make do and mend for tougher times

Possession

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Possession - could be the chocolate from Thorntons was not sufficiently high in cocoa solids, but I'm no expert (apart from in the chocolate eating dept :rotfl:). I have seen professional chefs use this method though, so would give it a try with some good quality chocolate.

Yes I suspect it has too much vegetable oil in it. I think I will buy some cheap but high cocoa solids chocolate and try again. It was such a shame as they looked stunning when they were made and within a week they looked revolting.:o

katieowl_2

Possession wrote: »

Yes I suspect it has too much vegetable oil in it. I think I will buy some cheap but high cocoa solids chocolate and try again. It was such a shame as they looked stunning when they were made and within a week they looked revolting.:o

Try Ald! stuff? They do a dark choc for 89p (200g IIRC) which I use to make rocky roads, and it seems to be OK. Failing that upgrade to the 99p Belgium chocolate (100g bar) which is as good as Lindt.

Kate

Mrs_Chip

Arghgggg nom nom - Aldi chocolate is delish. Sitting here fighting the urge to eat some (try not to in the week but this weather is driving me to it!) The Choceur milk chocolate with whole almonds is sublime!

Possession

katieowl wrote: »

Try Ald! stuff? They do a dark choc for 89p (200g IIRC) which I use to make rocky roads, and it seems to be OK. Failing that upgrade to the 99p Belgium chocolate (100g bar) which is as good as Lindt.

Kate

What excellent timing as we have an Aldi opening on the 26th July, coincidentally (or not?) the same day as the new Waitrose is opening too. Watch out Mr T!
I am really rather pathetically excited about Aldi opening, so much so that I'm actually disappointed that I'll be on holiday.

GreyQueen

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

GQ - you can subscribe to receive an email from Blightwatch to alert you when your area is entering into Full Smith Periods (blight conditions) - www.blightwatch.co.uk. Sorry you are feeling so carp

:j I'm just tired, nothing a good night's sleep won't fix. I've just followed that linkie and registered but my registration won't activate until tomorrow then I shall be hyper alert.

Thank you so much for that, I'm totally-thrilled with the idea. I grow second earlies with the idea that they're normally harvested before prime blight conditions but this year they go such a miserable slow start that they're still fully-green and I fear if I dig them up now, I shall have a lot of marbles to show for it. 2012 will certainly go down in my personal gardening history as an absolute burger. I have a mere 7 badly-chewed runner bean plants barely half-way up the poles......

Ne'mind, worse things happen at sea.

ETA Mrs Chip, step away from the chocolate! We can see you across the interweb, y'know.........;p

Mrs_Chip

Oh I am sure you will love it - the quality is great and prices are good.
I do miss waitrose, but as I don't have any money to waste anymore it's a good this we don't have one anywhere near .

Mrs_Chip

Noticed today our runners are being stripped of leaves all the way up, and Mrs OG says on hers the growing tips have been munched. Just hope they leave the flowers alone and enough survive for a crop :eek:

SpikyHedgehog

fuddle wrote: »

Yip I agree pah time to stop being a wally and just get on with it. I made the pie and a pasty with the left overs for my lunch tomorrow.

The yellow material has arrived so I've those yellow leggings and t-shirt to make for my youngest DD's performance. I'm going to make them long sleeves (whether nursery like it or not) so she can use them as PJ's afterwards Also DD is in yellow group and needs a yellow t-shirt for PE in junior school so instead of paying £7 for their t-shirt, i'll make my own

See, i'm alright. It was just a blip

Well done, and actually long sleeve are better protection against the sun anyway. Well, if we had any... Sewing jersey material scares me, I need more practice sewing other stuff first!

SDG31000 wrote: »

Ooops........I put a post on facebook about Shades of Grey and now wish I had stuck to ones about cake and being pee'd off with DH and the monsters. Oh well, it will soon go down the page and be forgotten about.
....

fuddle wrote: »

Have you been reading Shades of Grey SDG I borrowed it from the library before all the hype and was so embarrased yesterday having to hand it back.. every body knowing only too well what I had been reading :eek: I whispered to the friendly librarian that I had it and she told me when she was at work so I could hand it to her :rotfl: We had a glance and a smirk today when I picked up Hannah Hauxwell. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! :rotfl:

I got offered the books the other day to borrow & give back once read - very surreal, as the person offering them was Errant Husband, as the Girlfriend's sister had given them to her for her birthday, she didn't want to read them (yet? I get the impression she's not a great reader) so thought I might like to read them. :huh: Not sure what the message was but I politely declined.

Mrs_Chip

Ok, OH has applied a hobble so I cant make it up stairs to snaffle a bar from my stash... hope I don't need a wee anytime soon :eek:

Here's a map GQ, you can subscrbe here too for alerts of actual instances of blight

Evie74_2

Good evening everyone - my goodness but you lot can talk! I logged in for a "quick catch up" over an hour ago and I've only just skimmed the surface!

Another long day at work for me today. I should be grateful to be gainfully employed, but I am very tired at the moment and each day seems such a huge effort. I have been on anti-Ds for a long while now and I wonder whether they are losing their effectiveness. May have to think about going back to the GP.

On the bright side, however, I had to attend a meeting in a rather more cosmopolitan area than the place where I live. I got there a bit too early so nipped into a local T*sco to use the facilities - and found many bargains in the "world food" aisle!

Our T*sco doesn't cater for such diversity - I managed to get a 5kg sack of basmati rice, 2kg each of red lentils and dried chick peas, and 2kg polenta flour for less than £9! I have made a mental note to try and arrive early again next time work takes me in that direction! I have been trying to get hold of some polenta for months (I have a recipe for SC lemon polenta cake which I have been itching to try) but have been met with blank looks and bafflement in our local shops and supermarkets.

That's about the extent of my OS activity today - it's always difficult on a work day to do much more than stagger through the front door and prepare the dinner (from scratch, as always - so that's fairly OS I suppose).

Good luck to those with job interviews tomorrow - hope they go really well; we'll all be rooting for you.

Worrying to hear that the weather is only going to get worse! The ground is so waterlogged right now, and I feel for farmers who are losing their crops. We are on fairly high ground at home so I would hope that our home would not flood - we didn't get flooded out in 2007 when so many in our area suffered -having said that I may move important docs etc into a strong box upstairs just in case.

Right - I'm going to make a cuppa and settle down in front of that "Turn Back Time" (or whatever it's called) programme on BBC1 - they are doing WW2 this week I think, and since I am really interested in that period (DH might say obsessed...) I have been looking forward to it!

Evie xx