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

Ham and yam chili

http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A87772693

So many ideas .

That's why I pulled together dozens of my favorite recipes and bound them in a notebook.

Maybe it's a good thing that we can't include photos with our posts - the temptations would be too strong...

As for recipes, my bride had quite a lot from boxes and tins and packages - collected by 4 or 5 generations of the family. She finally typed them all in, and now my daughter and each niece has a 10-lb ring-binder of stuff.

She sounds efficient. I trust that the recipes were worth saving and using again?

All of the copies get regular use, especially late in the year when it's Christmas baking time.

Little appetite of late.

Coffee cappuchino for breakfast.

A bowl full of tomato salsa with a hint of chili pepper, half an avocado and 3 tbspn of sour cream with plain corn tortilla chips for lunch.

3 navel oranges and a tangerine for supper.

One of the more disappointing aspects of this congestive heart failure is that I still love all the flavours and textures of a creative meal - but come time to eat, I have the appetite of maybe a 12-yr-old girl.

I expect that a 12-year-old girl might have more of an appetite than a 92-year-old woman or man. And a teenager can eat you out of house and home. I've known lots of plump middle-aged people who shriveled away to almost nothing in advanced old age.

You don't *need* to have a big appetite, Nick. In fact, you'll last longer without one. Trust me.

tonight's supper was, a beef stew affair....

We had to go into town earlier, to buy tea, as that is the only shop that sells fennel tea, so got some food bits whilst there... picked up 1 Lb braising steak, and I made a stew with that, 1/2 Lb mushrooms, 3 big onions, a massive potato, and a few small carrots, chopped finely, no stock, just water black pepper, and some herbs, and cooked up for about two hours or so... Served with bulghur wheat and a head of broccholli for me and W, and we've the second half of the stew for tomorrow nights supper

Sounds like a hearty meal for a Winter night.

I might not go out at all tomorrow, except for shoveling snow. I have a chunk of some kind of meat in the freezer -- probably turkey or pork. I will probably turn it into something that could go either way.

A few days ago, I had some remaining smoked ham - sliced and simmered long with garlic and leeks. It made a really full flavoured broth.

Yesterday, well soaked navy beans (dried, white, haricot, what-ever you call them) found the crock-pot, with the ham broth, a little grated carrots, chopped green onions and white onion, garlic, salt and pepper ...

Danged beans took an age to cook, so nearly bed-time when ready. Tossed in some very heavy cream and whole milk and let warm through. So today will be a feast of a fine and rich soup.

PS: as a topper for bean or pea or even potato soup - I chop onions and bread into bits and fry to a light scorch.

Tonight I will make a red bean soup from Dagestan:

Red bean & Green pepper Soup From Dagestan

Spice mixture

½ tsp of dried thyme 1 ½ tsps of garlic powder
Red pepper flakes to taste 2 cubes of beef bouillon
1 tsp of dried dill weed 1 ½ tsps of ground coriander
1 tsp of dried parsley ½ tsp of ground cumin
¼ tsp of ground caraway seed ½ tsp of dried oregano
A pinch each of: ground cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon

Liquid broth

1 tbsp of olive oil
3 cups of water
2 tbsps of red wine vinegar

Other ingredients

Two 14-ounce cans of small red beans or red kidney beans, drained
2 onions, chopped
1 pound of beef or hamburg
2 to 4 potatoes, diced
6 carrots, sliced
4 stalks of celery, sliced
3 green peppers, seeded and diced

Instructions:

Put the oil in the bottom of a cooking pot. Add the water and vinegar and stir. Mix the spices together and add to the water. Stir Add the beef or hamburg. Turn on the heat and simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serves 8 to 10

Now THAT is a busy recipe ... Not something that I am likely to undertake. I don't even carry half of the seasonings and herbs.

Today is a busy day. I have a package of bacon that needs frying - useful in many ways for some days. I have left-over garlic mashed potatoes and baked salmon, they will make 3 or 4 generous fish cakes. And I will try an idea that fomented a couple of days ago.

A nice honey and garlic sauce that can make a fine sticky thing with pork ribs, or even meat-balls. In a crock-pot with some very fine chopped garlic, celery, carrots, green onions - and boneless chicken breast cut to 1/2 x 1/2 x 2.5" fingers. Low and slow. A side dish of either a rice or simple butter noodles.

The chicken was going to be tomorrow, but being Ash Wednesday - Mrs Rev would prefer a minimum of meats. So the fish cakes for lunch, remaining white bean soup for supper, they should serve.

Was going to do a quiche for lunch, having got the week off to a good start with my Pirakka (see my journal), but got up a little too late.

So we'll have that tonight. Instead of the potato and fennel soup recipe I was going to do. That will now be put off till tomorrow lunch time.

Will report on how the soup recipe turns out when I've done it. It seems to involve fruits de mer.

Fruits de mer - sea urchins or am I mis-remembering? Never tried them, but hear they are delicate and tasty

" I don't even carry half of the seasonings and herbs" [Rev Nick]

It's an unavoidable result of having to make every meal so tasty that I don't feel the need to overeat. My collection of herbs and spices fills two drawers. I also have two boxes where I store backups in case I run out of an herb or spice in the middle of making something.

No - just a general hotchpotch of shrimps, mussels, mini-squid and so on.

When I was in Taiwan, I ate a lot of seafood that I had never encountered before. Frankly, I didn't want to *know* what I was eating.