Cooking for one (Mark Two)

PasturesNew

Today I decided to tackle the grass cutting; it's been put off for a long time now for a variety of work-skiving excuses.

But, with rain predicted tomorrow, I figured I'd better do it today or suffer in the longer run.

I've been going at it in dribs and drabs for the last couple of hours. It's a small mower and, when done, the grass fills 3 rubble sacks that are a bit larger than pillowcases.

I've got to the point where it's all done - and if I cared enough I could sweep up the stray bits of grass and hand cut some edgey bits the mower couldn't reach .... and go over it one last time .... but I won't.

Next job will be to load up the car and haul it all off to the recycling centre. Right now I'm sweaty and, no doubt, stinky - and have grassy feet....

How come it was coolish when I started, then the sun came out and was unbearably hot - and now I've decided I've had enough the sun's gone in?

I'll probably try to cut it one last time this year..... I do hate cutting the grass.

Foodwise - can't face even thinking about it while doing this horrid chore.... maybe I'll know what I fancy later.

For now, I think I'll have a bath to make me feel better....

moneyistooshorttomention

Food arrangements likely to be a bit chaotic over next few days - courtesy of going to have workmen in again.

Lunch today chopped up mango with yogurt and cacao chips and some toast (been making bread again).

Dinner - think it looks as if it's going to be using up that "hot sauce" I made (basically tomato sauce in effect) with some soya "mincement" (found some non g.m. and it's been sitting in my kitchen for a while) and chuck in some canned beans and serve with pasta.

Has got feeling I'm off to cornershop for a consolatory bottle of beer - between the work being done and the latest chip-on-shoulder stupidity of the local Council here (to say I find them "exasperating" to say the least at times is distinctly the case.....:cool:). Goes off to google if the word "boneheaded" is as suitable a word to describe them as I think it is...

EDIT; Yep..it is a suitable word for them - and a new addition to my vocabulary.

Farway

The last of the hot sunny days today, so "they" say, like PN I mowed grass & caught up with garden stuff over the last few days, before the rains come back & make it all grow again

Absolutely nothing to inspire or motivate in Lild this morning, so it is a try & think of of something food day

Lunch was easy if routine. Last of the rolls with nowhere near the last of the cold pork & HM apple chutney

Dinner, it will be cold pork again, probably with baked spud & salad

I did search on line for LO cold pork recipes, but to me they all seem a lot of faffing about, there was one I fancied if someone else was making it, pasta bake sort of thing

I could turn it into pasty or pie, but TBH for the same carbs & calories I may as well bung some slices between two slices of bread and save the effort

All well and good buying YS bargain but it can overstay it's welcome

caronc

Good afternoon everyone,
Well done on the weightloss kittie and elona:D

I had a less than wonderful start to the day, I sneezed unexpectedly while walking and fell over giving my shoulder and hip a right wallop and flinging coffee over most of my dining room. Still thankfully no major damage done though no doubt I'll be finding lurking coffee splatters for weeks.

The house is smelling great as I'm dehydrating fennel fronds and their scent is wafting throughout. The rest of the fennel is prepped and ready to chop before freezing or dehydrating.

My Dad popped by bearing a gift of a small portion of apple & rhubarb crumble and a small pot of custard , he had made a crumble yesterday and though I might like some

Lunch was a rerun of yesterday as when I was sorting the turkey LOs for stock found there was enough left for another sandwich. Dinner is going to be tandoori spiced lamb breast, with balti pasanda sauce, runner beans and either rice or pita bread so a nice easy put together as I cooked the lamb yesterday and my son made the sauce at the weekend. There should be enough for two portions of lamb/sauce so one for the freezer as well.:)

Hollyharvey

Afternoon all,

I'm still in a bit of a cba cooking mode at the moment.

I just opened a Greek yoghurt for breakfast.
Lunch was a tuna may sandwich (no change there then )
Dinner will be some baked cod in a tomato sauce and some sweet peppers that need using up with some new potatoes and steamed veg. Something quite light and easy.

Farway I know what you mean about y/s bargains outstaying their welcome. Much as I enjoyed that chicken breast joint I couldn't have faced it again today if there had of been any left.


Caronc I hope that you soon feel a bit less sore. Hopefully the crumble will help. It works for me .

PN and Farway Rather you than me on the grass cutting. It's a horrible job.

MTSTM at least that will be the last of the 'hot sauce'. I hope that the workmen get through quickly. You have my commiserations, I don't like having workmen here. Sounds like you will deserve the beer tonight.

moneyistooshorttomention

"Don't like" would be a mild form of expressing what I feel about having workmen in:rotfl:. Try for "loathe"/"detest"/"hate".....well get thoroughly depressed about it that's for sure.

To gee me up - it's the last job ever ever ever on the house itself at last - apart from any maintenance work needing doing over future years:j. Trying not to think about all the garden work needing doing when I can afford it - but at least that's outside the house and can wait (is darn well going to have to wait:cool:) until I can afford loadsa £'s...whenever the heck I've saved that up.:mad:. So all I should ever have to do to the house for the rest of my life is once a year gas service and I might have in workmen again redecorating the whole inside of the house in about 10 years time say.

I'm absolutely stuck as to how to redecorate the outside of the house ever again and literally don't know how to do so. Like a lot of houses here - it's concrete blocks with render on. So I had it redecorated - and found it was being pressure-washed and the pressure wash liquid had chemicals in. Now I've come from an area where most houses don't need the outside redecorating ever - as they're made of brick and I'd never heard of pressure-washing the outside of houses. The garden is being done in "my area" style - ie all organic and, in my case, food-growing and that means = absolutely no chemicals are going to be sprayed on the outside of this house ever again whilst I own it - as I'm not going to have my garden mucked-up again. I landed up pulling up every bit of nearby food I was growing when I saw how it was being done. Guess that means the outside will get tattier and tattier over the next 20 years then, as I is stubborn and ain't gonna change my mind about having a "my area style" garden....#shrugs#

Right - and for my next experiment lined-up and I've finally found a simple recipe for sweet potato flatbread. Not sure what I'm going to think of it - so have hoicked out that packet of it I found in T*sco the other day and promptly stuck in the freezer. Yep...sure 'nuff - if I do decide I like it - the local T*sco stopped stocking it within weeks of starting to do so. Hence there'll be no option but to make my own anyway...

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

....concrete blocks with render on..... area where most houses .... made of brick ...

It was high on my list of house buying priorities: Buy one without render. Good, plain bricks that need nothing doing.

I achieved that much.

I owned a house 2000-2007 that was decrepit when I bought it; got the outside painted for free by the window company (a last minute throw in offer to get my signature) as they had a YTS style boy they didn't want to let near window fitting.

But that needed doing again after about 3-4 years, when I spotted a handy van - it was a man who painted houses. His van had three house outline shapes on and a fixed price painted on his van for how much it cost. £400 it cost me. Did a good job!

moneyistooshorttomention

Don't blame you for that decision Pastures:T

Unfortunately there were so few houses up for sale here and then I had to cut out the ones I couldnt afford that I think my choice, in the end, boiled down to only about 5 houses to choose from in total. Hence the "buy the best option available" one and impose my area's style of how to get a house/garden together on top of it decision.

Oh well.....c'est la vie.

Farway

Round here most houses are plain old brick. I was wary of rendering as it, and exterior wall paint, can be used to cover all sorts of sins IMO

Mind you years back pebble dash rendering was all the rage, but that was decorative 1930s style on top of bricks

It was pork, baked spud & salad dinner, with stewed apples & Greek yoghurt to follow

Rootling in the pantry I found what I suspected was in there, a jar of curry sauce, BBE 2014. I would have used it today but sod's law, no rice or anything like it in the house, added rice to list for tomorrow and that is Wednesday dinner sorted

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

... no rice or anything like it in the house, added rice to list for tomorrow and that is Wednesday dinner sorted

My cupboards runneth over with all manner of rice/pastas. I've been using basmati for the last 5 years or so, but the other month decided to give standard long grain a go and see if it was good enough. It was good enough .... but I really should've stuck to basmati as then there's just one pack in the cupboard.

I've also got a bag of paella rice I was gifted.... I did think I'd toss that into the SC to make some rice pudding, but then I realised I was better off sticking to the 20p tins as I only really eat about 3 cans/year.

As for pasta - I don't eat a lot of it at all, but I have WAY too much of it in the cupboards. Off the top of my head I've got:

- pack of spaghetti, opened but only 20 pieces used.
- lasagne sheets .... x2. Not sure why I've got 2 as, actually, I am not a fan of most lasagne, but I got it into my head I'd make a lasagne, so bought a pack (I must have had that thought twice to have two packs)...
- some huge/Italian bags I was gifted when somebody had a sort out
- two small packs of small macaroni - I love mac cheese - and that was my Plan A for tonight except it never happened. Having said I LOVE mac cheese that means I eat it about 3x a year.
- mini seashell pasta, like you get in those layered salads - and I use it as a pasta salad item, so that's cooked about 3x a year.
- orzo (sounds posh, but it's just rice sized/shaped pasta and it was cheap/100g).

The problem here is ... the CFO problems of having stuff in that you like/cook/eat, but only 3x a year, meaning any packet brought into the house will sit there for 3-4 years.

On balance, I'm not especially fond of pasta, I'd never pay for it at a meal out... it's just "belly filler food" to me. But I DO like a mac cheese and it's also handy for some cold salad dishes in the summer.


As I said, I had planned mac cheese tonight - that seemed a GREAT idea, but then I popped out and shuffled round 4ldi to see what they had - and, having come away with a frozen dinner for one, a pack of 6 sausage rolls and two small tarts (mini quiches) ... and then into £land and walking out with crisps and chocolates.... tea simply became "3 chocolates".

Maybe tomorrow will be mac/cheese day