Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

Farway are you sure it wasn't the GP that closed the chippy

Yum langoustines my kind of food . I've been debating a new laptop as well Caronc my old one got so old and slow I've stopped using it, I tend to use my tablet and if needed my work one but that comes with limitations and unfortunately I can't connect my work laptop to my printer :think: I have a nephew who doesn't think I can be trusted to buy a new one on my own :cool:

Are you now recovered Wednesday :beer::rotfl:

Back in the office today which was handy for a quick pop to the pharmacy at Sainsbobs and also picking up some fruit and vegetables, I was good and avoided looking for YS fish or meat as I don't need it and didn't want to have to walk away from a 'bargain' . I looked at their 65p mangoes, I think you could have played cricket with them :eek: and they had the look of the kind which would go from hard to off with no inbetween :cool:

Lunch was the last of my HM chicken soup, I had a headache by the end of the afternoon not helped by driving home so really cba to cook when I got in so dinner was scrambled egg

Farway

Looking like spending time for some, at least you've catered for it Caron, hope the new laptop performs as hoped.

My recent new [refurbed] desktop took a bit of getting used to, windows 10 from 7, but now it does everything I'd hoped, including firing up with out me falling asleep waiting for it:D

However all is not well on kitchen appliances, my groaning & grinding Actifry groaned it's last during dinner prep last night, left with warmed up & uncooked HM chips:(
I finished them off in the oven but by then the breaded cod was nearly cooked, so it was overcooked cod with under-cooked HM chips for dinner, thank heavens for ketchup and pickled gherkins

I'm not replacing the Actifry, I think the long term reliability is questionable but may get an air fryer once I've had a bit of researching.

I have a free £40 voucher from JL so could put that towards one instead of "wasting it" on W8rose food;)

Breakfast of porridge, HM yoghurt, sliced banana + honey

Fresh batch of yoghurt made, plus everything to hand for today's savoury mince, according to forecast Caron's wind & rain is due here in time for dinner
I'll pop some dumplings in as well, I saw a YouTube on cheesy dumplings and I just may try them out tonight, I've even got some fresh parsley growing

Lunch maybe a fried egg sarnie?

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Shame about the Actifry Farway, using your JL voucher for a new airfryer sounds sensible.
Absolutely foul weather here, the trains are cancelled due to flooding and overhead line damage and it's barely light. It's supposed to die back this evening so fingers crossed. "Wonky donkey" is still not very happy but I'm trying to ignore it.
My sis is coming over this evening for food and a film, I'm making slow cooked honey & soy glazed belly pork which we'll have with baked spuds, corn cobs and salad. Some wine may feature;)

Wednesday2000

I just had a toasted roll with vegan ham and a packet of crisps.

I have lots of potatoes so I might make a roast dinner later, well, definitely roast potatoes. I have vegan sausages and lots of veggies to go with them.

caronc wrote: »

Hope you're not suffering Wednesday after your wild night;).

Brambling wrote: »

Are you now recovered Wednesday :beer::rotfl:

I feel okay now.:rotfl: I did feel rough yesterday.

Farway

Lunch became a crisp sarnie once I remembered I had a pack of 6 hidden LO from XCFO


Savoury mince now in the oven on low, just the dumplings to make & add later

PasturesNew

Yesterday I had a pouch of mexican rice (50p, probably 4sda). Later on I thought I'd get some sort of takeaway, but I don't know the area, so just set out.... poor choice, it was pitch black out there and vile weather, the windscreen was thickly misted on the inside. I didn't even know which way would be best to turn at the end of the road. There's a chippy round the corner, but parking there needs to be "researched" as it looks super tight and awkward (3-4 shops behind a pedestrian crossing with an assortment of upright posts)... so I kept going. Spotted one, it had a parking space out front, so in I went.

"Luckily" the chippy was one I know the name of, a "good chippy" allegedly (not just "Bob and his wife have been frying chips for this council estate for 3 generations")....

I chose a small cod and chips, £4+£2. Had to wait for it to be freshly fried.... served in a box so I used their vinegar and came home. Tasty enough, just enough to fill me. But, later on, I did think I could've got better use from £6 for food. e.g. a Toby "no meat" carvery is £6.29.

This morning I've remembered I brought two baking spuds here with me from my Xmas trip; they were out of sight, out of mind.

I just nuked one, then added a slice of holey cheese slice and nuked it a further minute. Ate that with my spoon (from storage) + in my new £1 bowl I'd bought at 4sda the other week.

I am only using "my things"; I struggle to use other people's things of any sort. But, I don't want to dig all my kitchen things out from storage (er, which boxes?) ... never mind where'd I put them. I also don't want to go out and buy everything new.... I bought the £1 bowl and thought that'd be ideal for eating many types of food. I got four forks from £land. I'd got/kept with me a couple of sharp knives and a spoon from when everything else went into storage.

There doesn't appear to be any hot water here in the kitchen sink. I've no idea why or how it works.... so, whatever I cook needs to have minimal washing up and time and mess.... and be OK to wash in cold water. As my plan is to absolutely minimise ANY time I spend in the kitchen at all.... that's not an issue.

unrecordings

Is it a combi boiler in the kitchen ? Maybe it's just set to 'heating only' ? or some strange kind of mixer tap (be careful in case it's one of those stupid boiling water dispensing ones)

Brambling

PN I would boil the kettle to wash up

Farway if you buy a air fryer I think the ones with a basket are better than those without, mine wasn't expensive but does have a basket my sister brought a really cheap one having seen mine but it has a trivet (I think that's what she called it) and she's not so keen on it

The promised dry day didn't appear, it was grey and drizzling on and off, so I decided not to walk into town as planned I didn't need anything I was just going to have a wander and get in a four mile walk

Lunch was nice and easy boiled eggs. As planned I roasted both the little venison and gammon joints, whilst the oven was on I braised some leeks and celery and roasted some parsnip and turnips. The leeks and celery I'll have with the gammon. The venison was beautiful and tender and could have stretched to three meals but I went back for more so there is just one portion left I will look next week when I'm in town Saturday to see if they have another small one, even through I'm trying to eat down my freezer contents. I had braised red cabbage with apple and fennel seeds, roasted parsnip and turnips, French and runner beans. I didn't need the new potatoes I cooked so I will chip them tomorrow and have with the gammon. Lots of LOs so no cooking for a few days :T

Farway

Sun's out, I may have a short spell in the garden later once overnight rain has dried a bit

Brambling wrote: »

Farway if you buy a air fryer I think the ones with a basket are better than those without, mine wasn't expensive but does have a basket my sister brought a really cheap one having seen mine but it has a trivet (I think that's what she called it) and she's not so keen on it

Thanks for the tip, I never knew they came without a basket TBH, but I'll double check now. Sod's law kicked in, the one from JL I had my eye, and £40 coupon, on has vanished, I was going to order it today, Oh dear, how sad, never mind:D

Porridge breakfast
Lunch may be another crisp sarnie, the crisps I have are ready salted but with all the health diktats around they really do need more salt IMO, bring back the blue paper twists I say;)

Dinner, I've taken one of the ethical lamp steaks out to defrost so that is one part decided.

The other part could be side salad but not chips due to the recent demise of Actifry. I could do oven ones but CBA, and my Charlottes have sprouted and are really compost material now:( No doubt I'll survive a day without spuds

PasturesNew

unrecordings wrote: »

Is it a combi boiler in the kitchen ? Maybe it's just set to 'heating only' ? or some strange kind of mixer tap (be careful in case it's one of those stupid boiling water dispensing ones)

No. No boiler here. It's storage heaters.
Maybe .... there's an immersion somewhere, probably upstairs which is "out of bounds" to me.

Brambling wrote: »

PN I would boil the kettle to wash up

It becomes complex. I don't like touching other people's things... and I am not keen on using just a sink unless I have personally been able to clean/bleach/scrub it to my standards. I also don't have/don't want to buy and use a bowl as I'd have to have it, then take it into the kitchen to use to wash up (without being seen as I don't want to have to explain/justify myself) ... and then I'd need to wipe dry to bring it into my room.

If it'd been my home/sink of course I'd have used a kettle... did that for over 2 years in a studio flat where I didn't use the immersion once as there's no point for so little.

But washing up comes under the heading of "there's stuff everywhere in the kitchen".

Her bf popped round yesterday. He didn't bother to wash up the two mugs they'd used/left in the sink from last week either.
Yes mate... they're still there... that new lodger of your gf is not your mother and won't be doing your washing up