whats on the menu

Isn`t that the idea of pudings?

Polgara, you are so right. Being of the health police persuasion, I had successfully avoided making puddings for many years - now I can see why.

Had a chicken from a local grower, so I took the white meat off for Udon soup, put the rest of it in oven to roast, stripped the meat this morning (with 'help' from kittens). Bones are now in the stockpot and the meat will be added to West African pumpkin stew with some fufu. I'm in the mood for it today!

Hathorite I wanna come and eat with you. Bored with my cooking.
Carrot and orange soup.

Courgette soup, tomato and cheese bread and a bit of mushroom quiche.

Mmm

Hathorite what is Udon soup please?

When I was in Japan, Udon were rather thick noodles, often bought in bowls of noodle soop from a kiosk on railway platforms as a snack, and "very delicious" they were too ! Are these the same thing

You know it always strikes me how well we all eat , on this forum.

Yep, udon noodles are japanese noodles.

I am indeed aware how well we eat, and proud of it! On a disabled forum I belong to with everyone freaking about the cuts, I mentioned foraging and using up old veggies in soup and the rallying cry was "How can we live in a rich country where people PICK food from HEDGES???? HORROR!" And I thought "um...its rather good actually, better than the packet meal stuff the council tried to fob on me."

Granted, I cook one day out of three as I dont have energy to do so otherwise, but when a friend of mine was doing my groceries for me, she did say "You eat better than I do!"

Having leftover udon tonight, sprog eating homemade pizza with local buffalo cheese (just to carry on the good eating theme).

I think it is a matter of what we consider eating well. Fresh home cooked food with little or no waste is what I consider good food.

You can keep your "posh nosh" but a good tasty casserole is much better IMO

That is exactly what I meant Pol.

To me, homemade bread and butter with home made soup from stuff I have grown...is a feast.

Friends have remarked before on the food we prepare and how nice it is. But you can't beat fresh ingredients cooked carefully.

I love this time of year as it means more soups, stews and casseroles are on the menu

Compostwoman wrote:
Friends have remarked before on the food we prepare and how nice it is.

That's the mark of a true friend. Did they also compliment the cider?

I do not think they were being untruthful....

and yes most like the cider although a few find it a bit tart, but that is mainly because commercial cider has sweeteners in it.

Why, do you think your friends are just being tactful when they compliment you on your good food?

I tend to take what my friends say to me at face value..after all they are my friends so should feel able to tell me the truth.

And if they did not like the food I would hope they would say, so I could get them something else.

So, Hathorite, if you don't mind me asking - do you make your own Udon noodles ? If so how ? I got quite partial to Udon bowls in Japan. Mind you, for a non-seafood eater (I can't stand the stuff at all), Japan was a challenge and a simple fish-free noodle bowl was a delight !

I cheat! After paying bills and getting necessaries, once in a while I splurge and order fromMount Fuji- they have all sorts of authentic food on there, great place if you buy stuff in bulk, but mind the sauces - some of them are from the US and therefore have GM ingredients. The soy sauce ironically is a real problem for that, but the other stuff is from Japan directly. Not exactly flier-mile friendly but it's a treat to myself.

CW, sorry, i meant no offence or slight on your cooking (or cider).

In answer to your question, no, I would think most of my friends would be polite and say nice things even if the pasta was not all dente, the carrots were a bit soft and the beef was like shoe leather. I know I have done and would again. Because it is the kind thing to do. If a friend has invited me to eat with them, it is not for a frank appraisal of their culinary skills, it is out of friendship, to share food. I'll save my honesty for when they finally invite me as a judge on Iron Chef America or the Sunday times gives me a restaurant column.
That's what I meant by the mark of a friend.
I was not implying only a true friend would compliment your food. That would be a.) rude, and b.) absurd as i have never tasted your cooking.

Homemade faggots & veg.
Enough faggots made for another 2 meals as well.

Wilhelm Von Rhomboid wrote:CW, sorry, i meant no offence or slight on your cooking (or cider).

In answer to your question, no, I would think most of my friends would be polite and say nice things even if the pasta was not all dente, the carrots were a bit soft and the beef was like shoe leather. I know I have done and would again. Because it is the kind thing to do. If a friend has invited me to eat with them, it is not for a frank appraisal of their culinary skills, it is out of friendship, to share food. I'll save my honesty for when they finally invite me as a judge on Iron Chef America or the Sunday times gives me a restaurant column.
That's what I meant by the mark of a friend.
I was not implying only a true friend would compliment your food. That would be a.) rude, and b.) absurd as i have never tasted your cooking.

Ok Billy, thanks.

I was refering to unsolicited nice comments by friends btw, not ones where you ask them " do you like this" but yes, I, too , have smiled and said " its fine" when actually it was a bit...tough, raw, soggy etc.

But I do hope friends WOULD tell me, if it really was not very nice...I would actually rather know than not. If I know, I can get them something else to eat, or try to fix it... which is also what a true friend would do....

Mm Pol faggots mmmm

we had home made mushroom soup for lunch. It was delish. Cm is a really good cook.

If it's tough, lumpy or otherwise FUBAR I don't need guests to tell me.

Although I would rather they FTSU, as Yoda might say, rather than try to convince me its okay, really.

Enough, already..............

Today we had my almost instant Hot Pot really yummy

I'm going to try my hand at paella tonight.

A gratin with swiss chard on the bottom, then a sauce made from minced pork, tomatoes, wine, garlic etc, and a sort of macaroni/noodley thing on top covered in cheese.

Trying to empty the freezers a bit, found some pork sort of chops put them in a casserole with a generous helping of redcurrant jelly & await the results. Will do roasties & some sort of veg but not too sure what at the moment.

Paella became a morning mission, cooked in trusty cast iron skilled and was absolutely awesome. I need to make that more often, I think. Will be eating it through most the day, but also will be making homemade pizza for sprog today as he was a huge fan of the last one I made and asked for it again.