WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[Stanley]

Boiled ham salad butties X two yesterday. Dead easy and good for me!

[Stanley]

Haslett salad butty for dinner and then down to Earby for tea with the kids. Orgasmic chicken and pasta with ice cream and raspberries to follow. Lovely cooking by Susan.

[Stanley]

Meat pie chips and peas for dinner, Cranberry Wensleydale cheese salad butty for tea.

[Stanley]

Boring I know but exactly the same as yesterday.... There's a loaf baking in the bread machine, my most used piece of kitchen equipment after the kettle! By the way, did you know that the reason why there are hardly any electric kettles in America? It's because their standard electricity supply is 110v which means the heating element would have to be heavier and more expensive. You see many gas heated clothes dryers as well for the same reason.

[Marilyn]

Looks like you are the only one eating, Stanley.
Another busy day for me ( we moved house on the weekend)....but I made Pasta with Red Alaskan Salmon. It was really nice. Both cleared our plates.
Our kitchen isn't organised to my liking just yet. Need to shift contents of cupboards that were assigned on the fly. Drawers are smaller here and not where I need them, but can't do much about that. By the time I get everything properly organised it will be time to move again because we are looking for our " rest of our lives" house. That is a process that can not be rushed and fortunately we are in a position where we don't need to. So we intend to take our time.
Missed lunch again, but had two small chocolate biscuits at Cazza's mid afternoon.
Looking forward to life slowing down a notch....

[Cathy]

Marilyn you should have said that you hadn't had any lunch, thanks for the leaving the remainder of the chocolate biscuits that you brought.

As always we had a good chat and put the world to rights.

[Marilyn]

Oh yes...we always manage to put the world to rights over a cuppa!
( eeee...manage to trash a few reputations too on occasion. All strictly between ourselves, of course. I just love " a bit 'o gossip". )

[LizG]

You see many gas heated clothes dryers as well for the same reason.

We visited Killarney last year and dropped clothes at the laundry around the corner for an overnight service; they too had gas clothes dryers. Unfortunately, when the owner started work the following morning, there was a gas explosion killing the owner and destroying the whole street. Very scary experience, we thought it was a bomb (since we were in Ireland). You wouldn't catch me with a gas dryer!

[Stanley]

Yiota is in that part of the world at the moment, I will warn her that her knickers could be in danger! Maz and Cath, I know about those conversations, Susan and I do exactly the same thing!
Egg salad butty for dinner and 4 fish fingers with peas for tea. But I cracked later on and had half a cheese and pickle Butty after seeing Fred Thursday eating one on Endeavour.....

[Marilyn]

You wouldn't read about it Liz, but we were in Killarney at the end of September last year, and needed a laundry, and heard all about it. Think there was only two laundries in the whole place and only one left operating.
( and don't they charge an arm and a leg!?)
Small world.

[LizG]

We didn't pay a thing Marilyn, got no clothes back either!! Instead of being tourists that day we spent until lunchtime locked in another hotel before we got the all clear (from 6.30am). Then the tour guide took us all for a quick drive around before finding some shops to replace everything. We just replaced basics like socks and undies and bought T-shirts et al as we toured. Thank goodness for travel insurance. We got it all back but it required a copy of the newspaper article before they realised we weren't having them on!

[Marilyn]

We were on the grand tour of England, Scotland and Ireland. ( 21 days). Couldn't wait to get off that bus by the end. I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times but 3 weeks on a bus nearly did me in. Then we hired a car and did a four week loop of England. Have done it a few times now...not sure if we will do it again...it's a long way ( and I hate flying).
Had a lovely time though.
We always take out travel insurance, but have never had any mishaps.
The thing I worry most about is hubby's heart medication going missing. He has to take tablets every 12 hours or he will die ( well that's what we've been told by specialists). So I have pills poked everywhere in case we lose luggage.

[LizG]

I'm with you there. We did 21 days too - it does your head in. My hubby wants to go somewhere overseas next year. I've convinced him we should go away in our caravan this year thank goodness. I'm lactose intolerant (very) and spent a lot of time eating lettuce leaves because a lot of places couldn't deal with it. Lost a bit of weight but it spoils a lot of things for me.

In the vein of the subject; we're having chicken and homemade potato and sweet potato chips.

[Stanley]

Sorry to hear that Liz, those of us who don't have intolerances forget how big a part it is in other's lives. I remember how surprised I was when I found that most Japanese share the problem.
Salad butties X 2 yesterday with the addition of yet another cheese and pickle bonus!

[Marilyn]

I am the same with Garlic, Liz. Makes me very crook.
Quite a lot of the included meals had Garlic....left me eating the bread rolls! In general the meals were not great but were enough to keep one alive. Hubby and I eat masses of Veg/salad. The token overlooked sides were disappointing.
Some of the breakfasts kept us going all day though. ( I ate my weight in mushrooms over the course of the trip!)

Tonight I cooked fish...Whiting. Yummy.

[Cathy]

I can't eat any red meats, they cause me very bad tummy upsets. When I explain this to people they automatically think that I am a vegetarian, even tho I tell them that I can and do eat fish and chicken without any problems. I am working my way to only eat vegetables, fruit, grains etc, I think it is more natural for humans, and I hate learning about how some animals are treated just to provide us with a meal. We were created as herbivores after all.

[LizG]

I've learned to ask what's in food before I order and I make it clear that it's dairy I'm avoiding. The responses I get are interesting. Typically "but it's gluten free" - fantastic but I'm not gluten intolerant; and my personal favourite "that would be no good it contains egg" - I've never seen a cow that lays eggs!

It took me a long time to work out that even though I was ordering a soy cappuccino I still had problems. Turns out the stuff they sprinkle on the top is made from milk powder.

On a serious note it is amazing how many people have a food intolerance. I wonder whether the chemicals they add to food these days has played a part. I was shocked to find that vegetables we buy in the supermarket have been washed in bleach before they are sold.

[Stanley]

"On a serious note it is amazing how many people have a food intolerance. I wonder whether the chemicals they add to food these days has played a part. I was shocked to find that vegetables we buy in the supermarket have been washed in bleach before they are sold."
I think that's a very perceptive remark Liz. 'Food intolerance' was unheard of when I was a lad under rationing, I'm sure there was some about due to allergies but it wasn't recognised. The key indicator for me is that the food processing industry was virtually non-existent and so most foods were natural and cooked at home. I aim for as near to natural and unprocessed as I can and have done for many years. In recent weeks I have cut back on meat and feel better for it. Best advice I ever heard was "If your Grandma wouldn't recognise it, don't eat it!"
I had ten small fish fingers and some spuds demanding attention so yesterday was fish fingers, peas and mashed potatoes X 2.

[Marilyn]

Lemon Chicken with Jasmine Rice last night.
Busy day today, so I am thinking that Toasted English Muffins with Ham and Cheese will do nicely.

[LizG]

Zucchini slice last night. I used a new recipe and it was less than great. I think I'll go back to the old one next time. Chicken and tamarind curry tonight, simple and always a favourite.

[Stanley]

I grilled three Cumberland sausages. I had one with the remainder of the mash and peas for dinner and the other two bit the dust as the base of a salad butty at teatime. I got some olives from the Co-op yesterday and had a snack of olives and cheese. The olives were a big disappointment, no discernible taste.....

[Stanley]

Ham salad butties on wholemeal loaf from Kath X two for dinner and tea. Topped tea up with the wholemeal crust with cheese and pickle and a meat pie because they were very small butties....

[David Whipp]

Barlick's food outlets are very kindly providing fuel for the crew on the Bands on the Square event. At tea time, there's about 25 volunteers to feed. Yesterday tea time, it was pizzas, this evening, it's Indian from Usmanya.

[Stanley]

Baked a loaf and had egg and Haslet salad X two for dinner and tea.

[Stanley]

I fancied a change from salad so I made some mushy peas from dried peas by simmering them very slowly on the stove in the front room with a bit of bicarb in. When they had softened I put some vinegar in which froths up and and completes the transition to perfect mushy peas. Funny how you can't get the same result with fresh ones. I boiled three eggs, fried a black pudding and this made the base to add to fresh chips and the mushy peas. Had it X two for dinner and tea. Lovely!