Marcella Hazan's pasta sauce

So simple. Butter, tomatoes, onion, salt. Excellent. Long slow simmering. Parmigiano reggiano sprinkled over.

Page 151 of Genius Recipes, Kristen Miglore.

 My lunch

Posing with the official picture

Tomato sauce with butter and onion.

Christmas lights are now summer lights

So the ficus is ready to go out for the summer, and her lights have migrated to the window.

Very  90s, a bit late getting there, but I like them.

Making good use of an expectedly quiet day

Happy Easter to people who celebrate it, and since Handsome Son is working, I decided I might as well make use of the day. Most cooking is already prepped in case we were dining today.

So I did a lot of work cutting and hanging and dyeing warping yarn, as seen at https://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com

Then, since the dyeing emptied a lot of materials from the freezer, I finally, after three years, defrosted it. In time for the farm market season.

Another day I'll organize the other freezer, and no doubt find all kinds of flavoring and makings for stock and herbs and things I've been tossing in for ages.

Another day, that is.

Spice bush finally

Every year for five years, this bush has come through the winter, put out leaves then been eaten back to the ground.

Finally this year, a breakthrough. It's blooming triumphantly. And the scent, the reason I planted it, is wonderful.

So glad i didn't give up on it.

Exciting walk, low key supper

We had some wind yesterday. Went out for a walk around the development, and found my path blocked. I had to detour to finish, and kept away from tall trees for the rest of the stroll.

Home to make these exciting things. Black bean fritters.

They're actually better than you'd  think to look at them. Not a great intro for a recipe, I know. But they're good. Filling too.

Quite exciting to make, since the blender did only a medium job of mixing -- I'd mixed all the ingredients before the next screen, when I scrolled down,  said  you needed a food processor -- and my wooden spoon got all stuck in the blades, as I tried to scoop the mixture out to cook it. I might have eaten a bit of wood pulp in the fritters. But it's fiber, after all.

This is one can of black beans, minced garlic, ginger, cilantro, Thai curry paste, salt, breadcrumbs, egg, bunch of fresh cut chives. Made six fritters. Put ketchup with, didn't have  the fancy dipping sauce the food processor owning recipe writer required.

It's one of those recipes people love to describe as "budget". But they assume you have all the spices, garlic, ginger etc. The only cheap ingredient is the can of beans.

This is why food banks list condiments on their wanteds. You can make much more interesting food with spices, but people who need the food bank can't lay their hands on spices.

Also did you know that summer can be the hungriest time for food bank users? School's out, no subsidized lunches then. If you're planning to give, please do it now. And $$ is excellent, since the food bank people know what they need most, and they'll spend it wisely.

Sometimes you need a spot of junk food

Lately I've been thinking about PopTarts, not buying any, but thinking it would be nice..

Then today, on Twitter, Jack Monroe gave a recipe for homemade ones, and, well, this happened.

Just a pastry recipe, roll thin, jam one side, bake, cool, ice. Done. I used the top of the freezer as a pastry surface, worked fine. The jam is my raspberry peach jam.

No sprinkles in the house, so I made some lurid pink icing.

Homemade junk food.

First afternoon sitting outside for tea

Massive bumblebees everywhere, daffodils late this year.

Reading Margaret Forster, Lady's Maid, fiction of the life of Wilson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's maid.

Cook's lunch

Served, and pretty good. Enough left for several meals.

I'm betting this will also improve overnight.

Some sort of curry type thing

This is a mix of ideas and partly remembered recipes, and it's really good up to now.  Not particularly hot, but really good flavor.

Chickpeas, peach chunks, diced chicken thighs, coconut milk, chicken stock. Spices: Thai red curry paste, salt, cumin, ground cloves, turmeric. Base of diced onions in olive oil.

As usual I cooked the spices with the onions first, except the clove was an afterthought. I tasted this one quite a bit as I went, adjusting.

Now it's simmering while the jasmine brown rice cooks in the background there. So long since I've made a curry, and this is different from the ones I've made with Bill Veach mixed curry powder. I need to make that again.

Bread and jam, Lucy's rx for Charlie Brown

Made two important food groups today.

Wheat (with a little bit of white) bread. Raspberry peach jam. New idea, used a can of peaches and the syrup, with unsweetened frozen raspberries. No pectin.

Evening snack for the cook.

Totally domestic day, planting flowers, laundry, baking, jam making, food shopping, library visit. Cleaners here.

Tomorrow, corporal needs catered to, chop wood, carry water,  it's studio time.

First trip to the garden center

This year everything's late, so they had only pansies and herbs. I picked up a flat of yellow pansies and admired the display.

Then, one aching back later, I have my own display.  I doused everything with chili powder to  deter squirrels.

If my performance is anything to go by, they'll be kept busy sneezing.

The daffodils are still in bud

And the lettuce is recognizable.

So that's the outdoor update from field and fen.

First of the month, white rabbits, fresh flowers

Also April Fool's Day, but setting that aside..