AS: More tea, Vicar? - the British thread 2020

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  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I found two recipes for Thai curries that used aubergines and/or jackfruit, and I sort of conflated them (one had curry paste, which I didn't have, but the other gave individual spice proportions, which I could mostly manage).

    The final flavour was quite nice (S. really liked it); I can't say it's made me an aubergine fan, but the addition of water-chestnuts and toasted cashews gave it a nice texture.

    I added fresh coriander at the end, and though I'd always been ambivalent about it, I found that when I was chopping it, all I could smell was soap, so maybe I'm more of a "hater" than I previously thought.
  • I am now simultaneously craving Baba Ganoush and a deep fried Mars Bar.

    I have walked many times past the door of the Carron chip shop wherein the DFMB was created, and have never even slowed down to check on it. Nor will I ever. Too ghastly to contemplate, like deep fried pizza.
  • TheOrganistTheOrganist Shipmate
    edited April 2020
    Piglet wrote: »
    The wind direction has changed and the temperature dropped a bit so the washing is on the line with another basketful ready to go.

    @TheOrganist, you're a Domestic God! <notworthy>

    Thanks @Piglet - your remark gave me a good laugh. As an asthmatic child I spent a lot of time with two very efficient women: a slighty dour Scots nanny and the housekeeper; the latter was always busy - large house, large family, insufficient staff - so she occupied me by "playing house" for real. The result was that where my older sisters left home barely able to boil an egg and entirely ignorant of the mysteries of a vacuum cleaner, I'd been given the training of a pre-war maid-of-all-work. Not exactly thrilling at the time but jolly useful :grin:

    Aubergines: I make aubergine crisps - thinly sliced, a little salt to extract the liquid, dry and then smear with olive oil and sprinkle with celery salt before flashing under a hot grill (both sides).
  • Re: aubergine/eggplant/brinjal... Do a quick google of "sweet and sour X" It's quite delicious, more savoury than hot. Different recipes result in different textures - some quite chunky, some silkier. It's very good, and the only reason I'm not giving you my recipe (a silkier variety is that I don't have my personal binder of recipes. Trust me - try this.... tamarind, jaggery, fennel seed, braised onion, garlic, chili...
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    My daughter had a Faustian pact with her primary school dinner ladies. She would tell them, sadly, about her dinner the night before, and they would give her extra pudding, the quantity of extra pudding depending on how sad she made her dinner sound. The dinner ladies were highly entertained by this, and enjoyed recounting her sad tales when they saw me. And my daughter enjoyed the extra pudding.

    Her best effort was the time she said "Mum made ratatouille last night. There were chickpeas in it. And they were (quiver) organic chick peas."

    I haven't been able to make ratatouille with a straight face since.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Real ratatouille is a harassment. You're supposed to sauté all the vegetables separately to accommodate their different cooking times before incorporating them.

    I don't have the patience although husband en rouge does. He makes it in foie gras land in the summer when all the vegetables are in season and available in the market locally grown.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus

    Her best effort was the time she said "Mum made ratatouille last night. There were chickpeas in it. And they were (quiver) organic chick peas."

    It's wonder she wasn't taken into Care.

    I am venturing out presently in search of aubergines (line the dock and wave) and such other fresh veggies as I can come by.

    Tonight is salmon in an Indian style, tomorrow moussaka, Friday white fish, Saturday steak. Thursday's anybody's guess.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    OK, just solved Thursday. Pork kidneys in mustard sauce. Sunday now...
  • JapesJapes Shipmate
    I have had deep-fried pizza but once in my life - it being the only vegetarian (we do not consider the oil it was deep-fried in, this being the late 1990s) option from a Glasgow chippie. It was after a funeral, I had had a long drive to get there, I was going to be staying with someone I didn't really know but who had offered the hospitality, this was the only option for food with the gaggle of people I was slumped with after the wake, (where I'd not really eaten as I was too busy being nice to people) and I was hungry.

    In that circumstance, I was grateful to be eating and not causing bother at the end of a long, emotional day for all concerned, but as I mused out loud afterward, I didn't think I'd bother repeating the deep-fried pizza experience...
  • Yesterday, taking off early for our daily walk, we were fascinated to note that there were social distancing notices posted on every way into the local forest. It wasn't too bad between 9:30am and 11am, a few joggers and dog walkers, but I suspect it would have been crammed in the afternoon, when I was enjoying the Front Room Festival. On Sunday we wandered a section of the local long distance footpath, that time heading out after supper for an evening walk in the hope of finding a time that was less popular, partly to check the geocaches on that route as the person who set them up and can't access them now. We are so lucky to live within a few minutes walk from a forest (15 mins), local nature reserve (5 mins) and long distance footpath (15 mins), plus other less well known routes.

    Gosh @Firenze - I do have a sort of plan for the next couple of days but nothing like the whole week; we had crudites followed by roast duck (in a bag) on Sunday served with new potatoes boiled then finished with butter and ramsoms (wild garlic). Yesterday we ate rice noodles with stir fried vegetables (Swiss chard, carrots, courgettes) and duck, fruity tang care of cranberry sauce. The carrots weren't great in that mix but they needed eating.

    Today, if I can work out how to make gluten free Chinese style pancakes, I may reheat the duck drumsticks and shred for pancakes with cucumber and onion (and more fruity tang using tamari and cranberry sauce). I'm not convinced that these things are as possible as people blithely suggest, it having taken a number of attempts to produce edible pastry. I have stopped trying to make gluten free bread as great on flavour, texture like a brick seems like a waste of ingredients that aren't so easy to source, especially when one of those ingredients is rather more egg than I want to use.

    Then there's stock to make from the carcass and duck fat to use up. There's not a lot left from this week's box other than sweet potatoes that may end up in various guises: chips, pakora, baked. Plus I am craving tortilla (Spanish omelette) from the leftover new potatoes from Sunday, peppers and maybe the last courgette from the organic box. But I need to plan an alternative without eggs for my daughter as she's turning her nose up at that idea.
  • in a flatbread/wrap type thing, maybe with hummus? I would think you can do flatbread with gram flour orf GF flour....
  • I make tortilla as in GF corn flat breads/wraps. They are lots of effort and don't always produce a dough that rolls out brilliantly. When they work I often end up making a batch and freezing the rest. The only way I can get GF tortilla or pastry to roll out is by sandwiching the dough between two layers of greaseproof paper. But those are worth trying, particularly as I've got a rougher cornflour in my flour collection.

    Looking for possible recipes for Chinese pancakes, there's an American version using a specific US GF flour, which is, no doubt, different. I've tried following US recipes in the past and have been caught by the flour formulations. There's a version that makes pancakes, with egg and milk, which are definitely not Chinese pancakes and a blog that suggests that all attempts to create Chinese pancakes doesn't work, so use the duck with lettuce leaves instead. I used to make Chinese pancakes a lot with wheat flour: this used to be a favourite recipe with different fillings.

    One of the experiments I want to try is GF pasta from gram flour.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    I go shopping once a week, to one shop (Aldi because it’s the safest I can find, wide aisles and sensible queues organised by staff). What they don’t have I don’t get.
  • MMMMMM Shipmate
    We’ve pretty much stopped using the supermarket in favour of little local corner shops. Both corner shops near us have been brilliant.

    MMM
  • I plan a weekly menu (years of habit, having been cook in a care home in a previous life), but even in normal times that is subject to several changes as the week progresses, according to how the state of the larder/fridge/freezer, the weather, my mood or other random factors dictate. I want to spend time working in the garden this week, so this menu is relying on quick and easy meals.
    Lunches are less organised, but most days are salad. sandwiches, eggs in some form, or soup (if I have any in the freezer).
    This week's menu is:
    Monday: Sweet potato and spinach dhal (pre-cooked and frozen) with pitas and yoghurt.
    Tuesday: Quick chicken Provencal (quick because it's made from leftover chicken, pre-cooked and frozen sweet peppers & onions and store-cupboard ingredients) with rice and tenderstem broccoli
    Wednesday: Cauliflower pizzaiola. This requires mozarella, which I currently do not have, but I will be shopping Wednesday morning. If unlucky I might use some other cheese, or make some other cauliflower dish.
    Thursday: Pasta and tuna bake, with a green salad.
    Friday: Pork, butterbean and cider caserole (pre-cooked and frozen), with new potatoes and savoy cabbage, plus some other vegetable yet to be chosen.
    Saturday: Jacket potatoes with chilli con carne (pre-cooked and frozen) and a green vegetable.
    Sunday: As previously posted, here or on some other thread, Sunday dinner will be decided when I check the contents of the fridge on Saturday.
    I suspect that it will include chilli, as there is more in a pack than we need for topping potatoes.
  • my 6-yr-old decided to plan out this week's meals at the weekend.
    Here's what he suggested (all spelling his)
    Mon: Hotdog chips and beans
    Tue: pankaks and wofols
    Wed: Choclit ester eggs
    Thu: beens on tost
    Fri: iscreem and soshij
    Sat: Wit choklet
    Sun: 1000000 sweets
  • Oh Wet Kipper - I think that you've given me the best laugh that I'll have all day! Thank you!
  • JapesJapes Shipmate
    Excellent menu, if I may say so, @Wet Kipper My congratulations to the menu planner!
  • We ate Frid Bred for years, sometimes with ehg, sometimes with muhshruums, and finished off with marrmulahde.

    Wot the hell, Dyslexia lures, KO!
  • It's the "wofols" which both makes me laugh each time I see it, and also cry out "why is spelling in English so complicated?"

    he even asked me if there were languages where the letters made the same sound every time, which I confirmed about German.
  • And Spanish. Love the list and your son's idea of a balanced diet.

    My very dyslexic daughter likes German, judders at the thought of French and had to disable the word "minuet" from her spell checker to stop timing everything in dance time.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Love the Kipperlet's* style! :)

    * should that be "sprat"?
    Supper this evening will be fish in some form: we've got sea bass and salmon in the fridge that both need to be eaten by tomorrow. I'm thinking sea bass with new potatoes, roasted asparagus and possibly carrots, as they're what we have.

    I haven't got into the habit of planning menus: we're somewhat restricted by who's doing supermarket runs, which one they're going to and how well stocked (or not) it is.
  • Early in his career, my Dad taught in the East End. One day, his class were all writing their News, and one lad put his hand up to ask how to spell FRYPER.

    'Fryper?' queried my father, and the lad clarified that they had had 'fryper taters' for supper. He could spell taters, he explained, but not 'fryper'. After that, they were always 'fryper' in our house :smile:
  • I just fancy a wofol!

    Having just had a gigantic order arrive from Tesco, I am well supplied. As my next slot is in three weeks time, it should last, and well beyond that. Also found small greengrocers in Manchester who delivers veg boxes out our way once a week, so trying him out on Friday. Rather hope I dont get sweet potatoes as I do have rather a lot of those. Do they count as one of your five a day? Might have to think of ways of eating them at breakfast as well!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I understand that sweet potatoes are so good for you they probably count as two ... :mrgreen:

    Unfortunately, I really don't like them, except possibly in curries.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Aubergines are one of the very few foods which I won't eat. The first time I was served them, my mouth decided that under no circumstances should they get any further, and should be ejected at once. Very embarrassing. The next time I had been assured by the person I was with (who had served me the first aubergine) that there wouldn't be any in the Greek food at the restaurant. I gather that they are supposed to absorb the flavours of the food around them, so should not really be obvious in moussaka. But they were.
    A very odd flavour, with echoes of tobaccoishness, which isn't surprising as it is related. The person trying it on was a smoker, so may have felt differently. And I gather that there are variants of flavour. But I'm not going to try any more, or mess with those particular solenaceae.
  • MMM wrote: »
    We’ve pretty much stopped using the supermarket in favour of little local corner shops. Both corner shops near us have been brilliant.

    MMM

    Yes, we’ve been using the corner shop since out of quarantine. We have milk delivered and a fruit and veg box with small meat and fish box delivered from the veg company so hardly need anything else. Hubby went to Waitrose yesterday for the first time in about 5 weeks.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    edited April 2020
    Tottered in, jelly-kneed (I'm beginning to notice the absence of standing exercise) with my backpack of shopping.

    I managed tinned tomatoes, sesame oil, stir fry sauces, olives, yoghurt, puddings (x8), bread, sardines, aubergines, clementines, spinach, coriander, mushrooms, scallions, brioche rolls and packaged rice. Oh, and a pot plant (Give me bread but give me roses).

    I then fell asleep.
  • I'm sorry, but the Kipperlet (or Sprat) is Quite Wrong in referring to the 'soshij'.

    As enny fule kno, the rite speeling is 'sossidge'...

    Anyway, Spaggetty with Meet Borls today, with Funny-tasting Forren Bred (Garlick).
    Firenze wrote: »
    Tottered in, jelly-kneed (I'm beginning to notice the absence of standing exercise) with my backpack of shopping.

    I managed tinned tomatoes, sesame oil, stir fry sauces, olives, yoghurt, puddings (x8), bread, sardines, aubergines, clementines, spinach, coriander, mushrooms, scallions, brioche rolls and packaged rice. Oh, and a pot plant (Give me bread but give me roses).

    I then fell asleep.

    That is one impressive list of items bought, and carried!
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    We have CAKE made by husband en rouge, using the pears in the veg box we got delivered last week and a packet of flour that I successfully managed to forage last week.

    Apparently there will be more flour delivered to a supermarket near us on Thursday morning.
    A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine
  • I'm sorry, but the Kipperlet (or Sprat) is Quite Wrong in referring to the 'soshij'.

    As enny fule kno, the rite speeling is 'sossidge'...
    It's a Regional Dialect.

  • Especially the WINE... :wink:

    Pear CAKE sounds delicious - I love pears!

    It's not too far from Paris to this neck of the Sad Southlands, so a virtual tasting would be welcome. The lockdown does NOT apply in such a case - God has revealed this to me in a Dream.

    Thx
  • I’ve just made pears Helene, to be served after roast chicken legs, roasted veg in cheese sauce and rice which my husband made.
  • AravisAravis Shipmate
    Many years ago my daughter made a long list of “R’s faveroit meals” and a short list of “R’s not faveroit meals”.
    One of the favourites was “saugebage pasta” (not sure where the b came from). The non-favourites were
    Cassoral
    Risscoto
    Little bean things
    Nut loaf
    Curry
  • AravisAravis Shipmate
    According to the list another favourite was “lazanieah”.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited April 2020
    'Lazanieah' sounds like one of those invented names you sometimes come across at baptisms...it even has a slightly Biblical ring to it.

    (What did R mean by 'little bean things', BTW?)
  • TheOrganistTheOrganist Shipmate
    edited April 2020
    'Lazanieah' sounds like one of those invented names you sometimes come across at baptisms...it even has a slightly Biblical ring to it.

    (What did R mean by 'little bean things', BTW?)

    Love the sound of the "little bean things" - but then we had a cleaning lady who's sister used to make Savourie Arssholes (her spelling) :lol:
  • :flushed:

    I'm still not quite sure what 'little bean things' are, though! Baked beans, perhaps?
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    How could anyone not like "riscotto"? I wonder if it means a risotto made with haggis ... :mrgreen:

    I'll fetch my own coat.
    Pan-fried sea bass with roasted asparagus and carrots and new potatoes was OK: I'm never going to be a huge asparagus fan (and I didn't quite get the timing right - it was a bit mushy, and the carrots were still quite crunchy).

    I'll leave the other pack to S - she appreciates it more than I do.
    I didn't amble today: my exercise, such as it was, came from hanging out my laundry and then bringing it back in. As I'm a vertically challenged piglet, this entailed Stretching, Bending and Carrying, so it'll have to do.

    Tomorrow's another day ...
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    edited April 2020
    I did a huge Tesco shop first thing Tuesday morning last week and am hoping not to go again until next week, but we're running out of milk and fresh stuff so I need to make a foray to a smaller establishment today. My preference is to go early, but I also want to combine it with a visit to the local garden shop (open because it also sells pet supplies) which doesn't open until 9.15, so timing is of the essence. I dislike the way shopping nowadays feels like entering a danger zone - I only feel safe again once home and showered, shopping wiped, bags washed, clothes in the washing machine; and there's the risk of not getting what you need and having to work round that or make another trip.

    It does seem as though the smaller shops are holding up very well and hope they benefit from continued trade When This Is All Over.

    I like the idea of Meel Planing but we ushally eet the saym fings eech week, offen on the saym dayz.

    ETA regarding exercise, I've been doing Joe Wicks workouts for the past couple of days (along with half the country, it seems) and find them good because they're designed for the front room in a way that Zumba classes (my preferred form of exercise) aren't.
  • A trip to Tesco this midday was aborted when I saw the length of the queue!
    :confounded:

    I hied me to the largest of our two local Co-Ops, went straight in, and got all I wanted (bar some bananas - they all seemed to be a bit ripe, and I like my bananas green...). Not exactly anything to complain about...

    I now have a well-stocked fridge (although it is very small), but most of the stuff I intend to have for lunch/supper is dated 17th April. How far past its use-by date can I go? I can't eat it all before Friday!

    I'm speaking (said he, shamefacedly) of microwave/oven ready meals. My Cook Ing is on strike, he tells me.

    Ah well - another beautiful sunny spring day. Time to get the Wash Ing out.
  • I prioritise foods according health risks, so would eat pork or fish first, beef last. But I often eat food a couple of days past the date.
  • Thanks for that - I rather suspect the use-by date can be exceeded a little, but I, too, take great care about food health risks.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Midday seems to be the busiest times for supermarkets, at least according to the bar charts. I'm going to Asda around 6:30pm, when it is much quieter, though all the reduced food has gone by then. To begin with, at the start of social distancing/isolation, people weren't buying the yellow sticker reductions, and there were lots left at 6:30pm, but now it looks like people have decided to buy them after all. I did find on Monday, though, that meat dated the following day had started being reduced already, so I got a nice duck reduced to £4, which I roasted yesterday, with some garlic and orange pieces. I will be eating it for the next few days - I love duck.

    Bishops Finger, I eat things a few days beyond their use by date, and, like Heavenly Annie, I prioritise food like chicken and shellfish to eat first.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited April 2020
    Thanks again.

    Yes, midday is probably not the best time to go shopping, but my Function Ing doesn't really kick in until about then!

    As I said, fortunately, the local Co-Ops are not too busy, and there isn't really anything I especially want from Tesco at the moment, except perhaps Radishes, and Celery, for both of which I now have an inordinate Crave Ing...

    Noted re Duck. Yes, I like Duck, too - though my neighbours Charlie and Jemima (our local Mallards) might not be too keen...

    If they quack loudly, when they haven't been quoken to, I threaten them with Orange Sauce.
    :naughty:
  • If you can't freeze (most ready meals can be) then turn 'fridge to colder setting.
  • *D'oh*

    Homer Simpson moment - of course! Thank you...
    :wink:
  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    I think it best not to overrun too much on "use by" dates, but can be more flexible on "best before" dates.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    BF, thanks for the chuckle! Eating ducks from the supermarket is fine; eating your neighbours (or even threatening them with orange sauce) is not. :mrgreen:
    It's another beautiful, sunny day, so I'm definitely going to amble. I had an inordinately long lie this morning: despite going to bed (and pretty much straight to sleep), apart from a comfort break at about 7 o'clock I didn't properly wake until nearly 11 - what's that all about???
    Salmon is in the offing for supper, and I don't know if S. managed to arrange a supermarket order, so the accompaniments might be a little unorthodox. We have asparagus (which I'll donate to S.); avocados and tomatoes (would make a really nice salad); and a few mange-touts, but no potatoes, so we'll have to make do with rice.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm totally flexible with best before dates - I buy food that is past its bb date, at greatly reduced prices. It doesn't harm you - some kinds of food can lose flavour/quality a bit, but depends what you buy. I buy nice tea leaves in bulk and they remain good. Use by dates are generally more important to at least roughly stick by, especially raw meat and fish, which I generally freeze if I am not using it right away. Though with yogurts, I find they remain good if unopened for months after their use by date. That never used to be the case when I was a kid - the top would expand and they would taste weird and fizzy just a couple of days after their date.

    It was kind of weird buying duck from the supermarket, as that same morning I'd been for a walk in the woods and seen a duck and her ducklings swimming down the stream. Kind of felt like I was cooking a member of their family!

    I am currently awaiting a delivery from the online shop that sells food past its best before dates. One of those 'anytime between 8am and 6pm deliveries' so I've been waiting all day. I'm finding deliveries seem to take on way more importance when one is at home every day anyway - am finding myself quite excited to try my new tea leaves!
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