Hi everyone on this last day of August. We had rain in the weather forecast for the last few days, but it wasn’t more than a drizzle. Hopefully tomorrow there’ll be more.
I’m joining In My Kitchen again even though August wasn’t all that exciting with respect to kitchen-based or other food-related activities. I have a few plans for the first week of September. Here’s hoping I can be more involved in the kitchen over the rest of the month too.
I didn’t cook dinner at all in August, but I did create a few little treats for myself and sometimes my fellow residents. Like, on August 4, I made a mascarpone-based dessert with raspberries and blueberries on top.
I also prepared overnight oats again. The next morning, I added the toppings and enjoyed my healthy’ish breakfast. Now I doubt that it’s actually healthier than my regular breakfast, but who cares?
I made a few smoothies too. In one of them, I put pineapple, spinach and almond milk. My idea was to prove to one of the staff, who didn’t like spinach, that you won’t taste spinach in smoothies. Guess what? We didn’t taste the spinach, but we didn’t taste much of anything else either. I eventually added a banana and some honey, but it still was one of the blandest smoothies I’ve had.
Like I said on Friday, I also have been making coffees with foaming milk on top. The truth is I don’t really like them, but my milk frother was €70 and now it feels less like a waste of money. Besides, my fellow residents like the coffees.
Lastly, yesterday I spent the day with my spouse in our house. We had originally planned to cook dinner together, but ultimately my spouse ended up doing everything. We had an easy broccoli and chicken stir-fry with hot sauce and noodles. My spouse asked me whether it was as good as the meal delivery service meals. 😉 It was a lot better!
Speaking of which, the meal delivery service now has “2.0” written on many of its foods. I get Siam sauce 2.0, for example. Once, I even got “cauliflower 2.0”. Well, what can be improved or changed about just cauliflower? The brown rice doesn’t have 2.0 written on it, but it’s been horribly undercooked lately. I am of the opinion that the higher-ups deciding which meal delivery service to contract, or that the institution even has to contract one rather than operating its own kitchen, should be forced to consume a meal delivery service dinner once a week.
A Multitude of Musings 
Glad you had some fun in the kitchen! 😀
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Thank you! 🙂
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Sounds like a positive time in the kitchen. I agree with you that those who make the food decisions should have to eat it on a regular basis.
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Thanks for commenting. Unfortunately, often those who make decisions have no clue of the consequences of those decisions and, if they do, they don’t care because they don’t experience them themselves.
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And this is true in all areas of life.
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I do buga all in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, I do my breakfast each morning but I don’t cook anything I make toast, sandwiches and make stuff that comes out of the freezer and is easy for me to prepare.
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Thanks for sharing. I totally understand you don’t cook, but preparing sandwiches and the like is satisfying too.
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Good idea to have the staff eat the same food, especially the ones who are ordering it.
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The staff (if you mean the support staff working at the homes) aren’t ordering the food. That would be the managers or even higher up. However, if the staff here get to eat the meals too, it may help as of course they have more to say than us clients.
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I love a banana in a smoothie, it makes the smoothie so creamy and adds a flavour that’s pleasant without being overpowering. I totally agree with you about the powers that be with the food, eating the food too. I used to be a teacher and if we wanted a hot meal, we had a school dinner just like the kids 🙂 As you say, when everyone eats the same food, standards are usually good!
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Thanks for stopping by. A banana in a smoothie is indeed good.
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That berry and mascarpone dessert looks lovely! I can tell you that where I worked as the Administrator in Assisted Living (USA) I was required to eat in the dining room on a regular bases so I could keep track of quality. Also I met with my Dietary Supervisor to discuss new recipe ideas and offer feedback on the success (or lack of!) of each recipe offered to our residents. If someone from the Admin staff does not eat the food, they have no reference to what the residents may find distasteful. In my opinion…
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Thanks for sharing your perspective. I wholeheartedly agree. Also thanks for the compliment on my dessert.
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We’ve had a few downpours over the last few days but the rain hasn’t lasted long.
You have been making some tasty treats, the mascarpone dessert looks delicious and the smoothie sounds interesting. I am not a fan of spinach so it’s not something I would choose.
Good job to your spouse for cooking.
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Thank you so much for commenting. Re the smoothie, my point with it honestly was that you won’t taste the spinach, so even those who aren’t a fan would still like it. For what it’s worth, I’m not a fan of spinach either. Like I said though, while indeed no-one tasted the spinach, the smoothie as a whole was rather tasteless.
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I like the idea of the staff having to eat the meal delivery service food… what a way to improve overall quality that would be. I have never has mascarpone … but the fresh fruit on top looks great. I love raspberries!
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Thanks for the compliment on my dessert. I’ve only ever had mascarpone in desserts myself, so no clue what it actually tastes like, as in the dessert I added whipping cream.
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You’re welcome.
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I do love mascarpone in desserts – so rich and delicious. And i enjoy some bircher muesli (overnight oats) too. I am going to make some soon actually. Hope you have a nice September, and thanks for joining in with IMK.
cheers
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/2025/09/in-my-kitchen-september-2025.html
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Thanks for stopping by. I really need to be making overnight oats (which I only recently learned is also called bircher muesli) again soon. Happy September!
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I bought a milk frother which we did not really need, just for my Step-Son’s partner. I now use it to make hot milk for hot chocolate 🙂 That’s terrible about your not so good meal deliveries.
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Oh yes, great idea about using the milk frother for hot milk for cocoa. I’ll try that soon.
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It’s kind of amusing to think of food as 2.0 like it could be improved… more delicious than usual? genetically modified? extra sauce? I’ve often thought about getting a milk frother but hesitate on it taking up even more space in our tiny kitchen..
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Agree with your assertion on food 2.0 and what it could possibly mean. I do believe I could really make more use of my milk frother, but so far I’m struggling to get the hang on it.
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