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How are you eating during the virus lockdown?

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
im going to bake my xmas cake in the next day or too
ive had the fruit marinating in rum since last year when i only made xmas pudding (that Gary didn't eat)
its not going to quite be my nornal recepie as im planning on using just what i can find in the pantry to reduce our xmas spend to as low as possible
Gary's son and daughter are visiting on Saturday so i need to get a wriggle on so they can have cake
My fruit cake is usually heavy on the rum, cranberries and sultanas with a tin of pinnaple, desicated coconut and peacans, but im sure we can cope without the peacans this year and i don't think i have any ginger but i have mixed spice (that's everdently pumpkin spice to our American friends) and some cinamon

im going to sub some of the flour for wholemeal and coconut flour, i always chuck in a big handful of rolled oats and i have some fancy low GI sugar
First xmas cake in this house
i don't think i have a round tin so ill make two loaf tined sized ones instead

wish me luck
i personally love the uncooked mix the best
i don't ice my cake because we both hate almond icing but i t would like to make some rum cream cheese icing for Christmas day
 

mellowyellowgirl

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
6,176
Black forest cake as it's cherry season in Australia.

I usually make this cake with new season cherries. They're not good enough to eat alone but when cherries are at their peak I'd rather eat them fresh than in a cake. So early in the season it is for this cake!

PXL_20201201_100913730.jpg

PXL_20201201_100721927.jpg

PXL_20201201_100649235.jpg
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
Black forest cake as it's cherry season in Australia.

I usually make this cake with new season cherries. They're not good enough to eat alone but when cherries are at their peak I'd rather eat them fresh than in a cake. So early in the season it is for this cake!

PXL_20201201_100913730.jpg

PXL_20201201_100721927.jpg

PXL_20201201_100649235.jpg

of all the wonderful fresh produce we get with a southern hemisphere summer festive season nothing says Christmas like cherries
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
got my 2 Christmas cakes in the oven
i made mine in a loaf tin
smells good
the fruit has been in the rum for at least a year
i think i was going to make mid winter xmas cakes in June but it didn't happen
i think it was when groceries got really exspensive with the lock down
anyway anyway first fruit cake in this oven
its a fan bake and its ment to be 140 degrees C in a nornal oven but i think 125 might be a bit low
have a cup of water in the back of the oven so nothing dries out
even lined by tin with brown paper before the baking paper although i don't think that's necessary with modern/ new ovens with good seals

usually i feed by cake more rum before we eat it but Melanie and Aaron are both driving home tomorrow and we have a really low level for drink driving now days and im a cook with a very heavy hand when it comes to rum and a man recently (i think in 'Oz) just got done after eatting rum balls
i tweeked my recepie this year - hope it still works but heavy dark fruit cakes are very forgiving

im also going to make a lemon drizzle cake and i must remember to pick a bag of lemons for Mel to take home
 

ean

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
616
Black forest cake as it's cherry season in Australia.

I usually make this cake with new season cherries. They're not good enough to eat alone but when cherries are at their peak I'd rather eat them fresh than in a cake. So early in the season it is for this cake!

PXL_20201201_100913730.jpg

PXL_20201201_100721927.jpg

PXL_20201201_100649235.jpg
This looks so amazing!!!
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
any body want a piece of Chrissy cake?
only Gary ate a piece
i found a christnas plate to put it on and everything
Gary thinks it night not be cooked but its a very moist cake and does not taste raw or doughy to me.

see i know a lot of peeps don't like fruit cake
but personally its commercially mixed dried fruit mix i don't like
so i mix my own
who doesn't like dried cranberries ???

there are no yucky plastic like cherries or icky angelica - there is crystallized giner and pinnaple and sultanas

honestly its good

with the lemon drizzle cake
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then Gary had planned we go down the river and have fish and chips but they (Melanie and Aaron) didn't want to and said it was too windy.

some people have no sence of adventure :(2
Gary had me pick a big bag of lemons but Mel said they wouldn't get used :(2
i wish i could give them to the peeps on this thread who don't live in lemon freindly locations
they are meyer lemons and are sweet for a lemon and very juicy

what about G&Ts ? - i mean its summer - lemons are so useful

anyway they probably stopped at MacDonalds on the way home
i made Gary and I a cheese and fish sandwhich from some frozen battered fish in the freezer and i served it with appleslaw

and while ive got my smallest violin in the world out - i was going to wear my great aunty's jade braclete and take her out for a picnic

when you hear and see pictures and stories about the Queen going on picnics in alp weather in Scotland - my family completly get that
i dont like sand in my sandwhiches but a bit of rain never really spoiled a lunch outside for us
 

jaysonsmom

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 13, 2004
Messages
4,879
26EFD3E3-ED4A-4FD1-8DE8-B6F350DC7CB7.jpeg

We had table tops Korean BBQ earlier this month, and a nice Taiwanese style hot pot last night. Even though it looks like easy work for the chef.....it is not, lots of prep work involved!
 

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xsouzie

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
417
Char siu pork with yu choy tips..
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Chicken katsu with tonkatsu sauce..
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Taiwanese pork chops with marbled tea eggs..
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Miso udon noodle soup..
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Black beans in coconut milk..
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Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
I can't imagine anyone refusing a picnic by the river @Daisys and Diamonds

But then again we're very outdoorsy people in my family.

Peach season in Australia. I usually do peach cobblers but this year I decided to mix it up a bit with peach galette

PXL_20201214_113240594.jpg

Yum !
Just checked the peach tree in our garden
i need to hack back the morning glory
Peaches still a few weeks off

Im having a bit of an off day
i forgot the tomatos in my chillie and added too much water so its turned into soup
It really needed the tomatoes so
I added a small tin of pasta sauce instead hoping for flavour rather than too much juice but its kind of soup for tea...and its so hot

then i made a soda bread and forgot the butter
I massaged in some olive oil when it was already on the baking tray ...
Its in the oven still

Why we are having chillie is because the cream is fasr approaching its best before date .....
For the xmas cheesecake

but all the little ramkins i could find were in the freezer with left overs i keep to add to stews, curries etc
So i had to thaw them out

After an hour of looking i found the missing ramkins clean in the dishwasher !

That's tonight's job when its cooler
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
Photo of the peaches on the tree for me please @Daisys and Diamonds

You know I can't resist produce!!!!

Also you can freeze cream babe! Just whip it up when you need it again!

Ok - i'll Have to do some quick gardening in the morning
I feed the sad stray tom cat mummy-cat down there.
im going to freeezs the cheesecake till Christmas

My chillie turned out quite good in the end
having it with bread and not rice made it a bit lighter in the heat 20201215_193321.jpg
The soda bread was fine once dunked in the chillie
Gary doesn't know although it has no beans (he hates beans at the moment) it had 3 handfuls of red lentils
Ive learnt this sneaky way of cooking them in beef stock in the microwave first :lol:
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
Last night started i to make my cheesecake and the cream had gone sour :x2
I had already mashed the apricots
So tonight i made a chicken apricot curry - it was a bit mild but had a gentle hum 16080986314361327058368.thumb.jpg.697256831ee17caf9972ad8cda4d26e3.jpg
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
@Daisys and Diamonds you are so amazingly adaptable and creative in your cooking. I admire you.

Thank you Odette
I guess necessity is the mother of invention - but the internet age certainly helps :mrgreen2:
i am sure i have become a better cook and baker this year

Interestingly i was thinking about you last night as i just started watched pretty little things on netflex
- i thought it was going to be a modern take on Fame but with ballet :lol:
 

OdetteOdile

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 8, 2019
Messages
1,581
Thank you Odette
I guess necessity is the mother of invention - but the internet age certainly helps :mrgreen2:
i am sure i have become a better cook and baker this year

Interestingly i was thinking about you last night as i just started watched pretty little things on netflex
- i thought it was going to be a modern take on Fame but with ballet :lol:

Oooh I saw an ad for that and noticed it had ballet! Do you recommend it?
 

canuk-gal

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
25,646

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
Oooh I saw an ad for that and noticed it had ballet! Do you recommend it?

Id love your opinion on the dancing
I wonder if they are dancers who can act or actors who dance ?

Its not exactly high drama but its not bad
I think teenagers would like it

The mothers are all horrible and its quite bi*chy - the kids too

A few years ago they made a couple of seasons of really tv following the Royal NZ ballet and it didn't seem bi*chy in the slightest
 
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Joined
Dec 17, 2020
Messages
15
I read an article yesterday that said sales of alcohol were up 42%. So are sales of condoms, so swings and roundabouts, I guess...

But the alcohol article made me wonder how people were eating at the moment. I've been seeing a BUNCH of comments online about people eating their way through this time of isolation, and I wondered how everyone was coping.

Have you gained weight?
Have you lost weight?
Are you pickling everything in sight?
Cooking like a fiend?
Working out?
Spending long days in bed?
Is now the time to go vegan/keto/carnivore/vegetarian/paleo?

Share how you're coping regarding food during what is surely one of our strangest times in living memory!

Coronavirus coping.jpeg

Lol I just do what I normally do. Eat whatever I want. Luckily, I’m not a fan of fried foods or store bought cookies and cakes. I do love good wine and cosmopolitans
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,510
How are all the British peeps going with changed Christmas plans ?
You got everything you need for a smaller Christmas dinner ?

Not at all Christmasy but i just made a cottage pie - enough for two dishes and then two small ones for lunch right now !

I also have a french onion soup in the slow cooker for an easy tea tonight with a soda bread

I feel like everything we have had this fornight has come with a side of mini spring rolls

Have wanted to buy them for ages but I'd cut them from the list at the last minute due to cost

well they were a bag of 60 min veg ones and were very disappointing
And we still have some left!

Its like the time before i got thesw awsome looking crumbed cauliflower bites - except they tasted quite good but there were only 6 tiny pieces in the box - not a side more like an appetizer

Anyway my lunch cottage pie 20201221_155136.jpg
Gary liked his but he rejected the 3 mini spring rolls on the side
we won't tell him about all the lentils i added to the mince
Beef stock does amazing things !
 
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