The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Good Morning :hello:

Visitors! How luverly

Thanks again to mwc for being so kind and thoughtful.

:wave: to gally - lovely to *see* you

Cheery - thank you. I think I am going to have to change my thoughts and outlook 'alot' to fit in and not let BG down.... Although I am often heartened by stories on here of how young people 'swim against the tide' of consumerism, fashion or whimsy, so maybe compromises will be fewer than I anticipate.

beanie - does your friend's daughter have to raise that as cold hard cash? Or do they have to get that level of money through 'sponsorship'? I know the coffee morning DH and I happened upon earlier in the year was raising funds for school children to go to..... Morrocco? on a school trip - I suspect they needed considerably less, but even so.... i only ever went as far as Northumbria with school....

Eager - if the young person I mentioned is anything to go by, then yes, there certainly is a strong possibility your daughter will do OK with money. I like that your daughter is working out how she may achieve her goals. OK, so 'today' it is trainers, but in the future it could easily be education/training, a car or home. Our young person just got given the trainers at a drop of a hat - and of course, they got scuffed/worn just like any other footwear. At the time, each pair of trainers equated to our monthly food budget....... If BG has a 'thing' later on in life - you know, trainers or hoodies, or latest phones or gadgets, I am just going to have to think back to now and the time of sitting on a sofa with a blankie and a secondhand book, or sitting on the floor, making all sorts of adventures (and noise!) with a wooden spoon, a baking powder tube and an oatcakes box :rotfl::T

Tea last night ended up being Maria Elia's Thai style root vegetable casserole with basmati rice. Which I am afraid there is no link for, as it doesn't appear anywhere, which is a great shame, as it uses up a variety of root veg (use what you have) and has great taste for a relatively simple recipe. I used up one of my gifted parsnips, a sweet potato, a lump of the remaining cheap HG BNS I bought and a carrot. I also used up an elderly lime that had been languishing in the fruit bowl for too long :T The recipe is from Maria's book, 'The Modern Vegetarian' if you happen across it at a jumble sale or at the back of the shelf in your local library...... I think Maria a super cook. Really like her recipes and food ideas

Tea this evening should be pizza and wedges, all being well

I think I shall try to get a long walk in again today. Provisions wise, we're pretty ok I think, so I shall try to avoid the high street and go in a different direction.

Right, coffee almost finished, but best vamoose as DH will need to get going. Frosty start to the day here (weather, not relationship, wise :rotfl:).

Ta for popping in and joining in the conversation. Greatly appreciated.

Greying X

Good Afternoon :hello:

Well, we pootled up the high street first thing to get a few bits and bobs. I was surprised how quiet it was. I took the opportunity to look out for a couple of things/went into shops that are usually heaving and found 1 thing that I've been looking for, for £1 :j and also got some inspiration if I do need to get a secret santa gift. I'm still not sold on the premise of it as a concept of 'gift giving between strangers' (totally get it as a concept for family/close friends), but I know I may have to 'get over myself' and not think of landfill/why people go into debt over Cmas/disappointed children who've got 'one of those' already etc etc etc Grit my teeth into a smile and hand the blessed thing over already :rotfl:[Greying very much sending self up there........;)]

BG is currently having a nappette. They appear to be a little off colour - it's snuffles I think. Nothing serious, and par for the course. I bumped into someone I attended ante-natal classes with, recently, and they said that their little one had picked up a dollop of 'ooh-nasties' from a playcentre, and they were having to mop up the aftermath.... Just how much snot can human beings manufacture? Even little ones???

It's curry for tea tonight. I'm determined to finish off the BNS - by making it into a tasy curry. I was thinking korma earlier in the week, but we've already had coconut this week with the Maria Elia dish, so, I'll have a rethink. Tea last night was black olive pizza with dirty tattie wedges.

I'll construct my meal plan for next week. Frugality is going to be the order of the day, with utilising stores and leftovers as supplementary riders. I really want to get to the end of the month with the money I have left in the budget, even though I've been unfair to myself and bought 'extras' this month. We've plenty, plenty, plenty. And I've a brain-cell, so I'm gonna make that and my pennies squeak!

Right, best make hay whilst BG is safe and napping.

Ta for popping in. Appreciated. Greatly.

Greying X