6 April - the seahorse @ Dartmouth

With the long Easter weekend and my birthday looming, we headed down to South Devon for a few days by the seaside. We dropped in at my parents' for a birthday lunch for my Mum en route, then after we'd checked into the fabulous Kaywana Hall in Kingswear, we hopped on the passenger ferry across to Dartmouth for dinner at the Seahorse. I had some delicious chicken livers, roasted with sage to start - plump and melt-in-the-mouth. Then we both went for the brill steak with a clam sauce and spinach on the side. I have to say, although it did say 'steak' on the menu rather than 'fillet', I hadn't really expected it to come with bones and although it was nice, it was a bit fiddly. Sadly, we were both coming down with colds, so perhaps my tastebuds weren't quite as sharp as normal either. Even feeling a bit under the weather though, I couldn't fail to enjoy an espresso topped with zabaglione and a fresh mini doughnut on the side to finish - sounds a bit odd, but believe me, it was fantastic and drew a bit of food envy from diners on either side of us!

5 April - pork with mustard sauce

We finished a short week with some nice chunky pork steaks from Ruby & White with a creamy mustard sauce, some baby leeks, beans and new potatoes - simple but delicious.

4 April - a kitchen gardener's tantrum

I had a bit of a kitchen gardener's tantrum this morning, when I went out onto the terrace to find that a cat had poohed in my tray of lamb's lettuce, digging up most of the lovely little plants in the process of trying to cover it up! Of all the places it could've chosen ...

After initially throwing my hands up in despair, I steeled myself to rescue at least some of the lamb's lettuce and after giving it a really good wash, added it to a warm salad of roasted squash and mushrooms.

Supper was a slightly odd combination of tuna steaks with some lime mayo, French-style peas - cooked with butter and lettuce - and a few saute potatoes. Not a classic, but actually not too bad.

3 April - sausage and mushroom cassoulet

It was another one-pot stew tonight, this time because Tris was working late and I wanted something I could eat before I collapsed with hunger, then he could just reheat when he finally got in. I came up with a simple sausage and mushroom cassoulet from the Riverford website. The sauce was a little bit runny, but otherwise, it made a nice warming supper with some spring greens on the side.

2 April - goats cheese with figs and porotos granados

Rather inspired by the figs in my salad the other day, I had one of my favourite combinations for lunch today; goats cheese on toast with some fresh figs ... I just never get bored of it!

As I knew I was going to be out early evening today, I actually made up a pot of 'stew' for supper yesterday afternoon that could just be reheated when I got in. I tried another recipe from HFW's River Cottage veg every day - a kind of soupy vegetable stew called porotos granados. It's made up of pinto beans, squash, french beans and sweetcorn, along with stock and flavourings, and as the name suggests, it's South American (Chilean actually) in origin. Well, I'm not sure if perhaps I just didn't put in enough paprika, but I found the result a bit bland. The veg were tasty enough, but it did just taste like a bowl of boiled veg without much else to tie them together - definitely something missing in this one.

1 April - green coriander chicken

I wanted to make a chicken curry this evening, but thought I'd go for a new recipe. I flicked through Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible and settled on a recipe for green coriander chicken. Apparently, it's a Kenyan recipe and it doesn't include any of the traditional curry spices - no ground cumin, coriander or turmeric here - but relies instead on just a basic combination of garlic, ginger, chilli and lots of fresh coriander. It came out wonderfully creamy and absolutely packed with flavour, definitely one to do again.

31 March - a day out in Bath

We had a day out in Bath today. It being a busy Saturday, I didn't expect to get into the petite Cafe Shoon, so was pleasantly surprised when we got a table. I had a delicious serano ham, fig and mozzarella salad - three of my favourite ingredients on one dish!

After a hard afternoon's shopping, I wasn't feeling like doing much cooking, so we picked up some lamb with mint and balsamic crust from Waitrose - you can't go wrong with some garlicky spring greens and rosemary roast new potatoes.

30 March - prawn noodle soup

After using up the last of the chilli on a jacket potato for lunch, I fancied something a bit lighter for supper. There was some pak choi in the fridge, so I went for a prawn version of the Asian-inspired noodle soup that I often cook.

• Bring about 500ml vegetable stock to a gentle boil, add some chopped red chilli and a smashed stick of lemongrass.
• Add some raw prawns and simmer until they turn pink, then some chopped pak choi and a sprinkling of fresh coriander.
• Season with a dash of soy sauce, fish sauce and fresh lime juice.
• Served spooned over some cooked noodles.
  
  

It came out with a great zingy flavour - really tasty, but fresh and light too. It must've been good because Tris couldn't resist slurping up the last dribbles in the pan!

29 March - couscous and a chicken pie

Lunch today was a simple couscous salad; with spring onion, cherry tomatoes, roasted red pepper, green beans and a bit of bacon. Then in the evening we were out at the Lounge for drinks with friends. I'd been a bit disappointed with their food lately, but I had a really good chicken and gammon pie with chips and creamy leeks - definitely back on form.

28 March - crispy pork and noodles

It was a lovely sunny day, so lunch with a friend was outdoors at Browns. I had a rather chewy hot chicken sandwich, but it was okay with plenty of mayo and a few chips on the side, and it was just nice to be eating outdoors.

Tris was out this evening, so I used up the remaining cooked pork belly with some noodles, loosely based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. I stir-fried some spring onion, chilli and sliced red pepper, then added the shredded pork and a sprinkling of five-spice powder and fried until it went golden and crispy. Finally, I added some sliced pak choi and a splash of soy sauce and mixed it in with some noodles. The result was really delicious - all that lovely caramelised pork fat and spices - yum!

27 March - pork belly with spicy rhubarb sauce

We had some slightly green rhubarb hanging around that didn't quite feel pink enough for crumble, so I decided to do something savoury with it instead. I googled "pork and rhubarb" and came up with a few recipes - the below is sort of a combination of several:

• Blend two large shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 inch grated fresh ginger, 2tbsp honey and 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil to a paste.
• Coat c.750g piece of pork belly with the mixture and put it in a roasting dish with c.300ml dry cider and a red chilli just snapped to release its flavour. Cover with foil and cook at 180C for 90 mins (maybe a bit less or a bit cooler as it rather dried out) - check and add more cider if necessary (I ended up using a full 500ml in the end)
  
• Uncover and add c.250g chopped rhubarb and cook for another 15 mins until the rhubarb's tender.
• Remove the pork to rest and discard the chilli. Then bubble the sauce gently on the hob, adding a bit of cold chopped butter to make it smooth.

The resulting sauce was quite stunningly tasty and really had quite a chilli kick. Served on top of the lovely tender pork belly (we only ate about 2/3 of the meat, but all the sauce) along with some spring greens and beans, it was absolutely top!

26 March - lamb's lettuce and chilli

I've had some lamb's lettuce growing under fleece all winter, but with the recent burst of warmth and sun, it's really started flourishing, so I thought I'd better start picking some.

I mixed it into a hot salad of new potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, chorizo and a poached egg.

While I was away over the weekend, Tris had made up a big pot of chilli which meant that I didn't have to worry about shopping and cooking for this evening, which was really nice as I was completely wiped out after my week away and had a load of other stuff to sort out.

25 March - spicy goats cheese

With my flight not until late afternoon, I was rather at a loose end today. I'd completely run out of steam and spent the morning milling around the city, not quite sure what to do with myself. I'd decided to have a long lunch before I headed to the airport, but feeling a bit uninspired, I wandered round and round, not sure what I was in the mood for. I was just starting to get fed up when I came across Tron Bar and Kitchen - the cafe part of a theatre, tucked down a little side street. As soon as I walked past, I knew it was just the place I was looking for - light and airy, friendly but not too noisy. It was a short menu, but I had no trouble settling on Cajun goats cheese crostini with some chips on the side. It was a big slice of goats cheese in a spicy cajun coating melted in a bit of toast and served on some (non-rocket!) salad. Followed by a good pot of tea, I was able to sit for an hour plus watching the world go by until it was time to go and find the airport bus and say goodby to Glasgow.

24 March - a rubbish salad and spicy Asian beef

Conference over, I stayed on in Glasgow to spend the day with a friend who came down from Perth to meet up. The weather was glorious and we had a lovely day mooching about, chatting and exploring the city a bit. It was just about warm enough to eat lunch outside, so we grabbed a table at Cafe Rouge. It was a great spot, but sadly my butternut squash and red pepper salad turned out to be a huge plate of rocket with just a tiny sprinkling of the main ingredients on top - really disappointing! It was a good job I'd ordered some chips on the side to keep me going.

At the end of the day, we found ourselves over in the West End, so we went into Soba, a noodle bar, which I think had been mentioned earlier in the week. We arrived quite early and it looked fairly quiet, but was apparently already fully booked - a good sign! They did find room for us to eat in the bar next door though, which was a bit noisier, but still a cool spot. I had some really delicious Foshan Five Spiced Beef - strips of beef in a lovely spicy sauce with mushrooms and greens. A great end to a grand day out.

23 March - Carluccio's and a picnic tea

It was my last day at the conference and after coming out of my last session around midday, I decided to walk back into the city centre from the conference centre along the river. The sun was shining and it was a lovely walk, but by the time I got back into town, my feet were getting achy and I was distinctly hungry! So rather than trog around looking for somewhere to eat, I headed straight to an easy favourite; Carluccio's. I had a really nice saffron risotto with Italian sausage - sounds an odd combination, but went down really well with a nice glass of wine :)

I couldn't be bothered with another microwave dinner, so just had a bit of a picnic supper; walnut bread, humus, beetroot salad and crisps while I caught up on some bits and pieces of work.

22 March - microwave curry

Today's been another fairly full-on day. I was giving a presentation this morning, then just grabbed a jacket potato for lunch. By the time I left the conference around 6.30, I was absolutely shattered so was quite happy to just head back to the apartment for an evening in and an early night. I didn't have the energy to think very far about supper, so I popped into M&S again and picked up another microwave meal - this time a chicken curry. It wasn't bad with a glass of wine, although the whole apartment now smells of it!

21 March - scrambled eggs and garlicky greens

I started today with my first attempt at scrambled eggs in a microwave. Although the apartment does have a small hob, there's only one rather large pan, so I thought I'd try my hand with the microwave instead. The result - actually, not bad scrambled eggs after a good bit of stirring.

Knowing the lack of interesting lunch options at the conference centre, I picked up some couscous salad in Sainsbury's on my way in to see me through another busy day. Then it was out again for the evening, this time for supper with a fellow freelancer and an in-house editor who we've both been working for. Luckily the editor is based in Glasgow so was able to take us somewhere a bit different, in the trendy West End. It actually turned out to be a Zizzi's - a familiar chain, but actually quite a funky location. I went for roast pork belly, which was lovely and tender, and better still was served on a huge pile of garlicky spring greens - who says the Scots don't do veg!!!

20 March - a skinny burger and a long evening

It was the first day of the conference today and after a morning of sessions and meetings, I realised that I had two publishers' "do's" to go to in the evening and decided to take a tactical afternoon break. Typical conference evening do's tend to involve drinks and a few tiny nibbles, so I used my break to have a good solid lunch to carry me through the rest of the day. The conference centre food options were pretty limited so I headed back into Glasgow city centre and just went for one of the first restaurants I came across - Darcy's in the Prince's Square shopping centre. I went for a "skinny burger" - not as healthy as it sounds, just a burger served without a bun, perfect for me as I never eat the bun anyway. It came with chips and salad and I had a side order of beetroot and humus to go with it. The burger was a little bit 'plastic' and unexciting, but the chips were good and the beetroot (roast with thyme, I think) was really delicious. So all round it did the job pretty well. I'd arrived fairly late and by the time I'd finished, it was getting on for 3pm, by which time it seemed that most of the staff had knocked off!! I'd intended to follow up with a coffee, but after nearly 20 mins of trying to get someone's attention, I gave up and had to go up to the bar to ask for my bill - needless to say, I didn't leave a tip!

As predicted, my evening of schmoozing involved drinks but little in the way of nibbles, so I was glad I'd stocked up earlier. By the time I headed back to the apartment around midnight, it was too late to think about eating, but I did pick up some eggs from a late-night corner shop ready for a decent breakfast to satisfy my grumbling stomach when I woke up!

19 March - in Glasgow

I flew up to Glasgow today for a week at a work conference. I'm staying in a serviced apartment in the city centre - it's not quite as cool as the flat I had in Brighton last year, but it's not bad with everything I need, including a little kitchenette.

I arrived after 6 to wind and rain, so I only ventured round the corner to M&S food to stock up on a few bits for breakfast, along with some microwave Chinese and a bottle of wine. Quiet evening unpacking and getting ready for a busy week ahead.

18 March - a Mexican brunch and chicken stew

I had a bit of a Mexican-Irish brunch today! It consisted of some fresh spicy tomato sauce, tinned refried beans, a poached egg, some yoghurt, but all on top of an Irish soda farl! Not bad, but the soda farl didn't really go ...

Tris was out for the day, so I made myself a quick and easy supper using leftover roast chicken. I cooked up an onion, some chestnut mushrooms, then added the chicken in some chicken stock (made from the chicken bones, of course) and a bit of cream. It could have been a pasta sauce or a pie filling, but I served it with some garlicky mash and called it a stew!

17 March - roast chicken and the last cavalo nero

I dug up the last of the cavalo nero on the terrace today to free up the container for some new spring planting. It had rather gone to seed, but I managed to get enough decent leaves to put it together with some spring greens to make a 'mixed greens' side to go with some roast chicken. I did the chicken in a bigger roasting dish than usual to make space for some roast carrots, which turned out to be a bit too big for making up the gravy so that it came out tasting rather 'watered down' - will go back to the old dish next time.

16 March - a new scrubber and wild food

Today's new addition to the kitchen was a new vegetable scrubber. I'd been using a very cool wooden and bristle brush that I got while in Berlin a few years ago, but it was really on its last legs. I've gone for something completely different this time, with a much more modern plastic version. It doesn't look quite so classy next to the sink, but when I tried it out on a lunchtime carrot, it came up clean and shiny in no time, which I guess is the real test! It was a variation on a student staple for lunch, tuna and pasta, bit with some grated carrot, sweetcorn and a honey and mustard dressing.

We were booked for dinner at the Pump House - a bit of a late birthday dinner for Tris. We'd eaten in the bar before, but it was our first time in the restaurant and it didn't disappoint. They focus on local, wild and foraged food with a modern twist and clearly know what they're doing. I started off with baked duck egg with wild garlic, wood blewits and brioche - the wild mushrooms were fabulously woody and made a simple egg something special. Then we both went for venison - actually roast saddle of Mendip fallow deer - served on a stained glass window style plate of different sauces - a green wild garlic sauce and an orangey meribelle plum one, then there was spicy red cabbage on the side. The venison was rare, tender and tasty and the whole dish worked really well ... yum!

15 March - chickpea salad and pasta with salmon

Along with some leftover couscous from last night, I made up some chickpea and pepper salad for lunch with a bit of soft goats cheese on the side.

Tris often says that we don't have much pasta for supper, mainly because it tends to be one of my lunchtime staples. So this evening I consciously went for a pasta dish - smoked salmon and leeks in a cream sauce.

14 March - an omelette and Moroccan vegetables

Inspired by some leftover cold potatoes in the fridge, lunch today was an omelette. I fried the potatoes, adding some pancetta, onion and red pepper, then the eggs. It was a bit of a tricky flip, but finally came out in one piece.

For dinner, I did another variation on the five-vegetable couscous I've done before. This evening, I only managed four vegetables; red onion, pepper, carrot and leeks, plus all the usual spices, cooked up in a broth and served with lots of fresh coriander and couscous. It came out, as usual, looking like a rather unexciting pile of boiled veg, but looks can sometimes be deceptive and it was as delicious as ever with all those lovely spices and just the right chilli kick.

13 March - soup and tapas

I finished off the rest of the carrot and coriander soup for lunch today, then was out with a friend this evening at the Lido. Lots of chat and laughter over a couple of glasses of wine and some tapas.

12 March - lamb and beetroot salad

I finally used up the last of the chilli today for lunch on a baked potato with a dollop of plain yoghurt to tame the heat.

The vegbox always arrives with a little recipe leaflet. I usually have a glance through it, but only occasionally get inspired to try them. This week I spotted an idea for lamb and beetroot salad with a pumpkin seed and chilli dressing. You whizz up some toasted pumpkin seeds with chilli, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, mint and olive oil, then you use half the slush to marinate a couple of lamb leg steaks and keep the other half as the dressing. I made up a salad of spinach, roast beetroot and blood orange, then fried the lamb and sliced it on top. For the dressing, the slush looked a bit thick, so I added a bit more olive oil and it worked great. The dressing was really tasty, with just a nice bit of chilli kick in the background and the combination of the beetroot and orange in the salad made a really nice change.

11 March - a warm salad and more chicken

Lunch today was a nice warm, tasty salad of potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, red pepper, a bit of chorizo and a poached egg.

I had the usual issue with cooking/shopping for one - I got yesterday's chicken thighs in a pack of four, so I was left with chicken again for supper. Trying to come up with something that would be quite different, I made some chicken and chickpea stew with spring greens. It's a Sophie Grigson recipe that involves putting some of the greens in the stew itself, then frying up a few leaves finely shredded to go on the top. It's a bit of a faff, but the crunchy topping is quite fun and less tricky with such a small amount.

10 March - carrot soup and slow-cook chicken

I got a huge bag of carrots in the vegbox - I'm sure I didn't order a whole kg, but maybe I wasn't paying attention - so the obvious choice for lunch was some homemade carrot and coriander soup. Today I used a Covent Garden Soup Co recipe, which was dead simple:

• Gently fry a small chopped onion and some garlic in butter.
• Add c. 200g peeled and roughly chopped carrots, together with 500ml chicken stock and a grating of fresh nutmeg.
• Simmer gently until the carrots are tender.
• Whizz in a blender and return to the pan.
• Stir in c. 50g grated carrot, some chopped fresh coriander and a glug of single cream.

For supper, I decide to have a go at 'roasting' chicken in the slow cooker. I tossed some sliced red onion and whole garlic cloves in a little olive oil and spread them on the base of the slow cooker. I put a couple of chicken thighs on top, squeezed over a bit of lemon juice, then threw in a few lemon slices, some fresh thyme and rosemary and cooked the whole lot in a hot oven for 90 mins. I rather expected the chicken to come out a bit anaemic-looking, but it had actually browned quite nicely and was wonderfully juicy and tender. Served with the onions and garlic spooned on the top and some spring greens and purple sprouting broccoli on the side, it made a really healthy-feeling, tasty supper.

9 March - a jacket potato and leftover chilli

I got some baking potatoes in today's vegbox, so lunch was a good old-fashioned jacket potato with tuna mayo and a big pile of salad on the side - can't be beaten!

Tris has gone away for the weekend, so it was a solo supper of some of the leftover chilli con carne, this time with sweetcorn fritters. The chilli was possibly even better for being a few days old and the fritters were yummy as usual.

8 March - a chowder and orzo with mushrooms

I'd kept back a bit of the smoked haddock I cooked yesterday and the poaching milk to make some chowder for lunch today. I sweated some leeks with a few bacon lardons, then added some diced potato, the milk and some vegetable stock. After simmering that for a while, I added the haddock and a bit of chopped parsley. I think the stock was a bit salty which together with the lardons was a bit much, but otherwise, not bad.

For supper, I used a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for orzo (rice-shaped pasta) with mushrooms. I used a whole carton of mini portobello mushrooms and it came out with a lovely earthy, mushroomy flavour.

7 March - smoked haddock fishcakes

For lunch today I grabbed a Higgidy quiche with some salad on the side. Then in the evening, I cooked some homemade smoked haddock fishcakes; a few smoked haddock fillets poached in milk, then flaked into some mashed potato. We had them with a pile of purple sprouting broccoli and a dollop of creme fraiche mixed with some chopped tarragon. Simple and tasty without being too heavy.

6 March - slow-cook chilli

I recently got round to getting Thomasina Miers' book Mexican Food Made Simple. I'd already made a few recipes from it, including this one, using a combination of her website and recipes copied onto scraps of paper in Smiths! So it was nice to be able to try this one out properly using almost all the right ingredients, including chiles de arbol from Otomi our local Mexican shop in Clifton. It's a chile con carne made with big chunks of stewing steak instead of mince, which you slow cook along with a load of spices, tomatoes, chorizo and borlotti beans, then pull into shreds with a fork. It takes a bit of time to get the ingredients together, but then you just pop the whole thing in the oven for 3 hours and leave it to do its thing. I was a bit wary about how spicy it would come out and went easy on the chilli, but the result was spot on - hot enough to have a kick, but just within my tolerance levels with a bit of creme fraiche (a substitute for sour cream as I already had some in the fridge).

I'd intended to make some guacamole to go with it, but cut into the avocado to find it'd gone brown. I managed to salvage a few chunks and mixed it up with some tomatoes, fresh coriander, lime juice, olive oil, sugar and salt to make a kind of salsa instead. Together with some simple boiled rice, the whole thing made a great meal.

5 March - roast cod and apple crumble

After another wrap for lunch (the packet needs using up!) with some cold leftover lamb from Friday, I did some simple roast cod wrapped in pancetta for supper. I did the creamy leeks with butterbeans again to go with it - a good combination.

I'd had a real fancy for some pudding. I'd hoped to get some rhubarb, but there was none to be found, so it was apple crumble instead, with custard, of course!

4 March - bacon sandwiches and chow mein

After some top bacon and avocado sandwiches for lunch, we headed home and I cooked up some quick chicken chow mein for supper - chicken marinated briefly in soy sauce and five-spice powder, spring onion, pepper, mushrooms, carrot and noodles.

3 March - the Rising Sun

Today we went down to visit my parents at their new place in Somerset. To celebrate the move and my Dad's birthday, we went out for dinner to a pub called The Rising Sun in West Bagborough. Rather annoyingly, I had a horrible dizzy spell just as we arrived (bit of an ear infection, I think, affecting my balance), so I spent most of the meal wishing the room would stop spinning and trying not to move my head too much! Which was a shame, because the food was really good. I had some chicken liver pate to start, then a huge chunk of lovely tender roast pork belly.

2 March - the first asparagus and roast lamb

After the success of my chilli wrap earlier in the week, I went for another wrap today, this time grilled harissa chicken (just a grilled chicken breast brushed with harissa paste) with avocado, grilled red pepper and mayo. I made the mistake of popping the wrap under the grill to warm, because it was already on, but it just went crispy- d'oh! Thus it didn't actually 'wrap' very well, but still a tasty filling nonetheless.

I went into Ruby & White to get some lamb fillet for supper and while I was there spotted the first English asparagus of the season, from the Wye Valley. It was extortionately expensive, but as we were celebrating (a new work contract), I decided to go for it anyway. It was well worth it too ... a simple plate of lightly boiled asparagus with a bit of melted butter to start with a glass of bubbly was about as perfect as it gets! I used a Nigel Slater recipe from the Kitchen Diaries for the lamb, marinating it in a gloop of fresh mint, garlic, anchovy and olive oil, quickly roasting it whole, then slicing it thickly. We had it with some rosemary roast new potatoes, green beans and the rest of the champagne ... great start to the weekend!

1 March - courgette pasta

Sometimes the simplest, made-up dishes are the best and today's lunchtime pasta was one of those. Courgette, bacon and a small blob of cream stirred into some penne pasta ... yum!

This evening, I was out with friends at the Lounge. I went for the chicken and chorizo salad, mainly because it's usually not very salady - chicken, chorizo, peppers and potatoes. It was clearly a different chef on tonight though because it arrived as a huge dish of rocket (which I hate!) with a few bits of chicken and chorizo on the top - very disappointing :(

29 February - veggie curry

Another veggie dish tonight, this time a Southern Indian vegetable curry from Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy . It had lots of yummy veg - potatoes, carrots, courgette, green beans and cabbage - and plenty of spices, but somehow came out a bit disappointingly bland. At least it felt healthy though ...

28 February - a chilli wrap and chicken with mushrooms

For lunch today I used up the leftover mince from the bolognese and some borlotti beans from last night to make a quick chilli:

• I fried up some onion, garlic and yellow pepper.
• Added the beef mince + a pinch of allspice, cumin, chilli and a stub of cinnamon stick
• Once browned, I tipped in some tinned tomatoes, the borlotti beans and a bit of fresh coriander

I made it up into a wrap with a few spinach leaves and a dollop of yoghurt - great lunch!

This evening, I just had a fancy for a basic "meat and two veg" type supper. I pan-fried a couple of chicken breasts and then in the same pan made a creamy mushroom and tarragon sauce to pour over them. Served with some new potatoes and cabbage, it was just what I'd been after.

27 February - shakshouka and stuffed peppers

There was a tasty-looking recipe in yesterday's Independent magazine for shakshouka - fried onions, peppers, chorizo, spinach and tomatoes with an egg broken in the middle, then sprinkled with sumac powder. It was a slight variation on a dish I've cooked before and a really tasty lunch.

After lots of meat and fish while we were away, we were both craving some veg. For supper I cooked a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe of peppers stuffed with beans. For my stuffing I cooked up onions, garlic, tomato, mushrooms and borlotti beans with some spices and dolloped it inside a couple of long red peppers. Served with a bit of garlicky yoghurt and a spinach salad, it really hit the spot.

26 February - resetting our bodyclocks

The last few times I've flown long-haul, I've tried to avoid jetlag by not eating at all on the journey back, then having whatever the appropriate meal is when I get home. Apparently, it's meant to reset your bodyclock. So after an overnight flight back from Miami, then train to Bristol, we arrived home at lunchtime and had some nice simple soup. It was a bit of a lazy afternoon and we managed to hold out until usual dinnertime for some spaghetti bolognese. We both slept really well and seemed to be more-or-less back to normal the next day, so it looks like the food trick worked.

22-25 February - The Florida Keys

As we cruised down to the Florida Keys for our last few days, the emphasis was definitely on seafood. We ate conch fritters (a bit chewy) at the Key Largo Conch House followed by some really good blackened hogfish with avocado salsa - a fairly meaty fish but still white and flaky. Then we went for surf'n'turf at the Big Chill. It was the lobster that I'd been really looking forward to, but it was actually the steak that was the real stand-out - fabulously tender and packed with flavour.

Then after a brunch of eggs and bacon with grits (a kind of corn mash that tasted a bit like rice pudding to me) at Mrs Mac's Kitchen, we headed right down to Key West. We'd heard a lot about key lime pie, but after lots of huge meals, we never quite made it to dessert. So we went for an afternoon stop instead and I think we chose a good one. It's rather like quite a tart lemon cheesecake - yummy and not too sweet.

Then for our final evening out, we went to BlackFin, a classy bistro on the otherwise rather tacky Duval Street. We started with the most melt-in-your-mouth sauted calamari in parsley butter with walnuts and some goats cheese croquettes with red onions. Then I ticked off the last thing on my list with a burger with goats cheese and mushrooms, all washed down with a cold beer.

18-21 February - Miami

Our Miami culinary experiences were a mix of traditional and trendy. We started to tick off our list of US must-haves by ordering "pastrami on rye" in a deli (Jerry's Famous Deli) - how much meat can you fit between two slices of bread?!

We had lunch at the 11th Street Diner - Caesar salad, potato skins and the best banana milkshakes.

We tried out a bit of Cuban fusion cuisine at YUCA (Young Urban Cuban American); a cool spot with great food. I had pork shanks with mojo sauce and arroz congri (rice with black beans) - really delicious. Then we had a seafood blow-out at Grillfish; fried calamari to start then a huge dish of shrimp scampi (huge prawns) with linguine in a fantastic creamy tomato and garlic sauce. There was a great crabcake salad with sweet potato fries at Serendipity 3 for lunch. And we finished off with sushi at the supercool BondSt Lounge - part of the Townhouse Hotel where we were staying. I'm still not really a convert to sushi, but I did really like the tuna tarts; slivers of raw tuna served on a kind of thin crispy cracker and drizzled with truffle oil.

17 February - a lunchtime tart

We're heading off to Heathrow in about an hour, so just a quick final post before I go. I managed to use up the few new potatoes in the fridge for lunch with a pea and ham tart from Papadeli and a bit of grated carrot salad - mmm.

Supper will no doubt be a sandwich on the train. Not sure whether I'll manage to keep a track of our holiday eating every day, but will post about surf'n'turf and burgers when I get back ...

16 February - a jacket potato and a take-out burger

From the bottom of the fridge today I managed to conjure a baked potato and a very basic Nicoise to go with it for lunch - just tomatoes and green beans with a tin of tuna on top.

By the evening, the fridge really was bare, so we got take-out burgers from the Burger Joint round the corner. Not at all bad and nice and easy.

15 February - kedgeree

As we're off on holiday at the end of the week, I'm really trying to use up the contents of the fridge. We were out at the theatre this evening, so I had a substantial lunch to see me through. I went for kedgeree to use up the rest of the mackerel and the leeks that came in the vegbox. Then it was the last couple of slices of bread as toast before we headed out.

14 February - quinoa salad and a veggie curry

I tend to rotate between potatoes, bread and pasta for lunch, with couscous and polenta occasionally. Today I thought I'd have some quinoa instead - quite similar to couscous, but with a slightly different texture and nutty flavour. There was a handful of chestnut mushrooms in the fridge, so I fried them up with a shallot and a bit of garlic and simply stirred them into some cooked quinoa and sprinkled some toasted pine nuts on the top. Not a bad combination for a change.

For supper, we had Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's bean and aubergine curry again - a top recipe!

13 February - mackerel salad and pork hotpot

Lunch today was a bit of an experimental winter salad; smoked mackerel with new potatoes, leeks and sweetcorn. It wasn't one of my best, but not bad.

To use up the leftover pork chop, I came up with a pork and cider hotpot, partly inspired by a WFI recipe, using the slow cooker. I softened some onions in a pan, then browned the pork,chopped into chunks. I put the onion and pork in the slow cooker with 250ml dry cider, some chestnut mushrooms and a bit of yellow pepper, plus some thyme and a bay leaf. Then I popped it in the oven for a couple of hours (at 180C). It was the first time I'd used the slow cooker without using one of the recipes that came with it and I was a bit nervous when I lifted the lid. It initially looked like it'd dried out quite a bit and I quickly added another slurp of cider, but later realised, it probably just needed a stir. With a spoonful of mustard stirred in at the end, it came out quite well and was really tasty with some mash to soak up the juices and some kale on the side.

12 February - curry twice

For lunch, I used the giant parsnip from the vegbox to make some Thai-spiced parsnip soup. It's always a good recipe (from Sophie Grigson), but today it came out just spot-on - just the right consistency, the right blend of flavours, the right amount of chilli hum.

It was curry again for dinner, but this time of an Indian leaning. I did Madhur Jaffrey's chicken in red pepper sauce, which is always delicious and to go with it tried out her Gujerati cabbage with carrots - strips of cabbage and grated carrot, lightly stir-fried with subtle spices (asafetida, black mustard seeds and just a few chilli flakes), lemon and fresh coriander - crunchy and delicious.

11 February - huge pork steaks

We got potatoes, parsnips and a huge bag of red Russian kale in the vegbox on Friday, which seemed to suggest a meat with mash and veg type dinner. I was out all day at a screen-printing workshop, so I asked Tris to get some pork steaks at Ruby & White. He suffered the same issue that I've come across there lately and came home with two absolutely huge steaks, half a plateful each! As we're trying to cut down, I decided to use just one of them and cut it in half - it still made a couple of very presentable little pieces. I was a bit knackered when I got in, so I just simply fried the pork to have with some rosemary jelly, mixed mash and the kale just wilted in a bit of butter and a squeeze of lemon juice.

10 February - jacket potato and salad and the Townhouse

Lunch was another jacket potato today, this time with a salad made up of bits in the fridge; beetroot, tomatoes, green beans, sweetcorn and a few slices of fried chorizo.

There's a restaurant just round the corner that's had at least four different incarnations in the four years we've lived here. The original restaurant was really good, but over the past few changes of hands, it's been just average rather than special. It changed again just recently, so we thought we'd better give it a try. It's now called the Townhouse and is going for up-market English, with a rather fancy menu full of unusual combinations and food in little stacks. We both had scallops with pea puree and black pudding to start. It could have been quite nice and it was all okay, but nothing very inspiring. Then for main, I had fillet of bream with pork belly and more black pudding. Again, it sounded like an interesting combination, but the meat and the fish were presented at different ends of the plate - the rather small, plain fish fillet on a pile of spring greens and the pork and black pudding as part of a potato stack. It felt a bit like eating two different meals on one plate, neither terribly exciting and they didn't particularly work together. I don't mind a bit of fancy cooking and presentation, but I think if you're going to present lots of small little bits of food, they've got to be really special and this just wasn't. Each of the elements might have got away with being solid, English cooking in nice big chunky portions (a la the Kensington Arms), but didn't really cut it here. Not sure we'll bother going back.

9 February - miso lamb and eve's pudding

Along with the recipe for the tuna tataki I tried from Waitrose Kitchen magazine the other day was another for miso-marinated lamb. You marinate the lamb - used leg steaks - in a mix of brown miso paste, sugar, sake and mirin for 24 hours, then you scrape off the marinade and grill them. Rather frustratingly, we've got a bit of a rubbish grill that takes ages to get hot, then keeps cutting out, so things don't cook very well under it. Thus, the lamb didn't get quite as nicely caramelised as it should have done, but it was still quite tasty and worth another try, perhaps in the summer if we can get a little barbecue going on the terrace. We had the lamb with some steamed green beans and pak choi tossed with a bit of soy sauce, lemon juice and a sprinkling of wasabi powder - another good combination.

We followed a relatively light supper with some comforting Eve's pudding. As I was making it up, I wasn't sure if I'd made enough sponge mixture, but it came out spot-on with a blob of creme fraiche on the top - mmm!

8 February - salmon with spinach and lentils

After a jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayo for lunch, it was more fish for supper, with a couple of wild salmon fillets. To go with them I used a Jamie Oliver idea for spinach with puy lentils, herbs and a drizzle of yoghurt. It's always a good combination and with the hearty lentils, you don't need any other carbs.

7 February - egg on toast and sausage pasta

Sometimes the simplest things are best. Poaching is one of my favourite ways of cooking eggs, but it can be a bit hit-and-miss. I've tried various gadgets for poaching eggs, but have reverted to just dropping them into a pan of gently boiling water. For me, the key to getting a nice, neat poached egg is having the water boiling just enough but not too vigorously. Today they came out just perfectly and were great on a couple of slices of malty brown toast.

I was out early evening, so I made up some quick sausage and pepper pasta sauce before I left that was quick to heat up with some pappadelle when I got in.

6 February - vegetable couscous

I got round to using up the last of the pork bolognese sauce today in a jacket potato for lunch. Tris was out for the evening so I settled for a simple veggie supper based on the seven/five vegetable couscous I've cooked before. Tonight the veg was red onion, courgette, carrot, red pepper, white cabbage and a few chickpeas left over from yesterday, plus all the spices (garlic, ginger, toasted and ground cumin and coriander, saffron, paprika and dried chilli) and some stock. Once I'd chopped up the veg, I realised there was too much for one, so made enough for Tris to take for his lunch tomorrow as well. With couscous and a sprinkling of fresh coriander it made a tasty and healthy-feeling supper-for-one.

5 February - pork and chickpea stew

Recently, we've rather got into the habit of going out for lunch at the weekends as an excuse to get out on otherwise rather grim wintry days. It's quite nice, but it does get a bit pricey and we tend to overeat a bit. So today we went for a slightly cheaper and lighter option with lunch at Lahloo Pantry, a little tea shop in Clifton. We each just had a small slice of goats cheese and chorizo tart rather than a huge plateful of food. It was perfectly enough for a light lunch and incredibly yummy. Followed of course by a good pot of loose leaf tea and a bit of a wander to get there and back.

For supper, I cooked up a warming, wintry favourite; pork, chorizo and chickpea stew. It's simple (and not particularly photogenic!) but always tasty after a good long bubble.

4 February - tuna salad and kedgeree

I had a small chunk of fresh tuna left over from last night, so we had tuna salad for lunch - a vague nicoise, with new potatoes, salad leaves, tomatoes, beetroot and some boiled eggs.

For supper, we weren't sure whether we were going to be in or out, so I just got the ingredients for a simple kedgeree. After a very cold, snowy day, we decided to stay in and felt very brainy after two servings of fish in one day!

3 February - tuna tataki

I used to get Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine every month - I've got a shelf of more than 10 years of copies! - but I gave up buying it when it changed to Waitrose Kitchen a couple of years ago and became not much more than an advert for Waitrose with a few basic meal ideas rather than properly interesting recipes. I picked a copy up the other day again though just to see if it had changed at all. They had at least stopped the annoying habit of naming Waitrose products in all their recipes, but it still didn't have a lot of real interest. The only exception was a few pages of Japanese-inspired recipes. This evening I adapted a recipe for seared tuna tataki salad, a starter, into a main course with stir-fried veg instead of the salad. You very simply roll a whole chunk of tuna fillet in a mix of toasted sesame seeds and salt, then sear it briefly before slicing it thinly and pouring over a dressing of soy sauce, pink grapefruit juice and honey.

It was very simple, but really delicious. I probably should have served it with rice or maybe some noodles, but I just had a fancy for chips. So I sauted some parboiled new potatoes and we had them on the side with some wasabi mayonnaise to dip them in (just a few dollops of mayo with some wasabi stirred in) - turned out to be an inspired combination!

2 February - squash soup, pork bolognese and wonderful rhubarb

There's been a large squash hanging around for weeks and the last chunk was starting to go a bit mouldy, so I finally used the last of it up in some soup for lunch. I roasted the squash, then added the flesh to some sweated onion in a pan, added some chicken stock and liquidised the whole lot before adding a slurp of cream. With a few bits of fried bacon on the top, it actually wasn't too bad.

I went back to Ruby & White as they'd said they'd put some pork mince aside for me today. As usual though, I somehow managed to come away with more than I really wanted. I was going to use half and keep the other half for something else, but then I was a bit late getting started on dinner and in my rush to get it going, I dumped all the mince into the pan - d'oh! So rather than using up the half a tin of tomatoes I'd specifically kept from yesterday, I had to open a new tin and we ended up with more bloody leftovers! The pork bolognese recipe from my Mum was quite simple and not much different from my usual bolognese - apart from substituting pork mince for beef and red wine instead of white. It was quite nice though and made a little bit of a change.

I'd wanted to keep the pasta portions small because I had plans for pudding. With a bit of a glut of milk in the fridge, I made some rice pudding and also cooked up some lovely new season rhubarb, using a recipe from the weekend Guardian. You bake the rhubarb with some sugar, dessert wine and vanilla - with some chopped pistachios sprinkled on top it was absolutely delicious and great with the creamy rice pudding!

1 February - pinto bean chilli

For lunch today, I finished off the very last bits of chicken left over from the weekend, with some stir-fried noodles and a few green beans.

I'd planned to try out a pork bolognese recipe that my Mum had sent me this evening, but the butcher's didn't have any pork mince and the supermarket only had huge packs. So I had to quickly change plans and instead tried out another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall veg recipe, this time for pinto bean chilli. It's pretty much the sort of standard veggie chilli I would've cooked without a recipe, but still tasty with a bit of guacamole and some warm pitta.

31 January - a very orange pie

There was still plenty of cold chicken to eat, so I came up with a leftovers pie, using the rest of the puff pastry and some squash in the bottom of the fridge. I wasn't completely convinced about chicken and squash combination, but I came up with a filling of fried onions, a few lardons, cubed cooked squash, some chicken stock, the chicken, a bit of chopped sage and a splodge of cream. It looked quite alarmingly orange, but seemed to taste okay! I put it in a pie die with a pastry lid and popped it in the oven. We had it with some purple sprouting broccoli and it actually wasn't too bad. I think there was probably a bit too much squash for the amount of chicken, but otherwise, quite tasty.

30 January - a tart and chicken paella

We got given a very large jar of sticky onion marmalade for Christmas. It's quite nice, but these things to tend to end up at the back of the fridge going mouldy. So I used some to make a couple of little goats cheese tarts - just circles of puff pastry with a bit of the onion marmalade and a circle of goats cheese, popped in the oven for about 15 mins. Yummy with a bit of salad on the side.

For supper, I used some of yesterday's leftover roast chicken to make a basic paella. Not particularly authentic, more a savoury rice really, with red pepper, green beans, a few peas, some chorizo and the chicken. Tasty and easy though for a midweek supper.

29 January - roast chicken and homegrown cavalo nero

I'd bought some humus to go with last night's tapas which we didn't eat, so that made a simple lunch today with a bit of pitta bread and some chopped carrot.

I was back on the painkillers today and not feeling much like cooking or eating, so it was a simple roast chicken for dinner with garlic, some roast new potatoes and home-grown cavalo nero still growing on the terrace. All delicious and comforting and just what was needed.