allegra mcevedy's karma soupra and spinach, tomato & chick pea curry

These late nights really must stop. We are no longer young, if anything we're now technically middle aged, so staying up all night raving has begun to have consequences and take a heavy toll. Even if staying up all night raving is only "watching Miss Marple with a cup of decaf Earl Grey tea, builders for Ana, and some minty chocolate".

Tonight Ana is off to a parents evening at Nursery, which gives me some scope to do some double cooking. First up is lunch tomorrow and more importantly, tomorrow night's Book Club payment. Angela Hazel, from the Nation's Favourite Video on Demand Service, has kindly offered to babysit for the usual sitting terms - dinner.

I've had this Allegra Mcevedy recipe for over five years, desperate to try it but somehow never feeling inspired enough to try it. Until tonight. It's pretty easy to make, and is essentially a gently curried lentil, squash and rice soup, with a chilli and garlic dressing. I'll get some nice bread tomorrow, I hope she likes it.

Soup done, we end up having an entirely unplanned-for spinach, tomato and chick pea curry on the basis Ana doesn't fancy coconut fish cakes tonight, and I forgot to buy any cauliflower for the experimental Leon sweet potato curry we had planned for. With far too much spinach malingering in the fridge, it's the obvious choice for a cold night, and I even manage to avoid making the spinach too slimy this time.

Actually, it's one of my better efforts at it recently; rich, slightly sweet and tangy, with a nice late hit of ginger. Hopefully the spinach will sort out my blood iron issues.

Just in case you felt I'd let you down yesterday, tonight I've done a bumper* batch of things on the site:

• I've removed a large batch of appallingly badly spelled things from the site, including "chili" and "tumeric". Not exciting I know, but it needed to be done;
• I've separated out a couple of recipes from individual blog posts, particularly Fast Asian Fish, as requested by Mrs S White (does hands), and Donna Hay's Pad Thai, as requested by Lucy Taylor;
• There's another exciting installment of Saturday night watching Midsomer Murders chez Barnes, only this time we don't eat polpettine;
• Milo and I fly down to Folkestone for the day, to play with nanny and rescue our Christmas presents.

See, "bumper"!

Food of the Milos
Another early-ish morning spent watching TV is rudely interrupted by a mad dash to Julias for nursery. We make it record time, but only because I have to run all the way whilst he looks out for owls with his binoculars.
Breakfast: Cheerios and apricots;
Lunch: Boiled egg, toast, cheese, pepperami and a lollipop treat;
Dinner: Fish cakes with Cinderella spaghetti shapes, because he's the gayest little boy ever, and some of Julia's birthday cake.

sources
karma soupra - Allegra McEvedy, Delicious circa 2005, now the Parsley Book
spinach, tomato & chick pea curry - Waitrose recipe cards

*Note: Quantity of 'bumper' may go up as well as down, and can refer to a figure upwards and including one