nigella

Lions, the Tour, and the tennis…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

It’s a busy, busy time in the He Runs, I Cook household.  We’ve been cooking, eating, pinning, and watching sports.

The Runner is in the midst of  a late night sportsapalooza of Wimbledon and the Tour de France.  Add in the British & Irish Lions Rugby tour and it’s been a pretty sports filled couple of weeks.  We have grunting women, men in spandex and scrums happening in our living room on a nightly basis.   Thankfully, we have Foxtel so he hasn’t missed a minute- and luckily Wimbledon and the Tour start after Masterchef so there haven’t been any fights over the TV—yet. 

I’ve been cooking up a storm- slow cooker corn and prawn bisque, Nigella’s spaghetti with mushroom and thyme, and Bourbon glazed pork tenderloin with peaches  tonight from my Dinner: A love story cookbook (Thanks Mom!)

 We went to the Good Food and Wine Show this past Sunday, and well went a little bit nuts on the Wine part of the show.    We discovered some great wines from some wineries I can’t actually remember, but don’t worry, we came home with enough bottles to jog my memory the next morning! 

I’m still in the midst of wedding planning– I’m actually not even sure what’s being planned at this stage but I think the term “wedding planning” covers my obsession with pinterest and wedding blogs.    Of course, I don’t actually have time to read all of the blogs so at this stage they’re going into a “Wedding” folder in my email account……Last look, there were hundreds of emails in there….yikes.   

I have to confess, I don’t know the first thing about weddings or wedding planning.   It’s a nice distraction, but I’m starting to get a bit bored of tulle and looking at pictures of centrepieces.  It wasn’t a good sign the other night, when I turned to The Runner, who was distracted by the first stage of the Tour de France and announced that I was ready for the wedding to happen now.  

He sort of looked at me and rolled his eyes.  We still have 13 months and 6 days to go until the wedding— so If I’m already tired of planning, it’s not a good sign.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m so excited about the wedding and about being married and all, but I just kind of want it all to happen on its own.  Like all the little bouquets to make themselves, and all the placecards to be set and all the photographers to be interviewed and all the dresses to just appear as if by magic.  Yes, I’m like the anti-bridezilla at the moment.

The Wedding is sort of falling into the same category as photography and scrapbooking—two hobbies I  enjoy doing- especially photography  and was really really into for a few months so I took lessons and bought all the gear and now I never really do it now.  I mean, yes, I take pictures, but the Adobe Photoshop Suite I swore I was going to learn to use because I was going to be a serious photographer—nope touched it once, still don’t get it.  All that pretty paper I was going to use to make a scrapbook out of, still sitting upstairs on the desk I bought as a scrapbooking desk.  By the way, the scrapbooking desk—covered in wedding magazines at the moment! 

Maybe it’s just that it’s so far away and I’m actually slightly organised that wedding planning has lost its sense  of urgency.  I’m becoming quite good at shopping for wedding dresses, but not so much making a decision on one— yet.  And I haven’t really started on anything else yet.    I’m very relaxed about the whole thing because I have loads of time… and I’m more of a last minute person anyway…..  procrastination and finishing assignments in the middle of the night  is how I got through school!   Partly, I’m writing this because I’m sure 12 months from now, I’ll be frazzled and panicked and interrupting the Tour de France with Bridezilla like freak outs about posies vs. peonies and other silly things.    But this year, I’ll just let The Runner stay up and enjoy it in peace!

 

 

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Nigella Lawson’s Prosecco and Pomegranate Gelatin

~ stephzuniga ~ 1 Comment

So, even for an event I’m not cooking for, I’m still cooking.  Tomorrow we’re having a Seafood Feast- Seared Tuna with Wasabi, Beer Marinated BBQ prawns, oysters, Barbecue Virgin Scallops– don’t ask, it’s a Luke Mangan recipe from last Sunday’s paper…. and of course salads- Nigella’s Red Salad, a Green Salad with Mandarin and Pomegranate, and a Potato Salad- because my Mom always says to eat your veggies.  So, I have to do a little bit of prep and cooking today to make sure it all comes off tomorrow.  

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So, I’m starting with Nigella’s Prosecco and Pomegranate Gelatin.  When I was home and made the Ginger Ale Salad, again out of Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine, I was reminded of how good Jell-o is…. I mean, it’s practically perfect for summer desserts.  It’s served cold, is low in calories, you can make it in different colours, and you can add alcohol to it..  How have I not jumped back on this bandwagon in my adult life?   

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Well today, I’m putting on my boots and hopping on the Jell-o Train!  

First, I had to buy a Jell-o mould, and sadly it’s not the fun tupperware one of my childhood (I know you had one too, with the flower, star, christmas tree, interchangeable top).  Ok, if you didn’t have one, you seriously missed out, because it was awesome!  Oh well, until my next Tupperware party, I’ll have to make do with the Red one I bought the other day.  Functional and boring!

Anyway, I start by following the directions from Nigella and that came with it to brush a light coating of vegetable oil onto the walls of the mould…. obviously if both directions say it, I should DEFINITELY do it…..

First step is clearly my favourite….Pop open a bottle of Prosecco!  Hurray!!!!!  Stop. Remember it’s only 10:30am and not only do I have to drive later but I have lots to do and haven’t had breakfast yet.  Tell myself to resist the urge to swig it from the bottle (it is warm after all) and pour it all into a saucepan.

I add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and stir until it dissolves, then I turn on the stove and bring it to a boil.  Then I take 4 teaspoons of gelatin and put them into 1 cup of water and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Because I’m going to deviate from Nigella slightly on this one and add fruit to my gelatin (strawberries, a few blueberries and nectarines) this is where I stop to cut them up and also to hope that the recipe still works…. maybe 1 more teaspoon of gelatin would be in order???

The prosecco and sugar needs to boil for 1 minute and then you add vanilla extract and boil for another minute.  I then, according to Nigella, ladle 1 cup of hot prosecco into the same jug as the gelatin and stir it until it’s dissolved.  

Now, here’s where reading ahead would have helped.  Apparently, I’m supposed to pour the jug back into the saucepan and then back into the jug and then into the mould.  Really Nigella????  Really?  Did someone forget to tell me that I needed to use a BIG jug, not just a 2-cup measuring cup??? HONESTLY!  Well, since I don’t have my own cookbook or cooking show, I’m just going to wing it…after a bit of pouring and spooning, I put the unsanctioned fruit into the mould and pour the prosecco on top.  

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Everything is going ok, until I realise the stupid top of the stupid mould is leaking……  argh!!!!!!!!!!  Obviously, this would not happen with Tupperware but there’s not a lot that I can do about it now….. into the fridge with crossed fingers and hopes for the best it goes!

 

 

Changes already….

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Well, we’ve been live for an hour and already we have a name change…. Nigella’s Revenge is now, He Runs I cook.   Why you might ask??

Well, The Boy is currently training for yet another triathlon, which means 1, long hours of training, and 2, a very hungry Boy.  We both have very separate hobbies- he swims, bikes, and runs and I cook, bake, buy cookbooks, and occasionally pole dance.   So there you have it, He Runs, I cook.

To kick things off this week, and in honor of Nigella, the First Randomly chosen book will be Nigella Express!  

p.7 is Anglo-Asian Lamb Salad

p.33 is Crab and Avocado Salad with Japanese Dressing

p. 69 is chicken liver salad (YUCK!)

p.87 is a Go Get ‘Em Smoothie (TOO EASY)

p.101 is Orange French Toast

And the winner is………..

Lucky Number Slevin– in honor of the Slevin’s birthday on the weekend, we’re going to go with Number 7!  Anglo Asian Lamb Salad…..

Stay tuned!