My croissants, but not as quite good as Paul Hollywood's .

Needing lots of time,which I ran out of last night,so continued this morning.
Here they are, much smaller than the ones he has made, but they look OK. I had to roll and fold them so many times, but maybe that's because I am doing this one handed Have frozen the rest of the dough for another time,there seems to be an awful lot still to use.
A mess in the kitchen ...

Saturday morning and it is only 10.15

Already made a carrot and orange soup,and now feeling retro,I have made what my Godmother always described as" super delicious Rock Buns".Plus a batch of shortbread ,which is so popular, it never lasts more than a day or two. I must make some for Christmas,to give away .
Now I have some game casserole to do,as a busy week ahead means I must do some serious planning ....friends will be staying,and not much time to be in the kitchen.
Monday morning sees another friend here for some pre Christmas cooking. She will do a chiffon pie, I will do a Yule log and some Tuilles,and we will probably do more .
Watch this space.

Monday and shared cooking.
I have made Tuilles,see picture,and a Yule log,which I cut half so we could share it, and Elizabeth has made a Chiffon pie,which took ages,and in fact the pastry was still,warm when it was time for her to return home. So it went off in two ,the chiffon in a plastic container,the pastry ,naked as it were. To be combined when she gets home.
The Tuilles were a devil, the oven was too hot at the beginning so the first lot were burned, but they still tasted good, far better results the second and third tries. So good, that I have eaten most of the burned ones......
And no, we did not manage anything else.

For our lunch we had smoked mackerel pâté ,then a recipe from Jamie Oliver's 15 minute Cooking, ricotta fritters in a tomato garlic, and porcini mushroom sauce, which was delicious, except I forgot the basil that should have gone onto it at the end. Finally ,my easy lemon cream pot, whipped double cream, the same amount of Greek Yoghurt,plus some home made lemon curd folded in at the end, with some biscuit crumbs I used some Cantucci crumbs, but sometimes I use Amaretti crumbs scattered over. This can be frozen ,which makes a great standby pudding,as long as you take it out in time,and it isn't rock hard when you want to eat it.
Plus a glass or two of Rioja of course.

Sunday lunch

Plum cake, served warm with Greek yoghurt and plum and apple sauce.
Plus mushroom and leek soup with homemade parsnip bread. Followed by Dover Sole pan fried with potatoes, sliced leeks and baby tomatoes, basil and chives snipped on at the point of serving. Made a red pepper sauce, which I managed to spill most of it onto the work top just after I had blended and sieved it. The stick blender fell over and knocked the jug over as well.
The trials of being a one handed cook!

This evening's offerings

Bread sticks. Straight out of the oven
I have used 250 Grammes of flour, and the rest is just guesswork . Salt, oil, water and fast action yeast.

Dan Lepard's Chocolate Chip Buns

Made half the quantity , as I just want to see if they are worth doing.
From the Guardian Weekend last Saturday. Are they worth making? Undoubtably yes.I had a tiny one to try, it was everything thing he said it would be soft and comfortingly delicious and not over sweet.
Half the recipe made four rolls and four round buns,enough to be going on with.

Today's effort. Parsnip, cheese ,thyme and sage bread

Effort it certainly has been since I managed to unsuccessfully juggle a bottle of olive oil , hoping to pour some onto my bread in the oven. falling , it broke into smithereens all over the floor .... There was glass and oil , such a mess, and me in danger of slipping over and then who knows what I might have done? I had to get a neighbour to help me clear it up.
Thankfully the bread looks and smells delicious and I hope will taste equally good. I am taking it to friends for lunch today I have only made half the amount given in the recipe.

For vegetarians Don' t read the following post.

Last week it was very definitely time to pluck the pheasants that were hanging in my shed for four days, since it was unseasonably warm they certainly needed doing.
Imagine if you can.
I am sitting outside in the drizzle at a table with some warm water in a bowl beside me,and the bird inside a binliner which was inside an old washing up bowl, which was on my lap.
Now to start. One handed. Not easy!
The first bird was easy, but the second one not so, and I ended up with feathers everywhere . However I HAVE actually done them, even though I had to joint the second bird.
I did not take a picture if this!!

Today I have been using up bits that were in the fridge.i made a sauce of half and onion, some soft tomatoes, ditto three mushrooms plus garlic, herbs, some red wine( naturally) chillies and smoked sea salt, finally adding some bits of German Smoked Ham.
Then I soaked some noodles and mixed them into the sauce, hey presto. My improvised supper