I eat chili almost every day …

or rather: I call it chili, but it’s just a pre-packaged ‘chili sin carne’ added to minced meat …
I did discover that adding a few slices of pickled jalapeno’s really adds a bit of heat to the mix.
As all of this can be done in a single pan and doesn’t require much brain power it’s become my default meal.

I’m not much of a cook, so anything I make tends to be on the ‘follow instructions on packet’ kind of deal 😀

Food for one person requires too many things that are only sold in large quantities with an expiration date that will end before I’ve used even a quarter.

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I didn’t manage to put the final touches on my doors, so that’s going to be the thing to do this week.

Music that feels appropiate to the theme this week:

Pledge: scratch the itch for some Frostgrave by painting up some of my fantasy stash and get round to building those 40k models I was going to do last week before I got distracted by Tracy Island.

I’ve been fighting with a squirrel this weekend over it trying to make a nest on my balcony… the temptation to cook it is very strong! Joking aside, I also live alone but I take the path of using the weekend to cook something nice that I can then have as leftovers for the first half of the week. I’m not someone who minds eating the same thing three or four nights in a row and it makes my laziness feel less real if I have something that took effort days earlier to eat. This weekend it is a chicken biriyani.

In honour of the squirrel battle, obviously my music choice had to be Foamy

Pledge: plan to complete the gatehouse for terrainfest as commented on the YouTube video there’s still time to get it done, no hard deadline. This has motivated me considering the issue with my airbrush nozzle breaking.

For dinner I don’t really have a favourite. My wife is vegetarian and I hate cooking two separate meals. Between this, a toddler and making sure nothing ends up out of date I usually just make what is going to expire.

Does anyone else have this issue of supermarket food simply having less than a couple of days. It feels like I can never get anything fresh that will last more than 3 days. It’s like they don’t stock up when it’s a five day shelf life.

Usually I’ll get a good meal at work of roasted duck or whatever has been given away because it can’t be used for various reasons such as individual food requests for functions ect.  Recently I had these amazing lamb koftas with yogurt. I work fine dining it’s one of the perks of my job.

isn’t spaghetti bolognese simply an excuse to throw all left-over veggies in a pan and call it a day *eh* sauce ?

Same thing with ratatouille …  and goulash / chili …

In fact I’d swear there are loads of recipes that were more or less made because someone had left over bits from their previous meals. The mistake we tend to make is to think that we need exact amounts when in reality it was just whatever you had add hand with a couple of spices to balance the flavour.

Remember : freezers are a relatively new invention. In ye olden days they had to either eat it or find a way to preserve the food using any number of methods.

(hey … look at me … I pretend to know how to cook 😉 )

This week’s pledge is to try and find an Olympian model for the painting competition. I’m struggling with this one, as I don’t want to buy anything specifically for the contest. Failing that, I’ll be painting some more Heroe’s 3 minis.

• A bit different this week, just to shake things up: What is your favourite dinner for the weekends. You know the kind of meal you take extra special care for and time so it will be really good. – I’ve recently got back into cooking a Sunday roast for the kids on a Sunday. Other than that I don’t have a special weekend meal.

Pledge:  Get on with the first half of the Saxon commission I’ve been given.  I got my entry in for the PaintComp already so I’m feeling ahead of the month.

Answer:  As lots of you have mentioned something that can cook for a long time is worth spending some extra care on.  Chilli is definitely one of those.  Like a few of you I’m mostly cooking for one (and an ever hopeful dog) but still make big dishes and then have leftovers for lunches in the week.  For a special meal the family favourite is beef wellington with scallop potatoes.  Both take about two hours of prep and cooking and two cooks working in the kitchen together to get them turned out at the same time as each other.  I find cooking enjoyable and relaxing so will probably spend longer on it than is absolutely necessary.

And there are times when you just want comfort food and that does not require much effort;

@pagan8th Comfort food often requires less effort than other things.  In this house it is almost no effort as most of the best sorts come from a take away 😀  Self care is important and I spend a lot of time cooking so getting a take away is therefore an extra treat.  That said I do love a good crumble and custard and can make crumble fairly quickly.  Nobody spends time making their own custard surely?  It comes in lovely pots from the supermarket.

@gorram squirrel battle updates during the week please.

@holly You are so right about James.  They are great and have only got better with age, theirs and mine 🙂