really old style living?

NualaBuala

flourgirl wrote: »

Couldnt find a trophy but found you a cake :rotfl:

That's fantastic! :T

Reevsey

Some of these entries really make me laugh, some brilliant ideas too - its like a therapy session this forum. Ok you wonderful people i've been given a pressure cooker for xmas and have so far just stared at it as i've no idea what its best for or how long it takes to cook anything - any suggestions?

ginnyknit

I lost the lid to my pressure cooker many years ago :mad: but still use the pan so Im no help Im afraid.

Well I guess I had better confess, I make my own dishcloths too - - They are so much better than shop bought and you can often pick up the odd ball of cotton yarn in charity shops or remnant baskets so they are really cheap too

Got Kirstys homemade home and Victorian farm books from the library today so I can read all night now. I stop knitting at midnight every night and scoot off to my bed with my hot water bottle and a good book if Im lucky.

We had nurses round today to see OH and very good they were too - very O/S ladies both of them - practical and efficient. Next week Occupational therapy and pysio therapist are calling next week. They are getting him an alarm to wear on his wrist so if I pop out I can actually relax :T:T

Did my shopping on the local market again but it seems to be getting smaller every week - more clothes stalls than food - I think I am waging a one woman campaign to keep it open, but am going to get an article in the community newsletter reminding people that unless they use it they will lose it.

Winged_one

I make facecloths too. I keep meaning to try some as dishcloths. I usually get cheaper cotton in Cork, rather than Dublin (cos I only ever get to "This is Knit" in Powerscourt in Dub, although there's a new one on Trimelstown Rd that looks interesting and Cork Wools, in the English Market, is good for larger balls of cotton that are cheaper than small balls of Debbie Bliss).

Need to try harder this month as I have messed up my finances. But we were alreay on a "using p the odds and sods in cupboards" trip anyeay, before a restock.

mardatha

Totally ignoring all these peasants knitting dishcloths :cool: - I got a second freezer on Gumtree today. So I can start batch cooking when I feel stronger & braver - and will have a lot more room for the fruit I will get from a kind neighbour this summer.
First tick off my really OS 2011 list ! :j:j:j

ChocClare

Reevsey wrote: »

Some of these entries really make me laugh, some brilliant ideas too - its like a therapy session this forum. Ok you wonderful people i've been given a pressure cooker for xmas and have so far just stared at it as i've no idea what its best for or how long it takes to cook anything - any suggestions?

I have two pressure cookers and have managed to lose the valve off BOTH OF THEM :mad:. Before this horror, I used to cook ham in mine - quite a good, cheapo way of having ham in the house. You buy a small gammon joint (these are often on offer), either smoked or unsmoked as you prefer. Soak it overnight in cold water and then throw that water away (gets rid of saltiness). Then cover with fresh cold water and add a bayleaf, six peppercorns and a heaped tablespoon of brown sugar. Put the lid on and bring to the boil. When the valve starts hissing madly (ie it's boiling), turn the heat down and cook for 11 minutes per pound. Then turn off the heat, undo the valve and, when it's stopped hissing completely, remove the lid. Let the meat cool in the water. This way, you get a couple of pounds of "thick carved" ham for the price of a couple of slices prepacked. And you can use the stock for pea and ham soup if you want to be really OS.

There are loads of recipes online - see here for example - of using them to save fuel and keep all the nutrients in your food. Tell us how you get on!

mardatha wrote: »

Totally ignoring all these peasants knitting dishcloths :cool: - I got a second freezer on Gumtree today. So I can start batch cooking when I feel stronger & braver - and will have a lot more room for the fruit I will get from a kind neighbour this summer.
First tick off my really OS 2011 list ! :j:j:j

I've done no knitting at all today as I've taken to my bed with the dreaded lurgy. DD is there too and we're feeling sorry for ourselves - particularly as our menfolk are a) fine and b) useless nurses. I've just got up as I've been asleep since 3pm and thought if I don't get up for a bit I'll be wide awake at 3am.

Congratulations on your freezer. Do you know that you can fill it with 2 litre plastic bottles of WATER while you're waiting for all that batch cooking? Double whammy of saving fuel on your freezer (helps keep it cold) and, if you ever get cut off, you have some drinking water available (of course, you have to let it defrost first :rotfl:)
As you put "real" stuff in, you just take the bottles out

If you're shaking your head in disbelief at something so obvious, remember I'M POORLY

Caterina

NualaBuala wrote: »

Does anyone spin their own yarn to knit into dishcloths?

Runs away to hide from Mardatha and her lynch mob!

Ah yes actually, I grow my own nettles to harvest and bash into fibres then spin the fibres and knit them into pretty dishcloths using needles that I made out of hazel wood gathered in the wilderness. Then I dye my dishcloths using woad grown in my own garden!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

No, seriously, where do you get cotton yarn for £1 per ball, I would love some! Thanks.

mardatha

Awh CC thats bad. I commiserate. I am just starting to feel vaguely human and that was a week exactly. My OH is useless as well. He would happily nail up the bedroom door and paint a red cross on it for the death cart - if we only had another bed!
Cattie. I am speechless. In admiration.
-not at yer many accomplishments but at your really world class fibbing! :D:D

NualaBuala

You scared me there for a minute Caterina :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

CC - hope you are better soon and back to being an OS goddess!

Winged One - not sure if it's just convenience that you go to that knitting shop. I find it quite expensive and limited range. There's a good one out near the Walkinstown roundabout called Springwools and some others I can't remember right now.

Mardatha - am surprised you even need a freezer up in the frozen north. Thought you could just park things out in the snow!

Ginny - that sounds good re your DH, hope it will take the burden off you a little.

Reevsey - sorry, I've no idea about the pressure cooker but glad you've had fun reading!

ceridwen

Caterina wrote: »

Ah yes actually, I grow my own nettles to harvest and bash into fibres then spin the fibres and knit them into pretty dishcloths using needles that I made out of hazel wood gathered in the wilderness. Then I dye my dishcloths using woad grown in my own garden!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

No, seriously, where do you get cotton yarn for £1 per ball, I would love some! Thanks.

You jest...and I cant knit anyways.....

But...when I have the time to do everything I plan on then a typical lunch chez ceridwen will be:
- homemade bread (do this already)
- homemade bread spread (do this already - well...home-mixed anyrate)
- homemade soft cheese
- homegrown salad veg (do this to some extent already)
- homemade vinegar as part of the salad dressing

Am planning on going as far as I CAN go in my circumstances...:D

...and then theres the washing-up afterwards with home-made washing-up liquid (will do - once I run out of the many months' worth I had stockpiled):rotfl::rotfl: