Wednesday 29 Nov 2023 post begun 0947hrs GMT

 

Winter IS coming - we're under a snow and ice alert for the rest of the week and extra blankets are on the bed. 

 

I've just bought the Rolls Royce of manual rotary cheese graters. It is a 5-in-1 kitchen marvel and dishwasher safe (my Comfee worktop dishwasher has to be awarded Buy of the Year, I love-love-love that machine!). 

I bought an 'el-cheapo' several months ago and fell in love with the concept although el-cheapo (under a tenner) quickly demonstrated drawbacks:

• Crank quite tricky to fix to the inserted cutter/grater barrel
• Suction base knob increasingly difficult to turn with my arthritic hands
• Suction to worktop unreliable (VERY) to achieve and maintain during session
• Hopper and chute fiddly to fit onto base and worse, the hopper attaches to the chute via screws that immediately rusted after one trip through said dishwasher

Still, WOW was that thing a revelation - SO much safer (no more grated fingers) and considerably faster to grate a large block of cheese! The lime green body didn't bother me but in the end (and that end came quickly) the other issues did.

When I searched Amazon and eBay I saw pricier models, I went with el cheapo because I'd been fooled before (GRATY, that's £8 I'll never get back! Also three different mandolin combo sets that promised...but like GRATY did not deliver even a little bit). Once I realised how great a rotary grater could be, I went back to look at those pricier models.

Ooooh, what?! The working parts are all dishwasher safe? The suction enabler is a lever rather than a knob? The hopper and chute are one slide-on piece? The cutting/grating blades are in a neat little holding tray and assemble to a frame (so, easier to fully clean)? WAIT - WHAT, the crank fixes to the unit via an easy-fit screw-down cap??!! It comes with blade plates that grate big and small shreds, and cuts lovely ruffly potato slices to deep fry for American style 'chips and dip' and loads more specialty cuts as well? It comes with a five year guarantee??!!

 

Not least, the base is a truly beautiful deep forest pine green? And the price is still at 'Black Friday' pricing - half off AND free delivery?!

SOLD!

My husband has suggested it might also shred leftover beef joint cubed - the only way I can get him to eat corn tortilla burritos is if I add shredded leftover beef joint to the beans. But it is so labour intensive to shred the leftovers that I don't make that dish very often (scroll down for the 'recipe', if you like enchiladas you might like my 'taco-lada burrito' recipe for slow cookers) and DH saw the potential with this new kitchen tool sooner than I did.

 

I also bought a doughnut batter dispenser that drops perfect doughnuts straight into the deep fryer AND a doughnut cutter ring for cake doughnuts. My husband loves doughnuts (and biscuits aka cookies) but has to have gluten-free owing to his having Coeliac Disease. He's been known to indulge in store-bought glutenated doughnuts (to his grief) so when he saw the doughnut dispenser AND the ring cutter come through the door, his reaction was 'So when are you making doughnuts - soon, please?'. 

Meanwhile, autumn decor will be changed out tomorrow, the house is nearly finished being extra-cleaned and readied for decking the halls 1 December. Outdoor lights switch on will be at dusk Sunday 3 December. It all feels a little forced given the dire world situation but we agree the effort must be made - we need the cheering sights and sounds to counteract the gloom. 

SLOW COOKER TACO-LADAS

Ingredients (amounts depend on slow cooker capacity):

Shredded leftover beef joint

Tinned (canned) refried beans (I use Old El Paso)

Taco seasoning to taste (pre-mix packets OR make your own)

Corn tortillas for frying

Sunflower oil in skillet, heated (I use my Cuisinart multi-cooker - room for two tortillas side by side to fry) 

Waaay more grated cheddar cheese than you think you're going to need

 Slow cooker, kitchen paper towels

To Make:

• Open the beans tins, spoon into large bowl and season the beans to taste
  
• Fry the tortillas, pat excess oil off with paper towels
• Put a 'finger' of shredded beef into a fried tortilla and roll, repeat with all tortillas, set aside
  
• Spoon 2-3 inches of beans into bottom of slow cooker 
• Sprinkle a fair layer of cheese over the beans
• Put a layer of beef filled tortillas on top of the cheese
• Spoon a layer of beans on top of the tortilla rolls
• Sprinkle another layer of cheese over the beans
• Repeat the above until all the ingredients are used, cheese layer should be top
• Cover slow cooker and set heat level depending on how much is in the cooker and how long you can wait to eat (low - up to 8hrs, high - 3-6hrs) 

Serve with Spanish rice and/or salad - we usually have just a salad when it's just the two of us and add the rice side if we're having dinner guests. 

 

 

THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2023 (post begun 1211hrs GMT)

 

Oh. My. Goodness - he's only bloody gone and done it again! GRRRRR!!!!!

 

Last year I genuinely believed I'd worked out THE perfect way to ensure Christmas decor was quick and easy to retrieve for Thanksgiving Night decking the halls. Everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - very carefully packed into a huge zip close red storage bag. He took the bag out to the shed and I did the very happy dance at the thought this year it would be quick and easy to pull that bag out of the shed Thanksgiving Eve 2023 to be ready to open today, Thanksgiving 2023.

 

Quick sidebar moment - yes we live in Scotland. Yes it is true generally the British do not celebrate Thanksgiving. But I lived in America for a very long time and Thanksgiving means quite a lot to me. It is good for a country to have a day of thanks in late autumn and I wish if Britain is going to gleefully import 'Black Friday' they would first import Thanksgiving. Paul is now used to the day and enjoys not only the meal but the ringing over to the US families (daughter and her lot on the West Coast, son and his lot on the Gulf of Mexico coast), the Christmas movie on at dusk while I begin the indoor hall decking. Outdoors decor goes on First Sunday of Advent but the indoor decorating happens Thanksgiving night.

I knew he'd done it again back in June when we were doing a serious clear-out of the sheds and I tried to grab the huge red bag to set it to one side...

When I'd packed it to be put away, it was heavy but not so heavy I couldn't lift it. 

When I tried to lift it in June - IT WEIGHED AN ELEPHANT TON!

He immediately confessed he'd needed that exact sized bag and so removed all the things I'd oh-so-carefully packed, scattered those removed items every-anywhere and as a consequence misplaced THE FONTANINI NATIVITY SET (his most serious crime as I'd hunted long and hard to find that vintage set and it formed the centrepiece of my Christmas decorating). 

I think he understood he'd made a terrible mistake this time (yes, he's done this before - I still can't find the air popcorn maker he misplaced when we moved house in 2018) when I marched back into the house and refused to speak to him for several hours. 

I started over. I bought another bag, I bought new baubles. I began crafting new snowmen and toy soldiers and stockings and mantel garland. I found a new door decoration to replace the missing TWO I'd made over the years. I bought yet another countdown calendar - this one a space-saver with perpetual turn-as-you-go blocks. I made a slip-over partridge in a pear tree quilted thing to put over the countdown snowman when it is time to start the countdown to Epiphany (the song The Twelve Days of Christmas was written as a code countdown to the Feast of the Epiphany).

I bought a new mantel tree - flocked 2ft 'most realistic', it will be a nice change and now I can do a green or white tree as I feel in a particular year. I bought new lights - multi-colour - and I bought a new topper (red finial so it doesn't fade into the white tree). I found a vintage five branch candelabra to use for an Advent Wreath (and a holly-berry garland to wind through the branch bends). In short, I have now managed to assemble a reasonable amount of Christmas decor AND I've even managed to replace the Chanukkiah (Chanukkah menorah, used in memory of my Jewish ancestors).

And now it's Thanksgiving afternoon - and I'm not feeling it. I'm feeling defeated, I've lost heart. I can't even be bothered to drag out the movie and carols DVD collection and set up the DVD player we only use at Christmas. 

I'm feeling so defeated I'm not bothering to make the Thanksgiving Lunch. Turkey never on the menu as the stores and butcher shops don't sell turkey until the second week of December - I usually find a huge chicken and roast that. 

But. But not this year. It's burgers and chips ('steak fries' if you're an American reader) going in the oven today. I haven't even bothered to find an online feed of the Macy's Parade and a link to the Rockettes annual performance. 

In part my lack of interest is down to Paul once again losing all the decorations but also other, frankly more serious concerns including fear and dismay at the war Hamas started (Simchat Torah Massacre 7th October 2023) and their repeated statements since the 7th that they WILL do this again and again until Israel is wiped off the map and they will then go on to murdering ALL Jews and Christians EVERYWHERE in the world until they 'cleanse the planet' of 'unbelievers' and establish a global caliphate.

I wish those who are doing Thanksgiving today a very happy day.