It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

GreyQueen

:spam: Loved the Python sketch, squeaky, many thanks. I recall being subjected to a lot of Spam sarnies in the 1970s, along with the enigmatic "luncheon meat" which makes me cringe just to think about it now.......and Dairylea triangles........_pale_

Lovely to see a new thread again and I hope we all find it with no problems. Please come out of lurkdom, you lurkers, and play......:D

Didn't do much OS-wise yesterday; work-home-bookgroup-home-sleep, unless you count eating a home made pasta-thingy which incorporated h.g courgettes.

Today's cunning plan involves walking to the lottie after work equipped for foraging with cut-down plastic milk bottles as there are a few blackberries come ripe and signs from trampling that I'm not the only one to have noticed, either.;)

I'm pretty disappointed to watch the wild plum trees which kept me in fresh fruit for several weeks this time last year; they're very sparse. They flowered heavily and seemed to set a lot of fruit but it didn't do well in the extensive drought we had in this part of England, and there was a lot of dropping of immature fruit (there is always some; I pass these trees daily and am very familiar with them). Then, really rough weather in June knocked a whole lot more down. I'd say that there is only 10% of the fruit compared to last year.

Never mind, I shall just have to forage harder; on my bike and out of the city into the countryside - the exercise will do me good.

Hope everyone has a great day!

PS. Has anyone foraged rowanberries? I have a vague recollection of Elizabeth West (she of Hovel in the Hills fame) doing this from street-trees in the town where they moved after giving up the Hovel? I think you can make a kind of tart jelly from them, so serve as an accomaniment to meat dishes? Or is my memory playing silly burgers with me again..........:rotfl:

Dee5565

Thank you for the new thread, still trying to catch up with the other one.
Dont post much but do read all your ideas and tips.
Going to try the chickpea curry and the satay noddles.
Thank you Softstuff:A

ceridwen

You can indeed make a jelly from rowanberries GreyQueen - and its nice. I did some once just as one of my experiments - tastes nice, is cloudy (well - mine was anyway....), is not something I personally will do again (ie because of all that sugar!).

I've not bothered to forage rowanberries again - because the only thing I've ever found to do with them is to make that jelly. There doesnt appear to be any other ways of using them - not that I've found anyway (shame - as rowanberries is one thing there IS plenty of....)

Gigervamp

There's an article in the Guardian on how to make rowan berry wine, here.

Puddleglum

I was looking at the rowanberries yesterday and it seems to be a good crop this year. My mother used to have us all out collecting them for jam and I remember it as being ok, especially when compared to its rosehip equivalent which always seemed to stick at the back of my throat. Would certainly give it a go if in need of jam.

HariboJunkie

Rowan berries are so abundant here and I have made jelly with them (also using crab apples) and added them to gin with sugar to make a sweet liquer. They are also good at padding out other jams and jellies. It should be a clear jelly if you allow it to strain properly. Cloudiness will only occur if you squeeze the fruit through the muslin.

westlothianlass

Thanks Kittie for starting the new thread and hi all,
It's been a busy week but quite satisfying as have managed to get quite a lot done.

JackieGlasgow, I found oregano very easy to dry, i just hung it up in the kitchen for a bit and it dried quite quickly.

GQ,I've also made rowan jelly and really liked it, it's quite a tart taste, not overly sweet and went really well with ham and my favourite of being smothered over a cold sausage on a butty:D.

Feeling chuffed at the moment as needed to get a Will done and had phoned a solicitor to arrange an appointment when i discovered that being a Unison member i can get one put together for free, so £150 saving :Tso mighty pleased about that.

When shopping the other day i was caught out by a number of items i bought having relatively short sell/use by dates, and this is on things you would want to put away for an emergency such as pasta. So must keep a better eye on what i'm buying. I'm not usually fussy about such dates but don't want to buy stuff that has been stored in a warehouse for ages, as it's my perogative to stash things at the back of the cupboard for years not theirs:rotfl:.

Though the sun is shining today i'm in the mood for soup and bought a ham hock the other day to make some lentil and ham soup so off now to get the stock on the boil.

Hugs to all x

Softstuff

I'm not sure I'll buy a 5+ kilo ham again, even if it is reduced :rotfl: I have darn near filled a freezer drawer with ham. The bone made so much pea and ham soup that I've given it to 3 different neighbours, we're having it for tea tomorrow and there's some in the freezer. It was a bit comical carving the thing, at one stage my whole worktop (it is a small kitchen mind) was covered in a thick layer of sliced ham ready to be bagged up.

That'll keep us going for some time, ham is generally a bit of a treat for us, I chop it small for pizza, in pasta dishes, in calzone, cheese and ham scrolls, quiche, omelette, egg fried rice etc. etc. Though I think we'll be having the odd extravagant cheese and ham toastie with that lot.

Plan to make a simple minestrone soup too, and put a little in that.

Hope you enjoy the curry and noodles Dee. I could post my cheapo chilli-ish recipe which also adapts into an enchilada pie if anyone is interested? I tend to make a big batch, have some with wedges, then have some with pasta, then do the enchilada pie. It freezes well too.

PaddyPaws

Softstuff wrote: »

Hope you enjoy the curry and noodles Dee. I could post my cheapo chilli-ish recipe which also adapts into an enchilada pie if anyone is interested? I tend to make a big batch, have some with wedges, then have some with pasta, then do the enchilada pie. It freezes well too.

Softstuff we tried the satay on Saturday - was yummy! And we're trying the chickpea curry tonight, so thank you for both the recipes:T

Off to try and find some motivation as I seem to have quite a few jobs to do that I've been putting off for a while. I really must start 'doing' instead of just reading about what everyone else is doing on here:o

back later
PP
<gradually coming out of lurkdom>

Softstuff

PaddyPaws wrote: »

Softstuff we tried the satay on Saturday - was yummy! And we're trying the chickpea curry tonight, so thank you for both the recipes:T

Off to try and find some motivation as I seem to have quite a few jobs to do that I've been putting off for a while. I really must start 'doing' instead of just reading about what everyone else is doing on here:o

back later
PP
<gradually coming out of lurkdom>

Glad to see you're coming out of lurkdom :T

I'm feeling quite buoyed that my recipes have been useful to some folks. Sometimes feel a bit useless being jobless and all, despite the fact that it's partially down to me being picky and hubby being quite happy having me at home. I had wondered at one stage about writing a cookery books, I figured there was a gap in the market for easy, flexible, cheap and inaccurately measured recipes! But I'm getting ahead of myself by far there.