Today's menu - for those that don't like, DON'T READ!! - It's not rocket science

[merciasounds]

Starters: Carrot and coriander soup
OR
smoked salmon pate with dill, melba toasts
OR
Felafel

Mains: (I have 3 vegetarians coming for dinner tonight) Meditteranean Vegetable and pasta bake
OR
spatchcock baby chickens with herby citrus marinade, spicy jacket wedges, salad
OR
Gammon steak with pineapple/egg handcut chips, peas, salad

Fresh cream strawberry trifle
OR
lemony raspberry cheesecake
OR
Caramel Fudge sponge with toffee sauce/ ice cream


12 cheeses, crackers, grapes and celery
Coffee

[Eve]

No starter for me today but the gammon then cheesecake for me :) Definitely cheese and crackers and coffee too!

I love your menus and am glad you stayed :)

[merciasounds]

pastafreak.....(sighs)...I know I can't please all of the people all of the time, and I never seem to please you. But I WILL stand up for myself and ask you, what is fancy about my food? I do basic things, gammon, steak, chicken, fish, sausages, pies, pasties, pasta dishes, curries everyday stuff. Mostly my dishes go with salad or potatoes and peas, rice or noodles, even just bread sometimes. Now I'm sorry if you find this fancy, my aim is for somebody to read my menu and think - ahh, gammon, haven't had that for ages - or i like the sound of that marinade for chicken - not to slavish copy the whole menu - although if they like of course they can. Also, these things haven't got to be cooked from scratch, i'm sure they're are perfectly edible dishes from the frozen/ready meal sections of the supermarket.

[ummmm]

I don't find the meals complicated. Pretty similar to what I would cook.

Some of the meats are though. I've never seen wild boar in our local supermarket. So although the menus look interesting they can be unrealistic for most people.

Everything on todays menu I have cooked a version of though. Except the deserts....I don't do deserts.

[merciasounds]

Once - I think I did a wild boar pate once - i'd been out to Ludlow and bought it in a butchers there.....

[ummmm]

It's only an example.....don't take offense but some of us townies don't come across such ingredients. I have only one butcher near me, one greengrocer and not one single fishmonger left in the town. So many of us are limited to supermarkets.

I'm just trying to explain why some don't like the menus. Personally I do....

[pastafreak]

Don't get me wrong mercia.....I for one am not a fan of meat-and-2-veg. I also have been cooking a long time,and have always preferred experimenting and trying the new, as opposed to bland and boring. I was making stirfries over 30 years (gulp) ago.....and have tried lots of ethnic cuisines. I love Italian(it's in my blood)...Japanese....Thai(make my own curry pastes)....Middle Eastern....etc.
I think what bothers me is seeing TOO much...as in too many things on offer,and hence also too many ingredients. That's what I think can be daunting for some who see your menus....it can be intimidating for those who may be interested but do not know where to start.

[NoMercy]

I've probably been to the same Deli in that case, Mercia, as Ludlow is not far from my home town of Hereford. Ludlow's a lovely little town with some of the best eateries in the country.