My Kitchen Is NOT a Crime Scene!

I am being super- diligent about keeping my lovely new kitchen clean and tidy. But the other day I was using my blender [in a hurry], and splattered red juice on the cupboards. It was like an episode of CSI.  I am not quite tall enough to pour things tidily into the little hole on the top. I had a lot of washing and wiping to do. So I decided to be more careful in future.

I bought quite a lot of fruit recently because despite my love of puddings, I know we need a healthy balance - and the girls love fruit too. Watermelons are fabulous in hot weather. A slim slice on a stick is as good as a lollipop, cool chunks in as bowl with a drizzle of yogurt is an ersatz ice-cream-sundae. But I had half a melon left, And a mango too - and Ro and Jess were in Holland.

I decided to blend the remaining fruit and make a bottle of drink for the fridge. I cut off the peel [into the compost] and chopped the flesh into chunks.  Inspiration struck - my jam funnel fits neatly into the hole in the blender lid - so I rechopped the fruit a little smaller. It was quick and easy to spoon the melon bits into the funnel and blitz it.

I juiced the half melon, then decided the mango which was very ripe needed dealing with. I peeled it, and scraped all the flesh from the peel and from the stone, and blitzed that - adding an equal amount of orange juice from a carton and half a cup of water. 

The watermelon drink went into the large bottle, the mango&orange into the small one - and the remaining juices were mixed up into a third bottle. Once made they need to be drunk within a couple of days. That is better than fruit going to waste. And my funnel technique has kept the 'blood spatter' off the cupboard doors. Don't they look pretty?

Mish - Mash

In her book "Kitchen", Nigella ends many recipes with a paragraph entitled "making leftovers right". I fully endorse such notions of ZeroWaste and thrift. As we were going away to Manchester, I weanted to ensure I had used up as much as possible of our fresh produce. I checked the fridge and

I had a sweet potato, a regular potato, three small red potatoes, 1½carrots and a handful of beans.
Plus two brioche buns and the end of packs of peas and corn in the freezer. Further scrabbling around revealed a lock'n'lock with 'pineapple pieces' in it [bought in error by Bob who thought he was buying chunks to put on sticks with cheese, for the Shed Mardle] 
The leftover chicken from Monday had already been made into pie filling with mushrooms, a small onion and some of the stock - and I had a pack of puff pastry ready to encase it.
I thought I might make some sort of pudding with the brioche and pineapple, but had no eggs, and limited milk - but I did find a tin of custard lurking in the cupboard. The pastry was rolled out into a pasty shape and filled with chicken mixture, the root veg chopped and put to boil, with the green veg and corn in a steamer over them. The brioche buns were puttered and cut into chunks, and combined with custard and drained pineapple in a Pyrex dish. I mashed all the root veg together, with some butter - and served the lunch. Chicken Galette with steamed vegetables and root mash, followed by Pineapple Brioche Pudding.

I had not crimped the pasty well enough - so it burst open. And I'm calling it a galette! The filling was a bit sloppy, so extra gravy was not needed. A very filling and satisfying lunch, mostly leftovers.
The tinned custard was Waitrose Essentials - and is way thicker and creamier than my usual supermarket budget range [also more expensive] It made a very unctuous pudding. Leftover galette went into the freezer, for a light supper on our return from Manchester.

Jill in Dorset - still waiting for you to email me about the Noahs ark panel!

Yes Ma'am!

We watched "The Thursday Murder Club" last week. Having read the book, we knew Whodunit already. No spoilers here, for those who haven't. 

It was definitely "a cosy crime", with an amazing cast list. Being set in an OAP home, or more accurately  "an upmarket seniors' retirement community" there were many older actors both in leading roles and cameos. Oh, and David Tennant, who seems to pop up in almost everything lately.

As well as the Fab Four [Mirren, Imrie, Kingsley and Brosnan] look out for 

• Jonathan Pryce [the best actor in the recent Count of Monte Cristo we thought]
• Richard E Grant [at 68, one of the younger OAPs in the cast]
• Paul Freeman - I prefer him without his beard. He was Molly's urbane suitor in one series of Monarch of the Glen
• Richenda Carey - Also in MotG* playing Kilwillie's snooty sister Lady Dorothy
• Ruth Sheen - the longsuffering office secretary in Strike [new series due this autumn] No relation to Martin, or Michael

*our family referred to that favourite Sunday evening viewing as Monica. [As in "busy tonight, catching up with Monica Theglen"]

The filming was done in various Home Counties properties and villages, mainly Englefield House near Reading. The London Street through which HM drives at speed is actually Chatham Dockyard. And whilst Englefield House conveniently has an adjacent church, the cemetery opposite was specially constructed for the film,. With polystyrene gravestones! 

For me the best laugh-out-loud line in the entire film was when Pryce says to his wife who is just going out sleuthing "You look just like the Queen". Same initials HM, and Ms Mirren has played HerMaj twice [ film, The Queen 2006, and stage, The Audience 2013-2015] And she does it so well. You have to look twice to be sure who is who.

It was a fun film, but they did "over-egg the pudding" at some points. ***

Have you seen it, what did you think?