Ginger Knits UK

In that idle time between Christmas and New Year some have dubbed Twixmas, I found myself recuperating from spending a week with my very intense mother-in-law by watching mid-morning TV. I flicked over to Nadiya's British Food Adventure  where this recipe for red split lentils and five-spice soda bread caught my eye. I'm a big fan of curry; it's my favourite cuisine and the combo of lentil soup and soda bread ticked the right boxes. My dad is a keen breadmaker and he talked about making soda bread over Christmas which had tickled my interest. While I like the idea of making bread, I'm unlikely to have bread flour or yeast in and I find the kneading and proving off putting, but soda bread is doable. The lentil soup was eaten before I thought of photographing it. It's similar to dhals we routinely make for dinner - so cheap and easy to do - though the garlic and butter were a treat. The bread has lasted for a few days as there are only two of us in the house...

I was up in Yorkshire last weekend celebrating my mum's birthday. We treated ourselves to a wonderful lunch at The Bay Horse in Hurworth. I was expecting pub grub, you know, tasty food which looks home cooked. What arrived was something from Mastchef The Professionals. I don't use the word amazing much, I think it's overused,often on the mediocre, but this was amazing. This was Alex's starter, eel with horseradish foam (YES, FOAM!!!) and a concentrate of beetroot as well as jelly cubes of something tasty (we can't remember what they were. I had a butternut risotto which was delicious but not as photogenic as Alex's starter. The main courses were equally exquisite though we were too busy eating to take any photos. I was surprised how filling I found the food though we had enough room left to try the desert taster menu. I'm not much of a cake fan (yes, I know that's odd, especially for a knitter, I much prefer savoury foods to sweet) but espec...