A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Gattopardo]

Coffee, not tea.   

[Basil]

My lunch cost 2p today.

At ten o’clock last night #1 son popped over to the Garage/Tesco Express.  He came back with four packs of sandwiches and a packet of smoked mackerel.  Total cost – 5p.
They all had yesterday’s Use By dates on them, obv.

Of course I’m happy with that, but why do they bother?  Having a chap go round, moving and re-labelling those items would cost more than that.  Do they have to complete some sort of Wastage Return which they can reduce by selling stuff at 1p?

[nicknack]

I just looked in the cheese box. We have 12 different types of cheese and not one is a cheddar.

[interzen]

The last of the office chillies have been harvested and are now drying out on top of my computer (iMacs are good for something, after all) - the plants have been cut back for winter.

Not a bad harvest, all things considered, even if the Bhut Jolokia was stubbornly unproductive. That said, the copious quantities of sunshine during summer meant that even the 'milder' chillis (Apache, Prairie Fire et.al) ended up somewhere near the middle of the 'bastard hot' scale.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

If you've bought a bottle of sherry for a soup recipe which requires sherry, and you don't know what to do with the rest of the bottle because you don't like sherry, use it instead of wine in risotto.

[citoyen]

a soup recipe which requires sherry

Interesting. Tell me more.

and you don't know what to do with the rest of the bottle because you don't like sherry, use it instead of wine in risotto.

You can also use sherry instead of mirin in Japanese cooking, or indeed mirin instead of sherry in western recipes. They're not quite the same but close enough.

[Arch]

There are 5 demi johns of fledgling cider bubbling away in my kitchen.  If it's drinkable (we've never done this before), it'll be served at our wedding party.

Frankly, I've got mates who'll drink it whatever it tastes like!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

a soup recipe which requires sherry

Interesting. Tell me more.

See recipe thread.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I got some of Mrs Cudzo's currently favourite chocolate with advocaat filling. Made me think, someone should do chocolate with avocado filling.

[CAMRAMan]

The last of the office chillies have been harvested and... ...the plants have been cut back for winter.

Are chilli plants perennials? If so, I'll bring in my cayenne pepper plants.

[citoyen]

a soup recipe which requires sherry

Interesting. Tell me more.

See recipe thread.

Ah! Having seen the recipe, it doesn't sound quite so interesting now, sorry! I was imagining something along the lines of the beer soup that Michel Roux did on Masterchef last week... not that I'm an alcoholic or anything.

[hellymedic]

Looked at my credit card statement online.
My Graze boxes are billed to Sweden!

[L CC]

I never thought I'd (ever ever in a million years) say it, but


I wish I lived in the USA.

Veg boxes of avocados. Nom Nomity Nom

[CrinklyLion]

SmallestCub went on a school trip yesterday.  With lunch provided by the venue.  Key Stage One go to Wagamama's!

(Apparently he ate cucumber, carrots, sweetcorn, noodles and chicken, and he REALLY REALLY likes sweet and sour.  But we already knew that.  Bizarrely he didn't have any seaweed which I'm sure he's tried and liked before, and didn't eat any fish.)

[interzen]

The last of the office chillies have been harvested and... ...the plants have been cut back for winter.

Are chilli plants perennials?

Yup.
Stick 'em somewhere warm where they can get a bit of sun, keep the soil moist and they should be OK.

[Clare]

This should probably go in Grow Your Own but anyway, what is the pruning regime for chilli plants?

[interzen]

This should probably go in Grow Your Own but anyway, what is the pruning regime for chilli plants?

None that I'm aware of - I usually wing it anyway.

Generally I trimmed the office plants if they became a bit too bushy, mainly to encourage them to expend their energy producing fruit rather than leaves but also to remove any dead/unfertilised flowers. Now that growing season's finished I've cut them right back, almost to soil level and despite this the habanero plants are starting to put forth little leaves and the bhut jolokia is positively flourishing despite a near-terminal pruning about 6 weeks ago (still no fruit, though )

[campagman]

The Chileman knows

[Clare]

Thanks both, I'll give it a go with the plant in the office.

[mcshroom]

For some reason I decided to buy an avocado today so I'm looking up what to do with it (other than just eat it raw). Australian Avocados include the following advice:-

Warming, Heating and the Bain-marie

Dishes cooked with fresh avocados can be kept warm in a bain-marie for hours without loss of taste or texture. Reheating avocado-based dishes in the microwave is no problem however a whole piece of fruit will explode in the microwave after approximately 5 minutes heating.

Hmm, do I check this out?

[Biggsy]

Greek style yoghurt.  What's all that about?  If I wanted a cheesy taste, I would have had cheese.

[Julian]

When nomming After Eights, how many is too many?

[mcshroom]

Do you want the answer in After eights, or boxes thereof?

[Julian]

Hah, in individual after eights.

*looks guiltily at small mountain of black wrappers*

[mcshroom]

Are you feeling sick yet? If not then more than your current number

Don't know if this helps at all, but apparently there are 33 kcals per mint, and a Dairy milk bar is 240 kcals, so 7 annabit AEs = 1 Dairy Milk