Why This Is Hell

Three Things

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:57:26 GMT

I have spent all day with three books and a back issue at my side, to write 400 words on Anne McCaffrey. I have yet to write any of them, but the rest of the chapter is drafted and I've rewatched Lord of the Rings which, my 14 year old self to the contrary, is actually reasonably good.
I have followed the first rule of skips and chucked the dead piece of my fence (from about four winters back) into it - it's right outside my house, the builders* woke me up as they have every day I've been here since early December and they've been allowed to use my back yard as a short cut.
I have a home made fish pie in the oven, having found trout in the freezer and opened a tin of something, maybe sardines.

* And no, Lamentables, these are not ones you'd want to have a diet coke break.

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Countdown to the Siege

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:47:52 GMT

There comes a point when you have to acknowledge that you have all the food you can possible eat in the house, and since the corner shop on Wincheap is open 7am-2pm on Saturday it's unlikely I'll starve. I have a surplus of brussels and potatoes and, it turns out, mushrooms, so that will make life interesting. I'v e got some stuff to make pies with, so mushrooms will go in there. I think brussel curry, sweet and sour brussel and brussel and cobnut (nutcrackers to be purchased) are on the cards.

On the other hand, I don't have gallons of bottled water, bleach and a roll of osamas, nor frankly enough pickles, as I'd planned an online Tesco shop and the weather put paid to that. If I get my ass in gear, pickled onions tomorrow. Have chutneys. Need eggeseses, but as cheap in corner shop.

I have, incredibly, spend a large amount of money on cheese (Colston Bassett Stilton - accept no substitute - Ashmore, Flower Marie, ~~Billy Goats Gruff~~ [Appear to have left this behind or not been sold it.], Double Gloucster, Mature Gouda, and I hope one more, in the cheddar family) and meat (Basque ham, chorizo and a sliced beef, which I can't remember the name of). But not above three figures.

I'm low on fruit and eggs, but I think I may go for a rice pudding for the Christmas meal afters itself.

Pickled brussel sprouts?
Roasted?
In Lemon Cream?

Yumster.

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Banoffee Pie

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 19:37:12 GMT

This was based on a number of recipes

400 ml can condensed milk
water
packet hobnobs or oaty biscuits (suggestive biscuits would do, probably wise not to be chocolate suggestives)
70 g butter
4 bananas
2 tsp (icing?) sugar
pot double cream (15 fl oz ish)

Put the can of condensed milk (not evap) into a pan of water and bring to boil, slowly. Do not open the tin. Do not pierce the tin. Do not stand over the pan). Leave for an hour or two then allow to cool.

Meanwhile make the base: break up or process the biscuits and mix with butter (I'd image a flour/sugar/oats combo would work, or a pastry base). Bake this at Gas Mark 4/180 C for 10 mins in a loose bottomed cake/flan tin of c. 20-24cm. Allow to cool.

Mix double cream and sugar and whip until thick.

Chop banananananananananas and place on biscuit base.

Open cooled tin of condensed milk and spread the caramel/toffee over the bananananananananas, flattening down.

Spread whipped cream and sugar over top of the toffee.

Stick in fridge to cool.

Serves 2 to 12.

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Yule Blog II

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:25:12 GMT

It seems to be an intensely choreographed set of maneuvres for an hour's meal. The smoked salmon has been forgotten in the freezer for a year or more, forgotten under a tray, and the bread was made Christmas Eve.

Wednesday I was to meet Tim for a coffee and post some mail, so I had a time to get to the farmer's market and buy cheese (I hadn't got round to an order) and Basque sliced ham and bacon (the pheasant was already in the freezer, to be taken out Christmas Eve). I also need to meet the deficiencies of the veg box - to wit, the lack of brussels, spuds and parsnips. The first two were acquired at the green grocer on Sr Dunstan's, whose exotic veg I should sample more of. The brussels took some hunting, as some of them were the size of small cabbages, and I prefer the button sized ones. That gave me enough time to meet Tim and his kids in Caffe Nerd, and to go to the Perst Orifice to get th last stuff off in the perst. I dropped into Aldi for dark chocolate, eggs, crackers, butter, lard - for a change - a bottle of beer, and some bread rolls. That should have been it but -

- well, cream, milk and toothpaste, and how about a new brush for Christmas? And obviously I needed to fill the prescription which I should have done on Tuesday. Plus two cheques needed depositing. I needed to go out, and awoke later than planned on Thursday, so it was 10.30 time I was in town. I called into Wilkos to price clippit tupperware boxes (cheapest thus far) and buy a cutlery box to go with the new draining board stacker, and hit Tescos. (I'd tried spending money in HMV, but decided that could wait). Tesco was clearly turning into panic buy central, although not with the two overloaded trolleys at once I recall from a Morrison's a decade ago. But I should have food to last me well into next week.

It took longer than planned to prep - zuzz and oven dry bread for bread sauce and stuffing (cloves were already soaking in milk for the former), chopping and parboiling spuds, chopping brussels, peeling parsnips (carrots were just chopped), and getting all ready.

It was thus gone noon when I went out for a walk, up Guildford Road and onto Lime Kiln Lane, then right onto the play area in search of evidence of old railways. I looked at a picnic table, and figured this might be a place to bring a lap top for quiet work. In summer. Then across down the side of the cultivated part of the field, and up to the hedge, where rows of apple trees start. Of course, the housing estate is still visible, but this feels countryside - although the A2 is noisier than I recall. As the path ascends, so does the cathedral: first Harry's tower, then the other spires and the main body of the building itself. It's moments like this that I get worship - but my admiration is reserved for those who spent centuries building such monuments to eternity.

The sun was already sinking, of course, and it was gne one before I trudged back home to cook.

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Expotitions in Medway

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:28:48 GMT

I rewarded myself for getting to the end of term with half a day in Medway --

("That's a reward?" FaceBooks Buffy Squirrel.
"It might have been a whole day," I respond.)

-- and I narrowly catch the train after the one I'd anticipated; curiously this train was running fifteen minutes late until thirty seconds before it arrived, on time or early. I noted how the new minimum charge for Railcards meant that I could have travelled before ten as as the card isn't valid. Grr for the money.

I've been through Gillingham, but not to it, and on the whole I didn't move off the high street. I'm not entirely sure I missed anything. It's a place that is clearly suffering - the charity shops are saver centres, presumably selling off stuff not sold in ordinary charity shops. For those who cannot afford a Poundshop, here's a 99p Shop. And, a few shops down, a 97p Shop. I call in a fried chicken shop for lunch, and overhear a conversation between a couple who are arguing over Facebook - he's denying blind that he has a page, and that's he's made his choice, he's fucking her.

I've had an hour or two there - if the weather was better I'd have wandered down to the shore - and part of the time was spent queueing in the CashConvertors to get some DVDs. Then I'm off to Rainham, for the bookshops. There's no barrier of the east platform, so I could break the journey without complications, although it's meant to be legal anyway.

The first port of call is the hospice charity shop: and there's a few seventies items I pick up, and another Shakespeare - All's Well's That Ends Well - to tick off the list. I stick my head in the new bookshop, but nothing is tempting, even a fifty pence copy of The Information, a book I've seen in dozens of Waterstone's sales. And then to the secondhand shop - much that was tempting, but I limit myself to a couple of hardbacks and a paperback.

The ulterior motive was to visit the butcher - supplied by the Brogdale butcher from Faversham. I pick up a pile of lamb chops for the freezer, some bacon and a pork shoulder joint.

I roasted the pork today - it took nearly four hours - and I don't think I've ever had sweeter or tenderer pork cooked at home. I need to work out what's left and what can be stored or frozen. Maybe make some into a pie. My roast potatoes were fine, but what made it were the mashed parsnips; I've mashed swede before, but I guess I've tended to roast or stew parsnips in the past. A useful discovery. Now to find some interesting ways of using carrots.

In the mean time, I fed the sourdough starter and made a loaf. It made a fair sized loaf, but I suspect it was a little too wet, and end up lower and flatter than I'd have preferred. Bread for spreading, on, not sandwiching, obviously. It'll be interesting to toast and add home made jam.

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You Win Some, You Wantsum*

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:24:57 GMT

( Re: recycling )
( Recipes )
( Reading )
( Ringing )

* Pointless (and frankly not thought through) geographical reference.

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Domestic God-ish

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:09:58 GMT

I note the elderberries dangling over someone's fence, and ponder whether a midnight raid or early morning bagging is more appropriate. I also suspect the brambles are about ready, so a trip to a patch above North Holmes Road may be in order. Some jam, some crumble, some vodka, some ... um?

Having bought, on the recommendation of Pete the Fish, some pouting, I wonder about fish pie, and of course lamentable's (red) thai curry, which I have the recipe for somewhere.

In the fridge there is black cherry jam and I have been macerating the other cherries for ~~three~~ Edit: four weeks.

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Culinary - Ooh, You are Offal

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:43:09 GMT

I recently purchased some lambs kidneys, and then, on Sunday dirt cheap, chopped ox's hearts. I turned to Hugh Fairly-Witless's tome on meat, but the recipe for faggots seems to require even more offal, though I guess it is a flexible recipe.

Since virtually all my other books are vegetarian, anyone any thoughts? I suspect it's save the meat till autumn, and s-l-o-w-l-y stew.

ETA: Canterbury Casserole? That feels ... fortuitous.

Today I bought BBQ chicken, and nowhere does it say how long to cook for. I assumed it was cooked already - but for the runniness of the sauce and the softness of the skin. I finally spotted the words "raw meat" somewhere, and grilled it before I ate any more.

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