No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

[Deleted User]

What a busy lot we are, we spent yesterday out in the garden as well. Spent all afternoon reclaiming the summerhouse and repatriating all the things that were moved last summer when we replaced the two old sheds with a new one! DH is currently out walking the lurcher and will carry on extending veg beds here when he comes home. We are off to a garden centre later on to find a discovery apple tree to replace the diseased newton wonder we took out in the autumn. We plan to make cider with the discovery apples, we've had lots of success over the past two seasons with windfall apples of all sorts but, DH and DD1 went on a cider making course last year and the best tasting brew this year is definately from the discovery apple juice they used on the course. We are planning on cooking out on the OzPig at lunchtime, Pork Fahitas followed by a mixed fruit casserole Mmmmmmmmm! Have a really good day everyone, Cheers Lyn.

flowertotmum

Good morning,good morning how are you today?..lovely sunny song to start the day lol..
Kittie i hate the green stuff and do it almost monthly..like my outside to look as good as inside..kinda outdoor housework..
We are again spending day outside..hubby is sorting his shed..we need to put greenhouse stuff in it whilst we dismantle the old greenhouse to make way for a pre-loved one..also got to put some brackets up on the wall for a newish ladder(ebay bargain) that is coming later today...
MLW..that fruit casserole sounds good..well it all does..can i come for lunch?
Kittie isn't it maddening when what you order doesn't turn up..i always tick for no subs..i would rather not have it than a sub..awkward but i am paying for what i want not what they want to give me..
right i have to go and put yet more laundry on the line..lovely to get it dry for free...
enjoy the day everyone..
love
ftm

[Deleted User]

I haven`t used my ozpig yet this year mrsLW but we have a nice dry stash of wood and 2 bags of charcoal. Cider making sounds good, nice that your family have been on a course. We are surrounded by cider orchards but can go a short way in the car to os original cider makers. Lol, you should see the queues on a saturday, lined up with their refillable containers, so it must be good. I am always amazed at how long cider apples hang on the tree. Do you have several discovery trees?

Re sausage making, I thought I would give a blow by blow as to what I am doing as it sounds daunting but is very easy. I get bits and pieces from tongmaster
http://www.tongmaster.co.uk/

Lots of people have the kenwood (and other makes) of mincer/sausage makers in the back of cupboards and they are ideal

I used pork shoulder and a little belly pork and took the skin off and removed stringy bits. Then cubed and put into lock and locks in the freezer for 10 minutes

Meanwhile the kenwood accessories were in the fridge cooling

I minced all the meat on the large holes and I did it twice. Back in the boxes and sitting in the fridge ready for step 2 when I will weigh and add spices, water and crumbs, For every 400g of meat I will thread 2 feet of collagen casing on the smaller nozzle

Didn`t take long so far and I have cleaned up ready for the next step, when I feel like it

[Deleted User]

FTM setting extra places at table as we speak, the fruit casserole is a really nice way of using up surpluses as anything just past its best (obviously not too far past) goes in and gets used. Today its 2010 blackberries, 2011 raspberries, 2010 strawberries, some soft blueberries and 4 x apricots on a yellow sticker from last week! All in a casserole with some lemon rind, a little bit of white cooking wine(whatever is open really) a cinnamon stick and when its cooked I throw in a bit of sweetener if needed, again whatever you have, sugar, honey, splenda etc. We have it hot at lunch, cold next day on cereal for breakfast and anything left over gets blitzed as ice cream sauce for later on this week! KITTIE - Oh how I envy you being in cider country- we only have one other apple tree at present its a King Edward VII but we are lucky enough to know lots of folks with really old trees in their gardens and we get all the windfalls through the season and give them some cider in return - I must admit we will juice and ferment anything available and it all seems to meld together in a quaffable brew somehow - DH prints off labels saying from the Estate of etc and it seems to amuse most folks. I am really tempted by your sausage making, I have tried bacon curing and that was nice, we make cheese fairly often DD did a cheese making course and makes Paneer and curd cheese fairly often again very OK but never tried sausages. Will give it a go!

[Deleted User]

oh mrs LW that sounds like compote, gorgeous and so easy. Our 3 grew up on it, lovely in all sorts of ways.

Re the apples, yes we have pyo not too far and the last big landowner in the village left a few dozen trees for villagers to use, sad thing was that the current landowner grubbed up his fathers pride and joy, hundreds upon hundreds of all sorts of the best old apple trees you could ever find, acre upon acre all gone to nasty bulk crops. All before our time here but the villagers put up a heck of a big fight and got no-where

I have made the best sausages I have ever tasted, I kid you not. I just fried up the leftovers as a patty and had it for my lunch between 2 small slices of hm bread. You couldn`t taste nicer if you paid a fortune

Stage 2 in sausage making:
crumbs, water and seasoning added ala the tongmaster site
tube lightly oiled as well as hands
casing carefully fed onto tube and knot tied and made a single pinprick for air release
Then I just held sausage with one hand and pushed meat down
tied another knot and lightly oiled and coiled on my granite pastry board
All done, then twisted into 5-6" sausages and laid together to rest in fridge until tomorrow when they will be frozen

Cost of best meat (not organic) was £7.83
extras cost about £2

I got 5 lb of the best sausages ever

Something I did notice about the minced meat was that there was no gristle, sinew or skin and it was umpteens times better than the best waitrose sausagemeat that I had previously bought

conclusion: a bit of a faff to stuff as you are holding with one hand and pushing with another but very well worth the effort. Washing up is the same for a little as well as a lot so might as well make a lot

[Deleted User]

What a lovely day we've got down here, its been warm, bright sunshine since early on and I've spent most of it outside. Fatima cooked us a lovely lunch and best surprise DD2 turned up unexpectedly as she has been up visiting a friend for a birthday,so, we've just taken the lurcher for a lovely walk on the footpaths so much blackthorn blossom and celandines,even the hawthorns are breaking into leaf, perfect. We are lucky enough to have a really good meat farm about 3 miles away where the animals are reared on the farm and the farm butchery is on the same site so no travelling involved at all but a bit odd seeing the pigs in the field and then purchasing sausages and pork, but they have a good life beforehand! DH is still out in the garden lifting turf to enlarge veg beds and we are recording the rugby to watch later on - must go out and see where we can fit the chicken ark in to the revamp and then track down some point of lay pullets, we've had hybrids up until now but, I would quite like some Light Sussex this time. Hope you have all had as lovely a day as I have Cheers Lyn.

scottishminnie

You ladies have been so productive you have put my efforts this weekend to shame.:o

I had a Costco trip on Friday night and bought a big pack of mince and one of mini chicken breast fillets as both were on offer. I spent ages yesterday making mince, chilli, spag bol, honey and mustard chicken, garlic and mushroom chicken and so on. All now safely packed in double portions in the freezer and I've just cooked a huge batch of mashed potato - also for the freezer. I always joke to hubby that if I get run over by a bus or my plane falls out the sky he has enough food for a month which is plenty time to find a replacement for me!

I also bought Costco eggs for the first time - £2.89 for 18 free range and they are very large so that is a good buy. I'll report back on how we find them.

Yesterday I had to visit B&Q for some wire mesh - we had a new boiler fitted just before Christmas and there is a pipe outside the garage (which I guess goes underground to the oil tank) - it's covered with a sort of black rubbery foam cladding which has been disintegrating. Hubby caught the magpies and crows attacking it on Friday so we will have to cage it off to stop them. Time to get the gun out again I think.

I planted up some tomato seeds today - they were part of a kit of about 8 things I got in Costco late last autumn for about £5. Every item comes with it's own little propogator box so the toms are on the kitchen windowsill and should germinate in 8-12 days. Got some beautiful tulips and daffodils yesterday from a dear friend who has a massive garden which she needs help with due to her advancing years. The tulips are a sort of peach shade with cream inners, absolutely beautiful and I just love to have daffodils in my kitchen.

Costco also had lots of fruit bushes on Friday evening - redcurrant, gooseberry, even blueberry but hubby said it was still to early so I had to walk on by - frustrating as they were big and healthy and only £4.99 each.

I've also been mending this weekend - hubby's jogging trousers which must be about 20 years old and he has 2 new pairs complete with tags but he pleaded with me to fix the little hole which had appeared in the seam -isn't it funny how we become attached to certain things? I've also sewn a few buttons which were a bit wobbly and I've attached a invisible popper on a wrap dress which I have - I have a little too much in some areas to make it decent without a little alteration.:)

I'm most impressed with how much everyone else has achieved - I really need to get my act together next weekend and get moving in my garden - there is much pruning to do and I got a pair of pink floral secateurs from Santa so I have no excuse!

[Deleted User]

It seems like you had a very busy and productive weekend too SCOTTISHMINNIE - we have a problem down here with Jackdaws, we are one of the very few houses to still have a chimney that is used, and the birds nest in all the others. The problem is that there are no natural predators for them and the numbers are at epedemic level as they seem to stay with their parents and not go elsewhere so we have large, raucous flocks which are quite destructive. For some reason they seem to like broad beans on the allotment and we have had very small crops for the past two years, even when we net the plants. Little blighters pull off the pods, peck holes to get the beans and damage anything left, then the drop the pods into the water butt - not fair! I had a thrifty day last week and machine dyed a few old pairs of very faded jeans and now have working clothes I am not ashamed to be seen out in !

flowertotmum

Evening all...
Scottishminnie..you have had a busy weekend too..cooking all those meals and planitng seeds plus sewing..we all have been busy but in different ways..
Kittie your sausages sound lovely..want to sell some?

MLW..we haven't got jackdaws but huge bloody great crows that insist on sitting in my trees and cawing all day..i have got used to it and so have tots but visitors are quite unsettled by them..i love them and think something is not quite right if they are not there..

Well the sun has disappeared all day and we have had nothing but mist and only 8 degrees...the sun has come out now..bit late but better late than never..
Still had a busy day though..i have moved the girls playhouse from one side of garden to the other and scrubbed it clean and put it back together again...need to be krypton factor winner to do that..so complicated..i did find it easier this time..i sorted the patio table and chairs and moved the big bbq to another place ...
Made a lovely choclate cake for after tea..yummy..
I have bit the bullet and finally did my internet shop...£86..but not bad really..i haven't done one for a few months..we need to restock and try to keep a good supply going as we are not too sure about hubby's job..the new HMRC thing..he needs another 4 hours at work and his boss is on about it not being possible with the budget he has..if thats the case we will lose almost £72 a week...not good..he has applied for other jobs but no luck yet..seems its an employers market..why pay hubby minimum wage when you can pay a teenager a lot less...nevermind i am sure we will be ok..had tougher spots than this...
right its tots bath time and then mine yay...
take care all
ftm

scottishminnie

Kittie - good idea. I've sprayed the inside of the jacket with hairspray and will try it out later in the week to see what happens - will report back.:)

I'm impatiently waiting to see if my dishwasher is ok - last night it played up dreadfully and wouldn't drain so hubby has been at the bowels of it and it's running a cycle now. Fingers crossed - has to be the most used appliance in my house.

I meant to mention yesterday that I'd seen money saving taken to a new extreme on Saturday. I was in Asda and the lady in front of me at the checkout had 3 or 4 tubs of spreadable butter (not sure what kind) but she was opening each one and peeling off the cover bit under the lid. She then took what looked like some wet wipes from her handbag, wiped the buttery side and handed them over to the checkout operator when it was her turn. Obviously it must have been a money off coupon but I would have thought you would have needed to buy the product and then use the coupon on the next shop. Checkout assistant didn't bat an eyelid but I was a bit taken aback. I wouldn't have dreamt of doing that - maybe I'm just a bit niaive:)

Pulled up the last of my carrots yesterday - they were in a big tub and seemed to have survived the winter ok - got about a dozen or so of mixed size so I was really pleased. I didn't expect to still be harvesting in March!

Mrs LW - what kind of dye do you use for old jeans? I have a couple of pairs which I only use for gardening etc but they would look better a bit darker (my granny always said darker was better for thunder thighs like me!).

FTM - I hope your hubby can get a few more hours to make things up. It's sad that so many companies will hire purely on the basis of cost over experience and track record. Very short sighted (in my opinion)