Friday 10th July 2026
Lunch
I was on my own for lunch today so I ate in at Urban Pitta and had a halloummi pitta.
Dinner
Courgette Tagliatelle for dinner – made with my own homegrown courgettes which was fun. They were really young and bright green. I’m not sure veg growing is for me. It’s quite a lot of work for small returns but it has been good to try.
Saturday 11th July 2026
Lunch
If I have leftovers of something that isn’t saucy, it often ends up in a frittata. The leftover sag aloo from Thursday was perfect for this served with salad (lettuce from the garden) and dressing.
Dinner
I went down to Nottingham this evening to see a play with my friend and she cooked us dinner beforehand. She’s an excellent cook so it’s always a treat. This evening we had Rigatoni all Zucca from the book Cooking with Nonna, a vegan cookbook of Italian classics. It was a squash and hazelnut sauce with Suma’s oat pasta and plenty of hazelnut and sage pangrattato for sprinkling. My friend served it with her panzanella – she makes the best panzanella. I really much try making it myself.
We also had lemon spritzes to drink which I think came from the same book and a lovely cake with cherry sauce for dessert. (I also got a big chunk of the cake to bring home with me.)
Sunday 12th July 2026
Lunch
We were out of the house at lunchtime so had a bit of a picnic lunch courtesy of the Co-op: olive bread, brie and lovely flavoursome tomatoes.
Dinner
Mushroom and black olive sauce (tomato based) and pasta for dinner followed by cake leftovers with hot cherries and creme fraiche.
Monday13th July 2026
Lunch
Magic soup with cheese on toast for lunch.
Dinner
We went up to Micho, our local Turkish restaurant in Crookes for dinner and had a lovely meal. We’ve been 3 or 4 times now and it does seem to get better and better. Great that it’s open on a Monday evening too because so many places aren’t.
We had mezze to share: Patlıcan Tarator (aubergine dip), Hummus, Çoban Salatası (a mixed salad), Biber Közleme (barbecued peppers with feta cheese, olive oil and garlic), Turkish bread and bulgur. I love how they cook their bulgur with tomato paste, onions, mixed peppers, garlic and herbs. The aubergine dip is also particularly good and it turns out they do make it in house.
Tuesday 14th July 2026
Tuesday
I had lunch with my friend today and we tried a newish place in town called Goobers Fine Dirty Dining. It describes itself as “Creole-inspired cuisine.. [bringing] together the bold flavours of New Orleans and the Southern US”.
It was a hot day so the fairly fast-food style interior with good air con was much appreciated and the service was lovely. There was a lot of veggie choice because most of the meat dishes could be ‘veganised’ with the use of fake meats. I think the dish below is the ‘Buff and Blue’ dirty fries with fake chicken, buffalo sauce and blue cheese sauce – though there was no blue cheese taste so perhaps they substituted that with a vegan cheese sauce. Be warned the portions are very big!
I was impressed when I asked for a bit of foil to take home some leftovers for the dog and what I got was a box pre-filled with some dog treats. Next time I might take him in with me.
Dinner
Coconut dahl with paneer and rice.
Wednesday 15th July 2026
Lunch
Leftover soup from Monday with baguette and cheeses.
Dinner
We had a repeat of last night’s dahl for dinner tonight but I didn’t have a lot because we went to Church (not that kind of church) to watch the World Cup match and I really wanted something from their menu. I had the Bang Bang Cauli Bits and they were fun. The sweet and spicy sauce had quite a kick and it was a big portion.
Thursday 16th July 2026
Lunch
I was lunching alone again so I went to Dana and had their avocado and halloumi open sand with a side of mushrooms.
Dinner
On my own for dinner too so I tried to zero in on just what I fancied. I was definitely feeling a bit of a protein craving so went for roast tofu and purple sprouting broccoli (I always fancy broccoli of some variety!) served with black soybean spaghetti and dressed with some sesame oil, soy sauce and black sesame seeds.
The spaghetti was great. It had a slightly similar taste to tofu so perhaps not ideal to serve it with tofu but I found it very satisfying. It seems expensive because the pack only weights about 200g but you don’t need nearly as much uncooked weight as you do of pasta. 100g dried is plenty for 2 people. I’m keen to up my protein intake as a woman of a certain age so this could be useful.
