A (not so) secret Crush...

Ok - I confess...  despite being on the other bus, I've always had a bit of a crush on Nigella Lawson... did you know she's nearly 60? - NOT looking bad at all for a lady of that generation .

Why am I  telling you this? - well, as a rule we try NOT to watch TV cookery/baking programs...  primarily because the "faux" tension that's put in these days gets on my nerves is mildly irritating and also because we end up starving hungry and wanting to eat something at at time of day that isn't conducive to shedding the flab we've both put on this summer.

THAT said, Nigella is the exception to the rule - especially after a few glasses of wine.  I LOVE the way she takes the mickey and sexes up the food as she cooks... I doubt for 1 second it's serious but she cleary has a laugh doing it and at the same time, "cheats" as often as possible with pre-packed stuff.

Well, the other week when flicking through the hundreds of channels - all showing rubbish, I stumbled across her poaching an egg!

Now I realise to many folk this is an easy task but I've NEVER for the life of me been able to do it without ending up with a pan full of swirling mess of egg white.    I can now confidently say I'm a master thanks to Ms Lawson...  who knew how easy it COULD be?

ALL you do, is take a cold egg (which is a pain cause they don't live in the fridge but 10 mins in the freezer whilst I get the fire stoked up on a morning is enough to chill them) crack it into a tea strainer/little sieve and once the runny, watering white bits have gone you then decant it into recently boiled water and leave it to cook - without putting the heat back on.  Remove from the water with a straining spoon and its ready to eat.  NO mess, a nice runny yolk in a cooked white casing.  Perfect!

OK so I got a bit carried away with the grated cheese but trust me - under there are 2 perfect poached eggs.

WHILST  (while?) I'm waffling on about my culinary prowess, I've been continuing with experimental bread making...  my 2 latest successes being a red onion and rosemary foccacia and a sun dried tomato and parmesan loaf - inspired by a packet of ready made bread mix I took a photoo of in Asda the other week, they turned out rather good ... especially the latter, remaining moist for days.

Having the fire on to proof them is very handy and  whilst in the summer I was using the bread-maker to mix, knead, proof (prove?) and cook them, now the solar is not doing so much, I've resorted to letting it knead and then cooking in the oven on gas.

Nigella eat your heart out!

In future though I Will  take a leaf out of HER book and stock the cupboard with a few ready mixes - not cause I'm lazy but by the time I'd bought a jar of sun-dried tomatoes and the parmesan, it'd cost about 3 quid - verses a packet mix of only 80p.  Still, you live and learn.

In boaty 'business news' I'm attending a New Enterprise all sorts of mentoring, support and training free gratis... well I say free, having worked full time for 28 years I feel sure I've paid enough tax to cover it 100 times over but it's nice to be getting something back for a change.  

I'll fill you in properly on it later in the week - meanwhile, I need to get back to working on the website and come up with some proper 'booking terms' etc. for when we begin in April.

Until next time...