So, it's been a week of madness. I've worked late, gone to a bat mitzvah rehearsal and simply been plain tired. Tonight (Thursday) is the first night I'm actually cooking - salmon with a salad of cucumber and poppy seeds, from Ottolenghi.

I am desperate to get some cooking done. Cooking soothes me and there is something hugely satisfying about producing a meal that is tasty and looks good and makes other people happy. It must the Jew in me...

This weekend is a bit of a mad one - my niece's batmizvah on saturday, so I only really have Sunday to myself. I am making a Shep's Pie for dinner, using the recipe from Saturday Kitchen using a whole shoulder of lamb and cooking with vichy carrots. I have to say, when I was watching it being cooking I was actually drooling, which doesn't make me look great I know but it did inspire me to give it a go. Soft, tender lamb, caramelised onions and creamy smooth mash. Sitting now at my desk at work it's making me ravenous.

I also feel the need for cake. To bake a lovely, tall, sandwich cake - cut into fat wedges and eaten on sunday afternoon with a steaming mug of tea, watching a film. Hoping for a rainy sunday as hearing bluster, wearing pjyamas all day and with a vicky sponge waiting to be devoured has to be one of the nicest things imaginable. I also have a jar of dulce de leche begging to be used and The Guardian had a recipe for banana caramel cream pie that GluttonBoy looked quite excited by.

So, off home for steamed salmon with a cucumber and poppy seed salad. I don't really feel like salad but the alternative is a fray bentos pie and chips. Which, actually, I do like the sound of...

Lots of love
GG