WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[hartley353]

Stockport Market rump steak with a baked potato, and small salad. Shop trifle for afters.

[Marilyn]

Now Hartley...your last post suggested Fish and Chips with Curry Sauce. Are you sure you wouldn't like to upsize your 'small' Salad for a large one tonight?
You need your greens, lad.
( sorry...I am a big veg eater)
Or...throw in a big handful of fresh mushrooms...great with Steak!

I was only saying yesterday, that when we recently spent six weeks in England ( travelling the entire country) the thing we ached most for was decent serves of Salad/Fruit/Veg. Couldn't wait to get home for our usual dose of greens. Farmers markets were great, but we couldn't carry a lot with us. Bought meals were always lacking...

[Stanley]

Maz, every time I cook I feel you looking over my shoulder...... I'm sure my diet is better for it!

[Marilyn]

Yep...I am there!
Think Veg, ( think healthy bowels!)
We need you here for a long time, not a good time, Stanley.

[Stanley]

Maz. I've just popped a lump of two shear in a pan with two onions and a healthy amount of garlic and put it on the stove in the front room. I promise veggies will go in later when it has pot-roasted down nicely.....

[Marilyn]

I am sure you are doing a top job ( though why you would want your front room reeking of Garlic is beyond me).
You live alone and don't have to consider anyone's taste but your own...so enjoy your food.
I would eat differently if I lived alone. I hate having to constantly please other people. Things would be much simpler and possibly more raw food if I only had to consider myself. ( certainly less dishes!)

[Stanley]

Front room pollution Maz! The hotpot after 5 hours of very slow simmering. I left the meat, onion and garlic alone for about 3 hours then added carrots, salad potatoes, two bags of broth mix and adjusted the seasoning. By teatime it was ready for sampling. It will be better today after standing all night and will get a bag of frozen peas added to it (no room yesterday). So, plenty of veggies Maz!
Yes, you are right about cooking for yourself. Far easier and perhaps the solution is for everyone in the house to cook their own! (Except for Jack of course) One of the things about garlic is that you don't smell it yourself, but I don't doubt you'd recoil in horror if you walked in!

[LizG]

That looks yummy Stanley. I'm making curried sausages. Haven't made it for ages.

[Stanley]

Anything made with sausages is fine by me Liz. I usually casserole them with baked beans and use it as a supercharged addition to chips or mash. The hotpot got its pea transfusion which brought the level back up. Plenty left and it's sat on the stove in the front room as I write, slowly coming up to temperature for today's nourishment.

[Marilyn]

Have asked Stanley to post a pic of the Chicken and Mushroom Pie I made for dinner...



Your wish is my command......

[Bruff]

Shin beef casserole last night; a piece of fish tonight, cod.

Had some good food in Bologna last weekend. The 'bolognese' sauce, what they call 'ragu' is nothing like I make or what we invariably get in Italian restaurants here, and is never served with spaghetti. It's paler, is beef and pork, uses white and red wine and milk and hardly any tomatoes. Nice mind - and I shall have a go at recreating it. Had lots of cured meats and cheese, and stinco - pork knuckle. Not much veg - but the vegetable shops were a picture, such bounty.

Bologna is lovely - plenty to see and vibrant with 20% of the population being students at Europe's oldest University. You can wander around the University freely, even in the very oldest part pop into lectures(!).

That pie looks a treat - is there any left?

Richard Broughton

[Marilyn]

There is quarter left, and we are all full, so if you can get here before son scoffs it for lunch tomorrow, it's yours.

[hartley353]

Big bowl of home made vegetable soup, from a whole week pan, nice french stick to accompany it. No worries on my five a day Maz. Every day I will eat a Banana, apple orange and a pear, chew celery whilst watching Tv instead of toffees, add to this a good bowl of oatmeal for breakfast I'm not doing bad,about two years ago I started eating a small portion of Walnuts a secret wonder food.

[Marilyn]

Sounds like you do well. I shall get off my soap box.

I am not a big fruit eater, though I love Summer Fruits like Peaches, Nectarines, Grapes. Don't like any kind of Melons or Mangoes though.
But I do love my Veg. Will ( and do) eat anything except Garlic or Broadbeans. We were force fed Broadbeans as kids and it has been a life-long revolt.
I love all nuts except Macadamias. ( I find them greasy tasting). Walnuts are grand. I love the way they look like human brains.
Funny how we are all different. ( my son loves Garlic and can eat Salami until it comes out his ears. I can't believe I gave birth to him!)

[hartley353]

Mary has a list of don't eats a mile long, Today I shall have salami for lunch, out of all the foods that are available only Cauliflower counts as a don't like for me, but even that if cheesed will be eaten with relish. My mum likened me to a dust bin, you could put anything in me that would fit.

[Stanley]

Did a bit of extending on the hot pot yesterday. Two handfuls of dried peas simmered down to pease pudding and added to the stew. Peas mushed on the front room stove so no leccy burned. Cheap day's eating! This is for Maz......

[Marilyn]

Eeeeeeeeeek!!

[Stanley]

I thought that might get a reaction. They're big as well!

[Wendyf]

Lovely garlic! Think of all the health benefits you are missing Maz!
Veggie pasta for us last night with lashings of garlic.

[Marilyn]

My house has the pong of Garlic tonight too because I made two lots of Salad for tea. Ours was plain old Salad...son had Roasted Garlic Dressing. ( phew...gas masks required).
Each to their own.
Enjoy your food !
We had Orange Scented Thyme on our Salad. I bought the plant the other day and when the leaves are crushed, the heavenly scent of Orange is delightful. Have planted it out next to my Purple Basil and hope it does well.

[Bruff]

On the benefits of garlic, I'm bald and have been since my early 20s and when my hair was dropping out rapidly a Chinese scientist working with me at the time said the Chinese rub garlic on their heads to stave off balding. I didn't take him up on the advice.......

That winter stand-by I mentioned the other week tonight - lentil and mushroom gratin with greens. And as we're coming up to Barlick this Saturday to see t'mother and t'brother and his wife, we won't be going out tomorrow so we'll slow cook some mince overnight for mince and dumplings tomorrow.

Richard Broughton

[Tripps]

I made your lentil thingy after you posted, but being me, I had to mess about with it, and it finished up as a lentil & vegetable lasagne. Must adjust the quantities - it took three days to eat it all. Got the taste for lentils though - I got 2kgs of Chana Dhal from the large branch of Tesco. That's some sort of lentils I think, but they stay al dente after cooking and don't go mushy. Very frugal stuff - a cupful makes two or three meals, with the usual spicey additions. They're a bit anti social though, if you get my drift.

[hartley353]

Belly pork marinated in maple syrup, with apple sauce and cabbage. Showing some respect to my arteries I cut off 80% of the fat after cooking, this fat was then cubed and added to the dogs dinners the remainder was saved for their breakfast. This morning I found Lucy standing over charlies breakfast refusing him access. As this has never happened before I believe the pork fat has driven Lucy to forget her manners.

[Stanley]

Maz, and I often put two whole bulbs in a stew....
Richard's comment about not rubbing garlic on his head reminds me of a time when I was farming when my mate and I were off on the razzle and had run out of Brylcreem. We mixed after shave with goose grease and used that. Big mistake because as the after shave evaporated the goose grease took over! We got some very strange reactions....
Finished the extended hot pot last night. David, I know what you mean by anti-social. I have to admit that the addition of pease pudding resulted in a certain amount of flatulence and definitely a faster 'transit time' as they call it these days! As my grandmother used to say when she dosed us with California Syrup of Figs, "A good clear out will do you good!" so perhaps pease pudding is good for you.
Butcher's Day today.... Treats will be consumed. No wonder I stay too heavy!

[Marilyn]

Had a glut of Cherry tomatoes in the fridge ( 3 punnets!) so I threw together a Tikka Chicken Curry and used a good many up. It was nice. Cooked it slowly and it was melt in the mouth.
Son won a Chocolate Hamper in a lottery. That is sat on the kitchen bench and begs investigation now and then...well ok...each time we walk past! I am not a big fan of chocolate, but there are some nice selections in there.