Hobbies for the middle aged man

KS55 said:
Learn to cook.

Home made English dishes are so easy and so much better if you know a few principles.
Cooking techniques: the best way to fry, bake, roast, braise etc etc.
Produce: learn the characteristics of produce and the best way to treat them. If you see something with which you are unfamiliar, buy it and try it, you may be surprised. You can always look up a recipe or two on that interweb thing.
Sauces are a must to master, they enhance so many dishes and are easy to learn. Home made brown stock will improve almost any meat sauce and is imperative for gravy. No granules allowed. Use the Italian ‘Holy trinity’, that is onion, celery and carrot chopped very small as the basis for many sauces. Shepard’s pie is twice as good with it. If you can’t be bothered to chop, get a food processor or manual chopping system.
I find cooking both satisfying and maddening in equal measure, but I love it and cook every day.
The internet is awash with recipes, techniques, a mine of information. Utube is good, so is BBC. You’ll soon be expanding your repertoire to Asian, Italian and others.
I wouldn’t claim to be cordon bleu, more a cross between Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver. (The mind boggles) So, LET’s BE HAVING YOU.
PS. Oh, get to know a decent butcher.
PPS Grow some herbs in the garden or in pots on a window sill.I find mint and Basil most useful but Mrs KS grows a wide range. Today I’ll be using mint, chives, and rosemary fresh from our patch.
Click to expand...
He new on the scene..........? ;-)
 
HolisticJim said:
I've just started learning to play the guitar.

I've been doing it for free (bar the guitar) on www.justinguitar.com

An insanely good website with a full course, practice routines etc all for free.
Click to expand...
Top stuff - let us know how you go on.

Regardless of initial talent and pleasure - just stick with it!

At the some point the penny will drop and you will get great pleasure from it.

And in-line with other hobby suggestions, you can plunge as much money as you want into this. Buy well and look after your gear and a lot of it will appreciate in value.

Any technical queries, @Bill Walker is your man.......... ;-)
 
KS55 said:
Learn to cook.

Home made English dishes are so easy and so much better if you know a few principles.
Cooking techniques: the best way to fry, bake, roast, braise etc etc.
Produce: learn the characteristics of produce and the best way to treat them. If you see something with which you are unfamiliar, buy it and try it, you may be surprised. You can always look up a recipe or two on that interweb thing.
Sauces are a must to master, they enhance so many dishes and are easy to learn. Home made brown stock will improve almost any meat sauce and is imperative for gravy. No granules allowed. Use the Italian ‘Holy trinity’, that is onion, celery and carrot chopped very small as the basis for many sauces. Shepard’s pie is twice as good with it. If you can’t be bothered to chop, get a food processor or manual chopping system.
I find cooking both satisfying and maddening in equal measure, but I love it and cook every day.
The internet is awash with recipes, techniques, a mine of information. Utube is good, so is BBC. You’ll soon be expanding your repertoire to Asian, Italian and others.
I wouldn’t claim to be cordon bleu, more a cross between Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver. (The mind boggles) So, LET’s BE HAVING YOU.
PS. Oh, get to know a decent butcher.
PPS Grow some herbs in the garden or in pots on a window sill.I find mint and Basil most useful but Mrs KS grows a wide range. Today I’ll be using mint, chives, and rosemary fresh from our patch.
Click to expand...
On holiday in Tenerife we’ve just been for one of the best Tapas ever, they did these tacos oh my god the best thing I’ve eaten in ages we’ve been twice now just for them. I said to the wife I’ve got a lot of time on my hands I need to learn new dishes apart from spag Bol, lasagne etc. it’s the cost of ingredients may use once or twice but fuck it I need to learn stuff like that.
 
Onholiday(somemightsay) said:
Top stuff - let us know how you go on.

Regardless of initial talent and pleasure - just stick with it!

At the some point the penny will drop and you will get great pleasure from it.

And in-line with other hobby suggestions, you can plunge as much money as you want into this. Buy well and look after your gear and a lot of it will appreciate in value.

Any technical queries, @Bill Walker is your man.......... ;-)
Click to expand...
Cheers pal,

Appreciate your words.

I'm 6 weeks in, passed the sore fingers stage and can play wonderwall.

Currently learning Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd but it's hard going.

Just going through the course on the website and practicing for a couple of hours each day.
It's nice to have something new to focus on and I'm so so excited to one day be able to pick it up and play some tunes with confidence.

Really want to surprise some friends and my kids.
 
I tried learning guitar but I found it too uncomfortable and physically difficult. I changed to learning piano, and whilst I'm not at all good, it is much more comfortable and I am enjoying learning to read music.
 
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