How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

redlady_1

Evening fellow tight wads!

What a weekend at Chez Red. Another cracker! Ended up in the smoke to see Madame Butterfly. I have always wanted to see it. Anyway, we get there and as I had to go shopping first (and the OH looked shocked when I mentioned it - men!) we only had time for some sarnies. So this old dear had shoved her walking stick on the shelf at the side of the room. I have no idea how many people were crammed into this room but it was alot. When I went to remove said stick so I could put the sarnies and drinks down she nearly freaked! I only went to prop it against the wall. Told me not to hurt her stick :eek: Then promptly started ranting!!:eek: Jesus, I dont half attract them. I went to put it back down thinking I cant be doing with this and anyone would have thought I had just killed her family!!! :eek: Needless to say I lost patience. Just because you are old does not give you the right to think you a) own the place and b ) be so bloody rude! My grandparents wouldnt dream of behaving like that.

So, afterwards the text came through that Italy had seen off the Frogs and today I spent watching more rugby and cleaning the cottage.

I have a blokey coming tomorrow night to value the place so we shall find out whether all the tears and tantrums have been worth it!

I have re-potted the seeds that FK hasnt eaten and my butternut squash is going great guns. I have strawberries that go in a hanging basket.

mardatha

I need a hand to get through this tough winter. LOL -it's snowing again like its never going to stop and I feel like Scott of the bl**dy Antarctic !!!

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

I need a hand to get through this tough winter. LOL -it's snowing again like its never going to stop and I feel like Scott of the bl**dy Antarctic !!!

You have deffo had it bad this year Mar, still this must be the last throes of it, going out with a last whoosh, soon be spring.

bluebag

flowertomum,

I wouldn't bother with the bag, get a shovel and fling away!

ceridwen

born_blonde wrote: »

I seem to remember we all got excited about cider a few dozen pages ago which reminded me of a truly astonishing recipe we have for damson liqueur. It's mainly amazing because it works using secondary fermentation with bottle conditioned ale, starting the yeast off again. I put the hydrometer in one batch and it was seventeen and a half percent! It's easy and a fairly small manageable quantity, so next time you have any fruit either off the tree or reduced for a quick sale give it a go.


Plum Liqueur

2lbs fruit with stones, we use damsons but you can use plumbs, peaches, cherries etc.
2lbs granulated sugar
2 pints of bottle conditioned ale.

!!!!! ( stab )fruit all over with a fork.
Put all ingredients in a large glass jar with a lid. Sweet shop sweetie jar is ideal.
Keep jar in a dark place and shake every day for a fortnight.
Strain through a muslin and pour into a bottle. Keep in a dark place for a further 2 months. Strain again and drink.

There are times when I can make an exception to my "no sugar" rule;):)

What is "bottle conditioned ale" please? Would I interpret that as meaning 2 pints of lager?

tru

ceridwen wrote: »

There are times when I can make an exception to my "no sugar" rule;):)

What is "bottle conditioned ale" please? Would I interpret that as meaning 2 pints of lager?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_conditioning

Don't use lager, it's full of chemicals and tastes completely gross

silvermaid

Born blonde we make damson gin every autumn, we shall now make damson and plum beer liqueur, thankyou.
DH is a real ale fan and has a weekly boys night out which involves drinking ale (not too much:)) and talking about where there are well kept, good ales in the locality (and other things of course.)

GreyQueen

charlies-aunt Thanks for the tip with the nut on the fork tine, I shall give it a go when I pop up there after work to sow my broad beans. I've pressurised myself by pre-soaking them so will have to do it come rain or chronic fatigue......planted them in the rain last spring as I recall. Spring is certainly accelerating and I saw the pu$$y-willows had popped out yesterday along the cycle path. I'm very excited already about harvesting my butternut squash and I haven't even sown them. I discovered them last year when a lottie neighbour donated a couple of them and had a serious addiction ever since. They make one of my favourite curry recipes come out a radioactive orange. Plus Friend K, who is an excellent cook, showed us the trick of dry roasting the pips in the oven and serving them with sea salt.....mmmmmmm. Waste not want not was never so tasty.

Umm, a small smile for the morning; its grey and murky here in Provincial City, rain closed in yesterday afternoon. However, I have just squinted out of my living room window (beside the PC desk) and discovered that at least some of the murk is smeary window glass...:o Baaaad GQ, go to the back of the class and have de-merits for sloppy housekeeping.:o

Choc-clare Your fab chinese chicken recipe has clearly gone global cos I couldn't find a single pack of chicken thighs in L!dl yesterday and I want to cook it again.....now! I used to have a fab and even easier recipe which involved chucking a jar of Sharwoods Hoi Sin and Plum Sauce over pork chops in a casserole dish and baking on a slow oven. It was lush and seemed to pass itself of as "difficult" even among sophisticated friends (got a couple of 'em ). Alas, I haven't seen the product for over a year.

Cheat recipes: I'm always on the lookout for things to serve friends which have a lot of bang for your buck, as a Canadian gal I once met so wonderfully put it. Particularly after veggie ones as I'm entertaining a "mixed" audience Sunday coming. Anyone got something simple, economical, filling, low-calorie and vegetarian I can offer them (big ask, I know.....:))

Idiot Boy Update I was hoping one of my neigbours would kill him at 2 am this morning. He came in just before 2 am and then went back outside and proceeded to stamp, with his full weight, on every single one of the concrete steps which lead up to his flat and are co-incidentally attached to my bedroom and bathroom walls.* And then he did it again, for about 6-8 times, before going back indoors. I was gobsmacked. I mean, some people are heavy-footed and lump a bit on those stairs but I have never experienced anything like that; utterly deliberate stamping on each step. I figured he had to have woken some of the guys in adjacent flats and hoped that someone would go out and have a slanging match at a bare minimum, preferably smack him around so badly that he ended up in A & E.

Sadly, my immediate neighbours are decent types and nobody rose to the provocation. I was lying in bed impersonating Victor Meldrew; "I don't belieeeeve it!"

:mad: He CANNOT be right in the head. Put my ear defenders on after that which means I'm spared most of his carp but I can't sleep because they're too uncomfortable. Took them off about 5.30 am to test the waters but he was percussing on the pipes of the central heating system so I got up. Going into a tough call centre shift on about 3 hours sleep.

* Most of the flats in Shoebox Towers are the same floorplan as mine; squarish with 4 rooms and a short central hall. The kitchen opens off the living room on one side and the bedroom and bathroom are on the other. SuperGran, who has lived her nearly since the start, once told me the name and home village of the architect responsible but I promptly forgot them. Shall have to take a notepad next time as I may want to visit him, clasp him gently by the throat and say; "Why did you think it was a good idea to attach stairs to bedroom walls in a concrete framed building?!" Although the muppets who approved the plans are equally culpable. It's a problem in council flats across the city, going to prove that if you really want a job screwed up, hire someone with expensive qualifications and no common sense whatsoever.

Have a good day, everybody.

ceridwen

GreyQueen

Something is quite clearly "afoot" as regards Idiot Boy being "on his way out the door".:beer: He certainly made that particular racket deliberately and its his way of saying "I'm being kicked out - and I'm not QUITE sure who is behind it - so I'll deliberately create noise and hope it hurts them".

Thats my take on why he deliberately made such a racket...so lets hope I'm right and you'll soon be celebrating.

Have you got your "temporary refuge bolthole" arrangements in good working order? He might decide to have one HELLUVA party on his last night or two in Shoebox Towers..

mummysaver

Morning all!

FTM - borrow a dog for a few hours - should scare the cats off! Other than that not much works, my neighbour actually bought some of those silent (to humans) alarm things to scare off the cats, mine used to go and sleep next to them! I don't object when anyone shoos my cats out of their garden - cats tend to do what they want! BTW my neighbour has now given up and had two of our kittens lol! If you can't beat 'em..... As for baking stuff, think prices are pretty much the same everywhere at the mo, tho Lidl is usually cheapest for icing sugar I find, and don't buy choc chips, just get one of the value bars of choc and chop it up (asda value choc is not as nice as the other value ones imo tho!)

Born Blonde - thanks for the recipe, that'll keep ds out of bother for a bit!

Mrs VP - love the bike helmet idea, it's lovely to see something that makes you smile as you go along!

Grey Queen - heavens above, stamping up steps is just plain silly - sort of thing a 2 yr old does to get attention! I firmly believe that many designers never actually test drive their own products, be they housing, bags or anything else, if they did there would be far more sensible usuable products about!

ScotSaver - now I'm going to be adding butternut squash to my list of veggies, got several egg boxes that'll be ideal for individual planting! I love the fact that they keep for so long and can be used for so much - GQ we also roast the seeds, infact I roast any seeds, pumpkin are great with a shake of paprika or chilli, salt and garlic powder!

Mardatha - I hope that the weather improves soon, your posts often remind me of the Little House on the Prairie books! Finger's crossed for a lovely warm and midge free spring and summer for you!

Today I am planning to go through my bank statement looking for potential savings, I know several areas where I could save money, but I want to try to do it without making too much difference to everyday life and not giving up the odd treat for the kids, and me for that matter! So creative thinking hat is going on! Car insurance is cheaper this year with changing my car, and hopefully running costs and maintenance will be less, so that's a start! Need to check on other insurances and utility suppliers!

I also have a hosp appt, to discuss Spud's arrival with the consultant! My others all arrived at great speed, so they want to plan this one carefully so that I'm not on my own! Quite excited really! Then I have work, but it's my short day so yippee, need to give them a date for starting my maternity leave and need to fit in my annual leave first as I can't carry it over, so looks like I shall be finishing at the end of May to ensure I get my hols!