I'm back!!!

[leesmac78]

Greetings to all Thermodarlings!

Forgive the silence (or perhaps you were grateful for it).  Things have been crazy busy with all these conferences I have been attending.  I am safely back at home with my Thermomix (and Ed) - thank goodness!

But I simply must share with you some observations I have made over the past two weeks on life WITHOUT my Thermie attached to my hip.

I have eaten in some delightful restaurants in Cambridge, London and Hannover.  Some expensive, some moderate and one attached to a Radisson Hotel. Luckily, I did not pay for any of these meals - work did! However, most of this food which was "expensive" by my everyday at home eating standards yet the quality of food that I was served was really quite poor.  The standard and the flavour that many restaurants deem acceptable was quite disappointing.  I would never say that ALL restaurants in these cities serve bad food although almost ALL the food I was served I could have made so much better in my Thermomix.

Take last Friday night for example.   I had a very flavourless pumpkin soup served to me at the Radisson. I could have whipped one up for the 15 other people I was with in less time with twice the flavour and with a far more delicate consistency. The chicken was the main course and it was again just a baked chicken fillet with a mushroom sauce.  Something was really lacking in the preparation here.  Again, I wondered what was going on in the kitchen.  The vegetarian option was a simple mushroom risotto and not one of my fellow diners finished it.  Was it the taste? Was it just that they were not hungry?  I know everytime I make a mushroom risotto in Thermie, I never leave any!  The dessert was just a chocolate mousse, not smooth enough in texture and certainly not overly flavoursome. 

I wondered to myself what this meal actually cost.  I thought that I could have created these three dishes in my own kitchen far more quickly with ten times the amount of flavour at a fraction of the cost.  I can make restaurant quality food quickly and easily in my very own kitchen.  I can spend a small amount of money each day and make the yummiest, tastiest and nutritious food every day for Ed, guests and myself. 

I wonder how many other people go out for dinner expecting something "better" than home but shortly to realise the food you are actually spending good money on is rather substandard to the quality that you can produce in your own kitchen.  Of course, the experience of dining out is a pleasurable one.  The ambiance, the environment, the social element and not having to clean up afterwards are all advantages to dining out.

I do think there is NOTHING better than a home cooked meal -  whether cooked by Thermie and I or a friend.  It is a gift of yourself to someone else.  Nothing beats it. 

Who agrees?  Anyone disagree?

xxx

 

[Bedlam]

I totally agree. DH and I are holidaying in the UK and miss Thermies fresh and flavourful delights.

[Cuilidh]

Yes, it's true, Lee, restaurant food just isn't that good - no, that's not true, some restaurants do take care and pride in what they serve (I just can't afford to go to those ones!).  Living in Melbourne we are surrounded by restaurants and I just don't know how some survive when you eat their food  (and see their level of cleanliness) but there are some budget and medium level restaurants that really are very good and we always go back to them if at all possible.

It's often been discussed here that foods we used to love and / or enjoy pre-thermie days are now totally unacceptable to our palates.  As you say, going out to a restaurant is and should be a pleasurable experience and (for me anyway) it is a treat not having to decide what to cook (note, I don't mention the actual cooking which is, as we all know, a breeze) and especially not having to clean up and do the dishes afterwards!

On the rare occasions when we go out now it I always select something I don't, can't or won't make at home and so I am sometimes disappointed but not always and I generally enjoy the experience.

Anyway, it's good to have you back on board and posting again.  It has been very quiet without you!

[dede]

Good to have you back with us Lee. And yes it has been quiet around here without you. ( I think your the noisy one in the class lol) I agree with you re eating out. I guess the best thing about eating at home and preparing our own foods is we know exactly what we are putting in our mouths and that it's fresh.

[Halex]

Hi Lee,

We have thecsame issue. We used to eat out once per week, always sunday lunch. I am sick of spending DH money on food that we dont enjoy. 2 out 3 last fimes we have been very dissapointed. We ordered dips & turkish bread, tgevdips were ok, but the bread looked un appetising and it eas. The main meal I sent back, they asked me what was wrong, i just said " look I am really sorry but this is just foul". They offered me something else, the next dish I took 2 bites palmed it off to DH, he couldnt eat it either, no flavour bland.
 So 2 out of 3 places we used to eat at, we wont go back.

Last sunday we went to the moives instead & came home to eat

Sick of paying good money for bland, horrible food. There are a few places we still like, so we tend to stick to thos these days, but happy to eat at home.

Hally

[shanmac]

Welcome back Lee,

I agree that it is very disappointing when you pay good money to eat out and most of the time the only plus is that you didn't have to clean up.

The group of friends I am going to Honk King with have been having lunch together every Friday for nearly 10 years - since our first babies were born. We take it in turn each week and cook a main & dessert and since this time we all find it disappointing to eat out as the food just doesn't compare (in most cases) to what we cook at home.

Cant wait to have my demo & get my thermie so I to can make these recipes that make me salivate just reading!!

Shan

[Carine]

Of course, the experience of dining out is a pleasurable one.  The ambiance, the environment, the social element and not having to clean up afterwards are all advantages to dining out.

Lee you've summed up why IT IS enjoyable to dine out from time to time.  It's just a matter of finding the right restaurant-easier if you are in a big city.  I know what you mean though:  it's very disheartening to eat out and know you would have had better at home  

[judydawn]

So nice to have you back Lee, missed my daily laughs    Agree completely with you and others, we do tend to criticize meals out now because of what we have become used to.  I also order things I don't make at home at all or very often - we won't stop going out as you can't live within your 4 walls for the rest of your life and it is nice to sit with friends over a meal and a couple of drinks without the pressure of being the host.  You certainly work out which places you don't go back to though and I certainly would speak up if a meal was totally inedible.  You never know where you are going to get a really good meal, our best recently was at a hotel in town which was full of lunch-time business people.  We realised why once we had received our meal - top class and worth every cent.  Sub-standard meals just don't cut it any longer so some establishments need to lift their standards if they are to survive.

[earth mumma]

It's amazing isn't, how some restaurant serve up bland, poorly cooked or worse still food that tastes like it has been made with tinned and highly processed ingredients.  I think they only survive becasue the majority of people don't own TM's, so have forgotten what 'real' food tastes like.  I did note that Gordon Ramsey's Australian restaurants have gone bust and owe creditors huge amounts.  So even an enterprise that has the validity of a 'celebrity' can get it wrong.
 

[Yvette]

Welcome back I agree with eating out too but sometimes it is just nice not to have to cook and clean up

[leesmac78]

True true!  It is lovely to be waited on hand and foot.  We all love that.  Thermie does wash and clean himself beautifully though.  If only the next Thermie model would be advanced enough to empty the dishwasher I would absolutely upgrade in an instant!

xxx

 

[shanmac]

Lee have you had your first demonstration booked/done yet??

[Halex]

Lee

Ithink even my DH woud pay for the upgrade as he does the dishes
Hally

[Merrilyn]

So nice to have you back Lee.  The classroom was just way too quiet   

We rarely eat out these days.  Hubby and I much prefer home cooked meals, and of course thermy makes it so easy.

[fundj&e]

Most of the restaurant in my suburb a really good, my sons one is the best of course

We go out for dinner twice a week and yes sometimes the food is just ok. I have a problem with the services, my pet hate is the NO eye contact, what’s that all about