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Hello everyone!


Sorry for the abscence again- still not well :( A bit OT but I traveled to Kent yesterday to see a specialist and have been diagnosed with migraine related vertigo, after 2.5 years of suffering and not being able to work. To start with I have to cut out all dairy including cheese, cream, etc, red wine, chocolate/cocoa, caffiene, citrus fruits and anything with MSG in it. I can live without the cheese and just about without the odd glass of red wine on a good day but how on earth will I cook without lemons and limes?!! Going to have to do some serious recipe-searching and adapting... Hopefully not forever, just until my symptoms are under control, but for at least a few months...


Azelia, my wedding menu (which now consists of lots of things I can't eat!) is a starter of pan-fried Somerset Camenbert with a cherry tomato salsa. Main is roast Somerset Rib of beef with Yorkshire puddings and red wine gravy (wild mushroom and asparagus tart with lemon and chive butter for veggies). Desert is a warm pear tart with chocolate sauce... I think that will be a major rule-breaking day!


Anyway, I'm still loving the new series, watching it now in fact! Nice to see that tonight I don't think she's made these recipes before? I had noticed it was a bit of a rehash of previous dishes, but die-hard fan that I am, doesn't phase me! Not that I can cook much of it myself anymore now.... How will I not BBQ Tuscan Lemon Chicken every week?


Hope everyone else is well!

homelovingirl - Hi, just watching tonight's episode of Ina sitting next to OH re-designing my food blog. How hot is it??? All I can think about is cold cold food! Cold Summer soups. Salads. Italian vegetables dishes served cold like caponata. But right this minute I could quite easily dive into some ice-cream....

Hi Azelia, how's it going?
The spiral-cut ham with the glaze has been on an earlier programme, (I mean way back), whilst the glaze recipe may not be exactly the same, it was very close. But she's still the greatest!

I think last night's episode was the first I really enjoyed watching of this series.

Hi,

Sorry to say I have just seen Ina's new show and I dont know if its just me but she seems to have lost her vavoom????
She seems to have much more vigour in her old series may be its me I dont know but has any one else noticed it?

Hi Sesley,
Welcome to the message boards. Whereabouts in the beautiful Highlands are you, I am in south-west Scotland, not far from the "so-called Food Town" of Castle Douglas! That's a laugh that is, don't expect to walk in to any of their coffee shops and restaurants after 3.30 in the afternoon and find soup or anything else but a miserable scone left. Shocking! Anyway, going off the thread, you're right Azelia, I think Ina is around 61 or 62, my son is 25 and he finds it hard to believe that she is this age!

oh i think both Ina and Nigella look great, i love the home cooking they demonstrate, its just an observation . That huge choclate cake she makes looks bigger than the ones i make its obvious they have bigger portions in America. Though i wish we had produce,like those huge Lemons and Tomatoes here in the Highlands, the biggest lemons i can find are waxed,so i wash them under a hot water tap before i used them to remove the wax,its cheaper and better than those pathetic small ones.

homelovingirl - trust you to perk up when someone has a dig at the Goddess!!

I've been busy trying to sort out my food blog problems...looking after my 3 little and helping with the running of our business. It's never ending...

Sesley - don't be put out by us we like anyone who likes Ina. We know she's big but we don't care...did you know she is in her 60s? My theory is over a certain age you either look thin & wrinkly or bigger and youthful! I'm planning for the second just like my Great Gran who lived until 92 eating and drinking everything, happy as larry... great role model!

Cornetto - tried the white choc yet?

I'm enjoying the new series because I think I've seen the old ones about 5 times each episode!! But I wish there were more newer recipes.

OK - before you lot shoot me - hear me out - tonight I saw her doing roasted shrimp again, which was in her last series. She also I'm sure did the cheese biscuits before. I think I saw her do scramble eggs too. I guess the book itself is Back to Basics and we are revisiting a few things but I preferred the other series. I'm not a traitor honest, still love Ina. Ina rocks!

I love Ina and Jefferey, she loves entertaining and likes to have fun. Her recipies are good homely cooking not cordon bleu or cheffy just what we need.

Oh who cares about Ina's size! Don't we all put on a little bit as we get older? I was a neat 12 when I got married 30 years ago, but all Ina fans love her just as she is!! She's a lovely warm, homely person and that's what matters more than anything. I like the look of her breakfast on last night's programme, might try her cheesey buttermilk "biscuits", although I'm sure it's just a variation on a cheese scone. But she didn't sell me on the idea of making my own strawberry jam, too much hassle!
Ina we love you! How is life with Azelia?

hi i hope this works now. i enjoy Ina Gartens programs, all though the use of lots of butter and heavy cream, might explain her size,but like Nigella she is fun to watch. The area where she lives looks loverly and the fruit and veg she can get looks wonderful.

hi adrian, love your shop, just shopped online but hope to visit bath soon so will definitley have a good old browse. we all love ina in my house the food is fantastic, and she has my dream lifestyle(im soooo jealous!).give her a big hello from Nottinghamshire

having to relearn to use the board again and which way the posts go! I easily get confused

JenJen - what's your wedding menu? Fab idea to do the choc for the favours!

I keep planting herbs and then using them too much before they have a chance to grown!! I've bought two large bayleaves trees so hopefully they will keep going. I'm hoping I've planted enough thyme now to get ahead of my scissors! But I still need to find large enough pots of parsley as I use tons of that and my basil never grows fast enough. But hey if I only had a full time gardener....

cornetto lets us know how you got on with the choc bark?

homelovingirl - i had the bbq out yesterday and will do today too, have to make the most of it before Winter sets in!!! Do you realise yesterday was the longest day - and where has the Summer been??

Hi everyone! What's going on here, why have they changed things, I immediately went to the last page number, only to see that we now start at page 1, why do they change things? If it ain't broke.....
Anyway, we are about to buy a new barbeque shortly, so will give the lemon chicken a go!
Have a great trip Adrian! Give Ina my best wishes from Scotland!

ARGH! What have they done? I was mighty confused when I logged in and everything is backwards- newer posts on page one and older posts on page 12? So now we have to read from the bottom up?!


Had a BBQ yesterday, and cooked, yes, you guessed it- Tuscan Lemon Chicken! It went down a storm with my family and they were all very impressed. It's a firm favourite in my house now!


Reality has set in that I've got less than 3 months to go to the wedding so I'm beign strict with myself - haven't had chocolate for over 6 weeks now and I don't know how I'm doing it! The white chocolate bark did give me the best idea for wedding favours though


Nevermind Ina's kitchen, I'm seriously jealous about her herb garden! My herb plants are so tiny that I can use them once or twice and then not for another few weeks while they grow back, so I end up going to the shops anyway


Azelia- thank you! I have good days and bad days and have just had a run of bad days recently. It's bad when I can't even get to the kitchen to cook- makes for a very miserable Jen! Our wedding is coming along well thanks- we chose the menu the other day. I'm hungry just thinking about it all!


Adrian- your shop is in Bath?! I am only in Bristol and due to go shopping in Bath very soon- may have to pop in for a look around! Have a great trip!

Is this the one?

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Sounds lush!

Many thanks for that cornetto
I made my usual refrigerator cake this afternoon, it was delicious, so I've had my chocolate fix for today!! Will check Ina's book again, I looked under chocolate but couldn't see anything! I had to give half of this to my son and daughter, otherwise I would just eat it all myself, my hubby doesn't have a sweet tooth. However, at the rate I'm going, I will have no teeth left!!

No butter!!!!!!!!!!

Hi cornetto, do you know if Ina added butter to the chocolate as it was melting, or was it just all chocolate. I have added butter to similar things whilst melting it, but I missed the start of this one, doh!!
The concept is fairly simple, but wouldn't want to miss out on the butter if it was required.....ha, ha!!

Homelovingirl, you'll find the recipe on page 200/201 of her back to basics book, its called french chocolate bark

Hi Cornetto, many thanks for that, it's really a variation on Nigella's Refrigerator Cake, it scrummy! I play about with all the recipes and add what I like and leave out what I don't like!
Have a good weekend everyone, don't eat too much!! Well, what the heck, it's the weekend, go ahead!
By the way, message to Adrian have a good trip to the US, give Ina my sincerest best wishes from the south-west of Scotland!!

Sorry thats walnuts.

It did not have a name Homelovingirl. I t was just white choc with dried peaches cranberries and roasted wholenuts.

Hi alc28
I'll check that out, I've got the Back to Basics book, but couldn't see it in there, many thanks for that!

Azelia i t dream of having a kitchen like that, my other half has said if we every win the lottery then i can have one, guess my dream is never going to come true

Homelovingirl, i'm sure it was called chocolate bark