Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Glad

happy birthday Hollyharvey, I hope you've had a good day

PasturesNew wrote: »

Have you ever done any family history research? You get to find all sorts of relations you never knew existed, if you want to know they exist. I do it, but we've never kept in touch with our known cousins because "they're not our sort of people"

I do a lot of family history research, I wish I could talk to some of the wonderful characters I've turned up, especially people such as my Gt Gt Grandmother, mainly to ask who the heck was my Gt Grandad's dad I'll never know and it's brought me to a complete stop on that line. As for living relatives, I've found a few but they live 100s of miles away, we drop each other emails now and again though



I did a bit of cooking yesterday, leek and potato soup x 3 portions, a tomato based pasta sauce x 3 portions, and I baked some odd carrots, butternut squash and pasnips, so plenty of choice for lunches and mains for a few days,
today for lunch I had pea pasta with the pasta sauce, mozerella cheese, half a tin of butter beans and a piece of tuna
dinner was the soup then a poached egg, fried sprouts, fried tomato, white fish and some of the carrots

I also made a hummus substitute this evening, made from butterbeans, greek yoghurt and salmon, with a little lemon juice and seasoning, it tastes great so next week I'll experiment adding other flavours instead of salmon I was making hummus to add to lunches and up my protein intake but making it with olive oil made the fat quite high too

caronc

Glad - when I make hummus or bean dip I use a bit of the chickpea or bean water to slacken it a bit before adding the oil. I prefer the resulting texture and it does cut down on the fat too. Do you like anchovies? Those or olives if you don't, make a great hummus type dip blitzed with butter or broad beans. As do artichoke hearts (the ones you get in cans):). Both types benefit from lots of lemon juice.

PasturesNew

In case you'd not picked up on it/spotted it before, I've pretty much nuked every meal since about 1985

AndyCF wrote: »

I think I will not lay them 'flat' I will stand them on their sides then
turn them 'over' that way, figuring that the 'waves' will go right through.

No. Lay them flat - on their sides they're tricky to balance. Use a frying pan spatula to turn things.

First they will go soggy ... that's the bit when you want to flip them over, but they're soggy .... so can end up a bit of a mess. At about the 2½ minutes spot they should be firmer .... but it does depend how many you're doing, in which container, at which wattage.

AndyCF wrote: »

.... potatoes I brought (regular potatoes) said something like 7 mins to zap them, no way enough in my little micro. Might get away with that in a 1000W maybe as they were large spuds.

I do all my spuds in the magic box - I've got a little low-level steamer though ... my micro is about 800 watts. I do spuds, in the steamer, for (4mins)x3 for super soft mashables.

It's better to keep the moisture close to the spuds - so pop them into a lidded dish, rather than wrapping in kitchen towel and having the moisture be magicked away.

For "jacket spuds" just get a covered dish to keep the moisture in. Do 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes and it should be fine. For mash .... do that, then cut them and scoop them out.... with asbestos gloves as they do get a bit hot ... or fork it down and attack with a paring knife to get the skin off... unless you're "ard"

AndyCF wrote: »

I really like the 'steamfresh' bags but they are a bit pricey

Forget, forget, forget. They're a pricey fad ... for effect and snapchat

Instead, shuffle into poundland, or home bargains, you can get "noodle bowls" for about £1. Reusable, will last for years.

These are like the Sistema brand - but cheaper. There should be a range of them in local cheap shops. I've got 4 noodle bowls and two soup mugs of that style. Click/lock lids, plastic, cook all sorts in them!

http://www.poundland.co.uk/microwave-bowl

In the summer, too, they're good to make layered salads to take to work as the size/shape works.

The principle of the bags is simply: Put your food in here ... look, the steam can't get out so it all cooks ...
Which is the same as the noodle bowls would do.

AndyCF wrote: »

.... as I can't fit two in my micro at once, the turntable is about 25cm if that. For me, having two of those and maybe a tiny blob of mash makes a lovely "quick fix" lunchtime meal, I just throw it all into a bowl and grab the nearest spoon. :T

If you get the £1 bowls ... and have two different items - just juggle them in and out so they're both cooking and resting at the same time.... resting doesn't hurt ... and, with the lid kept on, the food's as hot as hot can be while the other item's cooking/finishing.
As they're bowls you can then also choose to tip the contents of one into the other.

AndyCF wrote: »

...."put 160g in a bowl and add 2tb of water" , for some mad reason I decided that was not enough and added about half a mug, oops. I do now 'see' how that works

Yep - you need little water if you're keeping the moisture in the dish/bag/whatever.

AndyCF wrote: »

Its quite difficult to find micro cookable Quorn or other veggie items,

Ignore, ignore, ignore - think about the food and ask yourself why you can't nuke it. You can nuke all those things. They are just "protecting" what they see as their perfect end results by advising you to "cook them the way they want you to".

Nuke them all.... I have regularly nuked all veggie sausages and real ones and burgers and fish fingers and .... well .... everything works! Just ask me!

Many things aren't any different nuked... the main trick is to think "nuke, rest, nuke, rest, nuke, rest" - "little and often" is key.

e.g. take a spud. A site might tell you to do them for, say, 10 minutes - I'd tell you to do them for 3, turn/rest, 3, turn/rest, 3...

Letting food rest doesn't mean it's fried to !!!!!! .... it gets a blast and continues to cook during the resting period.

PasturesNew

Glad wrote: »

.... I'll never know and it's brought me to a complete stop on that line.

Growing up I used to want to know about mum's dad and she gave me a few bits and bobs over the years, each nugget of information I retained .... and then one day I used the local family history society search database and randomly typed in my gran's name ... the search results indicate if somebody is in their database, which year, location and the CD they have transcribed the record onto.

And up popped gran's name - in mum's birth year - and the CD reference number informed me it was the local Petty Sessions. So I immediately bought the PDF Index. The index gave court dates, participants, a quick overview of what the case was about ... and I looked through and there it was: my granny and her mother, in court, 1 month after mum'd been born, asking for maintenance from a named man (same surname I'd always been told) as the father... and a month later back in court as he'd not paid. I do know he was the father due to other snippets mum told me (e.g. he sent somebody round once asking if she'd meet him, but she declined, which I think was a shame).

So I finally had a first name! There were TWO men of that name in the area at the time - one up the road about gran's age and the other one 2 miles away and 20 years older than gran ... but I also had the other snippets of information I'd been told, so I could easily work out that it was the older chap. I've done his entire family tree - but he "disappeared" and I've no known location/date of death, but .... I have got his entire family tree and every detail of his entire family right back about 200 years.

So - in short - maybe the petty sessions will give a clue? He might be sitting there, named and everything! Back in Gt-Gt-grandparents' age they were known as b4st4rdy cases .... if a woman was pregnant she was interviewed to find out who the father was because the parish didn't want to pay out benefits ... they wanted the father to be billed. I'm from a long long line of b4st4rds

Else it's that DNA stuff on Ancestry.... lots of people finding random strangers from "he was an American GI, no name, nothing more known than he was American"... and the people can then work out their man's identity, with a little more determination, effort and patience.

PasturesNew

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Thinking about it, I will probably have a go at some family history research. Although to be honest, I think that I would like some more interaction with other people in general.

Depending where you live, some areas have a really GOOD county Family History Society, full of people doing the same things - who know more, or are chatty.... and the groups might organise cheap coach trips to the London National Archives (which are free once you get there)....

20 miles from me is a wonderful group that has its own customised building, but 20 miles is too far for me to really get round to joining/going to as travel's pricey when you add up the cost of just fuel there/back!

If the area you're researching is not in your local area, that can be a bummer. Some of mine would be here, but some is 250 miles away. So many records are just sitting, free for the browsing, if only you're local!

...met me at 12.00pm and immediately said "I want to get the 1.20pm bus home".

That's just bl00dy rude.... way to make you feel worse than if they'd not bothered!

Many people "with somebody else", or "with a family" are thoughtless like that all the time.... to ponder if somebody did it while actively choosing it as their route out is despicable!

moneyistooshorttomention

There's a recent newspaper article (think it was in The Guardian) about a modern phenomena of micro length social encounters. The journalist writing it was complaining about it (and can't say I blame her) and there is even a term coined for it - might be something like micro dates??

Guess that trend probably started as a spin-off from internet dating? That being - going on a date with someone one had never even clapped eyes on prior to it/didnt know if what they'd said about themselves was true/the photo of themselves was up-to-date (or 10 or more years old - and they no longer look as fanciable as the photo indicated). Thus - arranging to meet them for only an hour or so and then having an excuse ready if one didnt want it to go on any longer.

**************

Re ancestor research - not my thing personally - as I'm future-oriented and so not interested personally in the past (general or personal) - so I guess I wouldnt be. However, I gather the Mormons aka Church of Latter Day Saints, keep a huge data base of pretty-much-everyone going back over generations. Might be a thought for anyone that is interested in this - as I believe they don't mind other people checking out those records of theirs.

AndyCF

PasturesNew wrote: »

In case you'd not picked up on it/spotted it before, I've pretty much nuked every meal since about 1985

To keep the post size down to make it readable I'll just quote the first bit. The advice is massively appreciated.

I'd not spotted that before no about nuking everything, I've only really digested (no pun intended) the topic from about two pages back so far.

I do have a Sistema bowl, one of the best thing I've brought its the "smaller" breakfast one however it easily holds (random example) one of those 500g tins of soup. Its much much better than the cheapo pound ones I have tried that either taste funny or stain after about 3 uses, and I'm not gentle with said bowl either really. Had it about a year and its just starting to "go" a bit. Brilliant generally.

To be completely fair things like the veg soup (I try to avoid heavy tomato based but its difficult) are going to upset a cheap bowl quite quickly I know.

Thanks for the fingers tip, I'll do that. I've not tried them yet. I'll probably to be honest have them in the bowl or something as my plates are quite ancient but they are micro safe I think, I did do the 'pot of water' trick with them and they were OK.

That 'food cheat' site (unsure if I am allowed to mention it) does have some good tips actually generally although I've yet to try many due to my eating concerns (its a long health related story) , summary is foods need to be "little and often" really.

The 'loose frozen veg' I added to my 's' bowl . Now you mention the potato's I might try them in there actually nothing to lose as it saves trying to wrap them too.

I did not think the paper towel around them was the best method, I had planned on sticking them in a regular cornflakes bowl and covering it with something with a vent if needed, but the 's' bowl might work well as its well vented as you know.

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

..... micro length social encounters.....there is even a term coined for it - might be something like micro dates??

I'd call that dogging

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I gather the Mormons aka Church of Latter Day Saints, keep a huge data base of pretty-much-everyone going back over generations. Might be a thought for anyone that is interested in this - as I believe they don't mind other people checking out those records of theirs.

Yes familysearch.org - for some people though they're not happy - and the group have "got into trouble" with a lot of churches refusing them data...although I think they're trying to work round it.

In short: the belief is that what they do is "take the dead people's information and baptise them into their church post-humously when they enter their details onto their database". I have never looked into it to be honest - not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth and all that

It's a great website that's got easy/fast search facilities - and I'll often use it as my quick way to find out what I might be looking for, all the possibilities to explore. It's just free/easy and growing more extensive by the minute.

I do everything "for free" as I can't afford the subs or any certificates .... I just have to "use the free stuff and look at what looks likely and document my sources so I can always double check or verify/inspect things more closely in the future".

It's an expensive hobby once you start putting your hand in your pocket!

There are actually some churches who refuse ANY websites to list their information and to look up records you have to write to the vicar and make an appointment and actually GO there! Can you believe that?

I've got an old book that covers the subject of missing registers and strange events that have caused registers to go missing in the past. e.g. one vicar's wife was using old registers as fire starting paper! And another verger/similar would get excited at having church visitors, so would offer them a torn out page from the register as a "thank you" for visiting. Then, of course, there were fires - and people breaking in and destroying or stealing the parish registers ... or just individual pages if they wanted to erase their marriage/whatever from the records.

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

Depending where you live, some areas have a really GOOD county Family History Society, full of people doing the same things - who know more, or are chatty.... and the groups might organise cheap coach trips to the London National Archives (which are free once you get there)....

20 miles from me is a wonderful group that has its own customised building, but 20 miles is too far for me to really get round to joining/going to as travel's pricey when you add up the cost of just fuel there/back!

If the area you're researching is not in your local area, that can be a bummer. Some of mine would be here, but some is 250 miles away. So many records are just sitting, free for the browsing, if only you're local!

It won't be local. my mum was born in Luton and her mum I think was born in Luton, her dad was from Wales. My dad was born in the Channel Islands, and evacuated to Luton just before the German occupation of the islands.

I live on the Essex/Suffolk border so quite a distance. It's possible that my cousin in Canada may have some information about my dad because his dad was my dad's brother.

I'm going to google for a Family History. The local U3A didn't have a group listed on their web site.

At least when we were clearing out my parents' house my brother asked me to hold all the documents that we came across because he didn't know what to do with them, so I've got everything here. This may be just what I need right now.

PasturesNew

AndyCF wrote: »

....does have some good tips actually ...

The main "problem" with it is it's very "niche" .... I don't see anybody ever following everything I do/eat, but I see it as something that somebody can discover to know that "Yes, that stuff is edible/not", or "Ah, that's how you do it".

My stuff's: For one person, who doesn't actually enjoy cooking, with a very limited budget (aiming for £1/day), who likes 60s/70s food, who doesn't care about organic/healthy/plastics/cancer/carcinogens, who doesn't shop at Waitrose or follow modern fads. And, for a household where a second person is never going to be entertained - and who has some very bizarre kitchen fears and rituals due to ASD

So niche, it's only me that eats like that I think ... for everybody else there's just one post they might find useful.

Talking of useful ... my tip of the week this week would be: why not pop into 4ldi to get their cheap bag of brussels (59p), add in a few spuds and check out the post on nuking bubble/squeak... nice served with a splash of brown sauce or beans