Cooking for one (Mark Two)

PasturesNew

Small cheesecakes can be a problem - it depends really what your usual food is. If you're somebody who regularly buys the ingredients you just find a small dish and make it.

For me, I have to specifically buy in the makings, all at the same time and then get round to it.... or use one of my "almost like it/that'll do" recipes that I usually make on a whim.

It depends really how "picky" you are about specific foods. CFO usually means you amend/adapt and accept that it's never going to be the same as you aren't making a big portion to be able to justify buying in the ingredients needed in the smallest portions.

So, you need to analyse options and potentials, then pick your own level of acceptance with what you're having to omit and how you feel about the end result that gives you.

Recipes vary so much, bake/not, with cream/not, never use cream cheese/always do... etc.

It's like trifle really ... when you think of a trifle with all the goodies in it .... then think about what you can achieve to make a little 'un .... it's common to end up just eating some fruit straight from the can as you CBA with the rest

Many foods you simply have to accept are "not for you" due to the ingredients/time it takes ... to make a little 'un ...so sometimes it's best just to buy the occasional one, or wait until somebody provides one, or there's one on a menu.

Right now ... wind is horrific outside, battering the house ... I just had a quick crumpet and chocolate spread .... sitting here petrified....

Hollyharvey

Charis wrote: »

a substitute for bread...

Welcome Charis :hello:


Crumpets are a substitute for bread Many of us on here eat a lot of crumpets, it's one of the staples of CFO


Re cheesecake. You can always make one and freeze the leftovers. That's the other thing about CFO, you do need a lot of freezer space

B17c

PN I'm with you on the wind front! The wind in Greece seems 10x worse than here...
I can never settle for the fear of having to jump up and rescue something that's blowing away, or being hit by something! I'd rather have rain than wind.

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

a whim.


Right now ... wind is horrific outside, battering the house ... I just had a quick crumpet and chocolate spread .... sitting here petrified....

Have you looked on the Met weather site to see how long they expect the wind to stay as strong as it is where you live? I have to admit that strong wind scares me as well. I don't like the noise it creates either. I hope is eases soon.

monnagran

It's really bad here too. As we are only a stone's throw from the beach we get it straight off the sea.
I don't mind it. I'm tucked up in a warm bed and feel very cosy. It helps that we don't have any large trees near the house. I remember the 1987 hurricane all too clearly when we lost all our windows in the front of the house, the cars in the drive and the electricity for about 10 days. People just a couple of miles away had no water for about 2 weeks!
Don't want that again.

Hollyharvey

monnagran wrote: »

It's really bad here too. As we are only a stone's throw from the beach we get it straight off the sea.
I don't mind it. I'm tucked up in a warm bed and feel very cosy. It helps that we don't have any large trees near the house. I remember the 1987 hurricane all too clearly when we lost all our windows in the front of the house, the cars in the drive and the electricity for about 10 days. People just a couple of miles away had no water for about 2 weeks!
Don't want that again.

That was one really scary night! I still remember it well and the destruction it caused. We were lucky, a neighbour had a tree come down in their front garden and it fortunately missed our house and cars by inches.

monnagran

Hollyharvey wrote: »

That was one really scary night! I still remember it well and the destruction it caused. We were lucky, a neighbour had a tree come down in their front garden and it fortunately missed our house and cars by inches.

Oh yes. I lived in 'leafy Surrey' at the time and most of the leaves seemed to be in my house. I remember that I cooked by gas then and loads of friends came to me to cook up the food they didn't want to lose from their freezers. We had vast feeding sessions with people crowded into our kitchen eating all sorts of expensive delicacies rescues from rapidly defrosting freezers.

Karcher, I also have a scalp that gleams through my fine thin hair. Unfortunately it is in the nature of the beast and there is not much I can do about it.
Emotional trauma doesn't help much either.

As for food atm.......I am both trying to lose weight and am on the squeakiest of tight budgets. I eat 2 meals a day and try to make them as cheap and nutritious as possible. Not much leeway for experimenting but fortunately I have friends with productive gardens so lots of salad stuff coming my way. I rely heavily on cheese and eggs which I love anyway. Managed to get some chicken fillets greatly reduced today and I've dug some belly pork out of the freezer for a bit of variety for the next couple of days.
Walked into the village today and passed a house with some narrows outside inviting passers by to help themselves to one.
I was tempted but - a whole marrow? A bit too daunting.

PasturesNew

monnagran wrote: »

It's really bad here too. As we are only a stone's throw from the beach we get it straight off the sea.

I'm practically where you are, just over that little pond

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Have you looked on the Met weather site

I live in a microclimate ... windy alley. It's where the wind turns and heads for the land and rips through the area.... but I've found a site that purports to give local info and has an hourly forecast giving wind directions/speed.

Wind's turned now, it was SSW/35km/h, it's now SW/33km/h - and will be reducing in speed until 4-5am when it'll swing round to WSW but only about 13km/h.

I do wish that site had it in mph

I am unaware of strong winds when it comes from some directions - but that SSW seems to smash into the house and makes lots of odd noises as it does things like makes the ventilators in the ceiling of the downstairs loo and upstairs bathroom flap open/shut ...and the side gate takes a huge bashing.

Now it's swung round a bit I'm protected by other buildings, so I don't mind so much as I can't hear it/so am not aware of it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Charis wrote: »

It was very US centric, excluded ethnic minorities, but included ex army women, some of the fittest in the land at the time. The penultimate paragraph in the link gives a full description. Add to that the 'vanity sizing' of some manufacturers and no wonder we get confused.

They seem obsessed with Marilyn Monroe, but I suspect she used a waist trainer to get her tiny waist, which is out of all proportion to her bust and thighs.

Ah..yes...different ethnic profiles I see.

...and get the point - as someone that apparently has a more "Scandinavian" shape than British sizing is designed for. My bust and hips are the same size - whereas British sizing is designed to cater for pear shapes (bigger hips than bust).

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

Pastures - now sitting here thinking "I dont think in kilometres" re the wind you mention. What is that in miles per hour? I know I quite often check windspeed here - as this is an area that often gets a lot of wind (darn it) and it's far from uncommon to be around the 50 mph mark as I recall. I never even checked ever before moving here - but am guessing 10/15 mph would be more what I'm used to.

EDIT; Just checked weather forecast here and it's hovering around 3-10 mph throughout the day here for wind speed (ie my own personal normal). Have I been half-asleep or have they changed the style of weather forecasts recently? I started with the Met Office one and thought "Is it my imagination or does it look different?". I've never checked weather forecasts once before moving - but have done so noticeably often since coming here and I don't recall there being a little circle with arrow in one direction or another (presumably the direction the wind is blowing in).

monnagran

Ah, PN. It might be "practically there" according to you and me but to born and bred islanders if it is over 5 miles you will need a packet of sandwiches, thermos flask, Kendal Mint cake, a torch, blanket, compass and possibly passport.

Everything quiet on the weather front this morning.