Marie Cookpad

  When I was cheffing at the Manor, once or twice a month my boss would entertain all of her friends from her internation women's club to lunch.  They were actually supposed to take turns, but she ended up doing it most of the time.    First of all I think she was probably the wealthiest of them all and secondly I think she liked to show off to the others and get her money's worth out of me. I didn't mind as they were wonderful opportunities to stretch and exercise my skills.   All of the ladies would enter at the back entry way where I would greet them with a cold drink, usually an option of a glass of wine or an ice cold elderflower drink, which I would have gotten ready prior to their arriving.  It was my job to greet them because the Mrs, despite having had all morning to get ready would probably only just be getting in the shower, having spent several hours faffing about with flowers in the laundry room.  She spent an inordinate amount of money on...

  Every now and again, I like to enjoy a good burger.  I have to confess however, I am not totally fond of Beef Burgers. In truth I would rather have a Turkey Burger.    Its a texture thing really  . . .  as soon as I get a bit of gristle or something even closely resembling it in between my teeth, my gag reflex kicks in.  It is a problem I have mostly with beef or pork.  I haven't experienced it with turkey yet.   Its awfully hard to enjoy eating something once the gag reflex kicks in.  My mother used to try feeding me hamburger (s) when I was a child and it was a no go. I used to hide it under my plate, (only got away with that one once), under the carpet (that worked until my mother hoovered), and in the cold air vents. (Worked until Spring Cleaning kicked in.)   I would be told that I had to sit there until I ate it, and I would sit there all afternoon if need be, and on into the evening, patiently awaiting my opportunity to dit...

  When I was raising my family in Canada, several times a year we would pop across the border into the US for some shopping.  Of course that always involved a trip to a grocery store, and we would bring back a couple of large turkeys.    They were relatively inexpensive, and with five children, they made great sense economically.  I always had lots of things that I could do with a turkey and it's leftovers aside from roasting them.    Soups, casseroles, sandwiches . . . there was no end to my creativity.  Of course with just two of us  now in our home, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy a whole turkey other than during the holidays.  We just wouldn't get through it fast enough and over here, roast turkey's are really expensive!    You can get turkey breasts without the bone to roast relatively cheaply however, and turkey fillets, so I often avail myself of them and will cook one for us to use in sandwiches and casseroles....

  Not having a hob/cooker to use for the last half week or so has certainly been a challenge for me.  I really hope that when the Engineer comes tomorrow, it is an easy fix!    We did purchase a portable hot plate, but with only two small burners on it, it doesn't really lend itself much to cooking gourmet meals  It is however, fab for browning things and heating things up, like soup.  I haven't actually cooked any pasta on it yet, but I did cook carrots on it the other day.   It required a bit of difference in planning as I am used to the instant heat of gas.  This electric hot plate takes much longer to heat up and it doesn't cool down instantly either, so I keep having to warn Todd that the burner was just on as it is not really obvious by looking at it, but if you set something on it, you would sure know in a hurry, especially if it was your hand or something plastic!    Today (Sunday as I write this) I  used it to make our favo...