Sunday

Morning, everyone!  Chilly, isn't it.  My heating is clicking in!

Yesterday morning was satisfyingly busy.
When I did the shopping on Friday, I found a nice little piece of silverside beef and some very lean looking cooking bacon.  Cooking bacon is the bits that are left from slicing which are not 'perfect'.  They are just bundled into a bag and vacu-packed and what's inside can be very good, very fatty or anywhere in between.  They were just a pound so I got two.
The beef went into the slow cooker yesterday morning with herbs, veg, beef stock, etc, and simmered away on lot for around six hours (the house smelled amazing) and I separated the bacon into bits for lardons, slices for rashers and chunks for slow cooking into ham - not that they would take that long.  I cut as much fat off as possible but there wasn't much so that was good.  I ended up with four pots of 'lardons', three chunks, one thick slice for gammon and a lot of rashers.  Great value for £2.

Then I gave Bubbles some attention and, while I am on the subject of sourdough starter, RIP Squeak.  She didn't go bad or anything, I just wasn't using a white starter at all, I always use Bubbles (rye) and feeding her was just a waste of flour.  I gave her a good end - into the compost bin to make great soil!
I still have Squibbles (the discard), of course.  Now and again, the jar fills and that, if I don't need muffins or pancakes or crumpets, that goes into compost too.

Anyway, back to Bubbles - I got her out of the fridge on Friday to wake her up and yesterday morning she was very lively which made me happy!*  So I started a leaven, discarded and fed and she's now back in the fridge.

(*  I know - bonkers!!!)

I wanted one of my lovely seeded wholegrain loaves too, so I started that off in Thermione.  It came out beautifully, having been baked in the square tin with a lid - I think it is called a pullman.  Quite the best shape for toasties and the like.

I got washing on the line - goodness, the difference in light is incredible.  It should have a good impact on my solar panels too I should think.  They will get good light for longer.  It did start raining - not much but enough to convince me that driving to the demo might be a good idea.  It was, but not because of the rain.

On to the demo.  We have a Thermomix Studio/Kitchen in town which is very lucky for us Thermo-fans.  They run all sorts of demos and 'experiences' hat are completely free.  You don't even have to pay for the food.  I guess you are expected to have an interest in Thermo cooking and it can be a bit of a sales pitch which is fair  - I don't feel the pressure because I have one!

Anyway, this one was called 'A Taste of Romania'.  I hadn't realised that there's quite a Romanian community in the area although perhaps I should have as the cleaning company I used to use was Romanian led and staffed.

When I walked in, it was beautifully decorated with the Romanian flag and a work space all set up and ready - it didn't look like this by the end!!!

The table was nicely set up with some drinks, some nibbles and . . . 

. . . a beautiful, big bowl that I greatly coveted.  I looked under it and it was made in Jerusalem - a tad to far to go for it, I think!  :-)

There were a fair number of young teens there, all Romanian as far as I could tell.  In fact apart from me and a pleasant Australian lady, everyone else was Romanian and obviously enjoying chatting in Romanian to each other although I didn't feel left out, not at all.  It was noisy, though, and my hearing wasn't happy!!

They cooked all sorts of things.  I've made this one, butter bean hummus, although I didn't make the topping.  It was delicious and one to make when I have a friend over, I think.

This bread, made earlier and just out of the oven when I arrived, was gorgeous.  I hardly ever have white bread, preferring wholemeal/wheat, but now and again is nice.

They also cooked polenta (I have 'raw' polenta on my shopping list now), garlic mushrooms (VERY garlic!) and a delicious pork dish that I need to track down as it, also was lovely.

The teens all clustered around one Thermo and made some delicious rice pudding - apparently it is quite a Romanian favourite.  Who knew?

One of the nice things about a Thermomix is that the screen can be set for many different languages so, obviously, they had Romanian as the language.

I asked what the pork dish was called and they Googled it (because the machines were all in use) and came up with pig neck.  Hmmmm.

(what's on the screen isn't the name, it's just one of the instructions).  

Taken while we were all enjoying the food.  Two of the team are 'advisers', like Leonie who is my adviser, and the third is a team leader.

I left just after six but goodness knows how long the party continued.  It was still going strong and showed no sign of stopping.

Thank you, ladies, I really enjoyed myself, even if I am still reeking of garlic this morning!

Today I'm having a quiet day because I'm not feeling 100%.  Not a bad tum, I hasten to say, nothing wrong with the food, but one reason I left at six was because I was starting a headache (which I put down to the noise) and a sore throat.
However, overnight and this morning the aches have started as well and I'm feeling shivery so I guess I'm down with something that's really going the rounds at the moment.  Hopefully, a nice, quiet day will sort things out.   I have a sourdough loaf to make but that's not work, it is a pleasure, and I have a kitchen to tidy which won't take long.  The ironing can wait.  :-)
There's pinto beans in the slow cooker and the meals are all planned so no worries.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone.  xx