Oddly, after many trips to LA and Orange County, I’ve never had good food except for a few fantastic Mexican experiences. On the other hand, I’ve had great food in San Francisco and Northern California. I’m sure we just haven’t found the right places. I did however have some excellent Mediteranean in OC - a place called Open Sesame. Delicious! Had lunch also at Zankou Chicken. Great casual food. Quite a story behind that small chain - pretty tragic but riveting. Chinois on Main in Santa Monica was sublime however.
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Took a cue from The BBQ Pit Boys Youtube channel and did a bacon wrap of Italian Sausage links…
Served on a hot dog hard roll from Bommarito Bakery here in the neighborhood.
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Name of the restaurant?
Many Belated Happy Returns!..Sounded like a great birthday stretch of celebratory meals.
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My idea of heaven - Three octopus dishes in one weekend!!!
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This is a rare confession - but I have bacon to use up.
Just four rashers but it’ll top a cauliflower cheese nicely, as it’s smoked. Simply boiled new potatoes alongside - they’ll be good for mopping up the cheese sauce (even better than bread).
If they’re ripe in the supermarket (and that’s a big “if” here), then I’ll get some peaches. Split in half, knob of butter in each stone cavity, drizzle of honey and around 15 minutes in the oven. The butter and honey melt together to make a lovely sauce. They’ll need cream, creme fraiche or something.
(Originally a Nigel Slater recipe from, I think, "Real Fast Puddings)
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Oooh yes! Yum.
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What’s that green stuff doing there? 
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Oh, yes.
That sounds wonderful!
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Happy happy!
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They were - but that dessert will have to wait for another night. More importantly, they had cheap raspberries near to “sell by” date. It’s an opportunity to try a version of “Eton Mess”, which is traditionally made with strawberries. Cream is whipped to the “soft peaks” stage as usual, along with a little icing sugar. The berries will be crushed with a fork and stirred through, along with some pomegranate molasses (deffo not traditional). Finally some crushed meringues are stirred through. And no, of course I’m not making the meringues - that’s why we have supermarkets. I usually serve Eton Mess in a tall glass with a couple of berries on top as decoration. Probably my favourite summer dessert (although I will eat a lemon posset any day of the year).
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This unattractive dinner brought to you by one harried mama and one sick, fussy toddler.
I flipped it over to broil it because it was still semi-raw, and my husband misread as a message to serve skin-up. Yuck.
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MEEEEE TOOOOOO! 
Watched an episode of Rick Bayless’s show and got inspired to make albondigas - stewed mexican meatballs. I always thought of albondigas as soup, but, learn something new everyday! Meatballs were ground pork, mint, garlic, egg, panko, salt/pepper. Browned, and then stewed in the sauce (blitzed up can of tomatoes, santa fe red chili sauce, garlic, and chicken broth). Sides were smashed! potatoes with cilantro sauce, and zucchini ribbons.
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You’ll find albondigas all over Spain - smallish ones served as a tapa, larger for main courses. This recipe is as good as any - as with any meatball there’s no right or wrong way to make them. https://talkingtapas.co.uk/blogs/recipes/albondigas-delicious-spanish-meatballs
Folk here who know my affection for Spain will know that I often lean towards the cuisine of Mallorca (part of the wider Harters family originates from the island). This video may be of interest - http://www.mercatdesantacatalina.com/en/post/188-typical-majorcan-meatballs-recipe.html
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this is THE PERFECT MEAL, FULL STOP.
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Don’t have much time to cook as I was gardening 3 days straight. Mr. naf wanted pizza as we would be only eating Asian food for a month.
Typing in Heathrow Airport T3 transit, we just had our first dinner.
Scotch egg
Ale pie
Not sure our late night meal on the plane at 11 pm would be better. Yeah! Trip begins!!!
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Bon voyage, naf! Enjoy everything once for us all…and report everything here on your return.
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Mmm that looks and sounds great
