Stuffed red peppers with rosemary-roasted sweet potatoes in a wild garden

If a garden reflects the person that it belongs to then I must be at least slightly wild

My peas and pumpkins appear to have vanished, and the courgettes and broad beans are doing whatever they please. Which is nice for them (I'm going to make a wonderful mother some day)

It used to be the same with my room, I was forever "sorting it out". My ex, Jamie, would say that it was as if I was trying to tame some wild animal, and I think he had a point. My life often feels like that. I used to wish that I could be one of those girls with proper little outfits, immaculate make-up and nicely highlighted hair. But my make-up smudges, the nail varnish chips after just one day, my hair gets messy really easily and I simply refuse to wear any shoes that I can't dance in all night long. I'm growing to love it though - as you get older, you realize that it's it's all these little things that make up the essence of you. And I've always preferred wild flowers to the pruned, high maintenance ones. However, my grass was getting so long that I was afraid that if I left it any longer, it would be impossible to get it under control ever again. So I invited my little brother round for dinner. He mowed, while I cooked Carluccio's stuffed red peppers with rosemary-roasted sweet potatoes. The last time I made this, I swapped the breacrumbs for toasted pinenuts, and it worked beautifully, so I've stuck with this development now

Ingredients

Long red peppers (Romano)

Pine nuts

Sausages (1 per pepper)

Egg

Salt and pepper

Paprika

Sweet potato

Rosemary

Garlic salt

Olive oil

Finally, I managed to get to Ginger Pig this weekend and buy some meat. I used the most ordinary, original sausages I could find for the stuffing, mashed (sans skin, obviously) with an egg, toasted pine nuts, paprika and seasoning. I roasted the sweet potato with olive oil, garlic salt and rosemary, and put it in the oven first, then added the stuffed peppers after about 10min. Then it all need another half an hour in a medium hot oven

My avoiding -the-riots spaghetti

As I am writing this, a helicopter is hovering right over my flat (at least it sounds like it) and gangs of youths are heading towards the main drag, while normal people are heading away. Being very close to Mare Street in Hackney is a bit disconcerting at a time like this, but I am eating such a delicious pasta dish, that I had to share it. I made up this sauce right now, so you could say that it's been inspired by the riots. Everyone needs a recipe like this for times of stress. And sadness too perhaps. I think it could help

I had some fish in the fridge from Eastbourne that I was meant to eat for dinner tonight, but who wants to eat fish during a riot? No, it had to be comforting spaghetti. And there's something so satisfying about the crunchiness of the seeds and green pepper in this sauce... Then the tabasco kick just to add an element of danger (but not really). I grilled the chopped green pepper and pumpkin seeds while the pasta was cooking, and warmed the tomato passata on the stove with the torn basil, garlic salt and pepper, then added the two together. Finally, I tossed the al dente spaghetti in it and finished off with some tabasco

Ingredients

Spaghetti
Tomato passata
Fresh basil
Pumpkin seeds
Green pepper
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Tabasco

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

Coffee shake

This shake wins the best summer beverage prize hands down for me

And that's coming from someone who doesn't particularly like coffee. You need a blender, some instant coffee, honey, ice cubes and good quality milk. The milk is key - I use full cream Tesco finest Channel Island Milk, which gives a rich flavour and a creamy consistency. You make a teeny, little coffee with a teaspoon of honey and then blend it with all the other ingredients until all the ice cubes have dissolved. It's the ideal way to start a summer's day. Or refresh you throughout. Or even to reward yourself on your return from work. Actually, the only downside is that once you've tried it, you'll want to drink it all day long