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

[Mrs Pingu]

Quick, it's working!

[hellymedic]

Not sure if it is really. Got a 504 Gateway Timeout several times attempting to get my oats...

ETA It's not functioning properly; I have not yet managed to order my porridge...[22.55]
ETA It's not functioning properly; I have not yet managed to order my porridge...[23.55]

[00.27] Website down...

[Chris S]

Maybe their server was plugged into the same socket as BA's.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Sainsbury's online groceries website has been down since last night.

It was up for long enough today for it to allow me to make a change to my order but then it died when I attempted to checkout

Don't think I've known it down for as long in 12 years of shopping online. It IS a Bank Holiday weekend; it's also one of the two Sundays during which supermarkets close.

Porridge oats level likely to become critical by next weekend.

Might have to send The Man to Tesco/Morrison's/Asda which are all within half a mille...

Whereas in the Heathen lands, not very supermarche only shut on Sunday if it's 25/12 or 1/1. Cos we are Heathens.

I think that in Englandland it varies from branch to branch.

[hellymedic]

Insanesbury's website is sort-of up, slower than a slow thing and has just given me a 504.

Flakier than a 99...

... and has just crashed again * 4 ... YAWN!

[Mr Larrington]

I've long fancied a 504 coupé.  Are they still giving them away?

[hellymedic]

Boom Boom!

[citoyen]

I made no-added-sugar strawberry ice cream - cream, egg yolk, vanilla essence, strawberries, and absolutely nothing else. It was awesome. Just wanted to share that with you all.

[T42]

I thought it was illegal to eat UK strawberries without added sugar.

[ian]

That's the problem: nasty strawbs, the ones that taste of tears and disappointment and little else. Ice cream and sorbet didn't ought to need sugar.

I had a pot of sugar-free ice cream made the same way last year – again, just fruit, egg yolk, and double cream – and it was splendid and made other ice creams thereafter disappointing.

In other news, don't order two scoops in a waffle cone (people, let's not go there) at an American ice cream shop. This is mostly advice for me. Americans may be able to eat that much ice cream. I can't. My seismic sugar shakes had to be quelled with a quadruple IPA imbibed stat. I've been reminded that this is a common mistake on my part and I always have to give up and throw half of it away.

[citoyen]

I thought it was illegal to eat UK strawberries without added sugar.

If freshly picked from the garden at peak ripeness, it would be a sin to add anything to them...

Alas, the strawbs I used in my ice cream were of the supermarket variety, but I cooked them down to a mush, reduced the liquid a bit, whizzed them up in the food processor and sieved them and the resulting purée was deliciously sweet with no need to add any more sugar. Would have been even better with good strawberries.

For my next trick, I might have a go at making some Neapolitan ice cream.

Americans may be able to eat that much ice cream. I can't.

I can't eat American ice cream at all - I don't get why people rave about Ben & Jerry's. It's disgustingly sweet even before they start adding all the biscuits, marshmallows etc.

[paulatic]

Met this guy in Castle Douglas while on KM Rally. Certainly made me smile.

[T42]

Both please, with gravy & a pint of McEwans.

[hellymedic]

Cheap'n'cheerful little strawberries are LOADS sweeter than the pretty, pricy giants.

[ian]

I dunno, the huge M&S King Strawbs other than being monstrously large are usually lush. But they cost about £50. The somewhat cheaper punnet of Waitrose Essentials (because strawbs are essential) that I just ate for my belated lunch wasn't bad but didn't really commit to being properly tasty.

In other matters, I confess to liking lumpy ice cream with hunks of biscuit, entire cakes, sundry confectionery etc.

Not to mention this blissfully confected boozy milk stout awesomeness I consumed last Sunday.

[Jakob W]

Did that work? I'm never particularly sold on beer and desserts - I usually find the components fight one another and taste too sweet/bitter respectively.

[ian]

To be honest, no. Even the sweetish Belching Beaver milk stout couldn't come close to matching all that ice cream sweetness (my wife had the peanut butter version), nor did it have enough fizz. It was more a case of novelty awesomeness (and it was hot day and we were sitting in the window, so ice cream in some format was called for, and well, we were in a bar, so needs must). I won't be spooning ice cream into my stouts on a regular basis. Unless it's Guinness, in which case chuck away the original contents of the glass and replace with ice cream.

For a proper ice cream float you need something sweet and fizzy like cola so you basically end up with fizzy ice cream. Birch, sarsaparilla, and root beer floats (with vanilla ice cream) are an American staple and quite nom. Normal beer, not so.

[Pingu]

...For a proper ice cream float you need something sweet and fizzy like cola so you basically end up with fizzy ice cream. Birch, sarsaparilla, and root beer floats (with vanilla ice cream) are an American staple and quite nom. Normal beer, not so.

Moray Cup 

[ian]

Cool. That would certainly put a Scottish twist on the ice cream float. Rumour has that children from the blasted north aren't spanked pink by the constant wind and vigorous parental admonishments, but from the heady consumption of Moray Cup with their fish suppers.

There's a place on the Upper West Side of NYC that does Cel-Ray* floats. That's, erm, interesting.

*celery soda, I don't joke, aka Jewish Champagne.

[T42]

...For a proper ice cream float you need something sweet and fizzy like cola so you basically end up with fizzy ice cream. Birch, sarsaparilla, and root beer floats (with vanilla ice cream) are an American staple and quite nom. Normal beer, not so.

Moray Cup 

Gasp! Complete with eel?

I thought it was illegal to eat UK strawberries without added sugar.

If freshly picked from the garden at peak ripeness, it would be a sin to add anything to them...

Alas, the strawbs I used in my ice cream were of the supermarket variety...

Supermarkets here started selling gariguettes a good few years back. They're usually either excellent or mouldy.

When I was growing up, strawberries appearing in the shops were a sign of approaching Wimbledon.  Pinkish green-white lumps dowsed in caster sugar and cream, eaten with grim determination.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The tastiest strawberries I've ever eaten are also the cheapest, sold by farmers (or rather, smallholders) in Polish markets. When you get a glut year, which happens quite often, they're desperate to get rid of them before they turn into pink sludge and whether through a combination of soil and climate or because of the varieties (small, bright red) they are delicious.

[Gattopardo]

What to do with cantaloupe melons?  Ice cream, sorbet and smothies...anyother ideas for longer term storage?

Also cherry tomatoes, for longer term storage.  At the mo have squezzed the tomatoes to crush them and slow cooked them with basil, garlic and paprika for a salsa.  Any other ideas?

[T42]

This afternoon I found exactly two wild strawbs in our garden: one was pale and uninteresting, but the other was delightful, if with a certain soupçon of eau de dog about it.

[citoyen]

I found three wild/alpine strawbs in our garden this afternoon, so ner! We had loads last year but the beds have got a bit overgrown so the strawberry plants have been swamped.

[hellymedic]

This afternoon I found exactly two wild strawbs in our garden: one was pale and uninteresting, but the other was delightful, if with a certain soupçon of eau de dog about it.

Eau de dog or odour dog or are they the same?