It has been a busy old week this week with some birthday baking for our friend Danny, who just turned 40. His wife Monika asked me to bake him a birthday cake for his party, something chocolate-y, and as I had the perfect chocolate cake in my repertoire from Henry’s christening cake, I was happy […]
Dinner
Cookbook Challenge – Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food: irresistible pork buns & potted custard
When I originally started my Cookbook Challenge I said it was because I wanted to avoid always picking recipes from my favourite stand-by books, generally by Nigella and Jamie. But when Andrew is picking the book each week and happens to have seen a TV show with Jamie Oliver making ‘irresistible pork buns’, there’s not […]
Week 14 – did somebody mention CHOCOLATE? And a trip to La Patisserie des Reves
Well, I am pleased to say that Andrew wisely listened to my pleads (demands) and bought me a lovely – and huge – Cocoa Loco egg again this year, so I’ll be munching on chocolate for a few weeks (even I can’t get through 1.2kg of delicious rich chocolate that quickly). Of course that means […]
Week 13 – and a few kitchen disasters
I am a bit late posting up my plans for this week … mainly due to my first kitchen disaster: a bout of food poisoning. As much as I hate to blame my own culinary skills for anything, I fear that a night of intense sickness during the early hours of Sunday morning – from which […]
Cookbook Challenge – Two Greedy Italians: classic lasagne
Who doesn’t love lasagne eh? Most home cooks will have their own version, whether it’s made using a jar of sauce (which is how I first started making mine years ago, and I used to love eating the white sauce out of the jar with a spoon!), or a skinny version with leeks instead of […]
Week 12 – some healthy eating (and the odd biccie!)
I think last week I was still scarred by the custard cream spread incident (a reminder of my shame here), and I didn’t find it difficult to stick to a week of deliciously healthy menus. Taking advantage of the weather, which had turned cold again, I ate stews, soups and jacket sweet potatoes, plus my […]
Cookbook Challenge – The Hairy Bikers: duck massaman curry
I find I can’t watch The Hairy Bikers now without thinking of Keith Lemon’s The Hairy Lairy Bikers, where they give the finger to everything and anything as they drive around on their little scooters. I can’t really imagine those cheeky, chirpy northerners being chippy in real life, but the sketch is very funny. Anyway, […]
Cookbook Challenge – James Martin: Lancashire hotpot and apple pie
I have been thoroughly enjoying these Cookbook Challenges, where Andrew chooses a cookbook each week (and usually a recipe) so that I can finally make use of the hundreds of cookbooks I own and rarely use. But I am struggling to write up each recipe straight away, and so I really need to be a […]
Week 11 – and a custard cream spread ‘incident’
Okay, let’s get the confessions out of the way first. This happened: I am not proud, but in my defence I had come down with a cold at the start of last week, and was stuck at home waiting for my new sofas to be delivered. I was […]
Happy Mother’s Day from ‘It’s not easy being greedy’!
Regular followers of It’s not easy being greedy will have seen that my dear mother features quite regularly on these pages. It’s from her that I learnt to cook (and learned not to burn things as regularly as her!) and I think it’s fair to say that I inherited my greediness from her too. We […]