Horrible day so far… ran out of petrol on my way to work (only half a mile from the petrol station too!) and my Daddy had to come and rescue me (you would have thought by the age of 28 I would be capable of rescuing myself by now, but apparently not).  Result? Instead of being 45 minutes EARLY for work to give myself a headstart on a week’s worth of mails, I was 15 minutes late.  To deal with 168 emails.  On a drop-in morning, with 20 students wanting my attention.  And a handover to do with the young man who covered my desk last week.  The joy!

But still- Monday Night Supper Club tonight.  Game of Thrones will redeem the day.

Our researchers were thrown into disarray last night when an unexpected cooking disaster threw the Hutgirl into a flurry of activity!  Assuming it would be a standard Monday Night Supper Club (where the Hutgirl and friends take it in turns to cook mains and desserts, consume the meal and catch up, then watch the latest Game of Thrones episode), we’d left one research assistant observing the Hutgirl while the rest of us had nipped to the pub for a swift half. 

Imagine our dismay when the research assistant called to say the Hutgirls’ Sweet and Sour turkey was a disaster, and that the Hutgirl was engaging in rapid re-planning and backup plan assessments!  It is very rare that we get to see this behaviour, so naturally we all hustled back to the lair to see this phenomena up close and in person. 

We got back just as the Hutgirl was placing a phone-call to her dam, asking if she had any fresh meat, as the few fresh ingredients the Hutgirl had would now be useless without some sort of meat or protein addition… receiving a reply to the negative, the Hutgirl began rummaging through her freezer, coming up with half a dozen pork chops.  Starting these defrosting in the microwave, she then methodically went through the fridge, cupboards and shelves, laying things on the bench to create a backup meal.   We watched in astonishment as a few carrots, an onion, some mixed peppercorns, some leftover cream and a small bottle of white wine made a sauce to cook the pork chops in (casserole dish, oven, an hour).  Small tins of garden peas and sweetcorn were mixed and put in a small saucepan to provide some sort of vitamin-y goodness, and a few unloved potatoes were cut into wedges and dusted with salt, pepper, mixed herbs and a bit of paprika, before being shaken in a bag with some olive oil and turned onto a baking tray for 40 minutes.

Luckily, the other members of the Monday Night Supper Club were delayed, and the Hutgirl gained an extra vital few minutes to tidy the lair and lay the table.  Overall, the responses were tolerably positive- clearly not the Hutgirl’s best culinary work, but more than acceptable appeared to be the general verdict!

Now we just have to write it all up properly, and hope another disaster of moderate proportions occurs so we can observe the Hutgirl’s behaviour in this situation from the start.  Pub trips in shifts from now on…

Ok- trying to distract myself with what I’m doing for Monday Night Supper Club tonight.  I cut up some turkey breast yesterday and left it marinading in soy sauce and sesame oil, then threw it in the slow cooker this morning with sweet and sour sauce, so it should be nice and tender and cooked by the time I get in.

I also picked up a couple of packs of pre-shredded oriental vegetables (don’t judge me, time is very tight on a monday night!), so I think I’ll stir fry them and boil up some egg noodles to make chow mein, then cook some plain rice in the noodle water… and that’s where I’m drawing a blank.  There are only 3 of us eating this week, and I know Helen had sone a caramel chocolate torte for dessert, so I’m figuring that sweet and sour, chow mein and rice might be enough, but if anyone else has any ideas?

It’s been a few days since my last update, so I’ll just do a super-speedy summation of the last week or so :D

Read More

Breaking News- Monday Night Supper Club returns!!

After a 5 month hiatus, it’s finally back- 8 of us gather on a Monday night and take it in turns to cook mains and dessert before geeking out in front of the latest Game of Thrones episode.  This is tricky though, as three of the 8 have never read the books, and the rest of us have not only read them multiple times, but can describe to the hair what we think the characters should look like, which means there was some heated handwaving during the first season as we went ‘WHAT?  Tywin doesn’t look like that!!’ and ‘There is NO way Daenarys is only 13!!’

So reallllly, what it means is, we get together, scoff nummy food, then very carefully try and say as little as possible during the show before gathering in a corner (coven style) and dissecting the show, while the three non-readers burble happily about how good it is :p

What do you do on Game of Thrones night?