Written in the days where you could have friends and family around for lunch!

Recently I read an article which asked whether people were getting tired of food blogs which featured really long rambling personal stories to wade through before getting to the recipe. It has given me pause for thought. Sometimes my blog posts are really long. Sometimes they are short. Here’s a fairly short one with bullet points. As Mr R sometimes says (and I have no idea where this quote comes from), “Get to the nub Neasden.”

  • Abby’s stew was utterly delicious

Making the effort to get lamb bones from the butcher to make the stock was definitely worth it

  • I made this for Mr R, his sis and her husband for a Sunday lunch. Everyone loved it.
  • I cooked the stew on Saturday and added the dumplings on Sunday – no stress!
  • On Instagram an American chum pointed out that the dumplings looked like biscuits, but of course to us Brits, biscuits are cookies…
  • It’s going to be in the Murder, She Cooked book – still recipes available to test!
  • Julia wore coral lipstick in tribute to Abby’s character in Murder, She Wrote
  • Here’s Abby’s best line to Jessica, “if you see my husband, give him my worst.”
  • I forgot to add the peas
  • I used this recipe for the dumplings, hoping this was the kind of thing Abby intended
  • I used twice as much parsley but reckon you could use even more…
  • Now I wish I had taken photos of the four of us, having fun together, as it’ll be the last dinner for friends and family I make for a while. But who knew on the 1st of March that by the 20th March life would be changed for all of us forever. Here’s one shot from that day though… Me posing in my hen night outfit. More about THAT legendary event in another post soon…

I was testing this recipe for the Murder, She Cooked book. It’s definitely going in! If you would like to test cook a recipe, there are still lots to choose from. Everyone is welcome! Just skip over here to see the list…

NB – as many places are currently in lockdown it’s totally fine to choose a recipe and make substitutions if there are things you can’t get hold of – it’s crazy times!

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