For your perusal....

A very Merry Nigella Christmas from her Living Kitchen range. Here is a sample of the Christmas gifts Sandra D and I recieved... The tea tin and the tea mug (came as a set of 4) were Sandra D's presents, I'm sure there must have been a mistake, so I am kindly letting her have them on extended loan!
The cake stand is mine, can you believe all my life I have had not one cake stand and in the space of 3 months I was gifted 2! Piled artlessly up on it is the Marshamallow Crispy Squares and Rocky Road Cruunch Bars from Nigella Express which can be seen in the background along with a glass of chardonnay...
Miss Stash received the Salt Pig in Cream, which alas was not here for the photo shoot. It resides with pride of place beside her stove.

Here is what I have been doing for the last 3 weekends, making apricot jam! This picture so does not do it justice, it is a beautiful jewel-like shade of orange and tastes superb. When making a batch last week and letting Miss Stash know was I inundated with offers of help? Told how good it was of me to slave over a hot stove in this hot weather? No all I got from her was - "Will you bring me a jar when it's done?"

We had Linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms and it is divine also perfect for this weather the only compnent needing to be cooked was the pasta and lets face it pasta doesn't need to be stood over and stirred, the rest is just marinated for lack of a better word.

Some of the other things I can reccommend as worth trying are her Pea and pesto soup and Curry in a hurry.
Tomorrow is Rapid Ragu - kind of like bolagnaise really but sounds quite delish. I am a huge fan of making my own bolagnaise sauce and usually use the tried (maybe tired?) Leggos one from about 30 years ago.

We had our first knitting coven meet-up for the year last Tuesday it was good to be back and catch up with everyone and where they were at, alas my lunch came in a "trendy" serving size. Noooo!!!! After I've eaten my lunch I want to realise I've eaten it!

It's far to hot, too hot! This is Tasmania! Clearly the weather gods are on holiday and have left a minor god to fill in who has no clue what buttons to push.

My Christmas wasn't bad, it was fairly good. I ate prawns and oysters! Yummo! Presents were good, people understand now about buying off the list.

Surprise, surprise I got Nigella Express! Saves me having to print off all the stuff I want to make off the net now. Goodbye loose pages!
The really good present was Ronnie Woods book! Really good read so far, the other thing I am loving is Velvet Revolver's last album Libertad. It was my Xmas present from the Daft White Cat.
He may be daft and white but he sure knows what his mummy likes!

As for Nigella, New Year's Eve saw me melt, mix and fridge two slices from the latest book, much easier and cooler than baking anything. Marshmallow Crispy Squares and Rocky Road Crunch Bars - the Marshmallow I could eat the whole tin alone if I succumbed, the Rocky Road is incredibly sinful! Even for me, one piece is enough at a time.

Belatedly I got a mezzaluna, it got hidden and forgotten about. It's not as big as Nigella's but it is one of those double bladed ones and it comes with the special board with the dip to make chopping easier. As soon as he saw it my dad wanted to have a go - what is it with parents buying their children toys and then commandeering them for themselves???

Just before Christmas was Terry Pratchett's Hogfather made into a movie, and much to my joy it is available on dvd! It was good, Death was perfect, the wizards weren't as they should have been. A bit too Gandolfy and LOTR. Very disappointing.
But very satisfying spotting all the familiar faces!