Am I old fashioned?

rascal

rascal

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i have a pretty good life at home, all the good foods in freezers and everything at hand. We are house sitting for our son and his 3 kids. They are in samoa enjoying 30 deg c heat. There house is a huge house and about 4 years old. A huge walk in pantry, but.......... Bugger all in it. She apparently did a big shop before they left. There's no pepper, sauce, milk, butter, gravy sachets , cheese sauce sachets, ice cream, earl grey tea, and that's off the top of my head, are the young ones not as aware of things as I are. I'm struggling to come up with good meals that I like. Like I made a roast chicken, ( we had to buy that too) and no gravy, I made one up from lamb stock and a few other things, it was ok, but nothing like my gravy I make.
Am I old fashioned or too fussy??? I don't know, my daughter has everything I could want but not my sons.

Russ
 
rascal said:
i have a pretty good life at home, all the good foods in freezers and everything at hand. We are house sitting for our son and his 3 kids. They are in samoa enjoying 30 deg c heat. There house is a huge house and about 4 years old. A huge walk in pantry, but.......... Bugger all in it. She apparently did a big shop before they left. There's no pepper, sauce, milk, butter, gravy sachets , cheese sauce sachets, ice cream, earl grey tea, and that's off the top of my head, are the young ones not as aware of things as I are. I'm struggling to come up with good meals that I like. Like I made a roast chicken, ( we had to buy that too) and no gravy, I made one up from lamb stock and a few other things, it was ok, but nothing like my gravy I make.
Am I old fashioned or too fussy??? I don't know, my daughter has everything I could want but not my sons.

Russ
Click to expand...

Both!!! lol What is the problem with going shopping for what you want and need?
 
No ice cream?!? I'm shocked. Lol. I have a few different kinds, and I'm only one person. Nah. You're not old fashioned. You're a foodie, like most of us here. Some folks just aren't interested in food or cooking. Sometimes I buy a little too much, because I like to have different options. Or maybe I have OCD.
 
I'd put it this way - it may not be the best idea to expect others to have what you prefer. :)

I know if I swapped houses for a week with my brother, we'd both be disappointed, as I have very little processed/junk food, and he has very little that's not junk food. He'd look at a roast and say, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" - I'd look at his stash of frozen pizzas and say, "You know, if I just had some flour...and some yeast...and some tomatoes...and some non-plastic cheese, I could do so much better!"

Different strokes for different folks.
 
Reminds me of a TV show called Wife Swap. Two wives, each from a different family, with completely different lifestyles, trade families and lives for a week. Oh, the fireworks. Hilarious. They usually, not always, learn something new, or do things differently when it's over -- or never speak to one another again.
 
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One of the holiday homes we (used to) use in Scotland was pretty bare when we first started going there. After a few years, the owner, Louise, bumped into Stuart unloading the car and on the top of the box he was carrying was the sieve. She looked at us in surprise, asking why we needed to bring one up with us. We explained and she was stunned. It hasn't occurred to her that people didn't drain pasta or peas using a saucepan lid. now yes I can, but I don't see the need to. The holiday homes were a series of 6, usually we booked the same one each time, Stewart, but on the rare occasion that we hadn't, we would discreetly slip into it (only of it was empty) and borrow one our two items we had purchased and left in it over the years (such as a cheap sieve for a couple of pounds which curiously turned up in all of the other cottages as well).
It was the little things like a few wooden spoons, a spatula, tin foil and the basics in seasoning, (s&p, parsley, oregano, basil, curry powder, vinegar, etc) that slowly turned up in the kitchen over the years. To me they were obvious, but not initially to Louise. We used to have a good joke about it.
 
I'd have pepper, butter and Earl Grey tea from your list. No milk nor bread, but plenty of eggs. If I knew you liked ice cream, there'd be two or three varieties there -- as when I had to go in for surgery a year and a half ago, I stocked that for me while I was laid up and not driving. I've only bought one pint of that, since then.
 
I struggle when going to other houses. Nothing but processed food more times than not. No ingredients to make food. I know others struggle when they come to my house because all I have is ingredients to make food. I buy 3 or less processed items a month. My mother shops within the first few hours of her visit. I tried one time to do that shopping for her. She didn't like anything I bought.

I now have no issues shopping for a stay. If we're there, we got to eat. Might as well eat what we prefer and share.
 
Karen W said:
Reminds me of a TV show called Wife Swap. Two wives, each from a different family, with completely different lifestyles, trade families and lives for a week. Oh, the fireworks. Hilarious. They usually, not always, learn something new, or do things differently when it's over -- or never speak to one another again.
Click to expand...

I'd love to go on that.!!

Russ
 
A month ago I went to Plano, TX. (outside of Dallas) with my baby sister to baby sit her 2 grand babies. Little Man (Michael) is 29 months old. Baby Girl (Alexandra) will be one next month. It was an exhausting joy to spend time with those precious babies. I do understand what you are talking about. We had to go shopping. I will grant you that my niece Toni and her husband Michael are very successful, busy professionals and awesome parents. Their pantry was bare of anything we would consider cooking for the babies or ourselves. I do not envy their life style. My lovely niece commutes an hour each way every day. Her sweet husband works from home but frequently has to run around the Dallas/Fort Worth area calling on clients.

I am in no position to criticize because I can not imagine the effort it takes to work their schedules and rear 2 smart, lovable, social babies. They take their babies everywhere. They rarely hire a babysitter. Michael was 4 days old when he went to his first estate sale. Alex was a week old when she attended her first festival.

So Okay. They do not cook fresh. Time and ease are an issue. They cook quick and easy so they can spend time reading to their babies. We were with the children for 4 days. When they would get tired or cranky an offer to read a book was an instant cure. Michael would grab his current favorite book and jump in my lap. As young as she is Alex understands "book". She would stop fussing and reach for whatever book I had in my hand.

Let them eat cake. They are healthy, happy, smart, social babies. Cuisine is not important.
 
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