Whoah. That's a pretty big image. Still you get the point: the Chocolate Cola Cake was delish. Moist, tasty, good enough to eat for brekkie, to my eternal shame. Thanks to my heaving pantry, last night wasn't the orgy of excess it could have been. My friend brought 1 bottle of wine; I had one on ice here. I bought chicken legs instead of fillets. The veggies were from Tesco (pushed the boat out and splashed out on organic carrots, and went for the Tesco Finest new potatoes - not very thrift-tastic)... But I didn't make too much of an effort to save money - and my outlay for the evening was a grand total of €13. And I still have 2 chicken legs, half a bag of spuds, half a cake, half a head of broccoli and a few leftover veggies knocking around. Sometimes, I surprise myself...
Here's a blast of 60s nostalgia. The lovely Sergei mentioned that this song was No.1 the week he was born. Big Mistake. I had to google it and now I'm in love with the lead singer. It's the Alan Price Set singing Randy Newman's Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear. If this doesn't leave you with a smile on your lips, you're probably dead.

It's one of my rare nights to entertain tonight! You have no idea how stressful this makes me. I'm pretty much used to my own lowly standards of hygiene and cuisine. Inviting people into my home to judge me is not a pleasant prospect. Luckily, the friend who's calling over is a good one. Unfortunately, she's also an amazing cook. Who's had the opportunity to sample most of the de Winter standards. So... on the menu tonight is a chicken dish I cooked for lovely Sergei a few weeks ago. It's from the much-lamented Slow Cooked in Blighty and is very tasty indeed. Even better, it's something I can bung in the slow cooker well before my guest arrives, allowing me to focus on the side dishes of roasted vegetables and spicy broccoli. For afters, I'm making Chocolate Cola Cake to a recipe gleaned from the marvellous boards.ie Cake & Pie forum. I know: baking isn't thrifty but I have a few eggs which need using up (a work colleague gifted half a dozen from her own brood in Donegal!) and most of the ingredients are in the store cupboard. Right here we go...