The Chinese Elvis

Check this out, decided to make dinner tonight, felt like cooking and Leeann's had a tough day with the kids. Not sure if I mention this but I'm reading and learning about Spanish food, I focus on a different cuisine every year as if really allows you to get under the culture and cuisine. Anyway, knocked up a few dishes.

• Chicken with saffron and sherry
• Chorizo, octopus with paprika potato's
• Mixed salad

Chicken: Fry some chopped red onion with garlic, add chicken pieces, try thigh meat minus the skin, season with salt and pepper and brown the meat, add a glug of sherry and a pinch of saffron. Pour in some passata and water and simmer until cooked, add some chopped parsley at the end.

Potato: Use some nice olive oil, fry of the chorizo, this should release the paprika within the sausage. Add the pre boiled potato's and octopus, add a bit more paprika and season. You can add some borlotti beans for extra bulk if you like. Cook through until golden but not burnt.

I think, one thing I have learned about Spanish is to keep it simple and let the ingredients speak for themselves.

Went down to the local farmers market today in Wallington, Surrey. On every second Tuesday of the month. It's a lovely little market, quite small but with some great stalls, especially for meat. Bought a couple of rabbits, mallard ducks, cumberland sausages, slab of pork belly for making bacon, organic loaf and a few packets of free range chicken wings. We had the sausages for lunch in the organic bread with slow cooked onions, it was lovely and cheap too. There was a typical BBQ stall at the market but 3 sausage in a bun was £9, our meal for 4 was just over £3, just had to go home and cook it.

Dinner was a bit of a disaster, I decided to make a paella using the rabbit I bought today, I've had rabbit before so I wasn't phased but on this occasion the whole rabbit look like it was just skinned and vacuum packed in it's own blood. I managed to clean and joint the bunny but the whole process (and the smell) was like the Easter bunny massacre and it just put me of my dinner. Looked good though and the kids more or less eat it but rabbit has this underlying game smell that is there raw and after its cooked, so all I can picture was bunny covered in blood as I scooped spoonfuls of paella into my mouth! Anyway, wont be cooking that again anytime soon, but there's another one in the freezer.

My hayfever has reared it's ugly head, I get it every year, but this year it has started early and I feel like crap, sneezing, inching, dribbling, it's awful....

HFW (Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall) will be launching a new series on The River Cottage in a few weeks time, so we were down there to do an interview, podcast, video, photos and to find out a bit about the new series as well as the new River Cottage HQ. A piece will be done on MSN Life & Style in a few days time so I wont go into much detail.

Got there around 10am for a tour with HFW, they are running a completely sustainable farm that harness the elements around them, the place is amazing. Solar, wind, wells, wood boiler, animals and vegetation all on a self sustaining organically certified farm. They have planning permission for a wind turbine also.

We did the photos and interviews, then we were taught how to make pizza in a wood fired oven, fillet mackerel caught that morning for our lunch and then feasted in the garden farm.

Got talking to the farm's butcher who instructs on the courses they run there about curing of meats, I often make my own bacon and cures but have never got it completely right, he gave me a recipe that's so much more easier to do. Check out the picture of the hams and salamis they have hung up outside, beautiful.

I loved the place, obviously spending a day there in glorious sunshine is totally different to making a life down there and toiling on a farm everyday but I took away some learning's and it has really inspired me to be more aware of my food, sort out my garden and continue my cooking and curing of meats.

Drove into London today to visit a Pat and Alice in Camden, they also just had a little boy recently. Went out for lunch round the corner at a Tapa's Bar and we strolled past Amy Winehouse's gaff. Usually there's load of paps lurking about but even they need a day off.

Only took us 45 minutes to drive into central London, stopped off at Hamleys first, parked opposite the store on Savile Row, had to bring the wallet though, can't take your kids to the world biggest toy shop and make them buy a carrier bag. Bought Lola a Paris Hilton bag with a moving puppy dog inside it, very chic ,as for Taer, well, she finally wore me down and I got her a Nintendo DS, yes I know, it was a lot of money but it was a present for her for getting into the gym squad and I said she wasn't gonna get a big present for her birthday now. Anyway, I also won a £50 bet this week, so it was half paid for.

Pat's boy is lovely, he got a massive dog too called Basil, the kids was a bit weary of him at first but towards the end of the day Taer and Basil made friends.

Need to get a decent night sleep tonight, haven't been sleeping well due to hayfever and just not feeling to good, gonna leave the house tomorrow at 6am to drive down to The River Cottage to do this podcast with HFW. Anyway, been a nice bank holiday weekend...

Got the Weber BBQ out today and cooked Sunday lunch for the kids. Spatchcocked a whole free range chicken, made a marinade of olive oil, black pepper, soy, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, paprika, red onion, spring onion, garlic, salt and fresh parsley Spread that on and leave in the fridge for an hour.

Meanwhile, light you BBQ and place the coals for indirect barbecuing, meaning, place the coals on the sides of the BBQ and the meat in the centre. Heat the BBQ add the chicken and put the lid on. Meanwhile, soak some wood chips for 30 minutes (use smoking wood like BBQ Companion) add the wet wood on to the coals 30 minutes later. I used Apple wood today, it adds a brilliant sweet smoky flavour to the moist meat.

TIPS:

• NEVER use accelerant's to light a BBQ, use a Chimney Starter, it's £6.99 to £14.99 for a decent Weber one, it's a great investment andit uses newspaper to light the coals.
• You don't need a smoke box, add the wood to the coal or make a tin foil parcel, add the wood, seal and pierce a whole on the top and place directly onto the coals.
• You could place a small bowl of water in with the chicken, this will evaporate and create a moist environment.

It succulent, moist, flavoursome and easy to make and you can just leave it for an hour without worrying about it burning.

Drove down in the convertible to see our friends Dave and Justine, she just had another baby, 2 little girls now just like us. I've know Dave for over 10 years now, he's in musician in a band brilliant called Seafood, check out their music.

Had a few soft drinks at a pub by the river called The Anglers, really nice pub with a play area for the kids which kept them busy, they even had a outdoor BBQ Bar serving burgers and hotdog's, I was tempted but it was £8.50 for a homemade burger and chips. It looked good but I didn't fancy paying that and eating it off paper plates and plastic forks with storm clouds looming overhead.

Evened up driving back to Banstead and visiting the Lotus Room Chinese Restaurant. Whole steamed sea bass, ribs Hong Kong style, stuffed bean cured and stir fried pak choi with garlic, served with rice, the kids loved it. Just got the kids to bed, finished writing this and cracking open a can of draft Guinness, DVD I recon...

Been cruising around all morning in the borrowed Saab 9.3 Convertible, very nice, surprising how quickly the novelty of top down motoring wears out though, end of the day it is just a car, a Vectra I believe. Still, it's a nice car, steady drive, diesel 1.9T engine is firm and pokey but like all single turbo diesel, you need to be in the right gear, so your constantly moving up and down the gears. Slight torque steer especially on uneven surfaces but quite refined for diesel, interior is nicely done, plastic chrome is slightly chinsey though.

Lola's learned a new word from the crèche, ooh la la! Very funny...

I get to hang out with all the stars...

Wrote a piece today, haven't done so it a while, anyway, it's here.

Did another 30 minutes of Wii Fit last night, it's so addictive and fun, even Taers been on it most evening, better than vegging in front of Nick Junior. I recon for some families it's the first bit of exercise they've done in years and it can be quite strenuous, especially the Yoga. Well worth buying.

On the train reading this story about the Austrian who in-prison and abused her own daughter, when you think you've heard a terrible story about child abuse and it can't possibly get any worse, another story comes along that blows it out the window, just terrifying, absolutely shocking, how much worse can it get. All we can do is support the charities, police and experts in this field to hopeful one day put a stop to all this, I fear we never will but we can't stop trying, I feel sick just writing about it. Lease we can do is donate to nspcc what's £2, or half a pint a month, small steps.

I fear society has become de-sensitise to this sort of horrors, child abuse, genocide, murder, we should be moving forward but instead I think were going back. We read horror stories every morning but then turn the page and are more interested in celebrities flashing their knickers or pop stars doing drugs, what have we become?