10 September - fresh figs and a lamb curry

I got some lovely big, fresh, Turkish figs in the supermarket this morning. So lunch involved some fresh bread from Hart's Bakery (@ Ruby & White) with the figs, some bresaola and a tomato and basil salad.

We fancied a curry, so I flicked through Madhur Jaffrey and cooked up some lamb do piaza with some spicy green beans and rice. As usual, the sauce rather curdled, but it was still tasty.

• Fry one and a half finely sliced onions until starting to brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• Put a cinnamon stick, 3 cardamom pods and 3 cloves in the same oil.
• Add about 250g cubed lamb to brown, then remove.
• Fry 1/2 finely chopped onion, then add some garlic and ginger paste (made from a couple of cloves of garlic and a lump of ginger, both grated and mixed with a little water).
• Add 1 tsp coriander and 1/2 tsp cumin and stir.
• Gradually add 2 tbsp yoghurt and stir to incorporate. I never manage this without it curdling, even taking the pan off the heat.
• Return the meat with a cup of water, a pinch of cayenne pepper and some salt. Then bubble away gently for an hour or so.
• Return the fried onions and half a tsp of garam masala.

9 September - the lounge and post-film noodles

I managed to eat out twice today. It was the end of my summer teaching stint, so we went for an end-of-course lunch at the Lounge. They did pretty well with a big group and mixed tapas starters came out really quickly and went down very well. Mains took a bit longer and came out in dribs and drabs, but as we were all nattering, it didn't really matter. I had a goats cheese salad - the actual goats cheese on toast was nice, but the salad was full of things I'm less keen on - my fault for being fussy rather than theirs!

We went out to the cinema in the evening and stopped off for some quick noodles on the way back at Tampopo, right next to the cinema at Cabot Circus. We just went in to grab a quick bite, but the noodles were actually really good - definitely a place to stop off after a film again.

8 September - couscous salad and spaghetti bolognese

Another great 'salad' for lunch - this time couscous with some roast squash and pepper, tomatoes, a few bits of bacon and a bit of the sauce left over from last night's chicken - really yummy!

We had a simple classic for dinner; spaghetti bolognese. This is something that's slightly different every time I make it and is inspired by a number of different recipes, including a classic Italian Elizabeth David recipe and a more recent one from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Tonight it was quite a fresh, tomatoey version with fresh basil.

• Gently fry a chopped onion in a mix of butter and olive oil until soft, adding some chopped garlic and a few bacon bits.
• Add minced beef and stir until browned.
• Add a glug of milk and bubble until almost gone - this was an idea from HFW and gives it a slightly creamy feel.
• Do the same with a glass of white wine.
• Stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes, salt, nutmeg and some chopped basil.
• Bubble away for as long as possible, at least an hour. Then serve with spaghetti (or tonight linguine actually) and a good pile of grated parmesan.

7 September - Moroccan chicken

I had a fantastically tasty salad for lunch today; new potatoes, fried chorizo, homegrown tomatoes and beans, some fresh cooked beetroot, a few strips of roasted pepper and a poached egg. The red chorizo-flavoured oil, mingled with the oozy egg yolk and the purple beetrooty juices all came together in a perfect, vivid puddle in the bottom of the dish to mash the potatoes into!

We had lemony Moroccan chicken for dinner with couscous and some cubes of roasted squash. Tasty, but again a bit rushed and it could've been cooked a bit longer.

6 September - stuffed vegetables

At a loss for ideas, I tried out a recipe for stuffed vegetables from For Every Season. You cook up some chopped onion and garlic, with some pine nuts, rice, dill and parsley, pour in some water, then when absorbed, stuff this mixture into big tomatoes and peppers. You put the vegetables into an oven dish, pour some tin tomatoes around the bottom and drizzle with olive oil, then bake for about 40 mins at 180C. I was rather late getting started and really hungry, so I gave up and took them out after barely half an hour, which was a bit of a mistake as the rice was still a bit crunchy and the pepper wasn't cooked as much as I'd have liked. It wasn't too bad though and the 'sauce' (the tinned toms whizzed up in a blender) was really nice. I might go with the suggestion of adding a bit of mince to the stuffing if I did it again though.

5 September - pasta with squash

A busy day and Tris was out this evening, so it was pasta again as a quick dinner for one. This time I had squash, with pine nuts, bacon, sage and goats cheese ... lots of my favourite flavours and I thought it might be a bit much altogether, but it was actually yummy!

4 September - brunch and venison sauce

An already-soft avocado was the starting point for a Tex-Mex brunch - my take on huevos rancheros. We had poached eggs on a toasted bagel with some tomato salsa (chopped onion, garlic and green chilli cooked up with some tinned tomatoes) and fresh guacamole. Great with a big pot of coffee.

Some venison in the butchers (Ruby & White across the road) had caught my eye, so today I made some rich slow-cooked venison sauce to go with pasta. Initially, as I fried up the diced venison, I was a bit disappointed as it looked a bit fatty and chewy, but actually, once it was cooked up, it was fine and made a really nice warming sauce.

• Fry c.300g diced venison to brown and set aside.
• Fry 1/2 a chopped onion and some chopped carrot for 5 mins.
• Add some chopped rosemary and 2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree.
• Return the meat to the pan, add 250ml red wine and 250ml chicken stock and bubble gently for a couple of hours.
• Serve with pasta.