lazy sunday

I don’t know about any of you but I’m still sat here in my pyjamas, sipping a manhattan and brimming with smugness for having done almost nothing productive today.  I did do laundry, but I was still on auto-pilot so it hasn’t registered in the productivity scale.

The weekend was highlighted by a crash visit from my Megan who was going stir-crazy in her rural digs and so hitch-hiked in for some mindless entertainment chez nous.  After a brief lecture directed at my loin fruits about the perils of hitch-hiking we most definitely came through on the mindless entertainment part & much wine, food, guitar hero and general joyful conviviality was had by all (except the wine bit for the sprogs – I made them chai and shiley temples).

Today the son indulged us with his waffle-making skills & I created a lovely apple stew to go with them.  Perfect for a lazy Sunday 14:00h brunch.

I can’t share the buttermilk waffle recipe as that’s the son’s secret, but here’s how to make the stew:

What you need:

7 apples

1/2 stick of butter

2 cardamom pods lightly crushed

4 cloves

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/5 cups sweet vermouth

10 dashes of Angostura bitters

Peel and roughly chop the apples into bite-sized bits.  In a medium sauce pan melt the butter then add the spices and the apples.  Cook and stir until the apples become somewhat fork tender.  Add the vermouth and cook and stir over low heat until it thickens.  Try to time this with the finish time of the waffles.  If you miss just add a little more vermouth to loosen it up again.  Serve over hot waffles & vanilla ice cream and top the lot of it with loads of freshly ground pepper.

I hope you all had as lovely a weekend.