Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Just a quick update from me this morning.

Today will be a NSD and AFD

I was scratching my head last night as to how to make something edible with that 'cous cous' pasta that I have. I've come up with an idea, so dinner this evening is definitely going to be on the experimental side :rotfl: Do pop by later to see if I have conjoured up something 'Gourmet' or a load of old 'Greying Gruel' :rotfl::rotfl:

Have a good day. I'm intending to

Thanks for popping in, reading and commenting. I really do appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

You have such a way with words

Karmacat

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Today has just been 'one of them days'......... I was trying (earlier) ever so hard to laugh at myself; by picturing myself as a child with severely folded arms, a big pout - stamping my foot declaring to the universe, and anyone else in the vicinity, "snot fair!" But even that didn't do the trick..........

Valiant effort! On days like that, I'm afraid I probably get a bit lost in it sounds like you did really well.

Now Karma you asked about Sherba......... but first things first, Labyrinthitis is not nice - someone else on MSE (I think) was talking about their experience of it the other day - so you have every sympathy from me. Here's hoping the pills work and that you get well.

Yep, think its Bob - I'd no idea it was like this. Its a complication of the virus I had, so the two together are nightmarish. I'm planning to wash my hair today (choosing to bend over over the bath, rather than have to close my eyes as I stand under the shower :eek:) and I *know* it'll feel great when I'm done, but dreading the thought of it. Great when its done - just keep saying that :j

Also, you mentioned 'orchards' in another post. When you had your diary, you talked about discovering some orchards locally that were due to be bulldozed for housing developments. Has that gone ahead? Are the trees lost? Oh, and the apples we got yesterday were already picked, put in a bucket and at the end of someone's drive with a 'FREE - help yerself' note They have a few blemishes, but still are totally brill and have a wonderful aroma Far better than anything you could get in a supermercado and I fear to think what they would cost in a shop anyway!

The trees are fine, ta muchly - they're at the side of a development, thankfully. Oh, there are other trees, sloe trees - they're at the side of a development too. MidSussex is desperate for new houses, and there's a lot of infill sites to use - tho the one by the sloe trees was meadow

Anyway, yes, all trees are standing; though the field the sloe trees border, thats been left to wilderness for years, and its full of ten year old oak trees - I think whoever owns that field *must* want to sell it for housing, so they've abandoned it. I'm pretty sure those oak trees will go at some stage in the future

Fancy you remembering that :kisses3:

Right, Sherba is a soup or stew. It has many variations and many countries/cultures claim ownership of it. I talked about it in post #107 and I think that its development may of mirrored the route of the 'silk road'. Most typically it is made with lamb, and the original recipe that I had (C0vent Gard3n S0up cookbook) contained lamb. But I just omitted the meat and made the soup! Post #107 contains a link to the 'nearest' version of the one I made, but I think contains chicken. Anyway, tonight, my version was even more improvisation as I decided to use up my 'old' split peas and some 'alphabet' spelt pasta that I have had in the cupboard from when I could afford to buy such whimsical foods items as 'alphabet pasta' made from spelt............:rotfl:(yes, a very long time ago).
Right, my equilibrium is now equalised. Sorry for being a little out of sorts earlier in the post

Thanks for this! Loving the spelt alphabet pasta - ah yes, the things we bought when we were flush :eek: Fascinating that sherba came along the Silk Road - when I was in Kusadasi, I found a very old caravanserai, completely deserted, and I wandered through it for half an hour or so. Magical, you can hear the history echoing off the walls in places like that.

for perspective - so a few hours of today were a bit wonky, there's all tomorrow untouched yet........:D

Oh my. How wonderful, truly.

beanielou wrote: »

You have such a way with words

She does, doesn't she :kisses3:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, dear friends this ---> doesn't do justice to the size of grin on my face just now. Today has been a very good day and I have just been shown a great kindness and I'm feeling on top of the world. :D

Plus, just to be super annoying, I had a NSD and AFD today too :rotfl: Must update siggie.

Beanie - you write such supportive, lovely comments. I am so glad you choose to visit this thread

Karma - I just loved your post. And yes, why do I remember some things and then not others....... perennial problem of the enquiring mind I guess. As regards Sherba and the Silk Road, I'm just supposing that, as I'm pretty sure there is a Chinese dish that is similar but has noodles, India would use 'mutton' which is in fact goat, the dish is called many things, amongst them Sherba or Shorba and a Bulgarian bean soup is known as Chorba. There are chicken versions of this dish, plus, by the time you get to the middle east, it is incorporating lamb again. Seems like the sort of dish to constantly evolve as folk transit through new lands and pass on recipe knowledge/use ingredients that are readily available. All the best peasant cookery is thus Oh, and your comment about the caravanserai - just took me straight back to Jill Worrall's book (got it out the library) on Iran where she talks about visiting deserted caravanserai with her guide/interpreter. However, I will admit to having to look up where Kusadasi was

Right, I love learning about food. Especially affordable food - which is usually based on the food of the workers/poor - until some TV chef gets hold of it, poncifies it and then no one can afford it

So dinner this evening........Mmm, partial success. The pasta was still a little claggy, despite me cooking it in a different way, but we both agreed that the taste was really good. So, imagine if you will, little discs of pasta, that resemble the giant cous cous (aka Jerusalem cous cous) you can get. So I cooked it in a little oil, with shallots and celery - just to take on a little colour, then I added in 1.5 x as much stock as pasta (if that makes sense). Simmered it for 8 minutes, then switched off the power and let it steep for another 10 mins+. I then sauted the leeks with some garlic and black pepper. Then combined the lot with some broken up Feta cheese. Plonk on plate and serve. Photo hopefully here



It was oodles better than the claggy mass with pesto that we had the other evening, but it is still a difficult product to use. I think the best way to use it is to cook like pasta, drain and then rinse all the starch off it. But that is a bit of a faff. At least the pasta absorbed the stock tonight and it all added to the taste. I think I'll continue to do the light frying in oil first thought - the taste was lovely.

In terms of cost, quite frugal. The awful pasta is an App Fds purchase, the leeks and shallots were from the gardening parental, the celery from Ald* and the feta was Sm*rt price and there is a third of that left. DP liked the taste and thought I was being too hard on myself - awww Only 1.2kg to use up now ........ :rotfl:(roll on November meal planning :rotfl:)

Well, what a cracker of a day. One to count my blessings that is for sure.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

sharing - we all end up the 'richer' for sharing. Thank you

community - in the modern age, this doesn't have to be confined to the street or village where you live, your workplace or place of worship. Communities are building all over, and I am grateful to of been accepted into the MSE community - specifically that of DFW/DFD 'coz it's stuffed full of the most amazing peeps <-- still grinning!

that humans smile when happy - and that smiles are 'catching' and make ya feel good :D:D

Well folks, I thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting on this thread. I appreciate it. Greatly.

See y'all later.

Greying

brizzledfw

Like the creativity GP! Looks scrummy. Tend to agree with your OH..think you are too hard on yourself!

I like your being grateful lists..it's a very nice touch. I might have to adopt it

Greying_Pilgrim

brizzledfw wrote: »

Like the creativity GP! Looks scrummy. Tend to agree with your OH..think you are too hard on yourself!

I like your being grateful lists..it's a very nice touch. I might have to adopt it

Feel free!

Greying

Karmacat

That book looks amazing! Iran and I have never coincided. By the time I felt able to travel to places like that, Iran wasn't on the cards any more, after the hostage crisis.

Sounds like you're going great guns with the pasta/couscous, I know what you mean about working to use up stuff that you don't really like _pale_ you're doing well with that and as for the evolution of the words and the ingredients between different cultures, I love that!

And community, wowee ... today, I've been hanging out over at the Up Your Income part of the forum, and I'm getting a great idea about what to do to make a shortish term income stream (once I'm well, anyway). A website about cats! As you may have noticed (my name, my piccie on here ) I love cats. "Do what you love" - my previous website-based attempt at sales was much too logical to be successful, for me to keep at it :j just got to get well now.

Have a nice evening you :kisses3::kisses3:

Greying_Pilgrim

'Do what you love, Karmacat and you'll never work a day of the rest of your life'. Isn't that something like how the saying goes? Sounds like you are a dab hand at building the websites too, so go for it

I forgot to mention earlier, that I had remembered where I had heard that another MSE'r had Labyrinthitis - it wasn't BoB (:wave: to Bob) it was SammyKaye18 who's username I recall from the days when I frequented the OS board. She was on (I think) the DFW board because she has lost her job - due to having Labyrinthitis.

Well, I was constructive during my time away (DP wanted to use the 'puter again). I have made bread dough which is now in the fridge and yoghurt that is now in the flasks. *polishes halo*.....:rotfl:

Right, well, I want a quick dash over to Memorygirl's pad and then I may well retire to Bedfordshire.

Thanks for swinging by, reading and joining in. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Oh my word ... I don't know SammyKaye, I'll have to explore. I didn't know MG was back here, either, will definitely have to mooch around on the DFW board as well.

The shine on your halo is quite glinty, y'know :D:D

Sleep well:A

boredofbeingathome

I do have labrynthitis-Have had it since May. Hopefully at the back end of it now as i am getting more good days than bad. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.