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Next week I'm on Poppy selling duty in the entrance to the local supermarket (the only time I go in there - they belong to Walmart - 'nuff said!) The Royal British Legion is a UK charity providing lifelong support for the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, Reservists, veterans, and...

Has anyone frozen uncooked shaped homemade bread dough and then thawed it and baked it? It would be very useful when I have a houseful of overnight guests. It's my 70th in February. So far the provisional list of people to invite to the Birthday Bash is up to 25 with probably 6 or 7 staying...

Bread making day today. Made dough based on 2lbs of flour (mixture of white bread flour and the remains Wholemeal bread flour so quite a lot). let it do the first rise while I got my lunch ready and ate it. Let it rise for a couple of hours - it was fairly lively but so far so good. It rose...

In the greengrocer's yesterday I picked up a huge punnet of mushrooms (about 2lbs) and made it into soup today. I had some a packet of dried chanterelles mushrooms in the cupboard which needed using so put them to soak over-night in water. Sliced the fresh mushrooms (took forever) and sauted...

I know I carry on a bit about using local independent shops but I was in town and in a hurry so I nipped into Aldi today for a few things. I never (well, hardly ever) buy food "kits" but I saw a transparent pack of chunks of pork with ready prepped veg and a sachet of the sauce for cooking it...

Not sure where to put this as there as there doesn't seem to be a section for kitchen cleaning and hygiene matters (or economy hints) I have small recycling bins in my kitchen and even though I use disposable bin liners in my non-recyclable waste bin, empty it and wash and dry it several times...

I loved the Chalet School series (English boarding school tales set in Austria in 1925 through to Switzerland in 1970). I was enthralled by the idea of boarding school. (I later taught in a mixed boarding school but I'm not sure whether "The Chalet School" helped my career or not :wink:). My...

I was out of bed early this am and decided to go and do the shopping first thing. Picked up fruit and veg, meat, and a few household requirements and decided to have a bit of a mooch round the Cancer Research UK charity shop. Wandering round I spotted a dress. "Ooh!" I thought "I do like...

Has anyone any experience of using the "juice" from a can of chickpeas as a substitute for egg whites when making meringues? The local Co-operative Store magazine has a recipe using it, with exact instructions about what you do with it but I don't want to go to the trouble and have a failure...

Do you cook rice pudding in the oven or in a saucepan on the hob? You don't seem to see baked rice pudding on cooking programmes these days. Even Ina Garten was demo'ing a rice pudding made in a saucepan the other day - sacrilege! You don't get the lovely sweet brown skin on the top that you...

"Baked in Vermont", presented by Gesine Prado, has just started tonight on Food Network UK. Only been 2 x half hour programmes so far so I've not seen enough to decide what I think of it but I'd be interested in any comments from "Discuss Cooking". (She has a couple of dogs in the house so she...

40-odd years ago I left Menorca for England with, among other things, a treasured set of terracotta cazuelas like this but heavier and more rustic. The largest was about 20 inches across and made paella for around 20 people. I've used it many times on the gas hob here in GB and it never let me...

(That's the title of a comic song from the 1930s performed by Gracie Fields) I think I might have a candidate for "The Guinness Book of Records"! In my kitchen I have an Aspidistra plant. It is descended from my great-great-grandmother's plant, from cuttings handed down through the family. I...

Chinese scientist on the wireless this am. Hold the front page!! - Pollution (air and other varieties) damages children's intellectual and physical development! This is so new that it was the subject of more than one lecture when I was in Teacher Training College in 1968-71!!! Instead of...

(Joke-y title referring to the fact that fish and chips from "the chippy" were the only take-away food not rationed during WW2 so very popular with housewives and men and women working long hours on war work. Customers often had to provide their own newspaper or a bowl to bring home their fish &...

Next February I'll be 70 and I'm contemplating a bit of a "do" - well two actually! I'm thinking of having my party at home for about 20 of my local friends in February. My cousin (who will be 80 in July) lives about 60 miles away from me and we have discussed throwing a big joint Birthday Bash...

If the above television programme comes to "Food Network", or any other US TV channel, I recommend you watch it. It's based at Kew Gardens, "a botanical garden in southwest London that houses the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world ".There's a small...

In the couple of months between leaving college and taking up my first teaching post I had job as the cook in an old people's home. As well as cooking meals I did the baking for tea. This was one of the favourites of the old dears and remains so in my household. I use a 7 oz coffee mug (thes...

Miss-pronunciation of CHORIZO annoys the hell out of me as in CHORITSO. It's even got onto a British TV advertisement tonight. I didn't spend several years in Spain (the Balearics to be precise) not to know that it's CHOREETHO or CHOREESSO It tends to vary according to where the speaker comes...

"Food Network UK " has started broadcasting "Farmhouse Rules" over here and I'm really enjoying it. Can't remember the name of the presenter - Nancy something - but she's restoring my faith in American cooking - "Pioneer Woman" 's family would starve to death if she ever ran out of chillis! Do...

I haven't been around much for a long while - just getting back to normal (hollow laugh!) with the house and I've finally got my laptop reconnected so I'm back in business. I haven't seen anything from Addie for a while. Does anyone have any news of her?

Does anyone know anything about Addie?

I always soak them for a long time but the last lot I cooked, I soaked for 36 hours (changing water) and then boiled for the normal amount of time and longer - and longer. After 5 hours I gave up and chucked them away. The just wouldn't soften. Before you ask, they were well within the "Use by"...

On my way into the library this afternoon I saw it in the carpark.... a 1930s Alvis roadster in beautiful condition - better than my 2006 Renault. Maroon body and lovely shiny chrome. A bit muddy so obviously used and loved by more than me. I stroked it! I may have to lie on the bonnet, wait...

I live in a small town in the north of England called Marple. Agatha Christie, the authoress of "who-dunnits" picked up the name of the then village when she passed through Marple on the train and gave it to her elderly spinster heroine. There is a blue plaque at the station commemorating...