In which we turn 30, eat too much cake, and witness two miracles.

It’s been an eventful week.

Also exhausting, but in a good way.

You may be able to tell from the change in my writing (assuming that ageing affects your tone as well as everything else), that I am now 30. Yep. 30. Which, as my cousin (who’s 22 and still has most of her twenties ahead of her) kept gleefully reminding me, is halfway to 60. Because that statement is totally going to make anyone feel good. Of course, she doesn’t know I’m going to store that comment up…

Chuck Norris is a chicken.

Dino bought me the best birthday present in the world. He got me Chuck Norris.

Seriously.

Chuck Norris.

Okay, so not the actor Chuck Norris.

In which we make use of a whole chicken (not one of ours!)

On Friday night, I decided it would be very clever to make dinner for Saturday, given that Dino was working and I was going to be working on my first assignment. So, I decided that a chicken casserole was the way to go. A few months ago, I discovered that I have a knack for butchering a whole chicken (although, let me be clear that the chicken is already dead and the feathers have been removed, I'm not that good) - which makes for a great casserole and also leaves the carcass for Dino to make one of his fabulous stocks.

Cupcake Day was a hit!

Cupcake Day went really well this year. I ended up with about 35 cupcakes and at the end of the day, there were only two left - so I bought those and Dino and I smuggled them in to Conan The Barbarian in 3D. Let's just say that the cupcakes were definitely the highlight of the movie... that and the line that should go down in history 'I live. I love. I slay. I am content'...

In which we bake cupcakes, decorate cupcakes, and life throws us a bone!

So, Monday is Cupcake Day for the RSPCA. It’s my one real active contribution to a charity – once a year I spend the better part of my weekend baking and decorating cupcakes then I lug them in to work and sell them to my colleagues. It’s a lot of work.

The end of an era at Nino's

Last weekend we didn't have much of an appetite - we were all grieving - so food was not a high priority.

On Friday the 29th of July, we made the heartbreaking decision to let our Norman go. He had lost his spark and didn't seem to be enjoying life anymore, and more worrying to us, he seemed to be suffering. We took him to the vet and they discovered a mass in his abdomen, likely to be stomach or spleen cancer. Up until we got him inside, I was worried that we were making the wrong choice, then his back legs gave out and I knew we were making the right decision. The vet also told us that it was clear he had finally given up which is a pretty big deal for a Labrador.

Brain explosions, travel envy and a sick puppy.

I have spent the better part of the weekend studying. In fact, I still have one more chapter of my textbook and two supplementary journal articles to go, but I had to take a break before my head exploded. Next week my Masters starts and, at this point, it's all very daunting. I forgot how studying makes you hungry (and how cooking seems so much more appealing that studying). I had to battle the urge to bake cookies all day.

Rainy Day Again Vegan Style

Enticing summer in the middle of winter.

Bring on spring already. Seriously.

I’ve had a terrible cold for almost two weeks. Last weekend was a blur of coughing, lethargy and countless cups of tea. I spent a lot of time on the lounge staring at bad daytime television. There were times when I was too sick to read (which means I must have been close to death!) but eventually I could read again and I resumed working my way through George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. In hindsight, not the best choice of reading material for someone starting to feel depressed. Don't get me wrong, the books are absolutely fantastic, they're just a tad brutal and not so upbeat - in fact, they're the opposite of upbeat.

Rainy Day Food

Tuesday 21st June.

Today it started to rain and I have to leave the building of the chicken house till the weather improves.

In which we bake a pie and farewell a beloved pet

There is something very soothing about baking on a Sunday afternoon.

This recipe is made to our taste which means it’s very tart – if you prefer it sweeter you will need to adjust the recipe, I’ll include notes below.

By way of an introduction…

Today was the first nice sunny winter day we’ve had for awhile. Dino has started looking towards spring and is preparing our chicken coop so that we’ll have chickens in by September. He’s got his next batch of seedlings ready to go into the veggie patch and I’m starting to think what my next cooking challenge will be. Last summer I made batches of tomato sauce and green tomato relish from the abundance of fruit we produced. Given the way the avocado and fig trees are going, I’m thinking those two will feature…