moving again

Only one week to go!, well, less in fact. We have got a flat to go to in Spitalfields, London, and we are driving over in the fast car on Sunday. Now all that is left to do is pack. I'm using the oppourtunity to chuck out LOADS of stuff. It's very refreshing. It's also rather shocking the amount of 'crap' we keep in our lives. I have kept all sorts of rubbish, I mean, can keeping the instructions for every piece of Ikea furniture I have ever built, really be justified? I suppose the number of times I've moved in the last few years, it could almost be considered sensible. I counted the other day, and since 2004 I have moved 6 times.

On Saturday we had another curry night, 10 people came round, and we had, Beef Madras, Chicken Vindaloo, Tandoori Chicken, Prawn Jalfreizi, Onion Bhajis, Dal, and Rogan Josh. Not to mention loads of Popadoms, and naan bread. Everyone seamed to enjoy it except E, who is Czech, and can be excused from liking curry on account of the fact that it is not her national dish. We rounded the night of by rolling into town and saying goodbye to a couple of bars.

I can't believe we are going so soon, it's all happened so fast.

Just a Trifle

As mentioned in my last post I was having some difficulty procuring custard powder. I promised Mr V that for his birthday I would make him a trifle, his favourite pudding. It is also my favourie pudding, so I was quite happy to have the task. All the ingrients were simple, except the Custard. I was all set to make it from scratch with some help from Delia Smith, but, to my great relief and joy, our friend SJ smuggled some instant birds over from England. Hurrah!

The final debate was what to put on top, I am a great believer in toasted almond slices, but Mr V was adament that it should be hundreds and thousands. The argument raged all week long, all the way through the various stages of the trifle preparation. In the end I conceded, and let him have his way, after all it was his birthday.

On saturday night we had great party, at which, being the hostess, I forgot to take any photos, and drank way to much white wine and soda. Mr V cooked his famous Chilli, presented with a flourish at around 10 pm, only to be devoured by the ravenus hoardes in a matter of minutes. Mr V jr.complained that it was served too late, pah! I say, who cares? I'm just happy that all the trifle was eaten as well. there is nothing worse than left over trifle hogging the fridge.

Mr and Mrs T came to stay

Only for 2 nights, which was enough, and not very long at the same time. On Friday night we went to a brewery called Schumachers, for a bit of traditional Schweinhaxe, and sausages (of course!), with Saurkraut and kartoffel puree on the side. Luckily, Mr T. has been blessed with an extremely healthy apetite, and hollow legs, so the vast portion we were served was well eaten by the time our waiter came to clear the table.

Our weekend was one of food, shopping, and rest, which went down very well on all sides, especially since Sunday was really dreary and rainy. I often feel when I have friends or family to visit that every moment should be of fantastic excitement, and those visiting should leave with the feeling that they have been totally entertained and their every whim has been catered for. Mrs T. reminded me that this is actually not as important as getting a good rest, the chance to eat some nice food and do a bit of 'nothing' for a while. This takes the stress of entertaining down a notch or two I must admit, especially since our humble abode will be invaded by guests for the coming 2 weeks almost constantly.

This revelation has left me free to focus on the important things in life, such as 'where does one buy Bird's custard powder on the continent?' It appears that the answer is 'nowhere'. Im therefore dusting off Mr V's edition of Delia's Complete Cookery Course, in the hope that my meagre culinary skills might enable me to make it from scratch....fingers crossed!

Curry night

Well, I somehow, and at very short notice got myself involved in cooking curry for 8 people on Saturday night. I read a recipe book, trapsed around all the finest foodstores I could find, looking for the right ingredients, and came up with a selection of dishes to offer my friends. I did also manage to use up some leftover Sharwoods curry that I'd made earlier in the week (CHEAT!)

One of the major drawbacks of sausageland is that they, as a nation, are not curry lovers. They do have a favourite dish known as 'currywurst' but anyone who has sampled it will know that it is a very poor form of curry, most probably made using curry powder ketchup and water, pored over a chopped up 'wurst' (sausage). I refuse to eat it, and as a result me and my rostbeef friends are resigned to cooking for ourselves or going to the very expensive "shalimar" restaurant.

SO, after a MAJOR stressful saturday cooking and shopping, dinner was served at 9pm, and everyone enjoyed it, thank goodnes, and as yet, no reports of food poisoning. hoorah! The dinner was followed by the customary visit to Fatties Irish bar. my memory ceased to function beyond my first drink, which was certainly felt the next day, as I spent to whole day in bed watching the second series of Monk. I've not been so sick in ages, and, as usuall...I'm never drinking again!

Fatties!
all the pics