Baloo...knee...

In a bit of pain this morning. Had a bit of sporting injury yesterday evening which has given me a knee the size of a balloon and a limp like somebody doing a slapstick parody of a German WWII officer.

I'm pretty sure the injury wouldn't have been sustained if -

A) I decided not to bother trying to stop the boundary as it was always going to go over.
B) Did a dive along the ground rather than trying to stop it with my foot.
C) Had any fitness level to remark upon.
D) Was actually any good at Cricket.

I'm think that "D" is the correct assumption.

Anyway I'm not going to dwell on it. I think for me the cricket season is over and should our plans go ahead that I doubt I'll have any time at all to participate next season on a regular basis so perhaps I bit the game adieu.

In other news I've been thinking about good lunchtime pub food that we can put on the menu baring in mind that it must be easy to prepare, it must keep well and freeze well.

I'm certainly thinking that fresh, home-made pasta should be on the menu.

There really is nothing better than home-made pasta, for me the dried kind doesn't give it that authentic taste, certainly the cheaper ones.

My advice to anybody thinking about buying anything that has "Easy Cook" written anywhere on the packaging is to stop immediately and run over to the Fish counter, ask for an extremely large and wet Haddock and proceed to slap yourself around the face with it. Then put the packet back on the shelf, stand back and remain calm..............Finally go for the best quality brand.

But why do that? Fresh pasta is so easy to make and it keeps in well in the freezer too. Just portion the pasta dough up, wrap it up in cling film and chuck it into the freezer. all you need do then is a day before use just get it out to defrost and then your ready to use it again.

A good sturdy pasta machine will serve you a long time and with it you can make the best pasta you'll ever eat. Ravioli, Taglatelli, Spaghetti, Linguini, Lasagne etc etc.

Another thing to consider is cooking time. Dried pasta can take around 12 minutes to cook whereas fresh pasta only a couple of minutes in boiling water.

You can find hundreds of recipes for pasta dough on the internet however the first one I tried was a Jamie Oliver recipe and it was so easy and the pasta was just devine.

So come on guys and gals give it a go.