A raggedy sort of week...

..one where the days are filled to the brim but at the end of them I just am not sure what I have been doing all day!

TBH has been busy with some extremely complex computer work so I have been trying to keep out of his way. Let me tell you that's not easy on a 40 foot boat, even if you are in a marina. So a lot of the time I have been perusing ,my selection of cook books and trying out a few recipes, both new and old ones that haven't been used for a while.

Coronation chicken was a great success, original recipe from Constance Spry back in the 50's. The light creamy curried sauce and apricots combined with chilled moist chicken breast went down a treat in the hot and steamy climate here.

A baked lemon cheesecake turned out far better than I had hoped. I am not a great fan, often find them a bit sickly but this one had just the right 'tang' to it, not even crumbs left on the plate.

And the climax of the culinary week was a full Chinese meal. Something that we have been fantasizing over for a while. Sweet and sour ribs, lemon chicken and egg fried rice. Pretty good though I say so myself. Didn't quite get the ribs as tender as I would have liked but I have plans for a rerun.

It was great to thumb through my small collection of cook books  again. Space being at a premium on the boat I still dedicate more than a fair share to my cookery library. Elizabeth David is my favourite. Such a literary writer I can read her books like the best fiction. I am looking forward to the next visit from the UK so I can get my hands on the copy of English yeast and bread cookery that I bought on ebay recently. Yum.

Rick Stein gets space, of course. Fish is a great thing for us so his wonderful pictorial guide to preparing almost every monster of the deep is well thumbed and a little stained these days. (As an aside I first met Rick some 45 years ago when we used to stay next door to his family home in Cornwall,the  boy has come a long way since then. My family now live close to Padstow in Cornwall and we have been fortunate to eat at his famous restaurant a few times. It's good. I look forward to returning on the boat one of these days, tying up in the harbour and walking over for a meal!)

Copies of an old 'Farmer's Weekly' collection of recipes, including one of mine. It's also filled with nostalgic tips for making your own furniture polish and hair setting gel!!

There are quite a few more too...