Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

Lovely day here, I walked into town and back without a jacket it's only a couple of miles each way this morning I realised I only had a couple of eggs so picked some up from the farmers market and got led astray by some local cheeses (Sussex charmer and Brighton Blue) when I picked up some chilli jam which I've been meaning to get since I brought the new JO book and lastly a couple of cooking apples to see if I can resist a crumble   maybe I'll have baked apple. I avoided all shops just visited three market stalls  

lunch was some of the cheese with a apple, I brought some pink lady apples last weekend in Lidl and I haven't been overly excited by them rather tasteless  but they need eating so I avoided the local eating apples when I picked up the bramleys which is a shame as they had a good variety 

Dinner was roast beef (no Yorkshires) braised red cabbage, roast parsnips, carrots, cauliflower, French beans and a good dollop of hot horseradish 

PasturesNew

In a perfect world I'd be having a breakfast of: sausages, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, fried bread, a tinned tomato, baked beans, hash browns.... 
What might be possible in this world would the toast & scrambled eggs..... but I've no bread and no desire to turn out in the gloom/drizzle to drive all the way to Mr T to potentially have to queue up then pick my way round other shoppers just to get bread.  

So I will have 2 crumpets instead.  Last of the pack there. 

Yesterday's scoffathon was: 
2 crumpets/marg; a noodle pot; fishcakes & chips; 1/3rd cheesecake. 

I'm close to reaching the point where I almost "have to" go food shopping.  Nearly out of marg (1-2 tablespoons left), no bread, no flatbreads, no crumpets, nearly out of chips, nearly out of jam.  Really need to replace that lot and pick up burgers and/or a pizza and a couple of Mr T lasagne ready meals if the freezer's not empty like it was last time. 

I've still got spuds... and not started on the 1Kg bag of small onions I bought.  

I suspect lunch today will be: spuds topped with spagbol and cheese. 

Farway

Drizzle not yet reached here PN, dull & very mild

Last night's mince turned into spag bol, over estimated the spag part so I've heaps of cold spag bol LO

Hope it nukes up OK 'cos it's dinner

Lunch really is the last of the cream cheese, it lasted longer than I estimated

Brambling, I've seen Pink Lady apples but the price put me off, plus assumed it was over hyped, especially once

I looked into it think maybe grow one, seems it's a Trade Mark and UK is not suitable for growing that variety, not enough long warm days

Amended my W8rose order for Monday delivery, added in a gammon joint 1/3 off.

Fingers crossed because I normally have to shuffle them about in store to find the "just right" one

caronc

👋👋 everyone
Kitchen chaos continues, it's at peak muckiness as my son is sanding back all the work tops and I'll get then re-oiled during the week while he's working. The aim is to have the kitchen functioning if not finished by next Sunday and the conservatory part will get painted over a few weeks with a target to have everything done by the weekend before Christmas. Needless to say as a project it's grown arms and legs but will be like a new space when it's finished.
We are heading out to meet my sis and nephew for a late lunch at 2pm so no cooking will be needed this evening. 

PasturesNew

Farway said:

.... over estimated the spag part so I've heaps of cold spag bol LO ...

I nuke mine, firstly I can see how much I'm making; secondly, I can knock up a bit more at the drop of a hat if it doesn't look like enough. 

I retain handy/appropriately sized and shaped ready-meal dishes to re-use as nuker dishes.  I select a long/deep one, grab about 1/6th of a 20p/500g pack.  I hold the lot over my dish and place my hands close to the middle to snap it in half.... then drop it all into the dish.  Tiny splash of oil/salt (optional), then I just cover with boiling water and nuke it.... 2 minutes at a time, just checking the water level and poking it about to separate the strands each time.  It's usually done in 5-6 minutes.  

By putting just enough water in to cover it, then topping it up as I go, it prevents it boiling over/making a mess.... although I will usually place a sheet of kitchen roll under it in case it does foam up.  

gt568

Furren?  What does this mean?

PasturesNew

gt568 said:

Furren?  What does this mean?

Foreign.  Not English.  
If I were abroad I'd be wrapped up in my own world, reading my home news and talking to people who came from here.... if the country I was in produced confusing, changing, rules, I'd not be able to keep on top of them.... God only knows even the Brits here aren't managing to grasp them.

Brambling

Farway said:

Brambling, I've seen Pink Lady apples but the price put me off, plus assumed it was over hyped, especially once

I looked into it think maybe grow one, seems it's a Trade Mark and UK is not suitable for growing that variety, not enough long warm days

I usually buy them from W8itrose or Sainsbobs when I see them YS and they can be nice apples but these were from Lidl and have no favour not sure what country they are from.  The fruit farm who comes to the farmers market had some nice looking English coxes, russets and Braeburn as well as the cooking apples but if I had brought them the others would get soft and wrinkled and I'm determined not to throw them away 

Caronc glad to see your son is earning his keep  i hope you had a good lunch 

Pottering day indoors for me, nowhere I needed to go and a bit damp to walk in.  I've caught up on some indoors stuff and finished my book.  Lunch was the last of my soup (the rest was frozen) I had a small amount of feta in the fridge which I crumbled into the soup.  Dinner was LO beef with a pepper, mushroom, onion stir fry with noodles.  I'll probably have to work late tomorrow so I have a LO roast dinner to ping once I finish 

caronc

Good morning everyone, 
Yes my son is more than earning his keep, I'd have been several hundred if not over a thousand pounds for the work he did last week and there's lots more to do! He's back to work today so I'm washing down dust before starting the work top oiling. The work tops will need doing in stages but we have a plan ......
It was lovely to get out for a couple of hours yesterday away from the mess and debris even though it was hard to get re-motivated when I came home. Lunch was decent with my sister and I sharing a fish platter, chilli & parmesan fries and a hummus plate. Needless to say dinner was light, just a quick HM Chinese takeaway style chicken & sweetcorn soup and garlic bread. Easy option tonight with bought lasagne, garlic bread and salad. I've got the cheap Tesco frozen lasagne, I know PN is a fan of them and I've had it before and it's as good as the more expensive ones for a fraction of the cost.

Farway

Damp & dull here but my W8rose shopping arrived on time, only two subs, mature cheddar, swapped own brand on offer to Cathedral City for same price. I can live with that

One problem I now find is I am very poor judge of sizes on line, I ordered fresh mushrooms, 500g, there's loads of them, which I'll use of course.

In the shop I can just pick the "right size" punnet

I've done the same with jar of mint sauce, more like a bucket full , not a size I would've picked off the shelf. At least it all keeps so not a problem

Amongst the delivery were own brand "Essential" sausages, they are the only budget one I like, otherwise has to be posh / premium

Lunch was sausage sarnie, having planned ahead I made a quick loaf in the Panny earlier

Dinner, sausages, HM chips, eggs, mushrooms of course , and open a tin of beans

Update from Ooop North, [Oldham] the Covid has gone round the Northern rellies like a bad smell.

Another one in hospital with pneumonia complications now, rest are fatigued & poorly at their homes.

I never knew it also causes vomiting, not pleasant at all and keeping well away still seems best option