Holland-yayz

Sunday Jan 24th, 2016. 

Today started on a bit of a food high. After yesterday’s mayonnaise fail I decided I needed to prove to myself that I was still capable of emulsifying things, and I was feeling inspired after whizzing up egg yolks (however unsuccessfully). Also, I really like a nice fancy brekkie on a Sunday. If ever a day deserved a fancy brekkie, Sunday is that day.

So with all that in mind, I whipped up some hollandaise sauce (thank you Delia Smith), poached a couple of eggs and placed the lot on top of spinach, smoked salmon and half of a left over waffle from yesterday. Aside from the fact that I forgot the waffles were full of cinnamon, leading to a slightly odd taste combination, breakfast was a resounding success and kept me nice and full for half the day.

Holland-yayz!

I then spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out what went wrong with my home made mayo yesterday. After reading a few recipes on the internet and consulting the queen of French Cooking, Julia Child herself, I have decided I made two mistakes.

1. I should not have left out the mustard. Apparently it’s an emulsifier so you need it. It’s not just there for taste.
2. I think I introduced the oil too fast. You really have to add it one miniscule drop at a time or else you end up with a big old mess like I did.

So after swotting up I think I’m ready to try again. I just need to get my hands on some English mustard powder. All the saucy mustards seems to have some sort of flour in them and that’s a no no for me when I don’t know what kind of flour it is. Also, if I leave out the gluten, I can feed the mayo to my coeliac friend, who happens to count mayonnaise as one of her favourite things. I think I’ll follow Julia Child’s recipe but she calls for olive oil and I’ve come across loads of recipes that say to use it at your peril. I think I’ll go with groundnut just in case. I couldn’t cope with another disaster.

Consulting the queen.

 

Dinner was delicious also. Sea Bass, broccoli and a delicious Chickpea Salad courtesy of Jamie Oliver. You can find it here.

Jamie’s Salad – delicious

Dinner – get in my belly!

 

I’ve been marking exams most of the day but we did get out for a nice sunset walk along the beach. I’ll miss it when we move. But I won’t miss washing dishes. Yay for new houses with dishwashers! We’re at our wits end, especially as I’m using the food processor so much lately. I’m sure we spent at least an hour of our lives today in front of that sink.

Swansea sunset – probably should have taken the photo at the begining of our walk rather than at the end!

 

FYI – I squeezed that enormous spot I was moaning about the other day (TMI?). Obvs I now look worse than I did before but it was driving me so crazy I was actually dreaming about popping the little bugger. I just hope spots won’t be something I’ll have to worry about for much longer now that I’ve jacked in the evil sugar.

Speaking of the evils of food – I came across the following articles that you may find interesting:

1. This one’s from the Guardian and discusses all sorts of foods and current thinking on the dangers, or lack thereof, of some foods we may be confused about: Is bacon dangerous?
2. The next centres on the evils of sugar but specifically sugar added to sodas. I felt it had a very narrow focus. Most of us know fat Coke etc. is full of sugar. But so too are juices, smoothies and sports drinks. The hidden added sugars in yoghurts, cereal bars, sauces, breakfast cereals, some of which are perceived as healthy foods, don’t get a mention here. Also, many would say the sugar levels recommended in the new guidelines are still far too high. Worth a little read anyway: New guidelines on sugar

See you soon lovelies x