A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

smileyt_2

Hello Colinthecockrel that's a cracking username! Do you by any chance have a cockerel called Colin?

Mardatha, SDG3100 is joining me on my ark, so you will have to come too if you want cake. We can do the cleaning up between us and you can have jelly-baby breaks; I am designing a jelly-baby-making machine as we speak :rotfl:.

Oh, but this weather is awful. I've just been out with the dogs and cut short our walk, which very rarely happens, but we were soaked to the skin within 10 minutes.

Update on lodger-boy - he came home just as we were setting off for our walk/paddle and I could hear him washing up in the kitchen. Went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea when I got back with the dogs and he has done all his washing-up but left a bowl and plate that I had used for breakfast and lunch today :mad:. I can't be doing with these games. The deal was he looked after the kitchen and I did everything else. When he wakes up (I am resisting the temptation to go up and smother him with a large pillow !!!!!!!) we will have The Conversation.

I asked my Mum the other day if I had been as selfish when I was a Young Person and she said, "No you bl**dy well weren't because you'd have been for the high jump if you had." :rotfl:

Just read down the posts - jpscloud I like your idea of a galley slave ..... and the rag rug would look lovely in the living area. Could you make some round curtains for the portholes too, please? All aboard the Toughie Ark!

Fuddle your MIL sounds lovely.

Mrs Chip isn't there a free business 'hygiene' course thing you could send your OH on? I know exactly what you mean by 'men eyes'. Perhaps I could join you on your van and your OH and my lodger-boy could set up house/pigsty together? :rotfl:You could join us on the ark and we could serve the food to the public through one of the portholes .....

[Deleted User]

We forage in all seasons, I have just made the first batch of elderflower cordial this year and if (when) this horrid wind and rain stops I'll be out for some more elderflowers to make elderflower champagne. In the autumn I make elderberry cordial to help with sore throats and coughs. We collect sloes, wild plums, crab apples, hazelnuts, chestnuts, rowan berries and hawthorn haws and make all sorts of jellys, jams and chutneys. All this within walking distance of the house. I am lucky enough to have a friend with too many damsons most years (they are in the hedge surrounding her garden) so have made jam from them most years. We don't do wine, never been successful but we do make cider from our and donated apples of all varieties and made some 80 litres which is very palatable. I would add a note of caution in foraging, always be CERTAIN that you are safe, make absoloutely sure you know what you are picking. If in doubt DON'T, and then you won't have any problems. Cheers Lyn x.

Mrs_Chip

The worying thing is Smiley that he has passed his Level 2 Food Hygene cert - we both did it before we started our business. He is just trying to assert himself I think Silly boy ! :rotfl:

I want our van to be a shining example of mobile catering and that means the inside needs to actually shine - he thinks I am being anal and I should chill. He does not realise that peeps standing idly waiting for chippies have plenty of time to scrutinise the bits of the van at their eye level - anything not at his does not exist (man logic).

Hey ho, it seems we both have our crosses to bear! Good luck with The Chat!

mardatha

I just stare at other peoples chips in the queue in front of me and hope they offer me one while I'm waiting
Mrs Lurcher - can I ask what you do with rowan berries ? The hedge along the road here is full of them and I always wish I could use them in something.

Byatt

All this talk of foraging makes me want to forage but I had no idea there was so much out there. Walnuts??? And rose hips, what do they look like, and rowan berries??? I need to get a book!! I'm right out in the country so should be able to find more than blackberries.

Mrs C, I think it's a settling in period when first starting...I am sure you are both a bit tense and nervous and wanting everything to go right. Have to say no-one cleans like I do, not even cleaners! So would be an epic fail if I was in charge! Generalising but men don't have the same clean gene.

Cheapskate, did I have a problem with my teeth? I can't remember now. Perhaps it was my visits to the dentist, which I hate.

Smiley, passive aggressive comes to mind, very much a teen thing...he is a teen isn't he?

colinthecockrel

Smileyt - yes we do, but it's not a real one - it's a huge ceramic one which we had as a wedding gift! It lives on our kitchen windowsill! :j

We have lots of options for foraging for elderberries and blackberries and have an old orchard at the back of us for cooking and eating apples. Oh, and a plum tree that I was given for one of my "special" birthdays from two special friends!

[Deleted User]

Hello MAR - I make Rowan Jelly. It's an aquired taste, but we aquired it! Vey easy to do -you need equal quantities of ripe Rowan Berries and Apples and 1lb of sugar for every pint of juice. Pick over the berries and give them a wash then pop them in a heavy pan with a little bit of water. Simmer them until they are mushy then let them drip through a jelly bag (an old pillowcase does OK) overnight, cook the apples in the same way (no need to peel or core them just chop them up) and let them drip for the juice in the same way. Next day mix the juices and measure how much you have. Put into a heavy pan, add i lb of sugar for each pint of juice, bring to the boil stirring all the time, until the sugar is dissolved (it stops crunching on the bottom of the pan!) and hold at the steady boil for 20 - 30 minutes until it sets. Drip a little on to a cold plate and leave it a few minutes, if it sets it will have a wrinkly skin if you push it gently with your finger-, if it doesn't cook it a bit longer. Keep checking until it does. Bottle it in sterilized jars and put the lids on while it is hot. It will seal as it cools down.. Nice with cold meat and cheese. Hope that helps Lyn x.

RAS

mardatha wrote: »

I Mrs Lurcher - can I ask what you do with rowan berries ? The hedge along the road here is full of them and I always wish I could use them in something.

They make great wine - a bit like a light port.

Byatt

I am crocheting! Well, a chain stitch, and I feel I need a dozen fingers! But...

jpscloud

Byatt wrote: »

I am crocheting! Well, a chain stitch, and I feel I need a dozen fingers! But...

:T It's so satisfying when you get going Byatt, well done!