Preserved Lemon Pants

Yesterday I learned not to open a difficult jar of juicy preserved lemon while wearing freshly cleaned clothes. You know how it is ... you can't open it any other way so you brace the jar between your thighs and use all your arm-muscle strength (such as it is) to wrench it open. And then lots of juice goes down your pants. At least preserved lemon juice smells rather nice.

I also learned that prawns, sambal olek (chilli paste), tomato and preserved lemon are an interesting combination for a pasta sauce. Odd. I'm not sure how much I liked it, but my husband said he did. He suggested it as a casual yet impressive dinner party entree. I do enjoy trying new recipes, but many are outright flops or are similar to but not quite as good as something you already make. This one was at least very different.

I think a real gourmet chef would be both impressed and horrified by my fridge and pantry. I have lots of fancy things like those mentioned above, jars of anchovies and capers and sundried tomato pesto, tins of crabmeat, garlic and ginger and olives and camembert and parmasen and pinenuts and seasalt and all that stuff. But also ultra-processed cheese and 2 minute noodles. And I think the fluffy orange cupcakes would be popular anywhere.

Speaking of which, one on-line gaming guild I was in used to call me 'cupcake' because I always seemed to be baking when I was chatting to them. Ahh ... teasing people half a world away with tales of rasperry muffins warm and fragrant from the oven, choc chip cookies still gooey in the centre, tart passionfruit curd in light pastry.

I wonder why I am a bit overweight.