Good Morning and welcome it’s time for my weekly roundup of posts…Like everyone else, I am getting used to being cocooned in my home and garden with just the occasional quick trip out for essentials…Cooking has always been a passion but not like this…There are not really abnormal shortages of food here but I am not popping out every day or at will…Shopping is planned and the storecupboard and those tins/packets at the back of it are seeing the light of day…

Any shortages are because people can’t travel between provinces unless absolutely essential which means when I sent the betel nuts for mother in laws habit last week I saw many people packing mangoes and putting them in the post…Just as well we have excellent postal services always next day between provinces.

Our Thai family are keeping is well stocked as they drop boxes off when they come shopping last week it was mangos and bananas…bless them…Which meant yesterday and today I was in the kitchen pureeing and cooking mangoes and today will be the same…When I walk downstairs I am greeted with the smell of beautiful mangoes.

Which means the green tea has been shelved and it will be mango or banana smoothies for the foreseeable future…

Cheers!

Now to the business in hand…Last weeks posts…Grab your tipple of choice, settle down and enjoy the read…

Monday: Recycling and Climate Change…27th April 2020…and Covid-19…

I would love to say this is a COVID-19 free zone however it has crept into every aspect of our daily lives…it is also affecting climate change/recycling.

The world we live in has changed much in these first months of the year some things for the better and sadly we have lost many, many people to this terrible virus…Lots of shops and leisure facilities, hairdressing salons, schools, colleges have been closed…food stores have remained open but with restrictions in place..there are lots of rumblings of when are these restrictions going to be lifted…we are seeing a slight relaxing of restrictions from tomorrow but whatever is lifted I will be proceeding with caution…Will you?

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/04/27/recycling-and-climate-change27th-april-2020and-covid-19/

Tuesday: Thailand…The Betel Nut and the Jujube Fruit…

Although banned the Betel nut market is very much alive and thriving…

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/04/28/thailandthe-betel-nut-and-the-jujube-fruit/

Wednesday: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Food Column – Carol Taylor – A – Z of Food – ‘H’ is for Honey, Hamburgers, Hummus, Herbs, Haggis and Hoisin Sauce

Last week I was over @Sally’s with my A-Z of Food…A popular series which Sally is rerunning this year to allow me time to write and collate my cookbook…

Have you eaten a Hangtown Fry?

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-food-column-carol-taylor-a-z-of-food-h-is-for-honey-hamburgers-hummus-herbs-haggis-and-hoisin-sauce/

Also on Wednesday, I invite you to come and join me and my whimsy…

Whimsical Wednesday with Carol…

Like most of you, I have been cooking even more and eating even more…This cocooning doesn’t help the snacking, does it?

I have also been cooking some foods, even more, it is always the yummy foods which are the fiddliest to prepare and give the washer up more to wash..You get more bowls, pans and the mess but the end result is some delicious bites…

Photo credit: Nationaal Archief on Visualhunt.com / No known copyright restrictions

Battered and breaded food being one of them…also the quesadillas last night were delicious…but fiddly to make and cook…Give me one-pot cooking or a stir fry any day…well almost unless its fried chicken…

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/04/29/whimsical-wednesday-with-carolcooks2-5/

Thursday: Smorgasbord Health Column – Food Therapy – Watermelon – A quick way to hydrate by Sally Cronin

Watermelon the fruit which I acknowledge wholeheartedly is good for me and healthy…I just don’t love it! Although the lemonade recipe using watermelon on Sally’s post sounds quite delicious.

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/04/30/smorgasbord-health-column-food-therapy-watermelon-a-quick-way-to-hydrate/

Thursday was also National Raisin Day…

I love fruit bread, scones, bread pudding, bread and butter pudding and use raisins for all of those…why you put them in a curry I will never know…There is a place for everything and for everything a place…Not a curry…

Now cinnamon and raisin Bagels …Yummy there is definitely a call for those…

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/04/30/carolcooks2-national-raisin-dayus/

Friday: CarolCooks2…National Egg Month…

An egg…Zero Carbs and no sugar… 

Who remembers this?

The poor old egg has been much maligned over the years much like fats, butter and many other foods…Yes, there is the case for free-range eggs and not battery farmed…All our chooks and Turkeys roam free…It was also vilified and we were told if you have high cholesterol keep off the eggs…Now we are told by the heart foundation that they might have got it wrong ..Hang on…A bit of extra reading…

I believe that anything is bad if eaten in excess however moderation is key…so unless you have a proven, medical diagnosis or an allergy an egg is ok eaten as part of a balanced diet. For those who can’t, I will be experimenting over the next few weeks with alternatives…

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/05/01/carolcooks2-national-egg-month/

Saturday: Saturday Morning…In my kitchen…Mangoes…

Mangoes

Lots of them…However the dried mango came out tasting just like the ones I brought…However, there is a nack to the rolling of them and I should have used a flat square tray not a round tray…Take two is today…My ones looked decidedly ragged for want of a better description but tasted ok…sigh…I love mango…I do love mango…but will be happy to see them gone for the moment until next time…Enjoy the recipes…xx

https://carolcooks2.com/2020/05/02/saturday-morning-in-my-kitchen-mangoes/

That’s all for this week…I hope you have enjoyed this weekly roundup xx  

I invite your comments…Let’s chat!

About Carol Taylor: 

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all are having a great weekend, stay safe and wash those hands xx