Azelia's Kitchen

25/11/2023

Family voted a red Christmas this year

🎄

04/08/2023

A whole lifetime ago!

21/01/2023

Husband’s birthday, so l made one of his favourites for lunch: prawn cocktail.
A proper simple retro version, and not a take on a posh-fancy-lobster foodie type. (They’re also nice)
My ‘must’ have for this retro version of the prawn cocktail is that it absolutely should be made with the small soft North Atlantic prawns (cold water) and NOT the warmer waters tiger/jumbo/king prawns, as their texture is wrong for prawn cocktail and they lack flavour.
There’s a reason why a dish becomes ubiquitous - because they’re bloody tasty in the first place! Often I buy a cartoon of ready made prawn cocktail for sandwiches, and only when I make it like today, do I remember how it doesn’t take any time to make, and it tastes better.

17/12/2022

As a cook nothing makes you more stupid than cutting yourself on a Japanese mandoline. 😭

11/12/2022

This book “Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa” by Lourdes Modesto published 1993, I bought copy back then, was my pride and joy of my cookbook collection but for some reason it went missing. I thought that was that and I tried not to think about it as it made me sad. It’s a detailed collection of regional recipes from around Portugal. What’s so special is that these recipes were collected at a time when they would have been made by families for a long time without outside influence, without internet, and only few years after Portugal entered the EU.

Recently I discovered it’s still published (27th edition) in Portugal, and my brother kindly bought me a copy which he brought with him today. Happy to see my brother but equally happy (if I’m allowed to say it!) to see this book again.

I would say of this copy that the paper is not the same, as heavy quality as the original, and the photos are a bit washed out in reprint. But glad to have it. This one is written in Portuguese although I discovered when searching there’s an English edition. Might have to buy that too!

11/12/2022

Had enough already of everything been frozen during the day - it’s fine on Christmas Day!

30/11/2022

27/11/2022

24/11/2022

In an effort to minimise the use of the tumble dryer it has caused some grumbling in my house - those who are unhappy because it now means having to dry themselves off with crispy towels and those who actually prefer it.
Crispy towel?
Soft towel?
Never thought there could be a divide until now! 🤷🏻‍♀️

28/04/2022

Big personal celebration this week, 19yrs since I met my husband and celebrating hitting the big…..50!!! 😱😱
I have been dreading that particular milestone as those around me are very aware 😅. But I have some truly exemplary people in my life who are NOT defined by their age. They inspire me for my next chapter. Whatever that may be. 💃🏻

06/03/2022

Those of you who know me from my old blog days will be aware of my daughter’s allergies and part of my recipe experiments was always to find alternatives. When she was a child she was under my control but now she’s an adult this kind of occurrence scares the hell out of me. She’s having to navigate it by herself. And if anyones of have young adults will know they’re not experienced enough to be questioning restaurant staff, as all they want is not to make a fuss and enjoy themselves.

06/02/2022

Couldn’t resist buying this glorious monkfish to desperately trying to recreate the best monkfish we ever had during our honeymoon in at the one of the very best fish restaurants masters in the art of bbq fish.