The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

nuttyp

morning all, well at least its fine here. bit chilly but no rain - yet. I worked again all weekend and my next day off is Saturday. its seems so long away....
We nipped to the cash and carry yesterday afternoon, got a few bargains. Think we mite get some beef next time, it was around £15 and could easily be made into 4 maybe 5 joints for sunday lunch type meals.
We also looked in the range, they had some lovely things in, but we left without buying anything. I was tempted....... tho.


Well nedd to sort some bits out before work. We have an audit today in shop.. fingers crossed it all goes ok.

camelot1001

Morning everyone, not at work today as I'm not feeling too well. I have had a sore throat all weekend but last night I suddenly felt awful, so cold and coughing so much. The cough is in my throat iykwim and is very sore.

Just had a phone call from work to say that there was a whole staff meeting to be told that a member of staff who has been off sick has very little time left with us. So sad.

Anyway, enough of me feeling sorry for myself, I hope you are all well and your troubles are few. As I will probably be bored by lunchtime, I may start painting my bed, not sure it's the right thing to do but a change is as good as a rest!

I am suffering a bit of brain fog here so will re-read and hope some of it sticks! Take care. XX

philphil1

Softstuff wrote: »

It felt like a bit of an achievement and a reward for hard frugality (family cloth anybody?? )

With the mortgage paid off we then got a new car (it got to the stage the old one, just to keep it drivable, was going to cost about a quarter of a new car), a lovely yellow fiat 500, named Stuart (the car is minion yellow). But I still can't bring myself to renovate the kitchen, I've gotten used to having only 1 working hob :rotfl: Maybe next year...

Very cute stockings Monnagran, they're lovely. And I had a look at your FB Ginny, very nice and duly liked.

NurseMaggie, best of luck with your new CPAP machine, I know my MIL can't go a night without hers now - she feels so much better with it.

I have made no inroads to doing anything for Christmas, which is very unlike me. Can't get my head round it this year.

Anyhoo, a nice recipe for you folks:

Not so Dopiaza (adapted from a Rick Stein recipe)

500g of cheap meat chunks (doesn't matter if it's lamb, beef, pork or chicken, I've done it with all of them, they all work fine, pick the cheapest)
1kg rough cut onions (quarters will do, they cook down)
4 tsp lazy garlic (or the real stuff if you're being posh)
3 tsp lazy ginger (or ground ginger, you won't notice)
500g greek yoghurt (not the low fat kind, it matters)
4 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground chilli/chilli flakes
1 tsp black peppercorns
6 green cardamom pods (bashed)
50g butter
2 tsp salt
250ml water

Stick it all in a big pan, pop the lid on, bring to a boil. Give it a good stir so everything's mixed in, pop the lid back on and simmer for a couple of hours, stirring every so often. By this time the meat should be falling apart and the liquid a fair bit lower. Take the lid off. Now is where you can add in a bit more bulk, drain a can of chickpeas or chop 500g button mushrooms and throw them in. Give it another 20 mins simmering with the lid off, stirring regularly until there's less sauce.

Eat with rice, thank me later.

It's a lot of spices and they're all whole, but it really works so well in this it's like a restaurant quality dish. It freezes like a dream, I tend to make this and freeze it, then make something like a dhal or potato curry and serve up the cheaper curry with the meat one. This isn't the cheapest recipe I've got, but it's the one I bring out to impress people with little effort.

Hi all,

Sorry to butt in as a stranger..

This curry sounds lovely, have you tried this in a slow cooker?
If not do you think it would work ok?
(maybe an 8 hour cook, with the chickpeas added half way through? Guessing!)

Thanks!

Knit_Witch

Secrets of the Castle tomorrow at 21.00 hours

savingqueen

Ivyleaf maybe a little afternoon nap is in order?

(((Camelot))) - sorry to hear about your colleague and hope you feel better soon.

How are you feeling today Pooky?

I am feeling a bit gutted, wanted to buy DS7 the old "huddle" (Mr Tosspots) but they had none left so then decided to go for the huddle 2 (only as thought could pay in vouchers) and I must have already used the reward vouchers but forgot to bin them as hardly any are still valid. Back to the drawing board and only a week to source a pressie plus another dent in the finances!

On the plus side the major decluttering is progressing and its brilliant to see room where none existed, tidy cupboards and so on. Still a long way to go but I can see light at the end of the tunnel now!

fuddle

Tonight is the night I get my seafood chowder the oven is on for the part baked crusty rolls. I can't wait!

The SC is also on and has been since 2pm on high. I've got porridge in there with peach slices. It's for the girls' supper. I'll add brown sugar too.

I got a lot of the reindeer hat crocheted last night. It's looking good. Going to stuff it with 'spider webs' from halloween. It's basically a pile of stuffing so why not. Hoping to have it finished by the weekend when I will be working with my carer mate. I do need to go for red and white wool though.

Shopping arrives tomorrow. It consists of ingredients for Italian themed meals for the next week. Italian cooking is so simple and relies on herbs for flavour rather than expensive ingredients so hopefully I will learn some fail safe basic recipes. I have ordered Jamie Oliver and Nigella's Italian books from the library for some ideas on what to do with flavours. We consume far too much meat at a great cost so lighter meals would be a refreshing change on many a level.

Possession

Well our offer for the house was accepted, but I managed to fit the mortgage call in and as we feared it's had to be referred to the underwriters, so playing a waiting game now.
Hope you're OK Camelot.

CRANKY40

SQ check your vouchers online to see if the ones you have left match. You may have binned the wrong ones at a previous point.

monnagran

Had a hectic weekend -when don't I? - and am now faced with everything to catchup on.

Have read through but can't remember much of what has been going on.

Fuddle: I can only suppose that you have taken after your father. I can see none of the traits displayed by your Mother and sister in you. I remember when you lived up aloft and had to clean up your mother's house and do things for her. Where was your sister? Living very close but too busy, too important, too lazy, too uncaring to give you a hand.
Well, now it's her turn to step up to the plate. If I get one whiff of you feeling guilty I will be down there to beat you up. Promise!

Possession: Everything crossed for you. If the house needs a lot doing to it, that's good. It means that you can (eventually) have things just as you like them.

Camelot: So sorry to hear about your colleague. It will make for a very sad workplace, and that's hard.

Well, I've almost finished my stockings for this year. Just half a dozen 'chimneys' to sew on for santa to sit in and that's about it. Am very pleased as I'm usually burning the midnight oil to get them all ready in time.
As for home Christmas, I can now concentrate on sorting out the presents I have and those I still need to get. And replace those I have bought once and used for some birthday or other. On Saturday we went to one of the Rev's colleague's 75th birthday (don't these clerics ever retire?) What do you get a man for a 75th birthday? Fortunately I had bought DS2 a 'Man Tin' for Christmas that was going to be filled with HM shortbread. I quickly made a batch of peanut butter cookies to go in it and it was very well received.
I hate getting presents for men!

The Rev is not in my good books today. She likes a broth that she used to have a lot as a child and as it has kidneys in it that I can't stand, I graciously allow her to make it for herself occasionally. She made it this morning but absolutely refused to put it in the slowcooker because her mother (may her name be praised) always did it in a pan on the hob. I pointed out, in a sweetly reasonable way, that it would use much less electricity in the SC. Not to worry, she said. we paid for the electricity by DD so it wouldn't matter..........
It has been bubbling away merrily ever since and my lips have been very, very, tight.
She has just called upstairs to say where is the suet as she fancies making dumplings. I was pleased to say that we didn't have any.
HUH!

Love you all.

x

[Deleted User]

Want some help MONNA? I'm sure we can sort her out between the two of us!!! Mind you we'll take cake so she can have some after being sorted won't we?