Fish pie for the daddy and the husband

Fish pie for tea.

Mr Lardshow is writing today's blog as Mrs Lardshow is feeling very rough. So....all week she has  been telling me that she has never made a fish pie before...so im here to say for a first attempt it was amazing!

We managed to get a fish pie mix from our little supermarket from the reduced section (wasn't even close to it's sell by date so no idea why it was in there) and we chose to make enough mash potato on Sunday to top it off. Now I'd love to tell you all how she made it but it was done while I was at work. I know it involved poaching the fish in milk, turning this milk into a white sauce. Put the fish into a bowl while you make this sauce then pour the sauce over it all. Top this with the potato (grate some parmesan over to taste) and bake for 40 mins at 185 degrees.  This bit I know as it's the bit I did!

Then you sit back and tuck in. Defend the pie at all times from Finn but make sure you save him some at the end!

P. S. Daddy enjoyed his too.

Mash Lollipops

Hello all,

It's been a slow day here, I seemed to sleep through the morning. I say seemed, I did. It's taken me hours to get moving today, I seem to live my life in reverse, I wake up more as the day goes by. Much to Mr Lardshow's annoyance, especially at 11pm!

Anyway, the washing got done and it is out! I know people, out, and it still hasn't rained! Yet...

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find the energy to go back to yoga, I really enjoyed it last week and I really want to get some strength back in my weary, knackeredy body. Then, hopefully, Jill and Sandra from my pain management group are going to come over for some coffee and cake in the afternoon. Can you tell that talk form the dietitian had absolutely no impact on us whatsoever.

We're going to have this;

just out of the oven...

All iced up...I really want a slice...

Almond Tart. Don't tell Mr Lardshow though. He hates almonds. Shame isn't it. We are going to feel duty bound to eat it all up! I really hope they come, we were all talking last week about making links with others in the group and I'd love to find some people to spend time with during the long days.

Dinner tonight is mash, veg and a turkey steak for him...I didn't know you could have turkey steak but apparently so...I haven't really got the energy to make a fancy dinner, I managed to do the mash but that's about as exciting as it's going to get I'm afraid. Would you like to see the mash? here it is...

You just have to have a mash lollipop, it has to be done. How else would one know if it was perfect? Sadly one lollipop turns into seven and then there's hardly any left! 

I'm going to sign off now, there's gravy to be made and mash to be tested. One last pic for you all, this is our lovely, blissful little kitchen. 

The best present my parents ever gave me. 

Thank you xBx 

I cooked a chicken (but forgot to take any photos)

Good evening my lovely readers,
Well I am cream crackered! It's been a busy couple of days and (don't tell the pain management ladies) I haven't been pacing at all. I've managed quite a few things that I'm really proud of. I drove on my own for the first time in months yesterday, I went to yoga, I did a shop, I went to pain management and today I cooked a whole chicken!

Mr Lardshow's parents have come down for the weekend for the first time so I am in a house full of Lardshows and meat eaters, the cats are in heaven! So after much debate about what to cook for them we decided on a roast chicken. Up to this point I have got away with just cooking pieces of meat but today I bit the bullet (not the chicken) and had a go. After trawling through my cookery books I found a nice simple recipe from the voluptuous Nigella. Mr Lardshow was dispatched to a good butchers and bought a high quality free range chicken. Hopefully the chicken had a happy, clucky life.

The happy chuck was popped in the oven with lemon, potatoes, shallots and a whole bulb of garlic sliced in half with some olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Lots of mathematical doings were done to calculate how long it needed to be in the oven but in the end I opted for going and having a bath and leaving the responsibility of the chicken to Mr Lardshow. As Baldrick sort of used to say 'I had a cunning plan'!

So, by the time I got out of the bath the chicken was done and all we needed to do was put the Yorkshire puddings in, warm through the mash and steam the veggies. Dinner was done! As is now the norm, I spend all of dinnertime staring at people's plates quizzing them on whether the meat is cooked and hoping it tastes ok. Tonight though I had the added bonus of Mr Lardshow senior constantly offering me random bits of chicken to taste for myself...I declined!

Anyway dinner was a success, our bellies are full and we've collapsed onto the sofa to watch the end of the tennis.

It's nearly bedtime now, I'm really tired and I REALLY want to have the energy to go and see the Olympic Flame in Lichfield. I want to be a part of it in my 'Official Team GB' hoodie in spite of the pain. Cross those fingers! Night Night all xBx

Mash. Mash. Mash.

So we had mash and it was good mash and it filled our tummies and made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I spilled most of it down me. This is my life, I sleep, I wake up, I think about what to cook, I cook, I eat, I spill, I wash.
Talking of washing, It has just taken me half an hour to hang the washing out. Beautiful blue skies when I started, spots of rain by the time I'd finished. Why does everything take me so long? Why won't it stop raining? I don't actually mind it not being hot I just hate having damp washing all around the house!
Right, back to the mash...I do worry that it's actually more butter than potato, but I'm pretty sure that can't be a bad thing can it? Butter's yellow so it must be good for you and after all I do have a B in Home Economics and I'm sure Mrs Hodge said butter is a five a day! Our mash has been revolutionised since we got a potato ricer. I would urge anyone who loves mash to get a ricer, they just turn potatoes into the most heavenly, buttery, pillows of love...deep sigh!
In other news I'm hoping to try and do some baking today if i can find the energy and stay awake. I haven't baked since hospital but I miss it so. I'm supposed to be increasing one of my tablets today but it's going to just send me to sleep...hmmm. If I do manage to bake I'm going to try and put a whole recipe up here. I know, exciting! Right I'm off to attempt some sit down ironing...