'supporting each other through really tough times'

mardatha

Tonsils - can you get in Greece ordinary milk for tea? can you get tea?

WeegieWumman

Tonsils - Forget Mardy's milky tea. How nice are your sweets, cakes and biscuits?

mardatha

Yes - and them!!

jpscloud

I've had a nice lazy day as well here Unixgirl... I made a week's worth of carrot and parsnip mash to go with the pork and lentil stew I made yesterday, and have just had some... very yummy!

I never used to use lentils, till I read recipes on MSE. Now stew doesn't taste right unless it has lentils in! I also chucked in a cup of mung beans which I'd forgotten I had, and they're lovely in stews. It says "use in salads" on the packet - it always makes me feel like a rebel using them in stews instead :cool: that's the sort of madcap life I lead :rotfl:

I haven't moved into iphones or hand held gadgetry either. I have a functional mobile phone which takes and makes calls, tells me the time and does texting. It doesn't have a camera or any bells and whistles.

We have a bossy colleague at work who likes to stride around with her iphone, imperiously flicking her index finger over it as though she's doing something intensely important. I long for the day that she's not looking where she's going and falls flat on her face, but I do realise how absolutely evil that makes me

At home I have a rather fragile £300 laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard and a monitor which I use in my [STRIKE]dining room [/STRIKE]home study. I can't take this out and about as it's not up to the job really but it's fine at home.

I made a choice between internet phone and netbook (tablets were out of the question, far too expensive) but I needed something for mobile internet as I'm out of the house for up to 12 hours on work days.

Last year I bought a half price and further reduced (due to being a display model) netbook that fits in the bag I carry around at work. I use a cheapo mobile broadband with it, so don't do video or downloads, but it is perfect for the modest amount of browsing, shopping and foruming I like to do.

I've also got everything ready for work tomorrow... feeling a bit anxious as I was off sick the last week before Christmas, and although I genuinely was ill, I feel guilty. I never throw a sickie, and am rarely ill enough to take time off, but the guilt is there if I ever do.

Hope everyone is having a nice evening... I shall be off to bed in an hour as I get up at silly o'clock.

SDG31000

Hello everyone xxx

*packs up all the spare jelly babies and mint crisps to send to 2tonsils* Stay safe and warm please

kidcat good luck with the cats and getting used to the school runs again. DS1 goes back tomorrow and DS2 on tuesday and to be honest I'm looking forward to some quiet.

Thank you very much for the advice Katieowl I asked for £3-4 and got given £5 which I protested but was told to take and not argue about. The cake you made sounds incredible. I wonder if I could presuade DH to visit for my birthday and get a cake made

We have lots and lots of gadgets in the house. I live with three geeks and can't seem to get away from them. Lots of the most recent ones were replacements for ones taken during the last burglary. They were on their last legs and this way we got shiny new ones at not much finanical cost. DH is a big kid and loves having new toys to play with. Personally I could live without a lot of them and less credit card debit. It is slowly going away though.

I've finally shifted the sinus headache I have had for the past two days and feel much more myself. I have tackled all the boxes of food and they are now hopefully in some sort of order and I should be able to find things, fingers crossed. I was forced into doing it by buying 9 822g jars of mincemeat in Sainsburys yesterday. It was down to 17p a jar and I get through a ton of the stuff. The smaller jars are down to 10p a jar. Hope that helps someone.
Now I need to go and make naans to go with butter chicken. I really must start making more curry sauces from scratch, but this was 1/2 price and I know the boys will eat it. *makes a note to finally buy The Takeaway Secret this year*

Take care everyone xxxx

katieowl_2

SDG31000 wrote: »

et.

Thank you very much for the advice Katieowl I asked for £3-4 and got given £5 which I protested but was told to take and not argue about. The cake you made sounds incredible. I wonder if I could presuade DH to visit for my birthday and get a cake made

Very easy cake to make. I only make well behaved cakes... it's this one:
Jamie Oliver's Party Cake recipe from his book " The Return of the Naked Chef"

3 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
200gr/7oz caster sugar
200gr/7oz butter
3 large eggs
200gr/7oz self raising flour, sifted
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
1 handful of flaked almonds
200ml/7fl oz double cream (heavy cream)
1 large handful of raspberries
1 large handful of strawberries

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

Line the bases of 2 x 20cm/8 inch cake tins with greased greaseproof paper.

Mix the cocoa powder with 4 tablespoons of boiling water until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, add the cocoa mixture, eggs, flour and baking powder. Mix well, fold in the nuts. Divide the mixture between the tins. Bake for about 25 minutes. When cooked, allow to cool then remove from the tins.

Chocolate Topping -

100gr/4oz butter
100gr/4oz best cooking chocolate
100gr/4oz icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Melt the chocolate topping ingredients in a bowl over some slightly simmering water. Stir until blended well and allow to cool.

Whip the double cream to soft peaks and sweeten with a little sugar.

To assemble the cake, remove the greaseproof paper from both sponges. Drizzle each one with a little sherry, if you like. Spread the cream over one of the sponges, then sprinkle the fruit on top. Sandwich the second sponge on top and press down. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to smooth it off and drizzle over the chocolate topping.

Happy days, you've done it! But allow the chocolate topping to firm up slightly before tucking in.

I don't usually put the nuts in, and if customer doesn't want cream in it (and I usually use a realy good local summer fruits jam, and a few berriess) I just make the Hummingbird Bakery chocolate frosting and fill it with that instead, then dribble Jamie's frosting over the top.

Like I said, I only make easy, and well behaved cakes !!!:rotfl:

Kate

7_week_wonder

katieowl wrote: »

Very easy cake to make. I only make well behaved cakes... it's this one:
Jamie Oliver's Party Cake recipe from his book " The Return of the Naked Chef"

Oh wow! I have to make a special cake in a couple of weeks - and this looks just the business!

And thanks for the warning about wild rice: I've just checked it out on mysupermarket and it's a good job the recipe only needs 50g!

mama67

katieowl wrote: »

When they left I finished off the butter making, I got 2 kilos 200g of butter out of six pots of double cream, which cost me a grand total of £1.50!!! :j I've divided it into 200g portions, left it unsalted and bunged it all in the freezer! It's SUCH a massive saving, for so little effort...It HAS to be worth doing!

Kate

And obviously all the lovely buttermilk as well for scones etc.

I did this on Saturday my Tosco was selling the 600ml pots at 15p so I got a couple, made just over 500g of butter and have 500ml of buttermilk.

Love it when the butter goes from thick whipped cream to butter and buttermilk with that "thunk" sound, just have to watch for the sloshing out of the bowl.

2tonsils

WeegieWumman wrote: »

Tonsils - Forget Mardy's milky tea. How nice are your sweets, cakes and biscuits?

Mardatha any kind of tea you care for is available here in most supermarkets. We have normal black tea (Ceylon), white tea, red teas and green tea at the last count. My favourites are Earl grey and rose and violet made by Lipton's if I am not having a 'normal' cuppa. Fresh cow's milk is widely available here and is produced on the mainland. Locally there is goats milk and sheep milk and other products made from them like yogurt, butter and cheeses.

Cakes here are fantastic (from what other's say...I can't eat them as I am celiac ). Light as a feather and often made with cream, chocolate, fruit ,nuts or ice cream. They are often handed out at get togethers or devoured over a coffee with friends. Biscuits are the same there are rows and rows of them at the supermarket or you can go to the confectioners and buy hand made ones by the kilogram. YOU buy these and give them to your friends on your name day (saints day) and its mine tomorrow as well as my husband's.

Sweets...not sure if you meant sweeties or pudding....but both are popular....a form of Turkish delight is made here as well as nugget and jellied fruits. Chocolate made in Greece is very high quality and the black chocolate is called Healthy chocolate. Adults seem to eat them all more than the children to be honest. I can get imported sweets like toffee and jelly babies but I rarely eat them. I prefer savoury things.

Naughty girls, getting me talking of such things when I am healthy eating.:eek: I got weighed today and had gone down a kilo since Wednesday. I am weighing everything I eat and keeping track on some software that analyses the nutrition. For the first time in 18 months I am able to lose weight and I am delighted.:T I am losing on 1400 calories a day so will stay at that amount. Today I had:

One poached egg with a large slice of hm gluten free bread with cream cheese on it.

Pork spare ribs, then canned peaches with peach yogurt

one satsuma and one banana

large pile of fried fresh sardines with green salad

walnuts

small slice of gf hm banana bread with diabetic jam (full fruit)

Protein shake with skimmed milk and frozen raspberries.


Taste sensation.....who needs sweeties?

Uniscots97

Rose and Violet tea sounds lovely 2T. I got quite into Kuwaiti tea (not sure if this is widely drank but my friend's family loved it), Liptons yellow label tea brewed with a little saffron and lots of sugar!