Class of '18 nervously waiting.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

They've left college, now we are trying not to think about a certain date.

Gnome,
Ds didnt get the results he wanted. (Think he got ACD)Gathered himself together spoke to school, repeated year as an external student. Something to do with not having enough hours to be full student for funding. He was allowed on the premises and allowed to attend classes and even mentored and taught a class. Reapplied in january, got a lower offer than he did before from his firm. In fact got 5 offers including an unconditional from Portsmouth.
Changed his mind about firm and ended up at Surrey. Never got a degree (another long story) after a year of temping and contrac5 work but has landed a really good job starting this monday.

I think you've about covered provisions Gnome. Maybe some old episodes of Friends or something on netflix for distraction.

That's worth knowing re the towels NoHaudin. Watch the Debenhams ones though, ours weirdly bleached in blotches very quickly. Never had that with any other towels.

Thanks for the heads up kitten

My kitchen is a hive of packing activity and we’re on a count down to 12pm tomorrow when they’re off. DD definitely a bit nervous.

We just have so many random towels in this house. I have earmarked a Slazenger beach towel and some other ones that don't match any bathrooms but have been floating around for years; I like to think ds prefers familiar old cast offs, possibly he would rather have everything designer and new. We will find out on D-Day

Today I've been alone with ds as the others are in Germany. Which is my chance to try to cook some studenty food with him. Except he sidles off until it is time to actually eat. Still, at least I've reduced some familiar recipes down to student instructions. I've worked out you don't really need to fry the meat properly or the onions if you make a stew, just a brief sizzle and then add rest of ingredients.
I think the main problem is going to be how do you wash up a baked on ceramic oven dish, like a lasagne dish. I need clear instructions on that, I'm used to just doing it, soaking it, scrubbing it, but ds may just give up when it doesn't come off in 5 mins. And never cook again!!! Perhaps metal tins are better. And how to stop him frying things in heavy simmering pots which scorch? Housekeeping is so terribly complicated, who would have thought it..Even things like carbonara which are obvious student dishes can mean hours of scrubbing baked on egg.
I'm now experimenting with two peeled apples, chopped into large wedges, covered with a layer of oatmeal, honey, soft butter beaten together and baked in the oven. Cheats' apple cake for two - the soft butter is easy in this weather and you can make it with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl.

We've been talking through Plans A B C D. A is take up unconditional as planned. D is decide to take a year out, do a Shakespearean acting course/go to Canada visit relatives, improve violin playing, retake the E or U grade, reapply or decide to get a job. B means bossy advice. C means still go to uni but do a Foundation course in humanities to improve his participation at degree level, if his essay writing is not up to scratch at A level.
He seems good humoured about it. I think he is convinced I'm a soft touch though and will let him go to uni with a U in one subject.

He'll be going to uni if he gets 2 Cs 2 Ds but if he gets an E in Music I think he needs to rethink his plans, considering there are no extenuating circs and it is a course which needs research and essay writing as well as performance.

I wonder if I went to ds's uni town next week, might find some incredible bargains in the charity shops...v tempting..possibly an embaras (sp?) of pyrex oven dishes,which might be handy

He has confessed that despite the unconditional he will be really disappointed if he gets two D's. He already has his Distinction in Sports Btec. He would be over the moon with two Cs' for the A levels.
The thing is, with the Cassio question in English and getting Richard Strauss muddled up with Indiana Jones theme..well...who knows..

no, the apple thingy did not work wrong apples (Royal Gala are too dry)
not sweet enough and egg is needed, no shortcuts there I'm afraid..

but nice with some greek yoghurt nevertheless [sweet]

that should have been not [sweet]

I'm planning an Airbnb in the uni city of choice but have decided to leave it until after results day as he'll probably enjoy it more. It's more to do with me getting a grip on car parks and the one way system but I'm not telling him that.

Student cooking is happening here tonight, I had three student cookbooks arrive today and he is agreed to cook from them twice a week. I'll give him a week's start and then he can shop for the ingredients as well as cook, I would like him to get an idea of how much you can save by cooking for yourself rather than living on takeaways.

Nettle it was the first presentation of the music exam, no doubt there will be a bit of flexibility in the marking to make up for the challenges of teaching the new course.

We have Sam Stern Student Cookbook. Tbh it is a bit too fancy for ds, he really doesn't know the basics. Ds2's godmother sent it to ds2 when he was 15. All the food looks amazingly nice and exotic too.

But in contrast to these delights: Today I have shown him: haddock bake with no white sauce, just fish and sliced potato and butter and stock
beef goulash with potatoes in it

but they are from my head.

I think the challenge with student cooking is: meals for yourself when very hungry and tired(ie single portions - so things like shepherd's pie not really much point unless you are seriously organised with the batch cooking) and meals to share, which won't happen that often but could be more organised/prepared in advance or with others helping.
So stirfrys, pastas will probably be the quickest way to fill up economically. I cook for five people so I've lost sight of how to cook a delicious meal for one person nor do I budget much anymore.

Tonight we've had an offering from The Hungry Student One Pot Cookbook, paprika chicken and peppers. The leftovers would be good in a wrap with some shredded lettuce.

Nettle one of the puddings starts with Coxes apples and brown sugar cooked in a bowl, then topped with thick white sliced bread and cooked for another ten minutes. Might that be an option instead of the egg?

dd decided she's going to make us sweet and sour chicken tomorrow night. Nice! Going to have to show her how to bone chicken thighs though as they are more economical and We've swapped out the real pineapple for tinned.

I've bought her 'microwave meals in a mug'. It looks ideal

Today though she drove us to a pub for lunch.

I'm also going to teach her how to do some basic bike maintenance tomorrow, including changing the inner tube. I feel like I've really neglected parenting in this respect.

That sounds a good book knitting. I sent DS1 off with the updated Cas Clarke's Grub on a Grant, plus the recommended list of equipment and storecupboard ingredients. I don't think he has used it in 2 years. He did actually have decent cooking lessons at school, and could manage spaghettin bolognese. Mostly he cooks chicken breasts and stirfry vegetables.

I decided long ago that skinless boneless chicken thighs were the way to go. I will stand and bone out a leg of lamb but not chicken.

DS has been experimenting with omelettes this week! For next week I've suggested he look through cook books at home and find another new thing he'd like to try. I'm imagining that the deciding may turn out to take one day, the ingredient shopping the next, and then the cooking the day after that ... around busy tasks like gaming and sleeping. I wasn't going to tempt fate by getting any 'going away' type shopping yet but in M&S today they had buy a pizza and get a free pizza slice. The first item he has to pack is now a pizza slice, and likely to be incredibly well used .

knitting I have a very distinct memory of buying a shoulder of lamb on the bone and trying attempting and failing to bone it in order to dice it for a casserole, with three under 2.5. Cos for some reason I believed this was what you Did rather than buy ready diced lamb. And I was crying...I was mad..

I will be showing ds all the shortcuts..my tendency is to liquidize tins of tomatoes to make homemade passata (cheaper/fresher taste) but I will not mention this trick to him and try and introduce him to all the more convenient ways to do homecooking. or else he will just end up eating takeaways ...or crying...

DD has been “curating” a small set of recipe books for a couple of years now. Feeding herself and her flat mates is probably fairly low on my list of worries. Making sure she has clean towels however I do worry about.

I dried myself on a hand towel the other day. Then discovered that dd had done the same. Every single bath towel was buried in her pit. Since the grand tidying we now have lovely fresh clean towels.

Thank you Bruffin that is reassuring.

I have been acquiring the Cas Clarke books for DD2. I love the simplicity of the recipes and the lack of pictures means you dont end up worrying about not reaching visual standards.

Ds was given loads of student cook books but i think he got most of his recipes from youtube, mainly one called Sorted.

Dd is home for 2 weeks before she goes and has spent the last 3 months fully catered. We no time really to get her cooking and unlike ds she has never been intetested in cooking. She is going to be living off pasta and noodles

DS was a pretty good cook about 8 years ago - he asked to be taught to cook when he was 10, so I bought a couple of simple recipe books, and cooked with him. The day he made quiche from scratch stands out in my memory - it was delicious, but took hours to make and we ate about 3 hours later than normal. If he gets into his firm, there are only hobs and microwaves, no ovens and no freezers. I'm trying to think of a range of quick meals for one - my usual strategy is lots of bulk cooking and freezing, with the odd stir fry or fajitas thrown in. Cooking for one with a tiny amount of fridge space is expensive and boring - I think he may well eat in the cheap canteen a fair bit, and I'm hoping take it in turns to cook for friends.