There are things in there, there's a tea-bag growing.

Hello one, hello all;

I have not had many culinary adventures this week, most of my spare time has been taken up with house-hunting and so any food I've eaten had been something quick, easy and not exceptionally noteworthy.

In other news, we have found a house that we're happy to sign for. It's in a great location and the house is a good size- it has a gas cooker, hooray! I plan to grow mushrooms in our cellar. I bought a book, and I've got a button-mushroom grow kit under my bed.

There is nowhere where I can regulate the temperature in my halls of residence though so that shall have to wait until new-house time. Mushrooms must be kept between 16-20 degrees centigrade, in my halls it is either pissing freezing or boiling hot, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground.

And then, of course, I can grow the kind of mushrooms that make me smile. Manically.

Despite the mushroom-cultivation setback, I HAVE been growing some herbs on a windowsill. Coriander, basil and parsley. I get very excited when I see each day they're grown a tiiiiiiiiiiny but more.

Not much of an update, but I felt I ought to keep in the swing of things.

Pancakes and the UK Barista Championships

Too much coffee;

CoffeemanWill doing his coffee thing;-

Mr Calvert jumped aboard the coffee ship;-

Shrove Tuesday this year was good. I ate a lot of pancakes and also got to drink some decent, free coffee at the UKBC 2010. :)

I had pancakes twice actually, for breakfast and dinner.

I suggest flaked almonds, honey and single cream in a pancake.

Also: Something I whipped up for lunch today

Also: On a (slight) aside, I made a coat. I needed one as it can get quite cold up here and I had no really warm, snug coats. Could I find one that looked good in a shop? Nope.

So I made one.

Boom.

ALSO::

I will be off to see Rage Against the Machine come June 6th.

Frikkinggggggggggggggg YES YES YES YES YES.

Hopefully this time I won't be in a car crash and get towed into Slough.

This past week has been most excellent.

I shall leave you all with something only Jake would say;-

"OH NO! Ohhhhhh SHIT! I spilt Chai Tea all in my drawer....... its gone all over my origami!"

Pizza Stoning

A dear friend of mine, -Josh Rack- is in possession of a pizza stone, pizza stones are excellent for getting the base of a pizza crispy and thin. Last night we had a pizza-making bonanza.

It took us six hours to produce three pizzas, although this includes dough-making and two strategical pizza stoning breaks. Which although slowed pizza-production considerably definitely added to a greater appreciation of the finished product.

We made a pizza sauce with ancho chile in it.
Recipe here!

Josh made, a new potato, mushroom and smoked cheddar cheese with egg pizza.

The smoked cheese works really well with potato and also the pizza sauce we'd cooked.
Slice the potatoes very finely so they can cook through in the oven.

The egg was also very good, I've never had egg on a pizza before. It was almost a disaster as we cracked the egg over the pizza halfway through cooking. I pulled the stone out of the oven just enough to let Josh pour it over the top, but somehow a mighty globule of egg white managed to slip off the pizza....off the pizza stone...all over the bottom of the oven....slide out the bottom of the oven...all down the kitchen counters...resting at last all over the kitchen floor.

Despite that, most definitely one to make again.

Puy Lentil, Pumpkin, Spinach and Goats Cheese Pizza was my pizza of choice.

I cooked the lentils with a bay leaf in advance, drained them and seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and freshly grated parmesan cheese. The pumpkin was also poached slightly as I didn't slice it thin enough to cook in the oven. I think roasting them would have been nicer but it was 12.30 at night so we didn't really have time. I can't really complain however, as the pizza worked very well as a whole. The lentils make it really very filling although I only used a handful of them on the top.
The spinach was fresh and sliced into long strips, it was pretty good to weave this in with the other ingredients.
And goats cheese is always, always good on pizza.

I was really very full and I'd only had a few slices of pizza- it was pretty amazing how large a difference few lentils and a bit of potato makes to a meal.

Josh taught me some very good pizza-making tips, one being to oil the pizza base with olive oil as it helps the pizza to crisp up. We even managed to work in a few very crunchy air-bubbles into the crust.

Yum yum yum yum yum.
I'm thinking pizza-making should be a more regular occasion.

ALSO THIS WEEK:
There was a disaster with Jake and two cheesecakes he tried to make for his girlfriend for valentines day.
Let's not talk about it any more than that.

Chile Rehab

I have put myself into chili rehab.

After buying some superb dried ancho and chipotle chilies from The Cool Chile Company I have -for the past fortnight- put them in pretty much everything I have been cooking. I made some really wonderful pumpkin with chili and mint soup, a Catalan (cabbage and red peppers) soup, black bean chili (really fucking good, very smoky) on top of the regular chilli in every day cooking. As much as I love spicy food, after two weeks of eating little but I began to get quite ill. As it turns out, chile speeds up your metabolism. Mine is already super-fast hence I can stuff my face quite happily and never manage to put on weight, thus for the past few days I was suffering from some quite crippling stomach cramps and being always, always hungry.

I hate throwing food away, but there was no room to freeze these very tasty dishes since....yep, my freezer was already full of foods I'd been cooking, chili-ing up and freezing. (Red potato and Kale soup with chili, amazing.) So I spent another day or so eating this food that was making me really quite ill but MMMM it was so nice.

I'm loving the chipotle chilies, they're a smoked jalapeno chili. They lack the bitterness I find most jalapeno's have. (Although maybe I've only eaten bad ones.) They are quite spicy but the it is a very complex spice that builds and fades away very pleasantly, especially when used in conjunction with the Ancho Chili. If you're interested in learning about Chipotle chilies check out;- http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Chiles-1024/chipotle.aspx

Anyhow, after getting quite sick I put myself into chili rehab, which I am actually finding a bit difficult. Day two, and I have cooked a very nice orange and carrot stir fry, along with a superb puy lentil and chard soup. Links to recipes;-

CARROT AND ORANGE STIR FRY

CHARD AND PUY LENTIL SOUP

Also, I have been invited to see the UK Barista Championships on the 16th. VERY excited about that. Excited enough to skive off University for it.