Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good evening everyone,

Fab sounding burger Stoke, I do like a good juicy burger and the variations are endless:)
Farway, glad the cold didn't come to anything:), wish I could say the same for mine:(. Tom puree etc. freezes well, just squeeze blobs into an ice cube tray and freeze. Remove once frozen and bag. I freeze lots of random things that way so I can just use what need.
Wednesday - I'd of been going for equally shares of the crumpets not just the one.....;):)
:wave:-taff
flubberyzing - much I love Christmas and have been known to suffer from what my kids call "tinselitus" :rotfl::rotfl:my decorations don't go up to at least the week before. I get fed up with them if it's earlier. My sis is like you though and they go up about a month before. That said I do love to sit with them on wrapping pressies usually with a small glass of Baileys just to set the festive mood.:D
PN- hope you had a tasty lunch:)
Money - one of my nephews is a keen sportsman/body builder, he usually follows a very strict diet (though lots of calories usually 4-5K) but believes a day off every week when he eats loads of more junky stuff and fattier meat. He believes it stops his metabolism from getting complacent. Certainly works for him as he is 6ft 7 and very, very healthy:), so I'll allow your DoD excuse :)


I'm still feeling grotty and have a lovely swollen eye thanks to a blocked tear duct which I'm prone to when I get bunged up. Not a pretty look but it will sort itself out hopefully well before the engagement do.
Mushroom soup has been made and sampled for lunch, nice but needing "something", I think Farway's suggestion of adding some Philly could be that "something" so will add some tomorrow. (Thanks Farway)
I had a nice couple of hours noodling through old photos to find some of my elder son when he was wee for a decoration my sister is making for the "do". His fiancee's Mum has sent me some crackers from when she was a tot so it should look good and be a lovely surprise:). Now my younger son has hauled the photo box out of the loft I think my winter "project" needs to be finally putting them into some sort of order.:o;) I spent ages photographing my selection before remembering I had a photo scan function on my printer:o:o. Thankfully they seemed to have turned out ok so no need to redo:D.
Just cottage pie to heat up and some broccoli to cook so an easy meal tonight:).

Brambling

I find mushroom soup benefits from being creamy Caronc, I haven't made it for ages so may also steal Farway tip

I remember my mum and aunt going through a old cardboard suitcase (the kind you see in 1940s films:) ) full of my grandparents photos trying to put names to old black and white photos with no one left from that generation to help, there were comments like 'must be from mums' side look at the nose' :rotfl:

Busy day at work today with everyone wanting something I ended up with 5 or 6 half completed pieces of work at one stage which I hate. I may change my name tomorrow as it was getting over used today :cool: I swear the gods conspire against me when I'm trying to clear my desk before taking a few days off :cool: I must start saying no more often unless it's the boss :rotfl:

Lunch was LO Nasi Goreng which reheats really well and was very tasty . Dinner was mackerel, new potatoes, asparagus and french beans, it was just as well I was CFO as the filleting of the mackerel was a little hit and miss tonight luckily only me to avoid the bones I decided to freeze the LO biryani, a girl can have too much rice :rotfl:

I like a HM burger Stoke, I tend to freeze fresh ginger and grate from frozen. PN powder spices can lose their freshness and favour if kept too long

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

I find mushroom soup benefits from being creamy Caronc, I haven't made it for ages so may also steal Farway tip

I remember my mum and aunt going through a old cardboard suitcase (the kind you see in 1940s films:) ) full of my grandparents photos trying to put names to old black and white photos with no one left from that generation to help, there were comments like 'must be from mums' side look at the nose' :rotfl:

Busy day at work today with everyone wanting something I ended up with 5 or 6 half completed pieces of work at one stage which I hate. I may change my name tomorrow as it was getting over used today :cool: I swear the gods conspire against me when I'm trying to clear my desk before taking a few days off :cool: I must start saying no more often unless it's the boss :rotfl:

Lunch was LO Nasi Goreng which reheats really well and was very tasty . Dinner was mackerel, new potatoes, asparagus and french beans, it was just as well I was CFO as the filleting of the mackerel was a little hit and miss tonight luckily only me to avoid the bones I decided to freeze the LO biryani, a girl can have too much rice :rotfl:

I like a HM burger Stoke, I tend to freeze fresh ginger and grate from frozen. PN powder spices can lose their freshness and favour if kept too long

I know even 20+ years down the line I find myself trying to work out which child it was:o (they were very alike especially if they had a hat on:rotfl:) as the baby clothes were mainly recycled from elder to younger. I tend work on which living room carpet it was........:o:rotfl:So I really do need to do something about it.
I'm another root ginger freezer, it grates so beautifully from frozen and I don't bother peeling it (Thanks Hugh F-W ).

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

I know even 20+ years down the line I find myself trying to work out which child it was:o (they were very alike especially if they had a hat on:rotfl:) as the baby clothes were mainly recycled from elder to younger. I tend work on which living room carpet it was........:o:rotfl:So I really do need to do something about it.
I'm another root ginger freezer, it grates so beautifully from frozen and I don't bother peeling it (Thanks Hugh F-W ).

I think it was James Martin I saw who said if you grated ginger with the skin on it was hotter as there was more heat just under the skin.

For us younger 3 children my mum would check which pram was in the photo, it seems we were all 'accidents' so she got rid of the prams after each of us :rotfl: My nephew once looked at a picture of his mother aged 4 and asked why there was a picture of his brother in a dress, my youngest nephew looks very much like his mother

caronc

My elder son is the double of my sister - he "dressed up" as her one Hallowe'en it was scary how similiar they were:rotfl::rotfl:

Novice_investor101

Busy day for me. Off to work early & back home at 8pm.

I skipped breakfast (well, I had a couple of coffees) due to still feeling sniffly.
Lunch was the boiled egg sandwich & a HM cupcake.

Then it was off for a W'spoons pub tea - fish & chips with work colleagues. Fish & chips & a J2O costing £10. It was a bit of a treat.

I use fake Philly (or just any full fat cream cheese, 4ldi one is good) to make HM pasta bakes creamy. It's usually a case of cook up a standard HM pasta sauce using whatever veg I want, make it a tiny bit more watery than normal, stir in a heaped tablespoon of cream cheese & it's good for a pasta bake. I never precook the dry pasta either, just hung it all in a dish, top with tons of cheese & bake for 20-30 minutes. It's one of my faves & easily lasts in the fridge for 3 meals, or 4 with some side-y stuff.

PasturesNew

It's a shame re old photos when you don't know who they are - but with Facebook these days, get into the right "local" group and post it and people often know.

There's one very active town group for where I used to live and they all "know each other" and "everybody was related back then" so most posts are "Who remembers Old Bob in X Road" and the replies will be memories, people saying "I was at number 11, I remember you and your nan"... loads of it.

One person posted a photo of 8 lads from the 1960s crowded round motorbikes and within 2-3 hours they had every one of them named, the location, the date the photo was taken - and more.

Some others have posted photos and said "No idea who these are, but my mum's on the right" - and the rest of the names have been provided as people remember them as neighbours, or aunts.

On the other hand, I posted a photo my dad had taken of a stunning looking girl posing at the local swimming pool and nobody knows who she was... but I suspect she wasn't local at the time as he was hanging round with "a bit of a Uni-educated posh lot/from London" but it was worth a shot. There were some "whoar" remarks... until I pointed out she's probably about 85-90 by now

Re babies: They all look the same, except a few particularly ugly/peculiar ones. We've got some photos and have no idea which of us is in them.

moneyistooshorttomention

:rotfl: at the photos comments. Thinking "Is that why my mother was very prone to putting my hair up in a sort of on-top-of-the-head type ponytail thing?" - ie so that people would always instantly know it was a girl. She'd worked out her own 1950's equivalent of "Stick one of those headbands on their head and people will know it's a girl".

I do have a suspicion that a large number of people are more "sexless" at the beginning and end of their lives (at least from the neck up). Hence my hairdresser has strict instructions to totally ignore all the wind here (I won't be having a "manageable hairstyle that allows for wind") and cut my hair that little bit longer/more feminine style than I see many similar age group women wearing round here.

Not that there'd ever be a scrap of doubt looking a few inches further down - ie I'm not exactly flat-chested LOL.

Food-wise - has a feeling any lunch out today won't be including sourdough bread - as I woke up with a sore throat. That young workman that came round has given me one thing - and it hasn't been a quotation yet. I got a cold from him. The quotation - "same old same old" and he's told me he's sent me an email with one (he hasn't) and told me he'd "send it again" yesterday (he hasn't). Oh well Farway - he's already picked up bad habits by the look of it...ie he's started the lying...

PasturesNew

I've got a bit of a day on today, got to tidy/clean for a viewing, then it's back ... and out again for a dental check up... so I figured the best thing was to get a decent breakfast inside me.

2 bits of toast, 1/3rd tin beans and 2 scrambled eggs, splash of the brown stuff on top and a black coffee. Made/eaten .... just the s0ddin' washing up to do now

flubberyzing

A few bits and bobs to do today...
I've just returned from Tesco with 2 lots of sandwiches for 2 meals on the train tomorrow.
I also got a power bank gadget to charge my phone on the go. My iPhone is getting to be an older model now, and I find, on trains particularly (as it's always looking for new signal towers), that the battery doesn't last as long as it would just hanging out at home.
I'll need my phone all day tomorrow, so can't just put it on airplane mode for a few hours to save battery, so this gadget will charge it for me when it starts to get low.

I'm travelling down to Somerset tomorrow, to do a piece with ITV News, regarding the 'Shrouds Of The Somme' art project being done at the Olympic Park next month, for 100 years since the end of WWI.

I happen to have a relative who was killed at the Somme, and posted his story to their website, and now ITV have asked if I'll go and meet the artist making all these 72000+ little men. All a bit random, but I'm seeing it as a big adventure. It'll be a long day though. First train at 8am ish, and not due back until well gone 10pm.

Simple eats for me today. Skipped breakfast and went straight to coffee and biccies at 10. A sandwich for lunch. And for tea I've either got a fish pie in the freezer, or left-over chicken from last nights enchiladas. I think I'll see what I fancy nearer the time. Probably the chicken would be the most sensible option, but it'll need some time in the oven. Might finish off the bag of croquettes I've got still in the freezer.