It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

BitterAndTwisted

kidcat wrote: »

Did u just add the peanut butter to the normal recipe??

I think I substituted the peanut butter for half of the butter/marge weight. I can't remember now. I think I need to make another batch just to make certain. It seems to me that the original recipe is almost bomb-proof. I did a couple of batches with Nutella as well but I think I may have screwed up the proportions on the last lot as they came out a bit soft and flabby which suggests that there might have been too much shortening. But tasty nonetheless.

mardatha

Primrose, I've just started "Austerity Britain" and the amount of things that were hard to come by is mind boggling.

charlies-aunt

Standard bags of granulated sugar are 80p in Wilko's if you have one near you. :j

annie123

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Standard bags of granulated sugar are 80p in Wilko's if you have one near you. :j

Thank you, got one of those.
Think of the extra twinks I could have made with the sugar savings :rotfl:

Spendless

Hi, everyone just popping in.:wave: You could always eat jaffa cakes instead of chocolate biscuits if you are avoiding VAT. There was a famous caseback in the 1990s about whether they should have VAT on them or not and Jaffa cakes won.

We went away May 1/2 term and whilst away my ILs got 5 numbers on the lottery and won over £1000. When we got back, they gave us £100. :jand we decided to save it and have somethign special with it, well it was our 11th WA yesterday and we went to a 1/2 day spa session at Center Parcs (shhhhhh don't tell my kids :shhh:). It was £59 we rejected the longer day one for £89 as we thought we'd probably have to have an expensive treatment to bulk the day out and also sort some childcare out for kids after school.

Anyway we had a free coffee when we got there and someone came and explained what we did and then we went to start going into all the different things. I nipped back to changing room get a towel and then we went to first steam room. Hubby said he'd been chatting to a male assistant whilst I'd gone but I thought no more of it- then this assistant came in and gave us a glass of pink champagne each and a heart shaped choc cos hubby in conversation had told him it was our WA.

Admittedly the conversation went like this
Assistant to Hubby - "Have you been here before"?
Hubby - "No, I'm just here to please the missus cos it's our WA today and I'm out watching England play with the lads tonight"

Anyway thought this was a lovely gesture, so drank up and headed for another room, when another assistant congratulated us and offerred us a complimentary couples mud treatment later that day before we had to go, so we had it and was very enjoyable and I looked up the price later and it was £52.:eek:

This week we are using up anything in the freezer as I wish to defrost it. I had my first weeks wages :T which mainly cleared my o/draft. DD passed up a swimming level today which I'm pleased about as it's due to be paid next week and I would have felt 'is she really getting anywhere' about paying for the next 10 weeks if she hadn't moved on at long last.

charlies-aunt

Can I ask a random/stupid question?

I have just unearthed the bottle of balsamic vinegar that I received in a hamper last Christmas.

What can I use it for? We eat traditional, fairly basis food so would be grateful for any everyday suggestions

ooH er check this out -
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100618/tuk-uk-britain-budget-fa6b408.html

annie123

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Can I ask a random/stupid question?

I have just unearthed the bottle of balsamic vinegar that I received in a hamper last Christmas.

What can I use it for? We eat traditional, fairly basis food so would be grateful for any everyday suggestions

stupid questions don't exist except maybe when DD asked me how the fish got out of the aquarium to breath? she was 10 not 6:o

I use it to make vinaigrette dressing but here is a long list of things to do with it
http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blcon113.htm

Primrose

mardatha - I've just got Austerity Britain out of the library again for a second read. Yes, it's mind boggling isn't it? Having to make 2 oz of cheese, 1 oz of bacon, 2 oz of butter per person, 1 egg last for a week is simply beyond our understand ing in these days of plenty. Now in my more mature years, I'm only just beginning to comprehend how difficult it was for my mother and other women of their generation to cope and bring up a family under those difficulties with all the other uncertainties that war brought, including expecting invasion at any time.

charlies-aunt We use balsamic vinegar as a dressing for tomato salad mainly, but a couple of teaspoons can boost up the flavour in spag bol sauce, and other similar sauces like chilli con carne, lasagne, mousaka, etc. A little of it goes quite a long way.

smileyt_2

I've just been online to reserve Austerity Britain from the library. :j

Other than that I feel a bit miserable I have an inflamed plantar fasci-something (the long muscle in your foot that goes from the heel to your big toe and holds the arch of your foot up.) I'm supposed to rest but I'm on my own and the dogs need their walkies! We have had two painful hobbles round the park today.

And worse - I haven't been able to go down to my allotment because of it. My green fingers are itching and I can't scratch the itch!

At least it's not permanent (I hope!). There are worse off than me. But it is frustrating as the weather is good and I want to be out doing!

And I daren't make any Twinks hobnobs because excess weight will make my foot worse. Oh woe, oh misery!!!! So please stop talking about them!:p

Charis

Does the little message at the foot of this page, which tells you the current time, get stuck while you are on this page/site? It stuck on 8.31pm for ages - it was really 8.47. Good job I wasn't timing any hobnobs by it, they'd only be fit to throw at the cat that keeps pooing in my flowerbed.