Happy Easter!

This week sees the return to golf of Tiger Woods - that's his photograph just in case you don't know what he looks like!  I have been amused by a the rumour that in deference to Mr Woods that they are going to rename the Masters, "The Mistresses" and that when he hits a wayward drive off the tee, the gallery will undoubtedly shout that well known golf warning "Whore!". I was alerted to a story that the Times on line ran earlier in the week which also amused me - the headline read, "Vienna Boys Choir in sex scandal" - the Times correspondent who wrote the expose? - Roger Boyes !  Brilliant!!

More culinary deeds this week - my pasties are becoming a much requested item on the lunch menu in the house and in the sons house so the ham, pea and mint pasties that I made on Monday had all but disappeared by Tuesday so with the rest of the ham that I'd boiled,  I made a ham and pea veloute!  A good old spaghetti bolognese and a red thai chicken curry with sweet potatoes and red lentils were the orders for Tuesday and Wednesday dinners.  I tried my hand at pork escalopes in breadcrumbs with boulangere potatoes on Thursday - not half bad,  although the pork was a little too thick, I'll have to bash it thinner next time!  The climax of the week came with Friday's dinner - confit of duck leg with a spicy victoria plum sauce on a bed of buttered mash and wilted baby spinach!  I spent all morning cooking the duck legs slowly in duck fat and made the spicy sauce.  I got the recipe from the internet and I can't think of anything else that plum sauce would go with - if  you have any suggestions, let me know!  It involved boiling 4 plums, muscavado sugar, balsamic vinegar and 2 finely diced small red chillis until it all became mushy - about 20 minutes!  I then blitzed it in a liquidiser and poured the thick sauce back into a pan.  It was divine!  Sweet, rich and hot!  I would have preferred it slightly more acidic so perhaps less sugar next time!  The dinner was met with much approval so a good one for a dinner party and next time I'll try pan fried duck breast.  Today we dine en famille -that's if Jonny has recovered from his 23rd birthday bash last night - roast chicken and I'm going to try and make a melon sorbet for pudding!

This week has also seen my application for a part time job!  It's almost a year to the day since my redundancy so maybe it's time to get back into the world of work - the job? - No, not a chef - a till assistant in Halford's!  The hours are Mon - Fri 2pm  - 5pm, so it wouldn't interfere with golf and the extra money would come in handy!  I saw the job adverised in the shop when I was buying something last week and happened to mention it to Wattsie over a pint.  He fell about laughing saying I was 40 years too old and the wrong gender and anyway people of my age didn't get jobs like that!  Right I thought, I'll show him!  So I marched into the shop, asked to see the manager and got an application form.  I duly filled it in in my best  joined up handwriting and sent it off!  I think I'd look good in orange and black.  As yet I haven't heard anything so maybe Wattsie was right?  Never mind, I'm sure Cardiff City will be offering me a job soon, my mate John works for them and he says I'm just what they're looking for!  Yeah! Right!

Finally this week, the puppy classes have started.  Every Tuesday night for the next 10 weeks, Poppy goes to school!  In comparison to the rest of her class mates she is small.  I think she was the runt of the litter but Sue won't have it!  She is very good at sitting and staying though - Poppy, not Sue - but still wants to chew Harri to bits!  Sometimes he likes it and sometimes he doesn't so a little nudge with his head, which is half the size of her body, does the trick and sends her scuttling behind one of the chairs!