NEGLECTED BLOG....

There are no excuses for neglecting my blog - I can trot out being busy at work, having various family commitments, etc. etc. but everyone can say that and basically it just comes down to priorities and my little blog hasn't been up there near the top of my list lately - I have no aspirations to a career in food, too old for all that hard work and long hours. However, this doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking so I thought that to get my hand in again I would just put up some pictures of things I have cooked with a brief description - no detailed recipe, just an idea of ingredients.

So here we go.......

My dear friend Amanda came over for a Saturday lunch of cocktails and food (note the order of importance) - we both love making cocktails and I have one of the Difford cocktail making bibles. We had a few (!) cocktails each and then I served up my Persepolis inspired lunch......

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb with Persian spicing...



Served with bejewelled rice and a cucumber, mint and pomegranate salsa. We also had a minty coriander yoghurt dip but I didn't take a picture, and

Amanda is very low carb so I resisted the urge to make bread.....

It was all delicious and extremely easy to make ahead - the ideal lunch to have after a few cocktails. We had pudding as well - my (well, Claudia Roden's) orange and almond cake is posted previously, here I served it with cream and some fantastic slivered pistachios from Sally at Persepolis.

I find this kind of food is very straightforward as long as you are as lucky as me to have a shop close by with a knowledgeable shopkeeper who can help you decipher the maze of spices. It was a splendid lunch, even though I do say it myself.