Have you ever had one of those weeks? Not only was my Boss over from the US, but work was mental (last week of the quarter) and my little one decided he could do without most of the 11 hours sleep he usually has. It was at that point I realised I had promised to cook Mr FoodUrchin a dish for his dinner the next day. I won’t go into detail about why (it’s all here, if you’re interested), but his idea to help sample other Food Bloggers cooking, as well as meeting other Food Bloggers is an excellent one, and one I wished I’d thought of myself, to be honest. I’m not sure the ‘Feed Biggest Jim’ campaign would take off, but it could be worth a try.

I have cooked and even blogged about Jambalaya before and I think that well be the last time I cooked the dish. I thought it would be a good, hearty dinner for FoodUrchin and, although I’m loathed to admit it, the dish was inspired by Jamie Oliver’s American Road trip to Louisiana.

I used chicken, cured chorizo and cooked king prawns as the meats, but was a bit disappointed by the result. It didn’t seem to be as spicy as I wanted it to be and I think I added a bit too much rice. Anyway, I boxed a portion up, along with some dessert and stuck it in the fridge. On trying my leftovers the next day, I was horrified to find that the rice now had taken on qualities more associated with bullets than food, but it was too late to do anything by that point.

The clandestine exchange occurred in broad daylight and for my effort, I was awarded with  some home grown allotment desiree & new potatoes, as well as Vivienne. ‘I fed her this morning, so be careful, as she may explode later on’. I’m not sure that Docklands is the best area to be handing over a package whilst commenting on it’s explosive capabilities and the bloke sitting nearby certainly didn’t appreciate that comment, the look on his face akin to what Roman Polanski’s was when he found out the Swiss police weren’t actually waiting for him at the airport to escort him to his hotel. Vivienne, by the way, is a live sourdough starter, which will help me make my favourite kind of bread, as long as I don’t kill her beforehand.

Anyway, the review of my dinner is here. I thoroughly recommend you check it out, not forgetting to read the reviews of other Food Bloggers’ dishes, some of which put my efforts to shame.