tin_angel's Profile

Love Claudia Roden! Wonder if UK Borders sells the New Yorker...!

Not sure about the hens, but you can grow lots of stuff in containers. Container gardening rocks! Anything from herbs in yoghurt pots on a windowsill to big pots of potatoes and peas in a small yard, depending on the space you have. And you can still compost stuff. I've even read (on this site?) about people keeping hives on apartment rooves. But definitely herbs and tomatoes. Strawberries, peppers and chillies, amongst other things, will be perfectly happy in a window box. No slugs to deal with either, and you can have different kinds of soil in separate containers. You have to water stuff more, and avoid anything with long tap roots. If you can persuade someone you know to adopt your chickens you can still visit them and get some eggs. Good luck!

I was once left in charge of a pan of soup on the hob, and wandered off for a while to do something more interesting (I was quite young). I came back to find soup everywhere, a lot of smoke, a big black ring on the ceiling, and a rather irate mother! I was henceforth banned from doing anything in the kitchen except peeling mushrooms, which I later found out was something entirely unnecessary that I was given to do so I wouldn't damage anything. Consequently I didn't learn to cook til I was 21!

Yep, agree - its a horrible word! Sounds so gory.

Anusha that's so right it really can be an art! Hee hee dear ol' Sainsburys! It is convenient, i like to get stuff from individual, independent shops too but sometimes its so much easier to get everything in one go. On the subject of british supermarket stuff, I should add baked beans to the list of things-not-to-economise-on, has to be Heinz or nothing! Not as lovely as coffee beans and olive oil, but useful to have!

Wow you have some great things left over in your cupboards! Sara Kate you are a genius! My list of things to use up before we move is rather less inspiring. A jar of marmalade, a load of unpopped-popcorn, lots of arborio rice, mustard, about a gallon of orange flower water and enough garam masala to make curry for the next decade! Oh and some really horrible wholemeal strong flour which lends a delightful soggy-leather texture to everything it touches. Mmm marmalade rissotto anyone?!

Agree with all of the above, except for the Cy Twombly reccommendation! Love that red colour!

Eating at Mc Donald's is a treat?!

I've seen the curtain thing lots in the uk but on the inside, esp. over the front door. The house I'm renting now has one. I think over here tho its used the opposite way round - to keep the drafts out in winter. Wes that sounds nasty! All the sunnier European places I've stayed have never had air conditioning, just the shutters, windows and curtains closed during the day, and then opened at night when its cooler. With that and the stone walls and floors you don't need air conditioning.

Totally second the Claudia Roden reccomendation! Keisha - its so worth making your own - much nicer! Cook the chickpeas til they're soft enough to mash a fork/potato masher. I normally put some warm water in mine too. I once jammed my blender trying to make hummous! D'oh, couldn't wait for the chickpeas to go soft enough. Swan thanx for the Lebanese grandma tips!