Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Don't quote, nothing to do with CFO.

Houses: there are homes still coming up for sale... still ones I don't want.  But it's slowing down.  Price reductions are increasing.  When a property is reduced on RM it appears in the "last 24 hours/newest" feed, so presents as if it were a new one on the market.  Last week, 30% of properties were already on the market and just dropped in price. 

The issue is: I don't want any of those for sale, pretty much at any price.  I want one I like the look of, that's about in the right areas.  Most are family homes, or bungalows at top of budget that need serious updating, or they are flats in tower blocks with communal gardens or just a patio.... I want a flat with a private garden, so I can shake my mats, hang my washing out, have a cig and get away from neighbours' windows... and have a little shed for my bike and various other things one keeps in a shed (mostly "keep that, it might come in handy" collections. 

caronc

Good afternoon everyone, 
Wet and wild here today, I hope CFOers in the path of the worst of it are all safe and snug.
We had a lovely meal yesterday evening, my son & I opted for the beef stroganoff and the chips that came with it were some of the best I've had in a long time. My sis had macaroni cheese that came with garlic bread and chips, carb overload but going by her her clean plate a tasty one. They don't offer a huge choice of options what is on the menu is freshly made and decently cooked the only thing they buy in is the desserts from a local company.  Including wine and beer the bill for the three of us was just over £30 so even without the current discount it's good value.
A day for being indoors today so I've just been pottering, it's chilly and I think the stove will be getting lit this evening if we cba retrieving some logs from the store. 
Mackerel that my son caught for dinner tonight with new spuds, salad and coleslaw.  Lunch is crackers topped with lobster pate with home grown tomatoes and cucumber on the side. 

PasturesNew

I've popped my 67p pizza in the oven.... topped it with about 6-8 sliced cherry tomatoes I bought last week (used the ones going soft/iffy) + used the last couple of slices of the cheese from the pack, I've already bought the next pack 1-2 weeks ago.  I also then splashed on the top a big dollop of the jalapeno ketchup I'd bought the other week from the OOD warehouse.  That's not that hot to be honest - and, to use it, I should've spread it on the top of the pizza before I added my additional toppings... also, as the top oven is a bit above my eye height and I was adding it late, I did squidge the bottle a bit too much and a massive pile thunked down on top of the pizza... so I grabbed the biggest bit of cheese I could find on the top and tried to move it around a bit.  

Only thing to do now is... not forget I put the pizza in the oven.  In my own home that'd not be a problem as I could potter about and find things to do in my own clean kitchen while it was cooking... but in a shared kitchen with dropped bits and smears on the floor and sticky-sounding-feet when you walk ... that'd not be a pleasant wait at all. 
EDIT: Pizza wasn't great, too much of the sauce dolloped on top... but I can't help that as it was a mistake due to being too short to see what I was doing in the integrated oven, which has a shelf just about my eye height, so not really low enough to see, you have to wing it.
I'd usually slice it in two in my own home and set it to one side to cool off, then into the fridge once cool, but you can't do that in a shared space, so I brought it all up to my room, scoffed the lot .... and nodded off.

Wednesday2000

I had a jacket spud with baked beans and salad for lunch. I took the advice of a diet book I started reading and sat down to eat my lunch without any distractions and I actually couldn't finish it all. I had to throw about 1/3 away. Well, I gave some of it to my dogs as well.

I bet I would have polished off the whole thing if I had been doing my usual eating while watching TV. That is a good tip.

Brambling

Wednesday my sister was told by her Drs surgery that they were currently only booking the flu jabs for the over 65s (September) as they didn't know when they would get the under 65s as it's a different vaccine. I know the under 65 vaccines came in later to my surgery last year as well, I haven't had my text from my surgery yet telling me to book one.  

PN I'm surprised you are looking at flats as I know you are sensitive to noise and flats can be noisy

Storm Francis seems to have almost blown its self out now and the runners looked to have survived although I think it has finished off the tomatoes   I as glad I had no reason to go out today

lunch was a jacket potato with tuna mayo.  Dinner LO chicken with stir fry veg and noodles using garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce to flavour.

Farway

Storm Frances has now left the area, sunny with a bit of a breeze so I may go and put the Runners back to upright later

I had another tin of soup for dinner yesterday, those tinned soups saved my day really, plenty enough for one and now I need to add some to my next shop.

My Asd@ shop is due after 12, only one sub, mystery spuds own brand instead of Maris Piper.

Not too concerned really, I've being going for a named variety because they seem to be better quality in the past with fewer manky ones

I'll have a quick shufti when they arrive and reject if they are sprouting marbles

Shopping can't arrive too soon, I've finally run out of milk, opened emergency UHT but it's rank in tea, OK for porridge though

Lunch, nothing planned, still slightly fragile from previous night's tum trouble I'm not being very adventurous, and as the shopping arrives at same time It'll be quick & easy when it happens.

I've some mini fruit pies in the order, one of them maybe?

Dinner, nothing planned but tinned spaghetti on toast sounds tempting. years since I had that, may bung a couple of fried eggs on top now I know more eggs are on the way

PasturesNew

Brambling said:

 
PN I'm surprised you are looking at flats as I know you are sensitive to noise and flats can be noisy

Yes, which is why few fit the brief.  There are flats .... and flats.... many round this way are converted from old mansions and some have a sort of "bungalow" sticking out at one end, for example.... so very little of it is under another flat.  I've seen one with a drive up to a garage, front door beside that and gate into garden beside that and it had a large conservatory.... self-contained and space to extract oneself from any irritants.  These are still difficult to find + they present their own new problems.  e.g. there's one round the corner, almost a new build... but the parking is right in front of the front door and is beside the bins... the layout is such that you'd sit inside facing the ceiling to floor windows, staring at your own bonnet and everybody going to/from the bins. 

Wednesday2000

Brambling said:

Wednesday my sister was told by her Drs surgery that they were currently only booking the flu jabs for the over 65s (September) as they didn't know when they would get the under 65s as it's a different vaccine. I know the under 65 vaccines came in later to my surgery last year as well, I haven't had my text from my surgery yet telling me to book one.  

Yes, I read that yesterday on the NHS website that over 65s got a different vaccine.

Wednesday2000

I'm going to have a vegan cheese and tomato toastie in a minute. I'm just drinking some fizzy water.

PasturesNew

Farway said:

I had another tin of soup for dinner yesterday, those tinned soups saved my day really, plenty enough for one and now I need to add some to my next shop. 

Shopping can't arrive too soon, I've finally run out of milk, opened emergency UHT but it's rank in tea, OK for porridge though

Dinner, nothing planned but tinned spaghetti on toast sounds tempting. years since I had that, may bung a couple of fried eggs on top now I know more eggs are on the way

Re soup: 3-4 chicken breasts + 2 big spoons of curry paste + a tin of condensed soup = chicken tikka masala.  Of course, that's then enough food for four meals... but could be a way to use half a tin of tomato soup if you eat one half as soup.... half a tin, 1-2 breasts, 1 big spoon of curry paste would fit.  (For the record: chicken into frying pan, fry/brown. Add paste and soup to pan, stir.  Simmer ~20 minutes. Serve with rice or whatever. Recommended is condensed soup as it's thicker). 

I always intend to buy powdered milk, never get round to it/never see it when I look/remember.  Fewer supermarkets sell it.  That's powdered milk, not coffee whitener.   Another alternative to try, rather than UHT, would be a tin of carnation evaporated milk, that's milk evaporated, so add water and it's milk again. Easiest starter ratio is to say 1 tin of milk + 1 tin of water.  The actual ratio is to start with 100% milk and reduce it by 60% to make it evaporated; that means you're left with 40% milk, so a true return to what it was would be a ratio of 1 tin of milk to 1½ tins of water.

I've always been a fan of tins of things for toast in the cupboard.  I used to like spaghetti bolognese, but that can be quite pricey.  Mr T were selling their own brand spag bol for 20p a few years back, that was passable, but they put the price up and now it's disappeared.  Heinz is pricey .... but they do half tins, which are pricier... but Mr T has a current offer of "3 half tins for £1.70", so that's about 56p/can. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258514204 
I picked up a 39p full sized can of beans/sausages yesterday to go onto toast, Mr T's cheapo brand.  I serve half a can at a time when I do that. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/300523965