h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's when you cook vegetables gently in butter or oil until they soften. It sweetens them and releases the flavours. It's an important stage in many a dish. For example, you can't make a decent Italian tomato-based pasta sauce without first preparing your 'sofrito' (a gently sweated mixture of onions, garlic and celery).

And with Indian food it's normally: heat oil - add salt and hing (asafoetida) - throw in spices (e.g. mustard and cumin seeds) and heat until they pop - add any powdered spices (eg haldi/turmeric) and heat a little - throw in onions/garlic/ginger/chilli and heat until the onions soften - add vegetables and coat in spice mixture. Sweat a little more before adding any water or yoghurt or whatever. This is how you make almost any curry.

This weekend I was back in my old 'hood, so was able to stock up on paneer. So tonight it's paneer with peas and chapattis for dinner. No sweat!

Thanks for the cooking suggestion, Edward. I'll try it later this week, or next, depending how hectic things get with the holiday stuff.

It's currently -3 C here, not too terribly cold, but the wind chill is -10 C, so it bites. The rest of the week will be about the same, but Friday's going to be -12 C for the high and -18 C for the low- THAT'S a bit nippy, even for me!

Hi PCandy -- my Christmas package arrived today! THANK YOU! Look foward to kicking back and watching Pirates tomorrow afternoon.

I remember from when I lived in Ottawa that the human face acts as a sub-zero thermometer. At -18, one's nostril hairs freeze and feel spiky. At -21, one's ears hurt. At -25, one's cheekbones ache.

In Glasgow one year at Christmas, it (freakishly, untypically) hit -30. All our pipes froze. My wife got a call on New Year's day from the police saying that there was water gushing out of the door at the drugs project she managed. I turned up with a water-turning-off-thingy and was surrounded by a horde of Govan residents who assumed I was from 'The Cooncil' and wanted their supplies restored.