Nice People Thread Number 10 -the official residence of Nice People

neverdespairgirl

We have a 4 ring gas hob, and an electric fan oven, and a steamer. That allows for all possible cooking we do. No microwave.

My mother has a 4 oven Aga, with 4 gas rings on top and the two large hot plates on top as well, and a combination microwave / fan oven. She does serious cooking, though, including (like Gen) the odd mass-catering event.

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh.
We've had some bottles for longer than that. DH still, I think, has a bottle of archers a girl brought o his room at university :rotfl:. We have rather too many bottles though. The whole of one of our huge dining room monstrosities is devoted to spirits


For people who don't drink that much its a little odd really. :rotfl:

I don't think it's odd, really - it's because you don't drink much. Then you get given stuff, or win a bottle at a raffle, and it all just adds up. We've got loads of alcohol here, and we never drink at home. Some of it's sloe gin, then all sorts of other random stuff. A client gave OH a case of 12 bottles of expensive red wine just before Christmas, and they'll no doubt add to the clutter in our larder cupboard if and when he manages to remember to bring them home from Chambers.

PasturesNew

It's turned cold and just started raining. I made a shopping list the other day as I'd been away so had used up perishables before I left.... but I've not left the house since I returned on Sunday.

So, I've been sitting and wondering what I fancy -v- what I've got ... and finding it all lacking. But now it's cold/wet I don't fancy going out shopping. Quickest/easiest would be to go to Lidl and get some frozen chips and eat those in the next 3-4 days with variations and combinations of microwaved eggs, beans and curry sauce. But I CBA.

I've loads of food - just nothing I fancy, or fancy making.

Looks like it'll be baguettes for me again. 10 minutes in the oven .... and I've cheese and beans.

Might think it over for another few hours though. Not eaten today yet. Yesterday I had half a baguette filled with one tomato, then, later, another half a baguette with egg/salad cream,

Or, I could just whip up a nice quick cheese omelette.... decisions, decisions.

Edit: Decided... cheese omelette's fastest and yummy..... doing it now

Edit 2: ... and cooked/eating.

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's the bit I've never understood. It seems to me that most stuff in a slow cooker can simply be made in an oven or on the stove top in 30-40 minutes.

Slow cookers seem to need meat to be cooked first.... and then the cooking times are quite small (6-7 hours).

If you're getting up at, say, 7am and returning home at 7pm, I can't see the fascination or use of getting up at 6.30 to pre-cook your meat and get it going ... on the basis you'll be gone 12 hours.

Might as well just make it. Or make it the night before and nuke it upon return the next night.

I do agree. The only benefit I see is that the slow cooker uses less energy than an oven slow-cooking?

Whenever I use the slow cooker because I cba to do something properly, the result is always a watery meat soup. By the time you've done things properly by searing the meat and giving it a flouring, it's less effort just to leave it on the hob or chuck it in the oven.

Can the crockery pot from a slow cooker be used first on the hob? I could probably do that, but our slow cooker was cheap and a wedding present - not on the list but it was a good gift.

I need to lose 2012's Xmas weight as well as this one. All I've been able to hear for the last 15 minutes is constant frying. DS wanted to make [STRIKE]breakfast[/STRIKE] brunch burritos, which isn't exactly healthy.

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I don't think it's odd, really - it's because you don't drink much. Then you get given stuff, or win a bottle at a raffle, and it all just adds up. We've got loads of alcohol here, and we never drink at home. Some of it's sloe gin, then all sorts of other random stuff. A client gave OH a case of 12 bottles of expensive red wine just before Christmas, and they'll no doubt add to the clutter in our larder cupboard if and when he manages to remember to bring them home from Chambers.

I think we buy most of them. Not all though, its true.

Before I had to stop drinking I really did like to drink wine and the occasional harder drink but not a lot of it, not often. I always went dry jan to March. I also like to cook with alcohol a lot. If I used to see a wine on offer that I liked th e look of I'd try it and if it were good I'd buy a box. It is certainly true we now have some wines not well suited to being laid down which we've had for too long, but we have been able to gift most of them within their use life or serve them here.

DH likes mixing cocktails. I think he likes making up drinks more than he likes drinking them. .

We do have some lovely things. Prucia is a delicious drink, for example. It tastes like the sugarplum fairy's water bottle would taste. DH bought a rhubarb liquor in waitrose the other day which smells good and I'm told tastes good. I've already been thinking how I could use it in desserts. I like nut liqueurs a lot.

I like some whiskey too.

lostinrates

Just realised the other day when we made candy while I made supper we used multiple rings because I had three Bain Marie's on the go at once for three chocolates, for the Florentines. Not essential, but quicker than doing them in three batches.

Doozergirl

There goes the smoke alarm. Fine dining with the Doozers!

PasturesNew

I am too scared to use most ovens/cookers, I think they'll all start a fire. For that reason I start with 4 hobs, but use one ring .... then occasionally use 2. But then I never dare put the other two on because I've not used them recently/before and I'm scared they'll catch fire.

Same with having all 4 rings on at the same time - petrified.

I don't really like having the oven on ....

There is a grill here, but I think it's never been used. I know instructions say "before first use, turn it on, it'll smoke ...." and that prevents me from even touching it.

It's also why I dislike built in appliances .... I have more "fear of fire" from a hot oven placed inside a cardboard cupboard..... than a standalone one.

Yorkie1

Doozergirl wrote: »

Can the crockery pot from a slow cooker be used first on the hob? I could probably do that, but our slow cooker was cheap and a wedding present - not on the list but it was a good gift.

I'm pretty sure it can't go on the hob.

lostinrates

I think some there are things which I would cook in the oven for hours, rather than, an hour, which in theory translate well to the slow cooker.

Plus......the slow cooker, in theory is less scary to leave while you are out of the house thanks to simpler timers etc. that's what I see as the main benefits (plus lower energy).

I just find tastes become somewhat dilute in it, rather than concentrated, and muddy rather than mingled. Its hard to know whether this is user error and would get better if I persevere, or if its just ...not for me. The thing is a lot of the peoe who use them on old style, where i read hoping to feel inspired to use mine, have different culinary tastes to me, so its difficult to know if our palates are so different that what they like I might never come around to.


I'm a little loathe to waste good meals in it to no real advantage.


Next week I have to sit down and try and get my head round my eating plan again. . I ate lentils on nye. They are right you know, I can no longer cope with fibre. . But they still tasted AMAZING! Lentils and carrots. Real food. I are it WITH white bread, which is on the 'eat' list.