Counting My Blessings

Getting older this year has been really lucky for me. I’ve had three days of celebrations.

On Friday I drove up to south London to my daughter’s home. In the evening she took me out for dinner and we had the most delicious Chinese meal, with some of my favourites – crispy duck, followed by scallops in mango sauce and hot crispy beef.

On Saturday I had my granddaughter to myself, and we took a picnic and had loads of fun in Richmond Park. At nearly seven years old, she is such a poser, as you can see from the photo. She’s also very loving and great company for a now even older biddy like me.


Today I came home in time for lunch with my husband, plus my sister and brother-in-law who drive up from Torquay just to treat us to a slap up meal in The Baker Arms at Lychett Minster, a pub that has been named the best place to eat in Britain. And my Sunday roast was perfect, rounded off with a lemon and blueberry jelly, a scoop of ice cream, strawberries and blueberries.

Most of my presents were for the garden and I now have a beautiful four year old camellia and two lovely clematis for the planters hubby made to sit on the decking. I can’t wait to get it all finished and take some more photos to show you.

What a lot of blessings I have to count.

Bacon and Herb Ratatouille

Once every month or so, I cook up a healthy ratatouille and divide the leftovers into individual servings to freeze. Recently I decided to experiment with some extra ingredients that needed to be used up. It was so good I thought I’d share this tasty version of the healthy dish, cooked quickly and easily in a microwave

Ingredients

1 aubergine, washed and cut into chunks
50ml olive oil
1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
2 courgettes, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 large can chopped tomatoes
125 gms smoked lardons, dry-fried for 3 minutes and drained on kitchen paper
small handful basil leaves
large handful rocket
seasoning to taste

Put the aubergine and oil into a deep microwavable dish. Add the pepper, onion and garlic and mix well. Cover and cook on high for five minutes. Stir, add the courgettes and cook on high for ten minutes. Stir and add the tomatoes and bacon. Cook on high for another five minutes. Stir in the basil and rocket. Before serving, season to taste and reheat for a few minutes in the microwave.

Serve with noodles, pasta or rice. For vegetarians, omit the bacon, of course. A standard ratatouille is good topped with lashings of grated cheese.

What to Do with Stale Doughnuts

(This mouthwatering pic is by Kronn at Wikimedia Commons.)

Last week hubby came home with a packet of mini jam doughnuts. He just saw them in the shop and fancied one. We are great believers in ‘a little of what you fancy does you good.’ And these were MINI doughnuts.

There were four in the packet. We had no family or friends visiting, so when we’d had our quota of one each, there were two left. And of course you know doughnuts have to be eaten fresh. They don’t last overnight.

I can’t bear to waste food and the next day I didn’t want to throw away those doughnuts. After research and improvisation, I came up with the following recipe. It made pudding for two days. On the first day we had it with warm stewed apple, and the second day I heated it in the microwave and poured hot custard over it. We loved it.

Preheat oven to 180º
Grease a tin or ovenproof dish
Cut the doughnuts into small pieces
Dot them with butter, bertolli spread or your choice of butter substitute
Arrange them in the greased dish
Sprinkle them with currants or raisins
Beat two eggs in a measuring jug
Make it up to half a pint with milk
Stir in a dessertspoon of sugar
Pour over the doughnuts
Bake for about 25 minutes until just firm and browned on top.
Enjoy.

Chili's Anyone?

I just heard that the Chili's restaurant and bar in the Oracle Shopping Centre, Reading, reopened last month. Check out its Reading Press Release to read more about it. Before January, when its kitchen was damaged by fire and it had to close, it was the most popular of the American chain’s seven locations in the UK.

The kitchen has now been completely renovated and the reopening secures the jobs of its 65 staff - good news in these credit crunch days. Hopefully its fans are once again filling its 250 guest capacity, keeping these workers firmly in the numbers of the employed.

According to its website, the Chili’s menus live up to their name, with lots of spicy tex-mex options, although punters can get a plain steak or salmon fillet if they prefer. There is even a section called Guiltless Grill where the main items are guaranteed to come in at less than 750 calories, 25 grams of fat and 8 grams of saturated fat, so weight watchers need not be deterred.

You can also buy gift cards, which is a great idea when you are stumped about what birthday present to get for the person who seems to have everything. But they are only offered in US dollars, so I don’t know if we can get sterling ones. They are definitely offering Chili's Vouchers here, with a good discount for parties of between four and ten people. You just print off the voucher and hand it in when you pay.

Must get myself up to Reading sometime soon with some pals. I'll ask about the gift cards when we try out those scrumptious looking dishes.

Vivat Bacchus

One of the articles I have sold at the Constant Content site, was about a restaurant in the City of London that had a special £1000 menu that included some very pricey wine. It used to be a popular treat at Vivat Bacchus for many of those well-heeled, bonus-heavy City workers. Since the credit crunch was recognised, of course, it’s no longer available.

I heard about this on the Richard and Judy show one evening when they invited the Head Chef to come in and talk about it. The next day I looked them up and wrote my 400 words that eventually netted me $20 (less the site commission) for a one-off non-exclusive use. It’s still for sale there but, since it’s no longer up to date, I need to revise it as a restaurant review, which is on my to do list.

When I wrote that article, Vivat Bacchus was just in Farringdon. Now it’s also to be found near London Bridge as well. Ordinary mortals can eat very well at Vivat Bacchus for around £30 plus wine, snack on tapas or cheese in the wine bar, or try one of its special international platters.

The owners are South African but passionate about food and wine from around the world. They claim to have 18,000 bottles of wine in five cellars at the Farringdon address. Their menus include South African delicacies such as springbok. The restaurants also have whole rooms full of cheese where punters can look, sample and make their choices. You can buy them from the Deli to take home. Great for food hampers too – a super Christmas gift.

This post was inspired by CK’s new London Chow. Thanks CK. I promise I won’t steal any more of your thunder (or any more London eateries).