Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!

So Uni is more hardcore than anticipated. Despite having the word "beginner" in the title and being at first year level, my photography class is unbelievably, intimidatingly advanced. I thought I'd stumbled into the PhD masterclass by mistake. I'm terrified to mention that I just want to take nice snaps of casseroles and cupcakes, in case it isn't avant-garde enough. The teacher is, shall we say, a little unhumourous...but I shall persevere. For your sake!

Tim and I desperately need to do some groceries (damn you Kieran, for leaving us bereft of a car!) Which is why we end up having disjointed meals like this.

Above: From the top: breakfast sausages, brown lentils, salad leaves, and couscous with ras-el-hanout. (A muskily delicious spice mix, by the way.) I'm toying with this brown lentil recipe in my head, I can't decide if it is to be a kind of salad dressing or more hummous-leaning, either way it is amusing to annoy Tim by calling it "Lentil Paste." I'll let you know which way I eventually go.

Encore une fois! I made the Pasta with Beurre Rouge again and Tim wisely decided that in fact, it was a magically delicious dinner. I promise you, he conceded this without any pressure from me.

Last night Tim, Emma, Paul and I went to a pub quiz in town, and came first equal! We won a $100 bar tab. Which means we have to go back to that awful pub to spend it sometime. Still. $100! Team Hadfield for the win! We thoroughly trounced everyone else, which is quite a satisfying feeling, let me tell you. Sufficiently emboldened, we may try another pub quiz next week.

Above: Well, I clearly haven't learned any skills from my photog class yet. But don't judge these lush, buttery scones on their appearance. Please?

My mum and I used to love watching the Two Fat Ladies show when it screened in New Zealand. One thing we particularly lol'd over was when - I think it was Clarissa - was making soup, and she said helpfully to the camera that it was a "useful way to get rid of leftover Stilton." This seemed so amusingly extravagant to us. So as I made these scones, thankful that the recipe would require the rapidly aging Camembert that Tim's aunt and uncle gave us a while ago, I couldn't help but chuckle. And crave a wheel of cheese.

Peppered Camembert Scones

This recipe was first posted by Kerryanne on the food forum I frequent.

3 cups SR flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cracked black pepper (I used pink peppercorns. Recommend!)

100gms camembert,chopped

90g butter,melted,cooled.

1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven 210 C. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in pepper and cheese.Make a well in the centre. Combine butter, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water.Pour into well. Using a knife,mix until just combined.Turn out onto lightly floured board. Knead gently until dough comes together. Divide into 8 portions. Roll each into a ball and flatten slightly.Place on greased trays,allow for spreading.Brush tops with a little milk. Using a small sharp knife make 3 slits in top of each damper (I forgot to add the slits, and they were okay) Bake 12-15 mins,or until golden and skewer comes out clean.

For tonight's dinner I tossed some pasta with a can of salmon, some capers (it's worth looking for the salt-packed ones, they are far superior to the brine-pickled capers,) a tin of tomatoes, and lemon juice.

Above: Also made with things from our cupboard, although a heck of a lot more cohesive than our last dinner.

Received a package in the mail from Mum today - a Hudson And Halls cookbook, from the late seventies - filled with delightfully camp (I know, it's all to easy to say camp around these two) musings and wonderfully conversational recipes. For those of you who don't know, Peter Hudson and David Halls had a TV cooking show in New Zealand in the seventies and eighties, and basically perked up the genre with their, well, perkiness. I anticipate perhaps making "Posh Soup" or mayhaps the "Super Duper Pancake..."