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

purpleheather2810

shegar wrote: »

I suppose it depends on how many people you intend on feeding, trouble is with me I hate weighing foods and messsing about so I tend to chuck ingredients together and hope for the best......:eek:..im usually not too far out, ive doing that for god knows how many years, I dont own a set of weighing scales..........:eek:..

I know when you boil rice in the saucepan it takes hours to get it soft, so I suppose even 40 mins in a microwave seem a long time but you dont have to watch over it like you do a saucepan ...............I do find the texture of the rice is so lovely and fluffy done in the microwave..........:D another point is it also depends on what your microwave wattage is ????.....

Just found the booklet on my micro....its input is 1250watts.........output 900watts wattage will make a difference on cooking times..........glad you liked......:D at least if you do semolina it wont take as long as rice......

Yes our microwave is 900W so that's where the timing comes from I guess. I will def be doing it again!

purpleheather2810

ceridwen wrote: »

EDIT: just had quick google and the answer to marauding cats seems to be to have a child lock on the fridge. Try putting "child locks for fridges" + Amazon.co.uk into google. They've got several and I noticed a firm called Clippasafe does child fridge locks on there for instance and they are cheap (ie about £2). Hopefully your cats arent yet applying for cat Mensa membership and won't be able to work out how to open that...

Lol it wouldn't surprise me!! Reminds me of that advert about cats developing opposable thumbs and taking over the world :eek: :eek:

robbiedoggy

Kidcat - TK Max and Primark have some lovely dresses - you might have to go more than once to get a small enough size but my daughter get's all her function dresses from that type of shop and never paid more than £50.

purpleheather2810

Gailey - I have a present drawer/cupboard mainly for kids parties with a few adult things tucked away for xmas/birthdays aswell. This is stocked from sales ie Boots 75% glitter babes/miko cat jewellery sets or smellies, tesco 75% stationery sets/filled pencil cases, also random things picked up from home bargains, b+m etc. I have seen multipacks of cheap cards in asda and home bargains, but for close friends i like to get pheonix trading cards by mail order which are €1 each if you buy 10, they are lovely quality and equivalent to the premium cards you can get for €2-€3 in the shops. I re-use gift bags, wrap and tissue if poss. I re-gift certain things that my kids have received if they are unsuitable (remembering who they came from though :O :O). Also keep an eye on the book people for cheap, but nice, presents - I have also bought the packs of books to use as little pressies instead of party bags.

flowertotmum

Hello..hope your all ok on this glorious day...i'm stuck inside with a poorly fern..she is all bunged up and got the squits..i'm a bit worried tbh..she is eating very little and wants to sleep all the time..having plenty of water though..she is wrapped up like a little eskimo on the sofa..but she is still cold..doesn't feel it to touch but is shaking...going to ring docs in morning to get her in..so i am at her beck and call today...
Had a lovely sunday lunch all made by my gorgeous hubby...who is outside doing his seedlings and got the pressure washer on the paths..got lots to do to get ready for wednesday..i'm a little nervous but i'm soo pleased at the same time...o you don't know what i'm talking about(me assuming your all mind readers again)..for the last 5yrs the council have been promising me a new bath...thats all i need is a bath..so the surveyor came out and looked at it he agreed with me..so now the council have decided to totally re-fit my bathroom..new bath,loo,sink,shower,taps...the works..and they are starting wednesday...so i have to strip it out and empty the hall,stairs and landing too..don't want to damage anything they said...i am glad its finally getting done..the company who are doing it are apparently really good..they are moving the bath entirely from one end of bathroom to the other..and replacing my cast iron bath with a new cast iron bath..hopefully the new one won't leave marks on my bum when i sit in it..and will look clean when i have cleaned it too..thing is even though i am happy about this i'm a bit nervous about letting these men do major works in my home..sounds daft doesn't it..but to them its a job to me its my home...anyone else think this way????????..good thing is if i buy the paint they will do that for me too..so all in all a good thing...i'm hoping they scratch the wall in the hall way..so i can paint it..it needs doing desperately and this might be the perfect opportunity..devious person i am...
got to go fern needs me ...again..lol..
take care all
ftm

redlady_1

What size is DD as I am about to put some evening dresses/long skirts on ebay. I used to spend alot of time in that kind of environment so if you let me know and what sort of thing she is looking for then I may be able to help.

GreyQueen

Hello everyone, I've got my biggest cooking pot on the stove and it is full (and I do mean full) of veggie chili. Will need to rustle up some more guests to eat it all. I've broken the cardinal rule of NEVER cooking something new when you have guests but these are two of my oldest friends and won't shoot me down in flames if it all goes pear-shaped (awful mix of metaphors or what?).

Anyway, I made up veg stock with 2 oxo veg cubes and poured it over an unspecified quantity of t.v.p mince which swelled up like an alien life form. Never used it before so not quite sure what I'm doing...let it soak, fried onions and added t.v.p gloop, 3 cans tomatoes, tube tomato puree, quite a lot of cinnamon, pkt chili mix, 4 red peppers and handful finedly chopped and de-seeded chili peppers and the cooked kidney beans. It's simmering now and I propose to play it by ear and taste as I go along. Should I have added anything else?

Any tips for this one will be gratefully received. Between checking the pooter and the pot I shall be half-heartedly tidying and cleaning then self in bathtub at 4 pm and company at 5 pm.

Gonna serve it with rice, steamed lottie peas and a low fat coleslaw thingie from L!dl and a cranberry sorbet with grapes to follow (blueberries weren't whoopsied and I totally refuse to pay full price).

Spent a couple of hours on the lottie this morning and put in 3 rows of tatties but twice as much again left to do. Tomorrow is a flex day and I'll catch up then. Better to spread the task as I can barely bend my back at the mo......:rotfl:

floss2

GreyQueen wrote: »

... Should I have added anything else?

A square or two of dark chocolate if you have any in the house....I'm not sure what it does, but it makes a difference!

Am trying to empty the fridge today, as DH and I are off to Dublin tomorrow, I will be home late Wednesday night and he's back Thursday evening, DS2 is at uni tomorrow & Tuesday, so nobody home to eat any leftovers!

Have emptied all the old compost from the post in the back yard - this is the time of year that i miss having a garden with borders that I can tip the spent compost into...oh well, the council will benefit from it, and the 5 bags of fresh compost I bought from them! Am trying to sort out what's going where in the "garden", but DH has just announced that he thinks we should get the rendering on the back of the house re-done this summer, after we have done the bathroom, which means not many pots / plants against the house wall. He doesn't yet know what my plans are - i.e. plant the conifers from their troughs into the only bed we have, and have salad & lettuce seeds in the troughs, with a variety of tomatoes in the bigger pots. We only have a small back yard so are quite limited on space, and we are away for 10 days in early September in prime tomato season, so don't want too much going to waste!

Right, am off to sort out my clothes, pack, and make sausages & mash for supper later.

silvermaid

Hi GQ I would add a couple of heaped teaspoons of ground cumin and dried oregano,
HTH Silver x
Ps and the suggestion of adding plain chocolate is also excellent

GreyQueen

silvermaid wrote: »

Hi GQ I would add a couple of heaped teaspoons of ground cumin and dried oregano,
HTH Silver x

Cumin I have and will pop it in a moment, not sure about oregano, don't think I have any and KNOW there's no chocolate on the premises as I am a chocoholic and eat it as soon as I get it.....:rotfl:thank you both!