Cooking for one

poppystar

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Sums me up perfectly today I'm having a real CBA/fed up day, I'm just fed up with being single and having to do everything myself today

Tell me about it. Have spent so much time sorting out home insurance I simply can't be bothered to eat:mad: There's none to bounce thoughts off or share the cost - and surely us singles should be low risk peops:(

PasturesNew

I've just had to blow a fortune getting a floppy fence replaced and a bent/floppy new gate. It'll be beans on toast for the rest of the year.
It's at the agreed stage... so I also get to "fret" over the cost between now and when he turns up to do the work.

poppystar

And I'm giving up on YS food for a bit - think the reduced sausages yesterday might have been a tad iffy even though they were cooked as soon as they entered the house. Which may be another reason not feeling too keen on food tonight.

moneyistooshorttomention

Anne_Marie wrote: »

MITSTM - Goodness, totally agree with what you are saying re recipe books too, as well as what PN says. Will be getting a spike up my buttocks if I keep jumping over the fence! :rotfl:

I actually very rarely follow recipes to the letter in cookery books. Take ideas and adapt as to what I have/like. Hubby used to take the mickey, as I love cookery books, but never followed the recipe. Not true totally, but when cooking meat dishes, had to adapt for his tastes, as he didn't like certain things. No point in putting mussels in a paella for him, but plenty of prawns and spicy sausage.
Only recipes that I really do stick to are for the BM, but do adapt some of the extra ingredients, just for a change. I think baking needs to be a bit more precise, and I don't do much of that, the odd batch of scones or microwave clootie dumpling when it's a birthday.

I did a bit more googling after that post and found a www.bookdepository.com link for cookery books for one. So I put it in and, at first appearance, there was quite a few. But then a lot were rather "American" or not my style. I wrote a few down and have googled them on Amazon.co.uk. End result was that one that sounded quite hopeful promptly had reviews saying that it wasn't for one person at all. Then there was another one where it did seem to be for one - but wasnt vegetarian as it said it was.....and so on.

End result = I have precisely one new cookbook winging its way to me from Amazon now. "The plant-based pair" - as it's modern enough to have all the ingredients I've become familiar with recently and the reviews do confirm it is suitable (as I recall - its for two actually - but a great advance on a family).

Astonishing just how many cookbooks don't match what they say they are about - but I do know I was looking through a cookbook that said it was vegetarian the other day and came across several fish recipes in it! Though it's still one of the things I notice most - ie the number of cookbooks that say they are healthy. I've developed an instant check test to see if they are indeed healthy - I just turn straight to the pudding/cake section and the second I spot sugar there in the ingredients list of a recipe = it goes straight back on the shelf and I'm not interested any more.

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

....

While I do occasionally pick up the odd random cookery book at car boot sales, they're usually "slightly unusual" and I have no intention of making anything from them - I'd not spend more than 50p - and it's just to look at pictures of food

I have an Evernote account and keep all my cooking/notes in there as it's searchable. So I'll add a note/recipe and photo of something - it might remind me to make something I'd forgotten about, or it might be for an idea... they're never for "the recipe". Just inspiration/ideas.

I tag each one and can search by ingredient, ingredients, and/or tags.

I have one tag set up as "vegetarian", but I am not vegetarian and mostly those recipes are simply "without meat" and I don't care whether ingredients have veggie-unfriendly bits in them as I'm not cooking for a veggie

moneyistooshorttomention

"Slightly unusual" I can relate to.

Having just spotted an article on the Wales Online newspaper earlier today about vegetarian/vegan meals out in Cardiff. Now Cardiff is some way away when one is in the "back of beyond" in West Wales - but I've come to the conclusion it's probably the "nearest to what I'm used to" in Wales regarding eating out and duly noted down some places that are vegan/vegetarian and some that apparently cater well for.

To be put on my file - for daytrips to somewhere with much greater shopping possibilities - but not nearly as far as my home city (which definitely doesnt count as in "day trip" timing). I've not actually been to Cardiff since I moved here - a brief holiday there back along was literally decades ago and, as it's also a booming city then it will have changed a lot since I was there.

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've just had to blow a fortune getting a floppy fence replaced and a bent/floppy new gate. It'll be beans on toast for the rest of the year.
It's at the agreed stage... so I also get to "fret" over the cost between now and when he turns up to do the work.

Oh no, is it close to blowing over? What a bummer, you have my sympathy. It always worries me when something breaks, I start panicking about the possible cost even before I have got a quote.


Is he going to do the job fairly soon?

Hollyharvey

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Astonishing just how many cookbooks don't match what they say they are about

You're just going to have to write a vegetarian cookery book for one

Hollyharvey

poppystar wrote: »

And I'm giving up on YS food for a bit - think the reduced sausages yesterday might have been a tad iffy even though they were cooked as soon as they entered the house. Which may be another reason not feeling too keen on food tonight.

Sorry you're not feeling too good. Hopefully you will feel a bit better in the morning.

PasturesNew

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Oh no, is it close to blowing over? What a bummer, you have my sympathy. It always worries me when something breaks, I start panicking about the possible cost even before I have got a quote.


Is he going to do the job fairly soon?

It's complex... when isn't it

The fence was put up when the house was built, say 7 years ago. It's VERY windy. But, when they put it up they couldn't reach into the corner/didn't bother to join the two parts together as there was a neighbour's 10' high 6' thick bush in the way.... so the bush kind of helped to hold it up. Then the houses there were demolished and the bush taken down. So it was then quite unsupported at one end ... and the more I've been using the gate, the floppier the whole lot's become. The gate's twisted over time in the wind/rain too ... so I figured I HAD to do "something" and "something" meant "doing it properly".

So it's a big bill.

He's not booked me in, but got me in as a note in his book "phone when can do it NOW" ...and will call me if/when another job doesn't happen, or he's finished earlier than expected... or simply fancies doing it one evening. I could've been "booked in", but he said his first official free date is 5-6 weeks away and I'd just like it done now.

He's based just 4-5 streets away, so it's not a 20 mile away firm that'll never call. I did try to find/phone others, but didn't get any joy.... so just went with this guy. Proper firm and all that.