Joe/Frank’s cooking is coming along marvellously! Last night he cooked Nigella’s shortcut sausage meatballs from Nigellissima (p. 75) – the only assistance required was finely chopping the spring onions.

Really very excellent!

Today has been devoted mostly to cooking. First up blueberry muffins

Then sofrito for freezing for future paella

Then red beans and rice bubbling away for dinner.

Don is now preparing a giant pork belly for pancetta. It will cure for a week and hang in the under-construction curing cabinet for some weeks.

The curing cabinet is a complex beast and requires a fridge, a humdifier, a desk fan on a timer and a temperature control (which sits between the fridge and the power – because a fridge would be too cold as is). Don intends to use the freezer compartment for making cheese. And when not being used for curing meat, the fridge will be used for making lager.

It’s like homesteading (without the homestead)!

Yes, we’re pretty much the epitome of aging hipsters.