in the kitchen—brownies, cookies, rosemary potatoes, lasagna and vegetable soup

      This week has been…well, mad! Finalising details to the house like door handles and lighting has proven too much for me. I have given up on the latter and pleaded with my electrician -who happens to be my sister’s lovely husband- to allow me room (excuse pun!)to breathe and opt for basic light bulbs wherever I cannot make up my mind. At the end of these mad days I pushed myself to spend more time in the kitchen. For some reason homemade food and sweets seemed to bring peace to me. So I baked some brownies…     …and chocolate chip cookies.    Eggs were a major hit this week with rosemary potatoes and oven baked tomatoes. A really great combo if you ask me especially when you discover a great way to prepare oven potatoes. Check out this recipe. And yes, it does make a huge difference when you use Canola oil. Slightly pricier but a great addition to my kitchen. I even used it to fry the eggs.   Ah, my lasagna. It was my first time making this classic dish and I really enjoyed it. Sprinkling and layering all that cheese made my heart pound. Thoughts of melted delights and wobbly thighs were having a massive argument in my head but who cares? My mouth had the final say. They came out slightly dry but I think that was down to using the wrong size baking dish and probably following three different recipes. I used only organic beef and loved the cottage cheese mix. Basically I adapted it to what I had available and what I like.    Finally, tonight the aroma of vegetable soup is filling the apartment. Again I meshed a few recipes but really ended up throwing potatoes, carrots, leaks and onions into a big pot with tomato paste and chicken broth. It’s simmering away and I’m about to go wash my hair. It’s thursday, right?