New Forum Section - Hertford Memories

Vonny · Post by **Vonny** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:56 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:The book I use most frequently is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book -

I've got the River Cottage Family Cookbook. I won this and it's a signed copy

One of my friends was on the River Cottage programme a few years back and she had to sample whatever it was Hugh was cooking. She claimed it was very nice on tv but told me it was disgusting!

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:09 pm

Vonny wrote:
Richard Ruck wrote:The book I use most frequently is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book -
I've got the River Cottage Family Cookbook. I won this and it's a signed copy One of my friends was on the River Cottage programme a few years back and she had to sample whatever it was Hugh was cooking. She claimed it was very nice on tv but told me it was disgusting!

Hardly likely to turn round to the country boy and say....

"I thinks it's cr@p !" was she ??

Vonny · Post by **Vonny** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:12 pm

J.R. wrote:
Vonny wrote:
Richard Ruck wrote:The book I use most frequently is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book -
I've got the River Cottage Family Cookbook. I won this and it's a signed copy One of my friends was on the River Cottage programme a few years back and she had to sample whatever it was Hugh was cooking. She claimed it was very nice on tv but told me it was disgusting!
Hardly likely to turn round to the country boy and say....

"I thinks it's cr@p !" was she ??

Well no but she did look soooo convincing - putting the mmmm's in the right places etc.

cj · Post by cj » Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:16 pm

The fact is that when you're cooking for a family every day, it becomes a chore. And then if someone takes a dislike to something they've previously enjoyed, you really just want to dump it on their heads. Chefs that leave things marinading in the fridge for three months and sauteing rare organic beetle boils with an oriental jus are fine for the cook with time and money, but for the rest of us, Delia, Woman's Weekly and the BBC Good Food magazine are just about manageable and always reliable. If it can be slung in one pot for a couple of hours, I like it! We're having pommes de terre sliced and roasted, with a compot of tomatoes and haricots, served with an elegance of pork and herbs - chips, beans and sausages, because it's Friday and I'm tired.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:39 pm

Hmmm sausage chips and beans - yum!

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:27 pm

so are we.

Vonny · Post by **Vonny** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:52 pm

Chinese for me tonight - we have one EVERY Friday

(Cue JR)

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:54 pm

We usually have a 'chippy' tea, but had that last night instead.

cj · Post by cj » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:32 pm

Before we had Cora, Beth would go to her Gran's on a Friday after school for tea, so it was curry night for us plus TOTP. Alas, those days are gone. And we have choir practice now on Fridays, so tea is a rather hurried affair. We have two really good Indian restaurants a few hundred yards down the road from our house, plus an excellent fish and chip restaurant a bit closer and a reasonable Chinese even nearer (staggering distance). Add to that a video shop two doors down and we're set for an evening's entertainment. I felt it was quite justified before the kitchen was installed, but now I really ought to cook from scratch.

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:17 pm

Vonny wrote:Chinese for me tonight - we have one EVERY Friday

(Cue JR)

As if.......................

We had one of my special home made spaghetti bols with garlic bread tonight.

What is all this talk about Delia Bl00dy Smith ?

I actually watched one of her initial half hour programmes on how to boil an egg !!!!!!

PERLEEEEZZ !!!!!

She can't run a football team, and this is reflected in her cookery lessons !

icomefromalanddownunder · Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:25 am

cj wrote: I felt it was quite justified before the kitchen was installed, but now I really ought to cook from scratch.

No, no Cath!

You'll just wear it out, and then you'll need to buy another one

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:11 am

icomefromalanddownunder wrote:
cj wrote: I felt it was quite justified before the kitchen was installed, but now I really ought to cook from scratch.
No, no Cath!

You'll just wear it out, and then you'll need to buy another one

We are having a new kitchen installed in 4 weeks, just the excuse I need not to cook in it. We are also having a new bathroom, but I think I will HAVE to use that.

midget · Post by **midget** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:41 pm

J.R. wrote:
Vonny wrote:Chinese for me tonight - we have one EVERY Friday

(Cue JR)

As if.......................

We had one of my special home made spaghetti bols with garlic bread tonight.

What is all this talk about Delia Bl00dy Smith ?

I actually watched one of her initial half hour programmes on how to boil an egg !!!!!!

PERLEEEEZZ !!!!!

She can't run a football team, and this is reflected in her cookery lessons !

When I was laid low with a stomach bug a couple of years ago, Joe turned to trusty Delia and produced a life-saving boiled egg and soldiers.

MKM · Post by **MKM** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 4:58 pm

cj wrote:... kitchen was installed ...

englishangel wrote:We are having a new kitchen installed in 4 weeks

We are hoping to get a new kitchen installed (the cabinets we inherited when we moved in 20 years ago are falling apart). Any good tips? Funny stories about what you did wrong?

Apple Charlotte from Delia's recipe (but leaving out the sugar, so diabetic friend can eat it) is in the falling-apart oven.

sejintenej · Post by **sejintenej** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:00 pm

MKM wrote:We are hoping to get a new kitchen installed (the cabinets we inherited when we moved in 20 years ago are falling apart). Any good tips? Funny stories about what you did wrong?

Put a new kitchen in the farm last summer and put the old one in our quarters. Of course the brand new dishwasher leaked like a seive round the door but the manufacturers, Whirlpool, refused to do anything; we were not allowed to see the (non) warranty until after paying and the unit was delivered (we were not even allowed to collect from their warehouse.
Ikea eventually exchanged it but that led to other problems; it is under the sink and we still haven't got the taps straight again. Also the leak from the dishwasher damaged the false front supplied by Ikea; the steam got into the padding inside so it has expanded splitting the cover. Despite heaven knows how many contacts Ikea simply ignore any requests to replace the false front or suggest an alternative strategy.

OTOH we re-doored some existing cupboards in England some years ago and those are fine. However, the drawer slides were starting to give out so 3 months ago I replaced every drawer bar one with metal ones on really strong slides (about Â£8 each), using the old drawer fronts. Having done one each subsequent one took perhaps 30 minutes. In the case of ythe exception I converted a narrow door and the cupboard below it into a pull out steel unit with an internal steel drawer (Ikea bits). An hour's work and reasonably cheap - used the old fronts. Houses all our cookery books. Quick, easy satisfactory.

Carcases are pretty standard - why not consider changing the internals and perhaps the doors. These days sizes are pretty standardised.