Going down I put him in the front passenger foot well with the seat pushed as far back as I could get it. He is a big dog and only just fits in. The trouble is that he has to come out backwards so I have to guide his back end onto the pavement. Understandably he panics a bit, but he is ok once he finds solid ground underneath him. For the journey back I opened the tailgate of my estate car, and physically lifted him inside, to see if that worked any better. He seemed far happier at having plenty of room to lay down.
Once we got home however, he didn't want to get out. The big drop must have looked like jumping off a building to him, and he doesn't jump at all now. I tried to get him towards the back of the car where I could lift him off, keeping in mind that I needed to be carefull not to do my back in. He wasn't having any of it. Aha, I have an idea. Get the wheelie bin laid on it's side pushed up to the car. It's a few inches lower so it's ideal to make a step with. Then get the old blanket I keep in the back, and lay it over the car and the bin so it all looks the same. I sat on the bin, enticed him out with some treats, then put my arms round him and lifted him from the bin down to the ground. Success :o)
Anyway, I digress, this post is supposed to be about what I had for lunch today. I have a policy of never throwing food away, I eat everything I buy, even though it might be well past it's sell by date. Take these two crusty granary rolls for example. They were in a pack of four, reduced from 65p to 26p. I never buy white bread by the way, there is no taste to it. The date on the wrapper is 24th April, so you can guess by now, they are not only crusty, but also rock hard, even the birds would find them hard to break up.
Not to worry, saw them in half with the bread knife, cover each half with margarine spread, zap in the microwave for a few seconds, top with slivers of cheese and zap again untill the cheese bubbles.
Then find a few leaves of lettuce from the bottom of the salad box in the fridge, dated 23rd April, and add a grated a carrot from a bag dated 21 April. arrange attractively on the plate and tuck in. I have to add though that it took me nearly an hour to eat it, due to the bread still being rock hard. I had to be very carefull not to break my £800 four teeth bridge, and my two crowns. Could have turned out to be a rather expensive lunch if I had rushed it.
You could have sprinkled them with water when you put them in the micro that would have softened them a bit. Its a trick the French use to soften baguette........
ReplyDeleteI never throw anything away, if bread has mould, i just cut off the mould and eat it any way - careful of those expensive teeth
ReplyDeleteI'm with Silversewer, dunk old rolls or whole unsliced loaves in water for a mo and blitz em in the microwave or oven. They come out warm but good as new.
ReplyDeleteWhy not pur spare rolls/bread in the freezer, then defrost it when needed - I do this all the time, no waste and no broken teeth. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are "Dog Ramps" available to help old dogs in and out of estate cars. I've seen them in those 'Lifestyle' catalogues amongst the meerkat garden ornaments and ultrasonic mole repellers.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could fabricate something...?
Use by dates are so inaccurate, it annoys me to think that people take them seriously. Smoked mackerel, for instance, that used to have a use by date of at least a week has now been shortened to a couple of days. I'm sure they create waste. If you shop at the bakers, greengrocers, butchers etc. you have to make your own mind up as to whether something's still edible so why should supermarket produce be any different. Sorry, I'll stop the rant, but you get the gist. We moisten hard bread and put it in the oven too.
ReplyDeleteYour very funny,re-gard your Bread roll's,i alway's freeze all left over Bread,i never buy it though,i alway's make my own,and freeze all that i don't eat,bung it in Micro for a few sec's to thaw,and it's as good as the day i made it,and you are just wonderful with Ben,a lovely story.
ReplyDeleteWhat a smashing lot you are, some great tips there, I'll remember the water one. I usually buy bread when it's cheap, and freeze it, but somehow I miscalculated my bread intake this week, and these rolls were pushed to one side. Must be more vigilant in future and freeze before it goes hard.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a dog ramp, Cyberkim. I used to have a catering trailer and had to make a ramp to get the generator in and out of it. I'll see if I can come up with something a bit more compact that will fit in the car.
I saw sell-by dates on vinegar! As long as it smells OK then it gets eaten here not that much gets left with 3 hubgry boys to feed... Have finally convinced DH that left-overs are ok to eat and sell-by dates just advisory :-)
ReplyDeletefor lunch today, I made a strata: cut some stale bread into cubes, topped with ham leftover from Thanksgiving (cut into pieces), added some sautéed onions and bell peppers on top & then poured over that 3 eggs beaten with 1/2 cup mixture of sour cream (which was getting old and needed to be used) and heavy cream, some dried dill & salt n pepper. Topped with some feta cheese cubes that really needed to be used up. Last time I made a strata with leftover sausage, stale bread, dried sage and a mish mash of leftover cheeses. So glad I discovered strata as a way to use up stale bread AND stretch tiny bits of meat into several servings. Your posts are so charming and helpful. I have subscribed to your RSS feed. Thanks!
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