ups and downs

'Lady's Choice bacon spread (with REAL bacon)' read the alluring foil sachet, gleaming in the tinned meat aisle of a Phillipine supermarket, like a diamond in a diamond mine full of diamonds.

I lay my culinary trust in a nation that has four aisles of tinned meat products. In a Manillan shop, the corned beef tins segued into corned tuna and corned chicken; and all this before we had even hit the Spam. Corned beef was a saving grace in my childhood. Summer meant occasional good weather, which meant rare salads. And as everyone knows, cucumber and lettuce do not a meal make. When my 8 year old self couldn't go near Pilchards or prawns, or the jelly around pork pie, corned beef came to the rescue. And as with all tinned goods, you are only a ring pull away from delicious: Pinoy cuisine makes ready for the apocalypse and is just waiting in your store cupboard.

So it was something of a personal tragedy to find Lady's Choice bacon spread is pretty grim! I am sure I'll have better luck with the corned beef I have lined up next.

That evening I had a hankering for cauliflower. 

My current challenge is cooking hob only, on 3 rings max., definitely no oven or grill. Or microwave or toaster. I have a kitchen handicap that only organising building works can cure...But cauli is easy.

I boiled sweet baby new potatoes, steamed florettes on top for the last 4 minutes, and made a hasty cheese sauce with stingy mature Cheddar and a dab of English mustard.  Why does it taste even better in my favourite dish?

simples

And then there are those soothing moments when, with the minimal effort that comes with habit, I knocked up a cauliflower yogurt soup and a couple of loaves of soda bread without even thinking.

Inspired by the gigantic, cream cauli's in the market, I bought one every week and made this. The coriander seeds give a fresh, lemon taste and the soup is somehow simultaneously hearty and light.  Bread, still slightly warm, is the only way I want to eat this.

17 April