Cooking for one

Anne_Marie_2

I'm very intrigued about the pampas grass....we used to have a huge one in Scotland, and sincerely hope that we were not giving off any wrong vibes!

As for latex gloves, cannot for the life of me see why there would be any embarrassment there. I use gloves all the time for preparing food, albeit nitrile, as am allergic to latex, and buy a box at a time. My hands break out touching many foods including flour, tomatoes, onions, citrus fruits and goodness knows what else. I buy gloves from the pharmacy as they now stock them in boxes here, but previously bought them online.

A really quick home made soup that I do is a tin or two of tomatoes, 2-3 roasted peppers from a jar, chopped onion, some garlic (fresh or dried), dried oregano, a carrot or two if I have them, and some veggie stock with some lentils and topped up with water. Sometimes add a chilli. Cook and then blitz. Lovely as it is, or with a wee drop of cream or Greek yoghurt.

(In the UK, I used to always buy the jars of red peppers from Lidl, as they were much cheaper than other supermarkets, suppose Aldi will be about the same. Am a bit out of touch these days, so can't say whether this is still the case.) Also use my own home made roasted peppers at times, which I freeze. However, not always practical, and don't always have the freezer space, so the jars of peppers are great, and last a long time in the fridge when opened.

caronc

Anne_Marie wrote: »

I'm very intrigued about the pampas grass....we used to have a huge one in Scotland, and sincerely hope that we were not giving off any wrong vibes!

As for latex gloves, cannot for the life of me see why there would be any embarrassment there. I use gloves all the time for preparing food, albeit nitrile, as am allergic to latex, and buy a box at a time. My hands break out touching many foods including flour, tomatoes, onions, citrus fruits and goodness knows what else. I buy gloves from the pharmacy as they now stock them in boxes here, but previously bought them online.

A really quick home made soup that I do is a tin or two of tomatoes, 2-3 roasted peppers from a jar, chopped onion, some garlic (fresh or dried), dried oregano, a carrot or two if I have them, and some veggie stock with some lentils and topped up with water. Sometimes add a chilli. Cook and then blitz. Lovely as it is, or with a wee drop of cream or Greek yoghurt.

(In the UK, I used to always buy the jars of red peppers from Lidl, as they were much cheaper than other supermarkets, suppose Aldi will be about the same. Am a bit out of touch these days, so can't say whether this is still the case.) Also use my own home made roasted peppers at times, which I freeze. However, not always practical, and don't always have the freezer space, so the jars of peppers are great, and last a long time in the fridge when opened.

Hi Anne_Marie:hello: you'll be glad you're not in Scotland just now it's gale force wind and rain here
Yes I think Aldi/Lidl are still the best for roasted peppers though you can't beat home made

PasturesNew

Anne_Marie wrote: »

I'm very intrigued about the pampas grass....we used to have a huge one in Scotland, and sincerely hope that we were not giving off any wrong vibes!
...

On the basis that I've known about it for about 40 years ... I'm always staggered to find people who don't know (especially owners!)


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/may/31/pampas-grass-secret-symbol-swingers-turn-off-sales-plummeting

candygirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

On the basis that I've known about it for about 40 years ... I'm always staggered to find people who don't know (especially owners!)


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/may/31/pampas-grass-secret-symbol-swingers-turn-off-sales-plummeting

I didn't know, until Mariella Frostup was on tv talking about it.She had put two on her balcony, n also didn't realise 😁

Tiddlywinks

I use surgical gloves for all sorts of jobs as I get dermatitis - nothing perverted here .

If you want to avoid the embarrassment factor (which I've never experienced TBH) then you can buy them online from Amazon... cheaper too to get them in bulk.

Link

Speaking of embarrassment whilst shopping, I had a very cringe-worthy experience many decades ago... and I still remember it as if it was yesterday ..... I was young and just starting out in my first job. Pushing my shopping around Sainsburys I bumped into my new (very dapper and very senior) boss... he stopped for a chat and I was mortified as I had a stockpile of special offer tampax in my trolley and, in my mind, it was like there was a spotlight shining right on them :rotfl:. I didn't know where to put myself as I was so innocent in those days.

Oh how times have changed .

moneyistooshorttomention

....and on the pampas grass denoting summat theme.

Was it just an urban myth that putting a packet of Omo washing powder on the kitchen windowsill meant "Old Man Out" - ie = do feel free to call in ahem for a spot of "recreational activities of the horizontal variety" :);)?

I've not seen a packet of that around for years - and wonder if they stopped making it....:cool:

PasturesNew

It's that "running out of the food I usually eat" dilemma. If your cupboards are stuffed full you just grab something - but I've been trying to eat the lurking stuff in the cupboards AND clearing down the freezer. It's tough ....

Breakfast items I have are a tiny/thin slice of crust (you know how sometimes a sliced loaf produces almost a wafer at one end?) ... I have some hash browns ... I have two eggs. I also have beans/tomatoes in the cupboard. Trouble is, I don't really want to have tomatoes ... and I don't want to open a tin of beans as I've no more bread for beans/toast and I have no spuds for jacket spud/beans. So beans/tomatoes are out of the question.

The slice of crust is so small it'd only be sensible to poach/scramble one egg on that .... or there's the final pitta I didn't get round to eating yesterday.... but I don't really want to use that for a breakfast as I'm sure it'd be better served as a fish finger container

So it's either a poached egg on a bit of toast .... or defrost the last 2 crumpets.

I'll decide at some point.

The main meal of the day today is a roast chicken dinner... because I've got some cooked chicken pieces I'm defrosting - and I've got Yorkshires and stuffing - and I've got heaps of frozen veg. So eating that will be a meal that clears the freezer of some food. It's getting close to getting empty!

EDIT: I went with the crumpets in the end. 2 crumpets/marg.
Out of crumpets now and can't buy new ones as nothing is allowed to go INTO the freezer.... as I MUST defrost it.

So close.... after today, just 250g of quorn, 3 veggie burgers and half a pack of fish fingers ... and some random "end of bag" selections of assorted veggies etc and two pots of tomato juice and 5 hash browns left!

Anne_Marie_2

caronc wrote: »

Hi Anne_Marie:hello: you'll be glad you're not in Scotland just now it's gale force wind and rain here
Yes I think Aldi/Lidl are still the best for roasted peppers though you can't beat home made

Hi CaronC.....I most certainly am glad, been hearing from my family of how horrible it is, with flooding forecast. :eek: Sorry to tell you that it's lovely here with not a cloud in the sky, a bit hazy over the mountains, but am not going up there! Seriously thinking about going into the pool soon, but temp needs to be over 28C for me, am such a woose, it's almost 27C now, so should be good to go pretty soon. So need the exercise to try to get rid of the flabby bits.

Agree that home made roasted peppers are the best, but you don't always have the time/inclination, and of course depends on the price of fresh, compared to the jars too. No point in buying fresh if they turn out to be more expensive.
I tend to buy a load when prices come down a bit during the hot summer months, and roast them in the outside oven, along with cheap tomatoes, and then freeze. Will have to get my freezer cleared out first though, full to bursting at the moment.

Anne_Marie_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

On the basis that I've known about it for about 40 years ... I'm always staggered to find people who don't know (especially owners!)


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/may/31/pampas-grass-secret-symbol-swingers-turn-off-sales-plummeting

Good grief, my eyes have been well and truly opened. We inherited the pampas when we bought the house. We did get rid of it eventually. Never did get any offers though.

Anne_Marie_2

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

....and on the pampas grass denoting summat theme.

Was it just an urban myth that putting a packet of Omo washing powder on the kitchen windowsill meant "Old Man Out" - ie = do feel free to call in ahem for a spot of "recreational activities of the horizontal variety" :);)?

I've not seen a packet of that around for years - and wonder if they stopped making it....:cool:

Yes I've heard about that too, but no idea if it's an urban myth or not.
Reminds me about the time my hubby put a red bulb in lamp outside the front door, as a joke, before he headed back to sea. He thought it was hilarious, I was going to kill him. Had to wait for one of my brothers to come and change it, as I couldn't get the flipping screws out. Between the red light and the pampas grass, goodness knows what message I was sending out! :eek: (Actually never put the light on again after I discovered it, until the offending bulb was changed).