Oh boy….

So, I entered NaNoWriMo, which for all you non-hipsters out there, is National Novel Writing Month. The basic idea is that over the course of 30 days in November, you write a novel of 50,000 words. That averages out roughly to 1700 words per day.

My face right now:

I made a start yesterday, but not in the best environment (a bar) and managed 500 words, so that relieves the pressure today……NOT. At the same time, I´ve also been doing a creative writing course which could´t want more blood if it tried. I was concerned that maybe it would suck the life force out of me, but it´s actually given me a bit of a kick. Not to say it´s easy, it´s BLOODY HARD. It´s day one and I have spent most of the time sucking my thumb, eating biscuits and wondering what´s on TV.

But I will persevere!

As far as food related happenings go, I´m going to be trying out some of the recipes from the Eat Well For Less cookbook I linked to in my last post.

Happy weekend all!

Apologies!

I am sorry for not writing in weeks! I have gone back to work and been rushed off my feet, then I was sick and blah…..

Anyway…

Food time!

So, the best thing I made recently was a delicious duck soup, with chillies, noodles and lots of delicious coriander. Is it me or does everything look better with coriander on top?

This is a recipe that was originally devised by Gizzi Erskine, but I adapted it slightly. Mainly because I was on my lunch break and in a rush, so I left out some of the ingredients and ´boiled it down´(lawl) to a much quicker time frame.

Please forgive the picture, my flash is far too bright!

Recipe:

1 x duck leg

Salt

Pepper

1 tbsp honey

100g noodles (any type will do)

1 litre chicken stock

1 inch of ginger, peeled and chopped

1 crushed garlic clove

2 tbsp oyster sauce

3 shitake mushrooms, or really, any mushrooms

2 handfuls of Pak Choi

4 spring onions, chopped

1 red chilli, chopped but not deseeded

A few sprinkles of mint

1. Roast the duck leg for about 45 minutes, until the skin is crispy. Pour some olive oil on top, to prevent it from drying out,

2. Mix together honey and soy sauce,  and marinate the duck leg in it. Cook gently over a low heat, until it is sticky. Then remove. Wait until it is cool then shred the meat.

3. Cook the noodles, drain them and leave to one side.

4. Put the stock, ginger and garlic in a large pan, add the oyster sauce, a splash of soy sauce.

5. Add the mushrooms, Pak choi, noodles, spring onions and duck.

6. Boil it all together, then serve with the mint and chilli on top.

Et voila!

I believe this is really healthy, and perfect if you have a cold. It´s the season, right?

And to leave you, a video of my boyfriend shuffling cards like a PRO.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10101035052977941&set=vb.61006015&type=2&theater