Monday, September 10, 2007
Cheamward musings
Been wondering about whether the term home made - when used by a food supplier - has any meaning. Is the term about as meaningless as 'fresh' when applied to produce which is supposed to be sold in a reasonably fresh condition? (I remember causing the man from MacFisheries to smile when, as a child, I trotted out my 'one and a half pounds of fresh cod fillet please' as per parental instructions). It presumably excludes Mrs Smith knocking out a few cakes on her kitchen table, with a fag hanging out of her mouth and with the cat chasing wasps around the place. Apart from anything else there would be the severe foetal danger of smoke particles being released into the stomach of the mother on consumption of said cake with the probablity of their getting into the blood stream and across the placental barrier. It presumably excludes something bought by the hundred, boxed up onto pallets from some socking great factory in China. But between the genuinely home made and the seriously factory made there is a fair range of options. One might go for 'home made' being a code for 'made on the premises', but I think that it is too widely used for that to be reliable. It may be that made on the premises only has to mean that the last stage of production took place on the premises. So one's work experience kitchen assistant chucks a bit of cress on the ready meal as it comes out of the microwave and home made it is? I must find a mole with experience of these matters.
All this wondering provided some relief from the shock caused by the allegation of our electricty supplier (tsfka Southern Electricity) that our summer consumption of electricity has quadrupled since retirement and the consequent proposal to double our standing order. BH casting baleful looks at the various computers - the one I have checked saying it uses 1.5 amps - which if it is on for a good part of the day might well have something to do with it. There is also the increased amount of tea being drunk (electric kettle) and increased amount of food flummery (electric cooker). We will get to the bottom of it somehow.
Large pan had another outing yesterday to boil up a peice of silverside. Boiled beef and carrots again and very good it was too. Maybe not as fancy a flavour as roast but it is has a distinctive flavour of its own and does not sit as heavy on the stomach of declining powers. And we now have a gallon or more of broth to do something with. There must be a fair bit of fat in it which failed to set overnight, so large pan now taking up most of the fridge so that it does. Again, broth now goes down better when not quite so fatty.
Newspapers continue to have a field day with our real life version of Midsomer Murders. Occupies pages and pages - not to mention the air time. So we can all become instant experts on the vaguaries of DNA testing and police procedures. Maybe the McCanns are regretting having elected to make a media event of the whole sorry business.
Sighted two small rats on Epsom common yesterday, heading for the small pond. Maybe they are water rats who have learned to browse on the large amounts of bait that the buzzer boys chuck in in their quest for carp. First time I have seen a rat, let alone two, for some time.
All this wondering provided some relief from the shock caused by the allegation of our electricty supplier (tsfka Southern Electricity) that our summer consumption of electricity has quadrupled since retirement and the consequent proposal to double our standing order. BH casting baleful looks at the various computers - the one I have checked saying it uses 1.5 amps - which if it is on for a good part of the day might well have something to do with it. There is also the increased amount of tea being drunk (electric kettle) and increased amount of food flummery (electric cooker). We will get to the bottom of it somehow.
Large pan had another outing yesterday to boil up a peice of silverside. Boiled beef and carrots again and very good it was too. Maybe not as fancy a flavour as roast but it is has a distinctive flavour of its own and does not sit as heavy on the stomach of declining powers. And we now have a gallon or more of broth to do something with. There must be a fair bit of fat in it which failed to set overnight, so large pan now taking up most of the fridge so that it does. Again, broth now goes down better when not quite so fatty.
Newspapers continue to have a field day with our real life version of Midsomer Murders. Occupies pages and pages - not to mention the air time. So we can all become instant experts on the vaguaries of DNA testing and police procedures. Maybe the McCanns are regretting having elected to make a media event of the whole sorry business.
Sighted two small rats on Epsom common yesterday, heading for the small pond. Maybe they are water rats who have learned to browse on the large amounts of bait that the buzzer boys chuck in in their quest for carp. First time I have seen a rat, let alone two, for some time.
# posted by Jim @ 4:25 AM 
