Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

The gas man cometh.

Really? Well, he will allegedly arrive... later. Didn't dare try to pin him down more than the fact he will be arriving at some point.

Can't leave the house until he's been/gone. It's not that I need to leave the house, it's the fact that I can't do it that puts me on edge. There are magical and mythical things my brain dreams up that I could be doing if only I could leave the house

One important job is to go and buy some cotton ... proper cotton this time. The last 2-pack I grabbed at £land was like fishing line, plastic/see-through ... and a pig to sew with if you're crouching on the floor trying to hem the hanging curtains

Once I have the proper cotton I can hem the curtains quite quickly .... and they need doing as they're longer than the room height, so they've been "dragging" on the floor, which makes it so much harder to "arrange" them correctly for each viewing. Hemming them won't make them aesthetically great while sitting here, but they will make them aesthetically better once I've opened/arranged them to the sides as over-long curtain bottoms "bunch up" horridly.

While going out for cotton .... the food world is my oyster as it's next to 4ldi. OR ... I could just simply use the spuds I've got and do spud/beans/cheese... they do need to be eaten before they sprout.

Also, I'm washing my bra in a bucket .... and I'd have liked to have that rinsed and hanging to dry by now, but as the gas man''s coming I've tucked the bucket away in the downstairs loo for now, until he's gone...

elona

After getting some diced beef and a chicken ready for Sunday last week and not needing to use them I realised they needed cooking by today. A chicken is in the oven and will be cooked by eleven and when cooled I want to chop it up and freeze it so it can be used to make a recipe another time.

The beef with onions and chestnut mushrooms is in a cast iron pot on the hob and will go in the oven when the chicken is taken out. Once cooled I want to freeze it and use it for a beef and mushroom pie.

I still have mashed potato (substitute as I cook my own usually) and green beans so might portion that up and freeze some so it can be used for a family lunch later.

Also got a substitution of a stew pack which will keep instead of a ready prepared cut up stew veg up so could use that tomorrow and make a stew with some frozen lamb.

Not had any breakfast yet as had to go to sorting office to pick up a parcel so thinking of using up the last rashers of bacon with a couple of eggs and a piece of toast as a brunch.

I think I may have killed my pressure king pro so going to arrange to get it looked at so see if it can be fixed. The six litre one is out of stock but amazon have the five litre one at a tenner cheaper than the official site so worth considering if the warranty is out of date.

Going to have a look at the prepping thread so hugs to all.

caronc

Good afternoon everyone,
:eek::eek:Farway re the exploding kippers, they are such a lingering smell. I once over nuked a mug of cullen skink which went everywhere. The whiff seemed to last for ages despite cleaning the microwave with lemon & bicarb!
I was back at the dentist earlier for x-rays. The area where the abscess was is still quite inflamed but my teeth are all sound. She thinks it will settle by itself but wants to wait until next week before replacing a filling and doing a scale & polish to avoid potentially flaring it up.

As I'm not dealing with a numb mouth today lunch will be soup and a ham & coleslaw sarnie. I'm not sure about dinner tonight, I have root veg mash spare from yesterday so might do something with that or might freeze it and make a pasta dish.

PasturesNew

The gas man came and went.... something's failing and it's so expensive he's gone away to get me a quote

My inner gummy bits on one side are still "sore/tender", it's not going away ... so maybe I've got some abscess thing or something to worry about. Putting it out of my head for the moment.... currently only worrying about the boiler/what to do/how much he'll say it'll be.

Food .... head's all over the place really, can't think straight with these other things filling my head. I fancy a sausage roll though. I might change sausage rolls.... instead of fresh/chilled in a 6-pack, I might try the 4-pack frozen ones from 4ldi as I've heard they're good/OK... but they do take longer to cook than one I simply re-heat.... decisions, decisions. Not good at those, so maybe I'll just buy chilled today.

Who knows.... not me.

While out ... I have to get cotton .... bags of chocolates are sold in that shop too, so I feel a bag of chocolates will come home with me.

Farway

Oh dear PN, boiler parts don't come cheap, my printed board went, that was gaspingly expensive, that plus labour. The replacement was upgraded version, so IMO the original design was flawed. Bit like Windows 8 I guess;)

Lunch egg sarnie as planned

Sun's out & nicely warm out, did spot of gardening, nothing fancy, clearing buddlia cuttings and trimming back a thorny blackberry

I've yet to prep the veg for tonight

Got waylaid in family history, currently fighting the Battle of Tel el Kibir in 1882 with my GG uncle, I've one of his letters written just after the battle. No wonder he was missing from the 1881 census

Wednesday2000

I had cereal for breakfast and sandwiches and crisps for lunch. I felt very hungry today!

candygirl wrote: »

Mine's been n finally declared my gas fire dead, after 2 weeks faffing about :mad:

:mad::mad::mad:

caronc wrote: »

Wednesday - like you I find fresh bread irrestible:)

Mmm, the smell of bread is gorgeous as well as the smell of chips and vinegar.:drool: I do love my carbs!

Brambling wrote: »

I would have gone with the olives and crusty bread too Wednesday although bread and me aren't the best of friends anymore I can be led astray by good bread . Hopefully your coeliac test will come back negative as gluten free bread isn't the same

Actually I might call up and see if the results are in. ETA, not back yet!

caronc

Good evening everyone,
Oh no PN re the boiler and the gum ache, hope neither are too expensive to fix. :grouphug:
I ended feeling pretty off balance this afternoon - probably aftermath of being tilted at the dentist so took myself to my bed for a few legs and thankfully I seem to have got my "sea legs" back as long as I move carefully.:)
It's turned into a right chilly evening, doubt we'll get frost as it's too cloudy but the wind chill is definitely making it feel decidedly on the cool side.
I'm going for an easy option for dinner - a small portion of the smoked sausage/beany stew from the freezer with the remaining root veg mash.

Brambling

Kippers the gift that keeps on giving :eek: I find it's not just the smell that lingers but the taste too :cool:

PN hopefully not too big a bill .

I'm not sure if it's me but the dentist seems to lay you flatter than they use to Caronc when I had to see another dentist at the practice I was told I had a big warning on my notes that I have low blood pressure and to make sure I sit awhile before standing the dentist is one of the few places that I have problems because I'm too flat I think. I can't imagine the issues it gives you

Busy day In the office which does make it go faster I was lazy lunchtime and gossip rather than taking a walk

It seemed a good idea last night to take salad for lunch rather than something from the freezer :cool: when it came to eating it I really didn't want it, I found some crackers in my drawer so I picked at the salad mainly eating the egg and cheese with the crackers. Dinner was the LO Singapore noodles not quite as good as last night but still really tasty and a good way of finishing the pork

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's me but the dentist seems to lay you flatter than they use to Caronc when I had to see another dentist at the practice I was told I had a big warning on my notes that I have low blood pressure and to make sure I sit awhile before standing the dentist is one of the few places that I have problems because I'm too flat I think. I can't imagine the issues it gives you

Yes definitely flatter than it it used to be (maybe stops folk legging it mid treatment):rotfl:. Tbh my practice is pretty decent at not completely lowering the chair and I've "got them trained" re going back slowly, just need to practice on not returning me from almost horizontal to vertical too quickly which remains in the "could do better" marking;), though overall they are very good and trying very hard to "get it" which I really appreciate.:) Getting into the place is another matter, no steps but the stiffest, most awkward door imaginable and then the hurdle of the door lip..........:eek:

PasturesNew

Result!

Tried my new wooden toaster tongs just now, as I toasted a single crumpet. They work a treat!

Going to pick up a couple more when I am in £land next ... ideal Xmas presents for my two siblings ... one who is "dangerous"/careless ... and the other one who is a "finger poker". I bet both of them need to hook things out of their toasters and probably just burn their fingers through general carelessness.