Carlovski

Well it's been about two Months now. I have surprised myself by how 'good' I have been - I haven't eaten out a lot, but when I have I have stuck to the diet - even though my rules did allow me to make exceptions. I also haven't touched any 'meat subsitute' products and the only ready meal type thing I had were some butternut squash and vegetable bake things I tried because they sounded reasonably edible and only contained 'real' ingredients (Verdict, not too bad). Oh and the odd frozen/chilled pizza! Things I have learned are - I'm not really a big fan of tofu, unless it is deep fried, something about the slippery texture I dislike, unless it's pudding! Also I think I only really like it in conjunction with meat (especially pork) - even if the meat is just there as a flavouring. - Autumn is a good time of year - Mushrooms, Squashes etc. - I cannot cook polenta. - Bad, lumpy and over runny (so it won't set) polenta is still edible with enough butter and gorganzola. - Finding things for lunch is tricky - especially sandwiches. - Most UK takeaways have a rubbish selection for vegetarians. - It's very easy to end up eating the sterotypical brown and stodgy grain and pulse based diet, especially if you miss going to the shops. I'm not sure whether to carry on for longer. Not too bothered about missing meat in general, but I am missing cooking with cured meats. I am missing fish too (And anchovies!). I might start gently introducing them back into my diet. Maybe a bit of game too (It is Autumn, and I do live in Hampshire!)

At what point did I say we were not given a reason? Young chefs; cook off; we need judges. But hey... sorry your searing foresight is going to waste. ← Does that sort of thing happen often then - 3 way cook off outside of any structured competition (Which is what it appears to be, or was there a more elaborate cover story)? I assumed not, if it does then my apologies.

I think if I were asked (Not that I am likely to be!) to some odd location with 2 other people to judge 3 peoples cooking (Or anything for that matter) for what appears to be no apparent reason I may guess thatsome sort of 'faking it' deal was in order.

I'd rather hope that someone wishing to open a restaurant based on street food was doing so based on their experience and love of such foods, and plenty of research. Without that, it is already sounding gimmicky.

I thumbed through it in the bookstore the other day - I'll buy it tomorrow (Payday!). Normally I'm opposed to the phenomenon of the £25-30 cookbook - I want the new Fuschia Dunlop one, but I think I'll wait for the Paperback thank you. But this one looks well worth it - on top of the content it is a beautifully made book. If you prefer Bookshops to buying online like me they have a fiver of the cover price in Waterstones at the moment.

I tend to find that they get eaten cold, straight from the fridge with lots of salt at about 2 in the morning.... If you have any greens left too they make a fine bubble and squeak.

I used to work regularly in my parents pub in the UK. We only had limited fridge space (It was a small local pub) and we could only fit in a few soft drinks, and only then in summer. So a lot of times if anyone wanted a coke (we only had it in bottles) they had to have a warm one of the shelf - or if we were quiet enough at least one out of the cellar. But a lot of people still wanted it with no ice - and those bottle got pretty warm behind the bar.

Is there a bread chapter? Bet that could have caused some heated discussion!

Plasmas! Superfluids! There are lots of other phases of matter that aren't solids or gases... but I'm just being obnoxious, particularly dangerous when I don't know what I'm talking about. Carry on. edit to add: and you can't eat plasma, neither. But I hear that Adria is working on it. ← Yay - bring on the the Bose-Einstein condensate braised abalone....

I think a good tip is to avoid any recipes originating from California And I am never going to use any product called 'Rawmesan'. And Cashew cheese is never really going to replace roquefort for me....

I flicked through quite a few at the library - I can't remember most of the titles. I only took out a couple (I was carrying shopping at the time so didn't want to add too much to the load!) There was at least one Moosewood cookbook - seemed a little too hippies and brown rice for me.... Most of the books were at the 'Good Housekeeping' end of the market - if you know what I mean, recipes written by home economists rather than chefs or keen food writers. The Cranks book I did take out was a bit similar in places, and a lot of the recipes seemed to have one or two more ingredients than I felt were strictly necessary. I took out another - more of a straight recipe book that I will make some things out of - there was a good sounding noodle salad which I think will make a good work lunch. I have reserved the Madhur Jaffery 'World Vegetarian' book too - I've taken it out before for specific recipies - and I like her writing (I have already have an invitiation to indian cooking) Re. my less cosmopolitan location, yes I live In Southampton - it's a fair sized industrial port, but not much for food lovers, there was a well regarded vegetarian restaurant but it has apparently shut down. Also was a really good fun place which served lots of small dishes in a communal eating style - everything was either preprepared or cooked on their open charcoal grill and they all the food came from local suppliers (I remember some very good lamb, but to be honest the courgettes were equally memorable). But that shut down too There is an infrequent and fairly small farmers market, but I can easily get to Winchester which is twice a month. I think the Farmers would like to make it weekly (It's by far the most succesful) though. I like the idea of the Bulghar wheat to give that elusive chewiness that is often missing. I'm also less troubled by the ubiquitous portabello mushroom - in fact at barbecues thats usually what I have, even when I am eating meat. I really like mushrooms! And far better than the nasty 'mixed vegetable kebab' - dried shrivelled mushrooms, overcooked peppers and squidgy courgettes, all basically tasting the same. Hmm - just noticed, should really replace my sig

As a new (Experimental) vegetarian (See here for more details) I have been going through quite a few cookbooks and online resources. A lot of them are fairly poor to say the least. Also seems to be a theory that if you are vegetarian you must want to eat 'Healthy' food all the time, or they are full of meat substitute recipes. The thing that really gets me is that in so many of the books - even some of the better ones (The Cranks one in particular) is that they seem to put soy sauce (Well usually tamari actually) in everything. Don't get me wrong, I love soy sauce - in moderation and in the right things. But to put it in anything creamy, cheesy or mayonnaisey just seems wrong to me!

I always make Dhal in huge quantities (Partially because I always forget how much it swells, and how filling it is!) Just don't add any tempering spices/onions etc - leave it until you are eating it. Handy to have around to put into curries too.

I've tried fermented bean curd - a step to far for me I'm afraid (Odd as I love the stinkiest of cheeses) Mushrooms are my 'go to' food when I want something to sink my teeth into. I made some fantastic mushrooms on toast the other day (Big chunks of a mixture of chesnut and portabello mushrooms, plenty of garlic, butter, shake of mushroom ketchup slow cooked until dark and sticky, put on top of some wilted greens (Cooked in garlic of course!) and put on thick hunks of sourdough toasted on a griddle and drizzled with evoo - most importantly pour all the juices from the pan all over the top) It was much more 'meaty' than the rather sad looking (and overcooked!) thin chewy steak my housemate was eating. I haven't gone to the chinese supermarket yet - I need to stock up on the essentials - and pick up some decent tofu.

I find wine helps in general! You are right - simply substituting tofu into a meat recipe will leave you unsatisfied - which is why it is not a good idea to simply use it as a meat substitute.

It's the same in the UK. Annoys me in the same way as the crap that gets sold in 'Health Food' stores.

Well I've started.... Made a trip to the farmers market (And also a supermarket stop for all the stuff I couldn't get). Not as good as the Winchester one, and the 'pick and mix' salad stall wasn't there - that place is really good, especially as they treat herbs the same as the other leaves. Just had a very pleasant lunch of a huge Fritatta I made with nice free range eggs, 'rainbow lights' chard, green beans, a few tiny courgettes, pepper and some large very mild chillis - all from local farms. I topped it with a little bit of a local cheese called Lyburn - never tried it before - like a very aged cheddar, almost parmesan like in it's texture, and very good. So definitely not Vegan - it was quite a dairy based meal. To be honest it is probably exactly what I would have had anyway - Although I might normally sneak some bacon in there! I'm oven drying a load of baby plum tomatoes with some garlic and herbs too. I'll keep them under oil as emergency flavour bombs. For tea i think I'll make up some pesto (Possibly throw in a few handfuls of some extremely peppery watercress I picked up too - Hampshire is the Watercress capital of the UK) and have it with the rest of the green beans, some potatoes and linguini. The supermarket near me has a small indian section so I picked up some sambar mix and stuff for making dosas and idli - never tried making it myself before so it could be interesting. Might give it a go tomorrow - I've got some carrots and aubergine I can throw in too.

Haggling for goods with intrinsic value - like food is somewhat different to doing it for that persian rug or painting. The only time I might do it is if there is some produce in an obviously worse state than the rest and I know I can use it for making sauce etc - I might ask if I can have it at a different price, could be doing us both a favour as they might not sell it at all otherwise. I'd perfectly understand if they said no though - it could be a bad precedent for them if there are other people watching.

A good cookery book for me must be more than a collection of recipes. I like to know a bit more about the dish - and more importantly it must give me a reason to want to cook it (I'm particularly thinking about Simon Hopkinson's writing here) - either. I value discussion of which steps/ingredients are most important, what can be substituted and what is vital. Suggestions for variations/twists are always welcome too. If there is a theme to the book - a style of cooking, a region or even just an ingredient I like to read some background (Fuschia Dunlops Sichuan Cooking was particularly good in this regard).

I am still using up the 'forbidden' stuff in my fridge at the moment. I think I'll probably start this weekend - Farmers market in Southampton on Saturday. If I remember I'll take my Camera and get a few piccies. Should be able to get some half decent tomatoes from the Isle of Wight. Should be some sweetcorn about too, and possibly some good courgettes. Here are the producers who should be there.

I don't want to turn like an old housemate of mine who used to eat crap and think it was ok because he took loads of food supplements. B12 I think is the only thing i might go short on. I'm sure the odd bag of twiglets will sort that one out though! I don't want to offend anyone, and I know some people have got a great amount of relief by cutting certain things out of their diets or changing their eating habits but I do believe that most so called food intolerances are psychological - or in fact completely non existent. Eat a load of starch, not a lot of fibre and do no exercise, and you probably will feel bloated and lethargic - but it's not all the pasta's fault. I'm going to stick to white bread, noodles, pasta, couscous, and white rice. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe they are no good for me. But they are definitely tasty. Re the Rancho Gordo stuff - not sure If I can get that in the UK. I might try a bit of Mexican food - probably tweaked to suit availability of the ingredients, but it isn't really a cuisine I feel comfortable with unlike indian or italian - I'd have to follow a recipe rather than cook in a style based around what I have to hand/what is in season.

I don't think i will have too much problem with the being hungry aspect. I am not really a snacker - although occasionally I do eat from boredom, and sometimes I just have hungry days. I'm not going to cut back on my pasta, bread and rice - and those are all mainly going to be white by the way. I'm pretty much my recommended weight (Bit under if anything) and always have been (Apart from a brief splurge in my second year at university - but that was partially due to wrecking my ankle playing rugby at 2am and not being able to play sport for 6 months). I may have to be a bit more careful as I approach 30 though!

I try to avoid popping pills as much as possible, but you are right, it might be sensible - at least while i get used to putting together a balanced diet. Or I can just drink more Stout! Seriously B12 might be an issue though - I think I might need to take supplements, as I said I'll try and keep clear of the processed stuff sold in so called 'Health Food' shops (Don't get me started on some of the crap they sell) and I hate yeast extract. Iron won't be a problem - I like my greens to much for that (Although, no Anchovies ) Though for 3 months i doubt I would suffer any ill effects anyway - I'm sure I have plenty of reserves.

For a lot of peoples cooking - quite futuristic. Looking at your foodblog - almost retro! I don't know - I kind of like them, but for your place, maybe a bit too conventionally modern? It sounds to me like you aren't too sure yourself - as your project is only serving a few people at a time maybe you should get something you REALLY like - you won't need a lot (yet!) and the cost will only be a small part of your investment.

Re the cheating thing - I know my willpower is weak. If I start cheating against the concept even in small ways I know I will falter. I need to be fairly rigorous, at least at the start to my rules. And my rules aren't too rigorous so I should be ok! Nothing to do with any fluffy bunny guilt. I do want to start using the farmers market more - not just for the occaisional 'interesting' ingredient as I do now, more revolving my eating around it. I'm lucky - Winchester (It's about 15 minutes on the train - it's where I work too) apparently has the largest farmers market in the UK - not sure about that but it is fairly good. It's on twice a month so not regular enough to keep me in fresh produce every day but should cover quite a few days. Might be tricky in the next few months with all the game being in season! I have plenty of cookbooks - nothing specifically veggie, but plenty of vegetable recipes. Actually I quite like that - if anyone asks, no I'm not vegetarian, I'm just sticking to vegetables at the moment. You are right about a lot of vegetarian cookbooks - they seem to revolve around what you are missing and trying to make up for it. I will consult books - and some of my carrot munching friends to make sure I am getting a balanced diet. I am a big fan of the rice/bean combo - rice 'n' peas, hoppin' john(although I can't have a proper one anymore) and kitcheree (Sure I spelt that wrong!). I love reading cookbooks anyway. I work with a vegetarian Indian lad as well - he is normally good for recipe ideas. I like braised deep fried tofu too - I love the texture and how it absorbs the sauce. I make a good variation on a sichuan dish where I braise it with minced pork, chilli bean sauce etc plus gai lan - I'm sure it will be equally as tasty without the pork. Maybe add some peanuts for some extra texture.