I finally managed to make it to an Indian supermarket this week, I ended up in Walsall at Johal Supermarket, the main reason was that they had parking!! But I was impressed by the range of products on sale and will definitely be there again soon. I managed to buy loads of dry and tinned beans and pulses, but not only that; they had proper shopping trolleys and basics such as cling film and washing powder. I was blown away by the range of really interesting fresh produce they had too, so I’m going to gen up on my cookbooks before my next visit so I have a better plan of what to buy.
My friend Yvonne came over on Saturday and after taking the dogs for a long walk over Cannock Chase we decided we deserved a treat and ate out at Mama Thai. I’ve only been in there a couple of times but it’s firmly back on my list after the amazing food we had, and great service too. I’ve always been a bit nervous about taking the Committed Carnivore to Thai restaurants as he doesn’t eat any fish or seafood, or mushrooms, or coconut……which rules out a whole heap of Thai dishes. However I do feel more confident now and I know that the stir fry dish we had would have suited him if it had chicken instead of prawns, and he would have really enjoyed the stir fried greens we had as a side.
Best things about this week
• Full trolley for £20 at the Asian Supermarket
• Lovely meal out on Saturday night
• Enormous Yorkshire Pudding breakfast on Sunday
Biggest challenge this week
• Kitchen disaster on Sunday
• Loads of veggies in the fridge need cooking – quick
I seem to have a fridge full of vegetables, all of them need to be cooked pretty quickly so I’m off to spend some time in the kitchen this evening rustling up a few dishes for lunches and the freezer. I’m not trying anything too adventurous after my disaster yesterday with chicken enchiladas. We went out for breakfast on Sunday morning and I asked what he fancied for dinner. He decided on chicken enchilada and I had all the ingredients except flour tortillas. I didn’t want to fall back into the supermarket the first week after the end of my challenge, so I audaciously announced that I would cook the flour tortillas myself. I’d never attempted them before, and they ended up a bit like a cross between a naan and a flatbread, certainly not a tortilla and definitely were not going to roll – so I stacked them. They tasted considerably better than they looked! Note to self, don’t try something new on a Sunday evening after a couple of glasses of wine.
Next weekend is the Lichfield Food and Drink festival, which I’m really looking forward to. Until then I better get peeling and chopping.
A year of shopping locally
In May 2017 I set myself a 90 day challenge to buy all my food (eating in and out) from local independent retailers, at the end of the 90 days it had made such an impact on me that I committed to continuing supporting my local suppliers indefinitely. A year later I’m...