Ego mate, yup I still haven't ditched her, like I say we've had a past, and largely have a good time when we visit her. We've tried inviting her over to ours to eat, but she usually makes an excuse, I'm not offended as I get the impression she doesn't like being out of her comfort zone, she likes to do the cooking, the arranging and organising. She's been texting me for a few weeks saying she wanted to arrange an a "extravagant" dinner for us one weekend when are you free...we were free Saturday just gone so we went along. I joined her mid afternoon and hubby who had to worked turned up later.
She told me that I'd be "amazed" by the starter she'd created, she said I won't give too much away, but do you like Roquefort? I said I love roquefort, then she told me that the roquefort she uses for this recipe has got to be at least 3 months out of date, yes I was a bit worried as despite knowing that most of these "date codes" are put there to protect the retailer - This particular cheese which is strong and smelly as it is, will started to smell of ammonia and be rather unpleasant.
Meanwhile in the kitchen a chicken was ready to go into the oven, a large tray of vegetables to roast, yay I said I love roast chicken...my favourite - yes but I'm doing my version of Nigella's 40 cloves garlic chicken - Mmm sounds great I said!
We sat down later around the table, out came some bowls, some bread rolls....so I was expecting some soup...A large tray of roasted vegetables appeared in the centre of the table, may I say looking extremely overcooked, and the seemed to be swimming in some kind of brown sludge..She passed me a serving spoon and said "tuck in". Quickly realised by the smell that this is where the roquefort came into play...Yep she'd roasted the veg in gone off cheese - Thankfully it wasn't completely inedible, but it really wasn't very pleasant..trouble is we were at a loss as to what to say...but soon she got the ball rolling...by saying it's delicious isn't it? Ooh yes I said...Have some more she said...I said no I want to save some room for dinner, so got away with that one!
Dinner, in came a bowl of garlic cloves, then she returned not with a delicious roast chicken on a platter complete with crispy skin...but a large casserole dish, containing what I can only describe as looking like a bowl of vomit! For some reason beyond my comprehension, she'd stripped all the chicken from the carcass, shredded it up and mixed it up with what I think was marscapone cheese, but could've been yoghurt and stirred it together, and other than the garlic added no other seasoning whatsoever - This she served with a chunk of boiled rice and some peas - I kid you not it was absolutely vile...Couldn't tell her that obviously, but I found it incredibly difficult to eat, the sight, the texture, the taste....OMG! Hubby said..thank you it's lovely (being polite cause I could tell he was struggling too) and she leant over and dolloped some more onto his plate, eventually he said I'm sorry I'm rather full I don't think I can finish it - So you won't be wanting any cheesecake then...His favourite, so he said Oh I'd love some but perhaps I'll have some later - Very diplomatic..so we helped her clear up and indeed had a lovely slice of cheesecake later!
Other things a day with my friend cannot go by without the boasting, firstly how the tomatoes and the green beans in the starter were all home grown but the funniest one was this. "You've seen our new display cabinet haven't you?" She knows I have because I was it was delivered the last time I was round there funnily enough...so I reminided her of that, of course she said, but kinda led me towards it..looks great doesn't it and such a bargain. It's a large pine unit with drawers at the bottom and shelves at the top behind a glass door, on the shelves were wine glasses, a few cups and plates, and a "thank you" card inside of card facing outwards so the greeting inside was on show..."Caroline - thank you for being such a wonderful colleague, you have helped me so much and given me such wonderful advice, I passed my exam - I couldn't have done it without you, you are amazing xxx Did make me chuckle to myself, she's right to be proud, I would've been too, and I'm sure she'd have rather just passed me the card to look at, but maybe she thought that was too "egotistical" even by her standards...so decided to place it face out and draw attention to it via the cabinet lol!
Finally, they've befriended an elderly lady a few doors up the road, they've been doing a bit of shopping for her when they do their shopping, and she told me she's been putting left overs from their dinners into microwaveable containers for her to freeze and eat later...very sweet..until I heard her say "Brian, how much shall we charge her for this one?"
She told me that I'd be "amazed" by the starter she'd created, she said I won't give too much away, but do you like Roquefort? I said I love roquefort, then she told me that the roquefort she uses for this recipe has got to be at least 3 months out of date, yes I was a bit worried as despite knowing that most of these "date codes" are put there to protect the retailer - This particular cheese which is strong and smelly as it is, will started to smell of ammonia and be rather unpleasant.
Meanwhile in the kitchen a chicken was ready to go into the oven, a large tray of vegetables to roast, yay I said I love roast chicken...my favourite - yes but I'm doing my version of Nigella's 40 cloves garlic chicken - Mmm sounds great I said!
We sat down later around the table, out came some bowls, some bread rolls....so I was expecting some soup...A large tray of roasted vegetables appeared in the centre of the table, may I say looking extremely overcooked, and the seemed to be swimming in some kind of brown sludge..She passed me a serving spoon and said "tuck in". Quickly realised by the smell that this is where the roquefort came into play...Yep she'd roasted the veg in gone off cheese - Thankfully it wasn't completely inedible, but it really wasn't very pleasant..trouble is we were at a loss as to what to say...but soon she got the ball rolling...by saying it's delicious isn't it? Ooh yes I said...Have some more she said...I said no I want to save some room for dinner, so got away with that one!
Dinner, in came a bowl of garlic cloves, then she returned not with a delicious roast chicken on a platter complete with crispy skin...but a large casserole dish, containing what I can only describe as looking like a bowl of vomit! For some reason beyond my comprehension, she'd stripped all the chicken from the carcass, shredded it up and mixed it up with what I think was marscapone cheese, but could've been yoghurt and stirred it together, and other than the garlic added no other seasoning whatsoever - This she served with a chunk of boiled rice and some peas - I kid you not it was absolutely vile...Couldn't tell her that obviously, but I found it incredibly difficult to eat, the sight, the texture, the taste....OMG! Hubby said..thank you it's lovely (being polite cause I could tell he was struggling too) and she leant over and dolloped some more onto his plate, eventually he said I'm sorry I'm rather full I don't think I can finish it - So you won't be wanting any cheesecake then...His favourite, so he said Oh I'd love some but perhaps I'll have some later - Very diplomatic..so we helped her clear up and indeed had a lovely slice of cheesecake later!
Other things a day with my friend cannot go by without the boasting, firstly how the tomatoes and the green beans in the starter were all home grown but the funniest one was this. "You've seen our new display cabinet haven't you?" She knows I have because I was it was delivered the last time I was round there funnily enough...so I reminided her of that, of course she said, but kinda led me towards it..looks great doesn't it and such a bargain. It's a large pine unit with drawers at the bottom and shelves at the top behind a glass door, on the shelves were wine glasses, a few cups and plates, and a "thank you" card inside of card facing outwards so the greeting inside was on show..."Caroline - thank you for being such a wonderful colleague, you have helped me so much and given me such wonderful advice, I passed my exam - I couldn't have done it without you, you are amazing xxx Did make me chuckle to myself, she's right to be proud, I would've been too, and I'm sure she'd have rather just passed me the card to look at, but maybe she thought that was too "egotistical" even by her standards...so decided to place it face out and draw attention to it via the cabinet lol!
Finally, they've befriended an elderly lady a few doors up the road, they've been doing a bit of shopping for her when they do their shopping, and she told me she's been putting left overs from their dinners into microwaveable containers for her to freeze and eat later...very sweet..until I heard her say "Brian, how much shall we charge her for this one?"
