The time is right.

With Tiger's announcement last week that he wouldn't be returning to the world of professional golf for a while, my immediate thought was that this may have presented me with an opportunity to sneak in under the radar and to join the PGA tour to fill the void left by Mr Woods!  Alas, the two and a half rounds of golf that I have played this week has confirmed a number of things that I was becoming increasingly aware of:

1. My golf swing is not as perfect as I first thought it was.
2. My age and aching joints now make even switching on the electric trolley a painful experience.
3. My skill level is diminishing!

So perhaps I would be better suited to the culinary arts after all?

This week has been a mixed week - a mixture of culinary highs and emotional lows!

I thought I'd experiment a little for a change, nothing too drastic,  but rather than religiously folllow a recipe I would try and improvise with a few ingredients.  So Monday's tea was cauliflower cheese with crispy bacon topping with boulangere potatoes.  So where's the improvisation there I hear you ask?  I had some spinnach leaves left over so not wishing to waste them and knowing spinnach is a good source of iron, I cunningly put several layers of the leaves in the potatoes!  Result - a very tasty and green looking dish!  Tuesday was a sad day for Sue and I as we had to have Sue's 13 year old deaf and blind but lovingly faithful springer spaniel, put to sleep.  Di  (named after Lady Di - not by us I hasten to add!) was one poorly puppy - her immune system was shutting down by the hour and so Sue made the difficult decision let her go and join the big kennel in the sky.  Not easy for us and Harri (the black labrador) looks utterly lost without his companion.  Di, in her hay day, was a reserve champion at Crufts and had had two litters of pups before joining Sue 8 years ago. She also had the most enormous soft paws I have ever seen on a dog!  She will be sorely missed!

In memory of Di I made a chicken curry in a Tarka Massala sauce with basmati rice and poppadoms. Not an otter in sight!   It was one of the Hairy bikers recipes from one of the BBC Good food magazines - not too spicy but enough to give your lips a reminder that there were chillis in the dish!   Wednesday was "comfort food" - sausages and mash in onion gravy!  I did the onions as outlined in the recipe book which suggested that they needed to be cooked and softened in butter over a low heat for an hour!  The result was fantastic with the gravy having a deep rich red colour and a beautifully sweet taste to accompany the bangers!  On Thursday night Matt and Jonny joined us for supper - sirloin steak and  fat chips with roasted tomatoes and stuffed field mushrooms with a peppercorn sauce!  I have to admit that I cheated a bit and bought the peppercorn sauce from Marks and Spencers but I did make the rest of the meal!  The deep fat fryed chips were par boiled, chilled and then blanched fryed for a minute, chilled again and then dep fat fryed before serving.  My new aquisition, the deep fat fryer, was bought for £20 from a man in the pub - a bargain!  The mushrooms were stuffed with soft cream cheese and Worcestershire sauce and topped with shallots, pine nuts and breadcrumbs.  The verdict - the boys liked the sauce!  I liked it all but the mushrooms were a bit too rich!  Still we live and learn!

The other bit of news for this week is that I have managed to fix up some work experience in a restaurant in Cardiff!  On 15th March I will be spending 5 days in Woods Bar and Brasserie in Cardiff Bay - a sample of life at the sharp end!

Tenby this weeekend to relax, watch the rugby and eat out!  I'll be asking a few searching questions of the restaurants!!

More food news and further developments in the life of the Grange Gardener next week!