oneyearproject.com

Yesterday our contractor started ripping out the carpeting in the new place, and was going to set about removing the kitchen. Last night I dreamt that he had emptied one cupboard and carefully removed four of the wooden cherry-motif cabinet door knobs and set them down in the virtually empty dumpster. So it was quite a relief when we went over there today to discover that the entire kitchen had been gutted, as had the bathroom upstairs. The fake plastic brickwork and the fake plastic wood paneling are all gone, as are the three layers of vinyl tiles on the floor. Farewell to you all. The upstairs looks so much prettier with hardwood floors rather than the mismatch of stained carpets. And the staircase looks about a million times better in wood rather than furry green. The floors are fortunately in good condition but will need sanding and refinishing, but we’d anticipated that they could be in appalling condition so we are quite happy. 2 days of remodelling down, 13 days left before we move in. We’re keeping all our fingers and toes crossed.

We spent much of today running round buying really dull things for the house- ceiling fans and light fittings, new locks, a replacement radiator. Expenses most certainly pile up extremely quickly when you move. We found a modernish ceiling fan on sale for a reasonable price, but buying 5 of them quickly mounts up. Then Ikea called to say that our kitchen will be delivered tomorrow, but that our chosen sink has been discontinued. So we went out there and chose a sink sight-unseen from their new range. We ended up just bringing it home rather than going through the rigmarole of adding it to the delivery tomorrow. It looks fine, it’s a sink. They could have just swapped the discontinued one for this one and we’d never have known.

So this evening we set about making Broccoli Frittata with Goat Cheese and BLT Bread Salad, about which we were a little sceptical. The recipe calls for 3 eggs per person, but we made our half serving with 4 eggs, and that was more than plenty. The broccoli florets are browned in a little olive oil with some thyme, red pepper flakes and red onion. Lemon juice and a roll of goat cheese was to be crumbled into the pan, but ours did less of the crumbling and more of the smearing in your hands. Messy but tasty at least. Then a mixture of beaten eggs, a splash of cream and salt and pepper was poured onto the mix, and allowed to brown underneath. We prodded it a bit with a spatula as the egg set to keep things moving a little and to stop the whole lot from sticking to the pan. It was supposed to be browned on top in a 400? oven, but we decided to use the broiler instead. It seemed inhumane to roast our little girl asleep next door for the sake of a glorified omelette. It worked fine in the broiler, the eggs rose and became golden exactly as prescribed.

While I made the egg dish, L made the BLT salad. The bread called for was supposed to be a little stale, which ours most certainly was. The recipe says the chopped bread should be soaked in water for a few minutes then gently squeezed dry because you “don’t want the bread to be wet”. Maybe we missed the point of that exercise entirely, but I have to confess that we skipped that step. Why wet the bread if it should be dry? It already gets moist when it comes into contact with the salad dressing (olive oil and red wine vinegar) and that at least tastes better than bread in water. Romaine lettuce, red onion, grape tomatoes and chopped fried bacon went into the salad with the bread and the dressing and a little salt and pepper.

I have to say this salad was really really good. It was fresh and crisp and the bacon and bread were interesting enough to add a little something which made this seem more like a deli salad rather than a side dish. We would certainly make this one again, no question. The frittata was also good, for what it was. I am no great egg fan and L only tasted a morsel because he is allergic to eggs, but this was remarkably tasty. The goat cheese added a distinctive flavour and texture, and the vegetables gave it a little bit of crunch. Omelettes finished in the oven or under the grill always seem so much more satisfying than those fried on both sides, and it’s just as easy to make them. Maybe it’s even easier, as there is no potential flipping disaster waiting in the wings. Overall, a very good solid meal, I enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we will be having another rendition of this meal with Seafood Frittata with Fennel, Orange, and Arugula Bread Salad. We’ll let you know how it goes.

This afternoon we made the third and final installment in the pumpkin polenta trilogy: Vegetarian Pumpkin Polenta with Spinach and White Beans [recipe (wrong photo)]. The first version of this recipe, with chorizo and black beans, was good, the second version, with sausage and fennel was ok, this third version was, in a word, bogging. Somehow the polenta turned out lumpy. I have no idea why but it just didn’t work out as well as the first time around. Anything which is gritty to begin with really suffers when there are big lumps of grit in there. However, I will readily admit that that was something that I did wrong, i don’t know what, but we know the recipe can yield good results; we enjoyed the dish on Saturday.

The spinach and white bean topping, however, was just rubbish. The onions and garlic were fried in olive oil, then cooked drained frozen spinach and white beans were added to the pot. Once they were warm, the food was seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and served on top of the lumpy polenta. Draining frozen spinach in a “clean kitchen towel” is a gigantic pain in the behind. The towel ends up looking like a slimed extra in a horror film, and there is goopy green water all over the countertop. The most annoying thing is that the spinach ends up dry, so, when added to the onions and beans, with no other liquid or sauce, it is a bit like eating cotton wool. The lack of flavour plus the overly dry texture is reminiscent of the taste in your mouth after a long night drinking, if I can remember those days. When your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth because you are so dehydrated. Not exactly the best taste sensation in the world. And who would warm up a tin of white beans and just put nutmeg, salt and pepper on them? surely no-one with taste buds. This meal would have been much better if there had been some liquid, any liquid added to the beans and spinach. Spinach water, dish water or ketchup, who cares what, this food was just plain nasty. But hey, at least we get to move on two days of frittata, starting with Broccoli Frittata with Goat Cheese and BLT Bread Salad. And given our collective love of eggs, those meals can only be fun ones.

After a long day of socialising, packing, cleaning, working and attempting to entertain a relentlessly needy toddler, we set about making Pumpkin Polenta with Italian Sausage and Fennel [recipe, (with the wrong picture)]. After the successful version of this meal that we made yesterday, we had higher hopes for this dish than we would otherwise had entertained. The polenta had the addition of nutmeg and a cheese swap; Pecorino for the Manchego. The topping consisted of fried Italian sausage, onions and fennel, with the pan deglazed with white wine.

We didn’t add any of the olive oil called for in the sausage pan; there was more than enough sausage fat to go around, in fact it was slightly repulsive. I am going off sausage at an alarming rate. Our ratio of meat to vegetable seemed a little skewed; we had a mountain of sausage with not alot of the white stuff. Not that this was a great problem as the fennel was less than appetising. In fact this whole meal was a bit of a dud. It was passable stodgy winter fare, but there was no redeeming features making it stand out in a crowd. It tasted like comfort food, but any nutritional value in the vegetables was overruled by the fatty sausage. Not the best meal we have had, by any means. Also the polenta seemed much grainier than yesterday, and thus less appealing. I’m not sure what we did differently, but I’m guessing that we didn’t cook it as long, or maybe it was overcooked. Who knows? We are no polenta experts. Although perhaps that may all change with the third and final installment of the polenta trilogy; Vegetarian Pumpkin Polenta with Spinach and White Beans.

After a long day in the sunshine playing with Baby A- at the beach this morning, and then in the garden at the new house this afternoon,- we came home to make a hearty winter supper, Pumpkin Polenta with Chorizo and Black Beans [recipe]. We were extraordinarily sceptical about this recipe, being no fans of polenta, but actually this meal was excellent. It was extremely easy and quick to make, with tasty distinctive results. The polenta is made by bringing chicken stock and a dash of butter to a boil, then adding in some tinned pumpkin. This seemed really odd, but the pumpkin sort of dissolved into the stock and looked very creamy. The polenta was poured into the pan, stirred into the mix and it was pretty much done. Salt, pepper, thyme and Manchego cheese were stirred in, and the polenta was ready to serve. Meanwhile, chopped chorizo was stir fried in a tiny touch of olive oil (we used a spray), with onions added after a few minutes. Once the onions were softened, black beans and roasted red peppers joined the rest, everything was warmed through and then piled on top of the polenta. Chopped parsley was sprinkled on top of the meal to garnish.

This meal was one of those unexpected surprises that makes this project worthwhile. We never would have looked at the recipe and decided to cook the meal. Indeed in all honesty we were prepared to hate this meal, it just didn’t seem like something we would enjoy. Fortunately our preconceptions were entirely wrong, and this meal went down a treat. Also, we ate pumpkin and black beans, which are rare ingredients in our cooking repertoire. The pumpkin lightened the polenta so that it didn’t feel very heavy and stodgy. With the added cheese, I could actually see, possibly for the first time ever, why people enjoy polenta. The chorizo and black bean mixture was tangy and substantial without being overwhelmingly hefty. Overall, this meal is a winner, and had it been any time from November to March, this meal would have been perfect. Tomorrow we revisit this meal with Pumpkin Polenta with Italian Sausage and Fennel. We are no fans of fennel, but hope that our opinions on this vegetable may be changed by the meal. The following day we will be having Vegetarian Pumpkin Polenta with Spinach and White Beans.

About a hundred years ago, we got up at the crack of dawn to sell a condo and buy a house. It was a strange strange day but ultimately I think having a house will work out just fine. The first closing- where we sat on the sellers’ side of the table, went off without a hitch. The beautiful people who will be living here, the very same people who are now our landlords, were very excited and pleased with everything. It was only after they left and we moved over to the buyers’ side of the table that our realtor asked if we were excited and I had a minor breakdown. The monotony of signing a squillion papers had kept my emotions at bay, but it was a pretty sad morning signing away the place where we have been the happiest. The realtors didn’t really ask again if we were excited or happy; strange what a dampener on any situation a fit of crying can provoke. Pah, those pregnancy hormones (such an excellent excuse, I will be milking it until I can blame the new baby hormones). Our purchase was much weirder, so very much more bizarre. The realtor for the sellers’ was sick so she couldn’t attend, instead she sent along her most peculiar, and most un-realtor husband, who kept harping on and on about the home warranty on the appliances, all of which will be replaced within the month. The former owners of our new house are an elderly divorced couple, she is sprightly and vivacious, funny and charming, he is a relic of a person, very much sickened by alcoholism. The whole proceedings were slightly excruciating, in all honesty. Once all the papers were signed and keys exchanged we drove over to “our place” where the lady seller was going to pick up her jacket. We were chatting in the kitchen when the estranged husband let himself in the front door, shouted “only me” and went straight upstairs to use the toilet. It was certainly weird. And we are going to be changing all the locks, probably tomorrow, mysteriously enough.

Next up we took delivery of our brand shiny new washing machine and tumble dryer, ones with fancy buttons and lights and settings, very nice. We’ll probably never figure out how they work. We spent most of the day trying to get our bearings of what should go where, what is needed, and what colours we should paint, and avoiding touching anything much. Although the house looks reasonably clean, everything has a layer of greasy grime, and there are some unpleasant odours around and about. We felt like we should be starting to renovate, or do something, but there are so many things that need to be done in the right order that we ended up tying ourselves into mental knots figuring out where to start. Instead we trecked to Ikea and completed our kitchen order and arranged, at great expense, to have it all delivered next week. We also spent an inordinate amount of time looking at light fittings (something for every room, argh) before deciding that we were too exhausted to think. Instead we picked up Baby A and took her to the new house. After all her “new house: toys”, she was utterly uninterested in the farm set we picked up at Ikea, instead she was greatly impressed by an abandoned watering can and our bribery snacks. And the garden. All in all it went well, she seemed to like the place, except for the attic space which is about a bazillion degrees. But the stairs on the inside were very popular, as was looking at the car out of the windows on each floor. And the lawnmower in the garage; our child is obsessed by mowers “I touch mower” she says everyday. After visiting the garage 3 times to look at the mower, the novelty was beginning to wear off. For us, obviously, not for the little one.

Anyway, finally we came back to the “old house”, our rental unit, and set about making dinner. Olive and Anchovy-Slathered Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Caramelized Onion Orzo and Sliced Tomatoes is a variation on the meal of yesterday, and fortunately a tastier version. The recipe called for 2 tenderloin steaks each; as L and I are feeling like we are on some sort of perverse meat binge, we shared one steak. The olive tapenade butter of yesterday had some anchovy paste mixed in, which actually gave the flavour a good kick, despite my initial misgivings. The orzo tonight somehow tasted much better, although it was essentially the same dish as yesterday, minus the zucchini. The pan was deglazed with vermouth after browning the onions and garlic, which certainly helped, and I went a bit overboard on the cheese and the salt and pepper in an attempt to end up with a more interesting dish. Sliced tomatoes on the side added a little colour and freshness.

Overall, this meal was pretty fine, and certainly very easy to make. Tomorrow we enter the pumpkin polenta fest, a 3-day run starting with Pumpkin Polenta with Chorizo and Black Beans. Maybe it’ll be nice, we’re thinking not, but maybe, let’s at least try it. Preconceptions are there to be broken. Or confirmed, obviously, but that’s a whole different mindset.

Tomorrow we will become house owners once more, and renters of our currently owned condo. It all seems so very messed up. We had our final walk through in the new place today, which was bizarre to say the least. It was great to see the place without furniture- the bedrooms don’t seem so pokey, and the living area is a little more spacious than it seemed. However, we did discover that some of the “built-ins”, the wardrobe in one of the bedrooms and shelves and cupboards around the front window in the lounge, feature some of the shoddiest workmanship ever. They are worse than useless, so we have more things to add to the list of things to rip out. In better news, we found out that the hardwood floors upstairs, currently buried under assorted vile carpets, seem to be in very good condition, so that’s a relief. On the downside, there was a particularly sinister smell emanating from the kitchen sink. And we appear to have a number of giant spiders in the basement. Nice.

Och well, tomorrow we will get to hang around there all day and perhaps regret our decision to move at our leisure. We do both believe that moving is the right thing to do, and living in a house will be so much easier once we have two kids, but it is going to be so hard to leave our condo. Oh gloriously high, very smooth ceilings, we will certainly miss you. Our kitchen parts do appear to have arrived from Ikea which is fabulous news, so on the plus side we will soon (ha!) have a beautiful new kitchen where all the cupboard doors will close properly. We hope. In the meantime we all have to be up and out of the house before 7.30am, leaving behind a cleanish condo so the new owners can come through and check for holes in the walls and the like. That in itself should be quite a challenge.

This evening we messed up our newly clean kitchen to make Olive-Butter-Slathered Broiled Lamb Chops with Caramelized Zucchini Orzo, which actually sounds much fancier and more impressive than it actually was. We did find lamb at Target which saved us from trecking all over town; we bought 3 little chops for $10 or so. The recipe calls for 12 lamb chops for 4 people, that’s 3 each. That’s insane, not just greed wise but also it would mean that this meal would be phenomenally expensive. Anyway, we had 3 chops between 2 of us, and that was still quite alot of meat. If they had comes in packs of 2 that would have been even better. The lamb was grilled with salt and pepper, with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of olive tapenade mixed with butter smeared on top just before serving. The cooked orzo was mixed with garlic, onion and zucchini which had been fried in olive oil until browned. The recipe said that the zucchini should be caramelized, but as there was no sugar added to the pan, they were merely slightly burnt. Lemon zest, parsley and Parmigiano cheese were added just before serving.

The lamb was pretty nice, although the tapenade was pretty disappointing. Of all the ways that we have had lamb, this was one of our least favourite. Whereas a mint sauce or black cherry-red wine reduction complement the lamb and bring out its meaty flavour, the strength of the tapenade overpowered the lamb itself. The meat could equally therefore have been something much cheaper like chicken, although then the meal would be even duller. The lamb was certainly pleasant, it always is, but this was nothing spectacular. On the other hand, the orzo as a side dish could have been absolutely anything. The flavours were so meek and mild that this dish was somehow reminiscent of the food we used to make for Baby A when she was just starting on solids. Nothing was noteable, it was really a whole plate of blah.

Tomorrow we try again, this time with beef in the form of Olive and Anchovy-Slathered Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Caramelized Onion Orzo and Sliced Tomatoes. Will it be any more exciting? We shall see.

This evening we made Strip Steaks with a Side of Blue Cheese Spaghetti [recipe], which was a welcome return to decent food, after the disaster of yesterday. I have to say that we substituted feta for the blue cheese, but it was still cheesy deliciousness. The recipe is featured on the Food Network website from the 30 Minute Meals episode “Bachelor Buster: Rachael’s making a meal that will satisfy the manliest of bachelors.” I’m not so sure about that, but this certainly is a lot of good, solid, tasty food.

Essentially the strip steak is seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked and then a garlic and chive butter is melted over the meat while it rests. Easy, quick and extroadinarily rich, this preparation method is a winner. The sauce for the spaghetti is made by sautéeing shallots and garlic, then adding flour, chicken stock, heavy cream, the cheese and some sage. It is seasoned with black pepper. Once the spaghetti is tossed in the sauce, bacon crumbles and chopped arugula garnish the dish. The pasta is extremely good; it is rich and satisfying without being too overpowering or cloying. We used half and half rather than heavy cream, and the consistency was still good and it felt a little less indulgent.

Both parts of this meal stand up very well to scrutiny; we really had no criticisms. I would say that they could easily have been split into two more than decent meals, with the richness of both being offset by a green salad. If you are out to impress, this meal is a good one, it seemed easy, quick and relatively foolproof. You may be stuck in the sofa afterwards however for quite some time. Overall, we would make the elements of this meal again, but it is highly unlikely that we’d pair the pasta with the steak, they would both be separate meals. The spagheti reminds me a little of an egg-free carbonara substitute that we used to make quite regularly a few years ago. With some peas it would be perfect.

Tomorrow we have to clean up the condo for the walk-through by the new buyers, go on our walk-through at the new house and source some lamb for Olive-Butter-Slathered Broiled Lamb Chops with Caramelized Zucchini Orzo. That certainly sounds like a good meal, if a little on the hefty side. We were a little panicked that we might have to abandon ship on the project today when the power went out for a while. We had to abandon all attempts to pack and work and just sit very very still. With the window unit and the fans off, the temperature in here rose about 3? in around half an hour. We were melting. Not pleasant. Fortunately the power came back on later, in time for us to cook this evening. What a relief, we got to put the oven on again at full force to bring the kitchen temperature back up to boiling point.

On this the most humid of days, we set about making Chicken Sausage on a Roll with Egg and Fontina, which is recommended as being suitable for “B, L or D: Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner”. This meal is substantially different from the last two chicken sausage recipes; grill seasoning and fennel are added to the ground meat, but the similarities end there. Also in the bowl with the seasoned chicken there is honey, chopped raisins and parsley. The mixture is formed into patties, fried, and served on a toasted roll. A fried egg and some Fontina cheese are stacked on top of the arrangement, with the cheese melted on the grill, and the ensemble topped with the remaining half of the bread roll.

The construction is relatively straightforward. Our only mishap came when the cheese broke the egg yolk of the fried egg, so we had a runny yolky eruption pouring down the side of the breadroll. Then the melted cheese slid off the egg surface, to make a pile of lardy fat on the baking sheet with the rapidly congealing egg yolk. Appetising this was not. The roll had no directions as to what it should be served with, so we served it all on its lonesome.

I may have mentioned before our general antipathy towards eggs, so we were not particularly excited at the prospect of this meal. We had hoped that the sausage part may be good enough to overule the egginess; alas it was not to be. The sweet savoury sausage thing just wasn’t a winner here. The fennel seemed overpowering, the chicken sausage too dry, and the raisins and honey just seemed out of place. After 6 years in the US, we can almost get our heads around putting maple syrup on breakfast bacon and sausage, if they are being eaten with pancakes, but it still seems weird. Ketchup on savoury, syrup on sweet; that’s the natural order of breakfast, to us at least. At least I can get behind the notion of the cooked breakfast, being British and thus a big fan of the fry-up (extra bacon, no eggs please). L has a hard time with cooked breakfasts, being more of a Continental guy; he’s cereal and yoghurt all the way. So this glorified sausage egg sandwich was not received terribly well. At all. I ate maybe half, L abandoned ship after a couple of bites. Baby A had a lucky escape earlier with a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. Being jealous of a baby is an ugly thing.

In all honesty, this just wasn’t nice. It tasted of junk food, with the sausage seasonings appearing like half-hearted attempts to elevate the dish to something greater. Unfortunately it never surpassed its egg sausage sandwich origins, and it was too messed around with to be appreciated as a straightforward breakfast dish. Neither fancy nor plain, this meal was one of the less successful ones. Let’s hope the Strip Steaks with a Side of Blue Cheese Spaghetti tomorrow are more successful. They certainly sound more promising, although I will be substituting the cheese of blue for something more pregnancy-friendly.

Speaking of pregnancy (my what a seamless segue), today we had what will probably be our final glimpse of Baby #2 while still on the inside. We went back for another 4D scan, so the doctor could use us as guinea pigs to refine his mad scanning skillz on the new ultrasound machine. It was good fun, the baby, still a girl, both stuck her tongue out and gave us the finger, which were memorable moments most certainly. She looks quite cute but seems to have a bit of a big nose. This assumption could perhaps have just been due to the angles and the background. Or maybe this child will actually have some of my genes. Baby A has been very lucky so far, let’s hope her sister is too.

In other news, we made a bit of headway on packing up our life today. I say we, but in fact L has commandeered the new Harry Potter book so he may have been somewhat preoccupied. As long as he finishes it soon so that I can read it, all will be forgiven. Particularly if he packs up everything else while I read. Very very slowly. I cleared out most of the dining room today, including our elaborate wooden built in sideboard buffet thing that we certainly won’t miss in the new house. It took us forever to find something to put in the glass windowed doors, given that we have no china or trinkets or anything remotely appropriate. So I laughed a little to myself when I labelled a box as “ornaments” when in fact it contained a bunch of Star Wars figures and an old Tonka truck. Classy we is, most certainly.

This afternoon, L and A are at the park while I whip together Mini Chicken Sausage Meatballs with Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce [recipe] for dinner tonight. So I suppose better get started.

4.15 Oven on for the gnocchi.

4.16 Chop onion and garlic in the food processor; am too lazy to actually use a knife.

4.18 Realize ground chicken is still frozen in the center. Zap in microwave until outside starts to cook and inside still partially frozen.

4.23 Start to assemble meatballs with garlic and onion. Realize that onion is for the tomato sauce, not the meatballs. Chop more garlic, this time by hand.

4.25 Chop up the sundried tomatoes, mix the meatball mixture. Add in fennel and grill seasoning.Everything is a little sloppy, will add some breadcrumbs.

4.28 Meatballs ready to go, put them in oven.

4.29 Realise forgot to add olive oil to the meatballs. Well, I’m sure they are fat enough already. Well they are chicken, so maybe not. Too late now.

4.36 9 minutes to go on the oven timer, start the olive oil for the tomatoes, onions, garlic mix. Oops, may have been overly generous with the red pepper flakes as Baby A will be eating this too…

4.38 Put pan on for gnocchi. Can’t find the gnocchi, where the f is the gnocchi?

4.40 Crisis averted, gnocchi located. Why put groceries away anyway?

4.41 Oven timer beeps, that can’t be right? It was only 5 minutes ago that it said there were 9 minutes left. Maybe I should put the gnocchi on? The meatballs could use a little more cooking time anyway, phew.

4.44 Open tomatoes. Oh. There should be a can of crushed tomatoes aswell as the tomato sauce. Somehow managed to miss that. Ok, well we have some stewed tomatoes, that will have to do.

4.46 Tomatoes are in, the remainder in the fridge. Drips of tomato juice mysteriously seem to be spreading around the kitchen.

4.47 I am sweating like a little pig. Have one hour until I have to leave for work. Gnocchi still not boiling.

4.48 Gnocchi boiling. I am melting. Tomatoes leaking in fridge as a result of the broken plastic container I put them in. Smart.

4.49 OK, time to assemble. Peeps not back from the park.

4.51 Meatballs welded to baking tray.

4.52 All elements present and correct. Let’s stir and serve. I need a shower. Ok, mustn’t forget the basil.

4.55 Lost the cheese. Where is the cheese? OK cheese is under an empty bowl that once had cherries in it. Did I do that? Am I going crazy? Will I find my shoes in the freezer one of these days?

4.56 OK, gnocchi and meatballs, it’s time for your close-up.

4.59 Well, the gnocchi is nice. It’s ridiculously humid today so this is not exactly the ideal meal for the evening. having the oven on was not so pleasant; the kitchen is the temperature of a sauna. OK peeps are home. They left the park because Baby A tried to run away, I suppose there’s a first time for everything, but that’s never a good one. The tomato sauce is a little on the acidic side; not exactly rich and flavoursome. It is quite spicy though, which is good. The meatballs are pretty tasty, although beef or pork would have been even better, I would guess.

5.10 Baby A really likes it, spice and all, which is great. She is drinking a lot of water along the way. OK I need to upload the photo and get ready for work. Attempting to cook solo and blog the attempt is harder work than I bargained for. I thought it would be timesaving, which I guess it maybe was, but it adds a little element of stress to the proceedings.

5.18 Maybe I was a little overly generous on the cheese, the photo is very cheese/ tomato-centric. Well, it is what it is.

Tomorrow we will be having Chicken Sausage on a Roll with Egg and Fontina. Maybe L could cook and I could blog. I am very slow at typing.

This evening we made yet another chicken burger with fancy chips, this time titled Italian Sweet Chicken Sausage Patties with Peppers and Onions on Garlic Buttered Rolls. There is not anything to complain about with this one, but equally nothing to really rave about. It is fine; good solid chicken burger fine. The ground chicken is mixed with fennel seeds, basil and sun-dried tomatoes, before being fried on the pan. Toppings come courtesy of fried onions and cubanelle peppers, with some provolone thrown on for good measure. The buns are grilled and then smeared with garlic butter, which is a little on the excessive side. If we were to make this again, we’d skip the butter and just rub the garlic directly onto the toasted bread. The burger was served with yet more “exotic” chips, and some salad.

I am a fan of neither fennel seeds nor sun-dried tomatoes, and yet this burger managed to wear them well. We both went back and poured a mountain of ketchup onto the burger for added burger-ness, but all in all it was reasonably tasty. And mysteriously it seemed a little more like summer food than the minestrone of last night. All in all, this was a reluctant keeper of a meal.

Tomorrow we will be rocking the chicken sausage once more with Mini Chicken Sausage Meatballs with Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce. Inexplicably I have made that meal already this year, for entirely different reasons. As I recall, it was very fennely, but we will try it again tomorrrow.