General Chat Thread II

When you're finally allowed to recycle soft plastics...

Obviously, it pairs well with rice but I'd imagine it being good with fish and on fried or poached eggs, too.

You can also buy jars of salted plums in the Asian shops. They're really salty and really sour. I use them to make a sour version of plum sauce to go with duck (still, a lot of sugar in the sauce).

Hhhhmmm interestingggg

Have one of these timers from Ikea for several years on the counter. Handy for the short 2/3 minutes a side things as you just turn it over and back and it starts again on the last time.

Google Nest Hub on kitchen windowsill has become my main timer for longer cooks as you can set several different named timers running concurrently.

I use one of these https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/staem-timer-digital-red-white-black-20263774/

I bought 2 as I assumed for the price that they wouldn't last. I've been using the same one for a few years now. Usually magnetically stuck to the oven, sometimes the fan.

Between that and the oven's own timer we're usually well covered. If it's Christmas we can use phones too.

Someone posted about a new app called Too Good to Go in Bargain Alerts the other day. It allows supermarkets, cafes and restaurants to sell off short-dated food at the end of every day. It's location based and all the bags are "mystery bags" so you don't know what you're getting in advance.

I said I'd check it out, so ordered a €4.99 bag from the Saltwater Grocery in Terenure for collection yesterday. I got a massive sourdough baguette, a huge slice of cherry bakewell, a tray of tenderstem broccoli with chilli and almonds, and a HUGE fish pie. The fish pie alone retails for €12.99 so I was more than happy with that! Had the bread with a cheese fondue for dinner last night and will have the fish pie and broccoli tonight!

Well worth checking out, imo, particularly if you're in Dublin. I spotted bags from Brasserie 66 and the Toons Bridge Dairy store on Aungier St on it earlier.

Dunnes. You'll get it in the baby clothes section, labelled muslin cloths.

Nice one, will check out the local Dunnes.

Im planning on making some potato milk just out of interest and Im not a fan of putting the mixture in a tea towel and squeezing it out. Is it just me or is that method straight out of the 1980s? You often see it mentioned in recipes as a method of straining to get liquid but it doesnt sit right with me to be using a tea towel that has laundry powder and fabric conditioner residue in it and then mixing that with food. They usually refer to a "clean tea towel" but you'll end up straining food through chemicals.

Just seems to be Dublin based at the moment.

I'm looking for some baking recipes for teens that take less that 1hr from start to finish. Best I can find are Rice krispie buns but I'm looking for something a little more grown up and complex. Flapjacks or shortbread? If anyone has reliable recipes, I would be grateful.

Brownies also fit the bill.

Thanks for the suggestions, we went with flapjacks and was happy with them. They came out a little crumblier than we had hoped but they stayed together for the most part.

I was allowed to open my Christmas present early (very early). New kitchen toy ... yes, I'm old.

(But not old enough that I don't smirk at the phrase nut butter every time I see it)

Smoothies, sorbets, properly blended soups etc. await. Anyone with any solid recommendations, go nuts.