Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Jacket spud .. and cheese. And, as it's cheese and I have beans, might as well add some beans on it too.

Kept it simple as I can't bear thinking about what to eat every bl00dy day. It's endless isn't it....

And you can't meal plan - because you don't know what you'll fancy in even 2-3 hours' time, never mind a week next Tuesday!

moneyistooshorttomention

Pastures - cooking is sometimes one of those things/housework and gardening are always one of those things where Don't Wanna tends to apply.

You'd think after 60 or so years on the planet this time round it would sink in emotionally (ie as well as being a fact I know) that I can't just turn round to the gardener, the indoor servants, the cook (if I don't want to cook) and say "Can you do so-and-so please?" and always have to be the one to do "so-and-so" myself or it simply doesn't get done.

My head knows this fact - but I'm blowed if it's totally percolated through to my "heart" that that gardener/indoor servants/cook are Me/I'm It/the buck stops here this lifetime around:(. Mind you - I also have to remind myself that it's no longer possible to just contact the doctor and they will come round and pay a home visit. In this day and age - it's all one can do to actually get to see a doctor at all anywhere...

I do wonder how many other people still have it as a "thing in their head" that they will ask for something to be done and then have to remind themselves that it will be them personally having to do it - or is it just me?:rotfl:

Brambling

Money i did drive home tonight thinking what would I give to walk in the door to find dinner cooked for me but unfortunately it wasn't the cat has no hidden skills it seems

I like to cook and find it relaxing it's just sometimes the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is cook, but as I don't like RMs and I like to eat there's little choice

My meeting over ran today so I didn't fancy my lunchtime soup at 3.00pm, I just ate some pineapple and grapes. Dinner was going to be pork chop but I obviously had a funny five minutes last night and took out the pork fillet by mistake :huh: so dinner was pork and mushroom mustard stroganoff served with mixed rice and quinoa, there's LOs so that will be Wednesday tea :cool:

PasturesNew

I removed pack of frozen chicken stuff from the freezer. It was a pack I bought, with the half price sticker slapped on, months ago... something like Cajun Chicken Sizzler - so it's raw chicken with a marinade on skewers... it's defrosting.

Tomorrow I'll nuke that - might also get out the yellow peppers I sliced and froze a couple of months ago. If I nuke those ... I can serve them on basmati.. no sauce though... I'll probably knock up something or other when I get 2-3 minutes from bunging that in a bowl and scoffing it tomorrow, at whatever time I've decided I want to eat it.

wort

I made my version of boulangere potatoes yesterday, thought I'd made enough for 2 days but ate it all with a gfree chicken pie for tea.;)
I've got some spicy chicken left from Sunday tea so I'm doing pasta with the usual onion peppers and mushrooms, with enough for tomorrow! ! I'll bung the chicken in today's portion.

Caronc I cook topside like my mum, and put it in a casserole dish with an inch or 2 of gravy /stock and and an onion. With tin foil on the top of dish.Probably sacrilege but easier than keep basting a roast!!
I'm waiting for a parcel today so I'm debating what to use the time for . I'll probably clean !:(

moneyistooshorttomention

Wort - if you find any good ideas for dealing with "waiting time" then I'm sure they'd go down well with many of us.

I always find "waiting time" very frustrating and don't feel I can settle to anything I intend to do. Too distracted to do much in the way of housework/too distracted to focus on reading and so it goes on.

More "singles" problem stuff I guess - as there's no-one else there that is responsible for 50% of "waiting time".

I waited in all day the other day - for something that didnt happen and I was lied to about it when I said I had the proof it would happen.

Have got another bit of "waiting time" coming up shortly. A problem with my new cooker and I'm supposed to allocate a whole day to it (from 7 a.m. in the morning at that) - so that the engineer can turn up when he fancies. A whole day?! - how old-fashioned is that. Can I borrow a 1950's housewife to do it for me? - as there isn't one resident in my household.

PasturesNew

wort wrote: »

...I cook topside like my mum, and put it in a casserole dish with an inch or 2 of gravy /stock and and an onion. With tin foil on the top of dish.Probably sacrilege but easier than keep basting a roast!!

I stick it in the slow cooker... usually without liquid as it makes its own ... and accompanied with whatever's wrinkly and needs using up that I can find kicking around the kitchen (spuds, onions, carrots...)

wort wrote: »

I'm waiting for a parcel today so I'm debating what to use the time for . I'll probably clean !:(

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

More "singles" problem stuff I guess - as there's no-one else there that is responsible for 50% of "waiting time".

That's it - I am rushing round all the windows seeing ... unlocking the gates so they can get into either ... fearful of missing it.

Daren't even go to the loo! Can't have a bath. Can't even do the washing up in case you miss a knock.

wort wrote: »

Can I borrow a 1950's housewife to do it for me? - as there isn't one resident in my household.

I've thought about hiring myself out to wait for things for people - but then there's the added thing of responsibility. It'd have to be made clear that I'd not be responsible beyond waiting/receiving.

Many years ago my friend's mum ordered a new carpet for their large living room (20'x12' or so). Her dad was there "waiting" - and the man came and fitted it. The minute her mum got home from work she was so excited... rushed in ... "THAT'S NOT the carpet I ordered!" but she was stuck with it for the rest of their lives!

moneyistooshorttomention

:rotfl: re not wanting to miss the knock on door. I've got a fully-working doorbell and I'd probably also hear a knock on the door.

Somehow - I missed the ring at doorbell and then card through the door the day I waited in for my redelivery from the Post Office. How I could possibly miss both a ring at the doorbell they swore blind they did and a card they swore blind they put through my door on the day I was waiting in for that redelivery is beyond me - I must have a lot bigger and more messy hall than I thought I had:cool::cool::cool::mad:

I can understand re the carpet - agh! At least the flooring firm I've basically been using here just went "That 'planking' is the wrong way round" the second he went to unroll the vinyl I'd arranged to have him put down in my bathroom (ie it's wood plank look to it and that planking is supposed to run front to back - but the supplier firm had cut it that it went side to side). Cue for having to wait about 2 weeks longer and then "waiting time" again for a 2nd day for the correctly cut vinyl to be laid.

*********

I've also wondered about hiring myself out as a 1950s housewife for the day - and hadnt thought of that aspect (ie of me not knowing exactly what the householder had ordered). I'd have problems here anyway - as I've found I'm back to being treated as a "woman". Female and an incomer - I wouldnt rate my chances of getting things done properly....

One of the better tradespeople here told me that the trick to dealing with others here is to give them a mouthful and be a bit "fierce" about it. That's not how I've been used to operating - as my normal method = get everything in writing and just "produce the evidence" of how things should be.

wort

Apparently my parcel can come anytime up to 9 PM! ! I'm usually in my pjs at teatime!!
I've been cleaning ,did tops of kitchen cupboards and changed the filter in the cooker hood.
Ended by vacuuming and mopping.
I've waited in before and had a card pushed through , I have a doorbell connected to the mains it should work if they press it!!
Re the planking I decided I wanted my laminate to run width ways to make the room look wider! :T

wort

Just had a part baked gf roll with chicken salad made one for lunch tomorrow as I'm at work that's ham salad. I'm having mango and passion fruit yogurt with seeds and dried apricots now.
Plus a nice cuppa tea.