Full scale pantry attack

I'm on a bit of a penny-pinching regime right now, and it struck me today that my house is full of food that I never eat. So I'm going to try to eat my way through the freezer, fridge and pantry. I'll allow a few fresh vegetables to supplement, but otherwise, I'm quite curious as to how I'll do.

Step 1: Inventory.
Freezer: 1 lbs scallops, 1 lb hamburger, 2 half-pounds bacon, a capon, 4 oz smoked salmon, 1 bag egg pasta, 2 thighs and a chicken breast, 1 bag suet (leftovers from the burger fest), 2 cups Bolognese sauce, 1 1/2 lbs wild blueberries, 1/2 bag peas, almonds, pinenuts, hazelnuts and 2 cups of frozen wine.



Pantry: 3 tins Heinz beans, 1 tin salmon, 1 tin turkey, 1 tin tuna, lots of various shapes of pasta, a bag of barley, a tin of lentils, chipotles in adobo, 3 tins tomato paste, 1 tin pumpkin, 1 pack lard, split peas, red lentils, cornmeal (2 containers), 5 types of rice (five?!), tinned tomatoes, quinoa, potatoes, onions.




Fridge: Oh lord, I can't even begin.


I'm already exhausted. But I threw the capon in a pot with some very wilty celery and gnarled up carrots, 2 soft onions and half a head of drying-out garlic. And now I'll make dinner....

Boo Hoo Q

This began as A Post of Victory. Look, awesome spring veg all ready for the bbq!


And here, half a pickerel (in foil) plus various flavourful additions for the bbq!


And yet, this is a sad, sad post. As I was grilling like the primitive human I am, chatting away with the Brit, we noticed flames licking up and around the front of the bbq. Moments later the left burner knob melted clean off the damn thing. And before I could utter "what in the homemade hot dog buns is going on here?!", the right burner knob melted off too. We turned off all gaskets (with the aid of a screwdriver) and stared, stupefied, at it.

Is it over? Has my valiant little bbq given up before we'd even had a year together? Please help!

Super Q

I'm feeling pretty proud of us today. We welcomed the opening of "summer" (even if it was cool enough to wear a sweater) with this awesome spread of wonderfulness:


A butterflied leg of lamb marinated for about 30 hours in yogurt, lemon, garlic and rosemary, grilled and sliced.


And sides of the Brit's super-terrific buttery garlicky potatoes, my new old-standby Mediterranean orzo salad, some sliced up cuke and tomatoes and a pot of good tzatziki.


Summer!!

Roma {sigh}

This time last year I was in Rome with my auntie. Ah, me. Ever since my first visit, I've always felt like Rome is my home in some sense -- like maybe I was a Roman in a previous life. I don't need a map to get to my favourite places (though the "streets" of Rome form a kind of drugged-out honeycomb), and once even gave (correct) directions to a lost couple IN ITALIAN, which I believe I can speak. (This is not true; do not let a successful run at high school Latin lead you to believe you can speak Italian. You end up ordering an entire litre of red wine by yourself at lunch).

And while the city is magnificent in so many ways, of course I fantasize about the food. So today I am reminiscing about whipped cream-covered gelato at Giulitti

Linguini with creamy radicchio sauce that I must eat within my first 24hrs in the city

A crazy picnic we ate after buying our way through the Testaccio market -- fresh favas with pecorino, head cheese salad, artichokes braised in oil and lemon, burrata cheese (gasp), miniature pickled peaches, prosciutto, melon, cherries, etc etc

Deep fried zucchini blossoms filled with mozzarella and an anchovy, pizza by the slab, perfect cappucinos at San Eustachio, white buns with Nutella for breakfast, bresaola-arugula panini from a street cart near the Campidoglio.

And homemade gnocchi with braised oxtail at Sora Margherite (that one really slayed me; I had to cry a little it was so good). Sigh.