girls are weird.

27 March 2007

a taste of lisa

I've been watching the new series from Nigel Slater called "A Taste of My Life", which although slightly sycophantic (is it just me, or does he look like he's secretly lusting after all of his guests, including Vanessa Redrave? Gads.) it's been quite interesting. Taking the lead from this programme, I've had a think about some of the food categories he discusses with his guests. Feel free to join in and fill in your own answers. Go on, play along!

Food of childhood: It's an odd combination of my Japanese heritage and my mother's penchant for soup-based casserole recipes clipped out of Chatelaine magazine. Foods that take me back to my childhood are my grandmother's sushi and chow mein, tuna casserole (take one box of cooked/prepared Kraft Dinner, add one tin of tuna and one tin of cream of mushroom soup, add peas and bake until the top is crunchy), lasagna (my mother's best dish), and chicken coated in Shake n' Bake. I'm amazed I'm still alive, frankly.

Food of love: The first thing Paul ever cooked for me was scrambled eggs on toast. He always does eggs perfectly (creamy and not overcooked); that morning he put mine on one slice of buttered toast, and cut another diagonally and placed it artfully on each side of the whole slice. We ate our breakfast on a little wrought iron table in my courtyard garden, on a gloriously sunny morning. Knowing that I had managed to bag a man who could cook made me the happiest girl on earth. And still does.

Food of success: My first "posh meal" at a gen-u-ine Michelin-starred restaurant was in September 2005 at the New Angel in Devon. It was nice, but we actually had a nicer meal the night before at the no-star restaurant Tanners in Plymouth.

Last meal: Depending on my mood, it would either be a proper roast dinner or something more elaborate involving fresh seafood and an authentic cheesecake for dessert. Then again, I'd possibly want a huge meal from my favourite Indian restaurant. Hmmm. Although I suppose if I knew it was my last meal, I'd likely be too nervous/traumatised to eat. Maybe I would just stick my head in a large tub of Green and Blacks vanilla ice cream.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

18 March 2007

a mother of a day

Today, my

gave me a bouquet of

,
that came with a lovely box of

.

He then insisted on helping me

(although I'm not entirely sure why he needed to take his trousers off to do so, but there you go.)

Jack also gave me a little potted plant of some sort - they're just germinated seeds that he grew at nursery, so we're not sure what it is yet. If I manage not to kill it, I'll keep you posted. Paul cooked me a scrumptious dinner of duck and dauphinoise potatoes, followed by a lemon tart and a generous scoop of Green and Blacks vanilla ice cream. Best of all, I had a 1 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. Oh yes.

Happy Mother's Day.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

16 March 2007

something for a friday

Courtesy of the Birthday Lady:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

14 March 2007

the best medicine

When you're having a crappy week at work, there is no better remedy than lunch in the sunshine with a good friend and bouncing a beautiful baby girl on your knee. Combine with a fish finger sandwich, and now all is right in the world.

Speaking of food (when am I not talking about food, I ask you?), I was browsing the shelves at Let's Eat in Milton Keynes the other day. It's a food shop/sandwich bar that carries some American groceries, and I was curious to see what they had. I spotted a jar of Welch's grape jelly and with the gleeful "Ooooh!" of a 5-year-old with no taste buds, I grabbed it...and promptly put it back when I noticed the price: £4.99. That's right, almost $11 Canadian for something that my mother could get for me at Loblaws for around four bucks. Next time I go home, I'm filling an empty suitcase with Canadian junk food and bringing it back here to sell on eBay for a moderately inflated price. Kraft Dinner? For you, a special price: £1 a box.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

02 March 2007

i just don't know what to do with myself

I'm at home all by myself today, and I feel like I should be doing something. I'm not off work sick, I'm on a gen-u-ine holiday while my husband slaves away at the office and my son is enjoying his first day in the Big Boy Room at nursery. It's been a hectic, chaotic, stressful two weeks. I had a short work week to complete a huge amount of writing without killing anyone (which is no small feat for the pregnant technical writer), baked brownies and cupcakes for various birthday functions for Jack, survived Jack's birthday party at our local play centre with 10 toddlers and 4 babies (oh thank the gods our kids are at the age where parents actually stay with their kids and don't just drop them off for parties), got us packed up for a weekend at the in-laws' for more birthday festivities, tidied up the bottom floor of our house in roughly 15 minutes (i.e. the amount of time between arriving back home and Paul picking up my parents at their hotel), and spent the past week entertaining/cleaning/cooking/trying not to fall asleep while my mom and dad were over for a visit. Now, for the first time since I was down with the Evil Cold Virus From Hell, I'm at home by myself with not a thing to do.

So what am I complaining about? I'm going to get caught up on the dozens of programmes yet to be watched on Sky+, do a bit of pregnancy yoga, and hang out with the dog. I might even have a nap; I haven't decided yet.

Nothing to do, indeed.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --