Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Mitzimoon

unrecordings said:

Ah a late update. I ended up with one of those disappointing' I don't think we got everything' shops. No Meica, in fact a near forensic google search revealed only Ocado seem to do them now. Bisto was a similar mystery, although there is an alternative Bisto flavour which is now apparently accidentally vegan. Usually this time of year there's an empty shelf in Waitrose that mere moments earlier contained a handful of essential mince pies, that were vegan. This year the essential mince pies are no longer vegan and by maybe some coincidence there was a huge full, barely touched display of them. And they've abandoned the yellow sticker chiller. At least the Slovenian red was still on offer (Puklavec - actually I think the white is Slovenian, the red is next door)

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but the own brand mince pies at Waitrose, that were accidentally vegan for a number of years, then last year weren't vegan due to the addition of milk powder in the recipe, are back AND vegan again! Even better, they have an easy to spot vegan/vegetarian notice on the front of the box now.  And best of all, they are still £1 for a box of 6...and just as delicious as I remembered them to be over Christmas 2018.

Farway

My CBA feeling went, so I made this Pound Cake and it's jolly tasty despite the vanilla flavouring being BBE 1995. I made it low calorie by omitting the icing

PasturesNew

Chocolate-gate resolved. All mine  
A "thank you" for checking everything and doing the morning/night rituals around the house when LL went away for a couple of days.

Brambling

If you're the fit one Caronc we had better hope the stable door stays locked 🙂 if not your sis and sons' OH will be running around 🙂

that cake looks really lovely Farway nice and moist. I've just talked myself out of rummaging in the baking cupboard to make one 😁 

enjoy the chocolate PN 😋

my manager is on holiday this week and I drew the short straw to run the call today, not too bad this morning but this afternoon when my two colleagues from Texas joined us it was a bit like herding cats trying to keep everyone focused 🙀🐾 not helped by his lordship coming in wet, jumping on the table and flopping down on the keyboard 🙄 

lunch was a mug of tomato and vegetable soup with a slice of spinach and feta crustless quiche.  Dinner was gammon, chips made from half jacket potato, LO roast pattypans and onions, beetroot and gherkins. Nice and easy food day 🙂

PasturesNew

I think I forgot to mention ... I've never been a fan of pouch rices, but, during recent kitchen access problems I did buy loads of them, the cheapo ones (45p or so) at L1dl/4ldi.  Then I bought a case of them at the OOD.  I was surprised by how good the OOD ones were (Tilda/lime/coriander) compared to the nasty texture I'd experienced in the past from Uncle Ben & the cheapo ones. 

This week I picked up a cheapo pouch at Mr T.  They do plain/white and a pilau, at just 35p/pouch.  I'll see how the texture of that is once I get round to it.  I'm sure once this pandemic rush is over Mr T will start removing its cheapo ranges that I've been availing myself off in recent months.... but while they exist, might as well try them. 

I only saw two varieties in my Mr T, but their website has four listed: Long Grain, Pilau, Basmati, Wholegrain.  

One "meal" from that could be: mix a pouch with a big squirt of watered-down-ketchup (and some flavouring/chilli if you've got it) and add a chopped/cooked sausage.   For a big meal, toss in a drained tin of mixed beans.  For a cheap meal just mix the pouch with a 25p can of cheapo baked beans... and top with a bit of cheese.

PasturesNew

2 crumpets/marg for breakfast
2 bits of toast and half a can of cheapo spag bol for lunch. 
Cheeky Twix.  Talking of which, I appear to have had about eight cheeky Twixes last night  

Farway

Up & about early, needed to get some bread & milk

I probably have enough to squeak by before my next delivery but because I hope to be out tomorrow I thought I'd top up while I was checking my Volunteer border

Actually found wholegrain mustard in the Co-op as well, and some YS ready cook prepacked beetroot 50p

Lunch, using the new loaf, was fake Spam & wholegrain mustard sarnie

Dinner, one of the near use by Cheese & Onion pasties, plus HM AF chips, and baked beans

With slice or so of Pound Cake later

PasturesNew

Alle-bl00dy-luia ... I'd like to announce I just ate the final, s00din, flatbread   
Dated 4 October, three to a pack, I bought 12 packs.  They were very very nice.... but all I really did was eat them as they are by ripping them into pieces, just in order to get through them, with an eye on the date and whether they'd go green.  I think the last pack was close to end of date as the final three were pretty much stuck together and took some prising apart  

But, all eaten now. All gone. Hurrah. 

Today I've so far had: 2 crumpets/marg, 2 toast/spag bol, bit of cheesecake, 2-3 twix fingers, 1 flatbread.

PasturesNew

Houses: Mostly, things I'm not interested in are dropping in price, but every now and then you see an agent really pushing the boundaries on price.  One's cropped up today, it'd been on at £299,950 until April 2019 and not sold.  To be fair, it wasn't a bad little place, but I wasn't in a position by the time it disappeared to even give it a thought as I'd not sold mine.... so it disappeared.  Today it's reappeared for sale, same agent, same photos, £325k.

Really?  If it didn't sell for £300k .... in a good/strong/buoyant market, what makes you think it'll sell at £325k after a global pandemic, a full lockdown, talk of a second lockdown, half the country not working, furlough about to end and dole queues will double.  Seriously? 

caronc

Good evening everyone, 
Smashing looking cake Farway
PN - I buy that rice mainly the pilau and wholegrain. Not as good as the Tilda stuff and I don't know if I'd use it in a dish where rice was the main component but perfectly fine as a side dish.
Both my boys are improving, in fact my younger son is currently replacing the bolts on the toilet cistern as it was dripping (again).
I've had a day catching up on voluntary admin, don't feel I've much to show for several hours of work though!
The JO salmon and prawn dish was good but wouldn't have been better with raw prawns rather than the cooked ones specified as they were a bit dry. It was tasty and didn't stop us eating it all though.
Another new recipe tonight though not a JO but a slightly tweaked version of this https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/sep/28/rachel-roddy-recipe-for-pasta-with-sausage-leek-and-mascarpone but with vermouth instead of wine and mix of cream cheese and creme fraiche instead of mascarpone. I have remaining two  lovely deli Italian sausages which should work well.