h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh!- I'm so gona be in our local version of the same shop tomorrow!- thanks!- MMMM... choc... just what... my steroid-drug-fueled body needs

Do you have a B&M nearby? They're great for chocolate, huge selection, cheap, and also for pickled eggs and tinned kippers. I'd never had a Hershey bar before, only read about them in American comics when I was a kid. B&M do them and they're very chewy and nice, I wouldn't eat them with the pickled eggs or kippers, but each to their own.

Our B&M in Thurrock is unreachable by public transport and the only way you can get there is by car as it on a remote part of the retail park where there are lots of busy roads with very poor pedestrian crossings and there have been a lot of accidents where pedestrians have been knocked over trying to cross the road.

Not sure what shop that is.... ; I tend to use just the shops near me; I'm right on edge of town/city center; so basically perfect mix of everything...; and, oposite direction from me, is the kinda hippy drop out area of the city; loads of independant shops; decent butchers; organic hippy shop; Indian supermarkets, chinese supermarkets... etc

went to an odd mix of shops today:

Boots the chemist, to speak to pharmacist, about something I need, to do with my chemotherapy; nearly had to punch her....; spoken English was so bad, she didn't understand what I was asking; and I really dont' need the 'wrong stuff' being given me whilst I'm.... not 100%
after solving that.... annoyance;
Waitrose nice... tasty eaty things, then; pound shop for tons and tons of choc and some disposable cleaning cloths Oh... and the veg stall in the street too, on teh way home but.. asides that excitment... it was a truely boring day...

That's so true all over the country I reckon Thinker, these big retail parks are lethal for pedestrians and cyclists, they seem to give planning consent for them out of town retail parks without even thinking about access for none motorists. If you want to walk from Tesco's say to another 'outlet', you have to cross car parks and busy access roads at some risk to life and limb. We usually concede defeat and drive up, there is the 'Tescos' bus but if you're buying a bit of stuff you need the car. Our Waitrose is right in Town, Wallingford, and honestly you'd be mad to drive there, which proves how many mad people there are as there's always a queue for the car park, I bike down there and it's the most adrenaline charged part of my day negotiating my way to the bike racks through the gridlock!

same here... we walk everywhere, and, the M&S plus asda are both located impossibly for on foot... mind, we still do it, but... it can be a bit unnerving given the carpark and roads etc ; luckily most of our shopping is on town center, s streets etc can't see the point in driving everywhere.... hidden away... what's teh point in paralambulating out, dressed in our finery, if you then go hide in a car... no one would see Sir's bowler hat, or my Trilbry... and, where does one put ones cane in a car anyhow?

Uneventful moments are the finest.

I'm no philosopher IT but that needs some unpicking. Surely the fact that one is having a 'finest' moment makes that moment eventful, so it's a contradiction in terms to say uneventful moments are the finest! Come on lets be havin yer, I've never won an argument on here yet but I feel good about this one!

I agree!

the best, eventful, non-eventtful moment today, came whilst I was sitting at my PC-


I was, sitting at my PC- then, the doorbell did not sound. at teh same time as the doorbell did not sound, and for some time after, the flap on the letterbox did not flap and bang.
as uneventful events go, this event, may, have gone unmarked; were it not for my recieving, at the precise moment this did not happen, a E-mail, tleling me, that my parcel had just been delivered to my neighbour; the /chinese takeaway, next to my house.

now... teh question must surely be; if I go nextdoor, to the takeaway, to pick up my parcel (a new shirt), at, say 7 PM.... could I do anything else, other than get myself a Chinese takeaway at teh same time? =- ; sadly, I'm not allowed a takeaway... any takeaway for the next few days; days 7 to 14; No immune system/at its lowest point.... so ... takeaway food is, papprely a dangerous risk which is a pity; because on days 1 to 7 I inevigaably don't feel like a takeaway

the choices, for tonights dinner, must therefore be, of, quiche...... pizza again, salad bits... chips... pasta... salmon.... tuna.... cheeses.... and... hmmm... maybe potatos I think are still lurking about too... oh, and bread... lots of bread I'm sure something with eating potential can be craftly crafted fofm that somehow.... but I want chinese takeaway now damnit...

We all love Chinese 2legs but man it's full of salt preservative and goodness knows what, you're showing incredible resolve, you keep with it eat the good stuff, your body needs, actually tuna, just a tin of flaky tuna with penne pasta or any nice pasta and a bit of salad is one of my favourite meals, good luck hinny.

Processed carbs, such as found in pasta, are not actually that good for you. Rice is better, and therefore Chinese takeout is a legtimate diet food.

Wow you know lots, thank you.

Myself, I usually go with a whole grains pilaf, varying the base grain from recipe to recipe, whether rye or wheat or barley, any of the several kinds of wheat, a rice variety from Chinese forbidden rice, the blackest of the asian rice varieties, once cultivated exclusively for the Chinese Imperial court, the nearly as dark Japanese black japonica, both of which, unlike north American wild rice, from the great lakes region and Lake Winnipeg, tend to bleed their color into any other cereal grains they're bedded with, through any of the lighter brown or white rices.

The first time I was exposed to Chinese forbidden rice, it was bedded in a white rice mass in a proportion like 180 parts white rice to 1 of the black Chinese forbidden rice, the latter cooked separately and allowed to cool and gel before being stirred into the freshly cooked and still hot white rice and allowed to cool and gel again.

This produced a visual effect like raisins embedded in the rice where the coloration of the black forbidden rice bled out into the surrounding 13 or so white rice kernals.

I was quite surprised to find it was all cereal grain.

The somewhat more robust and longer grained black japonica can be employed the same way.

Though the even longer grained American wild rice is similarly colored, it will not impart its color to other grains its embedded in and can be cooked up with them if the cooking times are similar enough, rather than needing to be cooked separately prior to blending.

The dark rices are somewhat richer in B vitamins than lighter ones.

When cooking whole grains, with the hulls (bran) still on them, it helps either to presoak the grain until its on the verge of germinating (malting), prior to boiling for pilaf or parch them,

One can tell when the pre-soaking or malting process has gone far enough when the presoak begins to develop a somewhat fruity aroma, similar to that of sweet corn.

Cereal grains prepared this way are somewhat sweeter than unmalted grains.

Alternatively, parching the grains until lightly browned in a thin layer of oil in a frying pan prior to boiling for a pilaf also accelerates cooking time.

Another recipe I frquently use is a bean salad with yellow and green green beans, kidney beans and garabonzos, perhaps some snow peas, with a little white and yellow hominy added, with a vinegar and oil or balsamic vinagrette dressing.

Sprinkling a few peanuts on top provides a visual and psychlogical cue to be prepared for something a little crunchy by comparison with the beans, while with the hominy alone added to the bean salad, the contrast with the more tender beans can be a little shocking.

Hammondragon and 2Legs that is so true about how badly thought out retails parks. I find the noise of the traffic quite frightening as I have a very low tolerance to loud noise.

I mainly add lots of vegetables to shop bought soups, I get those one from the fridge. I also add lots of vegetables when I use quorn products as it bulks it out. I also like putting lots of chopped cloves of garlic to my sauces. Quorn products are very low in fat.

Coping with loud noises is what iPods are for!

Low in fat should not be the overarching watchword for healthy eating as fat isn't the enemy, starchy carbs are (especially processed ones).

High protein, moderate fat, low starch is a good balance.

does about half a kilogram of butter, a week, for one person, just on toast, count as moderate fat? my diet's screwed at the moment... asides anything else, craving caloris, due to steroids; then, not having sufficient sensativity left in fingers, to make cooking very safe; and cuts, burns on hands, are, just not heeling due to lowered immune system mind.... pizza is like a health food, really... all the major nutrients I'm sure and then some

mind, I had like last night, a tin of tuna, a decent large amoutn of lettuce, and same of cucumber, a little* mayo, an some grated chedar.... that was kinda healthy... maybe... - of course, less said about the porkpies i ate about 2 AM, the better or the midafternoon snack, yesterday, of half a loaf of bread, tons of butter, and some seriously gorgeous jarlsberg cheese

I love wild rice; never tried the more exotic ones, they're so expensive to get, if I recall correctly; I use tilda pure as a base mix, then add wild rice to it, soaking seems to speed it up, cooking wise - its awakward now, to cook anything which requires too long, as My concentration is down the drain... - I've even found myself having forgotten to turn the oven off, a few times which, is, so not me ,blush>

May do pasta tonight, with salad, and... don't tknow, maybe just some grated cheese, and a scotch egg, or something... or... if I can must the energy some grilled wild salmon... ; mind, I've not been able to move out of bed fo rhours.... so tired but... unable to sleep

Just been looking at prices of dog collars; need to buy six, for my new pets, the menagerie of pet/snaimal/soft-toy plush teddy's crowding my bed real estate - I've decided they should all have a slave collar to wear.... because.... well... why not.... but.. so damn expensive, even for cheap rubbish dog collars that'd fit... to get half a dozen of them...
actually... wondering if I've energy to cook at all tonight... .

When I'm shopping for something unusual or exotic in the way of foodstuffs, I usually go to Clark's, a chain of health foods supermarkets, property of Loma Linda Foods.

http://www.clarksnutrition.com/retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp?storeID=2691B1FE187D41ACB869A85CA5957A0A

If they haven't got it in stock, they can usually get it.

Of course, its also fun browsing ethnic specialty stores for new ideas.




I go through about half a gallon of olive and a pound of butter a year in cooking oil.

When one is cooking with olive oil, somehow, one quickly gets in the habit of measuring it out by drop.

The butter does for things like the occasional small pat on hot cocoa or tea when I get a craving.

I also use about a quarter pound of cocoa butter for pancakes in the winter.

A paper thin sliver of cocoa butter on pancakes is about as flavorful as an eighth inch pat of butter.

Also I like unfiltered sesame oil for seasoning soups and stews and casseroles and salads.

Filtered sesame oil without the aroma and flavor is a joke.

Of course, I live in a hot climate and the body's demands for oil increase drastically in colder climes.

I mainly use olive oil for cooking with, occasionally groundnut, for Chinese, etc, or even other oils, sometimes sunflower.... I've seassamae for Chinese, though I've not cooked much Chinese stuff in ages....

butter... ; on bread, but the .... pack! but, I don't use spreads so butter covers all that, on toast, for sandwichs, etc., etc.,

I mainly tend to use 'ethnic shops', as I'e a huge load of them near me; and they're often so much cheaper, things like black beans, lentils etc, so much chepaer than from supermarkets an ... always interesting new things to look a t and conetmplate not that I can do any real cooking at the moment hands too dodgy, form chemo side affects to... be able to do anything more exotic than boil some pasta, or fry an egg or two... and even then.. I'm ending up with burns, and cuts etc, unless I go so so so slow... and then even, sometimes getting them, when I am doing it so slow <wah. ; I miss making bread.... not got the concentration for that, let alone energy - luckily the weather is getting warmer; will just live off salad stuff soon...

Do you use a machine for breadmaking 2legs? but of course you can burn yourself just as easily, getting your bread out, it's a shame if you can't have good bread, and speciality breads are so darned expensive. I've been using a bit of rye flour, not too much about a fifth of your total with seeded flour and wholemeal making up the rest, and it's really good, it just means you're eating good fresh bread all the time and I find it works out very economically, with the old Panasonic, which you can get for about £60 now I see. It's that good I never use spread or butter unless I'm having a bit of toast which I do very occasionally, you're having a rough time by the sound of it at the moment, best wishes.

spelt is the best bread I have tasted and now I make it in our bread maker.I have a recipe