First of all I must apologise for the long absence. It’s been a bit tricky but at the moment I feel like my life is slowly forming into something new and I like it. Old friends have come back into my life and give much laughter, newer friendships have grown into deeper understandings of each other and it’s starting to be pretty good actually. There has been other stuff, not so good, going on and I just needed to step away from the internet. To give myself time to breath this summer without thinking about blog posts and the like. But I do enjoy my online diary and intend to continue. I’ve always thought it will be fun to read from the start in my later years.

So I’m just going to jump in with what I’ve been doing lately.

I hauled the pumpkins home this week, there should have been more but some had rotted, some didn’t grow and I’m pretty sure a couple went missing. Casual theft on allotments is common and its always one of those frustrating issues that is very difficult to deal with. I’d counted 14 earlier in the season and I brought home 8. If I see some varieties on my travels, notably one or two onion squash would be nice I will add them to my collection.

So what is my favourite food? Anything home cooked with as many flavours packing a punch as is possible especially when many of the components are home grown. I particularly enjoy what I call a Buddha bowl, which is basically a healthy version of a pick and mix beige buffet that you might have had at your grans on Boxing day. And you never eat the same variety of Budha bowl twice, it’s always ‘oh look, I’ve got a carrot, head of broccoli, pepper what shall I do with them?’ This particular plate was inspired by an offer that Sainsbury’s had with their chicken legs, 2 kg for £2.60 with your nectar card. There were twenty legs, ten went straight into the freezer, the others were popped into the oven covered with Reggae Reggae jerk barbecue sauce (highly recommended) and a sprinkle of seasalt. Next I prepped a small pumpkin and threw that in with the chicken dressing it with the sauce with a red pepper perched on top. Prepped the seeds from the pumpkin and seasoned them with sweet smoked paprika, fennel seeds and malden sea salt, spray of oil and roasted those. I made a sweet dressing for the pumpkin with fresh chilli, rhubarb and orange jam (home made of course) fresh coriander, balsamic, vinegar and olive oil. Prepped the salad, iceberg, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot and red onion. Rescued the last of the dolmades from the fridge and found a squidgy of mayonnaise. It was very good.

There would have been more leftovers but the whippets managed to get their long noses over the edge of the roasting tray and stole two pieces of pumpkin. But I can’t begrudge them it as pumpkin is so good for dogs, as it is everybody, packed full of vitamins and minerals and their seeds are packed full of magnesium, zinc, antioxidants, omega 3 and 6 and iron. And if this plateful of wonderful food won’t keep the doctor away I don’t know what will.