Cheeky monkey at the seaside

I think my little man Eddie and Curious George are twins, or at least brothers-in-arms when it comes to mischief and adventure. Eddie has the same curiosity about the world and the same determination. If he sets his mind on doing something, it's not easy to dissuade him. He was in his element by the seaside, exploring the rock pools, running along the beach catch-me-if-you-can-style, building the sandcastles and eating the ice cream.
This photo of Eddie with a scoop net, whooping with pleasure, always makes me smile, as I remember that lovely day on the beach in Cornwall last summer. It was his birthday, he just turned two that day. We are going to visit the same place again this summer, and I do hope we'll be able to catch a bit of sunshine too.

I'm entering this photo in the Tots100/Curious George competition.

And also adding my post to lovely Verily Victoria Vocalises blog linky #PoCoLo.

The Monster Book of Numbers and The Monster Book of Colours for little monsters

What is it about monsters? Why do they have such a huge appeal for little people? If you ask me, I think the monsters are overrated but both of my boys can't have enough of anything related to monsters. I wonder if it has anything to do with conquering your own fears by laughing at the silly monsters. Eddie would come up to the window before bedtime and declare "There's a monster in the garden", and when I exclaim in pretend-scared voice Oh No, he looks at me and says "No, there's no monster, Mama", as if reassuring himself that we are all safe. As soon as I saw the two books from My Little Big Town named The Monster Book of Colours and The Monster Book of Numbers, I knew they'd be more than welcome in our house.

The Monster books and Where's The Scone? are jam-packed with bright, colourful illustrations. We are entering again the strange weird world created by Calvin Innes. If you regularly read my blog, you might remember my review of Pale Henry (from The Tiny Twisted Tales). The new books follow in the footsteps of quirkiness, and are catering for the slightly younger audience than the Tiny Twisted Tales. The best fit would be pre-schoolers who learn their numbers and colours.

The monsters come with their own amusing names that will make your tot smile and giggle. They are not scary monsters, which is exactly what you want for your little readers. The aim is to amuse and educate, not to scare (and yes, we have one of those scary monsters' books that someone has given to my guys and which I find rather disturbing, so for the time being it's hidden on the top shelf, as I don't want to give any nightmares to my 2-year-old). Only child-friendly, silly and kind monsters would do.

My personal favourite of the three new additions to My Little Big Town range is Where's the Scone? This is a counting book from 1 to 10 (or the other way around) with silly rhymes that make us laugh, like "5 yeti sucking spaghetti" or "6 gnu tasting tofu". Every page comes with a different exotic and familiar animal who scoffs a different kind of food.

These paperbacks will keep your pre-schoolers amused and entertained, and will help them to memorise their numbers and colours.

Peaches and pears with Prosciutto di San Daniele and Grana Padano

I have quite often heard from foodies and TV chefs that Grana Padano is the poor man's Parmesan. But in fact this hard Italian cheese is great in its own right. My Italian mother-in-law always has a block of grana in the fridge for pasta and risotto. It might be less nutty or salty than Parmigiano, but it works beautifully in many Italian dishes or served as part of a platter.
For a light dinner or lunch serve this lovely selection of fruit, cheese and prosciutto. A glass of wine wouldn't go amiss too.



Peaches and pears with Prosciutto di San Daniele and Grana Padano Cheese
Pesche e pere con Prosciutto di San Daniele e Grana Padano

Serves 4

Ingredients:
6 Peaches, sliced
6 Pears, halved and core removed
200g Prosciutto di San Daniele, thinly sliced
150g Grana Padano Cheese
Good-quality runny honey

Method:
Cut each slice of Prosciutto di San Daniele into three equal parts
Alternate a slice of peach and a piece of prosciutto, placing them on the side of a serving plate
Cut and fan the pears and place on the opposite side of the plate
Crumble the Grana Padano Cheese over the pear, and drizzle the honey over it before serving.


For more information and suggestions on how to enjoy Prosciutto di San Daniele and Grana Padano Cheese, including recipes from the renowned chef, Giancarlo Caldesi, visit
"http://www.prosciuttosandaniele.it" www.prosciuttosandaniele.it  
"http://www.granapadano.it" www.granapadano.it .

Prosciutto di San Daniele is available in Tesco, Partridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Selfridges. For more information about Prosciutto di San Daniele, please visit: "http://www.prosciuttosandaniele.it" www.prosciuttosandaniele.it

Grana Padano Cheese is available in Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, as well as various independent delis. For more information about Grana Padano Cheese, please visit: "http://www.granapadano.it" www.granapadano.it




This recipe was created by Giancarlo Caldesi to promote Italian Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products.

Gnocchi with asparagus, dolcelatte and pine nuts

Horror of horrors, I don't make my own gnocchi. They come from a packet. That's cheating, I hear some foodies say and give me thumbs down. Oh well, I can live with it. We all do the shortcuts one way or another, and I am not yet Italianised enough to make my own pasta like the Nonni of yesteryear. To mark the start of the National Vegetarian Week, which runs from 20th May to 26th May, I have prepared this simple dish of gnocchi with asparagus, dolcelatte and pine nuts.

Gnocchi with asparagus, dolcelatte and pine nuts
Ingredients:
a pack of gnocchi (500g)
250g asparagus
a handful of pine nuts
100g doleclatte
olive oil

In a frying pan, melt the cubed dolcelatte cheese and add the sliced asparagus + a tablespoon of olive oil.
Cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water. Once they start floating at the surface, they are ready. Drain the water and add the asparagus dolcelatte sauce. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts before serving.

If you are not a vegetarian, then I may suggest using a gorgonzola instead of dolcelatte. And sprinkle with the grated parmesan (which is not a vegetarian cheese, but oh so good).

Very easy to prepare, if you want a quick lunch or dinner.

For more easy vegetarian pasta recipes, visit The Vegetarian Experience blog.

Lilac syrup: bottling the essence of May

I wanted to try to make my own lilac syrup over a year ago, when I read a magazine article about it (where? which magazine? no clue now). But I never managed, thinking I had plenty of time, and then we had such a scorching hot May that the lilac blossom soon turned dried brown.

We have two old lilac trees (is it a tree or a bush? ours look like proper trees anyway), one next to the kitchen, and one of a darker hue, at the very end of the garden, next to the stone wall and shed. I love the smell of the lilac, it brings memories of May in Russia. Somehow I don't see any florists selling the lilac bunches here, while in Russia they are very popular in bouquets. When I was young, we lived in the ground floor apartment with the lilacs waving in my windows. They have such a pronounced sweet aroma that you cannot take it for any other perfume. Heady and lush.

Lilac syrup
Ingredients:
1 mug of granulated sugar
1 mug of water
a handful of lilac (see photo below)

Bring 1 mug of water and 1 mug of sugar to the boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the lilac to the sugar syrup and simmer for about 10 minutes on very low heat.
Let it cool before pouring into a clean jar or bottle after removing the flowers.
Et voilà!

The syrup turned out to be surprisingly pale straw green. I expected it to gain the colour of the blossom, but it didn't happen, and the flowers themselves changed colour to blue.

I have decanted it in a glass jar (yes, it is a bottle for mixing the salad dressing but I haven't used it as such).

This syrup is supposed to keep well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but we are already half-way through, so I don't think it will last that long. Perfect for a cold drink with ice on a hot May day. Just add a dash of syrup,   top up the glass with water and add the ice cubes. Enjoy!

Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

Say You're Sorry is Michael Robotham's eighth novel (and the first one of his eight books I have read).

It starts with an intriguing introduction:
"My name is Piper Hadley and
I went missing on the last Saturday of the summer holidays three years ago..."
From page one, you get captivated by this roller coaster of a book with the intricate nail-biting and scary twists galore.

Best friends Tash and Piper go missing. The last time anyone remembers seeing them, they were enjoying themselves at the Bingham fair. "As days passed, the media storm blew through Bingham". After a long extensive search, the police failed to find them, so most people presume they have run away.

Three years later, a couple has been found brutally slaughtered in their farmhouse.

The book is narrated by two protagonists: one is the clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, who helps the Oxford police to look into the farmhouse murders and eventually into the disappearance of the Bingham girls which happened three years earlier, and Piper Hadley who writes her diaries in captivity and talks to herself.

As I don't want to spoil the plot for you, I only want to say that it moves at fast speed and kept me guessing to the last pages. Michael Robotham says in Acknowledgements "Do you know how many people have taken me to bed", which is absolutely true in my case. It's an absolutely gripping page-turner, which I just couldn't put down, I tried to finish the book late in the night (or should I say early hours of the morning?), and then could not sleep as I kept thinking about what I read. So, this first-rate thriller should come with a warning: a sleepless night is guaranteed.

As many events take place in Oxfordshire, I could recognise all the mentioned locations, and that added an extra flavour for me.
Many years ago, when I just got married and settled in Oxford, some of my Mum's friends were asking her why would I choose to live in Oxford, which is such a "deadly" place (that is their knowledge of Oxford was based purely on Inspector Morse). I guess this book would have added to their perception of how dangerous Oxford is.
But clearly Oxford in this book is just a metaphor of any town. You might think nothing happens in smaller communities, it's not like it is a huge megalopolis where people do not know their nearest neighbours. But of course, behind each serene dignified and almost somnolent facade there might be horrors and secrets hidden that you have no idea about.

If you enjoy compelling and shocking narratives, this is a book for you.

Pasta with clams and sea beet

Pasta with clams is probably my all times favourite pasta. I think the first time I cooked it was when we stayed at a friend's villa in Agropoli, Italy. It was from the same day catch, very fresh and tasty. Alas, as we don't live by the sea, the clams that we get here are never as fresh as those little beauties from the Tyrrhenian sea. I was standing by the fish counter in Waitrose the other day, pondering over what I fancied for dinner, and decided pasta with clams would do nicely. Then I noticed a solitary pack of the sea beet, which I haven't seen in the shops before, and that went into my shopping basket as well. And thus that evening we had pasta with clams and the sea beet for dinner.

Pasta with clams and sea beet (for 2)

Ingredients:

200g dry spaghetti

400g clams

a pack of sea beet (see the photo below, not sure about the weight)

a glass of white wine

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

a handful of black olives

olive oil

sea salt, pepper

Fry the finely sliced onion and garlic with the olive oil in a deep frying pan or wok, until translucent. Add the clams, pour the white wine, add the olives and cook under the lid until all the clams are open (discard those which didn't open). Season well. Add the chopped sea beet or parsley and cook for another few minutes until the sea beet is wilted.

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain the water and toss the past in the pan with the clams.

Serve hot.

What exactly is the sea beet (Beta vulgaris maritima)? This plant grows wild along the coastline of the UK, you might have seen it aplenty without realising that it is edible. I have recenly come across the foraging blog Down to Earth. Bushcraft.com, and if you fancy to find out more about this plant and what to cook with it, I recommend visiting it. What does it taste like? It is a bit of a cross between the spinach and beet leaves.

You don't have to add the sea beet, of course, if you cannot find any. A big bunch of flat leaf parsley would be wonderful as well.

Buon Appetito! 

Adding my recipe to lovely inspiring Verily Victoria Vocalises blog linky #PoCoLo.

Not so Classic New York Cheesecake

Cheesecakes: love them or hate them. I remember the day when we had guests for dinner, an Italian couple, friends of my in-laws, I was a young wife then and really eager to impress our guests. So I baked a cheesecake, and it looked absolutely gorgeous. Our Italians though refused to eat it categorically, as the husband had the food poisoning incident from eating the cheesecake on his previous visit to England. Well, it was their loss, I should add, as the cake was lush. I tend to change the ingredients slightly when I bake my version of the New York cheesecake, so I could really call it New Yorkish. This time I have added a new yoghurt from Chobani.
Last Tuesday we had two people doing the maintenance works in the garden. They are both lovely chaps, whom we have known for several years. We invite them when we need to do big jobs in the garden. It was first drizzling, then bucketing on Tuesday afternoon, but they worked in the rain. To keep them warm, I offered them hot drinks and cakes. They said this cake was absolutely delicious and that they would be more than happy to have a cake like this served in a restaurant as a dessert.

Not so classic New York cheesecake
Ingredients:
150g crushed biscuits, Hobnobs and Hovis Digestives
2tbsp sugar
50g Stork
2 packages of Light Philadelphia soft cheese
170g pot of Chobani fat free with raspberry yoghurt
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
3tbsp self-raising flour
1tbsp vanilla paste

I typically use the butter in cakes, but I had a pack of Stork in the fridge (if you ask why, I bought it to enter the competition. Yes, me and my competitions, lol).
Crush the biscuits in a bowl. Add the sugar and melted butter or margarine. Mix the crumbs well. Press onto the bottom of the springform cake tin.
In a deep bowl mix together the soft cheese, yoghurt, vanilla paste, flour, eggs, using the hand blender.
Pour the mix over the crumbs in the tin.
Bake at 180C for good 70 minutes, until the centre is almost set (it will still be wobbly when you take the tin out).
Cool the cake before removing the tin. Be careful or it might crack on the side (mine did, it didn't affect its taste, but slightly spoilt the looks).
It is best eaten the next day after staying in the fridge overnight (or at least 3-4 hours before serving).

For this cake I used Chobani fat free yoghurt with raspberry. This is a new flavour in a Chobani family of yoghurts. I have recently reviewed this tasty range, see my post Chobani yoghurts for more recipe ideas.
The raspberry yoghurt is the same Greek style thick yoghurt, as you would expect from Chobani, layered with a sweet raspberry puree. Delicious on its own, but also lovely as an ingredient for a cake.

Lovely people from Chobani sent me a couple of tubs of new yoghurt to try.
I use the spelling "yoghurt" in this post, though typically I write "yogurt", but I don't want to confuse you if you start googling for Chobani.
And in case you are wondering about the pretty china, this is a Royal Crown Derby coffee set which I bought on ebay. I just couldn't resist, it is so beautiful. Perfect for a sophisticated cup of coffee with a lush slice of cake.

Adding my recipe to lovely Emily at A Mummy Too blog linky Recipe of the week.

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa

My husband spent a week in Hong Kong recently, and on coming home confessed that he was tired of eating the Chinese food for a week at all the official functions, but he also managed to sneak out once or twice to Pizza Express (my poor Italian hubby, a week without pasta must have been a torture, lol). Personally I love the Chinese food, as it is so versatile, and varied. A week passed after his return, and I thought it was safe to prepare a Chinese-influenced dish for dinner.
This is by no means an authentic recipe but more of a fusion of cuisines and flavours, but it works really well.

Amoy has recently launched a new Special Selection Soy Sauce. To mark the occasion, lovely blogger and creative foodie Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews has teamed with Amoy to invite her blog readers to experiment with the new soy sauce and create their own recipes. The recipes will be judged, and the best entry will win a Chinese-themed goodie bag, courtesy of Amoy.

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa
Ingredients:
for the salsa
2 kiwis, cubed
2 medium slices of watermelon, cubed
1 orange, sliced
a handful of fresh mint
1 tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1/2 orange, juiced
1/2 lime, juiced
1tsp honey

2 duck legs
3tbsp chilli jam
2tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1tsp hot chili powder
salt
olive oil

rice or noodles to serve

Start by preparing the fruit salsa. The idea of pickling the watermelons is not a new one. It is very popular in the Southern Russia to pickle slices of watermelon in salty brine, and it is lovely on a hot summer day.
Slice the orange (peel it first). Chop/cube the watermelon and kiwis. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with the orange and lime juice, honey and soy sauce. Let it infuse for a couple of hours, occasionally stirring. Before serving tear a few mint leaves and add to the fruit salsa.

Rub two duck legs with a bit of olive oil, season and sprinkle the hot chilli powder to coat them evenly. Place in the oven preheated to 200C in a deep dish for about 30 minutes. Mix the chilli jam with the soy sauce, and spread over the duck legs. Roast for another 30 minutes, until the skin is crispy and really caramelised-sticky.

Serve with the noodles or egg-fried rice.

I have received a bottle of Amoy Special Selection Soy Sauce to take part in the cooking challenge.

Ozeri Pronto Digital Kitchen Scales

When it comes to cooking, I don't usually measure the ingredients, and that's why when I post my recipes, I often mention a dash of, a pinch of or a handful of. That applies to almost everything but cakes. With cakes, I prefer to know the exact amount of ingredients as I have learnt that approximate measures could lead to a potential cooking disaster. My old kitchen scales has always been a temperamental beast, working perfectly well one day and refusing to co-operate the next one. Thus I was very happy to test a new kitchen appliance from Ozeri - Pronto Digital Kitchen Scales.

Specifications (as described by Ozeri):
- Accurate, easy to use digital kitchen scale weighs up 11 lbs (1-5kg)
- Features 2 large buttons that generate audible click confirmation
- Precision Tare Button calculates the net weight of the ingredients
- Automatic Unit Button instantly converts from ounces to grams and pounds to milliliters
- Large screen features a bright LCD with wide viewing angle for the on-the-go cook
oversized weighing platform finished in elegant chrome
- 2-minute automatic power-off preserves battery life
compact design stores easily and is easy to clean
- Runs on 2 AAA batteries (included) with an easy-access battery compartment (no screwdriver needed)

What did I think of my new kitchen gadget?
I liked its compact form, it doesn't take much space in the kitchen, which is very important to me. It came with the batteries, which is very thoughtful and convenient.
The performance was faultless, the screen is easy to read, and it is very easy to clean as well (a big bonus, as   my baking sessions are a bit of a flour-flying-everywhere session.
A lovely kitchen gadget.

Here is the last week's cake, with ingredients measured by Ozeri Pronto Digital Kitchen Scales.

And a happy customer, enjoying a slice of cake.

P.S. I received the kitchen scales for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.

Perl Las and walnuts focaccia

I love browsing through Abel & Cole's range of products, and when I saw an unknown to me cheese Perl Las, I was curious to try it, especially that I have read about it recently in the Guardian's Weekend, as Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall (every time I mention his name, I have to check the right spelling and every time I get it wrong) praised it as one of his top three current cheese choices. I don't often follow his recipes, but use them more as an inspiration, and his Blue cheese, red onion and walnuts focaccia looked like a winner to me.
What is Perl Las?
According to Abel and Cole, "Once upon a time, in the heart of West Wales there was a family of cheese. Well, a family who have been making cheese for many years.
Gwynfor and Thelma Adams make this gorgeous organic blue cheese, Perl Las Blue entirely by hand. Some of the cast iron presses they use are over 100 years old. Vintage!" Sounds perfect.

Perl Las and walnuts focaccia

Ingredients:

1 large onion, thinly sliced

165g Perl Las blue cheese

7 walnuts

2 tbsp pesto
Olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper

a dash of balsamic vinegar

a dash of brandy (optional)

for focaccia:

1 pack of focaccia & ciabatta mix (I used the Sainsbury's variety)

330ml water

30ml olive oil plus extra for coating

more flour

1 tbsp truffle oil (optional)

Start by placing the bread mix in a bowl and gradually adding the olive oil, water and truffle oil, first using the fork to combine it until you have a dough. Then dump the dough onto the well floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until it feels smooth and elastic.

Put it in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and place in a warm place for an hour or more. I think I kept mine for a few hours until I had time to work with it. By then it was well risen and fluffy. Drizzle a bit more olive oil on it and form a focaccia, sort of an uneven rectangle. Using a finger, poke the focaccia to make the dimples on its cheeks.

Slice the onion thinly and fry it in the pan with the olive oil, season a bit, add a dash of brandy and balsamic vinegar for the caramelised effect. 

Shell the walnuts and break them into segments.

Spread the pesto over the focaccia.

Decorate the focaccia with the onions and walnuts and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until golden. Take the focaccia out of the oven and crumble Perl Las cheese over it. Place it back in the oven, once the cheese has nicely melted, the focaccia is ready to be served.

Mine is a bastardised version of Hugh's recipe, to see his original recipe please follow this link Curd processor.

If you can't find any Perl Las, I'm sure a soft blue cheese like Gorgonzola Piccante or Dolcelatte would work as well. 

I would also love to bring your attention to the bread plate I used for the photo shoot, it is an antique Royal Crown Derby bread plate from 1840-80s. Isn't it pretty? I have bought it recently in the vintage shop. 

I'm adding my recipe to #PoCoLo linky on the inspirational Verily Victoria Vocalises blog.

Back to 1983

This year Kellogg's Special K is celebrating its 30th anniversary. So much has happened in these 30 years.

Sometimes when I look back at those times, it feels like a different era, as if that life happened to someone else, as if it wasn't me. I don't mean just the fashions or music, though shoulder pads do make me feel a bit nostalgic, and I still love Sweet Dreams and Uptown Girl.
And now for the first time since 1983, Kellogg’s is changing Special K with a new, more wholesome recipe.

Going back to 1983 would take me to the Soviet Union. Brezhnev was dead but it was still a very depressive-stagnation period. The high school was a bit of a nightmare for me, as I found it difficult to conform. It would be another three years till perestroika started, by then I will be a University student. I remember my uni days as completely different from school. With all the political changes, we felt that it was time to say Farewell to the dim past and embrace the new world. Everything seemed possible. I felt happy and ready to conquer the world.

Reader, I tried but I could not find a photo of myself taken exactly 30 years ago, I am not even sure my Mum has any. At 15, I wasn't happy about my looks (as probably most teenagers), and tried to avoid having my photos taken. Actually, that's not entirely true, I posed for a professional photographer who came to our art school, he wanted me to look really sad, and did the photo shoot outside some old dilapidated building (my brother was present). I'm sure they would have made a good image for a mis-lit book cover or a ghost story.

At that time Kellogg's didn't mean much to me. It wasn't available in Russia, at least not in my home town, and I can't remember eating cereals in my childhood at all (we had lots of different kinds of porridge and kasha).
Kellogg's was something the American kids ate in the movies and books.

How old was I in this photo? I tried to figure the date out, and can't quite pinpoint the year, maybe 19.
Shoulder pads. I loved them. They made me feel stronger, like wearing an armour. I was quite insecure and naive. I am certainly a lot wiser now and much-much stronger. Well, I have to, being a mother of two wonderful boys who are the centre of my Universe.

Music? In 1983 and later, Russia was crazy about the Italian music. Among many others: Loredana Berte, Ricchi e Poveri, Riccardo Fogli, Pupo, Al Bano-Romina Power and of course, Toto Cutugno.
L'Italiano just swept us all away in 1983, and I fell in love, head over heels.
Later, when I met my future husband, he laughed at my tastes in Italian music and introduced me to the beautiful lyrics of Fabrizio De Andre and Roberto Vecchioni. And while I love their songs, my heart still goes a bit aflutter whenever I hear Toto Cutugno's velvet voice.

In those faraway 1980s I was dreaming that one day I would marry an Italian, and he will be an aristocrat as well. Thirty years later, I have been married to my Italian for almost 17 years, and he comes from a prominent family whose history goes centuries back. One day I will tell you the story of how we met. An irony of fate, as I am more of a socialist than I have ever been before, and don't have much respect for the empty titles and crowns. So, that has definitely changed for me. Thankfully, my husband shares my views.

And while 30 years ago, I haven't had Kellogg's Special K for breakfast, now there is always a pack of Special K on the kitchen counter. I have been eating it for the last couple of weeks every morning, as I am testing it for a month to see whether I'll really be able to go one size down. So far I haven't noticed any difference but the night is young.

What did I think of the new Special K?
"The new recipe contains three grains — rice, wheat and barley (previously there were two) — and is made with wholegrain, for a source of fibre as well as 8 vitamins and minerals. It gives health-conscious, weight-watching women a tastier breakfast".
It definitely is more wholesome and it tastes healthier, but I do miss the sour note of Red berries, which is my favourite variety of Kellogg's Special K. And don't even mention the naughty Strawberry and chocolate. So, I found myself adding bits and pieces to the new flavour.

Have I changed much? Yes and No. I am stronger, wiser, almost unbreakable, a fierce tigress ready to fight for her cubs, especially for my older boy who has autism. Looking at me, you might presume I am armoured against any eventuality, but scratch the surface, and deep beneath you might still find that vulnerable young girl who was hurting at the unkind remark.
But just like the Special K, I will always be special to my family, whether I have wrinkles or carry extra weight.

If you enjoyed reading about my trip down the memory lane, you might like to read the other bloggers' posts on the theme of what has changed in 30 years of our lives. This post is my entry to BritMums/Special K How I've changed Linky Challenge.

Chicken and okra casserole

I am a spontaneous shopper. I saw the okra on offer yesterday, and grabbed a small bag, then came home and started wondering what to do with it. I found some lovely curries with okra and yogurt, but I had none of the specific Indian spices apart from garam masala that the recipes were asking for. Then I came across a Turkish recipe of a chicken casserole with okra, and having a look around the kitchen, decided that I have the necessary ingredients, more or less. If you want to cook the authentic version of Chicken and okra casserole, read the link from The New York Times.

I have adapted the recipe to suit my list of ingredients and downsized it considerably. I only had 125g of okra rather than the whole pound.

Chicken and okra casserole with yogurt
Ingredients:
8 chicken pieces
125g okra
2 big tomatoes, chopped
5 heaped tbsp of Chobani fat free plain yogurt
juice of 1 lime
1 garlic clove
1 onion
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
salt, pepper
1tbsp Wild Rose el Hanout
1 tsp of plain flour

Heat the olive oil in the large casserole or wok-style pan, add the flour-dusted chicken pieces. Season with salt, pepper, coat evenly with Rose el Hanout and ground coriander.
In a separate frying pan fry the finely chopped onions and okra (sliced in half). Once the onion is slightly caramelised, add the onion/okra mix to the casserole with chicken, squeeze the juice of one lime and stir well. Add a chopped clove of garlic and tomatoes. Pour some water and cover the casserole with the lid. Cook on slow for about half an hour. Five minutes before you finish cooking, add the yogurt mixed with 1 tsp of plain flour.

I used the Chobani fat free yogurt, which is very thick and tastes amazingly good.

Serve with rice (I used Tilda Lemon rice).

The result: a total triumph of flavours. I am so going to do it again. Next time I'll try a meatless version of just the okra in yogurt dish, with perhaps more tomatoes. Absolutely delicious.

Adding this recipe to #CookItBlogIt linky on the inspiring The Diary of a Frugal Family blog.