Ye Olde Style Coffee Shoppe

Curry_Queen

Sorry to hear about your cat Lillibet and hope he turns up soon hun. Have you checked any sheds/garages etc in yours or neighbours gardens in case he's got locked in somewhere? If he wasn't feeling too well he may have gone to curl in a quiet corner and with it being BH weekend a lot of people would be working in their gardens and may have inadvertantly shut him in somewhere.

r.mac - sounds as though you had a very productive weekend, well done :T

I'm still struggling with the whole meal planning thing myself and can't seem to get beyond just a few days at a time yet so I can incorporate any leftovers :rolleyes: It also doesn't help much when DS decides he's off to stay at his dad's for the week, giving me no notice whatsoever, although it does give me chance to use up the odds and ends that I know he doesn't like too much and try a couple of new recipes out

r.mac_2

Thanks CQ. It's great to get encouragment! I think my culinary skills have definately got better since using old style!

I think I am even just more aware of what I am eating these days - trying to fit in more veg and planning helps me avoid eating pasta and tomato sauce for 7 days in a row

Although it can be easy to fall off the planning wagon - so I am trying to built it into my Sunday routine.

take the chance to experiment while your son is away - let us know what you come up with!

moggins

Make the most of it CQ!! My son is away at his dad's this week too and I'm going to cook all the things that he hates eating, the eldest is hardly here now since the arrival of the new boyfriend and the littlie never eats what we eat anyway as she is so fussy

Although I am cooking crisps in the microwave at the moment

Curry_Queen

r.mac wrote:

take the chance to experiment while your son is away - let us know what you come up with!

Well, one of my little "experiments" yesterday was a complete success, which I was quite pleased about, as having mastered the authentic "British" Indian curries I've been trying to do the same with Chinese dishes and yesterday's dish would easily rival anything from a take-away, but didn't leave me with that thirsty bloated feeling you get from take-aways!

I'm sure most of you have used the Chinese stir-fry sauces in a jar before, but they don't quite taste the same as the "real" thing. I say "real" as in replicating Chinese take-away type meals because this is what most of the British public are used to eating and tasting, whereas real authentic dishes, both Chinese and Indian, are something totally different again!

What I did was to make my own sauce, using a couple of tablespoons of the jar stuff (Hoisin and Plum this time) and adding some soy sauce (lo-salt) rice vinegar and a little veg stock. I sliced about a thumb size piece of ginger and fried that with a couple of sliced spring onions in olive oil with a few drops of sesame oil added (be careful it's very potent oil!) then you add your veggies/meat whatever (I used asparagus and king prawns) and stir-fry them for a few minutes before adding the sauce and simmer for a few mins till everything's cooked through. I decided to add some noodles (pre-soaked in boiling water for a few minutes and drained) which gave enough starch content to thicken the sauce but if you're not using noodles you can use a little cornflour to thicken the sauce.

Only using a small amount of the jar stuff is not only :money: but you don't get the full blast of any additives etc they put in them and still end up with a delicious dish!

Curry_Queen

My turn to ask an embarrassing question now moggins


I've just taken delivery of some wine from Tesco and having heard some of you raving the virtues of Zinfandel I decided to order some! Never had it before, in fact I can't even remember the last time I even had a rose wine, so what I want to know is ... do I stick it in the fridge to chill or drink at room temperature?

It doesn't say anything on the bottle at all about chilling it or not :rolleyes:

r.mac_2

CQ I like rose chilled. Great for with BBQ's on a warm/hot day.

HTH

moggins

I'd chill it, rose tastes lovely cold.

Ticklemouse

Cq - I prefer my wines at room temp - all of them. The only thing I drink cold is milk. I think you get more of the taste when they are at room temp. However, you could try chilling it SLIGHTLY.

I'll be round later - I've got a taste for the old Rose lately and I've decided not to start my detox until tomorrow - first day of the month etc and as Mr TM is away all week, it gives me a chance to eat up the stuff in the fridge that the boys won't touch (That's my excuse anyway )

Lillibet_2

According to my Hubby, who is much more of a wine buff than I am, Zinfandel, which is one of his favourites, isn't technically a rose but a white as it comes from white grapes!! Don't ask, I don't know how it comes out that colour but anyway, it should be treated & white & chilled, served with chicken, fish etc. Personally I'm not that fussy & have been known to chose wine based on which one has the prettiest label.............!


Still no news on the missing cat, Hubby is dropping leaflets asking people to check sheds etc as I type but I think we are clutching at straws.

Loadsabob

I always felt I was Old Style, and even when I started reading the forum, I felt I was doing a lot of it anyway.

But I continue to learn from you all by the day, and pick up tips and knowledge, and I really find that thinking like an MSE'er and an Old Styler is becomming more and more ingrained, which is great!

I'm here at work with my lunch of leftover HM risotto, still thrilled from the weekend's watering down of my shampoo!!

I must explain. One of the things I don't really save money on is shampoo. I only buy non-chemical stuff, and I have found a great one which is £8.99 a bottle. Ouch!!!!!!! Because it doesn't have any chemicals in, it doesn't lather as much as the shampoo I'd always been used to, but other than that it really is the best shampoo I'd ever had!

SO, the other morning, with an inch left of shampoo in the bottle, I topped up to two inches, with water, and gave it a good shake. It turned into a mass of bubbles, which, when squirted out through the bottle nozzle, stayed put in my hand - normally, the shampoo is so runny it's hard to get it on your head without losing some!All these bubbles made the later go much further in my hair, and my hair feels truly fantastic today! So I'll be getting a new bottle and immediately splitting it into two, shaking it daily!

I was thrilled. Still not cheap, but BOGOF now, really!

This weekend, as well as the carboot (buying, not selling, I'm afraid - no car!!), we also took abandoned breadcrusts from the freezer to feed the ducks, and what we came back with I made into breadcrumbs for the freezer. Looking forward to planning next week's meals now!...