A while ago, I set myself a 365 photographic challenge where I photographed something that was food related every day for a year and posted it on what was then my first blog. I haven’t looked at these for years but I just checked and it’s still there.
I have done bits and pieces of food photography since then but nothing for the past few years. I’m still interested in food and cooking but haven’t had a lot of time for it and lunches especially are usually rushed affairs.
But now, with the Coronavirus lockdown, everything has changed. We all have more time at home. For those of us fortunate enough to be fit, have a stable income and a comfortable home, then there’s an opportunity to do things that we don’t normally have time for.
For me. that’s cooking and photography. We’ve had a bit more time to think about and cook lunches rather than grab a quick sandwich. So, I decided that I’d document our lunches for a week.
Warning: this is a frivolous lifestyle post created for my own entertainment. My views on social equality are here.
I used to bake bread haven't made any for several years. But our supermarket delivery didn't deliver the kind of bread that we like so I thought I'd try to make what is sometimes called Irish soda bread but what we called soda scones when I was young. They weren't quite right - not soft enough - but tasted good fresh with garlic mushrooms.
I saw a recipe for quesadillas (which are basically fried tortillas) in a newspaper that I was reading on my iPad and I was inspired to try making these. I'd never made them before. Black beans, tomatoes, green chilli and onions with some spices, topped with cheese. They were good.
Hits the spot after a morning walk. I know all the arguments in favour of a plant-based diet but these would be hard to give up.
I found some Padron Peppers on Sainsbury's website so decided to make Spanish Tapas. We should have accompanied these with a crisp dry sherry but didn't have any.
This dish isn't really a risotto and I'm not sure that it's particularly Chinese. Essentially it chicken and vegetables cooked with rice in a liquor that's 15% dark soy sauce, 15% dry sherry and 70% water. It's delicious.
As my wife Anne is diabetic, we are careful about avoiding coronavirus exposure. we get supermarket shopping delivered once a week on a Thursday. By Wednesday, the vegetables are looking a bit tired so I normally see what we've got left and make soup. This week it was minestrone. I'd hoped to bake some bread to go with it but we couldn't get any flour.
A beautiful morning so we went out for a decent walk and didn't get home till almost lunchtime. Couldn't be bothered cooking and we had very little read-to-eat food in the house. Luckily, however, I found a tin of sardine pate, which my daughter gave us as a present from Portugal. So, in contrast to some of the more interesting lunches earlier in the week, lunch was toast and pate.