Reid82

I'm going to have my regular Aftercare meeting on Zoom tonight now, looks like we will be having it like this for a while now.

jr67

Happy Friday, Weekenders.

A quick check-in before I head out to the grocery store for a few necessities during senior hours before the general-public opening (age has is privileges).

Another simple recipe that PeaceManic's pasta and butter reminded me of:

Slice half a head of cabbage (for 2 ample servings).

Melt about a quarter-stick of butter (we generally use unsalted butter) in a frying pan over low to medium heat. Use a frying pan deep enough to hold your heap of cabbage.

Add your cabbage. Toss it regularly so it doesn't burn -- mainly it just cooks in its own steam, and becomes softer, and coated in butter. I suppose you could call it cooking "al dente", the way you might cook pasta -- just cook till it is soft enough for your taste.

You're done. The cabbage loses the slight bitterness of its raw state, becoming sweeter.

A mild, tasty side dish. For variety you can spice it up 100 different ways (paprika or celery seasoning or caraway seeds come quickly to mind).

Bonus in these self-isolating times: Uncooked cabbage stores well for a long while, so you can stock up on one of your infrequent forays to the market.

Cityboy

Morning jr. I do something very similar with cabbage. Just olive oil instead of butter, and add some soy sauce at the end.

lunar

We are here.
Everyone Relax.

MantaLady

I do my own version too! Dry fry some turmeric, ginger, chilli flakes and coriander powder for a min then add some coconut oil, toss in the cabbage and mix up. Once the cabbage is nicely al dente add 100ml of coconut milk. I could eat bowls of it...yum yum!

Hawkeye13

I start with olive oil, a little bit of diced onion, brown a bit, and then add cabbage. Near the end, a nob of good Irish butter and shot of Thai mushroom soy sauce.

My staple vegetable side. If you cut the cabbage in thin strips, it’s a nice mock noodle dish for any low carb eaters

fishkiller

MMMMMMM sauteed cabbage!

I'm in for a sober weekend

jr67

Great minds ...

Cityboy: I actually wrote out the recipe saying "olive oil," then was reminded that we (he, the Wednesday-night chef) used butter this time. Olive oil is generally our "go to" cooking oil. I just had some o.o. on toast after my grocery-store run.

Btw, news from grocery-land: Looks like tarragon is the new toilet paper. All three brands at our local mega-mart were out. Oops, hope I don't start a world-wide faux shortage. (Psst: Insider-traders may want to go heavy in the tarragon futures market lol.)

Manta: Turmeric, the spice o' the month, isn't it? Actually I said that to the counter clerk at a local cafe (in January, pre-Covid), when I saw they had a special on turmeric latte, and was told I had missed the bus, the turmeric craze has already peaked. But my curiosity was piqued, and I had a "dirty" turmeric latte ("dirty" = they add a shot of espresso"), and it was good.

When I ventured into my local tea shop (also in January) to stock up on some herbal teas for sipping in the evenings (rather than zoning out with the umpteenth "sip"(s) of one or another version of alcohol), I picked up two blends that contain turmeric, and I am enjoying both these days. So I'll try it on cabbage next time. Thx.

Hawkeye13

Sad about the tarragon jr. . .

If you are a quality but affordable olive oil fan, I want to suggest you check out Olive Oil Lovers website.

I buy all my oils from them in the 3 or 5 liter tins. They even have boxed oil with a spigot which is fantastic next to the stove, and easy to use and lasts for ages if you open if carefully. But I know most of us know our way around boxed liquids

Anyhow, the oil is fantastic--I typically buy from Spain and Crete, but they also have amazing Italian stuff. The real deal direct from producers--not the watered-down cheap stuff typical to affordable export.

Right now, they have some from last years harvest 30% off, and I have been using that as my daily oil of late and it great. Always free shipping, and they pack it very carefully in multiple boxes.

I don't work for the company--really--it is just that I love good quality cooking items, but I'm on a budget. This really hits both areas well.

Look for the tins if you go--the bottles are more expensive--but the tins / boxes can be super cost effective and they even offer a "house brand" which is just as about as good as the single-origin growers.

If you are stuck at home for some reason, and bored, check it out

MLD51

I am going to check out the olive oil site right now! I usually get mine at Costco - their store brand is quite good and affordable for everyday use, and is actually 100% olive oil, unlike a lot of the brands most grocery stores carry, which are barely half actual olive oil, or so I hear. But I'm out of Costco brand, and not going there anytime soon. I picked up some at the grocery store that I looked up and it has OK reviews, and seems to be the real thing. It's just ok.

I love sauteed cabbage, and I had sort of forgotten all about it, because the kid used to not like it, but I bet she would eat it now. Manta's version sounds divine!

saoutchik

Those cabbage suggestions sound excellent. There is a Korean street food stall near me (well at least there WAS one before the lockdown) They do amazing things with cabbage, I love that Kimchi soup.

London is beginning to look like the set of a Luc Besson movie.

Kaily

Now I wish I had bought cabbage when I shopped today, who knew it could be so tasty. No more boiling !

I planted some Morning Glory seeds in pots a few weeks ago. I have been obsessively checking them two or three times a day for signs of life, today one broke though the soil., Exciting times .

Had a lovely walk for a couple of hours. Keep your spirits up everyone.

MidnightBlue

I made a huge mistake when reading the news.

I don't remember when was the last time I opened some news site and I got rid of my TV years ago. If something serious happens, I have colleagues to tell me)

But when in self-isolation I have to monitor news at least once a day, and I am so out of habit of avoiding this trap that I ended up reading more, and more, and more...And somehow I realized I spent...5 hours. What?!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I will set a timer for 5 minutes and will forbid myself from opening it again!

Thank you for great cabbage recipes, everyone! I am planning grocery shopping for tomorrow.

theVman31

LOL Kaily now you can really watch it grow.
It's like season 2...

As a bit of a cabbage expert, I have to say boiled is still good in my experience. ����

We usually buy our olive oil directly in spain. 5L bottles extra virgin. Last year in andalusia.

Debaser (doolittle)
One of my favorite albums ever.

Forwards

Good evening fellow Weekenders,

Thanks Mags for the thread - pertinent as always. I'm doing my best to be 'fit for the future'. The beginning of my second year of sobriety though, which was meant to be about personal development is instead being spent in lockdown... Ho hum.

However, there has been progress at last on the job front. One of the companies I interviewed with several weeks ago has been in touch and is 'moving to an offer'. It looks like it's going to be a good one so fingers crossed it will materialise.

I went to the park this afternoon for my permitted walk and it was unfortunately fairly busy. There were kids playing football and young men sitting under trees drinking beer in the sunshine. This is not in the spirit of lockdown at all. Even the road traffic here is building up again a bit after an initial complete lull. Worse, we have Londoners coming down and holidaying for Easter (not that we don't welcome you guys normally). Yesterday three families from up country were spotted playing on a local beach much to the locals' dismay. Nuts...

Sautéed cabbage sounds nice - I'll have to try it. Great to see MesaDog and Alfie making an appearance again. Thank you all for your posts so far. Best wishes and bye for now. Forwards.

Cityboy

In a part of my work area, there are a lot of farms that grow mostly potatoes and cabbage. When they were in, there used to be people selling them on the side of the road in the bushel bag for like $5-$10, for a bushel of either potatoes or cabbage. Only problem is what to do with a bushel of either. It would have to be put up somehow.

PeaceManic

Yeah, the pixies are one of my favourite bands. Though "Where is My Mind" might be a more fitting anthem for most during this lockdown

Mags1

Hi Weekenders

Forwards, good news on the job front.

Kaily, Alfie looks like he’s enjoying his walk.

I’m loving these cabbage recipes, to be honest, we have it steamed, it sounds boring compared to your recipes, I’m going to have a go at spicing it up a bit. When my mum cooked cabbage as a kid she always gave me a cup of cabbage water with salt and pepper in it claiming it was good for my skin!

We had a fruit and veg man deliver his wares, along with home made jams and marmalade. There’s a farm shop apparently a few miles villages up, who knew?

I’ve also seen on Facebook that a local butcher will deliver free of charge when you spend £30.

I’m getting the hang of this shielding malarkey. I don’t have to talk to people. I made an A4 cute thank you picture and stuck it on my door, thanking all who are delivering my stuff.

It’s early here, I woke up at just gone one, not tired at all, but probably will be later,

Catch you later. xx

Kaily

Ha ha I will have you know I have not one but two to watch now. And I might even paint a garden bench today and watch paint dry later.

Awake very early again despite staying up a little later in hope of combating 3 am wakings.

Apparently we are going to have some lovely weather this weekend, people will get tempted to socialise in parks etc. Yesterday they had put warning tape on all the benches to try and stop any lingering. Sad times when we can't take a pew on a sunny day but necessary I know.

My Dad got a letter saying he has suspected lung cancer on top of his other health problems but won't be offered a CT scan till after this crisis. He is struggling being home alone, doesn't have internet or netflix. Kinda a bed of his own making but very miserable.

I am feeling pretty insecure today.

theVman31

Morning Weekenders.
Wow I slept until 07h00.
One of my better nights in a while.
Forwards good news about the contract
Mags, a cup of cabbage water. Well that just sounds bloody awful. I hope you slept some more.
Kaily we are here all weekend (with ya)
As Dee says "everything will be OK in the end and if it's not OK it's not the end"
What age is your dad I can't remember..?

PeaceManic, good to hear from you.
Agrred pixies are/were the bomb. I went for debaser for the andalusia ref.

Hope everyone got through friday night.

Coffee is calling.

This one is also fitting.