Sorry to say, but this site has been so depressing for a few days. I thought I'd ask an average, everyday question....to make us all feel a little more normal today.
I made Eggplant Lasagna, and my BIL and SIL are coming for dinner. They leave for Cali tomorrow to see their beautiful grand daughter.
Sorry, sometimes we just need some REGULAR conversation.......or at least THIS caregiver does.
DH said his mother was a terrible cook , they ate burnt broiled steak all the time . He said he knew dinner was ready when the smoke alarm went off . 🙄
My grandmother was Norwegian and she made that bread. She also made these small finger pastries with fruit filling . I forgot what she called them . She made two kinds, apricot and strawberry . Do you know those ?
(I was surprised to discover some of the wines I had always considered quite sweet are actually very dry it's just that the lack of oakiness and tannin make them less astringent, so unless the reds you like are syrupy sweet one of those might work just fine)
Beatty, that is too funny. 😂
Golden, I don't know about fruit loaf, never had it. Around here, the stores sell fruit cakes at Christmas, and they are bricks. I always thought you either used them as door stoppers or gave them as gifts to people you didn't like.
I started cooking when I could reach the stove. It came from being in my grandmother's kitchen so much. My sibs and I could easily prepare a hot meal from the time we were nine or ten years old. This worked out nicely because my mother didn't care for cooking and wasn't every good at it anyway. Everyone from my father's side of the family were cooks. Even the men. It just came to us naturally.
Last night I made homemade General Tso chicken with stir- fry veggies and jasmine rice.
It was nice. Im exploring Chinese cooking now.
If you're making braised beef use a beaujolais, cotes de rhone, or a burgundy. This is to make the classic French Boeuf Braisee. I also add a little brandy. Julia Child is right every time. It gives it a little something extra.
You can also use chiati. This is the Italian version. The seasonings are a little different though. Bay leaf, oregano, and olive oil during the cooking.
Nothing is a substitution for the red wine needed to make a recipe for braised beef. Do not use rice wine or cooking sherry because it will ruin the dish.
NEVER use cooking wine either. It is useless and should not even be on shelves. It's loaded with salt and will ruin a dish calling for wine.
You don't have to spend a fortune on wine to cook with either. Cheap wine is fine. My grandparents kept a cheap jug of chianti under the sink. They cooked with it all the time and often made sangria with it.
You can also serve what you don't use with the meal.
https://wineinsiders.com/blog/Dry-White-Wine-Substitute-Tips
I tried to make puff pastry once too without success. My grandmother made beautiful puff pastry but mother never made pastry nor baked with yeast. I watched Bestemor (Norwegian for grandmother) make it when I was a kid, but I was too young to really learn it. I don't remember if it was edible of not but it certainly wasn't puff pastry.
(I followed a recipe for gnocchi). My (not yet married) man looked so confused! He said later it was hunger + do I pretend I can eat it? + more hunger + I'll have to be honest!
I think he suggested pizza too 🤣
It was. I baked two very bad apples that were dumped in the trash! LOL
When I was learning, and a dish didn’t turn out well, my husband would say, “Honey, would you like to go out to dinner tonight?” I would look at him and say, “Is it that bad? Okay, let’s go out!”
I guess it would have helped if I would have tasted it as I cooked to check for the seasoning. I never thought to do that when I was younger.
Now, we have food blogs, YouTube, recipe sites, several cooking shows on television. It’s easier to learn to cook now.
I tried making dinner for my friends in my very first apartment, long before I was married. I had no idea what I was doing! LOL 😆
I lied and said that I was cooking a delicious meal just like my mother did. Then I told another lie and said that I was using my mother’s recipe! I was trying to impress them by being a great southern cook.
My friend took one bite and he said, “I think you should call your mom and ask her for instructions because you obviously didn’t do it right!”
My boyfriend laughed and said, “We’re hungry, so I am going to order a pizza.”
I did call my mom and she asked me how I made it and I told her. I also made the mistake of telling her that I told my friends that it was her recipe. She said, “When you mess up something, please don’t ever say that it is my recipe!” 😆 But she did tell me how to cook the dish properly.
My young and stupid days! We have all had those, right?
I am a good cook but let me tell you that when I screw something up, it is awful!
Did you read my fairy recent post about the baked apple that I made for my husband? I accidentally put paprika instead of cinnamon on it.
I know that it had to be horrible because my husband is the most chill guy who never complains about anything that I serve him didn’t eat it.
I saw him get up and throw the baked apple in the trash. LOL 😆
Okay, I did try to fix my mistake when I realized I put paprika on the apple. I quickly rinsed it off and put cinnamon on it, but I must have missed the part inside the core.
Anyway, I goofed! I asked him if it was really that bad and he said, “It was pretty bad. I brushed my teeth to get rid of the bad taste that it left in my mouth.”
I had a sweet potato and some turkey.
I only need to run the dishwasher once a week. There are some good things about living alone.
😶😶
I don't think I left them in the oven long enough.The dough didn't seem cooked even though I left it in the oven an extra minute.
I put them in the bowl to give to the outside animals but
thanks for your ideas anyway cwillie~
It's amazing just 2 people and a bunch of animals dirty up so many dishes.
I do a load every night~
For our dinner tonight,I decided to try a new recipe.
Meatballs wrapped in a cressant (spl?) on top mozzarella cheese mixed with cream cheese and Italian seasoning ,painted with spaghetti sauce that you put into a muffin pan and bake.
Well,
They were just awful and I'll never make them again.
My dH said it was inedible.
And now I have all those pans to wash~
Yes, I am Greek. My grandparents (my father's parents) were from Italy but his mother was Greek.
I was brought up Catholic. I converted to Judaism to marry my second husband.