In the quest for steak and kidney pie, yet another failure. We travelled to the White Swan in Dinnington yesterday in beautiful sunshine on the trail of pies. Got there about 2pm, only to find out all pies were sold out. Scampi and chips didn't really compensate, I have to say. And Rob's ostrich steak was the most overcooked leathery piece of meat I've ever had the misfortune to taste....

It wasn't helped, of course, by the fact that later on I watched last Thursday's episode of Rick Stein's Food Heroes. And what was Mr Stein cooking....a beautiful steamed steak and kidney pudding. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Ever wondered what your food choices say about you? Not sure what that means for my obsession with toast...

My new cookery course starts next week, which I'm really looking forward to. For the next 20 weeks (with the odd week off here and there) I'll learning all about French and Italian cookery, in the culinary high spot which is Gosforth. You've got to start somewhere...

Had the best meal yet on Friday at Est Est Est in Newcastle on Friday night - the carpaccio of smoked halibut was something that I'd never tried before. I know they're a chain, blah blah with all the McDonalds and Pizza Hut connotations, but the food was fantastic. I'll certainly be back, especially for the tiramisu...

Attempted to make Polish rye bread on Saturday, which didn't exactly work out as planned. I didn't believe the recipe when it said that the bread needed 3 hours proving plus another 1 1/2 to rise. That may be why my rolls are like stone....I'm going back to Jamie Oliver. Speed is everything.

Still got cravings for steak and kidney pie, which weren't abated by the fact that Rob found a chicken and mushroom pie at the Farmers' Market at Tynmouth (as well as two pork pies which vanished before I could set eyes on them). I need to find some good recipes...

Discovered by Rob, on the trail of pie....Weebl and Bob

Speaking of pie, I wanted to have steak and kidney pie for tea last night, as we were out at a pub in Darlington with Dave and Sarah. Sometimes, just sometimes, I get a craving for things like that. They'd run out, so I had baked salmon with crab and tarragon sauce...but the salmon was dried up, and the sauce had seen better days. I'd have been better off with the scampi, I think.

Made another two jars of chutney yesterday. This could get to be a habit if only I had more empty jars to spare...

Meals on celluloid - the glory of food in film.

Oooh, chutney is good! I think I've discovered a new career...

Rob made cod in a chilli tomato-y sauce yesterday, but it was just too hot for me to eat. It's strange how chilli can do that - all I could taste was the heat rather than the tomatoes and the other spices. I could have been eating cardboard for all I knew. I thought I was a reasonably chilli-head but perhaps I am more of a wuss than I thought. So I had bread, cheese (special Swedish stuff in a black rind from IKEA) and salad.

Want pie now - don't you? After reading this, I think I do - even if I have to go to Washington to get it!

Made apple chutney at the weekend for the first time. In fact it was my first attempt at chutney ever... I used Nigella Lawson's recipe from How to Be a Domestic Goddess which was dead easy. I still fiddled with the recipe though, and made it more spicy than she said. It's very rare that I do a recipe from start to finish without changing something somewhere...

Went to the Waterford Arms in Seaton Sluice yesterday with Jane, Eldred and Wulfrun for the most massive and beautifully cooked fish and chips I've ever eaten. Perfect batter, perfect fish, perfect chips. Definitely recommended!

It's the new series of Nigella tonight - Forever Summer. Gorgeous though her recipes are, let's hope there's less pouting going on than in the photos on the website. Otherwise I'll be ill.

Yesterday in the post I had a series of very friendly leaflets from Canned Foods UK, encouraging me to use some canned foods in my cooking. Some of the recipes weren't bad, but a few suffered from the "must have product in them" syndrome. Not sure I'd want Thai curry with tinned salmon in it....it reminds me of some of the awful recipes in that gem of a cookery book from Heinz, where everything has baked beans in it.

Find of the week - a 1960s copy of Larousse Gastronomique in Oxfam's bookshop for £3.99. That's many happy hours of reading...

Made stuffed aubergines last night - very Italian. Although stuffed aubergine singular would be more precise - that was more than enough for the two of us. It turned out to be one of those things that you make, but doesn't have the potential to go into your usual repertoire. Good, but not that good.
The aubergine was better than the pasta which we had on Saturday though. Having been given a new pasta maker, we thought we'd use it. Pasta maker was great, the pasta we produced less so - although I think that may be due to the flour. The recipe said strong white flour, but I reckon Italian pasta flour may be a better bet. Italian Fresh Pasta Experiment 2 coming shortly to a cinema near you....

Lucky guess at the pub quiz last night - what's another name for scampi? Dublin Bay prawns.