Against the odds, I’ve managed to keep alive the tomato plants my mother gave me back in May.

I really didn’t think they were going to make it. The poor things got hardly any sunshine. It rained so much they got waterlogged and their leaves went brown and started dropping off. I found out too late that I was supposed to be offering them tomato feed (and in the end never bothered).

Despite all that, I’ve actually had a fairly decent crop out of them. Not enough to stop having to buy tomatoes in my weekly grocery shop, but enough that we’ve been having them at whim when I wouldn’t have bothered otherwise – having some fresh tomatoes with pizza one evening, or with our sandwiches.

Not only that, but my eyes have been opened to the FLAVOUR. So that’s what tomatoes are supposed to taste like, instead of the watery pap that usually passes for tomatoes.

So I’m encouraged – if I can get things to survive and get something useful off them, then anyone can. I can see the point to this sort of gardening. So I’m thinking of branching out next year.

I’ve bought myself this great book called Crops In Pots – okay, it’s probably more aspirational gardening than practical as it appears to have more glossy photographs than text, but to be honest I don’t want to be scared off by complicated instructions. I like the “bung it in pot and harvest” approach.

The only problem is – what to choose next year in addition to tomatoes? I’m tempted with some dwarf runner beans – but would I ever get enough at one picking to feed the four of us? Maybe I should grow sweet peppers instead – I only ever need one of those at a time…

Decisions, decisions.

I made a fresh fruit salad for tonight’s dessert in the first time in ages. It was really delicious. But as I ate, I couldn’t help thinking…

… what a waste of sangria ingredients!

It must be my week for receiving enticing and delicious packages in the mail.

However, on this one I had some forewarning. A couple of weeks ago, I was sent an email asking if I would like to be sent a free Hotel Chocolat Signature Egg, in return for reviewing it here on the Prattle.

I have to confess I did a slight double-take at the implication that I might actually refuse free chocolate, but soon recovered from my shock, got in contact and sorted out details.

For the sake of transparency, I should at this point out that I am not in anyway affiliated with Hotel Chocolat, I don’t get squazillions of chocolate if you all rush out and buy one (more’s the pity) and I’m completely free to say what ever I like in the course of this review.

I just got to eat lots of luxury chocolate to give you the inside scoop – but you know how it is, I’m always prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty on your behalf. With that cleared up, on with the review…

I’d heard of Hotel Chocolat before, associated the name with a luxury chocolate brand, but had never got around to trying any of their products. Even so, when I received the parcel I couldn’t help but be impressed. Right from the start, the packaging just screams quality and high-class chocolate (in a very understated and refined way, of course).

I’m usually bitterly disappointed with Easter Eggs; after all the excitement and hype, you spend ages taking off about 20 layers of packaging, find a tiny little egg inside with wafer thin chocolate and if you’re lucky a minuscule little bag of sweets inside. Not so with the Signature egg.

On removing from the cardboard outer, the egg is reassuringly solid and heavy.

The egg itself is two distinct halves – one side plain chocolate and the other milk. The shell is thick and makes a nice substantial “crack” as you break a slab of chocolate away from it. The plain side is tart, without having that residual bitter after taste you get in some dark chocolates. The milk side is rich, creamy and substantial. No disappointment in sight.

But the most impressive part of all is the filling. The egg is crammed with mini “egg” truffles. All potently alcoholic. I’d describe them all to you, but they are very rich and I have eaten only the amaretto one which was divine. I shall be eking them out over several days so I can fully appreciate them and not get chocolate fatigue.

The only downside (you knew there’d be one, didn’t you?) is that at £19 plus postage, this is not a cheap Easter Egg. However, unlike the cheap and tacky ones stacked to the ceiling in Tescos, this egg really feels like it’s worth every penny.

If your budget still can’t quite stretch, then you may be glad to know that Hotel Chocolat are currently running a competition to win one of 20 Easter Hampers with enough goodies to make even the most hardened chocoholic squeal with joy. Visit The Online Easter Egg Hunt for more details – but hurry, I think the competition ends tonight…

I’ve just noticed (in the hunt for a recipe) that Annabel Karmel is launching a new range of ready meals in conjunction with Sainsburys under the Eat Fussy label.

For those who don’t know who Annabel Karmel is, she is a well-known cookbook author who shamed thousands of UK mothers into making their babies’ and children’s food from scratch.

Recommended by health visitors and parents alike, her recipes (while some tending to the fussy side and often requiring decorative flourishes) have coaxed many a fussy eater into the tastes of real fresh food and lured parents away from relying on expensive and nutrient-poor jars and pre-prepared food. She encouraged us that yes, we do have the time and the skills to do it properly.

So, to launch a range of ready meals seems somewhat … hypocritical, to say the least. While the ingredients and information on the range looks good (and I’ll be honest, we’ll probably end up trying at least one at some point in the future in an emergency), I do feel bizarrely let down by Ms Karmel. And the chicken rissoles we had this evening (in normal burger shapes, not teddies as recommended) were delicious but tainted.

Maybe we should all just give in and surrender every meal to Captain Birdseye?

I’ve gone off a lot of fast food recently. Mainly because, having cut out a lot of additives in our diet, the food now taste flavourless and over salty to me, but also because the takeaway restaurants near us aren’t particularly good quality and the meat is often cheap and fatty – it annoys me that these expensive meals are so poor and unenjoyable.

Of course, it doesn’t actually stop me craving a really good chicken korma or a large portion of fish and chips though, I just find that the thought of a takeaway is so much nicer than the actual reality. So stumbling across these Fast Food recipes on BBC Food might just be the answer – at least I’ll know the exact quality of the ingredients going into them.

Anyone want a slice?

More importantly, is anyone volunteering to clean my kitchen floor which accidentally got drizzled on as well as the cake?

Much appreciated, ta.

You know, it’s funny. As I’ve grown up, I’d almost stopped eating puddings. Even at a restaurant, although I’ll have good intentions of choosing from the dessert menu, in practice I’m usually full by then (especially if I indulge on a starter).

It’s all very odd because as a child I would mournfully wail “but dinner isn’t dinner without a proper pudding!” or complain to my mother “it’s not fair when you make a pudding I don’t like – that’s the bit you look forward to”. (Yes, I’m sure my mother thought I was delightful… not! Fortunately she either loved to cook or somehow put up with me anyway).

When we had children we’ve migrated back to at least giving them some sort of second course – usually fruit or a yoghurt. However, Akra Jr is also growing up, and despite previously never being interested in the “something and custard” school of dinner-finishing, he’s now routinely declaring disappointment if offered a yoghurt.

So, thanks to The Dinner Lady, her sequel Second Helpings and various scrawled recipes I’ve collected over the years, we’ve been revisiting all the old childhood favourites: lemon curd or toffee tarts, apple crumble, a variety of cakes and tonight… rice pudding!

Rice pudding. Why on earth haven’t I made this more frequently? It’s easy enough (although I never get the timing quite right and always find I need to cook it for a bit longer). Just hits the spot now the weather had turned a bit cooler, too. Yum.

Right, excuse me. I have to go and flip through the books some more – work out what I’m going to cook tomorrow… maybe a Lemon Drizzle Cake…

I notice that salmonella in eggs is back in the news again (apparently due to imported EU eggs).

Published recipes and Food Standards Agency advice have always warned vunerable groups (such as pregnant women, very young children and the elderly) against eating raw eggs for as long as I remember (completely taking the joy out of licking the bowl out after cake-baking).

I always look for the Lion Mark before buying an egg, but apparently we still virtually have to treat raw eggs as a toxic substance, so why are we not falling over aisles worth of pasteurized eggs in the supermarket?

After all, you can’t buy unpasteurized milk for love nor money these days – supposedly too risky for the average consumer. I know that pasteurized eggs don’t just come in powdered form, because I’ve seen lemon curd with the ingredients “pasteurized egg (fresh)”. A company in the US has started marketing pasteurized eggs in their shells, so it’s obviously possible, but nothing on the shelves of my local Sainsburys.

Anyone know how they actually pasteurize an egg? Is it prohibitively expensive or difficult? Is the flavour/quality radically affected by pasteurizing them? It just seems such an obvious solution to the problem, to me.

If I were in the county council, there’d be a new local by-law for Worcester as of this afternoon:

All residents wishing to barbeque should provide an incinerated beefburger in a soggy white roll drowning in ketchup to each and every neighbour residing downwind.

You know it makes sense. I’m salivating, and I’ve already had my dinner…

I’ve had a breadmaker since Christmas now, and I can honestly say that it’s still the best kitchen gadget we own. It hasn’t been shoved into the back of a cupboard as predicted – it’s getting daily use.

It’s just great to eat bread for the enjoyment of it, rather than just have it as carbohydrate “filler” with no flavour and the texture of cardboard.

Anyway, we’ve had it long enough that I’ve started to have the courage to experiment, so I thought I’d share a pretty simple bread recipe.

The spelt flour is just enough that it adds a bit of flavour without it being so much that the kids notice and reject it with the cry of “YUCK! I HATE brown bread, mummy!” – sort of a best of both for the bread machine world. Best of all, it’s cheap but tastes like a luxury. Enjoy!

Everyday Bread

Ingredients

1tsp dried fast-action yeast (check it says suitable for breadmakers)
100g spelt flour
400g strong white bread flour
1¼tsp salt
350ml water

Method

1. Chuck all the stuff in your breadmaker (check your manual for the order)

2. Cook on BASIC WHITE if you want it nice and fluffy for sandwiches and don’t mind a bit of effort slicing it. Alternatively, use RAPID WHITE for a denser loaf that’s good as toast or if you like your slices even. Adjust size and crust settings as per your bread machine manual.

3. That’s it – all you have to do is wait then eat!