Week 19 – off to Paris again

IMG_2182Yes, I am indeed off to Paris again – just for a couple of days of meetings for work: I literally won’t have any time to spare as I am booked solid with meetings, so I am sure the time will fly. Then my Mum is visiting on Wednesday and wants to try courgettini (courgette made into strips like spaghetti) so I’ve been thinking up ideas for her dinner.

On Friday it’s my lovely friend Leonie’s 30th birthday celebrations so we’re heading out to party with her – that means Saturday will probably need to be a quiet one as we’re bound to be feeling a bit delicate, so I think I’ll decide on the day what to have for dinner … it really just depends how we’re feeling.

On Sunday I’ll be making a recipe from the latest Cookbook Challenge book chosen by Andrew: ‘The Sopranos Family Cookbook’. Actually despite being a bit of TV memorabilia fluff, there are actually some great recipes in there, so I am looking forward to trying a couple of them.

So here’s how the week is looking for us:

  • Monday – Paris (leftover roast duck for Andrew)
  • Tuesday – Paris (Andrew will probably ‘treat’ himself to a Fray Bentos pie – yuck)
  • Wednesday – chicken wrapped in parma ham served with tomato and basil courgettini
  • Thursday – Turkey stirfry
  • Friday – drinkies
  • Saturday – TBC
  • Sunday – Cookbook challenge

IMG_2180We’ve just had a lovely foodie week as well, including some very successful Char Siu buns I made from Gok Wan’s Chinese cookbook, which you can see a big picture of on my header image. They were surprisingly easy to make and a good way to use up leftover pork. However, I just diced the leftover pork and it could have done with being cut up smaller and with a bit more sauce than I used, so I’ll refine them next time I try them. They were also fine to re-heat the next day, which is handy as I made 8 of them and they were super filling.

I also made some gyoza dumplings to go with them, which I filled with minced raw chicken and the leftover leeks and peas from our Sunday lunch. They were also delicious sprinkled with a little dark soy sauce. I always have dumpling wrappers in the freezer but forget to use them – now I’ve remembered how easy it is to make dumplings I’ll be digging them out again and replenishing my stock with a visit to Chinatown.

I ate a lot on Wednesday as had lunch at the Savoy at a work event, and then dinner at a Ghanaian restaurant for the latest Alphabet Adventures. I’ll save the story of our African dinner for a separate post, but here are a couple of pictures of the posh food at the Savoy, which was an unexpected treat! Raspberry and chocolate pudding with earl grey ice cream:

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Some delicious looking petit fours (delicious looking and tasting – I couldn’t resist trying them all! they were delicious …):

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Finally we were in Brighton yesterday for our friend Dan’s 40th. We went to a lovely pub called The Bottom’s Rest and had a delicious fish burger and chips, which was a good way to line our stomachs before the evening’s boozy shenanigans. However, I have to share with you a photo of the onion rings someone ordered – look at the size of them! I didn’t even realise onions came that large!

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