Cheeky cod cheeks

The cod cheeks took me by surprise. You know those days when you know exactly what you're going to cook only to be thwarted at every step. You go to your favourite butcher to get quail. No quail. Ok wild rabbit then. No wild rabbit. So I bought pork, then remembered by partner doesn't eat it. Walked into three organic, specialist green grocers'... No sorrel anyone? Really? Luckily, I stumbled across these delicious cod cheeks while looking dejectedly around a fishmonger. 

Cod cheeks are cheap and absolutely delicious by the way. Two massive portions cost about £4. I fried them on some butter with chopped green chilli and garlic, and squeezed lemon on top. So easy. We ate them with butternut squash mash and a warm salad of yellow courgettes (zucchini), halloumi cheese and tomatoes over some salad leaves. I was informed that it could well be my "best yet". 

Herrings in Soured Cream with Apple

The human condition is a strange one. The closer we get to what we want the more anxious we become. The stakes get higher as we realise that we have more to loose than before. Recently, I have had to remind myself constantly to enjoy the present moment. That despite the pressure, I'm actually spending time doing what I love to do. Writing, cooking, eating... Being able to do this full time is a precious gift and a blessing. And this is the sort of fresh-tasting Polish-style stuff I've been making and eating in the past couple of weeks.

That up there is Rye Pumpkin-seed Sourdough bread, a Beetroot and Potato Salad with Horseradish, Dill and Soured Cream and the famous Herrings in Soured Cream. If you haven't eaten herrings before, then you should try them because they are one of the few sustainable fish left. And once you fall in love with the humble herring, it will grow and grow on you. Here, their saltiness is balanced out by sweet apple. Once you have peeled and chopped the apple, squeeze the lemon over it to stop it from browning while prepping the other ingredients. Then just mix everything together and refrigerate for half an hour before eating with either rye bread or new potatoes.

Ingredients

Matjas Herrings in Oil, chopped

150ml soured cream

1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise 

1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill

1 Apple, peeled and chopped

2 gherkins, chopped into cubes

1 shallot, chopped finely

Russian buckwheat blinis with sour cream, salmon and dill

There is a Russian saying that "life begins and ends with a blini", which shows the true value of these mini pancakes in that part of the world. I'm not trying to suggest that blinis are given to babies in Russia, I expect that the saying indicates that when you eat your first blini, this is when "real life" begins. A life of social gatherings, full of family and friends, a life where you can make your own choices, have a voice that's heard and taken seriously. I don't know about you, but when I was a child, I couldn't wait for this life to begin, I always wanted to be a part of that infinitely interesting adult world. Today, I gave blinis a new context when I made them for brunch here in London, which I think it suits them perfectly

You need buckwheat flour to make proper blinis. Sift this, along with the plain flour and a large pinch of salt, into a large bowl. Meanwhile, heat the milk gently (I need to use goat's milk because of my lactose allergy - it works well in this recipe), add the sugar and make the yeast with it. Allow to stand in a warm place for 10min before using. Whisk the eggs as much as you can into the flour, then add a tablespoon of melted butter and keep whisking. Finally, add the yeasty milk and whisk that it. Cover with a wet towel and allow to stand in a warm place for an hour. I usually turn the oven on for 5min, then turn it off and put the bowl in there. Fry the blinis in more butter, and place in a warm oven to keep warm before you serve them, but don't wait too long as they have a tendency to go hard. Serve with smoked salmon, sour cream and dill, sprinkled with a touch of black pepper. Or caviar if that's how you roll

Ingredients (makes 14-16 blinis)

100g buckwheat flour

100g plain flour

2 eggs

Large pinch of salt

100 g butter

300ml milk

25g dried yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

100g good quality smoked salmon

250g sour cream

Handful chopped dill

Black pepper

Fried, spicy, sustainable sprats

My cat, Coco, caught a mouse a few days ago. I tried to release the small creature, as it had no external wounds, but I quickly realized that it was having some kind of heart attack or stroke, and that it was dying. I picked it up and held it for those last few moments, trying to give it as much love as I could before it left this world. Then I cried more than I did after my relationship ended. My wise friend, Anna, suggested that this was a symbolic event in my life. Something has died, even if it was an illusion. Although the relationship ended as soon as I found out the truth, it ended again - more symbolically this time - on "the day of the mouse" (as that day shall always be referred to from now on), because I received a package. It means nothing with the current state of affairs, but it is a beautiful, if sad, note to end on. Like a D minor. Time to hibernate and heal. These are the sprats I made for my dad before I left Eastbourne, local, sustainable stuff we have swimming around the British Isles, so the kind of fish we should all be eating more of...

You can eat the sprats whole, like whitebait, though I usually take the heads off personally. Take 2 plates. On one, crack an egg and beat it, on the other one, I put a mixture of plain flour, garlic salt and Cajun spices. You could use chilli powder, coriander and other spices too - you want strong ones and quite a lot of them, so that the flour changes colour slightly. Heat about a centimeter of mild oil in a large frying pan. Meanwhile dip the sprats in the egg, then the flower mixture, making sure they are well-covered. Once the oil is hot, put the sprats in, quickly yet confidently, so that you don't splash or burn yourself. Once they are brown on both sides, sprinkle with lemon juice and eat immediately whilst thinking of warmer, sunnier days

La Stella Marina di Montecristo, Cagliari: possibly the best fish meal in Sardinia

It's the second year in a row that I've ended up in Sardinia, so it's fair to say that I am a little bit in love the place. This time round, I was there for over two weeks. I went to a festival and travelled down the east coast with girlfriends. Last year it was the west coast with my ex, LT. They are completely different, both equally beautiful and in some way, magical. At least to me

One place I do not love in Sardinia in Cagliari. It's a large city in the south. There is nothing wrong with it per se, it's simply a bit underwhelming in comparison to the rest of the island. It is nevertheless where we ended up having the best meal of our entire trip, in a weird, little, kitch restaurant full of locals

It was recommended to us by Alberto, our host through Airbnb. It's always fish and it's always cheap. You eat what they give you, no menu. For a person who doesn't particularly enjoy making decisions and loves all food, like myself, it's heaven

I could take you through everything we ate, all the different types of fish and seafood, finished off with sweets, mirto and limocello, but as it is different every night, I think it would be quite pointless. Also, having returned from Sardinia last night, I have found out the my second beloved gran (the only one left) is not well, possibly on the way out, so I need to fly to Poland today. I'm writing this in the one hour I have before I go to the airport again, therefore I do not have time to focus on the details of this meal. I hope that you get the idea of what it was like from the pictures. All you really need to know is that if you are in the area, you should come here. You need to book ahead and the meal will set you back around 30 euros per head with wine. You pay at the till at the end, no faffling around with bills and tips

Crispy baby potatoes with red onion, dill and anchovies

I have a rather unusual living situation at the moment in that my friend, Petey, has moved on to my couch for a couple of months. He's leaving for NYC soon to be with his love and needs to save money, so he convinced me that this was a good idea. And since I'm going freelance shortly and could do with a little help with the mortgage, I agreed. So far, it has been (a good idea). We've lived together before and it just kind of works. And after living on my own for over 2 years, it's quite nice to have a bit of variety. The biggest bonus by far is that Petey is a chef, so I get all kinds of treats. Recently, he brought home some of the best anchovies that I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously, I had no idea that anchovies could be this good. There's a hell of a lot of them and Petey was worried that I wouldn't manage to eat them all, but he underestimated my greediness I feel. I have been using them in various ways. Today, I chopped some baby potatoes and red onion, tossed them in olive oil with salt, pepper and dill and roasted it all in the oven for about 45min. Near the end of the cooking time, when the potatoes had already crisped up, I threw some anchovies over the top and gave it 5 more minutes, while boiling a couple of eggs. I ate it for lunch like this and it was more than delicious

Ingredients

Baby potatoes, chopped in half

Red onions, chopped into quaters

Dill, chopped

Free range eggs, boiled

Good quality anchovies

Olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Herrings under a fur coat aka salad "pod shuboy"

I remember eating this salad for the first time in St Petersburg. It was in the same building that Pushkin had his last glass of water - or it could have been a lemonade, no one is sure - before he went off to his fateful duel. It's remarkable to think that, until relatively recently, that was a perfectly acceptable way to handle certain disputes. Especially those of the heart, it would seem. It' very... Russian, isn't it? So romantic, so elegantly blasé, even in the face of death. So incredibly glamorous.
And St. Petersburg is incredibly glamorous. And eating this salad, in an elegant cafe on Nevsky Prospect, I felt incredibly glamorous too. I hope that if you make it, it will do the same for you

The salad itself is supposed to look like a cake, colourful and layered. The beetroot, apple, potato, carrot, egg and herring are a fantastic combination, complementing one another at every opportunity. Once you've made this salad a few times, you will probably have your own way with it - some people grate, others chop, the layers vary. I do a layer of herrings at the bottom, then onion, then potato, then the sauce, the beetroot, carrot, apple, eggs, another layer of sauce and dill on top

Ingredients

Herrings in oil - the simplest you can get
Red onion, finely sliced, or if you bought herrings with onion then use that
Potatoes, cooked and grated or sliced
Beetroot, cooked and grated
Carrots, grated
Granny Smith apple, grated
Eggs (4-5), hard boiled and chopped
Dill

Sauce

1/2 Mayo
1/2 Sour cream
Salt
White pepper

More than a Salad - Sweetcorn, Crayfish and Avocado

This salad is my own invention and it's become one of my favourites of late. I'm eating it in many different ways - as a filling for jacket potatoes; with grilled, smoked mackerel, sweet potato mash and hot sauce; or simply on top of freshly boiled jasmine rice. It's so flavoursome, that I would say it's more than a salad, in fact. It kind of reminds me of the cold dish that I always order at Gourmet San - preserved egg with tofu and spring onion - something to do with the consistency (both crunchy and squidgy) and the strong taste, I believe

 

Fresh sweetcorn is important here, you need to boil it on the cob, then slice it off with a sharp knife. Combine this with chopped avocado, smoked and dried crayfish, as well as the Thai-style spicy dressing

The dried crayfish I found in the World Food aisle at Tesco’s. Every time I eat it I feel like I'm on the boats in Southern Thailand, somewhere near Koh Tao Island. I found this feeling at odds with the brand, which is supposed to be taking me to Africa. Yet on closer inspection I found that it is actually made in Thailand. Good to know that my tastebuds are not deceiving me  after all

Ingredients

Ripe avocado

Dried and smoked crayfish

Corn on the cob, cooked and sliced off the cob

Dressing

Fish sauce

Red chilli, chopped

Lime

Cumin, dried

Coriander, dried

Fish preparation and knife skills at The Open Kitchen

Fish preparation and knife skills at the Open Kitchen  is not for the faint-hearted. The mackerel was a bloodbath for a start

But I also learned various techniques of chopping vegetables and how to delicately fillet a plaice. The most important thing I took away from this 2 hour workshop is how to look after my knives. You need to sharpen your knives every time you use them! Now, I cook every day and I haven't ever owned a knife sharpener (I do now obv). We also got to try what the teacher prepared, then took our bits home to replicate the dish of roast mackerel with vegetables. You just combine the vegetables up these with some olive oil, lemon and salt and pepper and stuff it into the fish, which you then seal with toothpics and roast. It's ready in 20min! So simple and so good. The Open Kitchen's location on Hoxton Street in Shoreditch could make you imagine one of those overly trendy places, but this is actually a down-to-earth, professional kitchen. A part of their profits go to help kids gain the skills and equipment they need to work in a restaurant, and they work with Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. A workshop is usually £59, which is affordable anyway, but you can find discounts on the net too

Icelandic Mashed Fish

Having been working in a Scandi department for 6 months now, I am finding myself under the influence. My style is getting a little bit more cool and paired down, I find myself visiting the Nordic Bakery every time I am near Regents Street, I've even found myself reading an Icelandic cookbook. And this is how mashed fish came into my life

It's like an Icelandic, mashed up, unbaked version of a fish pie really. You boil the potatoes in salted water until soft but still firm (not falling apart), then leave to cool while you cook the white fish, also in salted water - the fish takes about 15min. Take the fish out and flake once it stops burning your fingers. Now, peel the potatoes and chop roughly. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion, fry until soft but do not brown. Gently heat the milk in a separate pan. Add the flour to the onions and fry for a minute, before slowly adding the milk and stirring continuously. Finally, add the onions and fish and heat through, season and serve with chives on top and a boiled egg on the side. I added a few tiny particles of a scotch bonnet pepper. I actually wanted to add a cauliflower to the party, but my colleague, Helga, affirmed that this would indeed be a travesty. It's an Icelandic national dish after all -  good job I asked

Ingredients (serves 4)

500g white fish
500g potatoes
1 onion, chopped finely
350ml milk (I used goat's milk)
50g butter
3Tblsp flour
Salt and pepper
Chopped chives and hard-boiled egg to serve

Thai-style fishy congee (nicer than it sounds)

Tiny, dried fish in my congee remind me of Thailand

This congee I top with fish sauce, chillies and spring onion. I cooked the rice with a couple of chicken carcasses and a bit of sea salt, nothing else. LT, who doesn't usually feel like breakfast much, loved it. Needless to say, I love this too - it's one of the few things that fills me up until lunch. And it makes me think of the time when I would eat this kind of breakfast sitting on a cushion, looking out over the beach in Koh Tao, breathing in the familiar smells and basking in the warm humidity, as the sun rose over the sea

Cha Ca La Vong - Catfish at Little Hanoi

I just have to tell you about this dish I ate at Little Hanoi (147 Curtain Road) not long ago, because I've never had anything like it and my mouth still waters at the memory! It's called Cha Ca La Vong and it is a well known thing apparently, with some restaurants in Hanoi specializing in cooking only this. And what it is, is a sizzle-in-front-of-you, melt-in-your-mouth-delicious catfish - a great starter for 2-3 people, though you may want to wait until you've eaten it to decide what you want to follow, as it is filling. The owner recommended it to us, and from now on I plan to seek him out to recommend other stuff. The thing with Vietnamese restaurants is because the menu is so extensive and the choice so large, I often wonder if I'm not missing out anything. It turns out that I have been...

A few fishy things aka A Polish Christmas

We are not a religious family. And yet around Christmas my mum likes to pretend we are, and we all like to go along with it, even though it makes no sense at all. So on Friday, were fasted. Traditionally, you fast on Christmas Eve, and the main meal, which consists of 12 dishes, includes no meat. But my mum got all mixed up and thought that it was Good Friday, so we fasted for 2 days. By fasted, I mean we ate no meat but huge amounts of everything else. By the time I realized that this year Christmas made even less sense than before, because mum had it mixed up with Easter, it was too late to stop. And I prefer fish to meat on the whole anyway, so it didn't matter. We made this delicious fish soup, and also fish is aspic (jelly), as it's one of the traditional dishes for Christmas Eve. The fishy jelly thing was something I always avoided until I had a delicious version a few years back at the "Palac Ujazdowski" in Warsaw, next to the Centre of Modern Art. The difference was that it had three types of fish in it, instead of one, and the jelly had a lot of flavour, which sometimes it doesn't. Then it just tastes gross, as you'd imagine with a mildly fishy jelly. The one we made had 2 types of fish in it, and turned out really well. Though it's definitely not for the unadventurous out there...

Fish Soup 

Carrot

Parsnip

Leek

Celery

A whole white fish

Juice of half a lemon

Bay leaf

Juniper berries

Salt and pepper

Single cream

Bit of flour for thickening

Dill

You make a fish and vegetable stock from the carrot, parsnip, leek, celery, bay leaf, juniper berries and the head and tail of the fish - it takes about half an hour to an hour. We used the stock to cook the fish for the recipe below, then separated the stock into two bits - one for the jelly, one for the soup. Into the soup one, we added the white fish and cooked it for about 10min. Then, you need to remove the fish and the vegetables. With the fish - take out the bones, chop it into small bits and put back into the bowl. With the carrot - chop it up and stick it back in the soup, but make sure you keep some for decorating the jellied fish if you are making both recipes! Chop up the leek too and stick it back in. You can chuck the other veg.  Add the single cream. Mix about a tablespoon of flour with some water and add that while the soup is coolish, then bring back to the boil while stirring constantly. Season to taste. Add the lemon juice and dill, and serve with crusty bread

Jellied fish

Vegetable and fish stock (described above)

Bit of trout

Bit of carp

Gelatine

Cooked carrot

Parsley

Bit of lemon

Salt and pepper

Mayo or lemon wedge to serve

 We cooked the fish in the stock  - the carp first for 8 minutes, then the trout for about 7 minutes, then removed them and tried to take out as many bones we could. If you can get fillets, then spare yourself the hassle of doing this, it's no fun. Then cut the fish into little bits and place on a serving bowl in a way that looks attractive - I did little diagonal patterns as you can see up there. Add the bits of cooked carrot, parsley and lemon. Take the stock and add a squeeze of lemon. Now, stir in the gelatine. Season to taste and make sure it tastes good to you at this point. Cover everything on the serving plate in the stock/jelly-to-be, and allow to cool at room temperature before chilling in the fridge. Serve with a lemon wedge or mayo

Herrings in a sour sauce with apple and juniper berries

Juniper berries aren't so common in British cuisine. Which is strange since they are so typical of this country that in Poland they are literally called "the English herb". They are used a lot over there

Check my little bento box out! The herring was fine, but it won't be going in the book - only the best herrings go in the book. So, if you woke up this morning with a craving for a sour, fishy snack (hmmmm... does that ever happen?) then here's the recipe

Ingredients

4 herring filets (Matijas, in oil)

2 lemons

1 apple, peeled and chopped

Handful of juniper berries

Oil

Salt and pepper

You need to boil the lemons for about half an hour, then remove from the water and take the pulp out.  Slice the herring and place a layer in the serving dish, followed by a layer of lemon pulp, a layer of apple some crushed juniper berries and seasoning. Keep going like this until the dish is full, then pour some oil over the top. Preferably sunflower or vegetable oil as olive oil is too strong for this

Herrings in prune sauce and the secret of happiness

I've been incredibly busy recently. I have so many projects going on outside of my full time job, that everyone keeps saying to me "you must be really tired". The truth is that I'm really not. I feel like I've stumbled upon a secret - the secret being, that doing what you truly love gives you energy rather than taking it away. I spent most of my twenties feeling tired, slightly bored and looking for distractions. Always the next party, the next holiday, the next boyfriend, and it all seemed great from the outside, but I was never happy, I never even knew the meaning of the word. Now, finally I am starting to understand... from what I gather, happiness is something that comes from deep within you, and it's a calm feeling, nothing to do with being hyper. Also, it needs time and space to develop, because to be truly happy you need to know that you are on the right path in life, and that comes from some serious soul searching. In the past year or so, everything has changed for me. As one of my best friends, Anna, said - I've been through a renaissance. Sometimes, a really horrible experience in your life (like my break-up a year and a half ago), can lead to an amazing rebirth. The thing is, so far, only people that really know me can see this shift, because on the outside nothing much has changed (apart from my buying a flat) - I guess that will happen as my plans come into fruition. I won't drag you through all my deepest dreams and desires right now, but one of them is to write a Polish/Russian cookbook. I am at the stage where I am trying, developing and revising all the recipes to go in it. I will blog about half the recipes I try out - it's a compromise between documenting the process and keeping new material for the book itself

Ingredients

1 packet Matijas herrings (in oil) - 250g

1-2 onions, finely sliced

Handful of prunes

3 tablespoons tomato puree

Teaspoon honey

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

So, what we've got here are bagels from the shop on Brick Lane, stuffed with a sweet herring filling. There are so many different types of herring dishes in Poland, that it will be difficult to choose which ones to include in my book. This is a version of "Sledz pomorski" - that's from the Kaszuby region in the north of Poland, by the Baltic sea. They usually use raisins, but I prefer prunes. Fry the onions in the oil, covered, for about 20min. Add the prunes (sliced in half), honey, salt and pepper. Fry for a further 5min, then add splash of water, or wine if you have some on hand. Meanwhile, chop the herring fillets and place in a bowl. When the sauce has cooled, cover the herrings with it, and chill in the fridge overnight. The brand of herrings us Poles always use are "Matijas" ones - the plainest possible, just in oil. Before they came along, and still in some places in Poland, you can get herrings straight from the barrel

Cheese and herrings in Holland

Driving from Poland to Holland isn't as bad as I remember it being back in the day. We now have a whole 300km of motorway, you know, somewhere in the middle of the route from Warsaw to the border. Which leaves only 3 or 4 hours of narrow roads where trucks drive at a 100 miles an hour and tractors at about 10 miles an hour. In practise, this means that you need to overtake by going into the oncoming traffic. With our stearing wheel on the left, UK-style, the driver needs to poke the car out while the passagers shout either "yes, overtake", or "no, there is a truck heading straight at me at a 100 miles per hour" or, even better, someone could be overtaking that truck from the other side. Germany, with it's incredible motorway system, is a breeze by comparison. It took us 11 hours to reach my aunt's house on the German-Dutch border - a beautifully converted 19th Century farmhouse. Holland reminds me of childhood holidays, because we used to come here every year while I was growing up. Although then, my aunt lived near Leiden. That area has amazing beaches. The place where she lives now, near Wintersweik, is more rural and wild. Although Dutch-wild is still clean and neat, of course. Everywhere in Holland, you can buy great cheese. "Old Amsterdam" has always been my favourite, though this time I had the chance to try a hard Goat's cheese, which has taken the top spot. It looks like a white "Old Amsterdam", and not very interesting, but in fact, it's full of flavour. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it, but I think it was something pretty obvious. Like "Old Goat's Cheese" or something. It's down there at the bottom, if you want to see what it looks like, sitting next to "Old Amsterdam"

 

 

 And here's a herring, Dutch style

You grab it by the tail and eat it like this

It's obligatory, even the Dutch queen does it. I don't know if she gets the whole thing in at once, but I wasn't about to risk tickling my tonsils with a herring

Baked plaice, squid and samphire

One of the things I love about Eastbourne is that there seem to be lots of worse drivers than me. I also love the way that the sea changes all the time

It's been great spending the weekend with my old man. I don't know think I've ever written about him here. He's one of those people that can drink anyone under the table, has something interesting to say about every topic from football to philosophy, and appears to be on a slightly different planet to the rest of the world. When you give my dad a problem, like "How do I convince the grant people that my travelling round the world and cooking would benefit the UK?" (bit of a tall order, clearly), he'll come up with loads of ideas and solutions, and inspire you to the point that you actually start thinking maybe your dreams can come true. Another brilliant thing about him is that he can laugh at himself, which I think is one the most important qualities you can have in life. Far too many people take themselves incredibly seriously. So my daddy's wonderful and can do almost anything. One thing he definitely can't do, however, is cook. He tries, bless him, as he needs to survive when my mum is in Poland, but I can see he appreciates my taking charge of the weekend menu as soon as I arrive. Dinners are usually fish from that shop on the seafront I always go on about

This time, I ended up getting load of small, local plaice, as they had a good offer on them (I got eight for under £3!), and baking them, well seasoned, with thyme and red palm and canola oil. I wasn't being creative or awkward, that was literally the only oil my dad had in the house. I also stuck some parboiled potatoes in the baking tray along with the fish, as well as onions and bruised garlic cloves. That all took half an hour on a medium heat. We had samphire and squid on the side. The samphire I'd left to stand in boiled water for five minutes, and served with butter. The squid I pan-fried (seasoned beforehand) in the red palm and canola oil again (which gave it a great colour), on a really high heat for 5min. Then squirted with lemon juice, of course

Apart from eating lovely fish, we drank many bottles of cava, had some long overdue hear-to-hearts and found lots of random Polish and Russian music clips on YouTube. I wish I was still there, a weekend always feels like too short a time to spend with the ones you love, doing what you enjoy

Some Greek foodie things...

It never ceases to amaze me how despite all the differences between the people and cultures around the world, you can find similarities between the various cuisines. So, while you may think sashimi and sake is a flavour exclusive to Japan, I actually ate something very similar tasting in Greece last week

In a small, seafront "mezedopolio" in Kalamos, we ate raw swordfish in olive oil, washed down with raki, which, in my opinion, tastes very similar to cold saki. And sounds almost the same. That potato salad up there is the best one I've ever had, so I asked them for what's in it to make it so good, so here's the list of ingredients, painstakingly translated by my host...

Potatoes

Mayo

Mustard

Radish

Spring onion

Red and yellow peppers

Dill

Parsley

Yoghurt

Needless to say, the potatoes are the star of the show here, the other ingredients are chopped up very small and completely in the background

These are some mastic flavoured sweets I bought for the people at work, and scoffed all by myself. Mastic is a tree resin, which tastes a little bit like honey - it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but being a lover of weird and unusual flavours,  I couldn't get enough of them

So, you could say that the trip to Greece was a massive success, I felt so happy over there that a little holiday home in Kalamos has now been added to my list of wildly improbable dreams. I imagine myself swimming in the crystal-clear sea every morning, buying fresh fish straight from the fishermen for lunch, and drawn-out dinners with friends and family on one of those long wooden tables that all Mediterranean   people seem to have, surrounded by pine trees, of course - my favourite smell in the whole world

A delicious "broke-ass" meal

I am truly terrible with money - every month I work out my finances and it all seems fine, and every month there's a at least a few days where I am completely and utterly broke, and end up putting random meals together from whatever I have in the cupboards. Mostly, it's nothing to write home about, but a couple of days ago there was an exception. I can't believe how amazingly delicious my "broke-ass meal" was! What I found in the cupboards were the following:

2 shallots

garlic clove

bit of fresh ginger

tin of tuna

season all

dried thyme

fish sauce

(black) buckwheat

black pepper

Bit of tomato puree

Bit of hot pepper sauce

Knob of butter

Olive oil

(I also bought) 1 courgette

And this is what I created

I chargrilled the courgette first on the open stove first, then added it, chopped to the frying shallots, garlic and ginger before sticking all the other ingredients in, bar the butter and buckwheat - simples. The buckwheat is Polish "kasza gryczana", which is very popular in Eastern Europe and difficult to find in the UK, but you could use other types of grain. The traditional way of cooking the black buckwheat was to wrap it up like a baby and put it under a pillow to steam for about forty minutes, but I just cook it like rice, then stick some butter in at the end

Next month I am set to be even poorer than this month, because yesterday Anna and myself went on a quest for the "summer look". As usual, Anna found nothing she wanted and I fell in love with something I can't afford. Is £300 too much for a cardigan? You should see this one though! I have asked them to put it aside until payday for me. I will probably spend a month sitting at home twiddling my thumbs, eating bread and drinking water, but what can I do? I'm just not the sort of person to deny my feelings...

Ackee and Saltfish

I've never cooked West Indian food before. I don't know why that is, because I do love it a lot. So when a guy at work suggested I try to make ackee and saltfish, I took it up as a bit of a challenge. I think I did pretty well - he said I did anyway, but maybe he was just grateful for the snack... I researched a few recipes beforehand and questioned him about his mum's special ingredients, because every mum has some tricks up her sleeve and that's where all the most important cook's secrets are kept (it's 'season all' by the way). The recipe down there serves 4

Ingredients

1 tin of ackee

350g good quality saltfish

Small onion

1 scotch bonnet pepper

1 red pepper

3 tomatoes

Pepper

1 tbsp all purpose seasoning

Vegetable oil

To serve:

Boiled rice

Fried plantain

Soak the fish overnight in cold water, then flake, taking out any stray bones. Fry the chopped onion and scotch bonnet pepper in some oil - I wouldn't use more than 1 pepper, it was pretty spicy (luckily, that's how I like it). If you want a milder dish, start with a half - they're fiery little things! Add the 'season all' and the flaked fish. Stir. Next, the red pepper, and after a couple of minutes, tomatoes, followed by the drained ackee. Simmer all together, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20min. Finally, season with black pepper and serve on top of boiled rice. I had some fried plantain on the side dipped in (ridiculously) hot pepper sauce. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing ended up so spicy that I was crying and could barely breathe. My brother was like "What on earth are you doing to yourself?!". What can I say? I think I may be a masochist