Roast dinner

Roast chicken with cauliflower, carrots, mashed sweet potato, roast potatoes and gravy

Followed by homemade tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream

Bonus food

Using the extra hour on a Sunday morning to indulge in a cooked breakfast

Cavolo nero

Using some of the cavolo nero from the veg box in a pasta sauce.

Cooked with sausagemeat, fennel, chilli, onion, garlic and wine

Japanese dinner

Tried eating somewhere different - Sukiyaki, in St Albans. All in all, an odd dining experience. We went for the Sukiyaki menu. It started with broccoli in sauce, then a dish of braised vegetables (neither shown), before a small bowl of miso soup

Then for the sukiyaki. A plate of thinly sliced beef, and fresh raw vegetables was brought to the table. It looked great!

This was then simmered at the table, with a mixture of soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Served with steamed rice.

Followed by fresh fruit.

Interesting though the whole experience was, we shan't go back. The whole restaurant was a bit odd. Decor looked like it hadn't been updated in 30 years, windows all steamed up due to all the plants, and in a large room never more than two tables occupied at any point. All of this would have been fine had we enjoyed the food, but sadly we didn't. The soup was excellent, but the rest not really that nice! At £30 a head we could see why it was empty, particularly with a bustling Wagamama's 200 metres away in the town centre.

Veg box is back

We've reinstated the delivery of a fortnightly veg box

Much of the benefit is in the excitement of getting new things, and and not being sure what you'll get

This week: sweet potatoes, onions, avocados, carrots, cauliflower, cavolo nero, cherry tomatoes, field mushrooms and soda bread

Warming winter food

Some nice juicy pork chops, marinaded in mustard, olive oil, garlic and rosemary

Cauliflower cheese

Served together with a green salad

The pork chops were nice and thick, so I could cook them slowly and they didn't dry out

More game

Pot roasting a pheasant, with marsala, bacon, onions, carrots and thyme

Served with creamed celeriac, carrots and a gravy made with the juices from the pot

Macaroni cheese

With cheddar and parmesan, and topped with cherry tomatoes

New recipe

Pan frying girolles and chestnut mushrooms with garlic, thyme, butter and olive oil

Flash frying some venison steaks with juniper berries

Served with a celeriac puree, and a port and redcurrent sauce

With a bitter leaf salad in a mustard seed and basil dressing

A great recipe - definitely one to repeat

Quick Sunday supper

Fish finger muffins with spinach

Sunday lunch

A good mushroom risotto, with a good mix of mushrooms, including some dried porcini

Italian lunch

Cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, toasted olive bread and cured pork shoulder. The meat was from Shropshire, and very tasty.

Healthy pasta

A quick tomato, spinach and goats' cheese pasta sauce for a Friday night supper

Chicken Kiev

Freshly picked lettuce, chicken kiev and chips

Pub grub

Ham, egg and chips in Wrexham. All excellent.

Good work food

Lunches from a training course at the Wallacespace in Covent Garden, London

Good, healthy food. Day one was a meatball and spicy sauce dish with great salads.

Day two was hot-smoked salmon with cracked wheat and a horseradish cream