OH ate at that restaurant earlier this year. He feels it is mainly geared to American diners and only one of his group of four was happy with their food. They complained and didn’t have to pay for everything they ordered. Outcome: never again, and they are regulars to St Andrews so custom has been l...

First couple of nights in Nerja we did tapas trails and spent about £25 in total each night. Last night we ate at casa nostra. We had bought a couple of sirloin steaks and had them with new potatoes and a mixed salad. They were very tender, not quite as rare as we like but not bad for the first time...

Suffs wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 6:04 pm I use an old fashioned self-basting domed enamel roaster. Marvellous.

I have one of those too Suffs. My mum had one and bought mine for me when I married OH. That was 1976. I used to use it for all my roasts but now it’s just for chicken as I tend to roast other meats uncovered these days.

Definitely sounds like Tinto de Verano. My favourite drink in Spain. It’s better than drinking a glass of wine as there is half the amount of alcohol and is more refreshing. But there is certainly alcohol in it.

Oh, we were there yesterday Amber.

York or Harrogate?

Happy anniversary CJ.

I’ve walked past there a number of times and thought it looked good. Definitely good to know. We can even get a bus to Ripon!!! The number of places we can get to by bus from here is very limited.

On the list.

We had puttenesca sauce too, last night Suffs. It’s such an easy dinner when you’ve been travelling for hours. We had it with tortelloni.

Not sure about tonight but I have a couple of cod fillets I’ll probably use.

I’ve saved that recipe so thanks Norfolkman/Suffs. Last night we had pork, juniper and pink peppercorn meatballs with leeks and puy lentils from my traybake cookbook, there was enough left over for me to have tonight as OH will eat at the golf club. That fits in nicely with clearing the fridge as we...

Calamari in batter with a Greek salad and potato wedges with a spicy seasoning. Had some chilli mayonnaise for dipping the calamari. Very easy dinner after a busy afternoon and late finish in the garden.

Yesterday I went out for a very long lunch with the ladies I normally do afternoon tea with, so it made a nice change and no-one had to bake. Yippee! https://www.ambiente-tapas.co.uk/tapas This is where we ate. We ordered a sharing platter and a couple of plates of the dates stuffed with blue cheese...

Ah yes, Smitch. Haven’t used that one but have used others in the range. I find them pretty good tbh.
Now I come to think about it, I haven’t bought anything with the Sharwood’s label for years.
Thanks for letting us know not to bother, Suffs.

Monday was a bit of an embarrassing dinner but I’ll admit to it. A pack of tortelloni and a jar of pasta sauce. We ended up sitting outside for longer than we thought so this was the quickest I could come up with. I did top it with chopped herbs and grated Grana Padano. It was actually quite tasty. ...

I’m on an iPad Suffs.

Think I might have cracked it….ééé. I wasn’t dragging my finger!!

That sounds good Suffs. We’ve eaten roasted salmon fillets topped with dill and mustard sauce and panko breadcrumbs, cubed roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary, and a gratin of leeks and courgettes. Washed down with a lovely glass of Portuguese rose. Been trying for ages to get the accent on the ...

Last night we had Vietnamese sea bass with carrots, sugar snaps and some curly kale.

I have some minced beef for tonight so I’m thinking chilli. Haven’t made one for ages and I know OH will say ‘ooh yes please’

Well done Suffs. You’ve spurred us all into action. We went out to lunch yesterday so we shared a plate of calamari then each had the flat iron steak (so good), mine with a side salad, OH had chips so I pinched a couple. Both stuffed so no tea required, he had some cheese and biscuits and I had a sl...

I also keep mine in the fridge until the jar is finished, sometimes it’s weeks, sometimes months. As long as they are covered by the liquid in the jar they should be ok.

My go to risotto tends to be from an old Waitrose recipe card, crab and asparagus. I like to use the young thin sprigs of asparagus and a pot of white crab meat rather than the whole crab. This item has shot up in price this year so it’s not a regular on the menu sadly. I can also make a passable mu...

Oh well done Binky.

I often use TK Maxx/HomeSense for random things. It’s amazing what you can find.

It’s been a lovely afternoon here so I’ve sat outside sipping my Robinson’s mint and lime syrup with fresh mint and lime, ice and soda water. It was lovely. On my third glass we were approaching early evening so I felt obliged to add a shot of white rum. That will happen again. I’m tempted to buy mo...