...aiming for routine.

lovely evening (near work, this view is part of my homeward journey)

I'm trying hard to blog more. This blog is supposed to be a record of my life. Because it's that I can't really schedule posts, I try to just write things fairly soon after they happen. Of course, that means that when I'm super busy blogging just doesn't happen, and then it's three weeks later and I put loads of pressure on myself. It makes me laugh a bit that when I wrote my 30 Before 30 list, I initially aimed to have a weekly feature. Just now, my aim is to blog once a week even if it's just a teeny post.

And so here I am. This week has been really busy at work. I have the luxury in life of working part time. Most people I know work part time when they are either studying the rest of the time, or have children. I've done the studying bit while working almost full time, for a very long time, and now I like having the time to myself. It also means that all housework is done in the week, and Dave and I have the weekends free to do nice things. It's a nice feeling. This week, instead of my usual three days I've done four with two of them being sandwiched by an overnight. Childcare is a brilliant thing to do as a job, and I am very lucky to do something I love, but I have a long commute, and it is a tiring job by nature. In addition, I pulled a muscle in my neck/should at the beginning of the week, which isn't ideal with such a physical job!

My favourites. I know I live in town. A girl can dream!

A big bit of what made this week ok was having spent last weekend cooking dinners food. I did a bit more cleaning in the morning and night too. I'm actually going to try to keep doing this - If I spend 20 mins in the morning and evening doing little stuff, that time can be spent on off days doing big jobs. I've also been keeping my sourdough starter alive, so should hopefully have a post on some lovely bread fairly soon.

The weekend has been all about relaxing, recharging for next week. We slept late, I've watched some TV, done a bit of cooking, read, had a bit of a sort of my fabric stash, and done some basic cooking. Today while making fish pie for today and tomorrow's tea(and listening to Dave practice violin), I watched all of Broad City. Design Sponge did a feature on the living spaces of the writer/stars thing week. I clicked through and then found myself watching it all. It is utterly hilarious.

This pile is for bunting. Some for our bedroom in Paisley,
 some for - dare I say it - Christmastime

In the coming week, everything should go back to normal. Normal work days, hopefully the last of the weird neck twinges, plans for tea and chat with the Dundee girls on Wednesday, and a visit home for some Paisley flat sorting, some lunch and crochet tuition with my sister and sister-in-law, and a gig at the weekend. Dave and I have tried to balance things so we have about the same amount of Dundee weekends as 'home' or away weekends. And, Scotland's weather forecast is for hot (or at least warm), sunny weather for the next couple of weeks.

I had completely worked out a way to segway into this recipe, but I can't remember, so, here is my slight controversial fish pie recipe. I put carrots in. I have had people be completely opposed to this when I've said I do so. I think carrots and fish go, and they're nicer in the pie than out. I like my veg fairly crisp, and if i'm eating fish pie, it's not because I'm looking for crispness.


Fish Pie (with Carrots)

600g mixed fish, in bite-sized chunks (I used packs. They were in the reduced bit in the Co-op. Fishmongers do fish bits for really cheap though).
750mls milk
1 onion, quartered
two medium carrots, diced finely
4 cloves
3 bay leaves
1/2tsp cumin
1/2tsp freshly ground pepper
100g butter (cube 50g)
3tbsp flour
6 medium potatoes, sliced
pinch salt

• stud two of the onion quarters with two cloves each
• chop the other two quarters
• add these, milk, carrots, bay leaves, cumin and pepper to a pan
• bring to the boil
• simmer for 5 mins over a medium heat
• add fish, and simmer 5 more minutes, till cooked through
• meanwhile, add potatoes and salt to a pan of boiling water, and boil 20 mins, till soft
• drain milk from fish, into a bowl
• preheat the oven to 180c
• Now, it's rue time. You can put your fish and veg in your oven dish and make it separately in a pan if you like. my lazy way is below.
• put the fish and veg back into the pan
• add the flour and stir well
• add the cubed butter, and when completely melted, stir through
• add a little of the milk back in, the sauce should be clumpy and sort of paste like
• allow to bubble for a couple of minutes
• gradually add milk, a ladleful at a time, allowing sauce to thicken between each addition
• it's ready when it has the consistency of custard, coating the back of a spoon
• put the pie mix into an oven dish, allowing enough space at the top(at least a couple of inches) for potato.
• Mash the potato. I generally give it a good mash, then add the butter and mash again, and finish off by whisking it.
• spread on top of the fish
• drag a fork along the top of the potato to make ridges. This is how you get crispy bits. If you are a fancy pants, you could pipe it.
• Bake in the over for 30 mins, till sauce begins to bubble out the side, and the top is all crispy and lovely.

You'll get 4-6 portions out of this. A sixth is the perfect size portion for me, it's very filling. Dave, however had two portions and two sliced of bread. You might want to consider who you are feeding it to!

We haven't had fish pie in ages, and warm, hearty dinners like this will be ignored in favour of salad and noodles when it's warm, so I'm glad we had it.

Now, I'm away to read Mollie Makes, and eat my pudding!