A Busy Day

It didn't set out to be a Nigella kind of day. The winds and rains were howling round the house, the baby was under the weather and miserable and a trip to our local Tesco was as exciting as it was going to get.

To be fair I had planned to progress my project this weekend, picking out two recipes and duly noting the ingredients for my supermarket dash. Hadn't realised, however, that both Puy lentils and saffron count as "speciality ethnic" and were both "two grades above" what our local and very large Tesco can offer. Had the weather been more clement and the baby less unwell I'd have made the effort to go further afield, but making do was the only option.

As it happened, we had an eclectic selection of ingredients around the house already. So lunch was GOLDEN JUBLIEE CHICKEN (from "Forever Summer" - perhaps I was subconsciously trying to bring a little sunshine to our day?) Mango, lettuce, cold chicken, spring onions, lime juice and a number of other condiments. Yes, yes, salad on a day like this is probably a mistake, A reasonably tasty one - but a steaming bowl of soup would have been a much better bet.

And thus a logical step to recipe 2: CHICKEN SOUP (kneidlach to follow - the soup is always best the day after (or the one after that) plus chilling overnight means skimming the fat off the top is a whole lot easier). This comes from "Nigella Bites" but is almost identical to the recipe I've used forever (as has my mum, my grandma and a whole line of female relatives before them right back to the days when chickens were invented). No freezer should ever be without an emergency stash, and with the bairn ailing it seemed now was the time to replenish supplies.

And finally - baby perked up enough to request baking. VANILLA SHORTBREAD ("Forever Summer: again...) today's choice (admittedly mine not hers) but she did a fine job of helping to sieve the flour, cornflour and icing sugar. Using the hand method, I figured it was best to do the dough bit myself, but had enthusiastic assistance in putting it into the tin ("patting" is the newest word in our ever expanding vocabulary..)

Very quick, very easy. Will we make it again? I consider myself something of an aficionado when it comes to shortbread (many holidays North of the border is my excuse...) and this did well on texture. It was as light and crumbly as you can get - demonstrated by the baby trying the fruits of her labour and most of it ending up all over her, the table and the floor - she hasn't really grasped the fact that not everything has to be held tightly in each fist... But taste-wise? Bland and a bit disappointing.

Lack of energy and ingredients mean I've now officially given up for the day and it's cold pizza for tea. Blame Tesco...