Soft and moist

I am worried about my mum’s eating. She has been told quite categorically that she must only eat food that is soft and moist. She doesn’t. She seems to eat more or less what she fancies, without thinking of the consequences. I am at my wits end with her. There could be a number of reasons why she does not want to conform:

She doesn’t understand the implications of eating the wrong food.

She doesn’t know the possible consequences, but doesn’t care. “I am going to die from this disease anyway, so I might as well eat what I like.

She eats what my father gives her and he doesn’t understand either, or can’t be bothered to cook soft and moist.

I think it is a combination of all three, but it does worry me no end. I try to talk to her about it gently, but she just shrugs her shoulders. My mum is notorious for burying her head in the sand when there are problems.

So, this weekend I decided to take matters into my own hands, and cooked up a whole batch of soft and moist foods for her – 104 meals in total! That’ll keep them going for a while.





I know my parents are grateful for the food, but as most people their age, they have funny ways of showing it. My mother asked on Saturday: "Are we still coming for dinner tomorrow?" and my dad grumbled on Sunday when I brought the second lot over: "I hope the portions aren't too big!" Bless.

Gluttony??????

I love Googling my own name and seeing what websites I come up on. It doesn't please me that someone from a website called gluttonyisabliss comes up on the first page! It is not so much that they lifted my photo from Flickr without my permission - after all, that is one of the dangers of posting your pictures on the net, and they are not claiming it as their own - it's the name! Do I really want to be associated with GLUTTONY???? Hmph!

You get what you pay for

I hate it when things don't live up to your expectations. Last night we tried out the Moorend Spout in Nailsea, as it came highly recommended by my good friend Penny.

There was absolutely nothing on the great looking menu that I wouldn't be happy to eat, but I finally opted for the Steak and Ale Pie from the "Two for £7.99" menu. It looked great when it arrived, but unfortunaly didn't live up to its looks. Having obviously been reheated in the oven for way too long, the crust was impossibly hard and the edges of the meat were hard and unappetising. The filling itself was tasty with a nice gravy, and the chips were good.

The dessert menu looked equally tempting, with Chocolate and Brandy Mousse being my favourite. It is also something that my mother would be able to eat, so we asked the waitress to reserve us a couple. Just as well we did, because it was the last two they had, so she quickly scribbed N/A against the entry on the blackboard menu.

When it came to ordering the desserts, my dad had obviously missed the lengthy conversation about the last two chocolate mousses and the kerfuffle with the menu, as he wanted a chocolate mousse too. I did the charitable thing and let him have the last one and ordered a mandarin cheescake instead. Just as well. The mousse was a disgrace! It wad the consistency of jelly and tasted of.....absolutely nothing. What a real disappointment!

The old adage is as true as ever: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Meat-free week

I have tried to cook interesting dishes recently without using meat, and it was only today that David noticed he'd been eating vegetarian food all week. Many years ago I had a dinner party where I made a vegetarian casserole for the benefit of the non-meat-eater, and none of the carnivores noticed the lack of meat at all! 

Maybe I am just getting David used to it for when we go to India - many of the places we visit are strictly vegetarian! 

A garlic a day keeps everyone away

Looks like I've been having garlic overload over the last couple of days. Last night I added a whole garlic bulb to spaghetti, today another whole garlic bulb to my stir fried prawns. Which incidentally were rather disappointing. There was very little flavour, despite the garlic and a large knob of ginger. Even after adding some soy sauce it was only average.