Saturday, September 09, 2006

Eating scraps

On Friday I was promised a buffet at an event and turned up to find sandwiches. I had a couple of pieces of lettuce and emptied the meat out of one sandwich. Then I realised I had also eaten a slice of tomato.

When I got home I found the rest of the family dining on Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's battered so forbidden. They had over-ordered on chips so there were some of them left.

But what can you throw together to go with Kentucky chips? In the end, desperate, I raided my old stock of chili con carne from the leader. These particular tins are thrown together with wheat flour. Still with chili, it can mask a lot of problems, including burning of the mouth.

So some sign of reactions but nothing serious, thankfully.

Tonight my wife insisted on having pizza. Great! She persuaded me to try cooking some quinoa - think that's spelt correctly - a South American grain like seed which a vegetarian friend recommended and is supposedly packed with protein and vitamins.

Made the mistake of trying the recipe on the packet, which suggested cooking it in orange juice with dried fruit. It sounded delicious. The stuff is meant to swell to four times its size, like rice.

The recipe said 30 minutes but after an hour, and several top ups with water, I gave up and consumed the mush I had cooked. Topped with cheese it was okay - although not worth the trouble. Next time I will cook it like risotto - in water with flavourings added.

With all that semi-cooked seed in me, I feared a tummy ache but it hasn't come, thankfully.

Anyway I have just found the Quinoa Corporation's site and nowhere does it suggest cooking the stuff in anything but water. Oh well, properly cooked quinoa is a treat waiting for me.

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