When my son was young I used to make lunch boxes for him daily as he doesn’t like the food from his school canteen. I actually wanted him to try more different kinds of food so I joined him to the school meals list. It only lasted a couple of weeks!

However the school actually has a menu of what is being served daily. Once a week we were given a menu and the boy and I have to tick what he wanted for 5 days (weekly). Typical English food like fish fingers, spaghetti Bolognese and such. As my son was not too keen on a lot of the food offered and also he wanted to gobble up his lunch quickly just so he could play footie, he much preferred to have lunch boxes.

There was a year when I forced him to join the school Christmas lunch with all the other students before the school Christmas pantomime. When I went to the school to collect him that day one of the canteen lady told me, “Mrs Olive your son said our gravy is like brown drain water” I was so embarrassed, extremely embarrassed that I did not know where to put my face or how to begin to apologize! We still reminiscent about it to this day with a chuckle. I think he was 8 or 9 years old then.

Anyway one of his favourite lunch box food is my savoury muffins and of course his favourite is none other than cheese and bacon muffins. Sometimes I add in a bit of sweet corn or grated carrots. You do the basic mix and add anything you like within reason. If course common sense is not to overload with vegetables. Let children enjoy a bit.

Use this basic ingredients and adjust add or minus stuff to suits your taste.

The only one golden rule is mix the wet ingredient to the dry and do not over mix the mixture!

Remember when you scope onto your tin, make sure it’s like a mound in the middle and not flat. This si so that your muffins baked like a round ball, prettier.

I would have added chives to today’s bake but I have non at home so I decided to add some larger pieces of bacon on top.

Enjoy and don’t forget to tag me or post your pics here.

With this Covid19 ongoing and the hubby working from home plus having the family here to be fed at least twice a day is mind taxing. I have been cooking only one meal a day for so long and have always taken my sweet time in deciding what to cook until now. I missed my quiet ME time! hehehehehe

Today’s breakfast is Square Egg. This was first taught to me by a 13 years old New Zealander boy by the name of Michael Meeham. I sometimes wonder where and how is he and his family now. I used to live in Kuching in an area called Rainbow Drive. It’s an area which is also homes to a bunch of New Zealanders and Australian pilots who flew for MAS. The Meehams were my next door neighbours. There were Mr & Mrs Meeham and their 3 children, Michael, Matthew and little Sophie. Sigh……those were the days like a lifetime ago now.

I asked hubby this morning if he has had this when he lived in New Zealand but he can’t remembered. So I decided to make it for him.

I was taught only to make the square eggs but I decided to up it a bit and serve with baked beans and a rationed piece of bacon. I was actually quite hungry this morning and so is everyone. Breakfast was much appreciated by everyone.

I bought a huge English crab from Devon and I used the boiling method to dispatch it to crab heaven and then painstakingly picked all the meat.

One of the dish I made from some of the meat is potted crab. This is extremely easy to make and taste good if you are a fan of crab. I made it the same way as potted shrimps just using crab.

However do not try to make this from tin crab as it won’t taste as good. The fresh crab taste very sweet and juicy! I had a hard job trying not to eat it all when I was picking it.

This is a very easy leeks side dish. When I cook this I do not make a sauce for the steak as the leeks will be saucy enough.

This makes for a quick satisfying dish and all can be ready in under an hour as the beef steak is just pan seared in a griddle pan.

Just be a bit more careful with washing the leeks as they tends to trap and hide a lot of dirt when growing. Many a times I find myself having to wash again and again as I slice them.

p/s You should have about half of bottle of white wine left to drink after.

Bubble and squeak is a traditional British breakfast made from boiled potatoes and cabbage. In modern times it is a dish made with the shallow fired leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The main ingredients are potato and cabbage but carrots, peas, brussels sprouts, or any other leftover vegetables may be added. The chopped vegetables (and cold chopped meat if used) are fried in a pan together with mashed potatoes or crushed roast potatoes until the mixture is well-cooked and brown on the sides. The dish is so named because the cabbage makes bubbling and squeaking sounds during the cooking process.^[It is often served with cold meat from the Sunday roast and pickles or brown sauce or as an accompaniment to a full English breakfast.

The meat was traditionally added to the bubble and squeak itself, although nowadays it is more commonly made without meat – from Wiki.

Update 26th December 2019. St Stephen Day (Boxing Day) I like to eat bubble and squeak and this is a must go to meal after a few days of feasting at Christmas time. When I last cook my brussels sprouts I make sure to make a bit more extras saving just for this

In the United Kingdom, “pigs in blankets” refers to small sausages (usually chipolatas) wrapped in bacon though in Scotland they are often called kilted soldiers. They are a traditional accompaniment to roast turkey in a Christmas dinner. Pigs in blankets can be followed with devils on horseback, an appetiser of prunes wrapped in bacon. In my house there is never enough pigs in blankets. Some interesting read. 

The name can also refer to Czech-American dish, klobasnek.

The German Würstchen im Schlafrock (“sausage in a dressing gown“) uses sausages wrapped in puff pastry or, more rarely, pancakes. Cheese and bacon are sometimes present. 

In Russia, this dish is named Сосиска в тесте (Sosiska v teste, “sausage in dough“).

In Israel, Moshe Ba’Teiva (Moses in the basket) is a children’s dish consisting of a hot dog rolled in a ketchup-covered sheet of puff pastry or phyllo dough and baked.

In Denmark, there is a dish similar to the British-style dish known as the Pølse i svøb, which means “sausage in blanket”, usually sold at hot dog stands known as pølsevogn (sausage-wagons). The American-style pigs in a blanket are known as Pølsehorn, meaning “Sausage horns”.

In Finland, pigs in blanket are known as nakkipiilo, which means “hidden sausage” if it is translated freely.

In Mexico, the sausage is wrapped in a tortilla and deep fried in vegetable oil. The name “salchitaco” comes from the fusion of the ords salchicha (sausage) and taco(sausage taco).

In both Australia and New Zealand, pig in a blanket is a cocktail frankfurter wrapped in bacon and/or puff pastry.

In China, a Chinese sausage wrapped in pastry is called “Lap Cheong Bao” and is steamed rather than baked.

In Hong Kong, a hot dog wrapped in pastry is called “Cheung Jai Bau” or “Hot Dog Bun” and is baked.

In Estonia, they are referred to as “viineripirukas”, which means sausage pastry.

In Serbia, the dish has a name “rol viršla”, lit. (hot) dog roll. Rol viršla is a very popular type of fast food in Serbia.