Fun times two

I've had another busy week, but seeing as most of it was boring bureaucracy I won't bore you with the details except to say I am finally getting rid of my UK license and changing it for an NL version, and applying for a long term residency permit, as opposed to the usual 5 year temporary permit.

The fun?

First is obvious to anyone who has read my blog in the last 7 days. The toy is sleeping peacefully in the garden under a blacket to protect it from the cold and rain.

I picked it up on Thursday and have done about 100km's on it so far - 30 for fun, 70 commuting. I love it. I'm taking it easy to start with, new bike, lots of power and just as important, band new front tyre that has to bed in before I can push aything. Even taking it easy the bike is fun, very easy to ride (I wasn't expecting that) and very difficult to accidently go really fast (wasn't expecting that either). When you do try to go a little quick it's very difficult to go just a little quickly (that is what I was expecting - but I am getting used to it).

Lots of riding to do in the coming weeks to get used to it. If the weather is nice tomorrow I'll be taking pics and may well post one up here...

The second was cooking last night. We have been trying to find some nice food to eat over the last few weeks instead of eating the same things week in week out.

I love cooking, and have a good collection of recipe books. But I've never really tried to make my own recipes up. Last night we did just that: Chicken and mushroom pasta with a goats cheese white sauce.

Cut a breast of chicken into thin strips and start to cook over a low heat. In the meantime chop the mushrooms into small peices (quater for small muchrooms, 6 or 8 peices for the larger ones) and throw into the cookng chicken. Add some italian mixed herbs and salt and peper to taste.

The sauce is a basic white roux, with salt, peper to taste and some goats cheese. Once thickened and the cheese has melted throw into the chicken and mushrooms to mix with the juices that have been released during the cooking process. Stir through and leave to cook for a min or so.

Place the pasta on plates, using a draining spoon place the chicken and mushrooms over the paster. Finally pour the sauce over the top.

Serve with garlick focaccia.

Was much better than I was expecting, and amazingly cheap - 7 euros for two people IIRC (the goats cheese and focaccia drive the price up a bit without those it would ahve been 4(ish) euros.