The Week's Wrap-up Post

What I'm happy about:
knitting
markets
cooking.

I have vowed before to cook from my vast library of cookbooks and have nearly always failed - it's just too simple to google a recipe or fall back on the easy, road-tested favourites. This week, however, I cooked slow-cooked potatoes and capsicums and slow-cooked chicken in sherry for The Travelling Girl and The Accountant after they'd been to the movies. I deviated from the recipes slightly - failed completely to marinate the chicken, for example - but the results were delicious anyway.

Tonight, after last night's meal of barbqued salmon and apple (me) and steak (The Accountant) with roasted veggies, I used Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Three Good Things to make a roast beetroot, walnut and feta cheese salad which we ate with grilled lamb chops.

Careful observers will notice that I have added radish, baby spinach leaves and blood oranges to the basic three things Fearnley-Whittingstall began with. The salad was delicious and the chops reminded me of my childhood.

Earlier today - another happy thing to have done - The Accountant, The Hospitality Queen and I went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Mostly I don't enjoy seeing the movie-of-a-book, but just every so often the translation works well. In this case, the movies have been better than the books - there's less made of Katniss's naiviety in the film, for example, and  her confusion about Peeta versus Gale is shown in small snatches. I realised at the end of the movie that I hadn't read the third book - a weird omission as I certainly read the first two. Mind you, I did exactly the same thing with Patrick Ness - read the first book in The Knife of Never Letting Go and then simply didn't get around to reading the other books.

After the movie, we dropped in at Soukie Bar in Belgrave. This used to be Ruby's nightclub but has morphed into a friendly bar that does some great shared plates using free-range and organic produce. They also have an organic house wine that is reasonably priced. How cool! We shared a mezze platter and then a dip platter (not pictured). Afterwards we had a browse in our local bookshop.

What hasn't made me happy this week:
the ongoing piles of crap that linger - they were probably lingering before I left home. No house elves have dealt with them while I've been away
the work I haven't done
the lack of regular money coming in


I can deal with the first two problems but the third is less easy to solve. It doesn't help that I'm spending money - couldn't resist buying Nigel Slater's Tender Volume 11 today and Jackie French on gardening. (After our heroic efforts in the Mothership's garden it did seem appropriate.) It's hardly living frugally!