I’ve been going through my photos from the last two years, thinking about creating posts for this blog. I discovered a folder with photos of some of the food I created during our first lockdown in the Spring of 2020. It was fun to remember all the cooking and baking, virtual meals with friends, and searching for new recipes. My friend Sue and I even created a facebook group called Shut-In Foodies, which is still going strong!

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, and the meal we most often eat out. As I still aspire to have a bed and breakfast some day, I dedicated the lockdown to practicing the perfect preparation of eggs. (At first I thought the lockdown would be all about perfecting sourdough bread, but I kept killing my starter!)

Clockwise starting top left: eggs baked in phyllo with roasted potatoes, open-faced fried egg sandwiches; fried egg over left-over over risotto with chives from our window-sill garden; fried egg over rice with two salsas, guacamole and kefir cheese; eggs benedict with blender hollandaise and pesto on homemade English muffins; simple scrambled eggs and cheese on homemade English muffin with baby arugula from the window-sill garden.

Too Many Baked Treats

Still trying to shed a few of these pounds…

Left to right: first ever lattice-top pie (I can’t remember the filling, but looks like some frangipane bubbling up through the pastry!); clafoutis aux cerises; compost cake (a basic cake with whatever fresh fruit you have hanging about!).

Fresh Ideas For Dinner

I find it too easy to get into a rut with dinner ideas, so it was a great time to experiment and go back to a few favourites that I don’t make often.

Clockwise starting at top left: mung bean curry; miso ramen soup with fried marinated tofu; spanikopita with tomato feta salad and lemon roast potatoes; veggie roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings and mushroom gravy; quinoa pilaf with grilled apricots; pesto linguine with tomato salad and homemade slow rise bread.

Tea for Two

I cannot resist a cuppa and all the delicious possibilities which may accompany a lovely brew. I am still working on my scone techniques (mine never rise very high, no matter how carefully I follow the recipes I try!), but I have mastered making luscious, decadent clotted cream. We had one or two virtual tea parties during lockdown as well!

Clockwise from top: Cream tea for two with warm fruit scones and homemade clotted cream; preparing for a virtual tea party (cream and ready-to-bake scones were porch-dropped to our friends on the other side of the screen); and a more casual tea with home-made chocolate chip cookies.