Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[lincslady]

I am in a confessional mood  - so I admit that I have just had my solo dinner, and indulged in supermarket offerings   (one of the best British supermarkets).  An Indian meal of butter chicken, vegetable samosas, and poppadums with Greek yogurt and hot mango chutney to dip them in .

 

Can you chefs forgive me, or do any of you occasionally indulge in  lazy dinners?  It was good to eat, and there didn't appear to be any nasty E numbers  in it.

 

Lola

 

 

[jpalbny]

17 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Can you chefs forgive me, or do any of you occasionally indulge in  lazy dinners? 

 

Of course!

 

Sometimes we order chicken wings and pizza. There are only so many hours in the day.

[mchell810]

@lincslady  I love to cook (and my friends say I am pretty good at it), but there are still days when I simply need to taste something prepared by someone else!  Your meal sounds just lovely --  I wish I could get something that good at the local market! 

[spinnaker2]

[QueSeraSera]

2nd career: teaching high school. 

Again, I'm at a loss as to what to say to the students, after the news from Texas today.  These kids are us, x number of years ago...  Daveywavey: I know how you feel.

[jpalbny]

@QueSeraSera. I can't like your post but I appreciate your sentiment. This is discouraging to say the least.

 

Thought I'd poke fun at certain members of my profession. Myself included!

 

[frantic36]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I am in a confessional mood  - so I admit that I have just had my solo dinner, and indulged in supermarket offerings   (one of the best British supermarkets).  An Indian meal of butter chicken, vegetable samosas, and poppadums with Greek yogurt and hot mango chutney to dip them in .

 

Can you chefs forgive me, or do any of you occasionally indulge in  lazy dinners?  It was good to eat, and there didn't appear to be any nasty E numbers  in it.

 

Lola

 

 

 

That meal sounds lovely. It must have been the night for it Lola.

 

I usually cook but last night I couldn't be bothered. My local Independent Grocer in our neighbourhood always cooks a range of different hot meals for selection each evening. So at 5pm I went down and chose a couple of different meals for various members in our household. I chose butter chicken with steamed rice and a variety of green vegetables. The nice thing is the different components are in separate bowls so you can choose what you want for your meal.

[frantic36]

25 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

2nd career: teaching high school. 

Again, I'm at a loss as to what to say to the students, after the news from Texas today.  These kids are us, x number of years ago...  Daveywavey: I know how you feel.

Que, I feel bad for all the children and parents. How do the parents explain why this keeps happening. We have bad stuff happening here but not in such a large way. Sending healing thoughts to America.

[frantic36]

6 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

@QueSeraSera. I can't like your post but I appreciate your sentiment. This is discouraging to say the least.

 

Thought I'd poke fun at certain members of my profession. Myself included!

 

 

As a retired nurse who had to decipher many Doctors instructions I totally understand 😂.

[mchell810]

2 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

2nd career: teaching high school. 

Again, I'm at a loss as to what to say to the students, after the news from Texas today.  These kids are us, x number of years ago...  Daveywavey: I know how you feel.

 

Teaching was my first career.  I am glad I am no longer doing it only because it means I don't have to, once again,  say to my class of 12-year olds "It won't happen here." 

[Lirio]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

@QueSeraSera. I can't like your post but I appreciate your sentiment. This is discouraging to say the least.

 

Thought I'd poke fun at certain members of my profession. Myself included!

 

We are very lucky that today most all prescriptions and instructions from doctors are digital!

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Lirio said:

We are very lucky that today most all prescriptions and instructions from doctors are digital!

But the PBM computers have taken over the 'impossible-to-discern' roll!  I have to watch Caremark like a hawk to keep my 'enrolled' prescriptions arriving on schedule.

[Daveywavey70]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:53 AM, lincslady said:

I'm waiting for Geoff to reappear to tell us that Heinz salad cream is so much better than any mayo, and he is a man who knows his onions.

 

Lola

Just to rock the boat a little, have you ever mixed the two Lola? If I have an egg mayo butty it has to be done in quite a specific fashion. 2 Boiled eggs (the yolk just at the 90% set stage) are placed in a mug with a big knob of butter, salt and pepper, chopped up with a fork and then I add 1 spoon of salad cream and 2 spoons of mayo. slather it onto crusty bread and enjoy whilst the egg is still warm. My DH says I'm fussy, I prefer particular. 

[lincslady]

Not yet, Dw, but what a good idea.  The slight overblandness of mayo with the sharpness of salad cream, a match made in heaven.  The sandwich sounds just my thing for lunch, and I promise to make an effort for once and try it (especially if I am having a supermarket dinner).  

 

You will gather that I am not a very enthusiastic cook, especially now if it is just for me - but | do love good food.  Hence the joy of a cruise with really good meals of course.

 

Thanks

Lola

 

 

[drron29]

On 5/17/2022 at 7:16 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Rick Stein certainly has a lot of TV shows:

https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/rick-stein/credits/3000205415/

 

How does he have time to manage his restaurant empire?  We had a great time in 'PadStein' in Cornwall...

Actually he doesn't. padstein is now run by his ex wife.

His second wife is Australian and he spends a bit of time here. He has 2 restaurants. the first was at Mollymook a childhood haunt of mine. a few years ago rojaan did a cooking school with him at Mollymook.

https://www.bannisters.com.au/venue/rick-stein-mollymook/

 

His second restaurant is north of sydney.

https://www.bannisters.com.au/port-stephens/

 

[jpalbny]

On 5/13/2022 at 3:24 PM, TrulyBlonde said:

A few years ago, we had so much snow that when I went out the front door, we had 2 fox on top of our roof. I think it was a new adventure for them too 🙂

 

This reminds me of the legend of Sankt Michael Church in the Wachau Valley. We sailed by there a few years back.

 

https://www.dreamstime.com/pictured-legendary-seven-stone-hares-st-michael-s-church-north-side-danube-wachau-lower-austria-legend-says-image134937952

[lincslady]

Re Rick Stein - his Cornish empire is now run by one of his sons, Jack.  I feel sure the ex-wife, Jack's  mother, is also involved.  

 

Jack does - like a lot of Chefs  who started this during lockdown - a home delivery of semi-cooked prepared dishes to have at home, and next weekend (Jubilee weekend) I will be trying out one of his 3 course menus at my daughter's.  I have heard there is quite a lot of cooking involved; haven't mentioned that to her.  I will report back when I get home.

 

Some Cornish folk,  perhaps understandably, do not approve of what seems like a takeover of Padstow but for most of us he is a congenial host with interesting programmes on TV.

 

Lola

[Fletcher]

We are currently watching again Rick Stein's Cornwall series on the BBC iPlayer as preparation for our trip to Cornwall in two weeks.   We have also just watched again Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs as preparation as we wanted to see how the locals behave and to avoid any social faux pas.  

Edited May 26, 2022 by Fletcher

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good afternoon all 🙂

 

Rick Stein is extremely easy to understand. 

 

His message is very straightforward.  He basically believes and has always believed that fish unlike other proteins has a very simply secret.  You must buy it absolutely fresh and not mess about with it.  If you buy beef and age it in air, it might be better but won't deteriorate. You can freeze it and it will be ok. You can do anything with it.  But fish is simple. It never improves with age.  It might not be as good once frozen. So it mostly cannot be improved with age or freezing.  All he asks is that you buy it just after it was wriggling around and cook it and eat it.  You either grill it or fry or add batter and then fry it it as soon.   You add chips cooked in an oil that adds flavour and a cheap local wine.  That is the very best fish you will ever eat. No other fish dish is ever improved by anything more sophisticated.  And he is and always has been right.  But to sustain the career there needs to be a lot about stuff that is not this simple.

 

But what do I know. 🙂

 

All the bestest fishiest.

 

Jeff.

[Mr Luxury]

5 hours ago, lincslady said:

Re Rick Stein - his Cornish empire is now run by one of his sons, Jack.  I feel sure the ex-wife, Jack's  mother, is also involved.  

 

Jack does - like a lot of Chefs  who started this during lockdown - a home delivery of semi-cooked prepared dishes to have at home, and next weekend (Jubilee weekend) I will be trying out one of his 3 course menus at my daughter's.  I have heard there is quite a lot of cooking involved; haven't mentioned that to her.  I will report back when I get home.

 

Some Cornish folk,  perhaps understandably, do not approve of what seems like a takeover of Padstow but for most of us he is a congenial host with interesting programmes on TV.

 

Lola

The other star chef that is making his mark on Padstow in Cornwall is Paul Ainsworth.

He is a great chef and I think he already has four venues in the area.

He's worth a look.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

The other star chef that is making his mark on Padstow in Cornwall is Paul Ainsworth.

He is a great chef and I think he already has four venues in the area.

He's worth a look.

Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 is part food and a larger part theatre.  We preferred Rick Stein's down-to-earth approach at The Seafood Restaurant, which was also a nice hotel and serves a great breakfast.

[Lirio]

5 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

The other star chef that is making his mark on Padstow in Cornwall is Paul Ainsworth.

He is a great chef and I think he already has four venues in the area.

He's worth a look.

 

My UK e-friends, I have 2 nights in London next August after the Greenland cruise. I am looking for suggestions of a restaurant to dine, British food, for a special occasion. Any suggestion?

 

[chebby]

Lirio

 

I suggest Rules in Covent Garden, try the grouse 

 

john

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

3 hours ago, Lirio said:

 

My UK e-friends, I have 2 nights in London next August after the Greenland cruise. I am looking for suggestions of a restaurant to dine, British food, for a special occasion. Any suggestion?

 

 

Lirio,

 

Have you considered “doing the opposite”?

 

At the very top end in every major city the best “top-end” food to me often seems so international you could be almost anywhere and they all seem to merge into a oneness.  

 

How about swapping it for a typically British meal in a decent  historic London pub?  You could do some searches and make your choice.  Some enormous beer battered fish and chips with a good British beer might be more memorable?

 

The George at Southwark is full of old charm and do a mega fish and chips.  I think the original was built in the 1500’s and burnt down in the Great Fire in 1666 and rebuilt a few years later.  That’s just one but London is full of wonderful old pubs. 

 

Enjoy your visit.

 

Jeff

 

 

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

If I were to have the pleasure of a return to London, I'd stay at the Covent Garden hotel (just off Shaftesbury, near Seven Dials), and just wander into the West End, which has many wonderful restaurants.    I can't say we've had a bad one, other than a place associated with a hotel across the street from ME.  Hope to be able to return some day - love that town!