Getting back in the groove..

This year has been a real struggle to get back into blogging, to the point of often feeling like giving up- not something I have lightly considered as last week saw my blog's 9th birthday! January was mostly consisting of exhaustion, which turned out my vitamin D was low and the magic pills have got me back functioning but then in February I had to undergo some rather a raft of unpleasant gastro tests, which saw me either not being able to eat or wanting to so the cooking has not been happening and as a result neither has the blog!! I've had something called Reflux Oesophagitis (on top of IBS and functional dyspepsia), which basically you don't want any of but its played havoc with my appetite and I am still recovering, along with other things still being investigated.. the fun never stops!

Anyway just as I started to get my groove back and contemplate blogging, the laptop spectacularly gave up the ghost and at one point I thought I had lost everything, including all my food photos! Luckily I have managed to claw back most of my lost stuff after many a wasted evening but the laptop despite a new hard drive, adaptor and a few other components is still not quite perfect so it may well end up back in the repair shop this weekend...if I can face being without it yet again! Oh and our other fridge broke which has been a disaster involving a replacement that didn't work and a brand new one - just what you need when the car is also due its MOT.. anyway new fridge is lovely, and huge and I plan to fill it so I can start properly cooking again!

There has been some cooking going on at least - my appetite is definitely back! This was the whole cauliflower cheese I made for Easter Sunday - it was amazing if I do say so myself! I gently poached the cauliflower for a few minutes first, then laid it on a bed of its green leaves then basically drowned it in a mustard cheese sauce, with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs before being baked to loveliness! It was a huge hit with all of us!

So thanks for bearing with me - I do promise a real recipe again soon!

Why you should always back-up your pc..

This week has been mostly spent either at work, which is great, I really am loving my job, or not so great sat hunched over the laptop slowly but surely restoring all my 'lost' data, probably too much alcohol and a few expletives scattered in between. After a week in the repairers, its had a new hard drive, some techy cable thing and another new adaptor. The hard drive had hidden documents, aka 'deleted' which affected the cloud storage that I have been using and after no help from them I finally figured out where they were hiding ... and I am still only on downloading photos.. all 8,299 of them...I had stored them also in a flickr cloud, which has informed me the free option is ending in 9 days.. and I have another potential backup via some graphic software I bought but typically its not accepting my coupon code..so am waiting to hear from their support team... I think.. got in a bit of a pickle figuring it out! I am fairly clued up on tech but this week has definitely been a challenge of my technical knowledge! I will be definitely one way or another more carefully looking at my backing up options now!! Oh, also some of the documents decided to become corrupt so its been a very un-fun times!

So blogging, well has completely fallen off the radar frankly! Between IT failure and being rather busy in my 'real' job there has not been a huge amount of exciting cooking going on! I've been struggling a bit to stand for long periods too due to foot pain, so there has been no baking either despite the urge to bake! We have had some good meals though on less busy evenings, frankly I am amazed I cooked anything after the hours spent over the laptop, though I did rather over-brown a few meals!!

My blog is coming up to 9 years old soon. So much has changed. This is the year I think I will either give it a real good shot or give up. Its about 50/50 at the moment! At the moment my folders are in moderate chaos but I did find a few photos!

This is sweet and sour swede with bacon, from a recipe I tore out a magazine ages back, topped with a fried egg because I felt it needed it! Was a really nice change from typical mashed swede, definitely one to make again:

Despite being on a self imposed cookery book plan, I really could not resist this copy of Julia Childs's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' - it was a mere pound in the hospice shop! How I could I resist bearing in mind I was left unsupervised! I have a pretty impressive selection of cuisines but surprisingly barely any French ones! I think the original owner has never looked inside it!

So please carry on bearing with me whilst I slowly rebuild my laptop.. I will try and be back soon!