On commenting and how to choose what's for dinner

"The recipe comments function like a virtual watering hole where strangers swap tips and stories and occasionally the stray insight."

Sophie Haigney/The Guardian

When Wix changed the format of their comments section I noticed a drop off in comments. Now comments are not a real big thing for such a tiny, tiny blog. If I get 20 readers I'm amazed, and that doesn't really matter, because, as I say, I'm really doing the whole thing for me anyway - just to keep me entertained.

However, I did have a couple of faithful readers who did comment occasionally and since the change I have not heard from them.

So just in case they are either confused, or they are not well or some such, I thought I would, first of all explain the new commenting section, and then just ponder on the whole commenting thing.

So just a refresher on how to comment on a post, should you feel the need.

The comments section is way down the bottom of the page - after the end of the article and after the Related Posts - and incidentally I hope you might be stimulated to have a look at some of them. When you have actually found the comments section - where it says 'Write a comment' you do just that and then click on the button which pops up and says Publish and it's all done. But no, David tells me that you then have to say you're a guest (or a member - and I don't think anyone is a member - you don't have to be), whereupon you go through one of those CAPTCHA picture things - click on the bridges or suchlike. No need to add a name, although it's always nice to know who made the comment I guess.

The other thing that Wix has done is to stop telling me when someone has commented, and so I just check myself. I actually think it is not as good as it used to be because for one thing, I cannot reply directly to you if you have commented because I don't know where the comment comes from, so I might check out some other possibilities sometime.

For a long time I did not add a comments box, but when I did I really appreciated it when somebody responded. It was sort of a validation that it was worth carrying on. I have also been very bad about responding. I will try to be better.

Should I bother though? Is it just another me, me, me thing? A long time ago, COVID times - January 2021 in fact Sophie Haigney of The New York Times wrote an article on how she 'found solace in online recipe comments' during lockdown. It's a comforting, and also sad article about:

"the way in which these spaces form a kind of makeshift, loose community, one that reminds me more of the early internet than social media. Recipe commenters are a group of people, most of whom have followed the same set of instructions and then returned to report on their results, to ask questions and to opine on the experience."

And every now and then:

“a fragment of someone else’s life that was caught in the mix of a complaint about flavours.”  …  (On a stuffing recipe, someone wrote, cryptically: “People threaten revolt all the time, but it never really happens.”)

And it is true. This still continues. Today I checked out a couple of recipe websites and their comments, and yes, most of the comments are inane I suppose - just saying how delicious and suchlike, but nevertheless every now there is indeed something different - a small glimpse of a life - like these two from a Recipe Tin Eats recipe for Green Goddess soup:

"I was VERY sceptical of this recipe but I put my trust in Nagi, followed the recipe to the letter and I am shocked. It was yum!! Husband refuses to eat it as he walked into the kitchen when I was blitzing the kale. All for me" 🙂

"My two year-old calls this Hulk Soup ..."

But I'll stop on the comments and turn to my dinner dilemma. Just hope you are all OK out there.

The dinner dilemma is what best to do with my remaining - about half - cauliflower - and a husband who's not really a fan and who also has just had a temporary crown put on one of his teeth - so food needs to be soft. The candidates are recipes from Jamie, Yotam and NIgel - the power three of the moment.

Jamie - from his 7 Ways book - Cauliflower cheese pasta which I have made before. It is super easy, and for me at least, bland in a truly delicious and comforting way. Very, very, easy as well. You just cook the cauliflower with an onion in some milk, blend with some grated cheese, and mix with your pasta - he recommends spaghetti, topping with fried breadcrumbs, garlic and cauliflower leaves. I just loved it, but when I was looking for the photograph I found he has a very slightly different version called Cauliflower cheese spaghetti which also involves leeks, thyme and chopped nuts. So if I go for one of these which one? Should I stick with the tried and true, or experiment a little?

Yotam - I have also made this before and it is quite a taste sensation - I think we gave it 4 1/2 stars. It's called Curried cauliflower cheese filo pie and has a lot going for it and a bit going against. What it has going for it, apart from the taste, is the fact that I have some filo pastry in the fridge which really should be used up. What it has going against it, is that, although not at all difficult, it does take longer. Well you have to roast the cauliflower, make a béchamel sauce, and do all the filo layering.

So here I am debating between laziness - yes let's call it that and taste plus sustainability in that that filo pastry will get used up and not need to be thrown away because it's gone off.

Nigel - Then there's that cauliflower dish from Nigel's book Tender vol. 1, that I talked about yesterday - A fried cauliflower, the recipe for which can be found on The Spruce Eats website. Also very easy but not really a main dish, although maybe vegetarians would consider it as such, and The Spruce Eats, concurs that it could. However I did think I could serve it as a side with some plain crumbed fried fish and some kind of crispy potatoes. So I looked at the recipe again, and have decided against it for now I think, because it's freezing cold today and the salsa verde is served cold. Besides, the fish on offer in Coles was all from overseas - well almost - or horrendously expensive. I did buy some frozen Hoki from New Zealand but no - not today I think.

Home cooks have problems with pleasing everyone don't they? Like that poor lady whose husband wouldn't even try the Green goddess soup because of the kale. Children and teenagers are, of course, just as bad. My daughter-in-law made a yummy looking dish of fennel with breadcrumbs the other day for her vegetarian daughter who took one bite and refused to eat any more. And I remember the very small repertoire of dishes my teenage sons would accept. They were all delicious but so boring cooking the same things all the time.

Conclusion - I'm going for Jamie's second version just because it's different from the other one - slightly - well David might not be that enthused, but I justify by it being the most tooth friendly. Although - maybe not - because of the nuts and so maybe I should stick to the original and the bland ... And so it goes.

I never comment on other people's recipes myself. Maybe I should. Read them too. Sometimes they make suggestions for improving on the original as well. So nice to see people experimenting.

POSTSCRIPT

July 31 - the last day of July. Where indeed did July go?

2023 - A comfort drink - hot toddy. A good idea for a very cold day.

2022 - Nothing happening there.

2021 - A cook book gift - Belinda Jefferey's Collected Recipes in fact

2020 - Lucky dip - saupiquet - the last of the digital archive

2019 - World's best baked onions - a lucky dip

2018 - Nothing happening

2017 - Home brands - going but not quite

2016 - A Word from Robert Carrier

Probably not a very inspiring collection there. Maybe it was just as cold on all those July 31sts gone by.