Dining out.

We went out for dinner as a family last Saturday.  Which was nice.  However, it got me thinking about the problems of eating out when you're used to quite adventurous cooking at home.  A bog standard pub meal sometimes just doesn't quite cut it, and you end up feeling resentful that you've paid a fortune for something you could make at home more cheaply (and sometimes to a higher standard) yourself, all for the privilege of not having to cook it or wash up afterwards.  In order to get something you couldn't cook yourself, you have to spend even more money... and it takes a bit of trial an error to find out where is good value for your pennies, and where is just going to end up being an expensive disappointment.

Next problem, what genre of cuisine? One good reason for going to an Indian restaurant, as we did, is when, as in our case, one partner likes things much spicier than the other.  If I make a curry at home, I end up stirring yogurt in, and he adds a big splodge of chilli sauce or extra cayenne pepper. So when we go out, he can have a vindaloo and I can have something with coconut in (he's not fond of coconut). The younger children love the breads and rice in an Indian restaurant, and can have some of my less spicy main course.  Mostly my kids will eat anything, though my son who is six is getting a bit more fussy.  My daughter, now a teenager, eats like a horse and will finish her brother's leftovers together with anything else she can get her hands on.

One thing I do tend to go for is deep fried things, especially real chips.  If you're eating out it's quite often a special occasion or a treat anyway, so why not go the whole hog and have something decadent?  I very rarely deep fry anything at home, for a variety of reasons, not wanting to set fire to the kitchen, not liking the smell, and fried food being generally bad for you being the main ones.  I had a go at making crispy fried squid, and while it was quite nice, it doesn't have that certain something that the stuff from the Chinese does.

Mine didn't look this good...

Generally, if I'm going out, I want something special, that I couldn't or wouldn't make at home and/or that hubby doesn't like.  I'd rather spend a bit more and go out less often in order to have a better dining experience.

I was going to discuss leftovers at restaurants, but we never seem to have any.  I'm all in favour of doggy bags, or indeed person bags, if there are remains. I wonder how much does get thrown away in restaurants? 

In other news, I had a go at making fondant fancies this week, I had seen them being made on the Great British Bake Off and thought "Can they really be that difficult?"  Oh yes they can.  The sponge rose far too well and then sank in the middle, so they weren't all the same size and a bit larger than planned.  Spreading the butter icing on five sides of each cube of apricot jam glazed cake wasn't all that easy either.  And as for dipping in the fondant icing... they would have fallen apart so I had to spread it on with a butter knife, making a huge mess all over the supporting hand.  The fondant icing was the perfect texture though, and they tasted nice, but had to be eaten in two instalments.  Everyone who braved a whole one in one go felt a bit like they had overdone it afterwards.

I also made a new twist on chicken for a lighter, more springlike Sunday dinner; this was from the latest delicious magazine.  Poached in water with root ginger, spring onions and garlic, served on a herb salad with a homemade chilli sauce (nam jim, but I kept accidentally calling it nim jam) and lemongrass scented rice.  I'll definitely be making it again.

More soon, thank you for reading,

Caroline x