The BB cafe

[Kazzl]

The BB cafe is open for business!
Welcome all to a new chill and chat place for everyone on the forum.

The BB cafe is whatever you want it to be. There are comfy sofas, tables and chairs, coffee machines, a kitchen stocked with everything. There's a pool outside, a bbq area, an annexe with comfy beds for a quiet sleep, tv, dvd, books and whatever else you would like to have here.

Most of all, it's a place to meet friends and fellow travellers for a bit of company. Talk over problems, tell jokes, share your day, escape into a world of your making. Grab a coffee and pull up a chair ... 

So, with a nod to the wonderful Carole King (Hard Rock Cafe) ...

Now if you're feeling just a little bit lonely
Don't sit at home just mopin'
Come on down to where the friendship flows freely
You know the door is always open

At the BB cafe
Come to the BB cafe
They will help keep your blues at bay
At the BB cafe

Important Message from ModSupport: 
The main intention of the BB Cafe is to encourage light conversation. Please look after your fellow community members by nuturing the BB Cafe as a place to escape some of the more pressing issues in life and save those conversations for personal threads. 

[Paw Prints]

Hello Grandy,

Here is my Lambs Fry & bacon - I haven't cooked this in over 30 years so it is just as well I took some time to write it up on a word document as I kept remembering ingredients & steps I had missed.

1 x lamb Fry (I was always taught to take it out of the fridge & bring it to room temperature before cooking)

4 x rashers streaky bacon

1 x small onion diced

Butter

Plain Flour

Salt

Pepper

1 x teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 x teaspoon Tomato Sauce

1 x cup water

1 x tablespoon cornflour

I’ve always cooked this in a cast iron frypan, but I would think any frypan with a heavy base would be ok.

1. Soak the lambs fry in a bowl of water with some salt for at least an hour (this makes it easier to peel)
2. Peel the lambs fry & cut into bite size cubes (remove any thick tissue bits)
3. Put the lambs fry in a paper bag with flour, Salt & Pepper & shake until coated.
4. Cut the bacon into roughly 1 inch squares
5. Add butter to the pan
6. Fry the bacon until the fat renders
7. Remove the bacon & fry the diced onion until soft (add more butter if needed)
8. Drain bacon & onion onto paper towel & keep hot
9. Just brown the lambs fry in the pan - literally no more than about 2 minutes (add more butter if needed)
10. Mix water & both sauces
11. Add enough water to cornflour to make thin paste
12. Pour the water/sauce mix & the cornflour over the lambs fry
13. Add the onions & bacon
14. Cook on a low/medium heat stirring until the cornflour is cooked off & the sauce thickens
15. Do not cook too long as it will make the lambs fry tough… just a few minutes should be enough

You want the lambs fry to be slightly pinkish rather than well done.

Let me know how you go

Hugs

Paws

[Ggrand]

Hello everyone…..🤗..

Paws, thank you so much..I’ve copied and pasted your yummy recipe to my notes….I’m going shopping tomorrow so I’ll cook it on the week end…can’t wait ❤️..

Hugs everyone, enjoy your day..🤗😊..

Grandy..

[HappySheep]

Hello all, Newbie here. Spent yesterday cooking so I have to jump into a conversation about learning to cook!

I come from a meat and three veg family but turned vegetarian in my teens.  Couldn't cook for years - made one pasta dish, one rice dish or a plate of steamed veg.  Not until I realised that I needed to learn to cook vegetarian food that I bought a few Womens Weekly cook books and went from there.

Hundreds of years later, I love cooking (apparently I cook a fabulous lamb shank - never eaten one in my life), BUT I still follow a recipe, even if I've cooked the dish many times before.  I like the security blanket.

If you shop at Coles, their free magazines have the best recipes. They look fancy, taste great - but are not too complicated or expensive.

Thanks for letting me join the chat!

[Fiatlux]

Hi Everyone and welcome HappySheep,

I love a meat free meal but my boys would ask, where’s the meat. Even when I do a stir fry with meat and veg, the boys like a 50/50 meat to veg ratio. My son who lives with me returned from Thailand recently and cooks every day, mostly Thai food which he didn’t like when growing up.

Travel and family background can definitely influence your palate. Personally I love Asian & Indian food now over the traditional Central European food that I grew up with. Traditionally we have a lot of schnitzels and crumbed meats and potatoes with the German influence and other dishes like cabbage rolls with the Slavic influence. And of course Goulash which I rarely cook now. 

The traditional things I love are delicacies like Foie Gras… I order this from a specialty store for Christmas presents as a small Jar sets you back about $60. 

As my dad was a butcher we had access to delicious free range meat, mostly pork and chicken in our traditional meals and the only offal we as kids ate would have been, chicken and duck livers. Goose liver which is absolutely delicious was not available in Australia. I have tried heart and kidney but I can’t get past the texture. Of course my dad used every part of the animal and nothing went to waste. Sausages, black pudding and salami were all made with natural casings. We didn’t eat lamb until moving to Australia. Lamb chops were only ever cooked on a bbq. 

I can’t say that I have tried plant based alternatives but I do prefer natural vegetarian meals.

Have a lovely evening everyone and as I had chicken with lunch I am having a salad for dinner.

Fiatlux 🙏🏼

[Ggrand]

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to our Cafe HappySheep, It’s always beautiful to meet new people and get to know them….In our Cafe, your imagination can go as wild as you want it too….We have an amazing courtyard with an outdoor kitchen, creeks, rivers, trees, ponds with a cute family of ducks, even got a steam train 🚂 that anyone can drive around our beautiful and serene grounds….

To welcome you, to our cafe I brought in some Pizzas which includes vegetarian Pizzas, lots of fresh vegetables and of course Ice cream, chocolate and strawberries….

The weather the past few days here has been so hot, humid and just so energy draining…so also I made plenty of ice in our large freezer for icy cold refreshing drinks…I enjoy Soda Water, ice and a few slices of fresh lemon…..A very appreciated present from my son a few years back was a Soda Stream….It gets so much use on these hot sticky days…Don’t know what I would do without it now😊

Take care everyone, 

Hugs, love and care..🤗💜🦋..

Grandy..

[mmMekitty]

Hello HappySheep & welcome! It's so lovely to see you here.

I'm very glad to say I won't be needing my floaties after all - the rain moved up & west of me. Yet, I'm so sorry all that rain has to go somewhere. I can only hope no-one is lost or the damage is not too great to recover from. So, wherever you are, if the weather turns bad, try to prepare & take care.

I'm still having a lot of humidity, which has me feeling grouchy & unbearably uncomfortable at times these days, & I think the energy levels are getting low, too. So very tired tonight.

I would just like to laze around on a big floatie in the pool, or going round in ciercles in the moat, waving as the train goes by.

You are all welcome to throw me a fish every so often ....😹& I will again be a happy Little Red Cat.

Hugzzies everyone

mmMekitty

[HappySheep]

Thanks for the welcome. Can I bring my new puppy? He's not house-trained yet but he's extremely cute. You'll love him.

[HappySheep]

Thanks mmMekitty, I live near where people got smashed by floods over Xmas. We were safe from the most recent lot and I'm pleased it didn't do much damage anywhere - but it's insanely humid. No point getting into a swimming pool here, they're like a bath at this time of year.  Even the ocean is not refreshing. 😞

I believe sweating is good for the pores .....

[HappySheep]

Hi Fiatlux, I'd love to try cooking offal dishes - if I could find anyone to eat them! I'm also not a fan of 'plant-based' meats. When so many cultures have amazing meat-free food, why would I bother with fake meat?  (It's also kinda creepy when my friends serve me fake chicken that actually has imitation goose-bumps on it!)  Next time you're in town, I'll cook you up some amazing Asian/Indian food that even your boys will enjoy!

Location definitely influences cooking. I nearly starved to death over one week in Germany - 'Ich bin Vegetarish!' - there are only so many ways one can eat cabbage.

I live in a tropical climate and people keep giving me tropical fruits. I don't eat a lot of fruit but hate waste so have spent many enjoyable hours googling recipes for dragon-fruit (makes a fabulous salsa to go with fish/tofu) or soursop (Cambodians roast unripe fruit like potato).

[Paw Prints]

Hello HappySheep, wave to everyone,

Of course you can bring your puppy.  I can't wait to meet him & find out all about him. You needn't worry about him not being house trained the Cafe has magic floors that clean up any mess. 

Hugs

Paws