A bit of cooking

We are on our way to the Galloway hills with Ally and Cat to go walking with the hill walking club. The October holiday has got off to a tremendous start. I was so happy and relieved on Friday afternoon that my first two months as DHT have gone so well (although it has been very hard work!)

On Friday evening we went to Christine and Gerry's for a curry and to see the rest of Ally and Cat's holiday photos. The curry was delicious and then we all sat down in the warm and comfortable lounge to watch more than a thousand photos .... the result was perhaps inevitable. Despite my genuine interest in seeing the photos I found myself struggling to stay awake and at some points during the session we all fell asleep with the exception of Gerry. I felt very guilty but am keen to see the rest of the photos soon. 

Yesterday James spent the whole day working in the garden to tidy it up for winter, and I made a trip to Sainsburys and then spent the afternoon cooking dinner. It's been a while since I have felt relaxed enough to really get into cooking and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our autumnal menu consisted of butternut squash soup, lamb and pear tagine with pistachio and coriander couscous, and banana loaf with toffee ice cream. James made the banana loaf, one of his signature dishes. Despite my doubts about some of the dishes they all turned out fine and our guests Heather and Ewan enjoyed them. In fact Ewan gave me the ultimate cooking compliment about the tagine; "You can make that again!" We had a pleasant and convivial evening, and after our guests left Ally and Cat helped me to prepare the vegetables for the pot roast that we are having this evening. 

This morning I browned the beef joint, put a mustard and herb paste on it, put it on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker, and poured over a mixture of stock and red wine. We shall see how it turns out!