And so it is 2009...

Cured venison with whisky cream for New Year

And there will be a little tightening of belts moneywise but no reduction in the pursuit of wonderful food. Having thought about it just a little this week I am planning beef and mushroom cobbler Saturday night andit was perfect for a cold night, roast pork and parsnips cooked the last of the parsnips from Abel & Cole, steamed and mashed and then layered with sliced apples and topped with brown sugar for a very interesting accompaniment Sunday that then made for good lunchboxes with roasted sweet potatoes and raw sugarsnaps till Wednesday, cobblers leftovers Monday for me as the man is out the I went too so cobblers was, Tuesday will be tofu and stirfry, Wednesday pasta with - wait for it - brussel sprouts needs a liitle tweaking but enjoyed it and it was good cold for Thursday lunch! Thursday will be aubergine and rice was in fact the tofu and courgette slivers stirfried for a quite wonderful dinner and leftovers Friday for lunch. Friday sausage sarnies with onion gravy. A good week and one I am looking forward to.

Borough was incredibly quiet - lots of empty spaces where there would normally be traders and blissfully free of tourists - and most other kinds of punters too. As the only customer in Ginger Pig I bought a fabulous piece of rolled pork and some diced stewing beef - £19.70

Then to Booths for veg - carrots, courgettes, sugar snap peas, sweet potatoes, aubergine, onions, mushrooms, cooking apples and a single parsnip to have enough to go with our roast - £10.30

Over to the Green Market half expecting to not find the Wild Beef stall but not only was Lizzie there she was having a sale! So, as well as the eggs I needed I also bought 2 packs of coarse ground mince and a pack of porridge oats - £8.50 the lot. Total bargain.

Dark oily coffee beans from Monmouth - £9

A pork pie because it is so long since we had one - £5

Then had a quick look in Silfields tempted by the idea of a three bird roast on sale, resisted that but succumbed to a pack of sliced honey roast ham reduced to £1

Over to Neals Yard for pasta, milk and bread - £9.80

A cottage loaf from Flour Power - £1

So despite the desire to be frugal I spent £64.30

Later that Saturday after enjoying a screening of Che Part 1 I went to the shops on Electric Avenue and bought rice, tofu, red lentils and fresh ginger - stocks of everything were down!

In the week I bought butter, flour both plain and self raising, and caster sugar.

The only thing that went into the bin was the last of the pasta as I cooked too much, the aubergine is still in the fridge but it will be fine, the mince from Wild Beef is in the freezer for future feasts.

One year ago we were mostly eating pot roasted guinea fowl - and indeed we had a roasted guinea fowl with lentils to welcome the new year and two years ago we were tucking into tagliatelle with porcini and sage which would be nice again now on these cold cold nights.