You Haven't Seen The Last of Me-e-e

Enjoy this dear friends. It turns out that there is one thing that this accomplished director/actor/writer/model/artist can't do. There's hope for the rest of us after all. [No image, just audio]

Potato Patties

In Nigella's Kitchen there's an entire section dedicated to leftovers. Naturally, it's a bit odd to be giving someone a recipe in order to have leftovers because that's anathema to the very reason for recycling food we've cooked the day before. So today I am going to share a super-quick recipe to use up leftover mashed potatoes but I will be breezy insofar as quantities and whatnot are concerned. After all, only you know how much mash you have left and how many people you think you can make patties for.

I make my mash with a bit of sour cream and butter but, of course, if you really want to get a mash out of this world, you really ought to add lots of Parmesan and I really do mean go for it generously. Store in the fridge overnight and take it out about an hour before you're ready to make your patties.

Warm the oven to 180C and get going with eggs (two-to-three whole ones, depending on how much mash you're working with), peppers (one I'd say, make it red) and shallots (again, two-to-three). The aim here is to cut finely both pepper and shallots, then to add them to the mash and the eggs. Incorporate them well with a spoon and taste for salt, although you'll probably find that you won't need any if your mash was satisfactory to begin with. 

Spoon the potato concoction (aim for four or five spoonfuls) on a non-stick baking sheet and lightly press each patty down so that it looks burger-size or so. Stick into the oven for 45 minutes and enjoy nice and hot. They don't look like much, but they taste really great. 

February is Winter

A couple of weeks ago, that Phil guy decreed that spring was just around the corner. Well, I believed him. For a couple of days it even looked like he was right. But apart from an isolated and freakish occurrence of +12C one afternoon, Mr Winter has certainly come back here where I live.

Last Wednesday it was my wedding anniversary and I spent it in the city, where the sky was blue and everything looked beautiful, but it was also windy, and deadly so, and it felt more like a bright November day, not a February one. Then again, February is in winter, so I don’t really know why we insist on looking for signs of spring when it’s still so cold outside. It’s a bit like hankering after autumn in the middle of August (ahem… that’s something I do, I know!).

Parts of the East Coast of the USA woke up to a fresh snowfall today and I cannot imagine a better way to spend Presidents’ Day. In fact, I am hoping that next year I will be there around about this time and that instead of fending off cold drizzling rain, I may well be strolling up and down Madison Avenue under a crisp sky, preferably somewhere way below zero. Meanwhile, my friends from Australia speak of incredibly tropic temperatures and of air con whirring away all night. Gosh. It’s unthinkable for me to live in such a climate. After all, if you’re cold, you can always cover up, but where the hell do you go when it’s boiling hot?

Ugh!

In other developments, things shall be spruced up soon enough around these parts and I shall eventually return to chronicling my daily endeavours more frequently than I have done for the past year. While my other site still takes up most of my time, I am inordinately attached to Domestic Miss and I have racked up lots of recipes I would like to share on here. And I’ve got to tell you about movies I’ve seen and books I’ve read and things I’m doing and… more.