Net Work Book Club discussion
THE GREETINGS AND IDLE CHAT THREAD 2018
If you're trying to lose weight (and who isn't) follow this advice and the pounds will melt away:If man made it, don't eat it.
Groovy wrote: "If you're trying to lose weight (and who isn't) follow this advice and the pounds will melt away:If man made it, don't eat it."
If it comes in a plastic package with bright colours and big letters on the label--it's not food. The size and brightness are inversely proportioned to the amount of nutrition in the package, and directly proportioned to the number of empty calories.
We have a corrolary: Eat things as close to the way they appear in Nature as possible. I. E., as little processing as possible.Or as DH says, "If you can't pronounce it, it's not healthy." Referring to all the chemicals they put in food now.
That's the other part I'd tried to remember--the "If you can't pronounce it"...And Anna, you're doing a lot better than I am. I've been snacking on my bowl of peanut-butter and chocolate cheerios all week--Shame on me.
There's a Korean man educated in the US on Youtube with a channel called Future Neighbour, that has cooking videos. Like most countries in the East, Korea has no specific "breakfast food". They serve "banchans"--side dishes that go well with rice. I've learned a lot. The recipes are quick and easy and many can be prepared the night before and just warmed up. If rice is a problem, just use a half-portion. You may edit the ingredients (no chili, less of the red paste I can neither spell nor pronounce, etc) to suit your tastes. Don't want to use white wine? Use ginger ale or apple juice. Though the alcohol evaporates even before it comes to a boil. They sell alcohol-free mirin online or in places like TJ's, too.
My daughter loves the Asian culture, especially Japanese and Korean. She speaks fluent Japanese. And she would love this. I'm going to tell her about this so she can get started cooking us some Korean meals:)
Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) wrote: "We have a corrolary: Eat things as close to the way they appear in Nature as possible. I. E., as little processing as possible.Or as DH says, "If you can't pronounce it, it's not healthy." Referr..."
The would be difficult when I want bacon for breakfast I can't see myself running after a pig trying to take a bite.
Groovy wrote: "My daughter loves the Asian culture, especially Japanese and Korean. She speaks fluent Japanese. And she would love this. I'm going to tell her about this so she can get started cooking us some Kor..."OK Groovy do you know which State is a Greeting in Japanese ?
mrbooks wrote: "Groovy wrote: "My daughter loves the Asian culture, especially Japanese and Korean. She speaks fluent Japanese. And she would love this. I'm going to tell her about this so she can get started cook..."I do! But I'll wait till Groovy sees this.
Groovy, Future Neighbour's "Breakfast Toast" is delicious! Korea's answer to the Egg McMuffin and a good way to get more veggies.
OHIO! Ha! Can't fool me even if I did cheat a little:)Can't wait to try that, Ori, since I breathe Egg McMuffins:)
Hey cheating is the name of the game if you can get away of it, even if you can't. do you talk to your daughter on the dingwah
Groovy wrote: "OHIO! Ha! Can't fool me even if I did cheat a little:)Can't wait to try that, Ori, since I breathe Egg McMuffins:)"
One thing I like is that you can "get" the recipes on their channel in a very short time. They also have a website with all their recipes written out, and other good info. I actually registered as a user, which tells you how good it is.
Groovy wrote: "My daughter loves the Asian culture, especially Japanese and Korean. She speaks fluent Japanese. And she would love this. I'm going to tell her about this so she can get started cooking us some Kor..."Somehow I missed that your daughter speaks Japanese! Me jelly!! I would love to learn at least to read it. I look at the spines of books and the shrine flags in Totoro and want to know what they say!
You mean, Denwa, right? And yes, all the time. I think you're trying to trip me up...Ori, you know YouTube is filled with lessons. Get started. I'm taking French lessons off of it.
My daughter taught herself how to speak it. And I got her a t-shirt that says, "I speak fluent Japanese." She gets lots of requests:)
I sit and stare at the spines of the books in the father's office in Totoro and wonder what they say. So far I just cook Japanese when I can. It's surprisingly easy to do. I wish we could get together and I'd show you! I am subbed to a couple of Japanese cooking channels on YT. One is new to me, "Kurashiru". Her vids are literally like 30 seconds long but they show you what you need to know. If your daughter can read Japanese she won't need my "comments" on some recipes where I click on Google Translate, tidy it up, and post the English ingredients! I use Kurashiru's recipes all the time. They're simple and good! I would never have dreamed of stir-frying chicken with (Japanese) mayo instead of oil in the pan! (If you can get Kewpie brand mayo, it's da bomb! They even have a word in Japanese for hardline mayo lovers--"mayoru."
I will have to look for that Mayo I am a mayo lover, I even like the garlic mayo, the one they use for shish LOL.
Kewpie is pricy because it's an import but it uses a special plastic squeeze bottle that keeps the contents from spoiling. It lasts for months! I saw a documentary on how that particular plastic is made in layers etc...can't remember the details but it was interesting!
Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) wrote: "I sit and stare at the spines of the books in the father's office in Totoro and wonder what they say. So far I just cook Japanese when I can. It's surprisingly easy to do. I wish we could get toget..."I wish we could cook some Asian together too, Ori. But the YouTube channels you recommend is great. Can't wait to get into this new channel. Thanks!
I finally made decent lemonade scones, MrBooks. The ones that only use SR flour, fizzy lemonade (sevenup to you and me), and cream. I also mixed in some flaked almonds this time. What was letting me down was my baking powder, it must have been dead.
As I remember the discussion I think you gave her the recipe Groovy but I am old and my memory is fading LOL.
Groovy wrote: "Did I give you that recipe? Or was it yours? Anyway, they are delicious:)"I got it off Youtube and put it here somewhere.
It's the OLYMPICS!!!! Yeessss! I hope y'all are enjoying it. I'll be in front of my TV for the next two weeks:)
Groovy wrote: "It's the OLYMPICS!!!! Yeessss! I hope y'all are enjoying it. I'll be in front of my TV for the next two weeks:)"Golly, she just came back and now she's gone. Off again, on again, gone again Finnegan.
Off again on again here again there again Americancouldn't resist it had to come out in rhyme or my Brian would be stuck doing time.
I am chuckling at myself. For years I have moaned about the fact that you can't get really sour dill pickles here. Which you can't. The delicious, sour/salty dill pickle Americans know and love is unavailable. All pickles here are actually very sweet. You can't get pickle relish, either. I've been craving tuna salad with tons of chopped celery and relish...and it hit me, the way a rake hits you when you step on it and the handle comes up and whacks you in the leg:If all our pickles are sweet, and I want pickle relish, all I have to do is take some of those sweet pickles and chop them up fine. Instant relish.
Voilá, as the French are so fond of remarking.
So I chopped me up some gherkins and made tuna salad.
duh.
***applauding** and bon appetite:)Honestly, I can't believe it took you this long, woman. And as much as you like looking up recipes, why didn't you make your own sour pickles?
You brought back some memories, though. We used to live in this one-horse town. And we would always run down to the corner store and buy these giant sour pickles to eat (one for each of us) They were in big jars, and the store clerk would pull them out and wrap them in paper. We loved those things:)
Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) wrote: "I am chuckling at myself. For years I have moaned about the fact that you can't get really sour dill pickles here. Which you can't. The delicious, sour/salty dill pickle Americans know and love is ..."For the Dill Pickles you could always make your own. It's not hard.
Groovy wrote: "***applauding** and bon appetite:)Honestly, I can't believe it took you this long, woman. And as much as you like looking up recipes, why didn't you make your own sour pickles?
You brought back ..."
We didn't have the corner store with the sour pickles but I remember getting them from mason jars after my mother made them could hardly wait for them to pickle completely that's how desperate we were for them...
No canning jars here to keep them in, though. Plus no waterbath canner. People here don't can their own stuff.
Ori, you know Amazon's got just what you need. You don't have to be limited by the country you live in--Hey, that would make a good slogan for them--LOL! Here in the South, as you both know, it's canning mayhem:)
Hey I came from Massachusetts and it was canning mayhem there as well. It always taste better if you do it your self. From Homemade green tomato relish to strawberry Jam Blackberry Jam Tomato's Peaches green beans Corn you name it we canned it when I was a kid. We also grew it on my mothers 1/4 Acre garden, You will be surprised how much you can grow on 1/4 of an acre. Of course there is always the homemade Pickles of both verities.
You wanna talk mayhem; my mother's house sat on a lot and a half; the full lot was mostly vegetable garden! We canned and froze all summer so we could eat all winter. To this day, if I close my eyes I can call up the rows and rows of green beans. Corn, tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers were my mother's main crop. It all went into bags and jars. We kids had to set up an "assembly line" to peel, chop and jar the produce in the jars Mom sterilised. I chose to be the one to sit in the hot steamy kitchen and watch/time the waterbath canner (which was so heavy and used so much that it eventually deformed the stainless steel stovetop). That way I could sit and read while a batch cooked, instead of being in the garden picking and weeding!
From the 1957 edition of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, sent to me by a missionary friend:Cover with cold water about 50 small slim cucumbers. Let stand overnight. Drain and pack in jars. Put in a (large) saucepan 1 quart (read 1 liter) mild vinegar, ¾ cup (read 175 ml) of salt, and 2 quarts (read 2 liters) of water. Bring to a boil. Pour over the cucumbers. Add to each jar dillweed (and a garlic clove if you like it). Let stand about 6 weeks before using. If some liquid oozes out during the first week, open the jars, add enough more liquid (mixed in the same proportion) to cover the cucumbers completely, and reseal. Makes 6 to 8 quarts. (Since the amount of salt is given in cups rather than grams, if you have only one measuring cup you might want to measure the salt before the vinegar. Just a thought).
I make lime and lemon "pickle" (Limbacha Loncha and Nimbu Achar) every summer; I might just try dills. All we can get is the little jars of dried dillweed but I might go for it. I guess I was thinking of my mother's industrial scale production!
That brings back memories of my grandmother and her canning mayhem. I just watched, thank goodness. I agree, it tastes so good from those jars. But I don't have the desire nor time:)Lime and lemon pickles sound delish!!!
Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) wrote: "From the 1957 edition of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, sent to me by a missionary friend:Cover with cold water about 50 small slim cucumbers. Let stand overnight. Drain and pack in jars. Put in a (la..."
Or if you can get it, small pots of dill growing that can be picked and still allowing it to grow, quite handy when you use a lot of one particular type of herb.
I did the picking the peeling and the weeding. I wasn't allowed to touch the stove, men don't cook. Mean wile my sisters were allowed to cook and shall I say ruin meat and the veg, bummer is we still had to eat it. Nothing like burnt offerings lol.It turns out my brother and I are the best cooks in the family see what happens when you are not allowed to do something.
Groovy, if you're interested in making lime and lemon pickle with little work involved check out http://www.indianfoodrocks.com/2006/0... and
http://www.indianfoodrocks.com/2006/0...
You chop up your lemons or limes, add the spices and salt and sugar in a big glass jar, and set it where it will get the sun for a few hours a day. Shake it well twice a day. Takes about six weeks but all you have to do is remember to shake it.
I make it every year. You can also cook it in a slow cooker or on a low heat and it's done in a few hours, but I find it changes the flavour.
Thank-you for that. Some of the ingredients I'll have to look around for. One question: What do you eat yours with?
I put it on the side of my plate, particularly if you've made something that came out a bit bland. I like it with lentils, or any curry. It's great on sandwiches (like leftover roast meat, for example). Our lemons are huge so sometimes I slice them in rounds instead of eighths; our eighths seem to swell up in the process!
Unfortunately Manisha isn't posting on her blog anymore but the recipes are there and they always work!
Groovy wrote: "Thank-you for that. Some of the ingredients I'll have to look around for. One question: What do you eat yours with?"Her fingers I would hazard a guess.
Books mentioned in this topic
The Adventures of Reginald Stinkbottom: Funny Picture Books for 3-7 Year Olds (other topics)The Day My Fart Followed Me To the Dentist (other topics)
Rick Stein's India: In Search of the Perfect Curry: Recipes from My Indian Odyssey (other topics)
A Streetcar Named Desire (other topics)
Happy Birthday to You! (other topics)
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Um, er, what do you really want to say out loud, mrbooks? Hmmm?