Settling in

A KitchenMaid's home is her castle (at least, the top half of one is!)

We are - at last - unpacked and our new house is beginning to feel more like home. We've lived in this city before, but never in this particular area, and it feels like an exotic new country. The nice thing though, is that there are old friends here. One even turned up last night, brandishing a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine. Then she spotted a friend of hers walking up the street and it turns out that she's our downstairs neighbour. So dearest Sally and Jen-from-downstairs sat at the island in the kitchen (I have a kitchen with an island!) and we gossiped and laughed and drank rose while I rustled up a little something to eat.

I did mean to take some shots of the finished product but wine and cameras and old friends don't mix.

Nigella's linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms has been a staple in our house ever since I bought Nigella Express a few months ago. Actually, it was the main reason I bought the book. It's dead easy - marinate mushrooms in lemon, garlic, olive oil and thyme, then toss through cooked pasta - and delicious. You can find the full recipe text here - though I usually add some chopped black olives for an extra hit of saltiness. I also boost the mushroom-to-pasta content, otherwise you end up with a lot of pasta and not many mushrooms. Our new house has a tiny clump of thyme growing in the back graden, but you can leave it out or substitute lots of parsley.

Tomorrow we are off on the second leg of our road trip - the one to recover from moving in. More posts from the road to follow!