No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

scottishminnie

Hi V1ckyt - welcome to the thread.:)

I'm so thrilled with today's news, I just have to share. I pulled 2 carrots earlier after much moaning by hubby about the fact I hadn't thinned them. He was convinced they would be misshapen and tiny - well, one was a normal size and the other was 8 inches long:eek: I had to nip into Mr A earlier and buy turnip to boil up with it as I have no other use for a day or two. Should be the last I hear from OH on the subject of my planting failures for a day or two:D

I'm on freezer run down until we go on hols in a few weeks so I'll be posting some random questions no doubt. I have 2 huge bags of breadcrumbs so thinking I may make queen of puddings from the Bero book and maybe a treacle tart - I have some mini butter tartlet cases (hangs head in shame for buying ready made tart cases) - I wonder if I could make mini treacle tarts and top them with something - meringue maybe or would that be too messy to work?

I've just seen the recipe for baked bean and veggie lasagne on another thread and I know I also have lasagne sheets in the freezer so I'm thinking that could also be tried out. I'm sure it has courgettes in it too Kate. That would use up one or two!

I need to work out what I can plant for harvesting during the winter - I don't like Kale and so far that's the only thing I've found so I need to do some better research. I saw seed potatoes in the garden centre last week which said they could be planted now and harvested for Christmas. Father (who used to grow around 50 acres of potatoes per year) was aghast when I mentioned it. He couldn't see how I would avoid them getting frosted. I'm really curious now so may go back and get them at the weekend.

I've been helping hubby with his new workshop - my job is applying gallons of woodstain. I've been very productive so far however I'm getting to the stage where I can't reach any higher and I hate heights so not sure how I will overcome that obstacle. The ground around is too steep and unstable to put out scaffolding - hubby's suggestion is to put me in the bucket of the tractor or telescopic loader and then hoist me up so I can reach from there. Quite frankly the very thought of it terrifies me. I'm sure he thinks I'm bluffing - could be interesting at the weekend when we get to that stage.

I found 2 Lakeland soup bowl things today (all boxed and barely used). They are sort of brown earthenware with handles -I think I bought them for French onion soup and then decided they were a complete faff. Maybe they should go into my charity bag which I keep running until I have enough to drop into the local shop.

Off to bed now, catch up soon.

[Deleted User]

SM we've grown potatoes in black pots in the unheated greenhouse to be ready for christmas in the past, but even down here in the soft and much warmer south it's always a hit and miss affair. Mind you once, only once we did get it right and out of one pot on christmas day came about 2 and a half pounds of pigeon egg sized perfect new potatoes which steamed in thier skins in minutes and added enormousely to christmas lunch!!! I won't tell you how many times it hasn't worked for though, it's depressing, Cheers Lyn xxx.

v1ckyt

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Hello VICKY welcome aboard the thread, nice to have lots of new friends joining us, it all adds to the fun and friendliness of thread life, I'm afraid there is no avoiding the courgettes, dehydrated or otherwise, they're being so enthusiastic this year that ALL christmas hampers will have many courgette based products in them, if you're really lucky you might get something canard related with them though? Mmmmmmmmm lovely!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

Thanks Mrs LW, but I prefer my duck to be of the crispy variety, complete with pancakes, spring onion and plum sauce, which is probably why I need to be a bit more MSE these days.

Kate, re the marrows, I think I'll pass thanks all the same.

I have some exciting MSE-type news, I am making moonshine. Well, actually I've finally got around to setting up a kit Kate gave me for Christmas. Its currently glugging away at alarming rate in the utility room. The challenge now is to leave it alone for a few weeks.

Had a kind of non-MSE moment yesterday. I went into w'rose to buy only the sugar for above mentioned moonshine kit, and absolutely nothing else. However post-Bank Holiday they had masses of reductions, cue one full trolley and £60 later, we have a well stocked freezer, which should see us right for a few weeks, so kind of MSE in a way too,,,,(trying to convince myself here)

Still working on de-cluttering the house, have managed to free-cycled 3 chairs and a door today, and may have sold leftover oak worktop from last years new kitchen. :T:T

Anyway off to veg on the sofa for a bit.
Vicky

charlies-aunt

v1ckyt wrote: »

Had a kind of non-MSE moment yesterday. I went into w'rose to buy only the sugar for above mentioned moonshine kit, and absolutely nothing else. However post-Bank Holiday they had masses of reductions, cue one full trolley and £60 later, we have a well stocked freezer, which should see us right for a few weeks, so kind of MSE in a way too,,,,(trying to convince myself here). :T:T Vicky

:rotfl: the only shopping I do at Waitrose is at either the reduced items section or the special offers I do love their stuff, such fantastic quality

I'd love to win a ten minute trolley dash around in Waitrose!

v1ckyt

charlies-aunt wrote: »

:rotfl: the only shopping I do at Waitrose is at either the reduced items section or the special offers I do love their stuff, such fantastic quality

I'd love to win a ten minute trolley dash around in Waitrose!

My hubby works there which is a major bonus, I love their stuff and consider a trip to John Lewis tantamount to a pilgrimage.

charlies-aunt

Today's bargain - multi-packs of 6 rolls of Polo mints for 29p per pack from Farm Foods - less than 5p a roll

charlies-aunt

Yikes :eek: - transition from a tropical Summer to very cool Autumn in less than 24 hours here and it was dark by 8.30pm too.

Better start the winter prep soon

lucielle

Please can I ask a quick question? I've made elderflower champagne and was wondering how long it keeps for?

L

katep23

Definitely chilling yesterday evening, we sat out in the garden with the chiminea lit having a beer with our next door neighbour who was just back from Belgium with lot of lovely beers - very nice!

We got a bargain last week in Wilko's - their 30 bottle wine kits which you just add water to were reduced down to £9.25 on the shelf but they scanned through at £5! Originally they were £37!!

Today will be mostly tidying the garden - the head of facilities at the university which owns our house is coming round on Thursday to sign off on our new double glazing so we want to make sure everything is ship shape.

I almost can't wait for winter to see how much difference double glazing makes, our house is usually arctic as the heating is rubbish and the windows leaked whatever heat we did manage to generate so we tend to just have a fire in the living room which heats our bedroom above it as well. One winter our downstairs toilet cistern froze!

Tried to buy a window vac yesterday at Tesc0 so we can clean all the windows properly, called the store who confirmed they had 2 in stock, arrived there and couldn't find them. When I asked at customer service I was told the 2 on stock were probably returns which they couldn't sell. No offer to check stock at any other stores or even looking on the computer to find out anything more. Was not impressed as we made a special trip on the bikes to get it (was using clubcard vouchers so needed to get it from Tesc0) so I phoned customer service to complain and they are sending me a £10 voucher as a gesture of goodwill. Fair play to their customer services, they were very good and helpful, unlike the store.

Right, one last cuppa then off to clean the duck houses - such a glamorous life!

scottishminnie

lucielle wrote: »

Please can I ask a quick question? I've made elderflower champagne and was wondering how long it keeps for?

L

Lucielle - I've no experience of wine/champagne making however I checked with a friend earlier who makes elderflower champagne and the longest she has kept hers for is about 14 months. That's more down to the fact that it all got polished off at a particular occasion rather than a conscious decision to use it up. Not sure whether her experience is "normal" or not.

Well, another weekend draws to a close. Where does my time go?:eek:

I've spent most of the weekend painting hubby's new workshop which I have to say is looking good. I did make apple oslo cake today with apples from the tree and we've been eating our own potatoes for a few weeks now. I have a birthday soon and mum and dad asked what I would like - I've requested another fruit tree. Hubby thinks I'm mad but I really don't need any more "stuff" and I think it would be nice. I never thought I'd turn into the overly practical type but there you go!.

Kate - I have one of those window vacs - was ready to send it to the charity shop as I thought it was a waste of time until my SIL said she used hers for the shower - it's been used several times a day since! and it does the occasional window too!

I have a challenge for you all - in my freezer I have quite a lot of cooked turkey slices (leftover from easter). I'd like to use it up in a casserole/hotpot soon - suggestions and recipes welcome please...

Off to empty the dishwasher now - how did life function before dishwashers?!