Not mentioning the T word at all

Justamum

kidcat wrote: »

No, some of my family do but I have grown up with stories of really bad times and how keeping a good store is vital. My mum suggested we put together a food parcel for the relatives today - my dad dryly asked how she planned on delivering it!

I don't think a food parcel will be needed. Shoprite have no problem filling their shelves because they have half a dozen warehouses, plus there's all the locally grown food - I just don't tend to use them because they are far more expensive than Tesco. Mr T shot themselves in the foot when they didn't build themselves a warehouse. Apparently M&S are using a shipping freight company to get their stock in. I don't know about the Co-op as I never go in there. Steam Packet are just not offering the service, and they have a monopoly. About time we had some competition I think.

SDG31000

Good Afternoon everyone

I hope that everyone is warm and safe. Leicester is cold and breezy, but the sun is shining at least. We were at the Dentist this morning and I need a visit to the Hygenist for a clean and polish and DH needs a cracked filling replacing. He wants a white one, so that bumped the cost up, but with two check up fees added it came to nearly £150 :eek::eek::eek: I hope the cheque from Anchor turns up soon or the whole family will be banned from eating sugar and especially toffees over the festive period. Thankfully DH has done a huge amount of overtime this week and is working tomorrow as well. We stopped on the way home to buy some meat and it was great to be in a proper butchers again, but it wasn't any cheaper than the supermarket. Unfortunately I forgot to take the stuff off the back seat and the faggots, sausages and skirt steak have gone to work with DH.
I need to get a parcel posted off the DH's granny who is in Eire, but that might have to wait until tomorrow. I might try and knit a pair of handwarmers to add to it if I can find some suitable wool in my stash. I'm not sure she will like the multi-coloured ones I knitted for myself.
I'm waiting for lunch to cook. I've made myself a big tray of roasted veg and have added some lamb and mint burgers I got for 25p a packet. I've added sprouts to the mixture after seeing Ina Garten roasting them and I have to say that the one I tried wasn't that bad. A vast improvement on the over cooked ones my DM used to make me eat. The rule at Christmas was that we had to eat three of them and I used to mash them into my potato and ruin the potato in the process :rotfl: Cooking isn't my DM's strong point by any means.
I'd better go and rescue them before I have burnt offering for dinner.
Take care everyone xxx

Kaz2904

We had oxtail for tea tonight. It was lovely . A very nice stew even if I do say so myself. Unfortunately the sauce was a bit thin. I usually add gravy to thicken up stews, what else can I do when I realise it's too thin just before I serve it? Not so sure about how good that much gravy is for you.

SDG31000

Either add cornflour slaked with water Kaz2904 and simmer until it thickens or whisk in a paste made from equal quantities of plain flour and butter and simmer until it thickens. You can always put the liquid in a saucepan and thicken it if your casserole dish won't go on the hob.

scottishminnie

I'm back - I've been MIA for the last few days. Actually I've been in the Antarctic - Scotland style. We lost power yesterday morning at 7.30 and it was only restored about 4.30 this afternoon. No power, no heating - we were in bed by 8.30 last night and swathed in so many clothes and bedding we could barely move!

Having spent months now trying to find a generator hubby thought he finally had one earlier in the week but the man selling it kept delaying. They had agreed a price on Monday but yesterday he called back and said he needed another £500 for it as there was a much greater market now. Needless to say hubby told him where to go but that means we are back to square one:(

The big surprise for me after being sent home from work and all the power failures yesterday was that we had no damage here at the house and my parents had very little damage at the farm. My father had pretty much moved everything which wasn't nailed down inside though.


I ventured out to Costco tonight for some bits n bobs - they had 12 tins (400g) of chopped tomatoes for £3.19 with no vat so I thought that was a bit of a bargain. I also bought some easy cook basmati rice which was £3.99 for 5kilos - again no vat.

I did treat myself though - a pair of micro fleece pj's for £10.99. they are Carole Hochman which one of my friends swears by and they do seem cosy so I now have emergency nightwear for power cuts. I've never worn anything to bed in my life but last night was reduced to a pair of fleecy socks, some jogging bottoms and a football top (I did think about gloves at one point!). I also treated myself to a pair of Sketchers Shape Ups which were £38.99 however as my delightful hubby pointed out there is no chance of them toning my behind if 10 gym classes per week can't do it! Never mind I like them and they will be comfy for trecking about on holidays.

I also ventured out mid afternoon and bought a calor gas fire - they've come on a long way since the days when my parents had one (think they were called super serv's or something in those days). I'm hoping we don't ever need it but at least we now have something which would heat one room if needbe.

I haven't opened the freezers, I'm terrified to do so - wondering if I leave them until Sunday before venturing in to see what kind of state the contents are in.

I'm ashamed to say I've located 2 jars of Dolmio white lasagne sauce at the back of a cupboard (when hunting for candles of all things) - they have bb dates of Sept 2011 - would they be ok to use or would I poison my guests?? I don't buy ready made white sauce so I don't know what I was thinking about and I'm loathe to throw them out.

On the way back from Costco I popped into Mr T. I don't as a rule go near them as I have a bit of an issue with that particular chan's hold on the UK - however I did see they had lots of half price Mary Berry christmas cake mixes and christmas spice cupcake mixes. I picked up one of the cupcake mixes - £2.50 and it makes 12 cakes so I thought that was an ok price. Why is it though that I felt so embarrassed about buying a pre mixed item -it's hardly as though the checkout assistant is going to say "what a lazy cow you are". Sometimes I over analyse things:o

I'm debating starting to write my Christmas cards now - a loathsome tasks if ever there was one. Maybe I'll have a wee nip of sherry first while I'm feeding the cakes. In fact I'm definitely off to have a wee nip - maybe a small gin though - feels less old ladyish than sherry!!

cat_smith

scottishminnie the sauces will be fine. I found some 2009 tins while hunting last night and I plan on cooking with them.

Christmas cards are a WIP. I've done them all. Just need DH to sign as he won't allow me to act as amenuensis. Grrr. They have been waiting for 3 weeks.

scottishminnie

cat_smith wrote: »

scottishminnie the sauces will be fine. I found some 2009 tins while hunting last night and I plan on cooking with them.

Christmas cards are a WIP. I've done them all. Just need DH to sign as he won't allow me to act as amenuensis. Grrr. They have been waiting for 3 weeks.

My hubby says I do a better version of his signature than he does. I know I shouldn't but I often sign in his absence, I've got it down to a fine art after 22 years.

cat_smith

Unfortunately DH is a surgeon and has the handwriting and signature to prove it. I couldn't even write that badly. I have too much pride:D

SDG31000

cat_smith Have you seen the new Boots Christmas Ad? One of the women in it uses a stamp to "sign" her partners name in the Christmas cards. Maybe you could try that for next year. Personally I put DH in charge of writing the cards three years ago and none have been sent since. There are a few I write to certain people, but the list had gotten so long that I couldn't face it on top of doing everything else. I've done 95% of the shopping myself, still have the wrapping to do and a ton of baking in the week before the big day.

DS1 keeps asking why the mince pie tin is empty, so I had better make some more today. I've decided that DH and DS1 will get two batches a week and that is it. I also need to get another ball of wool to finish DFIL's scarf, as I only brought one ball and have thrown out the label :eek: I'm not sure how I'm going to extend it, but hopefully the nice ladies in John Lewis will have an idea.
I'm really hoping that once the tree goes up I will feel more Christmasy, but right now I could cancel the whole thing and wouldn't care. I just want to go to sleep and wake up when it's all done. Time to break out the Christmas songs and have a quiet singalong so that DS1 doesn't complain.
Be warm everyone xxx

cat_smith

sdg I did see that advert last night and seriously considered it. We have one for the dog already so I could combine.

Did Morrisons shop on the way home from dropping DH off last night. Must check whether it was cheaper than my normal Mr A/Mr T mix. Its not much further to go really.