The sandwich I get from uni almost makes the 2 hour trip to get there worth it.

A fresh crusty ciabatta with a tiny bit of butter, smoked salmon, 2 slices of bree cheese, a few finely sliced cucumbers, all topped up with some creme fraiche. Can't beat that!

In the last week the family has been stretching itself beyond its usual culinary comfort zone. This week alone we had beef lasagne (prepared under the 1hr mark), beef and spinach cannelloni, and yesterday a Mexican tortilla wrap dinner. Just reading this paragraph almost makes me want to hide away from the scales.

I cooked my fair share of tortilla wraps when I was still living in the dot, but I always found it a bit tricky getting them served all warm in time. What mommy S and aunty S did yesterday was a nice do-it-yourself idea. They prepared a couple of bowls with different tortilla fillings like minced beef, home made guacamole, tomatoes, sweetcorn, onions, sour cream and green peppers, and everybody prepared his own tortilla. It was also interesting seeing a pizza-tortilla mashup by our resident Italian. Poor J had some stones roaming around his body, we're not entirely sure whether they were in his kidneys as he claimed or in his mind.

In November the housies promised to try and push for a Slovak home made dinner, cooked by a Slovak. Whether they'll manage to get that has yet to be seen though.

Last Saturday we had a bit of a house party, formally to celebrate J's birthday, but really to have some good craic. I spent most of Saturday preparing food, assisted by my dearest house mates :) This was what we had on the menu (for my future reference):-

Main Dishes

• Goulash
• Rice salad (green peppers, eggs, sweetcorn, tomatoes, capers, salad cream)
• Potato salad (potatoes, parsley, salad cream)
• Vegetable Kebabs (Articoke hearts, feta cheese, olives, cheery tomato, peppers and cucumber)
• Spicy sausages and garlic bread (backups that weren't needed)

• Pistachios, Cashew nuts, Walnuts
• Cheese Platter (5 types of cheese Mexican, Brie, Blue Cheese, Cheddar, Mount [something])
• Tesco cheese crackers (They suck! Get Carr's next time)
• Dips and Breadsticks
• Nachos and spicy tomato dip
• Crisps
• Popcorn

• Coconut marshmallow balls (very popular)
• Fruit Salad (pineapple, grapes, cherries, strawberries, apples, oranges, banana, pears)

The party wasn't much of a wild house party. It was more of a sit down and eat sort of party, very much like the family parties back home. The food was good, which was the most important thing in the end. The idea of preparing goulash (Slovak mother-in-law-to-be recipe) , even in the middle of the Irish summer (= dottian winter), was a good one. It was a pity that M wasn't there to join (and cook some of his masterpiece dishes), since he just left for a holiday in Italy.

More pictures of the party here

P.S. Food ideas for next time - suggestions welcome.

• Stuffed Olives
• Brusketta
• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Broad Beans
• Couscous salad

In this article Adam Leith Gollner takes a look at some dishes that can make the big jump to mainstream cuisine, a bit like sushi did 20 years ago. Amongst the dishes mentioned are Korean bibimbap, mongolian hot pot and pupusas.

Lifehackery has a list of 50 helpful tips for the kitchen. This list would make Chuck Palahniuk proud with the list of hacks on how to use common things to solve problems (think survivor). These are some examples:-

• If you aren’t sure how fresh your eggs are, place them in about four inches of water. Eggs that stay on the bottom are fresh. If only one end tips up, the egg is less fresh and should be used soon. If it floats, it’s past the fresh stage.
• To clean an electric kettle with calcium buildup on the heating element, boil a mixture of half white vinegar and half water, then empty.
• If you happen to over-salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato. The potato will absorb the excess salt.
• Remove tea or coffee stains from your fine china by mixing up a paste of baking soda, lemon juice, and cream of tartar. Rub it over the stains and they’ll come off easily.
• The substance in onions that causes your eyes to water is located in the root cluster of the onion. Cut this part out in a cone shape, with the largest part of the cone around the exterior root section.

Some people who are going to read the title of this post are going to smirk and probably think I'm being ironic. I'm known to slag my mum's cooking, sometimes rightly so, but this time I'm serious. I like this simple dish that my mum used to cook during the week, usually when we'd have more than two cabbages in the fridge. I tried to look up the recipe on the internet but didn't find anything similar to it, so I phone home instead and asked mum how to cook it. (Funny how the first instinct was to look it up on the internet instead of asking mum directly).

The ingredients are very simple:-

• 1 cabbage
• 4 streaks of bacon
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 beaten eggs (like a little boy I disobeyed and used 3, but mum was right 2 is the maximum you should use)
• salt

1. Cut the cabbage in 4 large pieces and boil it for about 30 minutes
2. Drain the cabbage properly and chop it into about 1 inch squares
3. Cut the bacon into medium sized squares and the garlic into large pieces
4. Heat some oil in a pot and add the garlic and bacon for about 2 minutes
5. Add the cabbage and stir
6. Add some salt. Note that cabbage tends to be sweet so you might want to add some more salt then usual.
7. Add the beaten eggs and stir thoroughly
8. Cook on medium heat for about 20/25 minutes stirring occasionally
9. Serve with fresh bread

After waiting all through the summer for some weather, yesterday we capitalised on the stretch of nice weather there's in Dublin (by nice I mean, not raining) and went for a BBQ. I tried out some new stuff on the bbq. Garlic bread wrapped in foil, jacket potatoes stuffed with bacon and cheddar cheese, chicken coated with olive oil, Worcester sauce, garlic, some thyme and mustard seeds, a healthy piece of steak marinated with bbq sauce , onions, garlic, meat spices, loads of pepper and olive oil. The highlight for the folks at the table were the jacket potatoes stuffed with bacon. They were up to Slovak and Polish standards – a friend of ours got two new friends with her.

I was in one of those boisterous very explicit moods. Was good fun. At least we’re making getting our return for investment on the bbq set after not being able to use it throughout all the summer.

On a slightly different note, I got a (return) ticket for Luxembourg for November.

• 4 medium sized potatoes
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp milk
• Salt and Pepper
• 200g mushrooms
• 5 strips of bacons (or bacon cubes)
• cheddar cheese shavings

1. Boil the potatoes until cooked. These usually take between 30 minutes and 45 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
2. Slice the mushrooms into small pieces and dice the bacon.
3. Peel the potatoes and mush them adding the butter and the milk. The mush should have a consistent texture. You might be required to add some more milk and butter.
4. Add salt and pepper to the mush. Taste and add more if necessary.
5. Add the sliced mushrooms and bacon to the mix and stir.
6. Heat the oil in a pan and start adding a thin layer of the mixture.
7. Sprinkle the cheddar shavings on top of this layer and cover with the rest of the mixture.
8. Turn the omelette round carefully until browned on both sides.

• On my first try I make the omelette too tick and it was practically impossible to turn it and cook it properly on both sides. Make sure that the omelette is thin.
• If you think you don't manage to turn the omelette you can fry part of it and grill the top part. Pay attention not to burn your pan in the grill.

• Preparation time: 1 1/2hr
• Served: 2 servings
• Amount of clutter: medium (1 bowl for preparing the mush, chopping board, frying pan for cooking)

• Variant of the mush potato omelette from the good old times

I've already voiced my opinion about eating, ranting that eating is expensive and time consuming. Yesterday I came across this article in Get Rich Slowly that attempts to propose a solution for eating.

My favourite tip is tip nr. 14, take food to work. I throw away loads of food because I'm not at home often, so things rot after a while in the fridge. On the other hand I spend half of my day at work and often finding nothing to eat in the fridge. This tip will probably help me waste less food.

Ingredients

• 1 tsbp oil
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves cut in large pieces
• Tabasco sauce
• 500g minced beef
• 1 beef stock cube
• 400g Mexican sauce (with Jalapeños)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 400g can of red kidney beans
• Plain rice (to serve)
• Cheddar cheese (to serve)

1. Dice the onions into small squares and cook with garlic in pre-heated oil until onions are translucent.
2. Add the chopped peppers (and spices - not included in ingredients because not used). Cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the mince until browned. Do this on high heat so that the meat is fried rather than stewed.
4. Prepare beef stock according to instructions and pour into the pan with the mince mix. Add mexican sauce (or tomatoes), sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and continue simmering for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.If the sauce is dry add some water (or wine).
5. Add the rinsed and drained beans. Bring to boil again and simmer for about 10 minutes. If the sauce is dry add some water (or wine).
6. Served the chili sauce on top of a bed of rice.
7. Added some cheddar cheese shavings on top of the chili sauce when serving. It was a good idea because the melted cheese tasted delicious with the sauce.

• Cumin features in most of the chili con carne recipes. Try to include next time. Same applies for paprika.
• Try adding a piece of chocolate instead of sugar (idea courtesy of BBC)
• Used tabasco instead of chilli powder because chilli powder was not available
• The chili con carne sauce can be served on jacket potatoes (might be a good idea for a bbq)

• Preparation time: 1hr
• Served: 4 servings
• Amount of clutter: medium (1 pan for the sauce, chopping board, pan for rice)

• BBC Good Food. The ingredients in italics are those that vary from the original recipe.

Rouxbe delivers step-by-step video recipes of cooking some equisite looking dishes from homemade mayonaise to slow roasted lamb loin. All the videos are very high quality and very detailed. All you have to do is signup for free and pick up the pan.

I picked up a selection of 3 dishes to whet your appetite. I'm sure somebody is going to get really hungry seeing them.

Read previous post (On Eating) to put this post in context

Lidl Powered Shopping
Fresh Pasta Sauce (Pesto) - 1.19
Fresh Tortellini - 0.99
cooked Ham - 1.69
Frankfurters x10 - 1.45
Rich Tea Biscuits - 0.31
2kg Oranges - 1.69
Large Carrier Bag + Levy - 0.27
6 White Rolls - 0.99
Ex. Virgin Olive Oil 500g - 3.99
Organic Potatoes - 2.49
Organic Vine tomatoes - 2.29
German Pils x6 0,5l - 6.99

Dinner: Stir fried spinach with bacon, garlic, egg and frankfurter
Part 2 of yesterday's tortellini
Preparation Time: 10 minutes spinach, 10 minutes tortellini
Cleaning Time:15 minutes

Read previous post (On Eating) to put this post in context

Monday
Omelette x2 portions (4 eggs, bacon, mushrooms, parsley, salt)
Dessert: Birthday cake gently donated by the neighbour (see below)
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Eating and cleaning: 40 minutes

Tuesday
Breakfast: Muesli (at work 0 time cost)
Lunch: Hunky Dory's packet of crisps (70c)
Dinner: Fresh tortellini with 'instance' sauce (preparation: 10minutes, eating and cleaning: 5 minutes)
Dessert: Same birthday cake as yesterday

The birthday cake story
Yesterday something very curious happened and since it's related to food it deserves an honourable mention. I returned home after a crappy day at work and was listening to some music in my room when I heard the doorbell ring. I can count the number the doorbell rings on one palm of my hand cause nobody every uses it and whenever somebody rings it's either Jehovah witnesses or politicians. As I opened the door there was this 20something year old girl holding a thick creamy cake on a plate.

I thinking "ok so can you tell me what's happening here?." Then she said "hi, it's my sister's 21 birthday and we were having a party but all of us are on a diet and we cannot eat the cake. Will you eat it so at least it's not wasted?". I was so amused at what was happening that I started laughing out at her. I didn't mean to be insulting at all I was just very surprised and amused. As soon as she saw me laughing she told me "why are you laughing at me?", and having no plausible reason I continued laughing as an idiot would obviously do. After I regained some composure I accepted the cake and explained that I wasn't laughing at her and she shouldn't take offence. It was a very nice gesture on her part. That's the best thing that happened all day.

Read previous post (On Eating) to put this post in context

Saturday
Dinner at my pal to reciprocate the chilli con carne. Cod and Veg on the menu.
Preparation Time: 0 minutes (playing the fool)
Eating / Cleaning: 1hr

Sunday
Mc Donalds sandwich meal after the Milan - Inter (1-2) match.
Time: 0 minutes (not counted was out anyways)
Cost: 6.70€

Snacks
Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese and Salami Sandwiches

Read previous post (On Eating) to put this post in context

Every Thursday is Eddie Rockets day so the balance is completely towards high cost in favour of efficiency.

Buffalo Wings + Chips + Regular Fanta = €15
Snack: Left over sandwiches from presentation at work

Preparation Time: 0 minutes
Cleaning Time: 0 minutes

Read previous post (On Eating) to put this post in context

Shopping from SQ
Vienna Roll - €1.50
Lettuce - €0.69
6x Eggs (1/2 price) - €1.07
Vine Tomatoes (x6) - €2.15
Sliced Salami - €1.79
Total - €7.20

Snack – Bread roll with Sardines (Hobz biz-zejt)
½ sardines can
1 Tomato
1/5 Lettuce
1/3 Bread roll
Olive oil

Preparation Time: 3 minutes
Cleaning Time: 3 minutes

Method: Put everything on a plate and eat

Tarja
150g pasta
grated parmesan
butter

Preperation Time: 5 minutes (not relevant cause prepared during Milan-Celtic (1-0) half time)
Cleaning Time: 3 minutes

Method: Boil pasta for about 3 minutes, serve with butter and grated parmesan