Cooking for one (Mark Three)

moneyistooshorttomention

LOL Brambling at the image of sister as "devil on your shoulder":rotfl:

My mother has long since "trained" my father and myself into an auto-response any time she wonders whether to buy something or no of "If you want it - have it".:rotfl:

Today's main meal will be the second helping of yesterday's stir-fry. Did try sauteing a little of that bucksthorn plantain from my garden and having it separately in case. No particular taste either way imo - though there might have been if the leaves had been fresh/young ones (as I gather they are supposed to taste very slightly nutty).

Will persevere in keeping that plant in the garden at least for the time being - it's sorta perennial I gather and a tendency to self-seed. It has the virtue at least of not being one that any bugs or whatever attack:)

At least not spending the day waiting around like a 1950s housewife for an engineer to fix my faulty cookerhob. He turned up first thing and told me
a. the woman I'd spoken to on the phone booking the job hadn't got her facts straight :cool:. No surprises there - as I've long since given up expecting any lower-level office workers to do their jobs as well as I expected to do office work back in my time.
b. The hob should just lift up ("for ease of maintenance"). But the electrician from kitchen firm had sealed it down:mad:. Cue I'm in for 2 more visits - the kitchen firm's electrician to put his work right. Then the engineer - again.:mad:

FARWAY - wouldnt mind any thoughts you have on the cooker hob (ie how it should have been fixed)..It's an electric ceramic hob inset into the work surface.

moneyistooshorttomention

wort wrote: »

I need to clean, and also portion up the cats food for the freezer my least favourite job I don't like handling raw meat !!
I've got washing in and if it stays bright will have another go at the tiny weeds that seem to have invaded my front garden . I've tried 3 times to clear them they are so small it's hard to pull them out .

Re your weeds - it depends what the weeds are of course. It would be one thing if they were couch grass for instance or something that wouldnt just "shrivel up and die" but might try and re-root itself.

But, for a lot of weeds, I find I'm okay with just "churning" the top of the soil slightly - which dislodges the weeds and they're lying there on top of the soil and will just disintegrate over time and "feed the soil". It's a permaculture principle called "chop and drop".

For said "churning" one of my tools for this is one that you can just stand upright and use. It's a long-handled gardening tool and you grasp hold of the straight handle edge at the top and run the (several) prongs on the bottom of the tool along the surface of the soil to break up the weed's grasp on the soil. I have clay soil here - but can use such a tool after there has been a noticeable amount of rain here loosening up the soil.

If I remember the name of that tool I'll come back and tell you. It's quite a cheap thing - around £10.

EDIT; I've just had a quick google and found something rather similar to what I have (though mine is 5 prong and rather basic-looking) on Amazon. One type is Oypla Weed Puller Twister Remover Weeder Manual Weeding Garden Tool and their brand is £12.99 inc postage.

caronc

Good morning everyone,
"Happy new curtains" Brambling
wort your room sounds lovely and cosy:)
Money, I've had bucksthorn as part of a "sea veg" mix, I don't remember it tasting of anything very much just vaguely grassy.

I don't have any curtains in my house - just blinds. I never found any I liked for the front room and they would hide the lovely wood around the bay window so I decided it was better without them. I didn't any window covering in the conservatory and as the back is not overlooked there are no privacy issues.

The weather is still dire though not as cold. I'm off for lunch with some friends. Thankfully I'm getting a lift so hopefully wont get soaked. The restaurant over looks the marina & bay but I doubt there will be much of a view today.

I'm not sure about dinner tonight, it will depend on what I have for lunch. There is LO rice mix from last night so no doubt something based around that.

Farway

Back to dull weather day, my heating clicked on again this morning so I knew it was too cold to get up early, had a bit of a lie in just because I can

Last night's defrosted stewed blackberry & apple was excellent, maybe it is like LO stew / curry, improves after freezing & maturing?
I can also report L's ready made box of custard is nice, rich & gloopy, up to Ambro**a standard I'd say.

Breakfast usual porridge etc

My stale bread is mounting up in the fridge so it's bread pud mixing time this afternoon. That will warm the kitchen up nicely as well

Caron, I think you'll love a wood burner, my DD has one, warms the house a treat, I find it too hot at times
I bet those bulbs will be a picture come the spring, an enormous number. I'm hunting for a space to put about 20 impulse bought ones in

For those growing "unusual" food I heard on the radio that quinoa is easy to grow, and there was another "trendy grain food" that I've forgotten but was also easy. Not for me but maybe worth a look if only to try it out

Money, no thoughts on electric ovens or hobs except to say I've always gone for gas having spent time up repairing them during my navy days. I know you are all electric, but I've no experience of modern cookers or hobs

Lunch is last of the tinned salmon

PasturesNew

I'm not a fan of stoves.... it'd put me off viewing a house for sale; that'd make it to the B list rather than the A list.

So much faffing around, having/storing wood and other combustibles, starting it, keeping it going, controlling it ... and then all that clearing out and clinker disposal. Then there's the thing about using the right fuel for the area and for the fire itself - and the worries about carbon monoxide alarms and servicing ... and don't get me onto fear of chimney fires

Today I just had some cheesy chips and beans for lunch. No idea about later... I need to eat what's in the freezer, whether I fancy it or not

Farway

Bread pud is soaking at the moment, I'll pop it in the oven later and use same oven heat to warm up the LO mince & onion pie:money:

It'll be more use up LOs with the pie. I've got bits of mash, cabbage, roast spud or two and carrots
Not sure yet whether to nuke or fry them, both options are easy

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

Not sure yet whether to nuke or fry them, both options are easy

If you are able and willing .... you know fried tastes better and will have a lovely texture Maybe some crispy bits.

FRY!!

flubberyzing

Hello all!

I hope we're all doing okay?

A busy day for me working in the nurture classroom at the same school as last week, with the same kid. I was very impressed with the teacher in there. There were 3 kids and 6 adults, but you felt like that number was needed! The teacher was excellent, very calm and very good at defusing difficult situations. Obviously extremely experienced at what she does!

Came home via the sorting office to pick up a parcel. And also dropped off a parcel for a neighbour in the next street, which came to me by mistake. It was the same neighbour as a couple of weeks back. No one answered the door, so I left it on the step. I'm happy to try once at a delivery, but I'm not a courier, and not paid to do so! Luckily it's a safe area.

Having an hour at home, before heading out to tutoring in about 20 mins. I've just been replying to a few emails and the like. Over the weekend I got another tutoring gig set up for a Friday evening. Came home today to another request, but I'm feeling pretty full up now. I don't do Tuesdays because of my own commitments, but all the other weekday evenings I do at least one session, and now on Fridays, it'll be 2. The extra money is a HUGE help to me, but I can only do so much.

Then my old university emailed... I'd asked them to dig out my records, but they're having trouble tracking them down. They've asked for further details, which I've supplied, but that's stressed me out!! GRRR!

I'm going to do a sausage baguette for my tea, but after tutoring.

PasturesNew

I shouldn't be doing this really as my house has a viewing in the morning and I've just started some stinky cooking Have to dig out the Febreze later

I dragged a half bag of frozen aberdeen angus beef mince from the freezer, it's been there nearly a year I bet. I'd also chopped/frozen the last of a pack of 3 peppers a few months back, so that was dragged out (yellow). I'd bought six chillies the other week, so got one of those out (green). So that's freed up a bit of freezer space. Chopped an onion/cooked that to soft and tossed it into the SC. Pre-cooked the beef mince and tossed that into the SC. Chopped the pepper and chilli and tossed those in .... and 2/3rds of a tin of beans. Then added a big spoon of chilli powder.

That's in the SC on high .. and in about 2 hours or so I expect it'll look about done... so then I'll cook some basmati.

It's a big portion... but I'll probably wolf the lot down to avoid leftovers in the fridge

EDIT: I'm a SC fiddler... I can never leave it alone. Gave it a stir after 30 minutes, it was a little dry, so I swished out the bean can with a little water and added that (kept it in case).... then I turned it down low.

After another 30 minutes I was in there again ... little stir... then licked the fork... OMG it's gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. Hot/chilli and sweet.... can't wait to be honest.... it's edible now, but leaving it on low for awhile longer....

caronc

Farway wrote: »

Caron, I think you'll love a wood burner, my DD has one, warms the house a treat, I find it too hot at times
I bet those bulbs will be a picture come the spring, an enormous number. I'm hunting for a space to put about 20 impulse bought ones in

I'm sure I will Farway, it's been a wish/want for a long time and makes sense now I have lots of time and feel the cold terribly.

It's a case of fingers crossed with the bulbs as they are "recycled" so to speak from when I redid all my pots & beds earlier in the year. Time will tell:cool:

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm not a fan of stoves.... it'd put me off viewing a house for sale; that'd make it to the B list rather than the A list.

So much faffing around, having/storing wood and other combustibles, starting it, keeping it going, controlling it ... and then all that clearing out and clinker disposal. Then there's the thing about using the right fuel for the area and for the fire itself - and the worries about carbon monoxide alarms and servicing ... and don't get me onto fear of chimney fires

No they're not for everyone but I was very pleasantly surprised how mess & faff free my friends' one is.:) They get very little residue to clear as it is in a contained hot burn. I already have carbon monoxide alarms and plenty of room for a log store. I reckon the pleasure it will give me will more than outweigh the work.



Chilli sounds good PN - febreeze & a bit airing should easily sort out and lingering whiffs:).


You'll be ready to chill out when you get back flubberyzing, tutoring does reward fairly well cash-wise but my son who did Math tutoring while he was a uni found it draining at times. He did really enjoy seeing his pupils flourish with the 121 support and it certainly helped his finances.



I had a lovely catch up with my friends over a sandwich lunch, we shared some very good chips as well. Due to it being a Monday and the lousy weather the restaurant was quite quiet so they were happy to let us sit and natter for ages once we had finished eating. Dinner tonight is a bit of a bung together of a handful of mince from the pack I have in the fridge to make mince & tatties tomorrow cooked with peppers, mushrooms, tomato and chilli with last night's rice concoction LOs added. Should hopefully be tasty.:)