WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Tripps]

There was an episode of Midsummer Murders in which medlars and medlar jelly featured strongly. I don't think I've ever even seen one. I've always regarded then as one of those foods which you only ever see on TV, or hear about in the Archers. Like 'hand caught scallops' or souffles.

[Marilyn]

On that note...has anyone actually ever made a soufflé?
I haven't, though I think I would like to try one.
Supermarket shopping tomorrow, so might look up recipes tonight. ( I am thinking something with a Beef Mince bottom and Cheesy tasty soufflé topping, but not actually sure how it is done.)
It will be a minor thing off "the bucket list".

[PanBiker]

Watched one of the TV Chef blokes making a souffle' the other day, it looked a right faff! A lot of effort for an airy fairy pudding. OK I suppose if you are charging a tenner a go for one in a posh restaurant but something that would not come anywhere near my bucket list. Only my opinion of course

[Marilyn]

Oh...I have a rather LONG bucket list, divided into minor and major categories.
Some of the major stuff is crossed off ( like riding the rapids in New Zealand and climbing a glacier). Still want to swim with dolphins. We have paddled alongside them in kayaks, but must go swimming.
But there are lots of little things I must try.. All things are achievable.

[Wendyf]

I've never made a proper souffle, but I did enjoy making a "spouffle" from Hugh Fearnley Whatsit's Veg cookery book. It's a mix of Souffle, spinach and pasta....delicious!

[Marilyn]

The spouffle tempts me, Wendy...but I am just about to make a Potato Soufflé for tonight's dinner.
I've cooked a savoury mince bottom and have thus far cooked the potatoes, mashed them with butter, cheese, chives and black pepper...but they need to cool now before I add the egg yolks and then fold the egg whites in...and then pop it in the oven.
Looking forward to dinner. We were gardening and missed Lunch.

[Marilyn]

It was nice. Leftovers tonight...

[Stanley]

Most searching test of good cooking Maz, whether the leftovers are enjoyable. Living alone, most of my meals are 'leftovers' and the good thing is that they often taste better the day after when they are re-warmed.

[Tizer]

Leftovers....We were once caught out between moving jobs and houses and left for a while with nowhere to live. A lady at the school where Mrs Tiz was teaching let us live with her and her husband until we got sorted out. They were from what I guess we'd call a `privileged background' but followed Christian principles, did a lot for the church and the needy and deplored waste. Their children were used to having `piranha soup' for every Monday evening meal, made from all the weekend's leftovers and so-named because nothing is left after piranha have eaten it. You can imagine the look on our faces the first time the soup was put in front of us and we were told it was piranha!

[LizG]

We had a nutritionist on TV the other day telling us how to eat well on a budget - another anti-takeaway segment. One of the top points was "learn how to use your leftovers". Sad when you have to "learn" to do it, I just thought everyone did it.

[Marilyn]

Having survived the teenage years with one son and two step-sons who were constantly hungry and would eat anything and everything like giant vacuum cleaners, it is nice to have leftovers in the fridge.
For many years it was "the quick and the dead" in our house as far as leftovers went!

[Marilyn]

Piranha Soup...sounds like fun.

Sunday nights used to be " take it or leave it " nights in our house. We would all be off doing our own thing and dinner was something thrown together "pot luck" style. They could "take it or leave it" or get their own.,all sorts of things could end up in a Toastie . A bit of grilled cheese on top makes the oddest things look appealing. ( I quite like cold squashed Brussels Sprouts with grilled cheese on top)

[Stanley]

I hate throwing peelings away! Wish I had a pig in the back garden....

[LizG]

All ours go into the compost then ultimately the veggie garden. We have 2compost bins; one that we're filling, the other full and composting/cooking? before it goes into the garden.

[hartley353]

I hate throwing peelings away! Wish I had a pig in the back garden....

Deep fried potato peelings are delicious.

[Stanley]

Not the ones I throw out! If the skins are clean I don't peel them.

[hartley353]

It has been a long time since I have had to wash soil from a potato, even the ones bought at the farm gate are clean. For that reason I seldom peel them, the deep fried peelings were offered as a starter at a local restaurant, and came with a dip.

[Stanley]

I meant defects not dirt. We can still get unwashed spuds from the black soil on the Fylde and they are just as good, if not better than the washed ones. When I was Open All Hours we always reckoned on 12lbs of soil in a hundredweight bag of spuds.

[Tripps]

I bet they didn't call them 'peelings' on the menu. Seems that 'filled potato skins' is more the fashion. I peel nothing except bananas and oranges.

PS and onions, and parsnips, and hard boiled eggs. Shouldn't try to be too clever.

[Tizer]

I looked up `peelings' on a translation site and found the French word is épluchures, so I guess this is what might get used by the fancy restaurants! Now excuse me while I go and fry some épluchures...

[hartley353]

Not had them for a while. but I think they were just called deep fried potato skins, just like long crisps, they used to snap off in the dip a bit messy, and only to be tried once. There are far better starters.

[David Whipp]

In December, we bought bulk boxes of clementines from both Aldi and Asda. Weight for weight, Aldi's price was cheaper, their fruit was slightly larger. I thought Asda's were marginally juicier. I did the comparison with a view to buying a few boxes of the best as presents but when I returned to Aldi, they'd sold out!

As posted elsewhere, I was very impressed with the Aldi box (above).

[Stanley]

It struck me this week that I had eaten blood pudding, haslett and haggis. All made from what is dismissively referred to as 'offal'. Funny how some people have an aversion to offal but will happily eat the meat! They tell me that in many areas of the country oxtail is seen as offal, madness!

[hartley353]

An article in a magazine made me chuckle, I t would seem that a restaurant had put oxtail on their menu, but after a number of incidents where customers had got paper napkins stuck to their fingers and faces, they had to revert to linen ones. Mums oxtail could be a little gluey some times.

[Stanley]

See this LINK for the World Heath Organisation's latest take on sugar particularly in processed foods. My sugar intake is what I get in fruit, the small amount I put in my bread to activate the yeast and what I use in stews to balance the taste of the vinegar I use in them. The quantity of sugar in some soft drinks and processed foods is quite amazing. My late friend Peter Protoolis was a baker in Australia making buns for MacDonalds and he said they put extra sugar in the buns to increase sales.