17 January - adventurous solo dining

This morning's market didn't prove very helpful on the food front - mostly knocked-off trainers and tat, with just a few basic vegetable stalls of the onion and carrot variety - no fresh bread or pastries or other solo self-catering treats. On my way back to the flat, I dropped into one of the tiny shops for at least some 'plastic' toasting bread, only to see the bloke in front of me buying the last loaf of fresh local bread ... the shopkeeper explained apologetically that you have to get there early for it!

It was another chilly day, so I headed to Mdina, the ancient walled city in the centre of the island, with the intention of having a bit of a wander then warming up over a nice, long lunch. I got there though to realise - thankfully, before I'd gone into a restaurant - that I'd left my purse in my other bag back at the flat!! Thus, I wandered around a bit more until I was really too cold, then drove back to the flat for a late lunch of couscous, tomatoes and some parma ham. It's definitely been a challenge to self-cater for one without just eating the same thing all week.

This evening, I decided to try out Sugo, the little restaurant just across the street from the apartment that gets rave reviews in the visitor's book for Maltese cuisine. It turned out to be my most adventurous solo dining experience yet! When I arrived at 8.15, I was the only person there and was presented with a choice of tasting menus!! My first reaction was to move on, but the really friendly chef persuaded me to stay, offering a simpler starter + main combination and to my relief, five minutes later more people turned up, so it wasn't completely private dining! The food was pretty good - more bigilla as an appetiser, then some really tasty baked rice to start (with onions, tomatoes, pork mince and liver), apparently a traditional Maltese dish. For my main, I had beef stew which was in a lovely rich gravy, although to be honest, the meat was a bit chewy. All accompanied by a couple more glasses of really good local wine - I'll definitely be taking some Maltese wine home with me if I can fit them in my Ryanair baggage allowance!

Sadly, being in a similar old stone building, it was just as chilly as the flat, so despite all the warming, wintry food, it didn't do much to warm me up. At least it's not just me though - the other two female diners didn't even take off their jackets and scarves!

8 January - beef stew

We had some simple baked potatoes for lunch today with some leeks from the vegbox, cooked up gently with some bacon and then mixed with a bit of creme fraiche - a classic, comfort-food combination.

For supper, I did a slow-cook beef stew. The recipe idea came with the vegbox and was originally for beef and squash stew. Having had squash yesterday though, I substituted it for some parsnip.

• Brown c. 450g diced beef in an ovenproof pan and remove.
• Add a sliced onion and cook until softened, then add a clove of chopped garlic.
• Return the beef to the pan and add 250ml red wine and the same of water (a bit more if the beef isn't covered), plus a sprig of rosemary and bay leaf.
• Cover with a lid and put in the oven at 150C for two hours.
• Add a couple of peeled and chopped parsnips and cook for another 10-15 mins - checking there's enough liquid in the pan - I had to add a bit more at this point as it was drying out.

It came out smelling great, but looking a bit grey and watery. It could have done with some nice juicy greens on the side, but the only thing I had was some more leeks. It did taste really good - the beef was melt-in-the-mouth and the sweet, nutty parsnips were great mashed into the gravy. If I did it again, I think I'd find a way of thickening the sauce a bit, maybe just a bit of cornflour stirred in at the end.