Thursday 18 October 2007

Glorious Food and Smug Cook of the Day

An expedition to a well known supermarket that naked chefs go to is usually a glance into how the other half live. I took the glance on the off chance it would be less crowded after England got turned over by Russia.

Some of the food is bog standard, and some is kinda better looking than it's counterparts in other local outlets. There were on this occasion lots of "knockdown eat within 24 hours" fresh organic bits and bobs. I gathered many into the basket, cantered over to the wine section, grabbed a bottle and zoomed home. Being a total penny pincher, I calculated I had just got about £20 worth of good food for about £4. Result! I started tucking into the Aussie red plonk, remarkably better than the price would suggest, by way of a celebration.

I've been preparing food for three days at work. I have to say that today was the first time I've actually felt largely in control of the utterly hectic process that is fast food to order. Just cos it's fast, don't mean it's bad. There's no "Mc" about it. So today was a good day. And the sun shone bright upon the city's usual urban glower.

Once home, knowing that tomorrow is the start of my 4 day weekend, I can expend energy on other stuff. I can enjoy a languid soak in the tub. I've done my parental duty writing a covering letter to the school admissions board assertively pointing out that they must put my son into a certain school in order to preserve the quite complex family dynamic. Fat chance of them actually listening, but hey, you gotta try.

And so on to the evening meal. My boy just got a large fresh salad of mange tout, baby sweetcorn, red pepper, shredded little gem, organic vine tomato, grated carrot and courgette and onion. There was a basil garnish and olive oil and balsamic English mustard dressing. This was served with fresh spinach and ricotta tortellini and for a bit of protein a boiled free-range egg, perfectly cooked for a change, sliced and scattered over the salad. There was also a banana and strawberry bio-yoghurt milkshake with crushed ice and a dash of fresh squeezed organic lime juice. AND one of those funky bendy roller-coaster shaped straws to try to suck it through.

Bloggers and readers of the world, if you went into your local cafe/deli and sat down to this, if I may say so myself, you would probably be impressed a tiny bit. Remember, this is a child I'm cooking for here, and the reward I get is to see the plate empty and a cheery face hung over it.
Apart from that, it would set you back a prettier penny than that which I lavished upon it.

Sometimes, being a smug bastard is not wrong, you know. I believe it could also be called getting something right, enjoying doing it, and ticking one of the myriad boxes in life with vim and aplomb for a change.

7 comments:

lorenzothellama said...

Did he actually eat it? My experience is they bloody well want McDonalds.
Lorenzo.

Thesaurus Rex said...

Oh yeah, he ate it! Went down like nobody's business. Anyway, the one thing I insisted upon in this boy's life was that he was raised as a vegetarian. McShite's is not a venue on his agenda. One day he can make his own informed choice, hopefully based on the sense he seems to have accumulated, and not based on following other goops into the nightmare of Corporate-burger joints to actually eat that garbage.
I'm not saying he eats brilliantly every day, but most of those kids out there in his peer group and beyond don't have as good a diet as he does most of the time.

Sara said...

Captain Vegetable would be so proud!

Ju's little sister said...

It's what one is used to though, isn't it? I was brought up on meat and three veg - and that's what I consider a good meal. If a kid is brought up on Mc'D's and BK, then that's what they will consider good. Good on you T-Rex, I am definitley impressed. With the savings made too!

You mentioned in a comment somewhere I think that work was starting to get interesting. If you'd been a girl I would have assumed you were refering to the dynamics of the relationships of the people around you.

Were you referring to this cooking business, instead of washing? (Just curious).

Thesaurus Rex said...

I was a meat and three veg kid too. It was good. If I'd been broughtup on McCrap, I don't think I'd be as robust and healthy now, and that is a firm belief. I regard it as a slow form of poisoning.
I also did a lot of playing outside chasing spherical objects about. There were only 3 T.V. channels and my mind was more interesting than any of them most of the time.
As far as I can gather, my son isn't deficient in anything. B-vits need bumping up, so marmite is useful. He eats breakfast cereal with b-vit extras nearly every day he's here, which is 8 out of 14 days.
Re work, the people dynamic was established very quickly. I was merely refering to the fact that the job I've now been doing for 6 weeks is becoming more manageable on my own rather than the rabbit-in-the-headlights panic of the last cople of weeks.

lorenzothellama said...

You are winning. You are winning. 100% of wordimperfect's votes. No. of votes - 1.

Marmite has way too much salt in it. It's better to sprinkle wheatgerm over his brekkie cereal.

Unknown said...

I'm impressed yet again - by the penny pinching (I used to go there myself late of an evening in search of bargains, although, from experience, the Co-op is even better for saving £s)and by the salad eating. I haven't come across many children who would've scoffed all that, but then again, I am from Macclesfield.