Living on next to nought - is that the key?

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...Got 'pooter probs...

Bah to pooter probs!!!!!!:(

Kettle's on waiting for your return...

Have put the broom round to keep the place tidy!:D

Hopefuljoy

Blinky blonky to pooter probs! Bring back Greying I say!! Missing food photos and cheery chat already. My dad (81) has been inspired to get a Lebanese cookbook out of the library and I've just bought a variety of cheap spices from Crawley sonsbobs. So it'll be a spicy and delicious weekend when he comes to visit my refurbed kitchen!

Hope you are all well! I love this thread!!:T

Pippilongstocking

Big love for the lands of Greying here too.

Pops open the window, plonks some cups on the table.

I did make flatbreads yesterday far too ugly to share and eaten far too quickly but made me think of you.

Must try and be brave and try another type of bread.

Have a great day Greying and chums.

little_sweetie

Missing Greying and the foodie chat big time (plonks some HM flapjacks on the table....in a tin 'cos we don't know how long we have to wait.....)

Well done your dad, hopefuljoy what a marvel

in_need_of_direction

Me too, those flapjacks smell so good there may not be any left when Greying returns.

satchmo1

INOD, even though they're virtual flapjacks they should be resisted xx


Is there a 'pooter angel listening... GP needs a new one asap please! Her friends in the box miss her terribly. And how can she start a food blog without a 'pooter?

little_sweetie

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Me too, those flapjacks smell so good there may not be any left when Greying returns.

Don't you touch! Greying, will smack your fingers if they've all gone when she comes home

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening


I'm back - but the techie couldn't resist 'tinkering' and updating me, so I've no smilies. I'm away to sort it out.


In the meantime, thank you so much for keeping the thread going and for all the housework, window opening, HM flapjack providing - Greying grabs the last one - Mmmmmm, delish - and for all the good wishes.


I shall return to respond properly - hopefully this evening!


Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Beanie - for some reason my pooter was showing the post colour as blue on Saturday - and on the machine I used on Sunday, the website went monochrome as you signed out - no idea if it was me, or whether someone was tinkering at MSE towers.....

little_sweetie - welcome back from your holibobs Phew to small glass of wine price :eek: We can strive to make continual savings on our grocery budgets together Thank you for generously making us all flapjacks - luverly

supersaver - are you all egg-reciped out yet? Of course, I forgot the obvious thing - you can freeze eggs. Either yolks and whites together, or separated. Never done it myself, but I do know you are supposed to add a pinch of salt if you're going to use them for savoury and sugar if for cakes/puddings etc.

Pippi - thanks for letting in the fresh air - I've so much to catch up on at LongStocking Towers :eek: thanks for the lurve - mucho, mucho appreciated, as ever

rtandon - you're a keeper - getting the broom out no-less, I rarely do that at Greying Towers :rotfl:

Hopefuljoy - I am in awe of your father! Bravo! But you can't mention libraries and a Lebanese cookbook without telling us which one! I do hope I'm checking out books/e-books on how to learn new things when I'm 81 :cool:

INOD - how are you? Last I heard, you were t'other side of the pond in the big apple, I must catch up on your week. Well done for the restraint with the virtual flapjacks

satchmo - you are so kind And so encouraging I'm not sure I'm up to starting a blog, that's for clever folk like Pips and EH, but boy, could I do with another income stream at the minute.............. :think:

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Those are gratuitous smilies, just coz I wunna :rotfl:

So, paying for 'pooter repairs wrecked my NSD today But the difference from 1 year ago when I would have struggled to scrape the money together without robbing Pierre to pay Paulo, is not lost on me.........

I've missed you all madly.

I've missed being able to answer a myriad of teeny little questions that you become reliant on *goggling*

I did remember to keep a record of *us tea* - as I knew there would be a chorus of disapproval if I didn't [Greying pulling own leg there, Dear Reader ]

I didn't take a pic of Saturday night's effort, as I used the opportunity to use up my M*shush P [STRIKE]hoard[/STRIKE] stash in a curry, with B troot curry and rice

Sunday night, we had this;



Which is a Turkish street food dish known as 'Nohutlu' or Chickpea Pilaf. I think that the recipe I followed was by Silvena Rowe, in her Orient Express book, I think. Unfortunately, I can't find it on the net, but plenty of versions of the recipe do exist if you wish to *goggle* - in addition, if you eat meat, I think that the dish does usually contain chicken (I probably just ignored it when I copied the recipe down :rotfl:). I didn't have the 'baldo' short grain rice specified, but took the opportunity to use up the last bits of Arborio/carnaroli risotto rice that I had. It is a super simple recipe, and considering that there are so few ingredients in it, I think that it tastes great. A definite keeper for me

Last night we had this;



It is Spiced caramelised onion and beetroot bulghar pilau - a recipe from Maria Elias's book - The Modern Vergetarian. It was ok. It would probably be brill if you were able to use your own HG beetroot. But I will keep the recipe, as actually, it uses storecupboard staples and would be good to rustle something up out of next to nought If you would like the recipe, you can find it HERE [scroll down to recipe no. 2]. Oh, and I didn't have any pine nuts, so substituted a few (toasted) pumpkin and sunflower seeds and some chopped (toasted) walnut pieces.

I will be back in a bit to show the *disaster* we had for us tea this evening :rotfl:

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

I feel like Charlie Chaplin with me trouser braces stuck in the revolving door....... I'm back again...................

Oh, I forgot to say that I have found a magnificent haul of *roadkill* this week - I have pocketed a staggering 3 pence! Just shows, the economy is on the up, and folk are once again throwing their cash about with wanton abandon I'll be a millionaire yet..... :rotfl:

I've yet to write out my July challenges, I was heading in a new direction, but the pooter problems have definitely thwarted me. However, I have continued with the food bank donation. That has been purchased - on the weekend, as the german discounter mrL had a deal on a dozen UHT milk cartons. I have therefore bought July and August's contribution. Plus they have been delivered (well July's portion), as I was in the vicinity of the charity yesterday, so I can already claim one 'tick' off my list....... despite not having yet formulated my list! :rotfl:

Oh, there are a lot of 'new' recipes to trial this month, I think that I got up to 17. Not all of them will be the *main event* some are 'accompaniment' dishes. I started it off yesterday, as the Maria Elias dish was a new one, and part of tonight's meal was a new recipe too.

Right, so to tonight's offering..................

Well, the 'new' element of the dish was spicy chickpea pancakes - a recipe from Anjum Anand's book 'The Indian Vegetarian Feast' - which were made with chickpea flour. I had intended to make the pancakes, fill them with vegetable curry, fold them into quarters, serve with a veg accompaniment and some minted cottage cheese (yoghurt would have been better, but I haven't made any ).

Anyway, I made the veg curry - using JO's jalfrezi paste recipe, onions, diced carrot, green beans, sweetcorn, passata and coriander. I made a 'dry' curry using coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds - toasted and lightly crushed, then added them to oil with some turmeric, amchoor and salt and then tossed in some frozen spinach and cauliflower. So far so good, and both tasted good

I made up the batter for the pancakes and that looked good. then I began to fry them. I know that the first pancake is always awful, but the mix only makes 4......... I decided I would have that one..... then I made another, only for it to stick to the pan and crack....... then I made another, same again.... then I poured the last of the batter in the pan and began to assemble DP's plate. The veg curry began oozing out of the gaps in the pancake..... the pancake disintegrated further as I tried to lift it onto the plate........ the *fan* shape I had envisaged in my head, turned out to be a heap of crumbled pancake bits sticking out of the curry.............. I put too much cottage cheese on DP's portion.......... And whilst I was doing all this, the last pancake burnt.........................:rotfl:

So, in no way, shape or form does the following meet up to the food stylist vision of loveliness that I had playing on the surround sound, glorious technicolour, cinema screen in my head....... but Dear Reader, we ate it none the less! :rotfl:



I will say that both the pancakes and the 2 curries tasted fine. I sort of made up the spinach dish, and the jalfrezi was with veg I had available. I would make make similar again. I'll even have a go at making the pancakes again. I was probably too ambitious with my folding requirement, I'll have to see what mouche thinks, but I suspect I was thinking the pancakes would be flexible like an egg pancake, and the gram flour makes a 'drier' pancake. There's no recipe for the curries, and I can't find Anjum's recipe on the net, but if you goggle 'chickpea flour' pancakes, several versions come up.

So, Dear Reader, we ate, but with our eyes closed...... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

It was probably too ambitious a meal to put on on a week night, but I needed to get into cooking something to switch off, as it's been a bit hectic thus far this week..........

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

technicians - for helping to make our 'world' continue turning on a daily basis

for the support of YOU -

that today's mistake was *edible* - nope, nothing to see here, move along, move along puurrrlease............. :rotfl:

Thank you as ever for popping by, reading and commenting. I remain grateful.

See y'all later.

Greying