As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

Larumbelle

Ooh this is my 2000'th post! :j

IOIWE - if my other half said something like that I'd slap him! The rule is, my version of foods is the best version. Even if it's not lol. Anyway, I hope all goes well at the hospital, huge :grouphug: hugs to you and yours xx

Kidcat - your DD sounds very responsible, I don't think you've anything to worry about with her

I've just been to the Asian shop near me and picked up some miso powder, seaweed, noodles etc. I make my own sushi and thought I might try to extend my range a little. I love this shop, it's like a little Aladdin's cave, packed to the rafters with exotic products and dirt cheap. They are always friendly and helpful too, and they've given me some recipes to try I was a little nervous about asking but they seemed really enthusiastic that I should try it. I was going to mention that it wasn't particularly moneysaving, but it strikes me that I only spent £6, and most of the recipes they've given me are quite affordable, and really healthy if you ignore the salt in the miso. Anyone happen to know anything about Japanese cuisine?

[Deleted User]

the cinnamon buns, so far, look as though they are going to be good. I did the sweet enriched dough and rolled it out and greased an 8" sq tin. I then got some butter cinnamon (2 tsp) and some brown sugar and I squished it by hand and spread it over the dough. I dropped costo sultanas (they are big and juicy) on the top, rolled, cut into 9 and arranged it tin. Ok they will look like chelsea buns but who cares, it was much easier than a normal recipe

Oh larumbette, I cannot make myself eat sushi, raw fish!! dd loves it

silvermaid

Wow Larumbelle - 2,000 posts! That is a lot of time on MSE. Congratulations:)
We have now got an Asian shop near us and they also are very friendly.
Used to have to rely on visiting the shops in Fleetville when we were visiting family.
We cook a lot of Indian food and quite a lot of Chinese cuisine but we are not so hot on Japanese. Have done a W4g4m4m4s recipe for duck breast which was gorgeous but expensive.

lizzyb1812

Larumbelle - I've got the Yo Sushi Japanese Cookbook - lots of lovely stuff in there, although most of the recipes have LOTS of ingredients. Something I do quite often is called Chirashi Sushi - it's egg scrambled with mirin, fried mushrooms, rice and sushi vinegar all mixed together and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame seeds. You can swap the mushrooms for things like peas, tomatoes, etc if you want. Lovely :j Gonna have to put sushi on the menu plan for next week and find my rolling mat.

7_week_wonder

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Gonna have to put sushi on the menu plan for next week and find my rolling mat.

Larumbelle and lizzyb1812: can you share the secret of how you cook your sushi rice (quantities of water and rice etc). Alot of my asian student friends make sushi but they all use a rice cooker. I've got all the incredients and even the mat, but i've never got round to having a go as I've always been pysched out by that first step of cooking the rice. I love sushi so would love to give it a go, so idiot proof instructions gratefully received:o

[Deleted User]

it isn`t cinnamon buns, more like cinnamon tear and share but it`s lovely. 190 for about 25 min. I`m making it again

lizzyb1812

7 week wonder

Rice - for each 100g rice use 110ml water and cook by the absorption method - I do mine in a microwave rice cooker/veg steamer thingy. If cooking on a hob keep a lid on the pan - you want the water to be absorbed, not lost as steam. Yield should be 150g cooked rice

Sushi vinegar - for 150g cooked rice use 15ml rice vinegar, 5 to 15g sugar to taste, half teaspoon salt - or use bought sushi vinegar.

Put warm rice in a wide pot, sprinkle on the vinegar mixture then fold it into the rice - fold like it was eggwhites, not stir or beat or the rice tends to go mushy.

You're supposed to fan the rice whilst folding to cool it quickly but I can't steady the pot, fold and fan at the same time :rotfl:

The rice should be used pretty quickly.

HTH

Rowan9

Thinking of you Charlie's Aunt. You have been missed on/in here.
Candle lit for folks going through tough times. I've lit my special White Company lavender and neroli so we are all soothed.
Torrential rain, thunder and lightning today. Have been playing relaxtion music CD for the dogs and it did the trick.
Remember I couldn't unlock DD's door? hhmm went back in afternoon, still coudln't unlock it. Didn't try WD40 as it wasn't the lock if that makes sense. DH came with me at night before we considered next step of locksmith and taa daaa...I had 'apparently' (although I think it was some mystery person) locked the bottom lock as well (same key). What an eejit.
Getting through stuff in freezer before stepsons come up next month as I want it full of HM meals for 5 then. Today was quiche which I'd got reduced in MrM and froze. Had it with new pots and rocket salad.
I have £3.30 to add to grocery spends for this week but it's been a low spend week. Still have quite a bit left food-wise. I start housekeeping purse on a Sunday. Think I'll head to MrM tomorrow about 1.30/2 as that was when they had good reduced stuff a few weeks ago. I don't usually arrive at supermarkets at whoopsied times. I'm not getting fish again though. I know I've said before that I prefer fish fresh - yesterday I threw out 2 stuffed mackerel which I'd bought whoopsied and froze them quickly. Yuck the smell of fish was so strong when they were defrosted. Same with a salmon steak a few weeks ago. I once got awful food poisoning from a pub lunch of salmon and I commented at the time on the strong smell of it. Said 'mmmm I can smell that salmon.' Another of my eejit moments.
Continuing to watch every bit of electricity used. Determined to beat these energy 'providers'.
W

ceridwen

...and I'm getting a few Old Style satisfactions. Quite a productive walk today and getting my legs back to "fighting fitness" level gradually. Its just so darn easy to let things slip a bit and realise that various "bits and bobs" of one's body have slipped a bit from "normal". So - these days - my legs are aching - as I've been into Googlemaps and calculated out the distances I took for granted to walk when younger and decided "Thats gonna happen again and be taken for granted again".:D

So O.S. satisfactions of the last few days:
- I've found a good source of unprocessed peanuts for my peanut sprouts - and they're unshelled too. I thought it was coming over as "good deal" to see some packs of Basics Monkey Nuts in Sainsbugs for £1.50 a shot. But - I've found some ready-shelled peanuts in an independent health food shop for 28p per gram (compared to the higher rate Sainsbugs were charging). Okays - a few are sorta chopped in half - well those ones will be set aside for an experiment with home-made peanut butter. Some of the others are now "soaking for 24 hours" prior to me trying to get some beansprouts out of them.

- I've found some really "high value" food to forage that I've been looking out for for a while - coming up to try out for dinner tonight. I may or may not like it - but at least I will have tried it.:)

- Came across an old-fashioned ironmongers type shop (believe me - these things are a pleasure when one lives in a Clone Town) and bought a good set of cup measures for recipes that work it out that way.

- Got me some seeds delivered from Amazon ready for planting up now in "that special little area" - ie an area reasonably local to me. I know the peeps who first decided it was going to be a "special area". They arent the only ones - there are others. Anyways - they have had to "wind down" now and I've "taken their place" to be a "countryside guardian" for that little area. So - one of my little pleasures is to wander through it and see just how often someone has obviously realised that it isnt coincidence that not so much as one cigarette end or sweet wrapper is going to be allowed to sully it and is obviously enjoying it (judging from the "lit up/bright-eyed" look on their face). I do go off and have a giggle too when I can see they've obviously realised "it aint no coincidence" that the area is pristine and start up conversations with me. So - I've got my packets of wild flower seeds (including bee-friendly ones) at the ready to add a further "little zumsing" to the area shortly.

Part of it is just sheer "help to keep it safe from developers" - as they are a HUGE problem in my area. You name a nice little bit of "greenery" and some developer somewhere has got their little eyes on it to ruin it - so I'm hoping that because this area is obviously rated as "pretty special" by quite a lot of people I've encountered to date that developers will keep their greedy little eyes off it. Think positive ceridwen - surely they wouldnt dare touch it already..

EDIT: Tried the "newbie" foraged food....errr...suffice it to say "It smells like paintstripper, it tastes like paintstripper, its edible in extremis - but I wont be trying it again any time soon...."

shelley_crow

Just come back from SIL's house. She's had it completely gutted and extended, OMG it's amazing. It's massive! There's so much space it's unreal. It's cost them a lot to do but they both work hard for their money. I'm getting really down in our squashy 2 bed so I might move in without them knowing, they certainly wouldn't find me anytime soon, lol. x