What is going on in my freezer

I am reluctant to call this my first culinary disaster of 2009, so let's call it a 'work in progress'. Finding myself with 5 egg whites in the fridge (a result of some gloriously triumphant ice cream making), I thought I would set about whipping them up into a sorbet. Steve reliably informs me that there is a bit of manufacturer's instructions which tells me exactly how to go about the sorbet making process. I have, naturally, misplaced it. Nevertheless, with my new gung-ho attitude to life, I merrily whisked egg whites, sugar and a bit of lemon juice and slung them in the general direction of my ice cream maker. Steve was singularly disinterested in my recipe/concoction, preferring to concentrate on gluing a piece of MDF to our living room (not quite as random as it sounds, just don't ask me to explain in any kind of detail). I, therefore, phoned SBF to see if I could drum up any enthusiasm for my creativity. There was a comment of, 'I thought sorbet was mainly water' and then there was the sound of a cat vomitting and the conversation came to an abrupt end. OK, so the water thing was a bit of a revelation and did explain why the mixture was refusing to freeze (yes, I do have a degree in biochemistry, but that part of my brain was clearly refusing to work). In the end I added about 200ml of water let it churn a bit more and shoved it in the freezer to have a think. I am still thinking. SBF has opened the tub, tasted it (it would appear that living dangerously is catching) and concluded that it is a very cold, sweet, but otherwise tasteless, mousse. I think that tomorrow I shall try to retrieve some of this 'stuff' and blend it with a can or two of blackcurrants. If this doesn't work, I will almost certainly just leave it in the belly of our freezer until I need the tupperware for something else. MARVELLOUS!

Does life get any more risky?

This year's resolution is to 'live more dangerously'. I didn't want to start too big, with throwing myself out of a plane or stealing a car, so I have started very, very small. Last night I had a cheese course before having my dessert. Having pleaded the case for cheese last on New Year's Eve I thought I had to try this. And I have to say it doesn't do it for me. Eating cheese is something that really ought to be done to excess and knowing that there is something else to come kind of dampens my enthusiasm. I have a slight paranoia about being a very slow eater and being able to relax and work my way through an entire cheeseboard and a glass of port or two is one of life's great pleasures. As I usually cook for any meal that requires a cheese course, I don't want to be getting up with an entire stilton inside me to do something complicated like flambe eight crepe suzettes when I can be sat down safe in the knowledge Steve knows how to work our filter coffee machine.

So, I tried it, and didn't like it - if you have a compelling reason for pudding last, I'd love to hear it, just don't expect me to agree.

I shall try something different and dangerous some time soon - watch this space.