A return to bachelor(ette)-food

[viaChgo]

I, like most of you, love to cook and eat good food. Sometimes it's elaborate and technique-heavy. Sometimes it's authentic and hard-to-source-ingredient-heavy. But when your SO is away do you revert to your bachelor(ette) days? If so, what do you like to eat?

Chef Boyardee?? White Castle??

[I_call_the_duck]

My husband eats almost anything. There are two dishes I eat that he doesn't like, so I look forward to the days when he's working late or out with the guys. One of them is chicken steamed with Chinese shrimp sauce. The other is steamed egg custard with ground pork. Sometimes if I'm feeling particularly selfish, I'll make a carbornara. He does like that, but my excuse for not making it for dinner is that I haven't quite perfected the recipe, and more bacon for me!

[JEL]

a month of bachelorhood after a 20 year marriage, i can honestly say that food of any kind has become a much lower priority than it used to be........

my brother made the comment the other day that the difference between being single and married is that single people come home and look in the fridge, then go to bed. married people come home and look in the bed, then go to the fridge........

[alacarte]

Takeout Chinese with tons of garlic (mr. alacarte hates both)

[little ms foodie]

my husband is allergic to peanuts so I will gorge on pb on toast and pad thai with a side of peanut sauce!!

also he hates corned beef and cabbage so depending on the season that will usually get made too.

trashy food items include nachos, microwave popcorn and penne noodles with EVOO and lots of parm.

[sanrensho]

I like to experiment with new recipes when the SO and kids are away. Being alone in the house means that I can try more time-consuming preparations that I otherwise wouldn't have time for. I also like to experiment with new ingredients, as I don't have to buy a lot or end up with a lot of waste if it doesn't work out.

[Rehovot]

Peanut butter and marshmallows--my husband abhors these. But he eats soba noodles with peanut sauce when I make it.

I like things a lot more spicy than he does, so I'll be making enchiladas, thom ka gai, and roasted salsa.

And I plan on not cooking, some evenings....

[Tess]

That's easy. My SO doesn't like raw fish and doesn't care to see a lot of it around the kitchen. He is not terribly pleased when I cook any fish at home, for that matter. As soon as he hits the road I go to Mitsuwa and stock up. A raw fish course and a cooked fish course for dinner every night, just me and my bulldog.

[Tim Hayward]

Perhaps you need to be a Brit to understand this but, a canned corned beef sandwich in thick white bread.

[kiliki]

Potato latkes

Hash browns with cheese and sour cream

Spaghetti with butter and pecorino romano

Luckily I don't have to wait until he's out of town to make these things-we each have our food obsessions that the other doesn't really care for, or doesn't care to eat on a regular basis (his thing is chicken wings), so we always take a night or two off from having dinner together to make our own thing every week.

[nocturnalsunshine]

When its just me I still cook but just comfort foods that I know she doesnt quite like.

Cantonese noodles with eckridge smoked sasuage cubed and fried crispy covered in house of tsang ginger flavored soy sauce.

is my favorite one when alone.

Grits with sugar and lots of butter and crispy bacon or pan toasted pecans with salt and peach soda.

Spinach with grilled portabella mushrooms and earl campbell hot links red peppers and toasted walnuts

Bologna sammich with mustard and pickles and olives

Hebrew NationalKosher hotdogs grilled with onions on potatoe bread. not buns, just sliced bread and rootbeer float with pistachio ice cream.

Pre cooked steak patties, I get them from walmart on the way home. Cooked on the Foreman and then sliced and over white rice with peanut sauce.

Im soo hungry now!!!! Damn this thread...

[srhcb]

Depending on time available and time of day, I'll have various thingsd GF doesn't care for:

Velveeta & Shells

Baked Beans

Saurkraut

Seafood

Spicy/Hot Mexican

SB

[SMW]

My DH is gluten-free so when he's gone of course I have a gluten fest. Lots of pizza. More pizza. Stock the freezer with pizza leftovers (cost per square inch is always lowest with the largest) for luches when he returns.

Other things that are indulged in include:

Tuna casserole with egg noodles

Beef goulash with egg noodles

Egg noodles with butter and cottage cheese

Yes, I have a serious thing for egg noodles. I don't know why! They never were such a big part of my diet. I think it might be because they're not really restaurant food, like other pasta.

Finally, grilled cheese sandwiches with ketchup. It's not worth two pans when it's the both of us.

[C. sapidus]

Yup, when DW is away I revert to bachelor fare: Mexican veggie and egg dishes, fettuccine Alfredo, and frozen thin-crust pizza with lots of added garlic, chilies, ‘shrooms, feta, and Mexican oregano. Favorite one-dish meals include huevos al albanil (bricklayer's eggs) or chayote, zucchini, or mushrooms al vapor (with serranos, garlic, cilantro, lime, and feta) a la Diane Kennedy. Sometimes I just cook the same old stuff with more chilies. Sometimes I’ll have an all-Haagen-Dasz dinner, usually coffee or dulce de leche. It is probably good that DW doesn't go away very often

Occasionally, I will devote a day to time-consuming but delectable dishes like baklava, Oaxacan moles, papas chirrionas, dum aloo, or vindaloo. If I make a special dish, I’ll save some for DW. Oh, and I'll enjoy a bottle of red wine. DW loves red wine but it gives her a miserable migraine. It isn't really fair of me to enjoy a luscious zinfandel or shiraz when she can't.

[purplewiz]

There is very, very little that my husband won't eat. That includes leftovers - if I want them later, I have to explicitly tell him NOT to eat them.

So when he's away, I eat whatever I like, and revel in the fact that I have it all to myself - I don't have to make him any, or worry if there will be any left if I decide I want more later.

Favorites include tuna salad, grilled egg/ham/cheese sandwiches, and microwave quesadillas.

Marcia.

[dockhl]

Zuppa Valdostana

It is a baked cabbage and bread and cheese 'soup' that I love. Hubby swears he hates soups, including this one, but will scarff down every little bit when I make it. Go figure.

(Edited to add: oh yeah~I put crispy bacon on the top of mine!)

Edited February 15, 2006 by dockhl (log)

[Timh]

A bottle of Chimay with a side of Whole foods frozen Taquitos and a Fronterra Grill salsa.

[maggiethecat]

The usual unnatural acts with pasta and potatoes. He hates white food and eggs, so I rejoice and consider: pasta carbonara, baked potato with a fried egg nestled within, mac and cheese, Dave the Cook's Quick Gratin, Grits Souffle...

[anzu]

Apart from going wild on the foods that DH doesn't like all that much (Chinese sausage, zucchini, garbanzo beans - though not necessarily all combined into one meal), I tend to cook foods that are really labor intensive or time-consuming.

This is on the principle that when serving it to anyone else - even a significan other - it will just be eaten without all the work put into it being appreciated (well, it may be appreciated as far as taste goes, but the hours worth of preparation will not be understood).

Whereas eating it myself I know with every bite that it required step after step of preparation. Thinking about it, I'm probably enjoying the preparation more than the actual consumption.

ETA, I adore Maggiethecat's line there about the usual unnatural acts with pasta and potatoes.

Edited February 15, 2006 by anzu (log)

[petite tête de chou]

I tend to go really, really simple. The less time spent in the kitchen the better and the least number of ingredients is preferred. Seared calf's liver with salt and pepper, broiled oysters with lots of lemon slices, cans of sardines with habanero Tabasco, whole cucumbers with a salt shaker in hand, rice noodles with crushed peanuts and sriracha, lots of fruit, lots of booze. Hmm, wonder when his next trip is?

[DTBarton]

Hot stuff. Wifey doesn't like anything too hot (but she's getting better). So, when cooking for me, I make things that are layered with lots of hot flavors and long cooked to get the heat all in there. Much better that way than dumping hot condiments on at the end.

[nocturnalsunshine]

(Edited to add: oh yeah~I put crispy bacon on the top of mine!)

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BACON, I think im going to cheat on SO with more bacon than safely consumed by humans.

No bread on sandwiches, ill use bacon instead.

I will no longer chew gum ill chew bacon

Need to tie up a chicken, no twine, just bacon.

Need a topping for that root beer float. Bacon Ahoy.

"I have something stuck in my teeth", hmmm, Bacon toothpick anybody?

*Bacon Coma*

[ratgirlny]

I have two comfort foods that my DH hates :

1. brocolli raab sauteed in olive oil and loads of garlic, over linguine, with a little Parmesan on top

2. Chickpeas and tuna in olive oil and lemon

Since we had kids though, I rarely get to eat on my own...

[liamsaunt]

What he calls "the dreaded hot mushrooms on toast." sauteed wild mushrooms and shallots on top of crusty bread topped with a gruyere white wine sauce. He hates it, I love it.

Second choice is an omelet, or spaghetti carbonara.

[santo_grace]

What he calls "the dreaded hot mushrooms on toast."  sauteed wild mushrooms and shallots on top of crusty bread topped with a gruyere white wine sauce.  He hates it, I love it. 

Second choice is an omelet, or spaghetti carbonara.

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liamsaunt - I'm really going to have to try the dreaded hot mushrooms on toast. It sounds delicious.

When my husband is away, I eat lots of big salads or microwaved popcorn for dinner.