This Sunday is called Stir Up Sunday! WHAT ? Stir–up Sunday is an informal term in Anglican churches for the last Sunday before the season of Advent. It gets its name from the Book of Common Prayer, which begins with Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people”. ( thank you Wikipedia)

The first I heard of this date was a few years ago, when we were invited to the Inns of Court for a Sunday Service and Lunch, where we sat across from Cherie Blair, because of course she is a Barrister.

For centuries now, Stir Up Sunday came to mean the day on which housewives ( and it was usually the woman of the house) made her Christmas Pudding and where the family were called upon to give “It a Stir” and to make a wish.

I have to confess that it has been a long while since I made a Christmas pudding, let alone a cake, But whilst living in Houston Texas, I did make Christmas Cakes, and wedding cakes to order, but that was in another life!

However, on this Stir Up Sunday, Himself declared that he would cook! Not only dinner but Brunch as well! Brunch? Yes because we left central London, early for a walk in Richmond Park. For the uninitiated, Richmond Park is the second largest Royal Park and is three times the size of Central Park in New York. Was founded in the 17 th Century by Charles the first and covers 2,360 acres. That being said, on Sunday morning, woe betide if one is late upon arrival, the car parks will be full and the small roads, full of Lycra cold cyclists.

Upon our return, Himself declared that we would have a Mexican Breakfast, but what? No tortillas, so that ruled out a couple of options but the answer was scrambled eggs with Chorizo, made into an omelette with chorizo. For 2-3 people.

• +/- 100 grams of chorizo, cooking chorizo is best but if you only have slices, then they will do, cut into chunks
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 rows or green chilli chopped finely
• Medium cooked potato diced
• 6 beaten eggs
• 50 grms of Parmesan cheese
• Some chopped coriander
• 1 sliced avocado as garnish

Heat a pan and cook the chorizo until it starts to lose some of its oil.

Remove and set aside.

Heat some oil and add the onion and chillies, cook until soft, add the chorizo and potatoes, pour in the eggs and cook gently for about 4 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place under a hot grill, for the omelette to finish cooking and for the top to brown. Serve with sliced avocado and chopped coriander.

NB to stop avocado Turing brown, sprinkle on some lemon juice. And on another note, smushed avocado ( with some lemon juice ) freezes well and can be used as guacamole when defrosted, or for smushed avocado with poached eggs.

Certainly during our Lockdown, we eat breakfast ensemble, as we do other days, if there is time. Sometimes it is never more than, cereal ( for himself ) yogurt and fruit for me, plus of course a Grand Café au Lait.

Sometimes, it might happen on a weekend that I cook, ( for himself) usually egg based, Mexican Eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs or omelette.

After our expedition to Richmond Park, I did cook a late breakfast, well more of a brunch I suppose.

Very simply put, Poached eggs on toast. Recently I’ve been making bread ( did someone say, she hasn’t anything else to do?) actually, I’ve loads on my To Do list, but it never seems to get any shorter!

My toast slices are therefore not necessarily even. Unlike in France where they have everywhere, an automatic bread slicing machine, obviously in the Boulangerie but also in Supermarkets and even in Lidl!

Poached eggs are as controversial as boiled eggs. Himself likes boiled eggs, with the whites soft! Yuck! Says I! I like my whites firm and yolks just starting to thicken but still runny. In the mountains it is much more difficult as altitude affects cooking time. Water normally boils at 100C but in our French village which is at 1300 metres it boils at 95.7C. Hence you can see the problem with boiling eggs, amongst other things !

However back to Poached eggs, my daughter in law likes her Perfect Poached egg, firmish White, soft yolk that spills over the toast. That is the way I like it as well.

I tried once upon a time, many years ago, one of those pans, which has 4 little cups to hold the eggs whilst poaching, but the problem here, ( to my mind anyway ) is that as the white is not actually in contact with the water, one ends up with 4 little round rubber things.

My way of poaching eggs, is very simple.

• It is VERY important to use fresh eggs! When you use fresh eggs; the consistency is more gelatinous. Old eggs have more of a watery albumen, which tends to disperse in the water more.
• It is better to poach only one or two eggs at a time, but don’t swirl the water
• Use a pair of kitchen scissors or fork to cut away any unattractive wisps from the white.
• Boil some water and added a good squirt of lemon juice , you need a depth of about 3 inches and a wide pan.
• When the water is boiling simply crack in the eggs, bring back to the boil , remove from heat and leave to stand for about 3 minutes.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and as above trim off the odd bits of white.

To start with it is a bit hit and miss for timings, but, stick with it and you will have the perfect poached egg!

I didn’t see it but there seems to be furore about Nigella, she of the sensuous TV cookery programmes. Apparently her latest episode told, us Brits, how we should butter our toast ! We should butter it not once, but twice and then sprinkle salt on it!

Actually I could handle that, nothing like a thick piece of toast with butter oozing through it, but do I? No! Do I need all that fat, all those calories, my taste buds might indulge, but my body isn’t given the opportunity.

Something else I have learnt during this second Lockdown. We actually went for a walk ensemble once again to Richmond Park. It is only 7 miles from our home but can take an amazingly long time to get there, all depends on traffic and the never ending road works. We made it yesterday in about 30 minutes and we got there before all the others with the same idea, so parking was not too much of a problem but more importantly we got there before the rain. We went there last weekend as part of our child caring duties, parked in a different spot and although the walk was nice not nearly as nice as yesterday’s, and for most part it was because we didn’t see any Deer!

This time round, hidden by the dying mass of ferns was a herd of about 40 or more. There were a couple with amazing horns and the King Pin had at least 12 points but I believe 14, which makes him an Imperial Stag. A deer with 12 points is Royal and one with 16 is a Monarch, that would make this deer 14 years or older.

There are over 2 Million deer in the UK, the highest number in a 1,000 years. Why? Because there are no natural predators, which makes Culling a necessity, and now is the time of year ( in Richmond Park at least).

Most of the deer were buy munching basically together, but there were a couple of young bucks, hanging around on the outside. Red deer stags are the largest Mammal in the UK, many weighing over 200 kilos, which is why people need to give them space !

No Food today? Well it was a recycling day, ie. as Himself made the delicious Coq au Vin, he had to eat it two days in a row! But it did make him a crumble! More on that another day.

I have learnt something during this Lockdown. It is all about Swans. Many if not most of the swans that one sees floating down the rivers and in lakes, are Mute Swans. It is a bit of a misnomer as in fact they are not Mute, but rather they make less noise than other breeds of swans. They are the heaviest bird in the UK and as a adult have pure white feathers. Swans on the Thames belong either to the Crown or to the Vintners or to the Dyers. Both of these Guilds have had the right own these swans since the 16 th Century. Once a year, liveried people wearing scarlet of the Crown, mark the birds, one for the livery company, the Dyers, one for the livery company the Vintners and the third for the Crown ( but these are left unmarked! ) However in the UK all swans are protected. And of course in The Regents Park there are such swans. Amazing what one can learn on an early morning walk.

Today, Himself declared that he was Le Chef du Jour. He decided on Coq Au Vin, and we found the perfect recipe in my cook book from 1990 ! Yes in the years 1983-1993, I ran a small ad hoc cooking school in Brussels, 5 lessons a month, 12 Ladies in each group and here was my recipe!

When he cooks, he takes it very seriously, I guess that comes from being a chemist ( scientist not pharmacist), though he is not adverse to my, a little bit of this and a little bit of that ! The basic recipe came from that one time doyenne of cooking in the UK, Elizabeth David and to this day, many of her recipes stand the test of time.

I adapted the recipe to suit my pupils. Many of them had not really cooked bonfire they arrived in Belgium and were faced with the necessity of giving dinner parties, so all of my classes were on a theme, for entertaining.

1. Traditionally a large chicken, but if you don’t like bones and skin, ( and I don’t) then use about 1 kilo of boneless chicken breasts.
2. 3/4 bottle of a reasonable red wine, preferably Burgundy
3. 200 grms lardons
4. 200 grms button mushrooms
5. A handful of small onions, Or a couple of onions cut into chunks
6. A bouquet garni ( it is possible to buy ready done or just add some herbs ( herbes de Provence for example)
7. 4 whole cloves of garlic, or more if you like
8. A couple of large carrots peeled and sliced.
9. Some butter, unsalted
10. A glass of brandy or whiskey

Melt a small amount of butter and when hot add the lardons and sauté until until brown, add the chicken which has been cut into chunks, brown on the outside.

Add the wine onions, carrots, garlic and chicken. Simmer for about 30 minutes depending on how big your chunks of chicken are. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Remove everything with a slotted spoon, except the liquid. Mix a tablespoon of soft butter with 2 teaspoons of cornflour and carefully add some of your cooking liquid, to form a paste. Add to the rest of the liquid and whisk in. Taste and season to taste. Return all of the other ingredients to the pan,taste again, , add a small amount of butter, just before serving to glaze. Serve with new potatoes and garnish with some parsley.

We both go for an early ( well not so early ) morning walk. He goes one way and I the other. Yesterday, he ventured into what I consider a No Go Area, well I say I consider it NO GO, as this was the way it was described to me by a policeman. He commented that it seemed to be business as usual! Meanwhile I venture into the wonderful The Regents Park. Why do I call it The Regents Park? Well, The Regent’s Park is named after The Prince Regent, sometimes known as the playboy prince, who later became King George IV (1762-1830).

The Regent’s Park is one of London’s eight Royal Parks and covers an area of 395 acres.!

There are more than 12,000 roses, over a 100 species of wild birds and a breeding population of Hedgehog, which are endangered. No small wonder that I make this venue my morning walk .

Last night was a tale of two dinners. Browsing through one of my many books I came across a recipe from a traditional Pie Shop. M.Manze, has been around since 1902 and make basically pie and mash with a sauce or eel pies, both traditional of the Victorian era. Apparently the recipe is a secret, but when I looked at what is supposed to be their version of a meat pie, I was not convinced, so took the basic idea and played with it.

Himself gave it a thumbs up.

With this quantity I made three individual pies.

1. 2 tsp of powdered stock, I used veal stock powder mixed in with
2. 200mls boiling water
3. A good splash of either red wine or red port
4. 1large onion chopped
5. 2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
6. 2 cloves garlic chopped
7. 500 grms minced beef,
8. salt and pepper to taste
9. a splash of olive oil
10. I added a handful of button mushrooms ( optional)
11. A portion of ready made puff pastry

Heat the oil, add the onion , garlic and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the meat and stir well in and cook for about another 5 minutes. Add the stock, red wine/port and mix well, cook just to reduce the liquid a little.

Put the mixture into either one largish dish or smaller ones. Roll out the pastry, and place on top of your dishes. Glaze with egg and bake at 180C ( fan) 200 normal, for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

At M.Manze they serve their pies with what they call a liquor, it seems more like a parsley sauce, but here goes.

1. 1 tbsp unsalted butter
2. 1 tbsp cornflour
3. 150 mls chicken or vegetable stock
4. 1tbsp cream ( optional)
5. 1/2 cup chopped parsley ( I prefer the curly type)

This can be done easily in the microwave, put the liquid, butter and cornflour into a microwave proof jug or bowl and heat on high for one minute. Stir and repeat, until it thickens.

Add the cream and parsley and stir in.

I served it with green beans and a baked potato, but traditionally it would be with mash.

Me I had Mozzarella with avocado and salad! Because, look what arrived from Spain today !

Growing up it was always Fish on Fridays. As a child I never understood this, as I didn’t like meat, let alone FISH, but by the time I went to college, the canteen, would only serve fish on a Friday, to those who for religious reasons couldn’t eat meat. By that time, I didn’t meat in any shape or form but I really liked fish, especially battered cod, so I used to smile and say Yes, when questioned to my religious beliefs! Can you imagine, that happening today? Discrimination in any shape or form let alone questioning one’s religious beliefs!

Flipping through various books, I came up with two ideas for dinner tonight, one for Himself and a different on for me! Why you might ask, but himself really likes mackerel and I really don’t!

I am going to have Fish teriyaki and himself Mackerel with a sweet mirin sauce.

For the Mackerel

1. 2 tsp sake
2. 2tsp mirin
3. 1tbsp soy sauce
4. 3 cms fresh ginger grated
5. 1tsp sesame oil
6. 2 mackerel fillets with the skin on.

Mix together the ingredients for the sauce and set to one side

Heat a frying pan, add the oil, and cook the mackerel skin side down for two minutes, turn over and cook for another 30 seconds.

Pour in the sauce, reduce slightly and spoon over the fish.

Serve on a bed of rice.

For the Teriyaki Fish

1. A portion of fish per person, with skin on
2. 1tsp sesame oil

For the sauce

1. 3 tbsp mirin
2. 3 tbsp soy sauce
3. 1tbs sugar/ honey
4. 2tsp rice vinegar
5. 1tsp cornflour
6. 4 cm freshly grated ginger.
7. Heat some sesame oil in a pan, when hot add the fish, skin side down. Cook for about 4 minutes and flip over to finish.

Put sauce ingredients into a small saucepan, stir well and bring to the boil.simmer for a couple of minutes to reduce to a thick sauce.

Use straight away, or it can be kept in a sealed jar in the refrigerator until needed.

Place the fish on a bed of rice and spoon over the sauce.

If you don’t have mirin, here are some suggestions for substitutions.

You can just use dry sherry or sweet marsala, for instance. Or you can dissolve a small amount of sugar in a little white wine or sherry, perhaps a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar to 1/4 cup wine wine.

After discharging our duties of childminders ( read grandparents), there was not much left of a dreary Sunday. Next up watching the Masters, which without the crowds and the Walk in the Park by Dustin Johnson, it was not that exciting either.

Never mind, Sunday cocktails on the terraces, all wrapped up in winter woolies, at least it wasn’t raincoats and umbrellas.

Next was ” what to have for dinner”?

Having not really given this much thought, it was a question of what was fairly quick to defrost and to cook. Shrimp and some kind of salad sprang to mind.

Whilst living in Houston Texas, I found the Gulf Shrimp, very much to my liking, large and succulent and very tasty. Here I basically make do with frozen. In Houston, there is a chain of restaurants called HOUSTON and the did an amazing salad with Bang Bang Chicken. A mixed salad with chicken and a peanut dressing. It really was my favourite.

Upon returning to the UK, I discovered that THE IVY ( not the Baby versions but the original on West Street London) also served a Bang Bang Chicken. It was OK, but they didn’t know that I was a connoisseur of said dish. AAGILL wrote about it in his 1997 book about the Ivy and I have tried his recipe many times, tweaking here and there, but never really up to scratch. Until last night that is!

I finally gave up on his version and with a little bit of this and a little bit of that came up with what I considered not half bad, and we had it with Shrimp !

For the Shrimp

1. 1tbs oil, preferably sesame oil
2. 8 middle size shrimp per person
3. 1tsp chilli or rose harissa paste
4. 1tsp black rice vinegar or balsamic
5. 1 tsp light soy sauce.

For the Dressing

1. 2tbsp sesame oil
2. 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger ( use a micro plane if you have one)
3. 1 tsp tamarind paste
4. 1tsp chilli paste or rose harissa paste
5. 1-2tbsp peanut butter. ( make sure you use a good peanut butter, I use the one from Holland Barrett, many have stabilisers, salt and sugar added No No No !)

Put all of the dressing ingredients into a bowl and mix well together.

Heat the ingredients for the prawns ( but not the shrimp) in a pan, when hot add the shrimp stir and toss for a couple of minutes until the shrimp are cooked ( pink).

Place the shrimp on top of the salad of your choice and spoon over the dressing !

What could be easier ?

I had forgotten how busy one is with three children in the house. We ourselves had three children , who were of course perfect (???) as of course are, our three eldest grandchildren ( the youngest two are of course also perfect).

Being Child minders in chief this weekend, kept us very much occupied.

It started out with Pizza Movie night, pizza not a problem, but the movie? A different kettle of fish! I googled best movies, and came up with a short list of 100! Wow! A mere 100, seen that, didn’t like that, seen that, No, oops, well it was finally decided, Home Alone, and to be honest, we had forgotten how funny it was !

Saturday dawned, 100% chance of rain and severe rain. Oh well, Breakfast menu created and choices made.

Menu for Saturday 14 /11/2020 and Sunday 15/11/2020

Orange juice, Tomato Juice, Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Milk, Water.

Yoghurt, plain, or fruit

Fruit, apples, oranges,mangoes, berries, avocado

Eggs, boiled, scrambled, fried or poached

Bacon, ham, smoked salmon

Sourdough toast or pancakes with any of the above

Maple syrup, lemon curd assorted preserves

The menu presented, decisions made. One wanted , pancakes, with scrambled eggs, plain pancakes, with lemon curd and preserves. Another wanted sourdough toast with bacon and 2 poached eggs, whilst the third just wanted plain pancakes. Seriously I would not want to be a short order cook !

After muddy walks in Richmond Park and lunch being an ice cream it was time to consider dinner. I had wanted to be WAGANANA, however ran out of time, so it was time for our Fourth Lockdown ( that is 4 th only since March) Takeaway and yes it was Wagamama, or as I called it WAGANANA!

Which brings me on to an article in today’s paper. What it says is that the average consumer in the UK ( and I would add most of the western world as well) is basically not concerned about where their food comes from, all they want is, Cheap, Quick and Easy! It also says that the average family, does not have a table and dinner is either something ready made, popped into a microwave or a take away!

I heard on the radio the other day, that since the pandemic began many children had forgotten how to use a knife and fork, but maybe they didn’t know in the first place.

I know it takes time to cook but IT is cheaper to cook than to buy in. Our little delivery from Wagamama cost +/-£100 which I understand why, but for one meal? And no leftovers?

I saw a TV programme once about two single mothers. Interesting insomuch as the one couldn’t be bothered and the other went to the supermarket near closing time and bought goods that were marked down, and made casseroles which were wholesome, not full of fat and sugar!

Ah well, it is hardly a wonder, when in the majority of schools, basic skills, cooking, sewing, electrics, etc are no longer taught that the average family no longer know how cook. Here where I live, there is a constant flow of delivery drivers, for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Actually we have been called upon in our capacity as Child Minders, which if course we were extremely reluctant to do ! ( read NOT)

So tonight is Pizza Movie Night, my goodness the week comes by so quickly. The orders have come in, three predominantly Mushrooms and the other two pepperoni. Dough made and in-fact it looks something from the Day of the Triffids! If I don’t do something with it fairly soon, it will do a Walkabout in my kitchen !

Meanwhile, I have made Clementine Curd, an update on Lemon curd, but have made it in the Microwave.

I haven’t made it in a long time, but many years ago, learnt that it is extremely easy to make and especially so in the Microwave.

For this you will need

1. Grated juice and rind of three or four clementines ( can use Lemons or Limes as an alternative )
2. 250 grms (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
3. 3 eggs, beaten
4. 73 grams ( 3 oz butter, melted)

To make the zest, I have a little gadget which is weirdly called a zester! However if you have a fine micro plane, it will do a better job and easier, Except, Mind those finger nails and knuckles !

Put the zest, and juice into a heatproof bowl, whisk in the eggs, sugar and butter.

Microwave on high for one minute intervals, whisking well in between. Do this for four or six minutes.

Then remove from the microwave and continue to whisk whilst the mixture cools a little and thickens.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Store in the refrigerator for only up to three weeks. Unfortunately as yummy as it is, it does not store well ! Obviously the commercial product must have additives, as it keeps almost as well as Jam.

Serve it with scones , on toast, a filling for eclairs, or sponge cake or Best Of All as a topping on Vanilla Ice Cream!

So a week has already passed, not done anywhere near my list of jobs, though finally more masks have been made, yet another style and I think these are the best yet. Why ? Because I have bought adjustable ear elastics, which makes, making the masks, a piece of cake !

Meanwhile, the other night, himself had a treat. No not sausages and creamy mash with a rich gravy, one of his favourites but a super duper hamburger.

Do you make your own hamburgers? I always do, except when I was being lazy and bought them from Costco! Not sure why I bought them, maybe simply because, I needed a bunch of them and they were good value! Wrong because they were awful.

To make good hamburgers, the ground beef needs at least 20% fat. Anything less = a dry hamburger.

In all French super markets, the butchers will grind beef fresh for you, but am not sure if you can say exactly what beef you need. Here, buy ground beef with as I say at least 20 % fat. Allow, 4oz, 6oz or 8oz per patty.

Now here is the best part, forget putting a slice of nondescript bright yellow cheese on top, just for it to slide right off onto the BBQ! No the cheese goes in the middle of the hamburger.

Therefore, to make my hamburgers, I mix the ground beef with some Dijon mustard, a sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and mix well together. I usually weigh my meat so that each patty weighs the same ( unless I’m making some for children). I then divide each one into 2 and press into a hamburger press. Repeat this with second half. On top of one of the patties, put a small handful of grated cheese, ( I use either grated cooking mozzarella or grated Emmental). Place the second patty on top and press well together and try to make sure that there is no cheese poking out.

Really simple, but the way forward. Bite into one of theses hamburgers, and out oozes the melted cheese.

Of course you can add a bun ( I would personally choose a brioche bun), pickles, gherkins, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup ( yuck) and mayo.

Never, Ever, buy premise Hamburgers again !