cookbook addict

Today while Alma was napping and Maya was at pre-school, I finished Alma's fleece hoodie, the same model I made for Maya. I had a harder time somehow and had to undo some of the seams to sew them again properly. If I'm not paying close attention, I often end up sewing the wrong side on. I made it quite big, for a 2-year old, but shortened the sleeves. That way it'll be easy to put on.  I'm quite pleased with them, but if you inspect them closely, you'll see the little details that give away my impatience. I also wanted to tell you about a stew I made in my slow-cooker yesterday, because it was so good.  I used ox cheek for the first time instead of plain stewing beef. I was a bit worried, as I often am with stews, because I plonked the rolled cheeks still frozen into the pot, and after a while, when they had started to thaw I cut them up and they were so tough and stringy I thought they'd never soften. But after a long while in the pot, they had become so meltin...

Dear readers, the following is my first brave post on Cookbook Addict, dating back Nov 2005. By brave I mean I had just told the world that I had a blog and was coming back to it after letting it hang uncared for for months. I was a new convert to Le Creuset and Nigel Slater, perhaps the most loveable of all food writer, hence a post combining both fresh loves (boh relationships are still going strong, thank you). I started this blog a few months back, but somehow got a bit shy and stopped posting as I couldn't face telling friends and family about it. But I have regained some of my original confidence, and for this I have to thank the exceptional talent of a certain Mr X. And I've even decided to tell the world about it, after all, what's the point of a blog that doesn't get read?! Let's just hope I find time to post regularly! You'll have to show tolerance for my lack of technical knowledge (posting pictures at the right place, doing links and so on) as well a...

You know how it starts...there you are, wondering what to cook for supper when you have a guest, and while you're dreaming of greekish leg of lamb, your Other Half (not necessarily the better one, hee hee) salivates, thinking how nice beef bourguignon would be after all this time. But all week, you and your foodie pals have chatted of nothing else but Spanish paprika, the smokey type. Incidentally, the Great Nigel (Slater) also raved about it in last Sunday's Observer Magazine. So when you finally get down to it and look through you blog archives to find that recipe you liked so much last year, or even the year before that, suddenly a lightbulbs flares up above your head and you're thinking chorizo instead of lardons, with a good pinch of El Angel paprika for good measure. So you change hardly anything and already your beret-donning stew grows a tan and feels on holiday somewhere the sun shines all year long...yes, beef bourguignon has turned into beef bourguinero (pleas...