Following Sunday's excitement of meeting other Hivers in Hitchin, this week has been fairly average in comparison. Work has been mega busy which has left me lacking much energy or drive in the evenings. I've then not felt too great these last few days as my kidneys haven't quite been doing what they should. Nothing serious but leaves one feeling pretty rotten. On the up side, I've managed to sleep quite a bit (well needed), and finish my book (about bloody time!).

The book is The Ashes of London by James Taylor, is the first in a series and well, was pretty marvellous to be honest. It's set in 1666 London during and after the Fire of London. It's a combination of stories between James Marwood (son of a traitor and government informer) and Catherine (Cat) Lovett. It's a crime novel and Andrew Taylor manages to paint a wonderful picture of the sights, sounds and smells of that time. I'll definitely tackle the remaining books at some point.

Other than that, the week has been one of food! We've tried a few new dishes, some made up, some from Hello Fresh and an old favourite.

Slow roast Greek style lamb with tomato and olive sauce.

This is the old favourite and is absolutely lovely. On this occasion my 10 year old requested it as a treat so who was I to deny her! Half a leg of lamb was roasted at 140 (ish) for around 4 hours. It was coated in the zest and juice of a lemon, salt, grated garlic, olive oil and dried oregano all mixed together in a mortar and pestle. I generally add about a pint of water to the bottom of the roasting tin and tightly cover with foil. The foil is removed and the temp increased to 160 for around 20 mins just to brown the meat at the end.

The roast potatoes are simply par boiled for around 8 mins then roasted in olive oil. The veggies were cooked in a pan with a glass of water, olive oil and lemon juice.

The sauce is simply a tin or two of tomatoes added to the lamb juices once the fat has been skimmed, and as many olives as you like added. Any sauce you have left goes brilliantly as a sauce for pasta either on its own or with any leftover lamb (shredded) and veg (chopped).

Prosciutto wrapped chicken salad.

Another picked by the 10 year old. Simply wrap a chicken breast (or 3) in prosciutto (or pancetta) and roast. Service this sliced on gem lettuce, shopped cherry tomatoes, cucumber and some avocado. As you can tell I quite like parmesan cheese! I added olive oil and balsamic as a dressing along with sunflower seeds. This is a good one for anyone on keto.

Korma spiced pork pilaf (Hello Fresh meal)

This was so simple, quick and delicious. Simply rice cooked in turmeric, then added to pork mince that has been browned and had a grated clove of garlic added. Once the rice and pork were mixed, korma paste, peas, chicken stock paste and some mango chutney were mixed in. I added a class of water just to loosen it up a little. It was drizzled with yogurt before serving. This one got me a massive thumbs up!

A great way to get turmeric in your diet even if you're not a fan. It's amazingly good for you I gather.

One meal I didn't take a photo of was a cod version of the Greek lamb - certainly much healthier! We've been trying frozen fish recently and I was wondering how to make the frozen cod a little more exciting. To cook I just mixed a tin of tomatoes, some chopped olives and lemon juice to a small baking tin, placed the frozen cod on top, covered and then baked for 30mins (as instructed on the packet). Turned out better than I had expected!