Satisfying Saturday Our Daily Dinner

Satisfying Saturday

mbelisle 9 years ago
Good morning to all - it is actually Saturday night here but whatever!
I have been searching for how to prepare these banana-like things I got at the market today. I know at work they boiled them but it didn't occur to me to ask how long or anything useful like that. I know now that the fruit is called vudi (pronounced voondee) but even when I google that, the closest I come to knowing what to do with them is to look at how to cook plantains. They don't quite look like any plantains I have seen but I will give that a shot. I did find a way to fry, to boil, to steam, to grill and to bake plantains so it would seem that vudi could be prepared the same way - I'll let you know how it goes. At least now I know kind of what these things are.
I am trying to attach a photo of my bananas and vudi from the market today so I hope that works. The other photo I am trying to post is of the curry of the day (prawn) at Colo-i-Suva rainforest park this afternoon. A really amazing tropical rainforest just 10 minutes away from downtown.
Hope everyone has a great Saturday.
Michelle B
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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Good morning, Michelle. Good luck with your cooking endeavors. I would have no idea hoe to cook them, but since they are similar to bananas, grilling or steaming sounds about right. Please post the recipe – i enjoy reading about foods from other cultures!
I missed a lot when our router died and we had to swap it for a new one. LOL!

Have you found a place to live?

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

How - not hoe. Darn IPad!

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Good Morning/Good Evening Michelle! Although I checked the time in Fiji just now and it's 1:15 a.m. so maybe you're fast asleep by now. :) Cool on the vudi. I found this little recipe. Don't know if that helps.

Cassava and vudi (plantain) roll:
1 ripe plantain
3 cups grated cassava
2 cups cassava starch
1 coconut, grated
_ cup sugar
1. Mix grated cassava, cassava starch, grated coconut and sugar thoroughly
2. Coat the peeled ripe plantain with the above cassava mixture
3. Wrap in banana, breadfruit or vasili leaves (alternative wrap in foil). Tie well. This should make a small loaf.
4. Boil/steam for one hour.

The curry dish looks yummy and super cool on the Rainforest in such close proximation.
I came across this link to a place in Fiji where you can take cooking classes using the local ingredients. That'd be a blast.

http://www.flavoursoffiji.com/#_=_

Don't know how far it is away from you. How long does it take to go from one end of Fiji to the other do you know?
We had a very nice evening last night despite our Sens losing. Argh. Dinner was a big hit and got totally devoured. I'd made 16 chicken thighs for four adults and two kids, thinking that'd be enough but every last piece got eaten. Perhaps I should have made more as you never want to think that you didn't put out enough food. I also made 8 stuffed potatoes and all those got eaten as well. I gave the boys a taste test of the chocolate fruit dip first and they both turned it down. One of them had ice cream, sherbet and strawberries instead and then the other had a banana, but when I served the fruit and dip to their Dad they started mooching it. LOL. So...I have a lot of fruit dip left which I'll probably end up throwing out.
The recipe for the peanut butter bread looked good Karen. (Although I really like pictures of what my dish is going to look like and there were no pictures) Too bad you weren't thrilled with it.
Cooler today but the sun is still shining. No clue what I'm going to make for dinner yet and no plans. I do need to do a bit more research for our trip to New York next week. Wishing everyone a great day!

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Good Morning! Michelle B, I am so excited for your adventures. Exploring and eating. I truly like plantains, but I have only made them once or twice. I think I might enjoy vudi. A rain forest and a huge marketplace to wander, how delightful.

Janet, you are the hostess with the mostest, Sorry on the Sens, Bolts lost too. I need a bigger TV to watch hockey, the players skate so rapidly, thank goodness the announcers kind of keep me aware of what is going on. I am baseball paced in sports. Soccer and basketball confuse me.

Allison got me the necessities and I reveling in fresh fruit, Liv got my 9 prescriptions at $113.00 versus eleven hundred.

Karen. I hate our router, it is a constant reboot with it. Our DVR froze and we cant play back our recorded shows.

Took my full dose of meds yesterday, first time in six weeks, slept 16 hours.

Had a 3;00 am date with my favorite hunky firemen. I had gotten up to put some medicine on my spine ( open sore that burns like the dickens). well, when I tried to get back into bed and avoid the pug in the middle, I slid to the floor. scaping my poor back on the bed frame. So now I'm stuck between the bed and the wall with a bleeding back and bruised bum.No room to turn. I pulled the pillows off the bed and tried to find a way to sleep and not wake Olivia. Didn't work. Five nice fireman were half on my bed and behind me and hoisted me to my feet. They made sure I got in bed and wished me well.

Double header of baseball today. Salad and fruit for supper.

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Yippee on the hungry guests. You do seem to have a knack for what to serve and for making your guests feel at home.

The dip (or anything with cream cheese) sounded so good! I'm sure they had enough to eat, it is unlikely that anyone went home starving - LOLOL! But I tend to worry about having enough food, also. Then if there are leftovers, I worry if nobody liked it! Ha! The dip should keep in the refrigerator for a while without spoiling. ?? if it can be frozen ?? You might freeze some just to test, for a later day. (If we lived closer, I would cheerfully volunteer to take care of any future chocolate leftovers which you have to pitch.)

The peanut butter bread looked nice, but stuck to the bottom of the loaf pan -- although that may be my doing for not waiting a while longer for it to cool a bit more. Plus I used the natural pb, which may lack some processed "crudola" that improves the texture. Since the guys have had their pb & j, I will have to fix something nice on Monday. GS is here mowing the yard and doing some other work, so lunch needs to be a bit more hearty -- tuna fish, maybe. Or a modified "Company pasta dish." Of course, most everything I fix is modified because I frequently lack an ingredient or two or three......and end up improvising. Aarrghh!

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Glad to hear your pantry is refreshed Tina. Excellent prices Liv got on your prescriptions. That's way better. Argh on your DVR freezing. Glad you got a good sleep. I haven't slept well this past week which is not like me. May have to go buy some over the counter pills to get me back in a proper routine. Enjoy your ball game.
My Mom always told me "Better too much than not enough" Karen, so I prefer when there is a bit of food left on the platters because then you know that your guests could have had more but they didn't. :) If you like cream cheese I think you'd like the fruit dip. You could be right about freezing it. Never thought of that. Nice that your Grandson is over helping today.
Am thawing a small pork roast. Not sure what to do with it yet.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

I think your dinner was a huge hit, with no leftover chicken or potatoes, Janet.

I had Allison get me low salt chicken broth, lite coconut milk. frozen stir fry veggies, ramen packs, almond milk that does not require refrigeration, edamame, fresh ginger, so you know what direction my dinners will lead to. She only bought the BOGO items. I have four packs of veggie burgers and bagel thins to make meatless meals. I am not going to donate all the cereal Fred has collected. I will learn to eat cereal and use it up. Thank goodness, it isn't kids cereal. I have eggs and tuna for salads. Allison bought two huge jars of spaghetti sauce, called Fred's Fiery Favorite Marinara.

Goofy me, I want a filet o fish from McD's. Something about them that I can't duplicate at home.

Olivia is going to be in Orlando for four days, I'm terrified to be here alone, even if I have the phone on the night stand, I could not reach it last night. My legs are noodles today from struggling to get up.

Time to turn on the game! Have a great day my friends.

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

Morning! Good luck Michelle at finding out how to cook your Vudi! I think Janets recipe should do you good :) Wow they do look huge, I'm guessing those are regular bananas next to them?

Hi Karen! Lol, I like the word crudola! The peanut butter bread sounds good, Bri would love it, she a peanut butter freak :)

Boo on the Sen's losing last night :( Wow y'all sure did go through some food last night! I definitely would have thought that would have been plenty, I'm sure everyone was stuffed! You amaze me at your hostessing abilities :)

Hi Tina! The only sports I'm into is football and the kids softball and T-ball (does that count? Lol). Good deal on the prescriptions...so glad you finally got that taken care of! Aawww..sorry to hear about your fall. Glad the firemen were cute though ;) Sounds like Allison has gotten you all taken care of food wise!

Phew, had a late night last night. Thank goodness Michael got up with the kids and let me sleep until 10:30! He asked if I got woken up by the kids and I said no, I slept like a rock! We had fun though, played darts and beer pong lol. I had to get onto one of my neighbors for being a mooch, no joke. He comes over all the time and drinks our liquor takes red bulls and sodas even offers to make drinks from our vodka for OTHER people. UGH! I finally got drunk enough to get in his face and tell him he has a job and we are on strike and stop taking our sh*t. He felt bad and just brought me a full bottle of vodka to my door! Now that's a good apology :) Anyway, have a feeling we will be hanging out with the neighbors some more today, Ashley, who lives right next to me texted me asking to come to her house and drink beer with her lol! I'm still hung over from last night! Going to make a Sam's run first. Took out some things called riblets? Going to season them up and grill for dinner. Probably skewer up some veggies to have with it. Hope every one has a great day!!

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mbelisle 9 years ago said:

Tina I am happy to hear that you were able to get and take your meds and get a good solid sleep. Hopefully the return to taking them will improve things for you. Hope you start to feel better soon. I am with you on the pace of games Tina - I have watched hockey all my life so I follow it just fine but as for basketball or soccer - give me a baseball or football game any day over those!
Your chocolate dip sounds excellent Janet and I can honestly say I don't think that would have resulted in any leftovers if my family were around.
Too bad about the peanut butter bread Karen but you may have something there about the natural versus other peanut butter. I have found that my natural peanut butter has a tendency to separate which other peanut butter does not and that property may have done something in the baking process that was unexpected.
I got up this morning (Sunday here now) and peeled and sliced one of my vudi. I fried it in the electric frying pan and it came out delicious! I don't have anything to use for seasoning so it was just vudi fried in margarine but I can see where salt and pepper could make it savoury, maybe even a little ginger, or I could do some cinnamon and sugar or maybe a rum sauce if I wanted dessert. Since they only are sold by the bunch at the market I still have four of them to use and I doubt they have a very long shelf life so there will be more vudi experiments to come! Janet, I will definitely be trying the recipe you found as soon as I get a real kitchen where I can cook properly. It sounds excellent.
I saw that same local cooking piece last night when I was trying to find out about vudi. It is at the other end of Viti Levu which essentially means big island, which is about a four hour drive from here. I am going to that area from April 29 to May 5 for work and will have the weekend to myself so I might just check it out and see if they offer something while I am there. I am at the east end of the island which is the capital and where the harbour is so the cruise ships stop here. The west end is drier and has the majority of the beaches and resorts as well as the international airport.
I woke up at 5:30 to a pounding rainstorm but now it is almost 8 and bright and sunny so I think I will spend some time out walking today. I think I found a house to rent (fingers crossed) so maybe by next weekend I will be able to move in.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.
Michelle B.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

You did get a good haul of food Tina. LOL @ Fred's Fiery Marinara. Almond milk that doesn't need refrigeration? I'm perplexed. Do you prefer to drink it warm? I totally hear you on the McD's Filet of Fish. I love those things. Haven't had one in forever but was craving one too (and am still craving pancakes). When I get cereal here that has lived in the pantry for too long (I'm not much of a cereal eater myself) I feed it to my birds. The crows seem to love it. :) What are Liv's plans in Orlando? Did you fall this many times when Fred was here too and he just helped you? Or is it just lately because of your meds? Again, I'd be looking into one of those medic alert things you can wear around your neck.
Thanks Michelle. I really do love to have people over. ROFL @ you straightening out your neighbour. Grilled Riblets sound yummy. Have fun this evening. :)
Michelle B. I'm just loving hearing about Fiji. 4 hours from one end of the island to the other eh? That's excellent. Neat on the cruise ships landing in Suva. Although I know the locals must think it's a PIA sometimes being descended on. Perhaps some day friends or family or yours will take a cruise to Fiji and you can meet them off the ship! :) Hurray on the house. Fingers crossed for sure.
Jim and I just got back from town. Jim had to run some errands so I went along for the ride. Had a fun shop at Farm Boy. Got some Ghiradelli chocolate chips, some English bangers and some chicken sausage.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Think I'll just make a pork roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. The roast I have is a Pork loin so I hope I don't overcook it.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Good wishes on the possible apartment!! The rain storms must be spectacular, Being at the main port must be interesting and you will have loads of tourists to view. I think a side trip to the beaches would be fun for you, Michelle.

Michelle, very good for you on telling the moocher to get his act together. You know the commercial that shows the young woman shoveling shrimp into her handbag, (State Farm I think). Anyway. that would be my niece. She takes all the leftovers home from family dinners and will bring a bag of rolls as her contribution. It has become the family joke on her "thriftiness". Riblets, I've never tried them. Hope they are yummy.

all dogs are flea and heart worm treated. I need help on bathing these dirty dogs. I got their bedding clean and it will have to do.

I think I'll change up supper for a veggie noodle bowl followed with a coconut popsicle.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

I did not fall as often when Fred was alive. He took such good care of me and the housework, I didn't have to do what I attempt now. Honestly, he did all the laundry and dishes. my legs fail from standing too long. I have to get Life alert soon.

Olivia is vacationing with Scotty's family at their timeshare in the shade of the Big Mouse. They stay there yearly.

Take care!

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Oh, I don't like milk and it spoils often. I bought the kind that can sit on a shelf indefinitely and you chill it when you want to use it. I've poured more soured milk down the drain than I care to remember.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Fun on Liv's vacation. Got cha on the Almond milk. LOL. I don't care for the taste of almond milk but I LOVE regular milk. We drink skimmed for health reasons but a glass of Homogenized whole is amazing. :)

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Bolts over RedWings, 5-1. Go Lightning.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

GO LIGHTNING! :)

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

SP Tina!

Sorry you fell. Can you find someone to stay with you or at last stop in once a day or thereabouts to check on you? Falling and not being able to get up is scary! Even if the fireman is cute! Meanwhile, dear, let the housework go! Or get someone else to do it.

Michelle and Tina - boo! on the mooching relatives / neighbors.

Glad you have a lead on a rental, Michelle B.

Janet and Tina : when we lived in Germany in the early 1980's, shelf-stable milk was the norm. Wayne can't have cereal any more, so we don't drink milk. We do use real cream in our coffee. Unfortunately it is pasteurized, since there seem to be no sources for raw cream, just raw milk, and at this stage of the game, I doubt if I would want to get a milk cow. Aargh!

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