I’ve got gas, baby!

Oh, be gone with that screwed up face of disgust! Don gave me the same ominous look when I proclaimed this launching myself into his arms. But I just have to tell the world- I’ve got gas, baby! Glorious, glorious gas! Gas has never made me feel so happy, so energised…so full of life! The click click sound and a beautiful blue and yellow flame- tea from the kettle! Fancy that!

A shiny stainless steel Kitchen Aid range cooker with cast iron grates and flames that will burn your brows off if you get too close! I think I’m in love. I mean I love Don, but I’ve never been without him for more than three weeks. I have survived a whole seven weeks of making tea in the microwave and let me tell you, tea from the kettle now tastes like water straight from a fresh spring! I think I’m in love. I have no counter tops or backsplash or fancy floor trimming but I have the sweetest little range that 1,500 bucks can buy you. I may not be able to afford to go on vacation for the next five years but I have an oven and a range and nothing could make this girl happier! Forget the hot weather, I can’t wait to sweat all day over a hot stove! Saturday morning baking is back!

First I want to try these
Then I want to try this
And this looks really intriguing
Oh and I suppose I’ll be whipping up a batch of these
And whilst I’m at it this looks too delicious to miss out on

CHEF’S TIP: How to enjoy your food more

Ellie Krieger

Ellie Krieger, registered dietitian, Food Network star and author of one of my favourite go-to books gives us this weeks chef’s tip. Ellie is not one of those nutritionists tries to tell you to live on celery sticks and grilled chicken breasts- she is all for enjoying and savouring your food. Her tip to start building a healthy relationship with food is all about the stops and starts. Stop eating by the sink, at your office desk and on the go. Start thinking about what you’re eating, take time and pleasure over eating and cooking a meal and you’ll get much more out of it. Now, stop complaining and start munching- at the dinner table, that is.

A RECIPE: Egg & bacon potato salad

It is a common misconception that potato salad requires that the potatoes be smothered lavishly and heart-cloggingly in mayonnaise. It is also a common misconception that the only way to serve new potatoes is boiled with butter and chives. Whilst both scenarios can prove adequately tasty (the latter being the British favourite and the former being the American)- I fancy to suggest that there are other ways to serve the noble new potato.

You can open your eyes now- this really isn’t a scary concept; in fact it’s not anything new. It’s just that most of us resort to what seems easy and what they know best. When my family lived in Philadelphia we had a huge garden where my father grew potatoes, lettuces, tomatoes and as kids we would run out to the veg patch to dig some up for dinner. The excitement of digging them up far succeeded the joy of eating them. Of course they were delicious in their own right- things that come straight out of the ground generally are but it was eating them every night in the same way, as if they were simply a plate filler rather than a contributor to the overall meal that got to me. Boiled and tossed with butter and chives- it’s simple enough and sometimes it’s all a potato needs. Just not every time. Needless-to-say this approach to them rather put me off and I soon decided that I didn’t like new potatoes, avoiding them at all costs. They were boring. Rather like a side salad of iceberg lettuce.

Recently, however, I decided to revisit the boiled new potato- to start over, if you will.  Enter, the egg and bacon potato salad. If ever there is a way to improve a dish, it’s by adding two of your favourite ingredients into the pot- eggs and bacon happen to be two of mine. Don goes a little crazy when he smells bacon and does this strange sort of excited barking sound. He’s really very easy to please.

In trying to keep the salad somewhat healthy I decided to boost the flavours with the help of fresh flat leaf parsley, spring onions and garlic rather than adding any extra fat. Don agreed to not adding any extra fat, but he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to add a little extra bacon. Of course then it would have been the egg and potato bacon salad, and that wasn’t what I was going for- but feel free to go crazy on the bacon in your kitchen, excited barking sounds and all.

Tomorrow, I promise.

They may be separated by an ocean, speak with a different accent, exchange with a different currency and prefer coffee over tea but it seems construction workers from London to New York are really all the same. You’re assured that the job can be done quickly, that they are the best contractors around, that they’re giving you the absolute best price and that they can do anything you want. Then they take 50% of their fee, do 50% of the work, leave all their equipment cluttering 1/3 of your apartment, a bed of dust on the floor so thick that even you swiffer mopper can’t cope and you spend weeks chasing them on the phone to complete the job.

The cabinets are in, the floor has been laid, the walls have had one coat of paint. Everything is in place. Except that the cabinets have no door knobs, the range has no gas, the dishwasher no connection, the sink no faucet, and that final coat of paint is yet to be completed. Did I mention that the counter tops have been measured three times now? Three times by “the best guy around” who I had to wait a week for to come out in the first place. Everything is “tomorrow, I promise” followed by a quiet “or at the latest, Monday next week”.

And so it is that I am still eating off of paper plates, washing up in the bathroom sink and rapidly despairing of microwaved meals. For the first time ever, I’m happy about the fact that I eat two meals a day at work- because that’s one less at home. In the meantime, I’m threatening to sell my contractors toolbox on ebay, tomorrow- I promise or at the latest, Monday next week.