Breakfast

what a wonderful image ~ porridge and then pomegranites with greek yoghurt, it just sounds ~ and looks fantastic! thank you!

That's the only downside of holidays OJ - you have to go home!!! ;-)

i agree Sheilar..I have been alternating with 'proper' Porridge and lovely fresh Melons this past week..followed by a full English as well !..oh,dear..and have to go for my Cholesterol test on Tuesday !..I hope the starters have compensated for the other stuff :o))

Wow, what a beautiful picture of the ripe pomegranates. I too have visited Cyprus in October, and I agree, it's absolutely wonderful. I also had porridge for breakfast...not oatmeal, but whole oats..but then I am English...;)))

Don't worry Bloomer I enjoy a full english every weekend can't beat it .:o)

Better than last year, Sheilar. I arrived back in a snowstorm and my daughter had to get my wellies from the house before I could get out of the car! Me with the tan, too. Speak about climate change!

Oh ek already that's awful.just read it again and realised it was last year lol

Porridge is good for cholesterol, Bloomer :o)

Ooh, Bloomer, I had some beautiful melons in Tenerife...every day I had Melon..now I look like one! :)))))

nigel slater was learning to cook porridge this week.

Ah, bless him, I love Nigel! :))))

Aren't they just so much nicer than the ones we buy here,Karen? I also used to have them for Dessert ....well,most days !Lol.

have you read his book 'toast'?

No Sticki, but I have 'Real Food' and 'Real Cooking' and it was Nigel that taught me how to roast a chicken properly! :))...oh and have you tried his Lemon Surprise pudding? I do it very often for family and guests ...it's FANTASTIC!

oh thanks for that ~ which book is it in?
toast is his autobiography ~ a good read but he didnt have an entirely happy life.

It's in 'Real Cooking' but If you don't have it, I can type it up for you in a pm.....

oh, i havent got that one, sorry ~ if you dont mind i would love it ~ please!!
if there are any i can help you with let me know ~ i have two bookshelves of cookery books ~ i love them!!

Done it! :)

So have I, Sticki. Loads of them. Love them. And that's after downsizing and putting a pile to the charity shops - with some regret, I must say.

I have one designated recipe book cupboard and when it gets too full I do same as you oji and then within a couple of months I am cursing because I forgot to save a recipe from one of the discarded ones!!

I know that feeling, Karen. But I usually only discard the ones I have hardly used and I can tell right away which ones those are -they're still clean! My favourites get splattered, battered and tattered. I'm a joyful cook, but sooooo messy!

I just had to peel apart pages to do a recipe for Sticki! Its always the pudding pages that are stuck together! :))

Oh, those pomegranates look fantastic - how come the ones we buy here are a sort of wishy washy yellow colour on the outside, not this glorious rosy red?
As for your porridge, I eat porridge oats every single day of my life - reduced my cholesterol levels from 8.4 to 6.4. But I loathe and detest proper porridge, so I just use whole jumbo oats, stick them a bowl, pour enough boiling water over to just cover, wait 10 minutes, drizzle honey and eat them like that. Very nice... no texture redolent of lumpy wallpaper paste, no cooking!

That's like mine Bamboo, except I use skimmed milk for the calcium...you need your calcium as you get older ;))

I drink gallons of tea in a day, Karensusan, every single cup with milk in - I must get through half a pint of milk a day in that way, so I'm hoping its enough, but I take calcium anyway.

We could be starting a porridge debate here : Oatmeal or porridge oats? Sugar/ honey or salt? Milk or water to cook it with? Milk or cream to eat it with?
It would seem porridge may be too personal to discuss, like money, religion or that other one?
And yes, Bamboo, I've never seen such red pomegranates before. Poor things the ones we get here.

On the porridge front, I tried it every which way, cooked on the stove with salt, with sugar, with cream, with milk, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, looks like someone's already eaten it, could be used for putting wallpaper up, and it has this particular flavour once its been cooked which I find horrible. And then I read Patrick Holford's tip for porridge, which is what I now do...

I like a bit of texture in my porridge - not lumps and not the instant stuff!
I like brown sugar on it best.
Some cookery books have gone to the charity shop but not many - any way I buy more from them if I go in there!

The way I make mine, I have to chew it, plenty of texture.

Oh yes! Brown Sugar!!!!! Yum!

Porridge wars. What fun!

Quite like jumbo oats for that reason bamboo.

The lemon pudding that Karen mention earlier is just wonderful - just eaten it for tea!

I looked up the recipe for that - is it sloppy? Or like blancmange in texture, that sort of thing?

Honey on my Porridge...mmm..and is this lemon pudding going to be a secret recipe ,between you and Karen ? ...:o)))

lol...it is like heaven in a bowl bamboo... extra-light lemony spongy layer above a light lemony custard-like layer...yum!

Come on Karen...stop teasing,and let us all in on this lovely sounding delight ! :o)

I'll send you a p.m. Bloomer! :))))

Thank you Karen..:o)

I found the recipe online by googling Nigel Slater's Lemon Surprise... but it sounds like the bottom layer is like cold custard, if you want it as a cold dessert (and I do) which I loathe, don't like the slimy texture unfortunately.

It's not slimy like custard, more of a light sauce, almost mousse-like??

Well I don't mind mousse so much, although its not one of my favourites. I really wish I wasn't texture sensitive where food's concerned...

Yes, i would say a light lemon sauce rather than a 'custard'. I love it cold, absolutely lovely!

Hmm, well in that case, if its more of a sauce, I might give it a shot... I do love lemon flavoured desserts. Showing my age, of course, lemon flavoured desserts are always popular with older people, probably because most of our taste buds are gone and we can at least taste something strong like lemon....

Oh bamboo! Children of ALL ages love lemon surprise pudding, lemon bon-bons, lemon sherbets......etc.etc.! :))

Well, some of them do - but I bet a pound to a pinch of salt that any child would, given the choice, go for other sweets over and above a lemon flavoured thing most of the time. And I'm talking about desserts rather than sweets anyway - I used to love chocolate desserts, not any more, give me Tarte au citron every time...

Agree! :)

You've started something now, Karen. There are going to be people all over the country having Lemon Surprise Pudding for dessert now! Great advert for Nigel!

:))

I use to be a cook in the RAF and do remember a story of young cook from Scotland.
His first day cooking breakfast in the airman's mess he nearly started a mutiny. He must have come from the same part of Scotland as Ojibway63. . He had salted the porridge to his own taste buds, and the majority of those eating breakfast were partial to sugar. Not his fault as like me I was not once taught how to cook porridge in the 18 months training that I did at Hereford. Now I just use a 2-1 mix same as the absorption method of boiled rice.

Your Lemon Surprise Pudding sounds a must for tonight's dinner Karensusan6. Like Bamboo I have porridge oats every night for supper. Following my heart and stroke problems I was advised to loose weight and to knock cheese on the head for supper and have the porridge oats but make sure I had the semi skimmed milk for the calcium. Wonderful, the porridge acts like blotting paper on the blood. It got my cholesterol down from over 7 to a 2.78.

I know this is GOU but reading everyone's tasty comments the only thing growing in my garden will be my waistline....... Those Pomegranates looked beautiful and the only time that I saw them growing before was in my Aunt's garden in Singapore when I was out their in the 50s. I remember being given a needle to pick out each seed individually.. Talk about health and safety..

Yes, Tommy, I didn't mean to start a porridge war either when I wrote this blog! My porridge is just oatmeal, water and salt, but I admit to eating it with a little cream. I reckon it's good for you in any shape or form and, like you, it helps to keep my cholesterol down. But I have it because I actually like it!

Yes, I have porridge for breakfast and oat cakes for lunch and I love them both!

porridge with black treacle on is great!! keeps me going for hours.

Ooh, never tried that Sticki, but it's great with golden syrup!

yes i always used to have golden syrup ~ loved the golden deep pools it made but i like black treacle even more, very strong though.

Love black treacle..must give it a go. Don't think I have any at the moment. Years ago I went through a phase of making a lot of gingerbread, so I always had black treacle in the cupboard!

not expensive either.

i read somewhere that molasses sugar is so much better than white sugar.

I love honey on mine :o))

I think it must be Sticki....we'll just keep telling ourselves that anyway! :)) Seriously, anything less refined is better than anything more refined! Whenever anyone mentions Molasses I always think of the scene at the end of 101 Dalmations when Glenn Close falls into a vat of molasses....fantastic!

i had forgotten that.

I think I remember it because I am one of those people who cannot bear to have sticky fingers...so a vat of molasses is pretty much as bad as it gets to me! lol!

and i am one of those people who lick their fingers whilst cooking ~ dont tell the health and safety people.

;) I won't! Truth is, I only ever make cake now when I am desperate to lick the bowl!!

..and me,Sticki..don't most people? but wash our hands after,so Health and Safety won't need to know..:o)

oh yes, i do wash my hands ~ lots of times!!

but its licking the spoon that is the best bit!!!

It does bring back childhood memories,doesn't it ? some of the better ones ! :o)

not sure i have come out of childhood.

Not always a bad thing Sticki :o)

;-)

I heard that one too HB, but I think I have also seen a section almost turned inside out.

Off to make my porridge now!

I learned on this trip that the way to get the seeds out when they are ripe is to cut them in half across the middle, turn them face down in your palm with fingers spread, hold it over a bowl and then knock the seeds out with a wooden spoon, giving it a good wallop. Works a treat and very satisfying!

i would enjoy doing that!!

Have you anyone in mind,when you are thinking of that Sticki ? :o))

just a little list of them bloomer!!!

you only need the one spoon then,Sticki ! I was going to suggest you ask Santa for another..but knowing you,you will be well equipped with cooking utensils ! :o))

how did you know!!!

just call it a woman's intuition..!!:o)

;-))