I do so much of my own cooking is that I have a food allergy - I can't tolerate much wheat. And I've found that the safest way to know that your food is allergen free is to choose and combine the ingredients yourself. It's amazing how much stuff wheat gets hidden in and unless you can be bothered to spend time reading ALL the labels, it really is quicker - and more fun - to make it from scratch yourself.

(Incidentally, if you love cooking too and haven't yet watched the film Julie and Julia, it's a must. Even if you don't love cooking, you'll probably love the film. Highly recommended.)

But there is one thing about cooking that I just can't stand - and that's the washing up! Sadly it's always there, waiting, lurking, doing it's best to spoil an otherwise joyful experience. In a kitchen as small as mine, there's no room for a mechanical dishwasher, and try as I might I just haven't managed to secure a replacement human one yet either!!

But still, it's not enough to spoil the Joy of Cooking altogether, and for the timebeing I'm quite happy to take the rough with the smooth and soldier on.

And if you're wondering, the dishes above are (respectively) Tray Baked Asian Crusted Salmon - with fillets bought from our local Farmers Market, yum; Asparagus and Spinach Quiche; and Gourmet Mushroom Pies, complete with homemade Rough Puff (gluten free) pastry.

Midweek mini-break

I just want to say - I had a fabulous day today! By chance I'd managed to book myself a midweek day off and (having business I needed to do in Glasgow anyway) I decided to treat myself to a visit to a place I've been meaning to go to for months but never quite got round to - Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery. It was just the kind of pick-me-up I was needing.

For those who don't know, the Kelvingrove is a fabulous late Victorian building, purpose built as a museum and designed to look on the outside like a Spanish church and on the inside, like an Italian palace. It followed on from 2 of the great Empire inspired International Exhibitions that were the vogue at that time and placed Glasgow on the map as (allegedly) Britain's second city. And, it truly is an amazing building in its own right, without even talking about what's inside.

I happily spent a good few hours wandering round the various exhibitions that make up the Kelvingrove collection - paintings, natural history, archaeology, sculptures and more. There were lots of amazing things to see, all laid out in a very easy to access way.

I loved it on my own level but I also think my almost 8 year old nephew would love it too and I've already got it on my list of places to visit with him when he (hopefully) is across next summer. I don't think he'll like the same things as me and his mum, but I think the viking boat, the dinosaurs, the engines and airplanes and all the hands on exhibits might just be a winner! I think he'll probably like the Phantom of the Opera style organ recital that takes place every lunchtime too!!

 From my own perspective, also a winner was the restaurant - a great range of food and - miracle of miracles! - gluten free bread for the sandwiches and an extensive menu that I could eat. I opted for burger with goats cheese and chips (fries), all washed down with a glass of red wine - and I have to say it was a great choice and added a very decadent touch to my midweek treat.



Happy days. Maybe it will help me keep with the happy faces from the Kelvingrove aerial sculpture - and away from the sad ones.

The past is a different country...

Today is 1st August, also known as Lammas Day but I confess that until yesterday I didn't know what that actually meant. I could vaguely remember that there's a Lammas Fair in St Andrews in August but I strongly suspected that it was named after the day and not the other way round!

But yesterday I found out via an article in the Herald newspaper. And no, it's got nothing to do with llamas!!

Lammas Day is one of the traditional days associated with our agrarian past, in the days before we became an industrial - or as we are now, post industrial - society. Like Whitsun, Candlemas, Quarter Days and Harvest Festivals, Lammas has its roots (oh, pardon the pun!) in the agricultural traditions our ancestors used to follow when we were more closely tied to the earth and the seasons than we now are. (And no, I couldn't have told you when Whitsun was either before I looked at Wikipedia but I did know, courtesy of Philip Larkin, that it was some time in the summer.)

Get on with it, I hear you shout! Ok, Lammas Day is a day of celebration for bread, wheat and all things bakery. It was traditionally the first day of the wheat harvest - at least in the northern hemisphere - and the day, presumably, when we could start stocking up again on that oh-so important staple - flour. It's no accident that the best known prayer of the Christian faith includes an entreaty for daily bread, and the term 'breaking bread' has come to be understood as a ritual of sharing and trust.

Where would we be in our modern hectic full speed lives without the ubiquitous sandwich, pizza, breakfast slice of toast, biscuits, pies, muffins, cupcakes, pasta and noodles. Even our traditional Christmas dinner requires bread sauce and stuffing to be complete! Life on the go would be much less manageable, and convenience foods would be far less, well, convenient. And our coffee/tea breaks would be that bit less naughty.

Spare a thought then for the coeliacs and wheat intolerant amongst you. That's what life is like for those of us who can't tolerate the staff of life. When you stop and think about it (as indeed I now do on an almost daily basis) it's amazing just how many things have wheat in them and are therefore out of bounds. Some are obvious (sandwiches, rolls and wraps of all descriptions; anything with pastry; almost all cakes; most things in batter) while others are less so (soy sauce; semolina; anything with white sauce; most gravies; mustard powder; even some ice creams - no, I don't know either!). It can make life a bit complicated at times.

Nowadays there are many replacements and alternatives - corn, rice or potato flour; rice or millet pasta; quinoa instead of cous cous to name but a few. There are also some amazing brands and ranges, even in the most everyday supermarket, that make life that little bit less dull. Special mention to Tesco and Sainsbury for their gluten free ranges, and newcomer Marks & Spencer (although here's a hint, guys. If you have a 'free from' range - stock it in one place and don't mix it up with wheaty goodies, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having a range - ie you still have to read the ingredients list just to be sure!). Even some coffee shop chains are getting in on the act. My other recent discovery (and great joy) is a gluten free bread that actually tastes like 'real' bread - take a bow, Genius loaves!

So after all that, you can imagine I'm fairly non-plussed about the whole point of today!!


In case you were wondering - the rest of the quote in the title is "they do things differently there". Prize - ok just some kudos - if you know where it comes from.

In case you were wondering 2 - extreme bloating and fairly violent gas is the consequence of indulging in wheaty substances for me. Not, as I told my impressionable young nephew, turning green and growing horns!! 


By the way, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Lammas, wheat, bread, coeliac disease or anything sensible. I just found it while I was looking for a picture of llamas. Enjoy!

A different kind of handmade.

I was wondering what to do with myself this evening seeing as my man has gone out drinking with his mates. And then I remembered the bread mix big sis gave me when I was in Canada.

This is the result. (It actually looks a lot better in the 'flesh' than it does in this photo - blame my mobile phone.

As you can see I couldn't wait to try a bit. Mmmm! It tastes damn good.

And in case you're wondering why it's a Canadian bread mix, they just make better gluten free ones over there.

PS The rest of the evening will be spent crocheting, drinking red wine and watching The Narnia Chronicles on DVD - all at the same time!