The Untied Kingdom? - the British thread 2021

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  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    I am in the process of constructing meals out of stuff frozen in the small frozen food compartment of my fridge. The other day it was chicken casserole. Fine, stretched with a tin of chicken and vegetable soup. Last night was something I had made with cubed spam and cheese sauce, extended with a veggie cottage pie (from Sainsburys) and cauliflower, broccoli and carrot.
    Today's mystery item appears to be a plum crumble. Custard is called for, and the main dish will have to be something else, proper. I think I have a ham hock pie. There was also a box of a red liquid. Presumably some sort of sorbet. It will enhance the sink.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Mmmm, custard...

    I sat with a couple of friends and a picnic lunch and it was quite pleasant as long as you were dressed for it. We had thick jackets and rugs and managed a couple of hours before getting too chilly.

    Bangers'n'mash for tea this evening and then I'm catching up with a work colleague I haven't spoken to for several years so we'll have lots to talk about.
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    Nenya wrote: »
    Wet Kipper wrote: »
    (kids don't like chippy chips)
    It's news to me that the words "don't", "like", "chippy" and "chips" can even go into the same sentence. :wink:

    Too potato-y, apparently
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Wet Kipper wrote: »
    Nenya wrote: »
    Wet Kipper wrote: »
    (kids don't like chippy chips)
    It's news to me that the words "don't", "like", "chippy" and "chips" can even go into the same sentence. :wink:

    Too potato-y, apparently

    What do they want them to be -y?
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    Thin and crispy, like "fries"
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    There are definitely fries/ chips that I prefer over others but I would never say no to a chip.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited April 8
    I'm afraid our local chippy tends to specialise in the traditional Soggy British Chip, whereas I much prefer French Fries (good little European that I am).

    However, the Co-Op and Tess Coe both provide me with bags of frozen Fries or Sweet Potato Fries, so all is well. Their *traditional* chips are OK, too.
    ION, today's blue skies have been criss-crossed by very many more aircraft exhaust trails than I've seen recently - since Lockdown the First last year, in fact.

    Is the World now open for business once again?
    :open_mouth:
  • I managed to get some marking done despite being in the doldrums so at least I feel I've achieved something. I'm still in my study and I'm hoping that noise downstairs in the kitchen is my husband cooking something.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Pendragon wrote: »
    The Dentist was fine, apart from needing to brush a bit better. [...]
    Was that a role reversal, and you examined the dentist's teeth? :)

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I very nearly went to the chippy this evening (Thursday), as I hadn't thought much about what I'd make for supper, but decided it would confuse me into thinking it was Friday (and possibly confuse the chippy lady as well - "why is that woman coming for her scampi and chips on a Thursday?"), so I put it off until tomorrow.

    In its place I cobbled together a risotto with shallots, mushrooms, a bit of red pepper and some prawns, flavoured with some oregano from my windowsill, and it wasn't at all bad.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Sossiges, mash, cabbage, gravy, followed by plum crumble and blackberries (in the red liquid) and custard.
  • Other half cooked cajun chicken, rice and roasted veg. I'm now having a gin and tonic.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Tried out our nearest Indian/Bangladeshi takeaway for the first time. One selling point was the choice of small or large portions. We went for a selection of 3 small, which, with a couple of enormous naan, had us fed to a standstill for £10 a head.
  • Ooh, interesting. Leftovers are useful, but I like the idea of being able to get small portions of different things. Wish more places did that.
  • MarthaMartha Shipmate
    Especially Indian places - all the starters and nibbles are yummy, but I hesitate to order any when I know the main course will be huge. Some places do a Thali platter which is a nice selection (I think that's the right name).
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I like big, chunky chips, the chunkier the better. We had them for tea with home made burgers and lots of greens.

    Yum!
  • TheOrganistTheOrganist Shipmate
    edited April 9
    With both sons at home the twins have taken over the kitchen and are teaching the lodger more cheffing skills. Result for me is splendid food with zero effort 😋
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    With both sons at home the twins have taken over the kitchen and are teaching the lodger more cheffing skills. Result for me is splendid food with zero effort 😋

    Excellent result! 👏🏼

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    That does indeed sound like a Result!

    Chippy for me this evening - it's Friday, and I wouldn't like to disappoint them.

    It's a glorious, but not awfully warm, day here, although I suspect the showers that have been offered by the weather boffins will wait until I'm at the bus stop before making themselves manifest.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    That does indeed sound like a Result!

    Chippy for me this evening - it's Friday, and I wouldn't like to disappoint them.

    It's a glorious, but not awfully warm, day here, although I suspect the showers that have been offered by the weather boffins will wait until I'm at the bus stop before making themselves manifest.

    I suggested chippy tea - Mr Boogs declared that he doesn’t like them! So guess what I’ll be doing when he goes to visit our son to help with his Garden Decking Project?

  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    Clean snowy squalls this morning. Within five minutes there are open blue skies on one side of our home, overcast and dark grey the other.
    However we do finally have full central heating , hurrah! I am trying not to be paranoid about my sore throat after the plumbers were in.
    Maybe cake making will distract me?
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited April 9
    Yes, and eating CAKE is a sure-fire cure for sore throats, I'm told.

    Breaded Cod with Sweet Potato Fries for lunch today, as it's Fry-day...
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    Chippy for me this evening - it's Friday, and I wouldn't like to disappoint them.

    You are self-sacrificial kindness personified!
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    Yes, and eating CAKE is a sure-fire cure for sore throats, I'm told.

    Breaded Cod with Sweet Potato Fries for lunch today, as it's Fry-day...

    It's also Easter Friday so you can quite legitimately have a sausage instead.
  • Indeed, and the Sossidges are lined up ready for supper tonight!
    :wink:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited April 9
    I don't really know why I started the "chippy on Friday" habit - I never observed the fish-on-Friday thing before.

    In fact, when we lived in Canada, David used to cook me a steak on Fridays, a habit he started when I was working in St. John's and he thought it would be a nice end to the week for me (he was quite right). :heart:
  • We had cheese & tomato omelette for lunch today.
    Dinner will be sausage & mash, with savoy cabbage and leeks (the leeks because there are a lot still standing in the veg patch).

    I have taken advantage of a couple of comparatively warmish days to do a bit towards the summer veg supply. Kitchen windowsill now occupied by seed trays, and the tomato plants bought a fortnight ago have survived the recent cold under a couple of layers of fleece inside a plastic grow-house. They have had a few hours out in the sun today, but they will be tucked back in their cosy bed before the cold returns (tonight?)

    DiL has started talking about bringing the newest grandson to meet us. They are intending to stay in an AirB&B in a nearby resort and come to us for a garden visit or two. This will be when Mr RoS and I have had our second vaccination - mine is in 10days time, but Mr RoS has not got a date for his yet - and if we are prepared to risk them coming unvaccinated.

    I think we may be desperate enough to take the risk - otherwise baby will be going through that "separation anxiety" stage and won't want anything to do with us.
    His 4yr old big brother might be a bit shy with us, too, as it is already well over 6months since we were last together.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Fridays are pasta night in our house, usually with pesto, but sometimes with spinach or a mushroom sauce. Tonight it is pasta and pesto with a treat of rather nice looking tarts from the French patisserie a couple of miles away. We walked there and back to get them, so that will offset however many calories they are a bit. Of course, there will be red wine as well.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I don't really know why I started the "chippy on Friday" habit - I never observed the fish-on-Friday thing before.
    I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

  • I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

    Busy is good, as it means the food will be cooked fresh. You just want to send someone else to the chippy for you!
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    We have various seasonal treats in today. We had asparagus at lunchtime, cooked with a little vegetable stock and served with parmesan shavings and a poached egg. French asparagus is starting to appear now, although there's more Spanish. I even saw some from Mexico the other day, and good God the carbon footprint. I refuse to buy anything that's travelled that far when you only need to wait a couple of weeks for it to be in season.

    Friday is often fish in our house, not due to fasting, but because it's market day. Tonight is going to be watercress, because it was available this morning and it needs to be cooked on the same day. We have a nice recipe to cook it with new potatoes and chicken livers.

    I note that Captain P's new school always serves vegetarian food on Fridays. Government guidance is that school canteens should have at least one meat free day for environmental reasons, and Catholic schools have elected to make it Friday, when their most observant families would be eschewing meat anyway.
  • I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

    Busy is good, as it means the food will be cooked fresh. You just want to send someone else to the chippy for you!

    Ah, but I like my chips to be well cooked and drained ... sometimes they cut corners when they're busy!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    After the debauch of an Indian takeaway last night, back to the home cooking. Haddock fried in lemon butter over crushed Cyprus potato and peas, topped with crispy bacon.
  • I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

    Busy is good, as it means the food will be cooked fresh. You just want to send someone else to the chippy for you!

    Ah, but I like my chips to be well cooked and drained ... sometimes they cut corners when they're busy!

    Our preferred local chippy has been asking people to phone in advance with their order. That way, most things are cooked to order, and they don't have to cope with a queue down the street (small shop, so even pre-pandemic that could happen!). There's still some drop-in custom, especially on Friday/Saturday, but it does mean that if we want chips on Sunday they're often just coming out of the fryer when we get there to pay and collect. :grin:
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Mr Nen also declares a dislike of fish'n'chips from the chippy, and we haven't eaten it for years.

    We have curry this evening, as it's Friday, washed down with an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. We're starting the evening with our online wine tasting with friends and the organiser is celebrating the birth of a grandchild so I've managed to find a small bottle of something fizzy to wet the baby's head with. It was in a gift pack with some chocolates and was intended as a Christmas present for someone we didn't end up seeing at Christmas. I guess that means we'll need to eat the chocolates with our after-dinner coffees. Such hardships.

    In other news it's raining here. I've had a busy Zoomy afternoon and have not, as @Piglet would say, been over the door today and I certainly won't be now.
  • We’ve just ordered pizzas from an Italian place in town we don’t know. We’re hoping they are to the standard of the local place.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited April 9
    I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

    Busy is good, as it means the food will be cooked fresh. You just want to send someone else to the chippy for you!

    Ah, but I like my chips to be well cooked and drained ... sometimes they cut corners when they're busy!

    The corners are the best part of the chip - they're the crispy brown bits at the bottom of the bag!

    As enny fule kno, Crispy Brown Bits are a recognised food group...
    :wink:
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    We are on ham broth. Mr Boogs spent the morning preparing it (as apparently an ‘am shank takes a lot of cooking)

    :)
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!

    Busy is good, as it means the food will be cooked fresh. You just want to send someone else to the chippy for you!

    Ah, but I like my chips to be well cooked and drained ... sometimes they cut corners when they're busy!

    The corners are the best part of the chip - they're the crispy brown bits at the bottom of the bag!

    As enny fule kno, Crispy Brown Bits are a recognised food group...
    :wink:

    Delicious! Known in my yoof as the ‘scrumps’ 😋.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited April 9
    I think there's a good case to be made for not going to the chippy on Friday, as it always seems to be the busiest day!
    Quite!

    As the queue outside the chippy was rapidly heading towards Falkirk, I thought, "stuff this for a game of soldiers" and went to the Chinese takeaway along the road instead.

    I ordered king prawns with green peppers and black bean sauce, and it was much nicer than the rather bland thing I had last time. It was quite peppery - in the sense of spice - in places, but none the worse for that, and I think I'd have it again.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Today's mystery items from the frozen department of the fridge are waiting for more thought. Item: Zip lock bag containing pureed peas, probably about equal to a tin of mushy peas. Item: about half a portion of something labelled spag bol. Item: about a tablespoonful of something labelled mince. Also three small beetroots, some parsley, and an egg white.
  • Doone wrote: »
    As enny fule kno, Crispy Brown Bits are a recognised food group...
    :wink:

    Delicious! Known in my yoof as the ‘scrumps’ 😋.

    Leftover fried batter in these parts are bits or scraps hence the local chippie Wi' Bits
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    Lunch was burgers, whilst dinner was duck noodles, using up the last of the meat and pressure cooking the carcass for stock. We are currently in the middle of Operation Reorganize The Other Bedrooms to sort storage and Be able to shuffle Dragonlets around.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    It’s a bit cloudy today but at least the wind has dropped.

    Tomorrow we are going to my brother’s farm for lunch to sit under the awning of their barn. It’s his birthday. They’ve decorated it and everything for outdoor visiting!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Sounds good, Boogie - I hope the sun shines for you!

    It's a bright but I suspect cold day here - I really must stir my stumps and get organised - possible walkies this afternoon with No. 2 niece, Larry the Labradoodle and Coen. :heart:
  • Boogie wrote: »
    It’s a bit cloudy today but at least the wind has dropped.
    The opposite here - sunny (for now) but a keen wind. Sheets have been washed!

  • Overcast here this morning which turned to heavy rain and now overcast again. A friend from church dropped by with some home grown courgette plants and we chatted on the door step for half an hour.
    A fox has knocked over my bird seed bin for the second time this week, I suspect it can smell the suet blocks though it does not appear to actually like them. There is bird seed all over the place. I’m going to have to store the seed bin in the fox proof (vacant) chicken run.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'll have to retract the "bright" bit - it's clouded over and is, I suspect, limbering up for the heavens to open.
  • Ditto. The washing has ben Brought In.
  • High excitement here in Sandemaniac Towers - I've got rid of almost all of the current batch of concrete, and someone is coming tomorrow to collect some more. Hopefully they'll bring the bags back as I can't shift the last bit until I have some more bags!

    Then on Monday Ted Moult is coming (not literally, if he did turn up on the door it'd be bell, book and candle time!) to replace two of our windows at great expense, so everything on the patio has had to be shifted. Doubtless Monday evening will be spent Cleaning of Up.

    Thursday marks the arrrival of three quarters of a tonne of topsoil to replace the concrete, and we will start to look as though we have a garden as soon as I get that in place.

    I just need to get the under-gardener moving with flowers and things. Don't hold your breath...
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