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.

I was inspired to make these lovely fresh egg, avocado and smoked salmon breakfast burritos by my recent work trip to our San Diego office. Every morning we started the day's meetings with egg, bacon and sausage filled breakfast burritos with sour cream and salsa. So I thought I'd make a pork-free healthy version for us for breakfast this weekend.

I love California, but then who doesn't. Sun, Pacific beaches and a relaxed way of life. Laid-back and slow-paced husband would fit right in and I would improve my stressful ways in no time. I would start by making an excel-sheet on how to chill. And then I would probably file daily progress reports to see how I was getting on.

On the way back I nearly missed my connection at LAX. I thought the "TBIT" on the board was some kind of code for "To Be Informed Timelyly" (couldn't really think of what the second T would be for), so I sat enjoying a lovely glass of red in a wrong terminal waiting for the gate number to appear. Then finally as the take off time was getting really close I established from a gentleman sitting next to me at the bar that TBIT was the Tom Bradley International Terminal and that I wasn't in it. Luckily I was wearing my fastest flipflops so made a run for it. I made it by the skin of my teeth and nearly kissed the Rupert Everett lookalike steward who welcomed me on board.

As I had sat down panting on my seat and Rupert had brought me a much needed glass of sparkling wine, there was a crisp greeting from the seat next to mine. "Good Afternoon" said the young man in polished tones. It was 11pm. I found out later that he was coming from Hawaii, which probably explained his chronological misplacement. He was a child of two navy officers on his way back to his boarding school in England. His father was escorting him, but was seated in economy (best place for him said Rupert who thought we were mother and son travelling in style having deposited the old man in the cattle class). Monty, I'm not making it up, he was called Monty, not sure if it was short of Montague or Montgomery, was 11 and reading a book about the Cold War?!?!

We chatted all the way through our dinner. He was the best conversational company I've had for a long time. He's going to study architecture at the UCL. When my younger stepson was 11 he wanted to be a petrol pump attendant (not that there is anything wrong with it).

Monty and I talked about his life in the boarding school, apparently it IS a little like Harry Potter! We talked about how it is to be without his parents and how it is to be an only child. As we parted we shook hands although I just wanted to give him a big hug. I do feel a bit sorry for poor old Monty having to be so brave, grown up and emotionally restrained at 11.

Today over the breakfast burritos I told Monty's story to my petrol pump loving stepson and asked if he's got any more ideas on what he will study and where as he has to decide in about two months time. Not a clue.

Californian egg, avocado and smoked salmon breakfast burritos (makes 4)

4 burrito-sized wholewheat tortillas (or wheat or corn)
Oil
3 spring onions
8 eggs
Water
Salt
Blackpepper
Homemade or shop bought salsa
Sour cream
2 large avocados
4 big handfuls of shredded iceberg, romaine or gem lettuce
Packet of smoked salmon (about 150g)
1/2 lime

Preheat oven to 190C. Wrap the tortillas in foil and place in the oven. Chop the spring onion. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry onions on low heat until soft. Add a bit of water if necessary to stop the onions from browning.

Crack the eggs in a bowl, add a splash of water and mix well with a fork or whisk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour on top of the onions and scramble.

Shred the salad and core, peal and slice the avocados. Squeeze some lime on the avocado to keep from browning.

Once the eggs are ready, take the tortillas from the oven, spread with a spoonful of sour cream and salsa, fill with the egg, smoked salmon, salad and avocado, add a squeeze of lime if you like. Wrap burrito style and pop in the oven for a couple of minutes just to make sure they are hot - not to cook.

Serve with more salsa and sour cream, tomatoes, cucumber and salad leaves.

This very easy, healthy and absolutely delicious turkey taco soup was inspired by a lunch we had on the last day of our American road trip in the little San Francisco bay town Sausalito after thoroughly photographing the Golden Gate and ourselves from all angles and a drive around the Marin Headlands. Husband had had quite enough of my driving by then, so I was able to have a lovely fresh margarita. With my tequila I had a chicken taco soup which was really lovely with lots of vegetables, shredded chicken and those fantastic Cal-Mex flavours.

Our road trip was quite brilliant, but it was the first holiday of that kind for us so there were some hairy moments useful learnings that I thought I’d share so that anyone planning a similar adventure can avoid some of the pitfalls, disappointments and moments of tension we experienced.

10 top tips for an American road trip

1. Be aware of mobility incompatibilities between travelling companions, i.e if you are married to the world’s slowest moving particle and you’re of slightly impatient constitution, you might want to consider other holidaying formats. But whatever you do, do not rush him, because he will just shut down and pull into his shell much like the tortoise whose speed he successfully emulates and you will definitely not make it to the pool in your new fake tan at the swanky Las Vegas Casino.
2. If you agree with your travelling companions to take a hop-on hop-off open-top bus tour, make sure travelling companions understand that like the name suggests this includes open-top busses and hopping on and hopping off before you spend $200 on the tickets. 
3. If you are planning to visit Grand Canyon make sure the travelling companions know it is not Monument Valley or Antelope slot canyon, but just a “hole in the ground” to avoid disappointment amongst those of the group who clearly must have seen some bloody impressive holes in the ground not to be impressed by this one. 
4. If you get lost in Mojave desert… Actually, don’t get lost in Mojave desert. But if you do get lost in the mind blowingly large Mojave Desert, blame it on the husband for extra fun. When you are literally dying of starvation and husband is considering eating his own children and you finally find a grumpy, wizened man and you think he says 18 miles to next stop with food, it's actually 80. Miles.  
5. Steel yourself to the fact that public parking costs $20 pretty much anywhere in LA and don’t do a prolonged bitch about it every time to the parking attendants and your wife, because surprisingly none of them gives a shit. They all want to be on the beach photographing their toes for social media rather than in a garage discussing the unfairness of parking policies in large cities.
6. The squirrels up at Big Sur are really tame and cute and don't mind a bit of chilli in their pistachios.
7. Don't lock your children in the car at 40C temperatures. American cars have some kind of annoying alarm system which will set the horn blowing when the children start to bang on the doors from the inside. Very embarrassing.
8. Yucca Valley sounds exciting, but is not. Even the town residents with defeated looks on their melancholy faces admitted: “We’re a pretty boring town”.
9. If you want to walk from Fisherman's wharf to Golden Gate, take into account that the distance is about 94 miles.
10. Americans may occasionally come and talk to you even if you don't know them. They may even speak to you in a lift, sorry elevator. One extreme older lady came knocking at our car window to ask HOWDEEDOO, HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR SANTA FE? At first I thought it was the throat-biting and wall-climbing Gladys from the horror film Legion. But it wasn't. It was just someone who was thinking of buying a Hyundai Santa Fe and wanted to know what we thought of the car. So don't be frightened. All this effervescence is hard for us reserved Northern Europeans, but they are not dangerous or mentally ill. It must have to do with their fearless pioneering past.

This little feller has more balls than husband when it comes to spicy food

It's a magnificent hole in the ground but they really should build a gondola thingy to get you to the bottom.

Mojave Desert is a vast area with lots of sand and Joshua Trees and very little food or fuel

There are people with slight obsession with this bridge and  they seem to need to photograph it from all possible angles. Repeatedly saying to them "It's just a bridge" is not going to make any difference so you might as well just go with it.

Easy turkey taco soup (server 4-6)

Oil
400g boneless turkey breast cut into strips
Salt
Pepper
1 red onion
2 small carrots

Enjoy with a bottle of Corona or a Margarita.

Rhubarb and strawberry sangria (serves 4 or maybe just 2, makes 2 large pitchers)

A perfect weekend - I got to cook for husband and kids both Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes we are out and about on Sunday or decide to eat out on Saturday, so disappointingly I only get to cook once. But this time I got lucky.

On Saturday I did a reasonably quick chicken dinner as I had only come back home from the shops when husband appeared with the two ravenous boys, so I gave them some fruit and got on with quick roast lemon, garlic and rosemary chicken thighs with parmesan and taleggio tagliatelle with peas and herby garlic bread. Not fast food exactly, but reasonably speedy and very lovely!

And on Sunday after a hearty breakfast of omelette, baked beans, smoked salmon, ciabatta and croissants we went for a walk on Northala Fields. If you have ever approached London on A40 / Western Avenue you may have seen the four conical mounds on the side of the road around Northolt. Despite what you might think they are not ancient burial mounds or anything mythological or unexplained, but the rubble from the demolition of the original Wembley Stadium in 2003.

After a lively discussion about whether it made more sense to just park somewhere and walk the rest of the way as we had come there specifically for some fresh air and exercise to begin with or to circle endlessly around the full car parks in search of the ideal parking spot within spitting distance of the park, we finally parked in husband approved spot just an arm's length from the highest of the mounds. Which we then climbed. It's not Mount Everest or Meru exactly, you can get a buggy up there without breaking a sweat. But the views across London are pretty impressive, you can see as far as the Docklands from there.

Anyway, it was windy and fucking freezing up there, so after fake-smiling for a few photographs for Facebook pretending we were a bunch of hardy hikers having a fab time and that it wasn't eye-wateringly freezing up there and that we all loved it a lot more than the sofa, a film and a cup of tea, we took the shortcut down and went to find some tea and latte for husband and me and ice-cream for kids. Never too cold for an ice-cream for them it seems.

Back home boys happily parked in front of TV and Sunday football I was faced with a welcome challenge to get some food on the table quickly so that they wouldn't miss their train. But also I don't want to put them on the train unless they are properly fed. I am my Mothers daughter and no one will leave my house hungry, if I have anything to say about it.

So I did a quick warming beef chilli with Mexican rice. Jamie would have done a couple of lovely Mexican inspired salads with some kind of tortilla invention and churros and chocolate sauce in the time as well. All served on a wooden board no doubt. For me this was quite enough with just some cucumber, tomato and baby gem thrown on a plate as a salad and fruit from the fruit basket for dessert.

Mexican rice with tomatoes, pepper and lime

1 yellow onion
Half of  a 400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 garlic clove
2 cups of basmati rice
1 bell pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 cups chicken stock
Handful of chopped fresh coriander (optional, I left out as husband hates)
1 lime, zest and juice
2 cobs of corn
chopped jalopeno pepper or a pinch of red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you like it)

Wash the basmati rice under cold running water and leave to soak in salted water.

Place the peeled and roughly chopped onion and tomatoes in a blender and blend until smooth. Place in a large lidded non-stick sauce pan. Bring to boil. Press in the garlic clove. Chop the bell pepper and cut the corn kernels from the cob (you can also use canned corn) and add to the pan.

Drain the rice and add to the pan. Add the cumin, salt, chicken stock, coriander, zest and juice of lime and the red pepper flakes / jalopeno and cook on low to medium heat until liquid is absorbed and rice is done. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary, fluff with a fork and serve with the chilli and segments of lime.


Quick ground beef Chilli con Carne

Oil
1 kg lean ground beef
1 yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
1-2 cans of beans(kidney or mixed beans)
1 can (400g) tomato passata
1/2 cans of chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
2 tsp cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
black pepper
salt
2 tsp coriander

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large pan or Dutch oven. Chop the onion and mince the garlic and add to the pan. Fry on medium heat for a couple of minutes, add the meat. Keep frying on medium heat breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until all meat is browned. Add the tomatoes, beans, stock, spices and seasoning and leave to cook for about 20 minutes (or longer if you have time). When ready to serve check seasoning and add liquid if necessary.

                                                             

I didn't get to cook for us last night. Kids asked if we could go for Chinese food. They love a Chinese buffet. Husband and I are not huge fans, but they don't ask often, so of course we went. I remember how much I liked going out to eat when I was a kid.

Back then in the tiny town were we lived there weren't that many options of different cuisines. We used to go most Sundays for lunch to the same restaurant on top of a cliff with beautiful views to a big lake. Mum and dad had wiener schnitzels or something equally 70s. My older brothers had Frankfurters and fries and I had a mushroom omelette. Not hugely adventurous perhaps, but we were happy with our choices. My younger sister and brother were still on baby food, so they just sat in their baby chairs at the end of the table having no clue and chewing their toys. My brother had a squeaky plastic teddy bear wearing green overalls that he loved and would probably still be hugging and chewing it if it was socially acceptable.

And afterwards dad gave us some change and me and my older brothers ran to the bar to buy some spearmint chewing gum. About 12 years later on many a Saturday night I was standing at the same bar with my older brother and some friends downing Tequila Sunrises, Tom Collinses and Cuba Libres. Happy times, both the mushroom omelette days and the disco nights.

So to Chinese buffet we went. We tried to avoid the pretty horrible Dragon King near where we live. It's always too busy and noisy, but everywhere else we tried either didn't have a buffet, were permanently closed, or just closed at the time, because we were kind of between lunch and dinner. But if you advertise an all day buffet, then you have a buffet all day. A buffet that is closed for a couple of hours between lunch and dinner is not an all day buffet, I had to tell the guy at the Hungry Yeti. I don't think he took my feedback very seriously, there was much too much shoulder shrugging and not enough apologies for my liking.

So after driving around West London for over an hour, we finally ended up at the dreaded Dragon King. It was as bad as we remembered, maybe slightly less busy because we were still quite early. But everything including the drinks was deep fried. I managed to find some non-deep-fried vegetables and rice. The kids loved it at least.

So today I wanted to demonstrate how much nicer and more satisfying a fresh home cooked healthy meal can be. There really is no need to ever deep fry anything, if you ask me. I stuck to the Far Eastern theme and made a soy and honey glazed side of salmon with egg-fried rice and king prawns. Very pretty and colourful. And tasty. I'm not sure if the kids were thinking "OMG, why did I ever eat KFC, I must have been out of my teenage mind" or that they are any less likely to ask for the occasional fast food treat, but my food went down well. We finished the whole 1kg side of salmon and all that was left over was a spoonful of rice.

Egg fried rice with peas and prawns (serves 4)

2 1/2 cups of basmati rice
Oil
2 garlic cloves
4 spring onions
1 cup of peas
3 eggs
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp butter
350g raw king prawns
garlic oil
1/2 lime, zest and juice

In the meanwhile devein the shrimp and season with salt and pepper, drizzle with garlic oil, add the lime zest and juice. Mix and leave to one side.

Wash the rice in a sieve under running water and soak at least 30 minutes in cold water and a sprinkle of salt. Drain and cook in plenty of water until just done. Drain.

Mince the garlic and chop the spring onion. Crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk lightly with a fork.

Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok. Fry the garlic on medium heat for a couple of minutes, add the spring onion, peas and rice. Move the rice to one side and pour in the eggs. Scramble the eggs and just as they start to set mix everything together.

In a separate pan melt the butter. Add the shrimps and fry on medium heat until they turn pink. Add the shrimps to the rice and mix everything together making sure it hot.

Soy, honey and lime glazed salmon (serves 4)

1 kg side of salmon
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 lime, zest and juice

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Make sure salmon has no bones. Oil the bottom of an oven dish lightly and place the salmon in the dish. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Don't go overboard with the salt, because the soy sauce adds sals to the dish.

Mix oil, honey, soy and the lime zest and juice. Pour over the fish. Bake for 20-25 minutes until done basting with the juices a couple of times during cooking.

My biggest regret in my choice of partner is that he doesn't like coriander. Had I known this when we first met I don't know if I'd said yes to the Corona he offered to get me. I fear the lure of those kind brown eyes would have been somewhat dimmed.

Actually probably not. Those days I had no interest in cooking and for all I knew Coriander could have been an artistic movement.

Husband doesn't just not like it, he hates it. It tastes like soap or medicine to him, so I can't sneak it in anything and boy have I tried.

I can deal with our life with no spinach, rocket and sparkling water (spiky water as the little girl masquerading as my husband calls it). But life without coriander is hard, particularly on a Mexican night. It makes you think of the choices you make in life, doesn't it?

I sometimes buy a bunch of coriander, put some on the table in a bowl and add fresh coriander to my food. But so programmed am I to only buy what husband likes that I didn't think to buy any this time.


Mexican food often takes me back to the first time I ever had it. It was 1997 in California. My very good friend used to live in San Francisco and another very good friend and I visited her and her husband who is a born and bred Californian from San Luis Obisbo.

If I was from San Luis Obisbo I would never leave. But I'm not. I'm from motherfucking Toijala, the most depressing little railway junction ever.

My friend and her husband lived in a funky, pretty apartment in the Pacific Heights area. Even the sound of it, Pacific Heights, ooh I can see the sea,  hear the waves and taste the strawberry margaritas one of which my friend spilled to my other friends new red suede shoes. But girly friendships are even stronger than a girl's love for shoes, which is saying something.

Anyone who's ever been to San Francisco will know that the Mexican food there is just ridiculously good. It's better than Mexican food in Mexico. Not that I've ever been there, I just know these things. Like that Indian food is better in London than in India. I don't need to go to India either to know this.

The Mexican and Southwestern restaurants where everywhere, I still remember one called Left at Albuquerque, I just remember it because of the name, but I think it wasn't one of the really good ones, more of a chain restaurant, still better than any Mexican here in UK. And there was another one. Not sure if we ate there, it was called Yerba Buena. But I remember for the rest of the 3 weeks we used it as a synonym for "very good".


Coriander or not, our Saturday Mexican fiesta was lovely. Husband's kids were here, so like every Saturday when they come, I cooked us a huge meal. This time is was fajitas and tacos, we all filled our own with what we liked. I made chicken strips with lime, lots of pan-fried veg with lime and a beef and black bean chilli. There was guacamole, salsa, shredded cheese, salad greens, sour cream, jalopenos, nachos and a big oven tray of home-made mexican spiced thin oven fries.

Beef and black bean chilli recipe (serves 4)

700-800g stewing beef cut to strips
Oil
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
A couple of dashes of tabasco or minced fresh chilli
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp tomato pure
1/2-1 cup water
400g can of black beans

Cut the beef into strips, add the cumin, paprika, garlic, tabasco, chilli, salt and pepper. Mix well and leave for a few hours in the fridge. Take into room temperature and hour before cooking.

Heat oil in the pan and fry the meat in batches, place in a oven proof dish, add tomato pure and water and cover. Place in a 175C oven for a couple of hours until the water has evaporated and the meat is tender. Stir in the black beans, heat through and check the taste.

Nothing to do with the blog post, but we went walking in the Chiswick House Gardens today and I got close to a heron when it was just taking flight and got this picture so thought I'd share it.