Cooking comfort

I am frazzled. I have had such a wonderful month - two blogs nearly completed to describe it all - but I have barely had a night at home.

Last week I returned from a visit to my Mother laden with her garden produce: tomato (including tigerella toms), cabbage, runner beans and baby courgettes in yellow and green. Something my mother always cooks with the summer 'glut' is steamed runner beans, served with fried tomato and bacon. That's it: super quick, and ever so fresh tasting. I had a wave of nostalgia from being in my childhood house, so I re-created this dish back in London to remind me of home. I also had gnocchi with it, to use up some leftovers, and make it more substantial. No dressing - just the bacon fat drizzled over and pepper ground over.

Tonight I needed a quick fix of comfort so I made cauliflower cheese, my top nursery food. I can't go without carbs at bedtime, so I had this with rice (incidentally, macaroni is my usual pairing). I made the cheese sauce with a dab of English mustard and mature cheddar - and extra cheddar shaved over: a blanket of comfort.