May Highlights In My Kitchen

 I left you with the brining  ham last time, so here it is cooked up

The highlights of May. My version of In My Kitchen! Sprinkled through the various meals I fixed are a few books, and I read some very good ones in May; several on my new Kindle and a couple from our newly re-opened public library.  Actually the ones I got through Kindle were via the public library Overdrive program. We now book an appointment at the library, then go to the front doors, wearing a mask, to collect our books.:)  These last two months have been just hilarious. Ha ha.

 A Roots Soup, which was absolutely delicious!

I read a couple of Martha Grimes' novels, her books are always enjoyable, several by C.S. Harris with her Sebastian St. Cyr, English Regency period mysteries, and a new favorite author, Donna Andrews, who has an iron-mongering artist sleuth, with a totally hysterical family, whose Crouching Buzzard Leaping Loon was my most recently read. I heartily recommend these for any of you who want less angst and dread in your lives, to be replaced by humor. 

Notable also were Peter Tremayne with his Sister Fidelma heroine, Celtic A.D. 644 era Irish mysteries, and Sheila Connolly's newish Museum mystery series, beginning with Fuhdraising the Dead.   All highly recommended by moi.

Together with food  you have two of the loves of my life - books and edibles.  Firstly we had lots of ham to deal with (see my last post).  At least lots for two older adults, cutting back on how much they eat, with only the occasional dinner guest, under certain conditions that some were more serious about than others.  Of course my daughter claims that I never worry about anything. ("Look she drinks water directly from cachment tank tap and picks wild mushrooms from the garden.")

So from the ham, we had ham on its own with scalloped Potatoes, ham hash, Mapo Udon with tofu amd minced ham (of course) and Ham Mac 'n Cheese, among other renditions from the beast.

 Ham Hash with Brussels sprouts and Scalloped potatoes with ham

For Cinco de Mayo I made Arroz con Pollo, and then after that a wonderful soup made from the left-overs along with other bits hanging about in the fridge.  I was surprised at just how good it was.  Guess we could call it Sopa de Arroz con Pollo.

Arroz con Pollo and the soup from left-overs 

Other notable meals were my Spinach Crepes with Marinara sauce, Croque Monsieur, made for the first time, despite having sat on the recipe for years, and Chicken Satay, marinated in and served with a yummy sauce, which made use of galangal ginger from our garden.  That recipe from Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook, a great, and much used resource.

                      

There we have May's happenings In My Kitchen, which I'll be linking up with Sherry's Pickings for her event of that name.  Sherry blogs over in Australia, serving up all kinds of Down Under goodies. My post will also link up with The Intrepid Reader, Marg, who has taken over Weekend Cooking for Beth Fish.