Money Fritters 'Enough Now' DFW Diary - Chapter 2

beanielou

All sounding good

Money_Fritter

9th January 2013

Well the last few days have been quite mild; however, this morning was cold in the north-east, so much so that I had to de-ice my windscreen for the first time in ages on my car. Work was fairly busy and I had to stay late to finish a reaction; the time pasted quickly; so it was not too bad.
I had a simple jacket potato with tuna mayo and cheese for lunch.

I didn’t manage a NSD today as I had to order my lean-to greenhouse, I am going to try and make my own full size greenhouse over the coming year; but there is no way it would be ready for the start of the growing season. Hopefully the lean-too and a portable heater and heated propagators will give me the warm and shelter I need to get off to a good start.

As I get ready to grow my own food, there was a relevant article in the news relating to food waste. Apparently the world population wastes 50% of all food, and what is even worse is that 30% of veg is not even harvested. This is due to the major supermarkets wanting the perfect vegetable or fruit. Therefore, any fruit or veg that looks out of shape does not get harvested and gets thrown away even though it is perfectly edible!!!! I think this is absolutely crazy, supermarkets are far too powerful nowadays and we rely on them far too much. In my opinion, we need to get back to local communities and local shops such as farmshops, greengrocers, butchers and the like.

Anyway, for tea tonight I cooked a lovely veg roast with British seasonal food, with the exception of the butternut squash.

It’s a simple dish; firstly you peel and chop butternut squash, swede, parsnips, beetroot and celeriac into chunks. Place everything except the beetroot into a pan of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Meanwhile melt butter (60g) with olive oil in a roasting tin. Drain the veg and place in the roasting tin with the beetroot and toss in the butter and olive oil, making sure everything is covered. Then add three crushed whole garlic cloves and a couple of sprigs of Thyme. Then roast in the oven at 180C for 45-60 minutes; every 15 minutes I turned the vegetables making sure nothing got burnt. Fab!!!

This dish is from Nigel slater’s book called ‘Tender’ which I thoroughly recommend.

beanielou

It is just amazing about the food not even being harvested TBH.
I was quite shocked, very shocked even.

Money_Fritter

[FONT=&quot]10th January to 13th January 2013[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A few days merged into one update today as I have been busy over the last few days.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Not much to report on Thursday, work was quite busy; I had some left-over roast vegetables from last night’s tea for lunch.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]For tea we had some carrot and coriander soup with some home-made bread.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Friday was a quiet day in work and I had soup for lunch. I left work early as on Saturday we were going to Edinburgh and we were staying at my gf’s parents Friday night. Friday night we had some nice Salmon Fillet with a watercress sauce, very nice indeed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Saturday I was up early as we were getting the bus to Edinburgh at 8:15am. We were going to see Dirty Dancing in the theatre in Edinburgh. We got to Edinburgh around 11am and had a couple of hours to look around. Edinburgh is a beautiful place; the last time I was there was about 13 years ago.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]We went for a nice pub lunch and then went to see the show around 2pm. We then got the bus back home around 6pm. It was a very long, tiring day; but it was enjoyable.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Today (Sunday), we had a sleep in and then I went for a run. Then I was out in the garden doing some clearing and getting the raised beds ready for planting. It was very cold, but no snow yet!!!! I have taken some pictures, and I will do a garden blog update in the next couple of days. I am only in work Monday and Tuesday this week and I am having the rest of the week off. My parents are coming up next weekend. Whilst I am off, I am hoping to go and see les miserables, it looks amazing. Whilst I am off, I am also hoping, weather permitting, to do some more garden work. I have got a 2-3 months before everything has to be ready. Hopefully, I can get everything ready in time.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Hope everybody had a good weekend.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Money Fritter[/FONT]

beanielou

Glad you enjoyed the show.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city

Money_Fritter

14th January 2013

A very cold morning as I drove into work today; apparently lots of snow is on the way, great!!!!

I am only in work today and tomorrow and then I am off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. My parents are coming up over the weekend, weather permitting of course.

I only lost 1lb last week, and I now stand at 15st 9lbs. I was hoping to lose 2lbs, but I guess the Edinburgh trip put pay to that. However, it was a good weekend and did not cost much at all as it was part of my Christmas present.

Another good positive point is that I still have not had an alcoholic drink; that is 13 days now!!!!

I also managed a NSD today as well, so I think that is 5 for the month.
For lunch today I had a portion of the Sausage and Salami casserole I made last week; I had kept a portion in the freezer. For tea we had a prawn, leek and courgette risotto that my partner made. I know the courgette is not in season, but I couldn’t really grumble at my partner; as she had made it for when I got home from work.

I did not go for a run this evening as the snow was starting to fall when I got home from work. However, I did do 20 minutes on the exercise bike and burnt 200 calories.

I see on the news this evening that HMV is next in line for the administrators to be called in. Jessops last week and now HMV. I suspect the internet is the main culprit. Most people use Amazon and other cheaper websites now. Also; more people are streaming films and downloading songs now. I do think that in 5-10 years’ time the CD and DVD will not be around anymore.

Not really much to report in the garden; I was out there on Sunday and I am glad I did go out as the snow is quite thick in places now. I am hoping to buy some compost and fencing tomorrow. Hopefully, if there is a lull in the weather over the coming days, I can get out there and get some more done.

Money_Fritter

[FONT=&quot]15th January 2013[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There was a decent layer of snow on the ground when I left for work this morning. However, once out of the village, the journey was largely without incident. Today was a busy day in work, as I had things to tie up before my three days off.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I had some left over risotto for lunch from last night’s tea. However, it was a small portion and was not very fulfilling; so I bought a sandwich as well. Therefore no NSD for today!!!![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]For tea we had a simple spaghetti Bolognese. I also managed to complete another 20 minutes on the exercise bike, burning another 200 calories.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]My heated propagators arrived today; they are a lot bigger than I thought, but good value. I also got some free trays and pots with them to get me started.
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[FONT=&quot]When I was watching the news this morning before going to work, there was a story about a family in Kent, the Bradshaw’s, who are going to try and buy everything British for a year. The article was quite interesting and not surprisingly a lot of produce sold in this country is made in China. I was aware that the majority of electronic equipment is made in China; but a lot of other produce, such as clothes, shoes etc, are also made in China. It is quite worrying that most of the world relies on one country. Anyone the Bradshaw’s have a website, so I will follow their progress with interest.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I was hoping to get in the garden tomorrow and get some more preparation work done. However, with the snow I am not getting my hopes up!!!![/FONT]

Money_Fritter

Managed to get in the garden today, the snow could not keep my away.I have a new post on my blog if anybody wants to have a look. I have included pictures as well.

http://greenfingerjourney.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-tree-has-been-vanquished.html

Money Fritter

Money_Fritter

[FONT=&quot]16th January 2013[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Well I braved the snow today and got out into the garden. Firstly I went to B and Q and bought some compost and some willow screening for my back fence, so no NSD!!![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Then I braved the cold and finished cutting down the tree, I finally vanquished it!!![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Unfortunately I did not manage to get much else done as it was really cold; so I came in and called it a day. Hopefully, once this weather clears, I can get the willow screening up and construct the wooden raised beds. I updated my blog and put some pictures if anybody fancies a look.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]For dinner today; I just had a corned beef pasty and a sausage roll; not very healthy, but I wasn’t in the mood today. I do love corned beef; it is my favourite.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]For tea tonight, we just had salmon fillets again with vegetables. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I see today that Blockbusters have called in the administrators as well. It’s all very sad, but I suppose it is not surprising as DVD’s are so cheap to buy now, renting is not a lot cheaper.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The bulk of my seeds arrived today; I am just awaiting my garlic and onion sets and potatoes and my greenhouse and then I am ready to rock n roll.
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[FONT=&quot]Well that is if this weather clears. My parents are scheduled to come up to tomorrow to stay for the weekend; however, a lot more snow is forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!!![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Let’s hope it stays clear for the weekend. [/FONT]

MrsPorridge

MF - hope you had a good weekend - I have just had a look at your blog. Well done for going out in that snow! I am not sure if it is my internet connection but I can only see the middle photo of the "before" ones - I can see the 3 after (snowy) ones.