Our postponed evening with our boating friend went very well tonight.
My meal was a simple chicken curry and rice with popadums followed by trifle and cheesecake.
Our guest arrived at 5pm, and gave me a small bag containing a box of chocolates and some posh tea bags, bless her. We had decided on an early meal so that we could relax and take our time over it, and it wouldn’t be too dark or cold when she left.
Tea was offered immediately, and dinner was almost ready to serve.
I’d cheated and bought microwave-in-the-bag rice as sometimes my usual rice doesn’t always cook to perfection and I wanted things to be just right.
My curry was from scratch though using
2 chicken breasts,
a large onion,
half a green pepper,
a carrot,
2 garlic cloves,
sultanas
Total cost less than £5.
My sauce was made from
flour,
curry powder,
a chicken stock cube,
2 teaspoons of brown sugar,
all mixed with a little water.
Cost pence as it was all ingredients I already had.
As I only have two bowls, I used plates to serve, putting a hollowed ring of rice on each and filling up the centre with my curry mix. I topped it with desiccated coconut.
Again a cheat for dessert, buying individual cheesecakes and trifles (each 89p for three).
Our guest ate and enjoyed everything on offer, so I’d got her likes right.
We had another cup of tea afterwards and opened her chocolates to finish off as we chatted about anything and everything. She is planning to start her travels after Easter.
Our guest left just before 8, and I walked her to her basin with Maggie, who performed the ‘full business’.
It’s the first time we’ve entertained since buying the boat, although anyone who visits is automatically offered tea or coffee, biscuits if I have any.
Unlike the larger boats, we don’t have a specific dining area, but our little table was perfect for the three of us, plenty of room for our plates and cutlery, and with the revamped seating area, loads of leg room too.
Maggie was content in a corner on the bench out of everyone’s way, especially as she already had a full tummy as I’d given her some chicken in her dinner and she’d polished off the lot.
Although we could never have a full-scale party aboard (the boat would sink), like everything else since we came here, little steps to start so as not to get out of our depth.
pensitivity101 
The chicken curry sounds wonderful. May have to make that. Thank you for giving the recipe.
You’re welcome.
Sounded lovely but …… trifle AND cheesecake? Assuming a typical English Trifle, we would have had either one or the other! 🙂
I played safe, not being too sure about her sweet tooth. The portions were minimal, so we all had one of each. I know, little piggie us 🙄 Today will be a quiet day foodwise for us to compensate (read as ‘ease our conscience’) 😀
Sounds like an excellent evening! And it’s too bad I couldn’t help with finishing it off (particularly the dessert, as it sounds like there was plenty of that!).
Sounds wonderful. And, as your other reader said, thanks for sharing your curry recipe. But what are “popadums?”
Popadums are like huge crisps (aka potato chips in the US?) . Over here you can buy them pre cooked, or cook yourself in seconds in hot fat or even in the microwave.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/papadum
Hope this helps (and they are very yummy and moreish!)
The word itself sounds enticing.
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