Thursday morning

Good morning all another chilly night but that is good for sleeping and I must say I slept like a log until I got cold around 5am but that is fine.  We still have a cold breeze blowing down from the north which is fine by me as it means the days don't get too hot.

Word of my bird food seems to be spreading in the bird community and the collared doves have made an appearance and this morning I saw a thrush for the first time in ages.  We are still missing the little birds like sparrows and tits but once the word gets out they too might join the queue for food.  I gave up feeding the birds when we had a lot of cats about as I discovered that they were waiting for the birds and killing them so I was just entertaining the local cats rather than feeding the birds.  There is a cat next door but it is too scared of the dogs to venture into my garden so the birds are safe.  The pigeons are very cocky and stroll around as if they own the place but Tubby soon puts pay to that idea and chases them off.

Yesterday I wanted to make tabouleh but I didn't have any bulgar wheat so I made it with couscous which actually worked rather well and went well with the meze we had for supper.  Today for lunch I have a nice piece of goose skirt steak and can't quite make up my mind how to prepare it.  I could just flash fry it or I could cut it into strips and make it into a stir fry or go down the Korean route and make Bulgogi which is also a sort of stir fry but with barbecue flavouring.  Pasties are out as I don't feel like making the pastry.

I made a batch of pasta tagliatelle yesterday which we had with some pesto and the remaining salads from the day before.  It is so easy to make now I have the machinery and I have an idea to make fazzoletti which translates as handkerchieves.  They are like lasagne sheets but much finer and cut into smaller pieces and then dressed with a sauce of your choice.  

Denzil came home with some fresh squid rings which I think I will do for supper and they will be just plain floured and deep-fried.  I now use my wok for deep frying as it takes less oil and makes less mess.

So that is the plan for the menu and I am pleased to say I did a job I hate I cleaned the dishwasher which always seems counter-intuitive to me it should clean itself but it doesn't.  My washing line is loaded with bedding which has been out overnight so it should be dry by now.  It such a pleasure to dry the washing on the line after a winter of indoor drying or using the tumble dryer.

Have a good day and enjoy this cool sunny weather so much better than sweltering heat.