Back aboard...

We had a great weekend in Wales visiting Mum and Dad. Later Saturday we were taken out for dinner to the Ship in Tresaith a few miles up the coast. The pub is above a rugged little cove which points directly west, you get some lovely sunsets over here (and about half an hour more light in the evenings). 

We went clubbin Cardigan style on Sunday. That meant Golf club for a drink (full membership is less than I used to pay for use of a driving range on the South coast) and then on to the Boating club for another drink :) before going home for a Sunday roast and watching a wholly inappropriate DVD in front of Granddad - he took it all in his stride as usual.  

Sadly we had to get the car back to Daventry by lunchtime Monday which we managed with time spare to stop for a coffee somewhere near Redditch. We had decided to take the long way round heading towards Cardiff, across the Severn and up through Gloucester to avoid any snowy parts.

The wind hadn't abated when we got back to LJ in Napton and it was still bloomin cold. I swept the chimney quickly and we got the fire lit. It was just above freezing so I was glad that I had done a mini drain down of the water system.

I bought Dad a spice Dabba for Christmas but, tsk tsk, he hasn't made use of it yet. He has forgotten how good he was at making curry back in the early 80's and how his mates Nick and Paul used to come round on a Saturday evening for a good old curry binge long before there was anywhere in west Wales to get a takeaway. The closest thing you could get to a curry was a Vesta pre-packed dehydrated something or other. So for Dad and Jess (who loves curries and cooking for friends on her day off) I have written a mini curry course that I developed to get the maximum amount of fresh flavours for my curries and a simple way to get them tasting fairly similar every time, it even includes ahow to make Paneer. It also uses a couple of key simple stages so it is quite easy to make a few different dishes from one starting point - I expect a curry banquet next time I visit, all homemade!!

I do think that it is important to be able to cook what you like to eat when living aboard for two reasons. Firstly some of us haven't got the budged to pay for the takeaways and restaurant meals that we used to when we lived in bricks and mortar; secondly, even if we have got the necessary funds how often are we moored in the middle of nowhere when we really fancy a curry, sweet 'n' sour or pizza?

My two Spice Dabba's

I have added it to a new tab at the top of my home page along with anything else recipe-wise I have put on the blog. It is quite a lot of reading but worth it - well if you like curry ;)