today has seen perhaps my greatest dahl success to date: toor dahl cooked in duck fat with garlic and chili (maybe you are thinking what i was thinking - gascon dahl), finished with pureed raw spinach, salt and tamarind paste. may 2008 be the year of pulse based triumph.

mother told me today that christmas lunch contains 7000 calories, and although i find this impossible to believe, i should think today's total tally is substantial. my own personal instance of chirtsmas dinner was relatively successful, although the turkey was slightly overdone as tradition would dictate. i rather worried that my roast potatoes would not crisp enough, but all came good in the end. i need to somehow devine an appropriate new years eve strategy - if you have any suggestions the comments are open.

today could well be the worst work day of my life. 5 hours to turn things around......

christmas is well and truely here with all it's attendant splendour - drunk blanks from christmas party with my office and the ensuing hangover, present purchase anxiety and familial ructions aplenty. silly old dan got the date of little peter's party wrong so i missed out on that fun. am in the office for the rest of the day/week for forseeable future.

my weekend was more heavily influenced by questions of professional judgement than i might like, but probably less than i have let some others think. i fear that i will miss tonight's do for cyndy's birthday (if you are reading, sorry), but did make a nostalgic, if late, trip to east finchley. rather excited about the lamb dhansak currently simmering away - here's hoping it tastes as good as it smells and wards off this sunday's fear.

dont know why, but after a nice day (study, tesco, coffee, more coffee) a brief spell in the office has made me very grumpy this evening. perhaps its the prospect of four hours on a train tomorrow, or something like that. outlook beyond my return is fair/changable in barometer speak.

not a bad week, but definately feel that the worst is yet top come workwise before christmas. good news that young ed will return to blighty. you may be enchanted to learn that i have read el bulli 97-02. cooked something far less molecular in the home town over the weekend. funny episode of the mighty boosh for listen again on bbc 7.