A Housewife’s Day

Look carefully below at the different things that can be made in the kitchen. Why it should be me that goes out to work: an extract from the diary of a frustrated and indecisive housewife or husband.

08.30	'Bye, bye. Have a nice day! ... Now what can I do for their dinner today? Something simple but nourishing, tasty but not too 'hot' or spicy, not too exotic but not too plain. ... I've got a few eggs; I could give them to them poached - on toast - or scramble them, or fry them, or ... no, they don't like boiled eggs. I suppose I could make an omelette ... or a soufflé - they'd like that. The trouble is, my soufflés never rise. Besides, I'd really been planning to use those eggs in a cake - a nice vanilla sponge. I've got lots of flour, butter, sugar, vanilla essence and icing sugar to dust it; and for a filling I could use those blackcurrants from the garden. Lovely!
11.00	Then again, those blackcurrants are so nice and fresh, it seems a pity to put them in a cake. Better to have them raw after dinner. Or perhaps I ought to stew them; they'll probably need a bit of sweetening. I could put them into a fruit salad, or perhaps a trifle - we haven't had one for a long time. ... But I did say that I was going to bottle them this year, preserve them, or make jam with them; you can even make chutney from blackcurrants.
12.30	This is not helping towards dinner. Concentrate! ... How about a blackcurrant tart for dessert? The pastry would be no problem; puff pastry, perhaps, I can manage that. I could make a flan - that would make a nice change. And while I'm making pastry for the base of the flan, I might as well double the amounts and use the rest for a few savoury vol-au-vents and perhaps a round of shortbread. If there's any left over, I could always use it up on some biscuits or macaroons - the kids would love that. In fact, I could really go to town and make a quiche for all of us, or fish and chips - basic pancake batter, nothing to it, really.
14.30	No, I've got it! Forget the flan. A meat pie! A gigantic meat pasty, perhaps. I've got some beef in the freezer, and some kidneys. Steak and kidney pie. ... It's not their favourite, of course. They often say they prefer their meat roast. But that meat's no good for roasting. I could braise it, I suppose, but that takes such a long time. ... I could mince it and then ... No. Perhaps if I made it into a stew - a big casserole; that's easy enough. ... But if I don't do pastry, I'll have to cook some potatoes. Roast potatoes wouldn't go. Jacket potatoes are easiest, but the ones I've got are so small. We've had them boiled for the past five nights. They can't stand them mashed or creamed. Croquettes would take me all afternoon. Chips don't really go with stew. ... Unless I change the stew to kebabs. ... No. Perhaps I'd better try and bake those little ones after all.
16.30	Come to think of it, I've got all I need to do some real baking: flour – plain and self-raising — and yeast for the dough. They'd appreciate some oven-warm bread. I could manage a few buns or scones, and they love those little croissant-type rolls I make for their birthdays. If they have some nice bread, they probably won't want more than a soup to go with it - a thick vegetable soup - that's it. I've got some carrots to go in and one or two other ingredients. Though I must say I prefer carrots raw, shredded in a salad... . In fact, a salad wouldn't be a bad idea. I've got oil, vinegar and mustard for a dressing. Talking of mustard, why don't I ...
17.30	Oh hello. Have a nice day? What would you say to a nice Chinese takeaway this evening?'

Exercise 19

Creative cooking

What do you do when friends turn up unexpectedly and you have’t done any shopping?

Answer: do the best you can with what you’ve got! This imaginative recipe requires only the most ordinary of ingredients. This week, a delicious combination of tuna, apple and brandy!

Part 1. Fill the gaps in the recipe with verbs from the box.