Chaos in the den

After dinner last night, I ask the Fox if he fancied another cook this week. 

"What are you thinking of?" he asks suspiciously.


"A cottage pie perhaps," I suggest. 

"Great," he responds. "I'll do it."


"Then I will make a beef plate pie on Saturday."

All seems settled. 


But then the Fox suddenly pipes up, "I could fancy a Hampton pie. We've had a lot of minced beef of late." 

True. This week we have had some spicy burgers & a chilli con carne this week. Both the cottage pie & the beef plate pie will involve minced beef. A Hampton pie would mean corned beef & we haven't had that for quite a while.

"OK," say I, "But I will need to use up the mushroom before it goes off." My mind flickers down my freezer list. The next thing down is bacon bits. "How about I make some creamed mushrooms tomorrow? We haven't had that in ages."


We agree. A couple of minutes pass. "Or I could make a tomatoey pasta sauce. That would use up bacon, a tub of passata from the freezer, the mushroom & some peppers. It's also quick & easy for when we get back from the Pub." My only anxiety lies in the fact I usually serve this sauce with pasta shapes rather than long pasta. Still I can't see why it shouldn't go with some spaghetti or linguine both of which are in the cupboard unlike the shapes. We decide on the tomato sauce with spaghetti for a change. 


But then, after watching some TV, the Fox once more suggests the creamed mushrooms would be nice & it would use up some of the carrots. With this in mind, I go to bed, not bothering to get anything out of the freezer, happy in the knowledge all I will need to do this morning is peel some spuds. The bacon will thaw easily in the afternoon. I even begin to get excited about the idea of creamed mushrooms. 


When the Fox comes to bed, rather later, he says, "Go ahead. Make the tomato sauce."


First thing when I get up, I hastily set off for the freezer. I can't make the sauce until the bacon has thawed & the passata has melted sufficiently to come out of the tub. I'm half-expecting by the time, I can get started on the cooking, the Fox will suddenly say he fancies creamed mushrooms again.


The one thing we do seem decided on is the idea of Hampton pie for Saturday, made by the Fox. There's some order in our chaos at least. Monday I'm hoping to be the beef plate pie. We'll see. Anything could happen by then to change our very dithery minds.