Kamikaze Cook Returns Sweet Potato Dauphinoise

Welcome to another edition of Claires Kamizae cooks where I put Michelin chefs to shame in my Kamizae nature of cooking of cooking on a whim and a prayer.

Ingredients 

A few sweet potatoes 

100 ml of milk 

Splurge of cream 

And that bit of cream cheese Philadelphia thrown in as well 

Crushed garlic to taste 

Springs of thyme ( make sure your don't leave any woody pits in ) 

Chopped onion ( chopped like a ninja )

Grated cheese of choice

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200 c / or 180c if a fan oven that’s around Gas Mark 6 

Fry the onion you’ve chopped like a ninja along with the thyme , salt pepper and garlic for 10 minutes until they have softened.

With the onions softened add the milk and cream to the pan and simmer, this will infuse the garlic and herbs in the cream.

Meanwhile carefully silver the potatoes thinly and evenly layer half the sweet potatoes into an oven proof dish.Then pour half of the onions in the milk and cream over the potatoes .

Then put the remaining slices of sweet potato into the dish and pour over the remaking milk and cream.

Grate the your cheese of choice over the top and bake for 40-45 minutes until the potatoes are soft all the way through.

Black Cats Take The Best Selfies

You might have seen in the news that Black cats are being ignored because they don’t take very good selfies ! This is utter poppycock if you choose your cat just on its selfie potential alone that’s really sad.

Black cats have a reputation for being unlucky so there onto a paw ( poor ) footing from the start you might say. Black cats are fearless and are Black panthers in miniature Jack my black cat takes the best selfies! and regularly features on my blog.

So if you in the look out for a cat you’ll not do better than a black cat as they’ve got a lot of love to give.

I mean look ( points upwards ) how full of character and cheek are black cats ?! (Points down)

Black cats are super and they’ve love to give just like any other cat ( mainly if your holding treats or their cat food )


Disclosure Technically a selfie is a picture you take yourself my cat is clever but it hasn't mastered taking pictures yet....

Living Life Like Thelma And Louise

SO what is it actually like when you are child free , foot loose and fancy free as a couple after you've deposited your child at university ,dried your tears , and visited a few times. Well of course you keep visiting it's not like you're going to let them going feral although I fear this might have already happened.And I love visiting York and I am angling to get my husband to visit Bettys tea rooms either in York itself or in Harrogate though I think he may eye roll at the price ( you can have as many sandwiches as you like but are limited on cake )

I am not ready to join Saga yet and when I am not getting sinus infection and having antibiotics , I am getting throat infections and then onto 10 days of Penicillin (which equates to 80 tablets ) or as my phone typed 10 days of penguins , though I honestly think 10 days of Penguins would be more jolly fun.

WELL it's like Thelma and Louise it really is , only without Brad Pitt and going off the end of a cliff and anyway I can't drive which I am sure is not an  issue if you following this particular course of action , it is being able to go to the Garden Centre without a teenager sighing or tutting or being able to go to visit a pottery at example at Middleport.

Middleport is a darling pottery and is sweet as the whiskers on kittens and chock full of atmosphere and history and well worth a visit as there is a lovely tea room as well serving of course tea and a basic range of food to fuel you for your visit.

It was quiet when I and my husband visited and I rather like that at times not having the throng of people jostling you , the ability to wander round and mooch is refreshing in this day and age.

Ever Think About A Kindness ?

Ever think about a kindness you didn’t  do but could have done ? I did and it was a hat I didn't return to a child at school but could have done .... I just saw it on my way out the hall but I was on my way home and half thought about returning the hat which would have taken time out my day . 

Now I do take time out of my day for  kindness in fact kindness is in my nature so naturally I’m kind but if I don’t do something on the odd ocassion I do feel a twinge of mini guilt like not completing that kind action will somehow impact upon the cosmos. Just the same perhaps as the person who doesn’t say thank you when I hold a door open then you get the folk who are opportunists and run through whilst you are holding the door open.

Kindness is simple and doesn’t have to be complicated it’s just with or without thought , the simplessness of kindness is just part of me but I can’t help think sometimes of the kindness I missed of could of done as if it might have some causality upon the world.

I’m of a different era I really am , I’m 15 years older then I really am in my soul I’m not old fashioned but my soul is of a different time and place.

Even when I was 4 I was aware that I had a different soul I wasn’t the average 4 year old watching black and white movies , having my own adventures and different friendships.

So you ever think about a kindness ?

Pork One Pot Meal

I feel it’s been January forever and ever but I thought I’d break through the permanent greyness of the sky and head out through the gentle sleet or so I thought. I convinced my husband to drive us to a Pottery near Stoke.No harm ever came of a simple trip out and a cup of tea.

That’s what I thought I mean the roads hadn’t been gritted which I thought they would of done if it was going to be so very perilous.

So after a bit we beat a hasty retreat to home after seeing a smart car that had gone into the central barrier and was being assisted by the emergency services.

Once safely deposited at home after copious amounts of tea I thought about getting organised for tea and it was to be roast pork with everything else cooked with it so I didn’t have to think about various other pots and pans.

So as I had a joint of Pork I thought I would do a one pot roast ( in a oven proof dish )

Ingredients 

One Pork joint 35 minutes per 500g then an extra 35 minutes

Potatoes

Sweetcorn ( I had mini sweetcorn )

Snap peas

Any veg of your choice really


Method

Preheat your oven to around 190 c

If you want crackling on your pork joint score the fat  and salt appropriately

Spending on the size of your potatoes add them around 45 minutes before the end of the cook ( you could par boil them if you want a really roasty potato )

Then as I was having mini sweetcorn and sugar snap peas I added the sweetcorn 20 minutes before the end of the cook and the sugar snap peas 10 minutes before the end.

The crackling was not quite ready so when the joint was ready I took that of and gave the crackling an extra cook.

I have never attempted crackling before but it turned out well and I used some left over crackling and pork in another meal which in my case was  pork noodle meal with the crackling on top.