This weekend I decided to enjoy all the things I can't when husband is home. He is still away visiting family and this is my last weekend as a single lady. Next weekend he is still away, but I will be in Finland. So to make most of it, I bought a couple of fresh chillies, a bunch of coriander and checked Netflix for period drama.

I watched the film Vanity Fair and BBC TV-series Daniel Deronda and Emma. And just now I finished an excellent Danish drama A Royal Affair, a film based on the late 18th century true story of the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, and the love affair between his unfortunate and enlightened Queen - an English princess, sister to King George III of England, Queen Caroline Mathilde and the King's handsome and political physician Mads Mikkelsen. Really not husband's cup of tea even with a Bond villain in it. You don't need to be a genius to guess that with this set up the story isn't going to end well. So not a real feel good story to be honest, but it puts things into perspective. So at least going into my Annual Feedback Meeting with my boss tomorrow, I can feel reasonably confident that I most likely won't end up beheaded or in indefinite house arrest in a strange German village.

On the food front there may have been a red-wine marinated venison steak again somewhere, but I also made an excellent tadka dal with loads of fresh chilli and coriander. And I pickled some eggs just for the heck of it.


The Tadka Dal idea came from the Indian restaurant Copper Chimney in Westfields that we have visited a couple of times with a friend and this is one of the dishes we always get. It is amazing. My version didn't really completely match the Copper Chimney's version, somehow just less shiny and creamy. I suspect an amount of ghee might be included in theirs. But mine was very nice and super hot, which I love. I would make it less hot if husband was anywhere in vicinity.

And I made some of my baked masala cauliflower florets to go with it for a healthy vegetarian lunch.

Tadka Dal

1 cup yellow lentils
Water
1 brown onion
1 red chilli
2 cloves of garlic
2cm piece for fresh ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
3 tomatoes
Water
Salt
Pepper
Bunch of fresh coriander leaves

Rinse the lentils well. Put them in a sauce pan and cover with plenty of water. Add a little salt and bring to boil. Skim off any foam that forms on top. Cook until done, but not mushy, about 15-20 minutes. They will continue to cook in the spice and tomato sauce later. Strain.

Chop the onion quite finely. Add a little bit of vegetable oil in a non-stick pan and add the onions. Fry for some minutes on medium heat. Chop the red chili, grate the garlic and ginger and add to the pan. Keep frying for a few more minutes and then add the spices stirring well for a minute or two. Chop the tomatoes and add to the pan, season with salt and pepper and continue stirring until the tomatoes soften. Add about a cup of water and leave to cook for 5-10 minutes. Check the seasoning.

Add the lentils into your tomato sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add water if it looks too dry and depending on how thick you want it. Chop a bunch of fresh coriander. Mix most of it into the dal leaving a sprinkling for garnish.

I've tried to return back to our low sat fat & low GI healthy diet without causing too much shock to the system. The system of course is used to non-stop grazing between hearty, regular and frequent meals. The first day in the office after holidays my stomach was growling by 9.30am. So was everyone else's. And we'd all thought everyone would bring a lot of Christmas leftover chocolates to the office, so no one actually did. I had eaten my measly lunchbox lunch by 10 am and had to go out and buy a sandwich at 12.

This authentic and very healthy Mexican Chilli con Carne recipe works as a traditional chunky chilli served with rice. Or if you want to enjoy it as a hearty soup, just add a bit more water and serve with a crusty roll. Delicious either way!

There is definitely a whiff of winter in the air. I wore an angora dress and boots to work this week. On the way to work I noticed a big hole in the front of the skirt created by the moths (at least I think it was the moths, but evidence is purely circumstantial)  we've had in our house which now seem to have disappeared together with the hand-knotted Persian rug that had made such a lovely home and breeding ground for them. Cold-heartedly replaced by a hostile synthetic IKEA rug. Thank you IKEA, unfortunately too late to save my dress.


Apart from the hole in the dress, I was very elegant and seasonally appropriate.

And to replace the moths we now have weevils, those minuscule beetley buggers who live in cereal and flour. Never a pest-free moment in our household.

Apparently weevils are ok to eat when cooked. Just saying to any future dinner guests who might be concerned. S'ok.

This minced beef and mushroom chilli soup is a lovely easy winter weeknight recipe, and it's healthy. We had a bit of a break from our healthy lifestyle this weekend. We had dinner on Saturday with friends in a Persian restaurant, which was not hugely unhealthy, but it was followed by about ninety-five cocktails in our favourite Italian bar. We discovered the wonderful Spritz Aperol drink in Venice and after spotting the bottle on the shelf in the bar we ordered a few of those. It's basically booze and prosecco which is brilliant and it comes with a slice of orange for added vitamin C. And we did have some Jack Daniels just to add some rock'n'roll into the proceedings, if I remember correctly.

On Sunday we didn't move from the sofas and had a takeaway. I even ate some sweets, which I almost never do, but I found this tub of Finnish salty licorice and had a couple of handfulls until blood pressure was about 190 over 130. I still wasn't quite right on Monday and had a chocolate biscuit at work, which is very uncharacteristic for me. I must have been still hungover to engage in that sort of craziness!

But apart from these occasional weekend lapses we have been very good. Husband has stayed away from naughty snacks and I haven't bought or baked him any biscuits or cakes for weeks. Yesterday, because he has been so very good, I brought him an enormous cinnamon bun from the Nordic Bakery in town. I haven't seen him as happy for a long time. For a moment I though he was going to burst into tears. But so sensible has he become that he ate half of it leaving half for later so as not to elevate his glucose levels too much. What a good boy!

Hearty and healthy minced beef and mushroom chilli soup

Rapeseed oil
1 brown onion
1-2 celery stalks
2 small carrots
1 red bell pepper
250g low fat minced beef
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or fresh chillies and/or tabasco if you like it hot)
2 tsp dried oregano
Black pepper
150g mushrooms
400g can of tomatoes
Water
Beef stock cube / pot
400g can of beans (black beans or red kidney beans or I had rosecoco)
Salt if needed
Fresh coriander for garnish (optional)

Add a splash of oil in a large non-stick pan or dutch oven. While the oil is heating start chopping your veg and add them to the pan as soon as you've chopped each of them, first onion, followed by celery, carrots, pepper and garlic. Make sure to stir regularly.

Then add you minced beef breaking it into pieces with a wooden spoon. Add all the spices. Add sliced or chopped mushrooms and keep sauteing for another couple of minutes.

Add the tomatoes again breaking them with the spoon (or you can use chopped canned tomatoes), add 1 - 1.5 cans of water and the stock cube or pot. Leave to simmer, You can simmer it up to a couple of hours if you like, just make sure to stir every once in a while and add water if it looks like it's drying out. Then add the drained beans and simmer for another 10 nimutes, check the seasoning and serve.

But if you don't have the time, simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, add drained beans and simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.

You can use less water and make it drier and it's just a normal chilli you can serve with rice.