Day 10 and 11

First American Adventure

 

Travel day unleashed the biggest thunderstorm on me when I arrived, (got to love standing in the rain in shorts and a t-shirt). Hello Florida, Hello home.  Flying on British Airways to Orlando meant that there were plenty of little children running round on their way to Disney, except today this did not annoy me at all, they were adorable and I was going home. Through customs without a problem and picked up by Ashley Kushner who volunteers with me at the Crisis Center we stopped at Bento on the way home…oh how I have missed my garlic chicken rice bowl!

Fantastic first day back, even after a two-hour practice, weights and walking home in the rain, I cannot stop smiling. My home away from home and my family away from family, back in one place and ready to continue with my challenge.

Tonight is Chicken in Salt (p180) and Roasted Veg (p220); cooking for Devon Lochte, Matt Norton, Balazs Gercsak, lets try my first British Jamie Oliver on my Americans and see what happens..

Fresh Market was easy navigable and I found everything I needed, except I wanted to try duck tonight but they didn't have that so chicken was the next best thing! 

Prepared the chicken in all the salt and forgot the eggs so just poured the beaten eggs over the salt…whoops!

Timing today was perfect and the veg stayed in for a good hour but still turned out fabulous.

Chicken and Veg

SUCCESS!! I think this is going to be a good few months if I keep cooking like that, chicken was perfect and the veg turned out wonderful too. Devon wouldn’t stop saying “this is really good” over and over, and everyone else tried a bit! It looked and smelled great and having Liz Goldson in the house now to tell me all her little tips is even better. 

Day 9

Favorite meal turned even more favorite...

SPAG BOL

Kinda Spaghetti Bolognese (p125) for dinner tonight, this is by far the best one that I have made up until now. After a long emotional day; a viewing of Despicable Me over dinner was perhaps the best way to end it.
Spag bol has been my favorite meal since I was a kid, and I have always added a pinch of sugar so this was the Gemma touch to Jamie today, but this recipe was definitely way better than I have ever, ever cooked spag bol before in my life.
Dad said "very pleasant" and Peter: "best spaghetti bol I have had in a long time" ...YAY a meal that satisfies all.
Last day before I fly back to Florida, I was wondering around Sainsbury's today, having finally figured out where everything is and I am going to have to re-start my adventures and get my bearings in Florida tomorrow...Hopefully Publix and Fresh Market will supply me with the same variety of herbs...or I shall have to grow my own!


Looking forward to getting back to one place after traveling for about 4 months it will be nice not to live out of a suitcase.

Day 8

Last lazy day and a few too many split peas

Fish Buttie

My last lazy day consisted of a lot of TV watching and 3 of Jamie's comfort grub recipes, starting with lunch: FANTASTIC FISH FINGER BUTTIE (p39) and I don't know why Jamie was embarrassed to have his photo taken with this...it was perfect for a lazy day infront of the TV, one of those days EVERYONE deserves once or twice, and yes I know it is Monday and the rest of the world is working but that just made it taste EVEN better!


Dinner however was a little disaster really...a rescued crisis but still a crisis.

Curry over Lemon Rice

Chicken Curry

I had just watched 'The Last Song', I can't watch any movie without crying even just a little bit; even some comedies when something a little sad happens, however today I was crying like a baby! Dinner was supposed to be a comfort....Chicken Curry (p32) now this probably was almost there but I don't think I needed the water added, too much liquid and not enough 'double cream consistency'. Not too bad, however on top of the Lemon Rice (p35), well.. I struggled to pick out the good bits and ended up throwing some of the rice out.. The rice was over run with split peas and I felt like I had just got home from the beach and was eating with sandy hands....way too much crunch from too many peas, I think the popping mustard seeds threw me as they exploded out of the pan and I chucked in a LOT too many peas, next time I need to measure better! 


Crisis averted, I still managed to eat most of the curry and as much of the rice as I could find without too much crunch... I left the non flavored rice for my brother with some curry sauce to re-heat when he got back from London. I hope he likes it!!

Day 7

Left-over lunch and sizzling, spitting sausages

Toad in the hole

Lazy day today, tried to pack some of my stuff for leaving on Wednesday..I think I did too much shopping while I was here, too many clothes not enough space in the case!


Lunch today thrown together, left-over cucumber from the other day with my ginger dressing and left-over tomato and basil paste from yesterday on a cheese toasted sarney...YUMMY.


Dinner for Dad and I, one of Daddy's fave dishes so I hope I did it justice..toad in the hole, now why it is called that I will never know, how are sausages anything like toads? But other than the batter maybe being a little undercooked, and a little spitting oil as I cooked the sausages today was another success!

Day 6

Two-in-one day


Glorious day in the sun today at Gunwarf, Portsmouth. 
Location: Tiger Tiger
Company: Laura Chase
Lunch: Chicken Nachos.

Fantastic conversation and surprisingly wonderful weather before I drove home to cook dinner for Dad. Sainsbury's only had one monkfish tail, so I made the decision to attempt two meals in one; Salmon with Horseradish and Beets (p60) and Magnificent Monkfish (p159).


Dangerous cooking tonight in a white top while cooking with beets and sun-dried tomato paste. Somehow managed the whole meal without splashing anything down me. Although I thought I needed the salmon, in fact just the monkfish on mash would have satisfied us. Both delicious but definitely stuffed full now.


Maybe a little too much balsamic drizzled on the top but overall SUCCESS! No training today but I must go run tomorrow before I go back to hard-core training on Wednesday, back to the grind in Florida, America...fitness needed with all this cooking and eating!

Salmon and Monkfish

Day 5

After yesterday, and having my first two-practice in a day, day, I took a break today from the cooking. 


8 recipes down, 2 desserts made I think I have made a HUGE dent in my challenge... 


The drive home today was long and stressful to add to the stress of yesterday's dinner making I think my break was well deserved!


Resume tomorrow! 

Day 4

Dinner Party for 7


Day 4 and an EPIC stress-fest unfolded. Jem and I attempted Hamilton Squash (p226), Baked New Potatoes (p211), Honeymoon Spaghetti (p126) AND Marinated Pork Fillet on Rhubarb (p174).


Timing was the biggest difficulty, we took on a big task and Jazz Carlin, Adam Mallett, Meg Gilgrist, Rob Welbourne and Martin Littlefair were our testers. Error on the length of waiting time for swimmers after a long practice, waiting around with the anticipation of this meal that we had promised to be amazing...what if it wasn't?! We probably should have stuck to one easy dish that wouldn't take an hour and a half to get ready, by the time they piled in to fill their plates Jem and I were exhausted!


Silence and they filled their plates and silence as they ate it...what did that mean? Didn't they like it, and were they just too polite to say so? 


Pork demolished; defiantly a hit! Squash maybe not cooked fully and was tasty but could have been better. Potatoes: Good. Spaghetti might have had a few too many chilli's in for my liking and most had a dab on by the end of their portion. 


All in all I would call it a success, can't always please everyone. I hope they weren't all just being polite and that it actually was good like they said!

Spaghetti

Dessert made by Meg was fabulous, tired now from a food coma, bed and training twice tomorrow!

Pork