Monday August 30, 2010

Monday Meatball Madness.

I began by making the meatballs. Ground beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, an egg, a little water, salt and pepper, chopped basil from next door were all mixed by hand. I cooked one to see how it was - seemed good enough, so Serena helped rolling the rest. As long as they are made mostly out of meat, you can't really go wrong.

I made the sauce: about 15 or so of yesterday's Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped went in with a finely chopped onion and carrot, thinly sliced garlic, and a chopped shallot. Salt and pepper and two bayleaves, then cooked down for half an hour, at which point I used my handy hand blender on it until it looked like this.

Serena busied herself frying all the meatballs.

And in they go. Look how happy they are! Isn't that one doing the backstroke?

Some weird wiggly pasta I had left over.

Freshly grated parmesan.

Using fresh tomatoes in the sauce is noticeably different. Not necessarily better, mind, just ... different. I am well aware that I won't have an endless supply of cheap tomatoes for much longer - perhaps I should go out and buy a ton, and a load of mason jars, and put some sauce away so that one day, in the middle of winter when everything around me lies cold and empty and lifeless, I can sit in my chilly kitchen and crack open a little reminder that, yes, summer was here once and will be here again.

* * * 

FOOD COSTS:

Ground beef $ 5.55

Eggs $ 2.99

Monday total $ 8.54

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Farmer's Market day today, so no cooking - at least until later. I went and had my usual two hamburgers for lunch, covered with the excellent mango relish they make. I bought a box of local Roma tomatoes for $ 3 - there must have been around 30 tomatoes in the box - as well as three bell peppers; two white and one red, for $ 1.50. 

Let me go on for a minute about the peppers, and bear in mind that I have been stuck in Hong Kong for the last six years. These had that sweetness and the crunch you can only get when fruit or vegetables are just picked. The flesh had the same crunchiness all the way through, not like those rubbery tasteless abominations that Park 'n Shop, or Taste, has the gall to charge its customers for. 

For dinner, Ivan came round and I fired up the barbecue. Nothing elaborate; a few Mediterranean sausages, tomato and feta salad, bell pepper salad with a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of olive oil, and for the main course - New York striploin steaks.

The steaks were interesting - I had bought four from Foody Mart for about $ 16, and then - because I thought we were having more people over I got another one from Loblaws; exactly the same size but this one cost $ 8. I could not tell by taste or look why the one steak cost twice as much as the others.

Steak grilling has never been my forte, perhaps because I never had a lot of practise and never fully understood the benefits of a really, really hot grill, but with a little reading, and a watch, I managed to make a half decent effort. They were at least as good as some pretty average restaurant steaks. Ivan and I ate two each, and used the rest of the skordalia from the other day as a garlicky dip - almost like a garlic butter but without the butter.

Photos would have been good, but we were too busy eating.

I realised it is times like this, as we sat outside eating in the cool clear sumer night free of attack mosquitoes, noise pollution, pollution, and people, that we are truly living the good life. We sat in silence and darkness, a semi-circle of light from the wall lamp giving us some visibility. You could almost hear the grass grow. Later we finished our meal with a light dessert of sliced pears from the very tree we had been sitting gazing at most of the evening.

* * *

FOOD COSTS:

Two burgers $ 10.00

Five steaks $ 25.93

Feta cheese $ 6.68

Sausages $ 3.99

Peppers $ 1.50

Tomatoes $ 3.00

Sunday total $ 51.10

Saturday, August 28 2010

Today, I took this

And this

And made it into this.

Oh, I also made this too.

Afterwards, the girls helped clean up.

Both recipes were tasty. The top one, a beef rendang, had far too much liquid in the ingredients; I probably could have cut it in half. I did find another beef rendang recipe that is much more time consuming. Next time, I'll go with that one. And the second called for way more curry powder as I ended up using. How much more? Well, it demanded 130g, and the packet I bought was 60g and I might have used half of it. Lucky I am not one to blindly follow recipes.

One of the things about curries is the more from scratch you make them, the more the list of ingredients pile up. And you often end up with a massive amount of spices, for example, that end up getting even dried and more dusty tasting. 

This is one reason I like buying I bought all my stuff at Foody Mart. They sell small packets of many spices; pretty much all of which cost a dollar.  I do have a huge amount of lime leaves though - I only used three out of about sixty. Not too sure what to do with them all. Maybe I will just freeze them and worry later. Oh, and for braving the crowds and shopping at Foody Mart, I was singled out to receive this handsome free gift.

FOOD COSTS:
Cinnamon sticks $ 0.99
Dessicated coconut $ 0.99
Star anise $ 1.29
Tamarind paste $ 0.79
Cardamom $ 1.49
Onion $ 0.99
Lemon grass (6 stalks) $ 2.58
Shallots $ 0.59
Lime (6) $ 1.00
Keffir lime leaves $ 1.76
Chicken $ 3.26
Beef $ 7.54
Chilis $ 2.40
Ginger $ 2.45

Saturday total $ 28.12

Total for the week: 170.91

Friday, August 27 2010

Easy day today. Lunch was the leftover steak from last night, sliced thin and with tomatoes, olive oil and lemon juice.

Dinner was a KFC 10 piece Family Pack, with cookies, two salads, fries, gravy and a 2 litre Pepsi all for $ 29.

Thursday, August 26 2010

Usually, I am very critical of my own food. But today is not one of those occasions. Today was a day where serendipity managed to provide a lovely feast. We had all driven up to Newmarket around lunch time, when I started thinking about dinner tonight. I had wanted to make chicken and dumplings the other day, so thought it would be a good and easy meal. I stopped on the way back at Price Chopper, about ten minutes' drive from home. Once inside, I decided to go with a steak for tonight instead and selected three smallish pieces of New York striploin.

I grabbed a couple of fresh beets with plans for a beetroot salad with shaved parmesan.

Some more field tomatoes from next door ...

While wandering round - it is a new supermarket for me and I have to look over every inch - I came across a bottle of hot sauce made from Scotch Bonnet peppers.

This I took about a tablespoon of, mixed with some white wine vinegar and black pepper, and then with cut up mangos from my dwindling stash, all zipped in a bag and into the fridge.

As an added treat, I made a variant on skordalia, which is a Greek garlic, olive oil and bread sauce. You can use potatoes, but I had bread on hand. As it neared completion, I included a raw egg yolk and about half a lemon. You can do the whole thing in a blender, but I went for the hand-pounded pestle-and-mortar old school version. My exercise for the day! It is not usually for steak, but went together very well.

For the steaks, I rubbed a Jamaican-esque dry rub, called Steak Spice, that I found in the supermarket, and went outside to grill: medium / medium rare for me, medium well for the girls.

Did the girls' steaks first as I find it easier to cook meats at different done-ness separately. Theirs came out just perfect - for them.

Closed the lid of the barbecue to jack up the heat again only to hear a faint sputtering. Opened the lid - no flame. No more gas.

Sadly, I had to cook mine indoors. It was still tasty but didn't have that nice grill taste.

* * * 

Oh well.

FOOD COSTS:

Steak Spice $ 1.99

Hot sauce $ 2.39

Beets $ 0.36

Pamigiano $ 9.70

Striploin $ 4.59

Thursday total $ 19.03

Wednesday, August 25 2010

The girls had pizza provided for them at school today as it was their final day there. So, a simple lunch for me. Fresh tomatoes from next door with olive oil, lemon and parsley, Portuguese sardines and Italian bread.

Tuesday, August 24 2010

Nicely spicy chicken wings.

Bought the wings from the Chinese supermarket, Foody Mart. Two observations about buying chicken wings at a Chinese supermarket: one, you can buy in bulk; and two they are usually cheaper than western supermarkets. 

Also bought a case of Ataulfo mangoes for $ 8.99. Those, plus the pears from the tree, and the rest of the watermelon, means we are OK for fruit for a while.

FOOD COSTS:

Chicken wings (2 lb) $ 5.68

Mangoes $ 8.99

Tuesday total: $ 14.67

Monday, August 23, 2010

Happiness is a newly mowed lawn, 

some pears from the tree,

and freshly baked Italian bread (@ $ 2.25 a loaf) with a bowl of homemade stew.

But true happiness is sharing these things with you.

* * * 

For the beef stew, I got two kinds of beef; regular stewing steak, already cubed, and the creepily-named finger meat, which is a sort of boneless short rib, I think. I cooked the meat and veg, except the potatoes, for about 5 hours on a low simmer, at which point the finger meat was tastier than the stewing steak. You're going to have to cook it for that long, as it stays chewy and stringy for a long time. 

After five hours, took out all the meat, strained off the broth, put the meat back in with the cut-up potatoes and cooked them till done.

I suppose I should have chopped some carrots or maybe some other root vegetables in too, but after hours of cooking I just wanted to try it.

FOOD COSTS:
Italian bread $ 2.25
Italian Parsley $ 1.49
Celery $ 1.49
Leeks $ 3.99
Onions $1.55
Potatoes $ 2.08
Beef $ 10.59
Beef broth $ 1.34
Carrots $ 2.49
Shallots $ 2.82

Monday total: $ 30.09

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Today was the day when we are all supposed to eat burgers and hot dogs at the Farmer's Market, but Serena was "let go" last week to make way for more needy kids who were desperate to get their community hours, and today Alexias came back in mid-morning. Seems with the rain they had a light showing of vendors and didn't require so many volunteers.

We headed out to this place, Mr Fish & Chips. We ordered the family dinner - four pieces of fish (halibut), chips, coleslaw and onion rings for $ 39 though with a couple of drinks and the stupid tax it is close to $ 50. Not bad for four people but a little pricy for three. The portions were generous enough that we could have got away with just two fish dinners. The fish was excellent, the batter crispy, and the fries chunky and perfectly done. I am sure we'll be back again.

After that, off to the supermarket to get food for tomorrow. I had originally planned to make a beef stew for tonight and have the rest for lunch tomorrow, but by the time we got back I knew it was going to be too late for the stew - it needs four hours at least - so the girls ate egg and rice, while I forced down the imposter yoghurt.

The stew is still ... stewing ... so no pics tonight.

I am spending the rest of my free time sifting through an old recipe book from the 1930s.

FOOD COSTS:
Fish and chips $ 50

Saturday, August 21 2010

For some reason, chicken-fried steak with cream gravy popped into my head yesterday and try as I might I couldn't shake it out. It is one of those dishes that just doesn't seem to travel well at all - perhaps because people try to fiddle with it or 'improve' it. I looked up the recipes online - there are thousands of them - and went with one that was the simplest. 

It worked out pretty well, though the skillet temperature was an issue but one that I can fix next time. The cream gravy was creamy and peppery. I served it with a fried egg and home fries - fried cubed potatoes.

It was so filling that - apart from breakfast - we ate nothing else that day except fruit.

I know the pic and presentation aren't the best, but it was very tasty, believe me!

FOOD COSTS:
Steak $ 7.35
Potatoes $ 1.36
Eggs $ 2.69

Saturday total:  $ 11.40

Total for the week: $ 168.64

VERDICT:

I think this is not a bad effort. we had quite a good variety of fruit, meat, vegetables, bread and inferior yoghurt, ate out a couple of times, and shopped at a variety of places. Next up is to plan a weekly meal menu ...!

Friday, August 20 2010

Suddenly, it seems like summer is almost over. We haven't had the aircon for a number of days, and I wore a shirt for the first time in quite some time. Still haven't worn socks since late June though, so that's something.

Leftovers for lunch; girls finished off the mapo tofu and rice. I packed them a tomato and feta salad with lemon and olive oil dressing. I also gave them a small wrapped package of the chili sauce which they awed everyone with at school. For me, the few remaining slices of bread and olive oil with the rest of the feta and tomato was enough for most of the day as I was busy attacking the basement. It has been mocking me of late with its half open boxes but I think I have the measure of it now. Tomorrow I will be on it like the proverbial fat kid on a doughnut.

Gave some thought for tomorrow's meal. Details tomorrow.

We all went to our local HK-style restaurant, the Phoenix. I must say, their milk tea is surprisingly good. I had Malaysian curry brisket which lacked the subtlety, complexity and heat of Malaysian; the girls ate noodles (no surprise there). Milo and bubble tea rounded out their respective meals. 

Came back home and ate fruit. I am seeing more and more punnets of Ontario fruit at the supermarket. We got a punnet of nectarines for $ 2.99 and one of plums for $ 2.99. A medium-ish seedless watermelon for $ 4.99 seemed a bit pricy but that was all they had. Perhaps it is coming to the end of the season ... The girls picked out some USA Pink Cripps apples. Hope they are not gang-related!

A bit of a downer. My usual yoghurt, Astro's Balkan style, was all sold out, so I was forced to take a different one. Verdict: a distant second place to Astro's Balkan style. I am beginning to think that Astro's Balkan style is the Tiger Woods of yoghurt. No, wait, the Lance Armstrong of yoghurt. No, that won't work either. Either way, this one is like the England 2010 World Cup team: weak and disappointing. It may be tolerable if I strain it overnight.

FOOD COSTS:
Apples $ 3.52
Watermelon $ 4.99
Nectarines $ 2.99
Plums $ 2.99
Phoenix $ 30.00
Yoghurt $ 3.49

Friday total: $ 47.98

Thursday, August 19 2010

A somewhat experimental day, and also an opportunity to reduce clutter in the fridge when I took almost all the vegetables I could find (cauliflower, string beans, broccoli, onion, jicama, celery, carrots) and made a vegetable soup out of them before they could all go bad.

The experimental part was taking care of the Thai chilis. I had bought a small pack about two or three weeks ago, for $ 2.40, and after having used six, I still had about 40 left. At this rate it was going to take me another three months to finish them.

These little guys are pretty hot, running around 50-100,000 units on the Scoville scale - Tabasco sauce being around 5,000 units.

I set about making my own chili paste. First, I popped them in the oven for a few minutes, the thinking being that if I roasted them they might take on a kind of smoky flavour and perhaps be less hot. What I should have done, of course, was seed all but five or six, but who has the patience for that?

The roasted chilis I then put in a pan with sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, garlic and oil and then heated through. Once the mixture cooled I ran it through the blender till it looked like this:

I was hoping that with the additional ingredients I'd end up with something that was hot, but tasty. I dabbed a tiny smear - about the size of a squashed ant - on to my little finger and tasted it. It is far and away the hottest thing I have ever had. 

I am so bringing some to the Farmer's Market this Sunday! I even have a name for it: Oh My God Water Water!

Lunch for me was a bowl of noodles courtesy of Flora at Wonton Hut. Coffee on me at Second Cup.

The girls had their rice and mapo tofu for lunch, and the vegetable soup for dinner. I had an egg on toast.

Toast! That reminds me.

I walked round to the local deli and bakery today to get a loaf of bread. They have a home-made light rye which is very good, and it has the added benefit of being at a place within walking distance. But ... the loaf of bread is $ 6! Six bucks for a loaf of bread ... it better be an amazing loaf of bread for that much. To put it into perspective, about 5 minutes' drive, on the way back from the girls' summer school, is an Italian bakery where they sell fresh Italian bread for $ 2.25. I can go in there, pick up a loaf of bread, have an espresso, sit down and contemplate man's position in the universe, and still have $ 2 left in my pocket from what I would have paid at the local deli. 

Six bucks for a loaf of bread!

FOOD COSTS:

Two coffees $ 5.25

WASTE:
1/4 of the lasagna
1/4 of the cauliflower and cheese
four egg whites

DELICIOUS MOMENT OF THE DAY:
Eating the first pear from the tree in the back garden. It was not quite ripe, and thus a little tart, but crisp and fresh and homegrown.

Wednesday, August 18 2010

Today, I decided, was going to be quiche day.  I realized I had never made a quiche, and seeing the pie shells in the supermarket gave me the idea. Quiche recipes abound on the net, but I decided to go simple and just make a spinach and feta.

I stayed up the night before to make the quiche: I softened a diced medium yellow onion and about three cloves of minced garlic in olive oil and butter, then added one pack of frozen spinach that I had defrosted and squeezed every drop of moisture from, plus diced zucchini that I added at the last minute knowing this was probably my last chance to use it all up before it went bad. The zucchini I diced the same amount as the onion, by the way. Transferred it all to a mixing bowl, and grated in about 8 oz of feta then left it to cool. Spooned the mixture into a pie shell, at which point I realized I had enough for two quiches, so I fried four strips of diced bacon and added it to the second pie shell.

I lost track of the liquid, but it was roughly two cups of milk, 4-5 whole eggs, 3-4 egg yolks, a tsp of nutmeg, and black pepper, all whisked up and poured over the quiche filling. Baked at 375 C for almost an hour.

It came out of the oven looking like this:

And soon looked like this:

The girls each had a slice for lunch, though Serena put half of hers back and replaced it with leftover lasagna, with salad, and apple and President's Choice chocolate chip cookies, which we seem to go through an awful lot of.

* * *

We had breakfast today too - onion hash browns, maple sausages and fried eggs for the girls, and for me ... quiche.

* * * 

Dinner tonight was going to be mapo tofu. It's not true mapo tofu, but then again neither is it in at least 3/4 of the restaurants in Hong Kong that serve it. For the ingredients I went to the delightfully named Foody Mart. Chinese supermarkets are typically way cheaper than Western ones, and this is no exception. For $ 21 I got 2 lb of minced pork, 2lb of fresh tofu, 3 litres of chicken stock, 2 cans of condensed milk, two bunches of green onion, a big bunch each of parsley and coriander, 2 litre carton of soy milk, plus a pack of white buns for steaming to dip in the condensed milk.

The mapo tofu is served with basmati rice and the rest of the Chinese broccoli before it all goes bad. That's also lunch taken care of tomorrow.

FOOD COSTS:
Bacon $ 2.69
Sausages $ 3.29
Eggs $ 3.09
Pie shells $ 2.99
Feta $ 3.59
Spinach $ 1.69
Nutmeg $ 4.49 (the cheapest and smallest I could find - it is more that I have ever used in my entire life)
Minced pork $ 2.15
Chicken broth $ 0.99
Green onions $ 0.39
Parsley $ 0.99
Cilantro $ 0.99
Tofu $ 1.89
Steam buns $ 2.69

Wednesday total: $ 31.92.

Not bad for what is going to be six, maybe seven meals.

Tuesday, August 17 2010

No photos today. Apricot and pear smoothies for breakfast for everyone, using up the fruit before it went bad.

Lunch was leftover lasagna, salad with lettuce and tomatoes. I took an apple out of the fridge to add in to their lunch, but apparently put it back in the fridge again while I was cleaning up! Serena later complained that there was not enough lasagna and she thought the serving I gave them both was just for her. I think she might have been Italian in a previous life as she can sure put away the pasta.

The girls took the bus to the mall for the first time today, so I met them there. No surprise, they had already ordered their New York Fries. We walked around a bit, I got a haircut, and Alexias handed out her resume looking for a part-time job. Finished around 6:00, and they were hungry, so I got a roast lamb plate from Jimmy the Greek and we all shared. Dessert was a couple of doughnuts for them, and a medium double double for me.

Stayed up a bit later to make lunch for tomorrow. Details ... tomorrow!

* * *

I have also been doing some superficial research on how much I ought to be spending on food per month. The best guess I can come up with is $ 1,000 / month, so that is what I will use as my benchmark. That gives me (calculate calculate, carry the one ...) about $ 30 a day. Sounds low, and I know I could spend easily double or triple, but I'll see how it goes. All costs are, by the way, in Canadian dollars.

FOOD COSTS:
Roast lamb dinner $ 8.80
Dessert $ 3.00
NY Fries $ 4.00

Tuesday total: $ 15.50

Monday, August 16, 2010

Up at 7 am as usual. The summer school schedule for the girls. In the beginning they were thrilled to go out to lunch with their new friends, but after a week started begging me to make them food.

Lunch today was chicken from last night, Chinese broccoli (gai lan) which I boiled in the water I used for the mashed potatoes, then drizzled with a little sesame oil, and mashed pototoes, where I got to use my old potato ricer. I think it is made out of titanium.

A cut-up pear, and a simple salad of Boston lettuce and field tomato with a store-bought Japanese dressing rounded off their lunch. Alexias grabbed two boxes of Koala bears for their snack.

Serena ate one pear for breakfast, and I ate the other one later in the day. So three pears gone in one day.

* * *

Serena came home after an hour as she was feeling sick. She staggered upstairs, flopped down on the bed and slept for two hours. When she woke up she was very hungry. Just as well I spent the morning making soup from last night's chicken carcass. I tossed in some macaroni shells and then some beans that our neighbour gave me, together with a zucchini and some Italian parsley. The latter gave me ideas for dinner tonight.

* * *

The soup I had made (above) for myself all disappeared into Serena's empty stomach. I think she is experiencing another growth spurt. I had two pieces of toast and a cup of tea.

* * * 

Went shopping at Loblaws before picking up Alexias. I decided to make lasagna, but forgot to look up any kind of recipe beforehand.

When we arrived back home, I looked through a couple of recipe books but didn't like the sound of either of them. Sometimes you just know.

Fried the ground beef, added diced onion, carrots, celery, then about 3 tbsp of tomato paste and four grated tomatoes (cut in half, grate on a grater, discard skin, repeat). A tsp of coriander powder, cinnamon and a generous application of black pepper plus I guess 2-3 cups of water. The meat simmered for maybe an hour. When it felt about right, I made a bechamel sauce, spooned two ladles into the meat sauce, and set aside.

The sheets were almost ready and I had been busy slicing half of the zucchini, which went into the lasagna in this order: lasagna sheet, meat sauce, bechamel, zucchini, lasagna sheet, meat sauce, bechamel, zucchini, lasagna sheet, meat sauce, bechamel, grated mozzarella. The whole thing went into a hot oven for 45 minutes.

I am by no means a zucchini lover, but cooked like this was extremely OK. I only remembered there was zucchini in it when it came time to write this up. Which then leads to the obvious question: what was the point of the zucchini in the first place? Beats me.

I was going to make a salad too, but it slipped my mind at the last minute.

Serena, however, secretly made chocolate pudding while she was supposed to be cleaning up earlier, so that was dessert taken care of.

* * *

FOOD COSTS:
Lasagna sheets $ 2.99 (will be able to make two)
Mozzarella $ 5.69
Onions $ 1.31 (for three)
Ground beef $ 5.67
Parmesan $ 4.99 (not totally necessary but I can always use it)
Pears $ 3.43

Monday total: $ 24.08

COMMENT:

I have to figure out how to make smaller lasagna, or some way to eat it for three meals in a row, or get a couple of friends.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The girls went off to their volunteer jobs at the local Farmer's Market. As usual, I walked over there for lunch and had a grilled burger with a very good spicy salsa the chef made himself. As usual, I ended up ordering another.

After the two burgers, thought about buying some locally-made goat's cheese for $ 11 and thought better of it. I had already supported the guy by buying a lemon goat cheese that was about the size of a big button for $ 5 the other week.

Walked around a bit, then went back home by way of the newly-opened deli and bakery to get a loaf of light rye bread.

* * *

The girls came back at around 4 pm bringing fresh tomatoes and a cauliflower that one of the stall owners had given them. So, we drove off to buy provisions to supplement the tomatoes and cauliflower, arriving at my current fave supermarket The Garden Basket.

I like it because; it is not huge; it devotes about 1/4 of the space to produce of which the display is a fine selection of local, Canadian and organic. I think it may be cheaper than my other nearby supermarket Loblaws, but not having a freakish memory for numbers, I can't be sure of that. Maybe the fact that I like it makes it seem cheaper.

* * * 

We get off lightly. Only $ 39.96.

* * * 

Back at home, it is 5-something and I am off and running. Only Serena is helping. Alexias is so exhausted from her long day of sitting down in a chair at the market that she has dozed off. First up, we wash and dry the chicken. I teach Serena how to make a simple herb butter and then how to spread it under the skin of the breast. We chop up 1/4 of an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, and stuff the cavity. The oven is preheating to about 400 C.

Next, the stock for the gravy. I use what I have: bits off the chicken (the butt, some fat), onion, carrot, celery, a smidge of tomato paste, some leftover chicken stock (canned) and an overripe tomato.

A bag of white mini potatoes that had literally called out to me at the supermarket were cut open, and half of them par-boiled then rolled in olive oil, butter, sea salt and black pepper, and then thrown into the roasting pan with the browning chicken.

I defrost a bag of cherries that our neighbour gave us when we moved in. He has a huge cherry tree and he must have given us at least 10 lbs. Pitted the cherries, popped them in a pot with 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbs of cornstarch, then reduced. At the last minute, I added about 1/4 cup of a fig and blueberry preserve I made - mostly so the figs and blueberries wouldn't go bad. [mental note: next time waaaaay less figs]. Spooned the cherry filling into a pre-made pie crust, put the top in while Serena decorated it.

* * * 

The chicken is cooked, and I work on finishing the gravy using the tasty bits at the bottom of the roasting pan, and I put a small dish of cauliflower cheese I have made into the oven to brown.

* * * 

While Alexias and Serena help clean up, the pie is baking. After 40 minutes it looks like this:

Bigger than it looks.

Then 10 minutes later, it looks like this:

Yes, I really like custard. So sue me.

* * *

FOOD COSTS:

[Note: I am putting the price I first pay for the items. Subsequent usage won't feature in the calculation. And no, I am not going to work out the depreciation on a bag of carrots.]

Chicken $ 10.17

Tomatoes FREE

Cauliflower FREE

Onions $ 1.40

Potatoes $ 7.45

Pie crust $ 3.49

Two burgers $ 10

Sunday total: $ 32.51

COMMENT:

OK.  $ 7.45 for potatoes? How is that worth it? I mean, it is not hard is it to grow a potato. You just stick it in the ground and then go away. Even though the potatoes were to be used over two meals, I admit I was seduced by the glamour of the white mini potatoes but next time promise to be more vigilant. And the $ 1.40 onion was a mistake too. Another case of not paying attention ... It was a Vidalia onion. If I had known that I wouldn't have bought it. Don't Vidalias grow like weeds down in the South? I am sure I could get a near lifetime's supply for $ 1.40.