do people buy this stuff?

I went to Asda - I hate it, but I needed some fizzy water and some shampoo, and some wafer thin meat for the cats.  I shouldn’t go round the aisles, really; it just makes me cross, and astonished.

I can understand people buying a cake - hell, I’ve done it myself.  I can understand people buying frozen Yorkshire puddings. I guess, although how hard is it to add an egg and some milk to flour and whisk it up?

But I don’t understand why people buy a mix and cook it - either buy the stuff ready to eat, or make it from scratch. I bet you could buy an Asda sponge cake for £1.98.  Perhaps it’s just me …

Powered by Bookmarkify™

duck soup

photo by Eberman @ Flickr

I boiled up the duck carcass - Pete was a hero and stripped it down afterwards; it’s a job I hate. A surprising amount of meat came off it.  And there was, of course, a lot of duck stock.

I had deliberately cooked extra veg with the duck on Monday (carrot and leek in vegetable bouillon, since you ask) and had saved that in a box in the fridge.  I put that, the rest of the fresh carrots (they needed using up) and a leek in the Magimix and whizzed them up.  I sautéd this veg mix gently in my big soup pot for about 15 minutes, then poured the stock on top and left it overnight.  I added a little of the remaining duck meat, shredded very fine.

Put some butter beans to soak in water overnight, and then put them in the stock pot this morning, set it over a very low light, and it was ready for lunch.

We had it with some rye bread, which was utterly gorgeous. Just as well, as the stuff took three days to make … (not full time, obviously, but toing and froing with starters and stuff).

Powered by Bookmarkify™

indian vegetarian meal

[no photo - sorry]

Pete brought a huge bunch of coriander home from the Indian supermarket on Saturday.  We had some with a vegetable tagine, some with sour pork with rhubarb, but there was still a reasonable wodge left.

We have lots of spuds to eat too, as the rain got through the shed roof and into the sack, and I don’t know how long they’ll last.  So …

We had:

• Madhur’s potatoes with ginger and garlic
• basmati rice, cooked with cinnamon and black cardamon, with a big mushroom chopped up to make a sort of pillau
• a small tub of lentils and spinach that I found lurking in the freezer at the weekend

We sprinkled a lod of coriander over it all.  A feast fit for anyone, for peanuts.  The potatoes are utterly lovely - highly recommended.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Tesco: Nothing will stop them …

From The Telegraph.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

the endless sausage

This is actually perlmonger’s lunch: I loathe raw tomatoes, don’t care for strong cheddar (that’s unpasteurised organic there), and I’m not that fond of kabanos.

But I do always bite the end off his sossidge [fnaar].

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Tesco to monitor millions of consumers around the world.

As perlmonger said, “they don’t already?” .. well they do, but they are extending this to more than 60m worldwide customers. And they will continue to sell this data “in anonymous form” to the likes of Coca Cola and Unilver.

More from The Times here.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Tescowatch (an occasional series)

Yesterday, however, the 7,500 inhabitants of the town on the south Devon coast [Seaton] were readying themselves for a new battle after Tesco bought its largest employer, a holiday village, and promptly ordered its closure. The site also houses Seaton’s only nursery, catering for 35 children, and a swimming pool.

… If Tesco builds a store in Seaton it will be its tenth outlet within 22 miles. Residents have to travel 18 miles to reach one of its main competitors (Sainsbury’s, Asda or Morrisons), but there is a Waitrose seven miles away.

More here.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Tescowatch (an occasional series)

From The Independent comes the story that Tesco have reduced the price of a whole chicken to £1.99.

[...]in a move that critics warned would heap financial pressure on the poultry industry and make it harder to the improve welfare of factory-farmed animals.

Wonderful.

Powered by Bookmarkify™