Holiday Pics...PARADISE and some Thai food.

Non photoshopped pics...actually this gorgeous and what's great is it feels like it never happened.

Nham Whan (Nelly) 2.5yrs, strong on the pitch

Fresh caught Seabass

Which I chose to have deep fried...upps, just fancied it!! I'd been healthy up until that point!

I didn't eat these but they looked so good.

The most people ever on the beach at one time.

:-) A good 8 hours, practically a work day looking out at this :-)

Few drinks daily to get through the trauma of having to watch this go down.

Chilli pepper squid..really peppery, loads of fresh black and white pepper LOADS!

Perfect with a little beer at lunch. 

1 x clove of garlic crushed then finely sliced

Big glug of oil

1 x tbsp of fresh black pepper- big generous one

1/2 red chilli finely sliced-medium sized chilli=medium spice/sml chilli= hottttttt

2cm piece of ginger crushed and finely sliced then cubed.

Fry it all up and season with a dash of fish sauce and a dash of soy.

Add the sliced squid into the sauce once you've cooked it on a high heat for a few minutes and cook the squid for a further 2mins, it will curl up further once it's cooked through.

YUM (and NO carbs!!)

YUM

Freshly caught that day...

More YUM

Loved the chefs on hand to cook whichever fish you wanted and whichever way you wanted, steamed, fried, poached and bbq'd.

This beach every day x 11 days

Similan Islands..top 10 diving site world wide, sand so white, sea SO blue and loads of fish just like Nemo. Shame about the tourist speed boat with the mentalist tour guide Sean who'd stayed at the party a bit too long :-(

LOADS OF THAILAND STUFF COMING>>>

And The Other Christmas...(Bit late!!!)

Copas Very Very Special Turkeys...

Dad very pleased with his very very special Turkey...

2 and 3/4 hours of cooking...It's dry plucked so it takes half the time :-)

No Christmas Day roast is complete without pigs in blankets and a few fresh sprigs of thyme.

Dads meatloaf- He make them every year, soaks them in port for a day before he cooks them...obsessed. We usually make 2 so we can eat half of one as soon as it comes out of the oven.

And bread sauce...another essential in the Christmas roast.

2 x slices of white bread

5 cloves

50g of salted butter

2 bay leaves

Pint of milk

Salt & Black Pepper

Dash of White pepper

Simmer on a low heat until smooth and sloppy- reheat when ready.

Cheese sauce for the cauliflower cheese and leeks.

Steam or boil your veg

In the mean time make a roux and add in your cheese.

100g of salted butter

30g of plain flour

Sprinkle of salt and black pepper

1 pint of milk- ideally semi skinned or full fat

Big teaspoon of english mustard

On a low heat, melt your butter, then slowly add in the flour and mustard, salt and pepper. Keep whisking it the whole time, once they've mixed and are in a smooth paste start slowly adding the milk, keep whisking the whole time, gently adding the milk until it thickens, this may take a good 10 mins or so. Add 250g of mature cheddar- grated and mix until dissolved. If it's not cheesey enough add a lump of blue cheese.

Bake over the veg for 25mins on 180, not too higher heat as the sauce will split- also make sure you've thoroughly drained the water off the veg.

This is how your roasties should look once they've been boiled for 10 mins and bashed up a bit. Let them cool then add them to hot oil, beef dripping or goose fat. Add a few lumps of butter 20 mins before they're done and they'll cripsin up even more.

Add you rosemary 15 mins before serving so the taste is as strong as possible :-)

Crispy bacon, thyme, loads of butter and pine nuts in with the sprouts :-)

Little Poppy in her new get up <3

Lils helping me unwrap my present...while on a short break from playing schools, running away from monsters and just being busy in general.

My fancy Christmas Present LOVE IT...fancy soup dish :-)

Great roasties and loads of crispy bits, as there should be!!

Dad did the Jamie Oliver gravy, roasted chicken wings and veg...worth the time and worth every penny, good gravy is key!!!

And this picture doesn't do the roast justice...it was next level!!

Keen to get stuck in

BESTEST present EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR :-) :-) :-)

Christmas day leftovers...turn pie filling.

Mashed it all up added a load of turkey- white and brown meat then added a pot of creme fraiche salt and pepper and job done.

Puff pastry in a pie dish, then add your filling the puff pastry lid and cover whisked egg.

Cook on 190 for 30 mins

This lasted a good few days...dished it out to everyone that dropped by :-)

Mothers Great Meatloafy Sausage Slice Recipe & Christmas Pics

More beefeater plates...my favourites :-)

Christmas Day Breakfast-

Toasted Bagel

Butter

Cream Cheese (full fat)

Avocado- ripe and ready to go

Sweet Pickled Gherkins 

Salt & Pepper

So easy and SO good.

Nan & Granddad...using a bit of modern technology, Skype! :-)

Christmassy

Mum & Bro

Nan & Gramps rocking a cap at 83!!

Nan in a bit of House of Holland...LOVE this!!

You're right it is rude!!

I forgot to take a pic but trust me when I say Mothers stuffing slice is top notch-

She combines the following and roasts it-

250g sausage meat

250g mince beef

Cooked Chestnuts x 1 pack

Paxo stuffing mix x sml pack

Bacon lardons

1 x egg

1 x generous sprinkle of herb de provence/oregano

Salt & pepper

1x handful of dried cranberries

Cook on 180 for 50mins or until crispy round the edges.

Mother does it in a cake tin then serves up slices, you can also cook this in the neck of the turkey or in a meatloaf tin.

It's FIT

Bro in the spirit of things/scoffing