Relentless Food

24 02 2008

 

 

 

One of the things I dislike about food and catering for a family, is that it’s so relentless.

Quite often, we all sit down to our evening meal  and in the course of that meal, I am wondering what I can do tommorrow….(chops, spag bol, sausages?) I seem to lose the ability to enjoy the fruit of my labours and it takes on the essence of a chore, like the ironing and taking out the rubbish. There is never a break.

After all, we can choose not to go to the gym tonight, or I’ll leave the ironing until tommorrow. But food….never!  

No wonder we just throw something quick and frozen into the oven sometimes…And I am just not the sort of person who has time to think balanced, nutritional, major food groups all the time.

 Oh well, what can I do for tea tonight…any ideas?

 

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Kids and Body Image

10 05 2007

 

I read this article some time ago and promptly left it in my Favourites. I re-read it again today and decided I needed to put it into Blog de la Bouffe.

It’s reassuring to know that I am not the only parent battling with a beautiful and ever changing/growing/maturing daughter. It is easy to become defeatist about the whole thing; Are we just fighting a losing battle? But the few pointers at the end, I thought, were really practical and simple.

So, now we only refer to our bodies in a positive way. (It is hard to do and many a-time I have had to ’shush’ well meaning auntys and uncles!) We talk not about ‘fat’ and ‘thin’ people but whether they look healthy or not. We have long and meaningful conversations about nutrition. We have incorporated more physical activity into our lives.

So, watch this wasteline!

 

Related Posts: Distortion, The Benefits of Eating Together as a Family

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M&S v Asda

21 03 2007

I have been very neglectful of late, to Blog de la Bouffe and myself, so, as an apology, I have decided to post a YouTube clip to make us smile!

Actually, I have posted two, as they go hand-in-hand really. They are very funny…I hope you enjoy them!

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How much do you throw away?

17 03 2007

 About one third of our food ends up in the bin according to a recent study.

This doesn’t really surprise me very much, if our household is ‘normal’.

When I was doing a ‘big’ shop, once a fortnight and topping up in between, I seem to remember throwing away vegetables in the salad tray, to make way for the new stuff. I would do this week in week out, for some strange reason. It obviously hadn’t occurred to me to actually try something novel, like cook with them! The items being thrown away were simply replaced by fresher items. Now I think about it, it seems really odd behaviour.

I shop every few days now and although I feel as if I am spending more….I can go in for a loaf of bread and end up spending £20, at least the food is being used and eaten. And it’s fresher…I find it a bit odd that some of the vegetables I would throw out had been in there for a fortnight, and still looked as fresh as the day I had bought them.

And then there is the wastage that children produce. We are still in the ‘no crust’ stage, and only eating a tiny amount of what I serve up, the rest goes in the bin. I refuse to be a mother-food-vaccuum-cleaner hybrid and eat what’s left on the plate…just as well, or I’d be unable to fit through any doors!

I told my Dad about this food wastage and he was genuinely shocked. He couldn’t understand it, plain and simple. Being a ‘child of the War’, I guess he sees food in a whole different way. He tells his Grandchildren of the first orange he tasted after the War, how he had never seen a banana and just how many sweets he was rationed with. My two can’t believe it!

And then there are the starving millions, who could live for a month on the stuff we chuck out every day.

It’s all gone wrong somewhere!

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Open All Hours…

5 03 2007

 

I’ve gone and opened a virtual shop with a bunch of people called Zlio. It is quick and easy to set up an account, free too.

Ok, at the moment, my shelves aren’t particularly heaving with stock, but I will be adding to the range bit by bit! It’s very strange, a bit like playing at shops when you were a kid! ‘I’ll have one of those, and one of those, ooh, and that looks good’ and with the click of a button, it’s there in my little emporium! I didn’t have to spend a thing either!

If you fancy taking a look and adding a shop to your site, I would highly recommend it, just use the link at the top. It may not make me a millionaire, but it’s fun!

I am hoping to stock cookery books, particularly if I have used them and kitcheny-things. If you have any requests, I will gladly try to cater ….

EDIT: Since writing this, I spent the rest of the day looking at the options on Amazon. I’m still fiddling but will keep you posted as to my findings….

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Always have a hearty breakfast!

4 03 2007




Stir-fried Chicken with Lime and Coconut

4 03 2007

Well, last nights meal was gorgeous!

 Stir-fried chicken with lime and coconut.

It was a recipe that caught my eye when I first flicked through the Delia book. It was scheduled for the night before, but as is my wont, I left my shopping list at home and forgot most of the ingredients. About the only thing I remembered was the chicken!

I marinated the chicken in the lime juice and zest for an hour, as told to by the recipe. I must admit, I have often wondered if marinating really works, after all, surely the flavours would burn off and cook away? But I’m glad to say that the lime flavour was well and truly present…it was great!

The coconut juice was surprising too, more creamy than coconutty and the fresh coriander rounded it all off nicely.

I reckon, up to date this was my favourite meal, a beautiful flavour, easy to prepare and cook, fairly cheap. I did cock up with the Thai rice, which was a bit soggy but edible all the same. It soaked up the coconut and lime juices really well!

 

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Roasted plaice fillets with a parmesan crust

28 02 2007

 

Tonight you are witness to a first, a record in culinary feats, an event never recorded in history, for tonight, I cooked fish for the 2nd time in 6 days!!

Yes, tonight I cooked Roasted plaice fillets with a parmesan crust, courtesy of Delia and Book 2.

Delicious it was too! And a different taste/texture sensation in the fish department…todays fish was tender, succulent and, forgive me if I’m a bit naive, it reminded me of blancmange! Sort of jelly-like! (Does that mean it was under cooked?)

It was certainly not ‘meaty’ like the salmon. I really surprised myself and ate most of the skin too….unheard of! Quite frankly, I didn’t know I was at the time! The crunchy, cheesy topping was a good contrast to the soft texture of the fish and the sharp lemon. Enjoyed it with brocolli and pine nuts again…my favourite!

Super!

Now, please help me if you will….would you like me to include a full run down of ingredients, top tips and instructions (ie.the recipe) on these culinary explorations or are you quite happy with my enthusings, without the detail? I will happily oblige if you want the full monty!

Answers on a post card….or in the comments section, if you prefer!

 

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New Theme and Feedburner problems

28 02 2007

 

I seem to be having a merry old time changing the themes of all my blogs.

Blog de la Bouffe is no exception!

A reader wrote that the black background and small font was not easy to read at times. I definately don’t want to make things difficult for my visitors and so thought I would have a change here too! I already had suspicions myself.

I hope you are comfortable with the changes, any feed back is gratefully received.

Oh, while we’re at it, I have also had a few problems with the Feedburner email subscription service. It has not been possible to enter the ’secret’ letters in the anti-scam thing (why can I never remember what it’s called?). Having been in contact with Feedburner, they tell me that AOL users and Norton Antivirus enabled users are being blocked. It would appear that there is no remedy for this at the moment…many apologies.

The only way around it, that I can see, is to go for the RSS feed instead!  That, at least, seems to be fine. It’s odd, because this is not the case with my other blog feeds…..not being a techy person, it’s all a bit mind boggling!

 

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Tortilla (Spanish Omelette)

27 02 2007

 

Delia Smith was my inspiration today. I must admit, I have never been a real fan of hers….I have always found her sort of prudish and well, boring!

Sorry!

But my sister has been a follower for years and after a trip to her place this weekend, I managed to pinch the complete set of the Delia’s How To Cook trilogy. It has made very good reading; now that I am a fully fledged convert, an evangelical maestro of the kitchen!

Tonight, I randomly opened a page of book one, (which has a lot to do with eggs, and apparantly caused a bit of a stir back in the 90’s when it was first published) and found Tortilla (Spanish Omelette). Looked easy enough and quite tasty to boot!

I couldn’t find Desiree potatoes, so made do with some little new potatoes instead. I did what she said, turned up the heat, then turned it down, measured the base of the omelette pan, ‘combined’ the eggs, without over doing it, left it gently cooking. I did come a cropper when I had to invert it on a plate and put it back in the pan…..it just sort of disintegrated really! But I got there in the end!

It was really tasty, cheap and cheerful and perfect with a crunchy Cos salad and a glass of Rioja!

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