Cooking for one (Mark Three)

AndyCF

caronc wrote: »

They are a traditional butcher but quite pricey IMHO for somethings so use them for some stuff but not others. They do good offal though, wonderful haggis and some more traditional cuts as they prep their own meat from whole carcasses.

That sounds very similar to how our local one was, he had been there (same man) since the 70's at least. Shame it closed last year. It was not cheap but I'd never had any quality concerns from them.

They were always very kind too (when pennies were tight) in that if I wanted a few slices of cooked meats, I'd usually say that I'd want £2 worth instead of x slices, they would always cut it and it was nearly always 'over' but not over charge me. Excellent service. Used to make really awesome sausage rolls and pies 'in house' too, you could really 'taste and tell the difference' (no pun to a supermarket) with them too as they were made with really decent sausage meat not rubbish.

caronc wrote: »

Just wish they offered free range pork, they do with their poultry but not pork.:)

I can't recall if ours did or not, not being in there that often (generally speaking) although I do know he was quite good as sourcing slightly 'not too common' things if people asked about them, so I half suspect he did.

unrecordings wrote: »

I love a bit of liver every now & again, so does the cat - it's like rocket fuel for the little monster. If I end up at the deli counter buying treats, I often end up having to explain why I only need 10p worth: the resulting carnage...

The feral colony and my own (well kind of) can sometimes be quite picky actually! You'd think they would be happy with anything safely edible for cats but it seems not.

Brambling wrote: »

Lovely weather here as well although it's meant to start raining over night and then for much of the week

Yes similar here (East Midlands) rain Sunday night, bad apparently as on what passes for teletext now had a warning about it. Then dry-ish Monday followed by more Tuesday. They had the mini 'lightning' icons on the clouds.

Brambling wrote: »

Dinner was LO salad, rump steak and the few LO new potatoes airfried to make chips

Sounds lovely!

I settled for some meatballs+gravy only, needed eating! Could not really be bothered (sorry) to sort out any veg as I ended up having a veg soup late afternoon anyway.

AndyCF

unrecordings wrote: »

The capelletti went back in a bag, but not back in the fridge and shall be presented back to the vendor with all due pomp & ceremony on Monday

Best plan. , I think T's are pretty good at this. I do know on the single occasion I've had one tiny mis order issue with Morr's they not only refunded the item in question they refunded the other one too , short version was I'd ordered two large saus rolls (plain) online shop shop but one was a cheese one that I could not eat. I just wanted credit on next shop with the wrong item (£1) or replace or something like that but they refunded both :T As I say I did tell them but they said it was OK. Summary being my bill was £2 less than it should of been.

I mailed a crisp supplier a few weeks back not to complain as such just to point out the last couple of multipacks did not seem quite 'fresh' in that they were a bit like the bags had been air exposed, despite being air-tight surviving a gentle squeeze test. It was more feedback as I'd asked about previous flavours too.

They responded with a few £'s worth of vouchers, about three times the cost of the bags themselves. I was not actually expecting anything as such apart from say a 'oops' or perhaps at a push a 'here's a voucher to get one free bag' or something. Credit to them.

PasturesNew

I ended up with "a 3 course meal" in the end.

Popped into Sainsbobs and got a 5-pack of doughnuts and a veg biryani (to try in case it was good). Biryani was nice enough, but didn't have that takeaway biryani taste... and at £3 was overpriced.

Plan was: 2 doughnuts for starters, biryani as main, 3 doughnuts for dessert. I've still got two doughnuts left though as I only managed 1 for dessert

Farway

Welcome Blue Doggy
Morning folks, had bit of a lie in so slightly behind normal routine

However knocked together the ethical water Buffalo stew thingy in SC, using up the YS baby spuds & mushrooms while at it. Looks like loads there.

If space permits once it's cooked down I'll pop a couple of dumplings on top later

Usual porridge breakfast, my HM yoghurt is very watery now:( Still OK, just runny


Thanks Brambling about W8rose steak items, I rarely look at the fresh counters in there, no real reason not to, just habit. I know on odd occasions I have looked I've had to steady myself holding on the counter when I see the prices:)


Black as the ace of spades outside, weather radar shows PN has copped it, I'm about to and good job your down pipes fixed Brambling

Caron, snap again, I had Brie & crackers later yesterday evening, plus some L's Gorgonzola. That was delicious, the G is def a repeat buy for me, the L's brie was so so

Andy, I think I'm going same way with bread. I do make my own but never really eat enough to warrant it. just a couple of slices at lunchtime really.

Like you I find freezing it just doesn't work for me

I've started using YS rolls when I see them, and today lunch is PB baguette, I find these handy & cheap enough in L's or Icel@nd. Other stores seem daft prices compared to those two

Lunch is thus PB baguette with cheese salady filling
Dinner, the SC stew

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

Black as the ace of spades outside, weather radar shows PN has copped it,

Many times through the night. Hammering down it was.

Then, most of this morning.

It's eased off and, possibly, just stopped.

I'm another one in the "freezing doesn't really work" gang. Firstly there's space, as there's only so much. Secondly the obligation to eat what's in there as there's no space, reducing options and choice as you have to perpetually eat what you've got and not try something new or different. Thirdly, a lot of stuff is simply not as enjoyable at all once it's been frozen.

If you spend your life eating stuff that's not as good as when you made it -AND- having to eat it to free up space -AND- then having to put more stuff you won't fancy into a small freezer... over time you lose any enthusiasm for the excitement of being able to freeze and buy frozen food

Families have to freeze fewer items - and food gets used up much quicker.

If I buy a bag of chips it's in there forever. A family can buy the same bag of chips, eat them that night, then not need to have chips in the freezer for another week, at which time they'll again be eaten in their entirety in one go.

AndyCF

£3 does sound a tad over, but not by much I think at least not around here!

Sains (and Morr's too, not tried Tes's or Co-Co's) doughnuts are usually very good, I can't recall if it was M's or S's that I thought had some kind of great sugar sprinkle excess on them. Jam was quite awesome within though! I'm assuming they were jammy not plain.

Actually I can recall now being told about the custard ones, but I've yet to try them! I've only just remembered. They were at T's , possibly elsewhere.

Noted our local (not great) chipshop wants £2 for a small 'bag' of chips and £1.50 for an open cone of the same. To be blunt if they were nice that would be OK but my own thought on the erm 'taste quality' of them (see, not point out either ingredient or oil as I cannot be sure which!) , they are about 50% overpriced!

To be fair to them they do do a few of the mini meal things, as mentioned previously. Perhaps as others have said maybe just maybe worth looking or asking if there's no paper menu/listing at either local takeaway or chipshop.

Rain here and more rain. Shopping tomorrow all being well.

Too early to say what's for lunch, but it needs to be "lite" really.

I had a vague thought on some mini hot dogs and mash to make a "not quite sausage and mash" , although must admit I keep eyeing up the "polony" rolls I see in the local Polish shop too, just sat in their cool-fridge-shelf area, in various sizes but they are all a bit too big.

I think its been years since I had any of that, I recall it tasted quite nice. BM occasionally have an erm "sane size roll" of it but its more pot luck if its there or not. Must research the flavours/varieties of this at some point.

Talking of meats, I noted a few days ago the Ship branded small meat paste pots in BM were there at 39p or so, quite cheap. Pri brand was also there for a bit more. Can't actually see them online at the moment but there was an abundance of them on the shelves.

Some might recall actually about a week ago I was looking for who made the white ceramic type jars of the spread years back as I had memories of it. I can now just about confirm it was Pri around the very early 80's or slightly earlier...

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Sorry Farway I missed your post re the bavette, yes one of those cuts that has appeared as a steak in the over the past 10 years or so on the back of "nose to tail" eating and folk enjoying "steak-frites" on holiday I suspect. As a steak it needs to be cooked "hot and fast" and at most to medium-rare or else it toughens. If you like your meat more cooked than that it's not a good steak cut and best to braise it. It has a great flavour though and I really enjoyed mine last night.:)
Hopefully you'll get a refund on the mouldy pasta unrecordings without any hassle, sounds as though there was a tiny break in the seal somewhere.

I hate fitted appliances and tbh have never had any problems getting WMs etc. to fit under the counter though my current one is beginning to "walk" slightly during the spin cycle so needs shoving back in every so often when I notice it is begiining to jut out. It's 5+ years old and was a cheapie so no doubt will need replacing at some point in the next couple of years.

As the forecast promised it's a manky day here, earlier in the week my sis & I had planned that we would get coffees and take them done the beach for a bit this afternoon. Needless to say that's been shelved and she's popping round for a cuppa instead.:cool:
Brie, crackers and salad for lunch again today and braised kidneys ( a Delia recipe I've tweaked over the years), mash and veg tonight. I find Delia hard to beat for recipes for more traditional cuts of meat/offal.:)

Wednesday2000

I had wholemeal bread with marg and marmite and a strawberry yoghurt for breakfast.

I had lentil bolognese with rigatoni yesterday.

PasturesNew

Breakfast: 1 jam doughnut
Lunch: 1 jam doughnut.

All gone now

Brambling

Farway wrote: »

Thanks Brambling about W8rose steak items, I rarely look at the fresh counters in there, no real reason not to, just habit. I know on odd occasions I have looked I've had to steady myself holding on the counter when I see the prices:)

I only buy from there when they're reduced Farway the one next to the office will often half price stuff lunchtime on their meat and fish counters . And it's usually good quality especially their Dorset lamb earlier in the year

Having laid in bed listening to the rain hammering down this morning I was really pleased to see no swimming pool on the flat roof so it looks like it has worked for now

I popped out this morning to pick up something from a friend so a couple of hours tea and [STRIKE]gossip[/STRIKE] conversation . Which allowed me to avoid cleaning the top of the kitchen cupboards which I was sidetracked from yesterday by my sister

Lunch was the LO smoked mackerel in a wrap with horseradish and watercress. I've taken some chicken thighs out of the freezer as well as some white pudding and vegetarian haggis so out of that will be a couple dinners and lunches just not sure what yet but it will probably involve rice and vegetables for the white pudding and haggis