So some of you may remember that back in the dying days of 2012 I set myself a couple of “challenges” (i.e. resolutions but not) for the month of January. The first was to cut back on social media to enjoy the summer holidays with my family. I decided to Instagram only one photo a day, with the hastag “things that make me happy”. Happy to report that seven days in I have uploaded precisely six photos (still looking for today’s). I also went all weekend without tweeting.

After counting ninety-four cookbooks and magazines on my bookshelf I also decided this would be the month I did more than flick through them while admiring the photo’s. And to save on one really long post, I will do weekly updates, and wherever possible I will link to the recipe.

So without any further ado, week one went something like this: 

1st January: wasn’t looking like a very promising start as we were invited out for lunch. So instead I am using the ricotta filled cannoli I made on NYE. They were home-made, and from the Italian Food Safari cookbook. I only varied the filling when I found Amarena cherries which I love, and I added chopped pistachio.

2nd January: FINALLY made the braised octopus in red wine with peas that I have been wanting to try for years. You could taste all the time that went into it, and it was melt-in-the-mouth tender. Definitely a keeper. Recipe courtesy of Rick Stein’s Seafood cookbook.

3rd January: was scratching my head already, but in the end I went with two dishes: ricotta gnocchi, or “ndundari” from Two Greedy Italians, which I have made often and we all love, and from the same book a zucchini and mint salad.

4th January: I somehow ended up with chicken fillets, scampi, and a lobster tail. Not a bad starting point! I baked some potatoes, and when they were almost done I added the scampi and some mussels with lots of parsley and white wine. My own recipe, and no photo . I made an Asian style salad with the lobster, and I have to confess that I can’t remember where I found the recipe (by this stage I had looked at SOOO many). I also made Asian style cripsy chicken strips, from the Womens Weekly Modern Asian cookbook.

Just as well I pulled out all stops before the weekend, because by the 5th I felt rotten and we ended up having leftovers. And on the 6th we had lunch at the beach. So in actual fact it was only three days of cooking. Today it looks like being butter chicken, at the kids’ request. Off I go to find a recipe…

P.S. Despite my intention to stay away from the computer at least a little bit, I have…um…started a new blog. I have been wanting to find a simple way of reading all the blogs I love on Blogger, as well as somewhere to park all the posts that don’t quite fit here (books, movies, music). Mister Eighteen and Husband have signed on as guest writers. It’s called Babbleogue, and if you’re interested you can find it here.

That’s all for now folks.

xoxo Ana.