A Thai Feast

Last night, Pete's dad and sister were with us, and we decided to have a takeaway. We've taken Pete's dad to the local Thai a couple of times, and although it is very expensive, he really likes it. We can't afford to go there without him, so this is a good thing. They did offer to babysit if Pete and I wanted to go out on our own, but Bernard is very under the weather, and not at all settled in the evening at the moment, so it was better to stay in.

Given the choice, Pete's dad asked if the Thai did takeaway. We didn't have a menu, so he and Pete went up there in the car with instructions to get a set meal, as long as it included a green chicken curry. They came back with four (4) bags of food, which I found out today had come to £80. See what I mean about it being expensive?

There were two sets of starters, featuring quite a lot of fishy stuff, but I traded for satay chicken and a filo parcel of something meaty. The best was the red curry, with beef that just melted in your mouth. There was loads of food left, but Pete's sister scraped everything into one of the bags, and nothing could be salvaged. Such waste.

Poor sick baby had nearly a whole stage 2 jar of Lancashire Hotpot, and some dried apple for pudding. Today he has hardly eaten anything, but got hysterical with tiredness just now and was breastfed to sleep. Lambkin.

Friday Night Curry

Waitrose again: Chicken Saag Masala, Lamb Bhuna and Chana Masala. The chicken in particular was very good. But I'm feeling guilty about the laziness and all the packaging that this sort of dinner entails. I need to come up with a new idea.

Bernard is under the weather. At teatime he got very upset when I tried to feed him lentil and tomato mush, and blew such powerful snotty raspberries that he sprayed me in the face. Lovely. Once again he managed pudding without a protest, though: mashed cinnamon pears with crumbled Boots organic rusk. But he is sick and needs to get something down him, so I let it go. I'm soft.

Freezer Pizza

We didn't feel like trying very hard. Or I didn't feel like it yesterday, and didn't put anything in the slow cooker. So we had frozen pizzas from Sainsbury/Pizza Express. They were nice, but I'm still hungry, which is odd considering how much I've eaten today. Including three macaroons.

Chilli Beans with Sausage & Chips

The beans were the highlight of this meal. Another old family staple, created by my dad as a student and usually enjoyed with bangers and mash, but when Pete is given access to the oven, he likes to treat the potatoes as chips. The sausages were something from Morrisons' Best range, and very nice too. All that I have said about non-organic meat is moot when it comes to sausages. Meat moot. I like that.

Bernard had a finger food tea: chunks of sweet potato, fingers of grilled chicken, and tartines of buttered organic baguette. He didn't eat much, because he's had an exciting day and not enough naps, but studied everything hard and wiped it around his tray. I gave him some jarfood pudding, which has reappeared in vomit format several times this evening.

Nige & Lisa's Spicy Chicken with Cous Cous

Lisa gave me this recipe over IM yesterday, and I was delighted to have all the ingredients in my cupboard. Some sort of acknowledgement is also due to Nigel Slater, I suppose.

The chicken was marinaded this afternoon in garlic, chilli, cinnamon, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice. The couscous was left soaking. Then it all went in the oven in shifts, with some sultanas thrown in for good measure, and was served with a salad of rocket, watercress and spinach.

My dad was here for the evening, and had shown us about 90 slides from his recent trip to Sicily. We consumed some Sicilian Syrah with it, which helped with the photographs.

Bernard, having refused to eat his delicious sweet potato and pea mush at lunchtime, came home to prove to his Grandad that he really does like to eat. He had pasta with tomato sauce, which was the extra pizza sauce I made yesterday, whizzed a bit with the stick-blender. Not only did he eat it all with the wide-mouth like a baby bird, but he also had seconds. I use the little pasta shells that you can get for soup, and he used to spit them out at me but now he swallows them whole. Then I tried to put him in my new Ergo baby carrier. Hilarity ensued.

Pizza Danese

Tonight we went wild and put blue cheese on the pizza. This week I assembled it, in the more traditional mozarella-underneath format. I'm sure you will agree that this is the correct way for a pizza to be arranged. Not like last week's.



Bernard, sporting magnificent bruise to the forehead, ate a reasonable amount of sweet potato with egg yolk and red leicester, followed by warmed, mashed banana with rhubarb and raspberry puree. The sweet potato was baked in the oven, and tasted absolutely gorgeous. I'll be doing more of that.

Tortellini a la casa

I have a long history of tortellini. It was one of the first meals I learned to make, along with keema curry, spag bol, chilli con carne, and bangersmash&chillibeans, when my brother and I lived with our dad as teenagers. Tortellini seemed exotic yet easy, perfect for the domestically useless trio that we made.

Back then it was sold as dried pasta, and however long you cooked it for it never quite softened. We always but always made a tomato and onion sauce, with mattesons smoked pork sausage, crisped under the grill. Gotta love that greasy, additive-ridden sausage, with the skin curling up and the oil oozing out in synthetic dribbles.

I do vary the sauce these days, but it almost always still features the sausage.

Bad Lamb

We were going to have home-made hummus with tomato sauce tonight, but while I was at Morrisons I spotted a rolled, stuffed breast of lamb which seemed like excellent value. This afternoon I peeled potatoes and cut up cabbage, and we put the joint in just before going upstairs to put Bernard to bed.

As you can see from the picture, the lamb was mainly a fatty container for an awful lot of stuffing. Eating it was a question of extracting thin layers of meat from between the inedible parts. At least the gravy and the potatoes and the organic cabbage were good, and the house had a very nice meatroasty smell for a little while. I am really quite limited in my knowledge of meat, so maybe this was inevitable. Or maybe I should just learn when a price tag is too good to be true.

Bernard has been quite out of sorts today. For tea he had pitta bread fingers with home-made hummus spread inside, which he chewed on a bit but didn't consume much. Then I offered him the remainder of the jar of Boots Organic Vegetables & Turkey, which was opened at lunchtime, but he found it very upsetting, and screeched until I stopped trying to make him eat it. I mixed up some fromage frais with the hummus and he tolerated that for a while: just enough to earn his pudding. Pud was yesterday's banana slop mixed with rhubarb and raspberry puree, so a bit healthier, and more interesting to eat. He managed all of that, raising the question of whether he should actually be denied pudding if he refuses to touch his savoury course. Still, I tasted the turkey jarfood, and it was really bland. I wouldn't have eaten it.

Waitrose Ready-Curry

For the first time in my life I have become a regular consumer of ready meals. Waitrose microwave curries seem to be worth making an exception for. We originally tried the Meals For Two that come in a box; the Spicy and Aromatic was our first adventure in Readyland, and we were pleasantly surprised. The next week we tried a Mild and Somethingorother, which was okay but not as exciting. It occurred to us that we didn't need to buy rice or naan bread, as we have plenty of that sort of thing at home, so we then started to explore the individual dishes. I can't remember what we had last week, apart from the Bombay Aloo, which was yummy.

Tonight we had a Chef's special aloo mutter keema with tawa paratha, chicken jalfrezi, and aloo gobi saag. This was a somewhat quirky combination; the jalfrezi was exactly the right hotspicyness, and the keema curry very unusual, with little potato dumplings. Pete did the necessary, including cooking the rice and placing upon the table one jar of mango chutney (Sharwoods).

I notice that we did forget to get the bottle of wine out, and Pete has had a beer now, so maybe we will have that tomorrow. It's our last bottle: the Pouilly Fume that we were saving for a special occasion. That occasion is the occasion of our running out of other wine. Congratulate us.

Bernard's tea was last night's uncreamy chicken, which became much creamier after the application of the blender. I told him if he ate 11 spoonfuls, then he could have a jar pudding. He ate more than 11, although he did get a bit fractious, and didn't quite finish the lot. So he got his Cow & Gate Organic Banana & Cookie Crumble, which is a mystifyingly long name for what should rightly be called Sweet Banana Slop.

Uncreamy Chicken

I made this yesterday evening and left it in the slow cooker for Pete to do the donkey work today: he successfully switched it on at lunchtime.

I was expecting it to have a creamy sauce, since it consisted of chicken, leeks and mushrooms, with half a tin of tomatoes, half a tin of Cambells condensed mushroom soup, and half a tub of mascarpone cheese. Yes, I was emptying the fridge. There were a few herbs in there as well, and maybe some cabbage; I can't quite remember.

It smelt delicious when I came in this evening, but on closer inspection the sauce had separated and was very watery. Still, I cooked up some pasta and we consumed vast quantities of the stuff, finishing it up with a spoon. I don't do chicken in the slow cooker very often, but I should, because it makes it absolutely melty and yum.

Mushroom & Pepperoni Pizza

We regularly make pizza, and it is always mushroom and pepperoni. Sometimes there is a sneaky sun-dried tomato or a splodge of blue cheese, but the main theme does not vary. Pete makes the base and I make the topping. Either of us does the assembly work. Tonight Pete assembled, and he likes to put some of the cheese on top, which I think makes it look less attractive. Doesn't stop it from being delicious, though.

Bernard hasn't eaten much today, but did make short work of a kiwi fruit at teatime.

Sausage and Chips

Chips have become something of an UborkaHaza standard lately. I peel the spuds in the afternoon and leave them in a bowl of water, which soaks some of the starch out. Pete coats them in oil and cooks them in the oven at 200, along with the sausages or pie or whatever I found in the freezer the day before.

Tonight it was Sainsbury's Taste The Difference British Pork Sausages with Caramelised Onion, which is a lot of capital letters for one packet of bangers. They were nice, but the sicilian ones we had last week were better. They were served with organic carrots, peas and gravy.

Earlier, Bernard and I had a strong disagreement about whether or not he would eat his chicken. He wore most of it, and then sweetly scoffed all of his pureed fruit compote for pudding. I don't know whether this should be discouraged or not; I don't want him to be hungry.

Spaghetti al mascarpone

I don't know if that's good Italian or not. Anyway, the veg box came today, so we have been feasting on delicious vegetables. No broccoli, hurrah!

Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with a sauce made from sauteed garlic, organic leek and organic mushroom, with some sneaky bits of very unorganic smoked sausage, which I love. Secret ingredients included lots of black pepper, a pinch of thyme, and a slug of hungarian chilli vodka. Then it was smothered with mascarpone cheese, which went all runny.

Bernard also had pasta with organic spring vegetable stew, which consisted of potato, leek, carrot, mushroom, cabbage, tomato and garlic, with fennel and oregano. I blitzed it with my new stick blender, and he scoffed the lot. I gave him half a kiwi fruit for pudding, and he managed to eat about half of the slices, but was very shouty and cross, so I supplemented this with the pureed fruit compote that I made yesterday, and then he sat on the floor beside the sofa and played with an empty envelope for half an hour before bathtime.

Quinoa with bacon, avocado and halloumi

I think we now agree that quinoa is a superfood. Pete watched me prepare it tonight, and was impressed at how much it expands, and interested in the part of the process where the germ separates and all the water is suddenly absorbed.

Quinoa has a much better flavour than cous cous, although cous cous does have a great texture. It is also much, much more expensive. So, it was mixed up in a bowl with bacon, grilled halloumi cheese, avocado, and sliced cherry tomatoes. Over it, we drizzled a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and fennel seeds. It was delicious, the sort of meal that I want to eat all over again, as soon as it is finished. Sadly there were no leftovers.

Earlier on, Bernard had vomited up his entire bedtime feed, which at least answered my concern about how much milk he is getting. I reckon there was over half a pint, which came back in an Aira Force-esque gush, precipitating a full change of my nightwear, and a clean sleeping bag for the baby. I have no idea why. I hope it was just a random weirdness.

Cheating, Twice

I completely forgot to blog last night's dinner, which was the regular Friday night habit of Waitrose ready-meal curry. That is, three Fridays in a row. I'm sure it will happen again, and I'll blog about it when it does.

Tonight was even cheatier, owing to me being too tired to do anything with the bacon that I got out of the freezer yesterday. We had a pizza from Dominos, who irked us somewhat by insisting that they don't do free delivery outside the town centre on orders under a tenner. This has never been a problem in the past, and we do eat a lot of pizza, so our loyalty to Dominos may be under some strain now.

It wasn't a bad pizza, though: pepperoni and mushroom, an UborkaHaza standard.

Meanwhile, Bernard has eaten well. He finished off Friday night's beef stew, pureed but not to a mush; and followed it with some random jar of Hipp Organic pudding. I am not so good with puddings, being a savoury preferring kinda girl, and the fruit'n'veg box doesn't come until Monday, so I do rely more on jars for puddings than for main courses. Bernard doesn't seem to mind. Yumyumyum, he says.

Easy Beef Stew

Slow Cookers are awesome. I got mine when I was at university, and apart from a couple of years when it lived with my dad (and didn't get used), it has been an important feature in my life. Not only is it the easiest kind of cooking in the world, but it also turns the stringiest old bits of meat into tender pieces of deliciousness.

Yesterday evening I cut up a few potatoes, some red onion and garlic, and some braising steak; and threw it all into the pot with some carrots and parsnips out of the freezer, a tin of tomatoes and a splodge of tomato puree, and my usual handful of seasoning: pepper, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and a teaspoon of paprika. I think it is edes (sweet) paprika. I got it in Hungary, so it is rather old.

Pete switched it on at lunchtime, and although the potatoes were somewhat al dente, the stew as a whole was just what we needed on a rainy february night after a full day of work - in the office - and on his part, a full day of childcare. Oh, and we're having some very nice red wine with it.

Bernard had the aubergine and potato mush for tea again, and ate the lot, followed by yoghurt with prune, pear and apricot puree, and then a bath. Tomorrow he will be trying the Easy Beef Stew. On Saturday we are lunching with vegans, so it's best that he gets tanked up on red meat in advance...

Pie and Chips

Chicken pie out of the freezer, home-made oven chips (Pete's job), frozen green beans. Quite satisfactory.

Baby Teatime was the usual food-flinging messfest. Bernard started off with a few lentil cakes, which make good finger food, although they did fall apart a bit. He enjoyed them, but we were picking bits out of his ears at bathtime. Then he had aubergine and potato mush, which he wasn't mad about, followed by a little bit of yoghurt mixed with pudding, and a piece of honeydew melon. He seemed to like the melon, but he wasn't quite able to bite pieces off. It will all change when he gets himself some teeth.

Aubergine Stuff

This is different to stuffed aubergine, which I also enjoy on occasion. The majority of what I cook is thrown together, and this definitely fits that description. It contained aubergine, red onion, lots of herbs, mushrooms, tomato, smoked sausage, and minty halloumi. I have never cooked with halloumi before, so that was my main point of interest.

We ate it with quinoa, which was another first. Pete said he didn't think he would call it a superfood, but still scoffed the lot with enthusiasm. I had seconds of aubergine, because I'm greedy. Pete is now making pancakes, and I am supposed to be helping.

Before adding the sausage and cheese, I took a portion out for Bernard to try tomorrow. His childminder and I are wondering if he is objecting to the lumpy texture of the food he has been offered lately, as we get crying, head-shaking, raspberries, and sleepy signs during the main course, but he usually perks up for pudding. This is the case even when the pudding is unsweetened natural yoghurt. Conversely, he eats jarfood, which is so smooth as to be textureless, with no protest whatsoever. So tonight he had smooth main course: tuna and potato mush, followed by yoghurt with melon bits. The melon was supposed to be more slushy, but the blender seemed to reduce it to chippings. Wrong sort of melon? Who knows. Anyway, he ate most of the tuna mush, and refused the melon.

Lentil & Spinach Dahl

Dahl should probably be thicker; I'm just using the term for any kind of lentil mush. I cooked the lentils this afternoon, with some onion, carrot and tomato puree, cumin seeds, thyme, garlic, and half a teaspoon of paprika.

I took a bowlful out for Bernard, and he had it with spinach, quinoa and creme fraiche for his tea. It was quite lumpy for him, but he seemed to like it. When I offered him a spoonful, he pushed his head right back into the high chair and gave it a hard stare, before agreeing to eat it. After a while, he decided to help out, by taking the spoon in one hand, wiping most of the food off it with the other hand, and then pushing the spoon into his mouth. Vast quantities of it made their way into his neckfolds and down his vest, despite using a bib and two muslins. I guess this is the way it's going to be, with lumpier food. At least purees congealed safely on his chin.

After Bernard was in bed, I heated up more spicy spices in some oil, and tipped the rest of the lentil mush in, along with half a tin of tomatoes. Served with rice and creme fraiche, and there is some left for tomorrow's lunch.