Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

I take it that next door is from whence it originally came?

Yes. Just did a window peek.
I am not sure how it was originally built, but outside of the original footprint is an extremely large conservatory the whole width of the building and 12' wide or so. Inside the conservatory there were steps leading down to a cellar - no idea if that went under the original house, or was built as part of the conservatory.

Now it's all been levelled, the JCB is using his big bucket claw to smash down on all the wall debris - and the entire floor sheet of the conservatory - to break them up. This includes an assortment of insulation materials from all sorts of places ... he is then scraping them into the stairwell of the cellar stairs.

So there's lots of bits of dust and sand and plastic and polystyrene floating about that's come from all sorts of nooks and crannies.

I've no idea how that'll work out: a cellar of unknown size, left mostly as a void ... with just the steps being backfilled with chunks of concrete and brick debris.

That space will become the foundations of at least two of the new houses, so that'll no doubt be a nice surprise for the inbound builder who doesn't expect it

I'd have wanted/expected the demo people to dig out that cellar and smash those walls too ... leaving me with just a big hole.

The builder's company is the company who commissioned the demo people, so it shouldn't have been rocket science to them as they'll have had full access etc for drawing the plans etc.

PasturesNew

Another thought - you can buy vol au vent cases. Waitrose used to stock them, not now.
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=23713

Other supermarkets have them:
Morrisons £2.50/30
Sainsburys £2.50/30
Tesco £2/30

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's all right for those that like mushrooms - but many veggies don't and/or are sick and tired of everything being mushrooms.

I'd let them starve... picky beggars.

"Anything you could bake in a veggie tart/quiche would be a good starting point". Depends how posh your people are.... roasted vegetables, roasted heritage cherry tomatoes with balsamic jus .... or wotsits with a squirt of primula cheese

Number of vegetarians matters too ... if you've one you have to think about the volume of ingredients going into what you're doing - and how you use up a "whole pack of ....".

Make something YOU will be happy enough to eat as you might be given the task of eating those leftovers for the next 3 days .... so only make veggie food that YOU would be prepared to eat.

I'd happily eat: curried egg mayo topped with half a cherry tomato ... posh people would probably be tweeting the Golf Club with a photo in horror!

Another thought on it - if you've one veggie ... you might not relish the whole "vol au vent" idea for theirs ... it might seem like "a lot of faff for all this nonsense" - so, instead, you can use the same pastry, but make mini tartlets for the veggies instead of vol au vents... "think jam tarts for size/shape + a filling".

Depends what you're trying to achieve really ... so long as there's "enough food" a veggie wouldn't moan there were no veggie vol au vents if there were plenty of veggie tarts ... in fact, "fewer calories/more filling and taste".

They'll only be getting veggie food. Maybe something fishy if I can be bothered. There's no problem about left-overs of that sort of food in our household. It doesn't last long.

DD wants a 70's party for her birfday. (That's how she pronounced it when she was 2, and it's sort of stuck.)

Pyxis

GDB2222 wrote: »

They'll only be getting veggie food. Maybe something fishy if I can be bothered. There's no problem about left-overs of that sort of food in our household. It doesn't last long.

DD wants a 70's party for her birfday. (That's how she pronounced it when she was 2, and it's sort of stuck.)

Chicken in the basket, Black Forest gateau, prawn cocktail.....you can put that in some vol au vents!....... Lager and blackcurrant,

Ooh! Don't forget cheese and pineapple on sticks stuck in half a grapefruit! And cocktail sausages on sticks. And Ritz crackers. And Vienetta. And chocolate fingers.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Chicken in the basket,

Much less messy than soup in a basket

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

Much less messy than soup in a basket

Except anything in a basket back then was usually served in a re-usable plastic affair, without any gaps.

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Oval-Polypropylene-Basket/P017/ProductDetail.raction

PasturesNew

Devilled eggs were often to be found.
Sausage rolls were compulsory and scotch egg 1/4s or 1/2s

There was always a random glass jug with celery sticks - not sure why, I never stopped there, I was off to the vol au vents.

Potato salad and rice salad were usually present - although rice has got a "bad rep" these days for its potential for causing food poisoning if left out in the warm more than 1-2 hours, so best avoided.

A bowl of non-descript fruit-based punch + some dodgy/cheap booze sometimes made an appearance. I steered clear of that, so can't say more than that I've seen punch bowls with floating bits of fruit on ... and hurried on towards the vol au vents.

My sister and I didn't have an 18th party (or any birthday party after we were about 10ish) ... so can't tell you my menu. But I did have 2-3 friends who got to 18 and had a party and I was invited .... so seen a few, in village halls.

Pyxis

I've got a pair of glass celery vases!

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

I've got a pair of glass celery vases!

Are you trying to swap a loan of those for an invite?

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Can you think of a nice vegetarian filling, please? Maybe creamy mushrooms with garlic?

Asparagus chopped. Cherry tomatoes drizelled wth somethng. Smoked salmon.

I would buy the vol au vents ready made from the freezer.