My 'to do' list

A few years ago I started writing down what has since become known as a 'Bucket List'. It included ' jump off a mountain' - paragliding off Mount Seven outside Golden, which a couple of us did on a cold Labour Day weekend - but was also full of the small adventures of life, and often cooking life. One attainable desire was that I wanted to get comfortable cooking with lamb.

I broiled lamb chops for my parents soon after, but there has been a long lull since. I'm now back on this hobby horse.

A few weeks ago, I made a spring lamb stew, with new potatoes and snow peas, with a wine based broth and the meat tender and mild. Hubby licked his plate. And it was remarkably like making a stew out of other familiar meats....hmmm. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spring_lamb_stew/

With friends coming for dinner, I roasted my first leg of lamb, slathering it in lemon, garlic, mustard and rosemary, and roasting the potatoes alongside on a bed of de-skinned lemon slices. I think that may have broken me through my lamby barrier - oh, I get it, it's a meat roast. Flavour, cook to desired doneness and eat. It was good. Even the next day.

This past weekend, it was ground lamb seekh kabobs with nuts and fresh mint, served with a yogurt sauce. Also delicious! (sorry, we ate them before I remembered to take a picture, and they looked pretty, too, sigh. I'm not very swift at remembering to use the camera.)

My next target is a boneless leg, marinated in buttermilk, herbs and garlic, and bbq'ed. P told me about not leaving the leg butterflied, but rolling it back up and grilling it slowly - he uses a rotisserie - so that the fat bastes the roast and the marinade permeates the meat by being cooked inside. That's going to be worth a photo. And a leisurely dinner with friends.

Last year was the summer of mojitos and I'm thinking maybe we need to hold that over, they'd go really well with that bbq'd lamb. The mint is already growing on the balcony...