Cooking With Richard

When I was in the supermarket last week they had a special offer on cans of beans, so I was thinking about something to do with chicken and beans … This recipe for a chicken cassoulet seemed to fit the bill. It starts out good, with a thick, tasty red wine source. But at the end they add 2 pints of stock, mustard, lemon etc. which just dilute the flavour and/or have no discernable effect. So this could have been good, but in reality was tasteless.

Thanks N-sama & Natsumi (for the noodles and everything else)!

Perfect junk food, in a can:

Update

This is OKONOMIAKI that I made!

Savoury crêpes with a variety of fillings:

and cookies:

Thanks Natsumi for the huge box of food and these TOKIKI. Next time you come I will make Jamie’s steak and ale pie for you. It’s very english and I’m sure you’ll like it.

In the meantime, here is a picture from the Piccadilly Line. カラスがちかてつにのっています！

Home-made chicken kiev with purple mashed potato, made with “salad blue” potatoes.

Possibly trametes versicolor:

Near Potters Crouch.

Stollen cake is a German Christmas cake, very rich, very sweet, made with fruit, marzipan and a soft cake-like bread. I made it today for J-san’s visit tomorrow. It’s quite easy, here is the recipe that I’m following. There is a seam of marzipan running through the middle. Marzipan tastes great and is easy to make, but N-sama doesn’t like it …

Update

It doesn’t really taste like supermarket stollen cake, but it’s still a very nice fruit/marzipan cake. Here’s a photo, note the delicious marzipan in the middle:

But hang about, SOMEONE doesn’t like marzipan and she left it all …

The highlight of going out to Akari on Essex Road last night was drinking Tantakatan, shochu made from shiso leaves. (Tantakatan’s terrible website here). It also turns out this is quite cheap in Japan. We bought a bottle online for my brother-in-law for six quid including delivery. Highly recommended, drink cold with a little ice.