No blogging again this weekend and again I have been cook, cook, cooking! This blog is self-indulgently entitled 'We Love Karen 32' as that is what was iced on my rather fabulous birthday cake! I pulled into our driveway on Thursday night to my mum and dad standing by the door and had that moment where everything goes all out of context before I realised that they must have come to surprise me for my birthday. Lovely. I had only earlier been making a mental note to get a date sorted with them to come down from Scotland knowing that if I didn't do it soon, it wouldn't happen before christmas. They came armed with goodies (including the cake) for all of us, including presents for Little M and the obligatory tin of shortbread for Master M.
Just because you have guests doesn't been you can become a slacker in the kitchen! Quite the contrary, it egged me on even more to become a bit more of a mother hen and make sure everyone was well-fed. So the twisted lasagne was born (or Mexican as Nigella prefers to pen). Instead of meat, sweetcorn and blackbeans were the filling of choice, and tortilla wraps instead of lasagne pasta sheets. Much less of a faff.
To accompany the lasagne I made Avocado Salsa which I had made previously with fajitas, but this time jalapenos peppers were added which gave a welcome kick. My dad didn't join in - he is a bit of a snacker rather than an eater of proper meals! - but my mum and Master M had some. The latter of whom dislikes sweetcorn so I was chuffed he made the effort. My mum said it was 'mmmmm' which made me happy, and Master M didn't say much which I took to believe it wasn't really his thing.
On bonfire night we took Little M to a small firework display at our local boozer. He was really tired so didn't actually see any fireworks but did enjoy the fire. So, off we trudged home and I put the little chap to bed, after watching some homemade displays out of our guest bedroom window. Then, as a winter warmer, I made tomato curry with 1kg of cherry toms, and peas, among other ingredients/spices. Dad joined in on this one and all seemed to enjoy it but we all concluded that it wasn't really a curry. Just a nice kinda tomatoey dish.
With the curry, we had coconut rice which was great. Into the olive-oiled basmati, I tipped in some spring onion and 1 litre of coconut milk/boiled water. This simmered down, 15 minutes later resulting in pot of yumminess. I would definitely make this again as it livens up what can be an often predictable side.
On Saturday morning we headed into town early so that I could look for some must-have leg-lengthening boots that I had found in Grazia - they are from Primark and I really had to beat that hellish mid-Saturday scrum. They didn't have the boots so will have to try again another time. I also introduced my mum to the delights of the Cath Kidston shop as she was a CK virgin. Think she liked. I bought a chintzy iphone cover which I never thought I would do, as I kind-of went off Ms Kidston when she sold-out. It was much more interesting when she just did ironing board covers and book bags. My mum and dad also bought me some gorgeous art-deco style cake forks which of course I later in the weekend used to eat the birthday cake.
After Little M's usual swimming lesson, a rest for all, and a stroll around the local park, I cooked us all Chicken with Greek Herb Sauce (or Tsatsiki) and rapid roastini (for the benefit of my folks, naturally, who had yet to try it)! I think we all agreed that it was delicious. The sauce especially went down a treat. Shop-bought Tsatsiki can taste a bit too artificial but this was really fresh and well herby!
Following the main, we had Lemon Meringue Fool which is dead easy to make - lemon curd, double cream, limoncello whipped up with some meringue broken-up and tossed in. Heavenly. I used my martini glasses as dessert dishes which looked cool. Will do this again.
All good things come to an end and my brilliant parents finally had to go home on Sunday, my birthday. But not before making my day special along with my boys. We had a nice cooked 'Master M Special' breakfast and then bundled into our cars to go to Lotherton Hall for a kick around in the leaves and a wanter around the bird park. A really nice memorable day. At home, Master M made us dinner and pudding, then my creation of the day was a post-dinner shot - Baby Guiness which is Kahlua topped with a smidgen of Baileys. A nice end to an even nicer weekend.
Goddess Mx
PS - One of my presents was Take That tickets - woo hoo!
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