Cookery Calendar Challenge: April

I'm back with my second Cookery Calendar Challenge report. I'm joining with Penny at The Homemade Heart who invites fellow bloggers to choose one cookery book each month, select and cook two dishes from it and post their thoughts at the beginning of the following month.

My recipe book for April was Five Quarters by Rachel Roddy.  I first came across Rachel when she was the Guardian's cook in residence (she now writes a weekly column) and instantly warmed to her style of writing as much as to her cooking.  Rachel's a British woman who has made her home in Rome where she lives with her Sicilian partner and their wee boy.  She's my favourite kind of food writer ie one who sets each recipe in context - where the ingredients were bought, who sold them to her, the history of the dish and how it is eaten today.  It's as if I was exploring her local market, standing by her in her kitchen or sitting across from her in a local cafe.

I bought her book (her first, there is a second in the pipeline) at the beginning of the year and had already dipped into it on a couple of occasions.  This month I tried out two new recipes:  Pollo alla cacciatora (chicken, hunter's style) and pasta e patate (pasta and potato soup).

Pollo alla cacciatora
(with apologies for the quality of the image)

 The chicken dish was delicious and was well received by everyone, including my daughter's boyfriend who is a bit of connoisseur when it comes to food.  It was simple to prepare, using easy to hand ingredients (with the exception of black olives, optional, but included because I like them).  It is essentially chicken portions sauteed in olive oil flavoured with garlic, chilli flakes, rosemary, wine and vinegar - and those black olives.  We ate it with boiled potatoes and an assortment of vegetables (carrots, cabbage and sweetcorn) which needed using up, but when I cook it again, which I shall, I'll follow Rachel's advice and serve it with green beans or a  green salad and a hunk of sourdough to mop up the fragrant juices.

Pasta e Patate
Once again, my image doesn't do it justice!

The pasta and potato soup doesn't sound right, does it  Too many carbs?  And there's not much else in it.  An onion, a carrot and a celery stalk.  It calls for water, not stock, and even the pancetta is optional.  But it works, falling into the category of comfort food, a dish that throws it arms around you and gives you a big hug.  Simple and honest.  We ate a bowlful before setting out for another session of local election canvassing and it kept us going very nicely.  The only tweak I would try would be to slip half a parmesan rind in with the water to add a touch more depth.

My book for May is Simon Hopkinson's The Good Cook.


  

This (last) Weekend

Last weekend was spent in Glasgow.

• We stayed in this West End tenement flat booked through airbnb.

          Our first booking via airbnb and a huge success.

  I was sorely tempted not to leave.

• We walked through the Botanic Gardens and along the river Kelvin.

• We visited Zara Hadid's Riverside Museum.

• We spent a day in Edinburgh with my sister and her family.

We reckoned it had been five years since all of us were last together.

• We used our NT card to visit The Tenement House.

I was reminded of visits to my great aunt's house in Govan as a child.

• We enjoyed a splendid meal at the Hanoi Bike Shop.

I highly recommend the food and service in Glasgow's only Vietnamese restaurant.

  We donated a Bristol £1 note, featuring a cyclist, to add to their collection of bank notes.

• We viewed the world's first comic at the Hunterian's Comic Invention exhibition.

An interesting history of the comic book & its relationship to other art forms,

 including medieval manuscripts.

• We had lunch in the famous University Cafe where I ate a scotch pie and chips.

A Byres Road institution!

When will we learn?

Allow me to set the scene ...

My elder daughter, approaching her finals at Glasgow university, can't spare the time to come home at Easter.  So I decide to visit her instead.

I check the fares and discover that it will cost me £122 by train and £65.98 by air.  A no brainer?

Except I opt for the train.

Why?

Well, partly because I love train journeys, especially long ones.  But also because the return journey by train will generate 72 kg of carbon, roughly equivalent to a third of the 231.2 kg produced by the flight, and I firmly believe in the principle of making the change I want to see.  How else can I live?

Our country has just witnessed the worst flooding in decades, widely suspected to be linked to man made climate change.  Politicians of every persuasion declare their commitment to reducing carbon consumption.  And yet those who choose low carbon travel options continue to be financially penalised.

It just doesn't make any sense.

Iona

Quotations on the Abbey wall

My elder daughter is called Iona and it has been our intention, ever since she was born, to introduce her to the island after which she was named.  Well it took 21 year,s but last summer we finally made it.

Our visit was part of a mini tour of the Inner Hebrides.  We spent a few days in Tobermory before catching two buses and a ferry to the island.  The scenery was spectacular and the fine mist only added to the atmosphere.  

Iona Hostel

We were booked into the eco award winning Iona Hostel, at the north end of the island.  You can just about see it in the photographs, nestling under the hill.  There was no one around when we arrived, but the door was open and there was a message on the front desk inviting us to kick off our boots and make ourselves at home in the kitchen.  Which we did, and the memory of that cup of tea on a comfy sofa looking out over the sea to the Dutchman's cap and beyond will stay with me to end of my days.

View north from Iona Hostel

It wasn't long before the other residents began to drift back in after their day's adventures, followed closely by John, the affable owner, who showed us to our room and gave us a tour of the facilities.  The room was basic, two sets of timber bunk beds.  That was it.  The toilets and shower rooms were equally minimalist.  But the walls were dotted with poems!

The kitchen/dining/living room ran the length of the hostel and was very much the heart of it.  Visitors were encouraged to make full use of anything and everything on the communal shelves and although we ate separately there was much sharing of tasks.  While drying dishes I met a woman who knew folk I hadn't seen since I was a child in India over forty years ago.  We bumped into a French family we'd first met a couple of days earlier in Tobermory.  We played Articulate late into the night with a young couple from the north of England and the two resident hostel helpers.  And on our final night we were entertained by the arrival of a large Scottish/Italian famiily who filled the hostel with laughter, the pattering of little feet and the aroma of herbs and tomatoes.

With only two full days on the island we couldn't hope to cover it all, so we picked out a few sights.  On our first day we braved the mist to walk right down the island to St Columba's Bay at its southernmost tip.

Dun I

St Columba's Bay

The next day, as bright and sunny as the first was cold and wet, we headed for the abbey.  To celebrate its 350th anniversary Historic Scotland has produced an excellent audio guide which allowed each of us to explore the site at our own pace.

Iona Abbey

St Martin's Cross

St Martin's Cross

St John's Cross

St Columba

Descent of the Spirit by Jacques Lipchitz

Afterwards we took advantage of the weather to climb Dun I for a bird's eye view of the island, including our hostel and the island of Colonsay to the south, our next destination.

Iona Hostel from Dun I

But of course, no visit to Iona would have been complete without a pilgrimage to John Smith's grave, perhaps one of the best Prime Ministers we never had.

Next stop Colonsay!

31/365

Caerdydd

This Weekend ...

... I discussed Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss at Reading Group

(interesting account of a year in Iceland at a momentous time, but I'm not converted to non-fiction)

... I accompanied my younger daughter to an interview at Plymouth University
(very successful!)

... I made kartoffelsalat  for a shared lunch following this morning's Quaker meeting
(eating together is the best way to get to know people and should be compulsory in all organisations)

... I entered the Observer's Viewfinder competition
(I'm sure I have the correct answer but I'm equally sure I'm not alone)

This evening I shall be eating roast lamb (lovingly prepared by my husband) and catching up on Borgen 

12/365

Plymouth Hoe

In 2012 ...

I knitted and crocheted

I cooked and baked

 I sang and listened to others sing

I involved myself in politics and campaigns

I supported local independent traders

 I went out and about in Bristol ...

... and in London

I went on holiday to St Ives

I started running and went on a diet and ...!

I survived the Jubilee but entered into the Olympic spirit.

I made holiday lists and managed to cross most items off them!

I met Fatmumslim's Photo a Day Challenge but didn't quite meet my own challenges to photograph A Month of Dinners or my Advent countdown.

All in all it's been a good year and I've certainly had fun trawling through my posts and reminding myself of its highlights.

Here's to 2013!

PS  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading other bloggers' reviews and greatly admire those whose photos are better displayed than mine.  Any tips on how to create mosaics on blogger would be much appreciated.