Away From The Madding Crowd

Brie

Organgrinder said:

Reading all these food comments has made me think of Christmas.

I usually make gravadlax. Did a beetroot cured one last year. Highly recommended and so much better than shop bought 

I made gravlax decades back using instructions from a swedish friend.  I proudly laid it out at my brother's engagement party only to discover that all the prospective inlaws were commercial salmon fishers and wouldn't consider eating raw salmon even to be polite.  Ended up eating most of it myself (oh woe!)

Organgrinder

Brie said:

Organgrinder said:

Reading all these food comments has made me think of Christmas.

I usually make gravadlax. Did a beetroot cured one last year. Highly recommended and so much better than shop bought 

I made gravlax decades back using instructions from a swedish friend.  I proudly laid it out at my brother's engagement party only to discover that all the prospective inlaws were commercial salmon fishers and wouldn't consider eating raw salmon even to be polite.  Ended up eating most of it myself (oh woe!)

Raw? Cured! ;-)

Seriously though, it never ceases to amaze me how some people are so stuck in their ways and won't even contemplate food that they are not familiar with. That said, I do have my limits.

My late father was one. Got to his seventies before trying even as much as a flavoured yoghurt, only to declare how nice they were.

uralmaid

My Dad bless him,  would never eat (in his words) food which had been messed about.  He would only eat what he classed as British food. Not so much as a piece of garlic bread ever passed his lips never mind a curry or bolognese. Mum was pretty much the same although at some point she was introduced to garlic bread and consequently used to serve it with every meal.  She had a liking for tinned celery and tinned asparagus - which were vile. When cooking vegetables they would go on at about 10.30 even though we weren't eating until 12.30 so everything was mushy.  

Organgrinder

Haha....were our parents related? Foreign muck! 

Seriously, I've not travelled a huge amount but I'm so pleased that when I have, I have availed myself of some truly delicious food, whether that be beef rendang in Malaysia, massamam curry in Thailand, tagines in Morocco, carbonara in Italy, currywurst in Germany, pierogi in Poland etc etc.

Growing up was strictly bland-o-rama in comparison! 

Brie

Organgrinder said:

Brie said:

Organgrinder said:

Reading all these food comments has made me think of Christmas.

I usually make gravadlax. Did a beetroot cured one last year. Highly recommended and so much better than shop bought 

I made gravlax decades back using instructions from a swedish friend.  I proudly laid it out at my brother's engagement party only to discover that all the prospective inlaws were commercial salmon fishers and wouldn't consider eating raw salmon even to be polite.  Ended up eating most of it myself (oh woe!)

Raw? Cured! ;-)

Seriously though, it never ceases to amaze me how some people are so stuck in their ways and won't even contemplate food that they are not familiar with. That said, I do have my limits.

My late father was one. Got to his seventies before trying even as much as a flavoured yoghurt, only to declare how nice they were.

I don't think it was because they were stuck in their ways.  I think they had seen toooooo much salmon over the years so to them it wasn't special.  They probably also saw salmon that was inedible and unsellable for whatever reason so avoided some things for that reason.  

As for foreign muck.....my oldest brother got a summer job working at the local shipyard and came home amazed at what one of his colleagues had for lunch.  It was this very strange thing called "zucchini".  The colleague was Italian and so had sandwiches which included thin slices of cooked courgette.  Bro insisted that mom buy some of this and cook it for the family.  She was astounded and never looked back - at one point she had about 10 courgette plants in the garden as she was using so much of the stuff.

Humboldt

Thank you @Organgrinder, @Brie, @uralmaid, @mark55man for your recent food related comments. 

I have tried beetroot cured gravadlax, but have never made it myself. I recall that some years ago, my mother-in-law served us stir-fry with mashed potato. My dad very much liked what he referred to as  'plain food' i.e. no herbs, sauces, spices, etc.  I'm not sure if he had ever heard of a courgette.  That said, when growing up, the majority of our food was homegrown.  However, my mam also had a tendency to start cooking the vegetables several hours before we actually ate.  I very much enjoy trying new food, and often the overriding memories from our travels include enjoying the traditional dishes.

Today's simple pleasure - a lovely couple of hours spent writing Christmas cards.

Organgrinder

I do feel we are blessed with having so much choice.

That said, our year round desire for everything cannot be sustainable imo.

However, the great thing about travelling is bringing back a love of flavours and recipes and the memories you enjoy when tasting those flavours is something that I enjoy 

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Money saving.

Our monthly budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 3 spend for November was £50.75.  Total spend to date for November is £182.98.

Took advantage of a Bo0ts ‘star gift’ offer and saved £55 on a set of L!z E@rle skincare products. A bit of Christmas shopping done on behalf of my DH lol. Delivery is free for items over £25.

Gained an extra 300 Nect@r points by completing task 2 in the S@insbury’s ‘C0unt up to Christmas Ch@llenge’   Every l!ttle helps!

Converted points gained via our credit card into S@insbury's shopping vouchers.  The credit card is paid in full each month, so this is what I refer to as ‘free money.’  The vouchers, together with accumulated nect@r points will cover much of the Christmas food shopping.

S@insbury’s currently have a buy 2 get 1 free offer on frozen fruit, resulting in a free bag of cranberries for my homemade Christmas cranberry sauce. 

This week’s main menu.

Monday – BBQ chicken drumsticks, spicy sweet potato wedges, and homemade slaw (which will include perfectly good carrots that were reduced to 10p a bag).  Chicken was reduced in price and frozen until required.  BBQ sauce is homemade.

Tuesday – Macaroni cheese surprise (Br!tish He@rt Found@tion recipe).  I will utilise the oven by baking a homemade rye sourdough loaf at the same time. The loaf will be enjoyed with homemade soup for lunches this week. 

Wednesday – Fish and chip takeaway.

Thursday – Roast chicken, stuffing, swede and carrot mash, roast parsnips, cabbage, and gravy. I will utilise the oven, by baking a chocolate and banana cake (Br!tish He@rt F0undation recipe) at the same time. The cake will be cut into bars and frozen (minus a couple which will be enjoyed with a coffee today).

Friday – Ping meal – as above (cook once, eat twice – saves time and energy costs).

Saturday – Baked chimichanga (P!nch of N0m recipe), with a large lemon dressed green salad.  This recipe uses leftover roast chicken. I will utilise the oven by baking a homemade sourdough loaf at the same time.  

Sunday – Pork and bean casserole (from one of my cut-out recipe scrap books).  Pork was reduced in price and frozen until required. This recipe includes both haricot and butter beans. I will cook the casserole in the slow cooker.

Healthier lifestyle.

Completed 1 free online workout.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Step count last week was 41,574.

Simple pleasures.

I enjoyed a ‘snow day.’

A few items decluttered and donated to Oxf@m.

Books read 15/2024 – Ultra-Processed People.  Why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food … and why can’t we stop by Chris van Tulleken (loaned to me by a friend). 

‘Join Chris in his travels through the world of food science and a diet of ultra-processed food.  Find out why exercise and willpower can’t save us, and what UPF is really doing to our bodies, our health, our children and the planet’.

Oh, my goodness, this was a difficult read for many reasons.  I found it to be shocking, interesting, enlightening, infuriating and even funny at times.  I would recommend reading it, but be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions.

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

bluenose1

Great update Humboldt and love the motivational quote.
I heard Chris Van Tullekin on a podcast couple of months ago and really opened my eyes re the food industry. Did you see his programme this week on BBC - “irresistible” about the food industry. It was very good and makes me despair that there is no Government intervention.
Small pleasures - sitting with a cup of tea and  my heated throw after being shopping all morning.

Humboldt

Hi @bluenose1 No, I didn't see Chris Van Tullekin's programme this week, but will have a look for it.  Thanks for sharing this info, much appreciated.  

Today's simple pleasure - a cuppa and catch-up with ex work colleagues.