Family Fun During Lockdown
At the time of writing we are currently in lockdown in the UK, and unable to have friends over to visit. We have all managed to keep fairly busy during lockdown but I realised that more often than not we were doing things separately. Richard, our autistic son, is such a sociable lad and he, in particular, is missing the social activities he normally attends. So when a friend told me how they had enjoyed creating their own stay-at-home version of the TV program Come Dine With Me, I pounced on the idea. In varying degrees we all enjoy cooking so this sounded perfect for us.
The rules are simple, each person in the household chooses a day and prepares one main course, one dessert, and a fun activity for everyone to do after dinner.
The other diners then give a score out of ten for each of these categories;
Main, Dessert, Presentation, Entertainment.
At the end of the week, scores are added up and an overall winner is declared. We weren’t going to offer the £1,000 cash prize they offer on the TV, our winner just had to be content with the unending glory of being the first Come Dine With Me champion!
Each of us enjoyed planning our own evening.
Let’s have a chat with Richard first.
What are you going to cook?
I’m making Sausages and Mash with Onion Gravy. And then a rice pudding made with soya milk as I am lactose intolerant.
What is the inspiration for your dishes?
They are things I’ve cooked before, so I feel comfortable with them.
What cooking experience do you have?
I bake dog treats professionally. Sometimes I cook when friends are round, helping Mum.
How has Easy Spoonfuls changed your life?
It has made recipes simpler to follow, normal recipes have a lot of multitasking but Easy Spoonfuls only asks you to do one thing at a time. Which is ideal for me as I have Aspergers and I find normal recipes really difficult.
Who do you think is your strongest opponent?
Mum probably, she came up with the idea and knows what she is doing.
Why should you win Come Dine With Me?
I’m cooking things I feel comfortable with, and I’m a perfectionist.
Next we have Sage:
What are you going to cook?
Chicken Katsu curry, and a raspberry buttermilk cake.
What is the inspiration for your dishes?
I first tried Katsu at Wagamama, it’s such a good balance of flavours. Then my friend made it at home and shared the recipe. We were living in Italy at the time; and although Italian food is the best you don’t necessarily want to eat it three times a day, every single day, for months on end.
I chose the cake recipe because we have buttermilk in the fridge that needs using up, and loads of raspberries in the freezer. I got the recipe from a food blog I love and I know the recipes are consistently good. It’s good to try new recipes with ingredients we don’t normally buy.
What cooking experience do you have?
I’ve always helped in the kitchen and learnt from my mum. But I became vegetarian in my teens, the only one in the family, and then went to university, so those were the biggest factors. I cooked because I had to, but I also became really curious and thoughtful about food. I’m no longer vegetarian but I still eat meat-free regularly. I’m also really influenced by the different countries I’ve lived in, three years in Italy means I have very strong opinions about pasta.
How has Easy Spoonfuls changed your life?
Even for a somewhat experienced cook it’s such a good reference. The information you need is right there, not buried under 5000 words of someone’s life story like on other food blogs. It’s a record of the recipes I grew up with, but hadn’t really thought about exactly how they were made. By using Easyspoonfuls I don’t have any doubts or need to ask questions.
Who do you think is your strongest opponent?
My mum. Actually knowing what you’re doing is a significant advantage.
Why should you win Come Dine With Me?
My food is probably going to be the most creative and flavourful.
Phil’s turn…
What are you going to cook?
Turkey Mozzarella, Saute Potatoes, Babycorns and Asparagus followed by Strawberry Eton Mess.
What is the inspiration for your dishes?
We first tried Turkey Mozzarella at a friends house over 30 years ago and Sue has made this recipe ever since, it’s one of my favourite meals and for this challenge I wanted to make a dish I love. To be honest I decided on Eton Mess because we had loads of cooked meringue already and it seemed a nice simple dish to have a go at making.
Very little! I used to cook very basic meals when I was at university (but that was over 40 years ago now and when we got married Sue very happily took on that role.) I am very good at helping out when needed, and under instruction, but I’m not very confident with timing meals or trying out new dishes. I am much happier now I can use the recipes in Sue’s Easy Spoonfuls courses, I know they will take me step by step through the process and not leave me wondering when I have to start cooking things – I like to know a plan ahead of times (I was a project manager for many years) and knowing what to do at each step without wondering if I’ve missed anything out is such a relief.
How has Easy Spoonfuls changed your life?
I cannot tell you how much easier it is now for me. I actually enjoy cooking a meal now – and I’ve been known to bake a great Cherry and Almond Loaf Cake which is a friends favourite and it feels good to say “Here you go, I baked this for you!”
Who do you think is your strongest opponent?
I think Sue will be…she has 40 years experience of cooking and doesn’t get flustered (much) in the kitchen. She just knows when something is cooked by the look of it – I need a timer on all the time.
Why should you win Come Dine With Me?
I am going to try really hard to impress – if I do a job I like to make sure I do it properly. Plus I’ve spent a long time creating an unusual quiz for our after dinner entertainment so hopefully that will go down well.
Finally to Sue (that would be me then!)
What are you going to cook?
Sweet and Sour Chicken in crispy batter with noodles followed by a Rich Chocolate Mousse.
What is the inspiration for your dishes?
I recently bought a tiny second hand book on Chinese cooking, which had been recommended in a Facebook group I’m in, so I wanted to try one of those recipes. I decided on the Sweet and Sour chicken because I realised I already had all the ingredients – and if nothing else, lockdown has reinforced that I need to use everything up before buying more!
What cooking experience do you have?
I loved cooking at school, I went in the days when you were taught Home Economics, and that meant I ended up with a good basic understanding of recipes. When I got married, I loved nothing more than being in the kitchen cooking for our friends and family so my kitchen skills have continued to improve over the last 40 years.
How has Easy Spoonfuls changed your life?
I came up with the idea for simplifying recipes, particularly main meals, after realising how difficult it was for Richard to follow conventional recipes. They just dart about too much and don’t have the information displayed in a sensible way. I knew that if I wrote a recipe out with the right amount of detail and only necessary information that Richard would be able to cook on his own and grow in confidence. I feel so much more at ease now knowing that Richard could cope on his own far better now than he could have before Easy Spoonfuls was there as a guide for him.
Who do you think is your strongest opponent?
I think my husband Phil is actually – he is really determined to do well at this and is planning it all in great detail. He has spent hours on his after dinner entertainment too – whereas I am just using a pot of playdough and a few question cards!
Why should you win Come Dine With Me?
I actually don’t want to win – I think I have an unfair advantage over the rest of the family but that’s not to say I am unbeatable, not by a long shot. I would just like someone else to get a chance to shine.
The after dinner entertainment was really important – it carried 25% of the overall score!
Sage introduced us to Kahoot which is an online quiz with a bit of a twist. The three of us sat with our phones and Sage set her laptop up with a game of Kahoot and we typed in the game number into our phones which linked them together. The idea is to read the question on the laptop and then choose the colour and symbol on your phone that you think is the correct answer, you get extra points if you are the first to click correctly. Now I NEVER win quizzes, I am good at the food and drink questions and the occasional literature one but that’s about it. But I managed to win this game. I think it was because I read the questions quickly and then clicked my phone super quick without double checking the answer – it was a strategy that worked for me. I was absolutely thrilled to come out the winner of this one. We all said it was a great game (even the losers!!)
I went with a game I had bought at Christmas and then forgot about. The box contained two tubs of (very sticky!) playdough and a pack of word/phrase cards you mould for the others to guess. Luckily there is an easier one word suggestion as well as a more complicated phrase on each card. We were astounded when Phil moulded an elephant on a skateboard and Sage guessed it – we laughed for ages at that one. I felt I hadn’t put alot of effort into coming up with this game but when the scores were added up I came second so it just goes to show that sometimes the simple games can be the most enjoyable.
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