Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Farway wrote: »

tinned sardines, maybe it is me, they are posh French ones, 1.99 a tin:eek: even on offer at 2.50 for two tins seems a bit steep to me. https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/hyacinthe-parmentier-sardines-in-tomato-sauce/724293-288036-288037

I was slightly tempted, they even made it into my basket, but came round in the frozen aisle and found these, 1.25 for 150g breaded cod fillet
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-frozen-2-breaded-cod-fillets/524019-239377-239378
much more in my range, has anyone tried the posh French tinned sardines?

Oh if they are as good as the ones you get in Brittany I reckon they'd be a good buy, different class to the bog standard ones you get (and they are good IMHO):)


A few of my patio tomatoes (currently in the greenhouse) are beginning to flower so my next big gardening project is to get all my toms into their final containers.


After the gloom and cloud earlier, late afternoon the sky cleared and the sun broke through. It turned into a lovely afternoon/evening though it's still very humid, as the weather is due to be dire for next couple of days I made the most of it and got some more pots made up.



When the weather wasn't so nice earlier I had decided I would make a "sausage & gravy" dinner for a change but that feels too heavy now. I'm going to skin the sausages and use as meatballs. I'll chop up one of the remaining big toms and make a light sauce with the meatballs, onions, mushrooms etc. and cook some spaghetti. This (to me) feels a more a more summery meal.:) The lurking broccoli can lurk for another day.;)

PasturesNew

I've never got/understood stir fry .... it seems to "have a name" for what is "throwing anything you've got into a hot pan and tossing it around a bit" - and I really fail to see any excitement in that.... I'm sure it must generate a lot of air-borne fat particles that end up coating the kitchen too ... which you don't see until somebody comes round, touches something and says "EWWWW" and you realise you're a mucky pup and it's going to be really hard to clean all that up

[Deleted User]

I only use less than a tsp of oil for a stir fry, its brilliant for singles, one pan and a quick meal


and no 2 years is not infallable for keeping clothes. I need to wear clothes out, not wasting any more of my things, anyway the best things are the ones I made, apart from trousers and outerwear


Oh I am cba too and now have a whizzy head, which I don`t want in the evening. I have spotted a house, don`t know the area, nearer to dd and looks to be a lovely tiny development of new homes with all the sustainable stuff that I would like but after the last few viewings I am not building up hopes. That does not stop my whizzy head and busy mind. Will try and arrange a viewing next week

Brambling

I'm another one who enjoys a stir fry and agree with Kittie a tsp of oil is all you need, you can add a touch of water if it looks like it's catching on the bottom. There are some summers I've lived off it, it's great when trying to lose weight, maybe time to get out the wok again

Another wet day followed by torrential rain 4pm, enough to make me take the long way home as my usual route tends to flood in one place and I get a little panicked about driving through it, last winter on a couple of occasions my Fitbit thought I was doing excercise due to my increase heart rate driving home: especially if it's dark :eek: Not logical I know as I can watch cars smaller than mine come though .....

Lunch was a hummus and carrot wrap followed by a Chelsea bun, my break for freedom lunch time got me as far as Waitrose before I had to shelter from the rain so I was led astray by it.

Dinner was a Barnsley lamb chop, new potatoes and green veg. Both the goat cheese and puff pastry have dates which will take me pass the weekend so the tart will wait until I have more time at the weekend.

The way my weight fluctuates my wardrobe consists of several sizes and various ages, the space under my bed hides a multiple of sins I used a handbag to go out at the weekend that I realised I brought for my nephew's christening and he's nearly 25 :eek: his younger brother was amused that I have a handbag older than him :rotfl:

caronc

Another stir fry fan here:)
Clothes, shoes etc. I've stuff that is nearly as old as my kids:eek:, but it does get worn from time to time so is staying. I've been pretty ruthless with my wardrobes so I know what I have is what I use although it might not be that often.


This could be the one for you kittie, fingers crossed

[Deleted User]

sleeping on a problem is good, so many questions came into my mind, so I will go to a viewing next week bearing several thoughts. It is rural, the bus is not outside the door but taxis are a good solution if I can no longer drive. It could be that the small development is lovely in fact, not just as a drawing. Anyway I took a rescue melt before I went to sleep this time and didn`t wake in the night, must have calmed me


Out all day tomorrow, so have to think of a packed lunch but today will have fish and pesto/crumb topping and various veg. I know I will be twitchy so may well go and see around that area, 45 minutes away, the more prep I do, the better. Also got to do my sums and then ask my ea niece for advice re `offers` on a new build, she is very savvy and helpful and owns an estate agency and might even know the developer

moneyistooshorttomention

In my efforts to minimise the amount of oil I use, then these days all my saucepans are ones that can take little/if any oil in them. But wok stir-frying at the moment consists of using a little bit of vegetable stock powder stirred into a tiny bit of water (and soya sauce) and using that instead of oil. There'll be darn all calories in that.

Oldest clothes - well - fortunately handbags "fit" whatever size one is currently. So I think my oldest handbag is around 30-35 years old. I haven't worn it for a while - but I still like it and it's a "classic" (but not in the boring sense iyswim) style and I do remember it cost me £85 at the time. So an equivalent one would cost me hundreds of £s nowadays (I'm guessing at between £500-£1,000). So I shall still keep that one - though I don't often wear brown these days (which is the colour it is).

EDIT; Tried to buy those Rescue Remedy melts and the shop was out of them - so next time I'm "nearby Elsewhere" I shall have to check it out. For someone that hasnt got a car - I'm steadily "setting myself up" with getting my goods/services from nearby towns it seems (dentist and chiropodist in one nearby town. Hairdresser and doctor in another and so it goes on...).

PasturesNew

Went to the launderette first thing, it's misty here so there's a bit of moisture in the air, so not sure if I've made the right choice. Weather on the news said misty start.... but I'm hoping it'll clear later and dry well... otherwise I'll spend the weekend living in a Chinese laundry as it's dotted around me on airers etc

Popped into 4ldi to get bread rolls, but, yet again, they had none - just an empty slot. I'd got there before the chap had got that trolley out from the warehouse... last time I tried they were cleared out as it was late and hot BBQ weather. So I grabbed a loaf (they're now 36p, down from 40p and in a new style bag).... so it's toast here for breakfast, topped with L1dl's margarine.

For later, I've got sausage rolls that'll get heated up.

PasturesNew

kittie wrote: »

.... taxis are a good solution if I can no longer drive....

I've never been a user of taxis, probably been in one about a dozen times in my life at most - and not "of my choice", but choices made by others for most of those times.

They're very expensive ... two of us caught a taxi back 1 mile from town last year and it was nigh on £10! I remember about 20 years ago a taxi from the pub I frequented, into town, was being quoted as about £20 each way (more after midnight). I'd not wish to live a life that cost me £20-40 return every time I wanted to go out for something.

In the past, too, I've been refused a taxi as he said I wasn't going far enough.

They're not for me....

I just did a Google - a local taxi company here has on their website that their prices are:

6.30am to 11pm: First Mile = £4.40, + £2.20 per mile thereafter
Midnight to 6.30am: First Mile = £5.80, + £2.90 per mile thereafter

Bank holidays: First mile = £6.50, + £3.30 per mile thereafter

Taking one journey, the airport is 5.5 miles away, I can drive there in 15 minutes (of course, if I were flying somewhere I'd have to park). at a "car running cost" of under £1 each way. Public transport takes about 1 hour 40 minutes or so as you have to go "the other way" to the main town, change, then go to the airport, don't know how much that'd cost. A taxi would cost about £15 there and £15 back.

moneyistooshorttomention

It does depend, to some extent, on what area of the country one is in as to what taxi fares are. It's County Councils that set the rate taxi firms are allowed to charge (not that I'd be unduly surprised if there was a maverick or two trying to charge more than they are allowed to).

Taxi fares in the county I'm in recently had a cost-of-living rise - after a heck of a lot of years of the County Council not letting them do so. I still find the fares pretty reasonable. I would guess I only land up taking a couple of taxis a month and, compared to the cost of running a car, then it's obviously going to be WAY cheaper than that.

As for minimum distances - I've not heard of that here. In this area the local taxi firms wouldnt be doing themselves any favours whatsoever - as I expect a lot of their fares come from people taking a taxi to get to somewhere that is within reasonable walking distance and that will be because a noticeable proportion of the elderly people here aren't very good "walkers" or don't seem to walk at all. Therefore they take taxis instead - if they don't have a car of their own.

Taxis seem to be virtually used as a substitute for public transport here to quite an extent - which isnt surprising in an area where the public transport is poor.

You can tell that, by now, I've cultivated a relationship with a local taxi firm where they often know who I am the second they hear me on the phone and will certainly tell me where they think I'm probably going:rotfl:

I guess that's two of the things that are very different here - the taxis and the fact that the most frequent post carrier to here is virtually on first name terms with me by now (considering just how much of my shopping I do online these days).