Cooking up a storm

We've had a lot of work and social entertaining on the agenda lately which means I've been practicing cooking, working on new recipes, and regularly cursing the tiny-ness of our oven and fridge and cupboards. I am learning to work around said limitations but am stashing the lessons learned in the back of my brain for the next time we're house hunting. Maximal cooking fun does require both good space and good tools. And pull out drawers for pots and pans...now considered essential in my world as I consider the various head bumps and bruises that result from digging around for the good dutch oven at the very back of the shelves! As it's winter I'm more interested in soups and stews and casseroles...hearty cold weather fare. I'm exploring different vegetables like parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes with some measure of success. And lamb...its a shame not to eat a lot of lamb here. We're planning a visit to the venison store next month in Margaret River too. Recently we've tried recipes from a variety of sources, mostly family, friends, and the Internet. I'm digging to the back of the box of hand written recipes that I've been lugging around the world for years - it's like reconnecting with old friends. The pages from my Mom written years ago telling me how to make my first Christmas dinner as a young 20-something, and the gumbo recipe (FINALLY written down in 2002 I think, though it doesn't include any actual measurements!) are particularly creased, stained, and well used. Menus have included rosemary braised lamb shanks, sweet potato and pear soup, Thai coconut chicken soup, chicken and dressing casserole, marinated vegetables, curries, roasted veggies, sticky toffee pudding, Cajun seasoned fish, spicy slaw, and Mike's contribution of dark chocolate pound cake with genache, and dark chocolate and peanut butter candies. He's a devoted fan of chocolate. I insist he take the leftovers to the office where they are already starting to protest that their clothes are getting a wee bit snug :-) Some have been great successes and others, well, not so much. I feel a bit sorry for our guests since there is quite a lot of experimentation going on, but just remind myself that a meal at someone else's house is almost always better than slaving away over your own stove, plus I know it beats the heck out of the hotel fare that some of these guys have been eating for weeks on end. Now off to exercise....sigh....