make do and mend for tougher times

Pooky

Fuddle - Nigellas recipe for chilli jam is lovely. I've a glut of apples so making an apple chilli one this time round. The apples have been simmering away for an hour, they're now straining through a jelly bag. The resulting juice will be boiled up with sugar and fresh chilli slices until it reaches setting point. The apple pulp will go into the apple and blackberry wine bucket to get the rest of the flavour out (double duty apples!)

Got all the jacket spuds baking away, between those, the stewing apples, the steeping blackberries and the elderberrys, the house smells blooming lovely. Going to go put some bread dough going for rolls and pull all the elderberries off their stalks. I love days like this, just pottering in the kitchen.

Shropshirelass

Just ordered my book using Fuddle's code - thank you :T

Possession

OK I don't think I can move for the rest of the day...just had a roast chicken dinner with (probably) too much bread sauce.
What do you reckon the chances are of plums being available to pick? Would like to pick some but no way of checking and the children will be disappointed if we drive all the way and there's nothing available.

prepareathome

mardatha wrote: »

I havent posted in AGES. Well an hour anyway ! PAH I got your soap back saying unable to deliver. will re-wrap and send again I went to Hadrians Wall once for a very fabulous day, spoiled by a very RV moaning about the cold and asking what the hell is so interesting about Roman drains LOL!

Well at least I know what happened to one of the parcels......I will pay you again for postage and can you put in some kind of official looking invoice using you shop name for the double postage as me and post office are going to have a little old battle if they think I am paying out twice for postage as they were to lazy to redeliver. Thankfully I did it on-line not over the phone so I have the redelivery recipts with the ref no for each parcel so they cannot say they tried to redeliver and failed as someone somewhere will have had to check out those parcels to do so. Can you also either photo copy or take a photo of the address part and where they put on it unable to deliver and if you haven't already can you keep that wrapping. I most likely will need all the ammo I can get to get the double delivery charges back from them.

Have sent you the delivery charge again but don't send the parcel until I see how the land lies on Monday in case I do end up on a black list. I had forgotten about the soap so that means there is something else that should have been here last week that has not and makes now about 12 parcels outstanding, 4 from yesterday including the Wartime Farm book and others from Amz, so 8 others should have been here by now. Apart from Ghillie Kettle all are small things, used rest of money son sent to fill the gaps in bits and bobs I wanted for preps plus some more biobulbs...........

Going to sit down a draw up a list of everything outstanding. 3 Items including Ghillie were bought via ebay others except the wartime farm from Azm. Most were free delivery or included in my Prime membership but ghillie kettle did have delivery charges which I will have to pay again if it has gone back to them. Contacted the seller yesterday to say it had disappeared and might end up back with them but no reply so far, hope they don't think I am trying to get it for free. If it goes and cannot get a refund then I will not have the money to buy it again. Its a weird one, who would I claim against, paypal, ebay or royal mail,. Well no use pondering and boring you all nothing can be done till Monday.

Mar let me know if payment arrived please don't want to take any chances and will let you know when to send. I plan to keep them now anyway towards C present as her birthday is over- Mar has made me beautiful pink coach shaped soaps for my pink and princess mad 3 year old GD.

Hugs and Love to allxxxx

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Thanks for the advice on storing the spuds. I think I will make wedges and jacket spuds, then freeze them. I will also try storing some in the garage in a large paper sack. I should have thought of this in the first place as I bought a large sack of spuds last winter and stored them in the garage, but I really like the idea of having jacket spuds ready cooked in the freezer. There is plenty of room in there as OH has done his usual trick earlier on in the week and left the freezer lid up all night so we have had to have some strange meal combinations to use up all of the things that had started to defrost.

Will be spending the afternoon freezing HG runner beans and purple french beans as well as making some blackberry jam for christmas gift.s

Possession

PAH if you paid by paypal on ebay you'll be protected - just claim for non-receipt of goods. As far as Paypal is concerned the onus is on the seller to get them to you.

grandma247

We use Basmati rice but I am pretty sure this will work for any white rice. I just add one cup of rice to two of water and put the lid on the pan , bring it to the boil then turn off the heat. DO NOT PEEK. Leave it 15 mins and it will be cooked. Basmati will cook a little quicker but I leave it till I am ready to serve.

Forgot to say I also do spaghetti the same way but with a bit more water and drain it at the end of the time.

prepareathome

Thanks I hate the thought of seller being out of pocket through daftness of sorting office staff.......no wonder poor postman couldn't find them yesterday.......I will be making sure again on Monday that it is not postman on round who is to blame. I always pay via paypal if I can, I feel it gives me an extra layer of protection, just shame you cannot do it with Azm. No use involving CC company as none of the purchases seperately were over £100 and I think that is the amount and higher they give protection......

Well day has been a mixture of sunshine and clouds no rain but is windy so although am dying to try out the tripod barbecue I think its to big to be used safely in back garden as it is rather crowded -plant wise.

Oh all my tomatoes are going to have to be binned or burnt as each and every one is going brown or has fully done so and not one went red. Blight totally ruined them. I counted earlier and there were 300 tomatoes, best crop I ever had and all got to go, I could weep. I am dithering now whether to even put in the seed potatoes and won't even consider it till I remove the tomatoes, but I want them really in back as not up to digging a trench in side garden for them but a bag or two might go walkies or I will get a knock telling me how bags are not in keeping with the conservation status. Shame I gave away my pots now as could have put one potato in a pot but now only have a couple and pots would be acceptable in front garden...........mmmmmmmmmm.

Anyone know what the latest I could put seed potatoes in for later in year?

Hugs and Love to all xxx

LavenderBees

Possession wrote: »

OK I don't think I can move for the rest of the day...just had a roast chicken dinner with (probably) too much bread sauce.
What do you reckon the chances are of plums being available to pick? Would like to pick some but no way of checking and the children will be disappointed if we drive all the way and there's nothing available.

I picked wild yellow plums from a tree on our village green last weekend. Most were nice and ripe, a few greenies. I don't know where you are, but if these were pretty much ready, hope yours will be too, especially of you are further south.

For those who need a heart-warmer to pick you up from feeling down, I can recommend a film on iplayer at the moment. "Greenfingers" - Clive Owen, Warren Clarke, Helen Mirren. About prisoners in an open prison getting to compete at Hampton Court Flower show. I feel all smiley, soft and gooey now :rotfl:

LB xx

Sunshine4

Had a friend ring me this morning and asked if I would like some onions as her husband brough some home fron his brothers farm. Yes please.

She has just left well the few onions turned out to be a sackfull.
As there is only two of us, can I chop and slice some and put them in the freezer to put in soups and stews over winter. Would that be okay ?