Week three of cooking at home

The Hub was out of town for meetings this week, starting in London and then off-site meetings that were local but also involved over-night stays.  I decided to stay at home this week, as his meeting involved only one over-night stay in London.  For me, that's like eating only one chip out of the bag!  Impossible!  And, expensive.  We are going on a big trip this month...more about that to come, and I also wanted to save our money for that.

So, I have only cooked once this week at home so far...when he is out of town I tend to eat pudding or popcorn for dinner...so bad, I know.  This week I cooked Spicy honey mustard pork loin for dinner with potatoes and carrots on the side, cooked at the last step of the recipe when I added them to the roasting pan and they cooked while absorbing all of the spicy honey and pork goodness.  Instead of pepper for the spicy part of this recipe, I used a meat seasoning that rounded out the flavors really nicely and was delicious with the vegetables.  So good and so easy.  Pork is really accessible here, so this recipe is a keeper.

Cooking at home: tonight's dinner offering

In keeping with the resolution of cooking at home more...tonight's dinner offering is Linguine with Peas and Lemon.  Light and spring fever inducing, this recipe is a definite keeper! 

I  first saw this recipe on a blog that I read, called  Technicolor Kitchen .  I like the blog because the recipes are accessible...and friendly.  Don't ask, just click through to be directed right to this recipe.

Garlic, wine, cream (not too much...) and lemon zest go into the foundation of the sauce for this pasta.  Freshly grated parmesan finishes it with a bit of sour salt.  Mmmm...divine.  We drank the rest of the wine that I had used in the recipe with dinner.  Lovely.

Next time I think that I will add pancetta or a bit of proscuitto....but have decided that even on it's own, this one is a keeper!  And, we got to use two more of the polish pottery bowls! 

Resolutions

Many of you know that I used to work, once upon a time, for a major culinary retailer in the States.  You also probably know that I love pottery, dishware, tabletop and cooking tools.  What you probably didn't know is that while I worked at that job that I really did love a lot, I didn't get to do much cooking.  Cooking for one person is really not that inspiring, and I worked long hours.  It was mostly easier to grab something quick or pre-made instead of cooking.  And the clean-up!  Yikes.

In my new life, I have found that I have been exploring cooking much more now that I have more time on my hands.  Often the Hub gets in late and really appreciates it when I have dinner on the stove or in the oven, waiting for him.  He can forgo the airport food and we have a chance to sit down and chat while we eat, together.  I have instituted a rule in this new life, and it goes like this:  "If I cook it, we sit at the table and eat together".  I feel like if I put in the effort to plan, cook and serve a meal then it and I deserve that.  In our first year here, we explored our neighborhood eateries.  We are lucky in that we have Thai, Greek, Turkish, Italian, Vietnamese, Indian, Bavarian, and Chinese restaurants (to name a few off the top of my head) in our immediate neighborhood.  But, this year I felt as if some at home cooking was on, well, the menu.

In general, it would be very safe to say that I am not any good at resolutions, ones that come in the beginning of the year especially.  I tend to abstain from these sorts of things~I mean, really, why set yourself up to fail?  It all seems like a vicious circle-one makes a resolution for their betterment, they have all and only good intentions, they start out well enough, and before the end of January they have given up in defeat, feeling really cruddy about themselves.  Ugh.  No thanks.

So when the words "my resolution for this year is..." popped out of my mouth while talking with my mum the other day on the phone-I was surprised that I had put it out there in a public way. Not that the resolution is one with boundaries and unattainable goals, because it's not.  I just am not a resolution kind of gal.

The picture heading off the post is my first attempt at a roast chicken-lemon and garlic in the cavity, olive oiled and seasoned on the outside.  Easy peasy.  And yummy.  So good, that I turned it into soup the next day!

The above pic is while it is simmering-I had just added the noodles...and the carrots and celery were starting to soften.  But tonight is where the real beauty shot comes in:

We ate the soup in our polish pottery soup plates that I bought at the festival this summer and talked about in this post , along with some hearty sunflower seed bread.  The bowl above is one of my favorites~you can't see it, but it has bee skeps on it.  Aw, heck, here it is empty, with another of my favorite purchases from that trip:

I think that when you have pretty things, cooking is more fun!  So wish me luck on this cooking adventure, and I hope that you will enjoy being along for the ride.