What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

[SusieMisajon]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Did you forget the yeast? Or maybe the liquid was too hot and killed the little baby yeasties?

[SusieMisajon]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

My Mom's recipe for purple cabbage...

Finely chop an onion and fry it in a bit of fat, then add a chopped head of purple cabbge, a couple of chopped apples, a pinch of clove, and a bayleaf or two. If there's wine available (any kind), add some of that, or water. Simmer gently til tender and add salt at the end, if needed.

There's a funny story that goes with my making this recipe.

Before my marriage, I took my French fiancé to Germany to meet my family on my Mother's side...she's the only one who went to America to live, and all the rest of them are still in and around Heilbronn, in the south part of Germany. I spoke German as a small kid, but most of the Germans speak English fairly well, plus some of the French...fiancé included...speak some German.

My intended, thinking to make a good impression, brought along a very good bottle of Bordeaux wine to present to my Uncle Rolf. It came with instructions on how to store it, and when and what to drink it with. This was a wine that was to be put into the cave for at least ten years, and was given with the appreciation that we would be going back to France with not only some of the delicious wine of the Heilbronn region, but also with bottles of homemade schnapps that would be in our cave for decades to come and only brought out for the most special of occasions.

Now, I have to tell you that I LOVE to go back to Germany and eat all the most delicious of the foods that there are on offer there....pretzles, spaetzle, sausages, roast beef with flecks of fat barded through, schnitzel, hot potato salad, braised red cabbage, sauerkraut, maltaschen, salad with their really good homemade vinaigrette....and my family there knows this and makes sure that all that is served when I'm there.

So, a few days later, there was the delicious smell of red cabbage coming from my Aunties' kitchen. My fiancé and my uncle and I were stiiting in the dining room having coffee and cake, when the smell became overpowering and I remarked how much I was looking foreward to lunch, when my Auntie called out in German from the kitchen that it was going to be all the more special because she'd used the bottle of wine that we'd brought.

The look on my uncle's face was priceless. It lasted exactly one second, before he erupted in a great roar, which was answered by quite a lot of banging and screaming from the kitchen.

I knew I had to NOT laugh. My poor uncle was mortified. I knew he had a tiny shred of hope that my fiancé wouldn't have understood what was going on and he could maybe pretend that this hadn't happened. It was one of those moments that you remember forever.

The fiancé looked from one face to another and guessed what had happened and was polite and generous enough to make a joke of it. My poor, poor Uncle Rolf never got over it. I actually didn't care, becase I don't drink wine, but do eat red cabbage...no matter what kind of wine is used for cooking it.

Then there's another story...another boyfriend, another visit to German relatives...This time the BF was an older British one. That very same uncle took him to visit a giant wargrave...the results of which were from an attack by British bombers that had mistaken the city for an industrial area when the cloud cover wasn't too good. Thousands upon thousands died in the firestorm that engulfed the city.

[Barry]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Thanks. I tried to contact you but HT wouldn't let me through.

No way of passing my email on here and I am limited to the amount of words I say on this PM and URL.

[helen]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

McDouble sandwiches, Chicken McNuggets and a cup of Diet Coke from McDonalds.

[anapuni808]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

left overs from yesterday's crock pot dinner. Still delicious!

[SusieMisajon]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

For Helen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...to-mother.html

Pensioner drinks nothing but Coke for 40 years in promise to mother
A Croatian man claims he has drunk nothing but Coca-Cola for the past 40 years – because he promised his mother he would not touch alcohol.

Last Updated: 8:47PM GMT 20 Feb 2009

'Coke is my drug now, and I'll drink it till I die,' Pero Ajtman said Photo: REUTERS
Pero Ajtman, 71, said he promised his mother he would stop drinking alcoholic beverages four decades ago.

"My mum didn't like me drinking when I was a young man as she was very religious," he explained to the Croatian tabloid 24 Sata.

"She made me promise never to drink again and Coca-Cola was the only thing that tasted as good as wine so I started drinking that.

"Now I have a glass in the morning, before and after lunch, with my dinner and then before I go to bed. I never drink anything else."

The pensioner, who lives in the village of Karanac, near the city of Osijek, in eastern Croatia, said he had no intention of abandoning his habit.

"My mother isn't here to tell me not to drink any more but I'm not even tempted to quit coke for alcohol.

"Coke is my drug now, and I'll drink it till I die," he said, adding that he had not experienced any major health problems.

There was no word on what Mr Ajtman's dentist thought of his sugary diet.

[Barry]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

For Helen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...to-mother.html

Pensioner drinks nothing but Coke for 40 years in promise to mother
A Croatian man claims he has drunk nothing but Coca-Cola for the past 40 years – because he promised his mother he would not touch alcohol.

Last Updated: 8:47PM GMT 20 Feb 2009

'Coke is my drug now, and I'll drink it till I die,' Pero Ajtman said Photo: REUTERS
Pero Ajtman, 71, said he promised his mother he would stop drinking alcoholic beverages four decades ago.

"My mum didn't like me drinking when I was a young man as she was very religious," he explained to the Croatian tabloid 24 Sata.

"She made me promise never to drink again and Coca-Cola was the only thing that tasted as good as wine so I started drinking that.

"Now I have a glass in the morning, before and after lunch, with my dinner and then before I go to bed. I never drink anything else."

The pensioner, who lives in the village of Karanac, near the city of Osijek, in eastern Croatia, said he had no intention of abandoning his habit.

"My mother isn't here to tell me not to drink any more but I'm not even tempted to quit coke for alcohol.

"Coke is my drug now, and I'll drink it till I die," he said, adding that he had not experienced any major health problems.

There was no word on what Mr Ajtman's dentist thought of his sugary diet.

I was thinking that ! There's probably not a tooth in his head.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Dinner was another hunk of the roastzilla, served with homemade mayonnaise on wholewheat bread from the breadmachine. Next time I see pork shoulders on sale, I think I'll buy a dozen...it was so good.

For dessert there was chocolate cake to celebrate Keoni's 18th birthday...how could I be the mother of an adult!?

[helen]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Noodles, orange chicken, beef broccoli and a cup of Mountain Dew from U Choice In.

[Barry]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Spaghetti Carbonara

I am off to Sainsbury's supermarket as soon as this rain goes 'cause there are some special ingredients I need for this meal.
4 friends are joining me so the recipe is for 5.

Takes about 15 mins to prepare and 30 to cook.


Ingredients
400g/14oz dried spaghetti
175g/6¼oz piece smoked pancetta, rind removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
handful flatleaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
3 large free-range eggs, beaten
50g/1¾oz pecorino sardo maturo (mature Sardinian pecorino), finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method
1. Bring 4.5 litres/8 pints water to the boil in a large saucepan with eight teaspoons salt. Add the spaghetti and cook for nine minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cut the pancetta into lardons (short little strips), about 6mm/1¼in wide.
3. Heat a large, deep frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the oil and the pancetta and fry until lightly golden. Add the garlic and parsley and cook for a few seconds, then remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Drain the spaghetti well, tip into the frying pan with the pancetta, garlic and parsley, add the beaten eggs and half the grated pecorino cheese and toss together well.
5. Season to taste with a little salt and black pepper. The heat from the spaghetti will be sufficient to partly cook the egg, but still leave it moist and creamy. Take to the table and serve in warmed pasta bowls, sprinkled with the rest of the cheese.




For Afters, I cheated and bought some lovely Italian Ice Cream Chocolate cake and a bottle of Chianti.

[Barry]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Tuesday evening here and we call it Pancake Tuesday. I've got some elderly neighbours and so they are getting pancakes with sugar, lemon and maple syrop delivered to them, with a glass of sherry.
No need to give you lot the recipe for pancakes

[helen]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Noodles, black pepper chicken, chicken mushroom, fortune cookie and a cup of Mountain Dew from Panda Express at Ala Moana Shopping Center.

[tutusue]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

2 free JitB tacos! Thanks Mike Lowery!

[helen]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Various chicken forms, some veggies and a Mountain Dew from KFC.

[Barry]

Re: What's for Dinner - Chapter 4

Simple today:-

Home made tomato soup. Ritz crackers, soft creamed cheese mixed with chives and topped with a tiger prawn.

Far too much just for me, so I have put a lot in tupperware containers in the freezer.

Ingredients

6 medium tomatoes
1 Tbsp of tomato paste
1 tea spoon of sugar
1 half a cup of milk
1 heaped teaspoon of cornflour
1 small potato
1 clove of garlic
Salt 'n Peper
Water.


Method

Peel and chop the potato and put it in a pan to boil. We are going to mash that up to thicken the soup.
Pour a kettle of boiling water over the tomatoes to get the skins off.
Add the finely chopped garlic to the pan and then the tomatoes.
Cook for about 5 mins before adding a pint of water and the tomato paste/puree.
Let it boil and then simmer for about half an hour. Then add the sugar.

Finally mix the cornflour with the milk and add it to the soup,,, but this time don't bring it to the boil. Just warm until it thickens.

It is lovely but here is a cook's tip Please don't do what I did ! I put the remaining soup into the containers and straight into the freezer.
Yup yer right ! It defrosted the freezer.
If I had a brain,,,, I'd be dangerous.