Boston Baked Beans

Today I have cooked Boston Baked Beans in the slow cooker using this recipe.  I've been meaning to try these beans for a long time but just never got round to it.  My goodness, what time I have wasted, they were absolutely to die for!  The best bit about doing them in the slow cooker was that they were ready and waiting for me as I walked in the door.  I had them just with a hunk of bread, but Pete is planning on having them with bubble and squeak using yesterday's leftover cabbage and potatoes.  I am about to pack the slowcooker away, so it may be the last time I use it for a while ;)

Coming Soon..............

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but lots and lots of things are happening at the moment.  I will update you all soon about some major changes we are making in our lives, but let me just say that it involves this boat....................

Some of these .............................................

And maybe even this.............................

Be back soon !!!!!!

Kimchi Fried Rice

When I was a lot younger, I worked for a Korean company in London.  Here I developed a love for Korean food.  Kimchi is the staple of  the Korean diet and I absolutely love it.  For many years I could not buy it anywhere and I had to make my own. but recently a friend took me to Wing Yip's supermarket and what a wonderful place!  They had Kimchi galore! I bought fresh Kimchi from the chiller cabinet, tinned Kimchi and Kimchi in jars!  I also bought many other ingredients that I had previously been unable to get or were too expensive in normal supermarkets (the prices at Wing Yip's are fantastic) along with sensible size bags of spices.  If you love Asian food and are close enough, Wing Yip's is worth going to every few months to stock up as it would definitely save money.  Anyway, apart from eating Kimchi straight from its bag, jar or tin, I have started experimenting with different recipes.  Today we had Kimchi Fried Rice which was delicious, even a sceptical Pete thoroughly enjoyed it and it is definitely something that I will cook on a regular basis. The other bonus was that it was ready to eat very quickly, just what you need when you get in from work.  So that's new recipe number 2.  I promise there will be an update on the kitchen and barge soon!

Healthy Start

There is something really wholesome about homemade soup.  It just feels healthy as you are eating it.  After the last few days of excess, I decided I really needed some vegetable soup, so I hunted through the fridge and came up with these............

.......celeriac.  In the village we have a greengrocer's van that comes three times a week and is always full of fresh and, wherever possible, local produce.  Derry (the greengrocer) gave me two small celeriacs as he reckoned they were too small to sell (along with two free red peppers that were "too far gone to sell" that are about to become chilli jelly).  I then turned to my River Cottage Everyday cookbook and came up with this recipe for celeriac soup.  It was absolutely delicious and so easy, I strongly recommend you try it.  So that's recipe No. 1 of the 52 New Recipes Challenge and I will definitely now be growing celeriac this year.

Happy New Year!

I have had a hectic couple of years with lots of responsibilities, deadlines,  no time for anything I really wanted to do and a bout of ill health.  This year looks like it is going to be a lot easier.  I am not going to make any really challenging New Year's resolutions this year.  My aims are to live more simply, spend more time with friends and family and do a lot more of whatever I enjoy doing, even if sometimes that is nothing at all.  Without all the pressure, some of the other things like losing weight, getting fitter etc will probably all come naturally (I hope!).  I will set myself mini challenges each month towards our life goals, but nothing too taxing and I will not beat myself over the head if I don't achieve them.
I love cooking and I am going to join Colour it Green with her '52 New Recipes This Year' Challenge.  It is as it says on the box, roughly one new recipe per week.  I am hoping that later in the year, lots of my new recipes will include home grown ingredients.
We will soon be able to get back to work on the barge.  We are going to put the house on the market soon and hopefully (fingers crossed) get rid of it.  By not having the house to pay out for, our outgoings will drop considerably and Pete should be able to work less with 'work' and work more on the barge.  It would be good if we were able to set a 'moving on date' by Christmas this year, but I am not going to put any pressure on Pete as I know that he is as keen as I am to move on to the barge. I will help wherever I can even if it just means keeping Pete going with bacon butties and tea!
Whatever your plans are for 2011 I wish you luck, health and happiness but remember also to enoy yourselves and sometimes just chill!  Happy New Year xxx

Happy Christmas!

The last three weeks have absolutely flown by.  I have been staying at work at lot of the time, just so that I don't have to drive in the snow or ice.  I have to say though, it has been a bit of a chore, waited on hand and foot by a housekeeper, three meals a day cooked for me, bed made and room cleaned every day, oh it has been tough!!  But I finally finished work yesterday and now have almost a week off.  Not all teachers get nice long holidays, our students are there all year and actually want to learn which makes you feel a bit guilty when you take any time off.
I handed over commodoreship of the sailing club a couple of weeks ago having done it for three years and I feel like I finally have my life back!  Although I enjoyed most of it, you always get one or two idiots who are determined to make life as difficult as they possibly can, despite the fact that you do the job for free and for the good of the club.  But now I am free of them and don't have to have anything more to do with them! However, I did have a lot of support from some really great people who I would like to thank.  The majority of the club members are fantastic and TSC is a really special and unique club.
The kitchen is almost done (sore subject considering I have ten to breakfast tomorrow and ten to dinner the day after!).  I can't wait to get back to the barge which has been a bit neglected for the last few weeks as we have been getting the house ready to put back on the market.  I do go down to the waterfront and say hello every so often!
Once I can get this place cleared up, the decorations up and the presents wrapped, I might begin to feel a bit more christmassy.  I am really looking forward to the New Year and having time for family and friends and the barge and allotment.  So Happy Christmas to everyone and here's to the New Year xxx

The Easy Way!

I don't know why we are going to all the bother of restoring the barge when there are obviously easier ways....................

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/homemade_houseboat.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890