Author: iagardener55

I’m going to take some time off, a couple/few weeks, for a bit of r&r.

I’ll start posting again in September some time. Until then…

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, cover, and protect yourselves.

For breakfast.

Actually, to be more precise, it was curried shrimp.

Ivan was making us “breakfast” Saturday, grabbed the bag of frozen shrimp from the freezer, put it in a saucepan, added butter, and curry powder, put a lid on the pan for about 5 minutes, and we had breakfast. I made a cocktail sauce with ketchup, and prepared horseradish sauce, a touch of gochujang for a little bit more heat, and boom. Breakfast was served.

I didn’t care for the gochujang, would have preferred more horseradish, but, as I didn’t have to “cook”, it was great.

Until next we meet, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, cover, and protect yourselves.

But they’re gone.

Most of them anyway.

What am I talking about? Our annual attack by a hundred fruit flies.

It takes them about 48 hours to set up their camp, they hunker down, and commence procreating. I have no idea, nor do I care to know, how fast this takes place, all I know is that it makes us both crazy for another 48 – 72 hours.

Last year, I discovered Off™, the spray we used as kids to keep bugs away. Down here it’s our only option, that I can find, to kill the buggers.

I had enough left from last year’s can to start the destruction of their troops, but had to order 2 more containers; one to finish the job, and the 2nd for back up.

All this made me reevaluate how we process our organic waste in the kitchen. I made a significant change.

When we first moved into the apartment I bought 2 containers that hang on the cupboard doors, and were lined with compostable bags. We put the bags into a 5 gallon bucket, and took the bucket downstairs to be emptied into the large garbage bin every week, sometimes twice a week.

It only takes 1, or probably 2, to find that Nirvana, and start the whole troop formation anew.

Yesterday, I emptied a coffee can of decaf grounds into a large zip closing bag, and put a small decomposable bag inside it, and closed the lid.

Duh!

Not sure why it took me 4 years to come up with that one. But I did, and that should take care of the fly problem. We’ll see.

As an aside, we are both back to ourselves, getting stronger every day. Thanks for your prayers, and concern.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, cover, and protect yourselves.

We really enjoy having a fresh cup of coffee in the morning.

Do you?

We’ve been drinking instant coffee for months as I’m lazy, or sick, and didn’t feel like grinding beans every night, filling the water reservoir, cleaning the dirty pot; you probably know the drill.

Now, we’re both tired of instant coffee morning after morning. So, the other day, whilst battling the beetle situation, I resurrected the Braun coffee maker that I bought a few years ago, and started making fresh brew again.

While I was at it, I rearranged the countertop, and shuffled things around to accommodate the coffee maker, and get a bit more organized. (yes, I’m feeling much better).

Let me show you. (Of course I have photos of it. Duh!)

It always amazes me how much work I can get done in such a small space. I’ve given serious consideration to buying, or making a small, shorter island, but there’s so little space to move around in I don;t really think it would work. And when we’re both in there, forget about it.

Anyway, not much else to impart today. So, until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, and protect yourselves.

The other day, when I made the curry powder, I also made

Chinese 5 spice.

I need it for a few upcoming recipes, didn’t have it, asked Chatty GTP for a recipe, it sent one, so I made it. I don’t have any recollection what it’s supposed to taste like, so, I can only hope what I made is how it’s supposed to taste.

Very simple, these spice mixtures. They both needed to have the spices heated in a dry pan, on the stove, then blitzed in the spice mill. The kitchen smelled lovely, to be sure.

Now, I just need to get the few other things I need to make the recipes I was sent.

Next, I’m going to make a batch of kombucha, and pickled onions. No, they’re not going together silly you.

I’ll keep you posted as to the results.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, and protect yourselves.

Don’t know if you’ve ever eaten, (we haven’t), or made a curry at home, (we haven’t), but the other day I asked ChatGPT for an authentic curry powder recipe, received it, then made the powder.

It smells absolutely amazing; just the way it smelled when I bought a small packet of it from the store.

I also asked for a chicken curry recipe, got it as well, and should have made it by the time you read this.

I can’t wait. It is, actually, Britains national dish.

I’ll let you know the details when I know them.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, and protect yourselves.

We have some sort of tiny beetle in the kitchen.

I think I told you about it recently; it looks like a mobile black sesame seed. Let me show you.

Well, I’ve had enough.

The other day I took everything off the counter, and out of the corner cabinet, cleaned all of the shelves, wiped down any glass containers, put stuff that didn’t need to be in there into the pantry, and boom.

The little buggers better not come back.

I noticed that they were only around the paper, or cardboard packages, so I put those few things in glass, or plastic containers. Unfortunately, now I’m low on plastic storage containers.

A situation for another day.

Not much else to tell you today. We are both back to “normal”, me more so than him. I still have traces of a tight morning cough, but I chuck that up to 30+ years of heavy smoking.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, WASH, WASH, and protect yourselves. I don’t really think masking helps as much as washing your hands does. You be your own judge.

Since I made something sweet.

We’re not real sweet eaters, though, on occasion, after a particularly heavy meaty meal, it’s nice to finish it off with something gently sweet.

As I told you the other day, I asked my AI app, ChatGPT, for a recipe that wasn’t too sweet, and that used Greek yoghurt, as I had no heavy cream at the time.

It sent me a recipe for a yoghurt cake that was absolutely amazing. Fortunately, just a day, or so after making it, the Chantilly cream, and heavy cream that I ordered were delivered. I defrosted the mango pieces we had frozen, and added those, with a glug of the Chantilly cream on each of the pieces of cake we had. Delicious.

Actually, truth told, I could easily spoon about 1/2 cup of Chantilly cream into my mouth each night if I didn’t care about living a few more years.

Anyway, as I said last time, give the app a try, and let me know if it helped you, and how.

Next time buckaroo.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves. Please.

Post script: happiest of however many birthdays you wish to acknowledge. You were the very first sister I ever met, shared a room with, and loved with all my heart. I miss you every day.

Have I not told you about this?

It’s an AI app that helps you do anything with the computer. Here is what Wikipedia says.

ChatGPT is a chatbot and virtual assistant developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. Based on large language models(LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. Successive user prompts and replies are considered at each conversation stage as context.^[2]

I have to tell you first, it’s free to use for x amount of something’s/day. I use it every day for recipes. I can adapt any recipe I require to 2 people, different types of some particular food item, ie. mushrooms, celery, pork, etc., whatever parameters I require.

The recipes that the CGPT has come up with look to be amazing. No, I haven’t made anything yet, but am looking forward to making many of them. I’ll let you know when I do, and what the results are.

Give it a try. I don’t think there’s any info collection, sold, or given to anyone else, but if that is the case, I’ll let you know that too.

Quickly, for an example, I type in, without the quotation marks, “I bought 250 g each of cremini, setas, and baby bella mushrooms. I want to make a few different things that are easy, delicious, and unctuous. Can you help?”

Within 2-3 seconds there are at least 2, if not 3 recipes that use the items I specified. If I want to know nutritional values, I ask, it provides. If I want the recipe for 2, I ask it to change, if necessary, the amounts of food to be cooked.

If it suggests a particular item I don’t have, or probably can’t get here, I ask it for alternatives, and voila, there are alternatives.

It’s amazing. Please, try it. See if it doesn’t help you too. Let me know what you think.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: what the Hell is going on with the Olympics?

Do you know the show?

It’s a channel on YT where several long time friends got together, more than 15 years ago actually, to start their channel.

If you watch them, you’ll learn that, from the age of 11, they went to school together, then university split them, briefly. Because of their friendship, however, they got back together. On the channel you will see them divided into 2 groups- chefs, Ben, Jamie, and Kush, and the “normals”, normal home cooks- Jamie, Mike, and Barry (Baz).

Not only that, but no matter the competition they’re in, (they’re all trying to better their home cooking skills through challenges which earns them a particular badge), they are supportive, and loving of each other. Then you have their normal digs of each other because they’re best of friends. It’s heartwarming, and educational at the same time. It’s great fun.

I have been watching them now, in my CoVid haze, for about a month, and have learned so much about food, cooking, wine pairings, etc., I’m amazed.

They also have a recipe/cooking app that they developed called Sidekick by Sorted, which is all about shopping responsibly, using the correct ingredient amounts, thereby stopping the waste of grocery items we buy then throw away because of spoilage. It is a huge theme of theirs; they have shouted it out from the very beginning of their channel so many years ago.

The app is free for 30 days, and I’m here to tell you that I had mixed feelings about it; so much so that I bought it, cancelled it; bought it, cancelled it; bought it, cancelled it. Then, when I was through the CV fog, bought it for a year. (You can cancel at any time).

On a limited income, and for the first time in our married lives, I am very interested in planning a weekly menu that allows me to buy only what is needed for the week without wastage. The way I cook now, there’s always a ton of leftovers, enough to feed a family of 8. We’re only the 2 of us, living on limited funds. One can only be expected to eat chicken, and rice casserole so many times before it’s no longer appealing.

There are hundreds of recipes, not to mention the “meal packs”, which contain 3 recipes that use similar grocery items where the perishable items are entirely used up by the third recipe. Nothing goes to waste. Not only that, but you put in the number of servings you want to make of any recipe, and it generates the shopping list accordingly. What????

I’m still on my 30 day free trial, but I’m here to tell you that, if I do this correctly, we can be eating food from all over the world, trying new, and exciting dishes, all within our budget, and without waste.

Check these guys out. They’re great. Entertaining as well.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.