Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

I hope you are all well and safe if you have stormy weather.

DP has gone into work, last for 2013. I thought that I would tune into our BBC local radio station to check for road closures/delays/troublespots. What a waste of time. Nothing was mentioned, the presenters were just prattling on about rubbish and themselves. So much for the 'stay tuned to your local radio station in the event of bad weather'. When the stations were up for revue, that was the principle reason given for maintaining them. Yet ours played ball by ball dismissal in the ashes test - very useful - you don't even get that on R4, and what the presenters did on Christmas Day. Humpf. Of course, I must be wrong, with not so much as a twig blocking any form of road surface in the area, no spots of moisture bigger than a 5p piece on any tarmacadam nor whisp of wind stronger than an angel's sneeze disrupting travel......... Double humpf!

Our walk yesterday went ok. The wildlife and scenery was brilliant, we had moments when it was just so quiet that it felt like we were the only people on earth...... Then we got to the 'circular walk' bit...... where everyone else had headed to........ nuff said

So, today, is going to be great....... :rotfl:

Oh, I did get (and claim) a NSD yesterday - so that was good And I'm pretty sure that I'm on to claim another today Either I have got in the mojo or..... as is more likely, I've no money and a full fridge

Oh, and we had Aubergine Bhuna (Memory Girl's curry in a hurry recipe), dhal and rice for dinner last night. I really appreciated the change in taste and the spice kick (although it is not chilli hot IYSWIM) Photo here;



I'm going to spend the day planning and plotting. I've a gaggle of cookery books from the library that I am going to work through looking for culinary inspiration. Plus I can return them when the library opens and get clutter out of the house

I've a thank you card to make for a dear relative who gave us some cash as a present.

And if I have any spare time, I could always engage in a little 'light dusting' :rotfl:

Pizza for dinner tonight, assuming we have power etc etc.

Right, I'd better get up and at 'em. Today is going to be a good, productive day

Thanks for popping in, reading and commenting, it is always nice to *see* you and I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

EssexHebridean

Morning GP - glad you're having a good few days, and hurrah for days of planning and plotting.

We got the "Wartime Farm" book for Christmas, as well as a couple of the River Cottage "handbook" series too - some interesting stuff in those and all sourced by Mum via eBay - clever lady she is! expecting the new Rick Stein one & also river Cottage fruit from the in-laws in a few days - looking forward to those too. I'll let you keep that curry though - looks way too chilli-heavy for me! :rotfl:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Ay up EH ta for popping by. Mmmm, no I must say that the aubergine bhuna is not full of chilli, I reckon you would like it - it is fragrant with spices and coconut (if you like coconut?) a complete change to the more conventional fare that we had on Christmas day - my palate was craving interesting spices

Well, I've been busy today, but my planning and plotting almost fell at the first hurdle, as I had forgotten to 'inform' myself when I last took out a bag of bread flour from the stores that it was the last one...... therefore we couldn't have pizza for dinner this evening as I hadn't enough bread flour Doh! Technically, we could of had a slice of pizza from the freezer, but I still would of had to put the oven on for potato wedges, so I changed the plan We had leftovers. The mash, bread sauce, peas and carrots were from Wednesday's lunch, and I made up a quick batch of tomato sauce, added in some frozen black-eyed beans to make baked beans - and yes, they should of been haricot, but like a fool, I hadn't frozen a small tub of haricots when I cooked them in the PC the other week :doh: Then I found some left over 'filling' from the veggie 'sosage' rolls I made for our walk yesterday, and hey presto, cos it was in a square freezer pot, 'veggie Lorne sosage' was born (that may mean something to our reader from North o' the border...... ) I blame Memorygirl for talking about it on her blog t'other week. Here's a pic of DP's plate,



And nae, you cannae hae the recipe .... that could make me my fortune that could If I could remember what I'd put in it meself........:think: :doh: At least I didn't have the headache of a wine match for it A cup of tea hit the spot for DP

I've achieved a NSD, so must update my total.

I'll finish up, as I might well grab an early night, didn't get much sleep last night

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

that DP got to, and arrived home safely from; work today

for inspiration from library books, all for free :money:

for 'fast food' from the fridge - MSE style :D:D

Thank you so much for dropping by reading, commenting and joining in with this thread. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

miss_empty_piggy

:hello:Good Morning Greying,
I've been MIA for a wee while, but just wanted to say Hello to you and everyone else. :hello::hello::hello:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Ahh, finally the wind has eased here.... it is still blowy, but not the raging gusts that have been around for the last 36hours or so. And yes, Dear Reader, I am talking about the weather - we didn't have sprouts, remember :rotfl:

Well, today can easily be a NSD, so you can bet I'll be trying to snag it as one

DP is going to start on some prep in the bathroom for painting. In the grand scheme of things, it is a waste of time, as the bathroom needs a large overhaul, full stop. But DP is getting anxious about it, and realistically, it could be improved in the short term, so we might as well give it a go.

I didn't make the 'thank you' card yesterday, so that is my task for today, along with washing.

Dinner this evening is currently a quandary, as we had the bhuna the other night. I am sure that I can come up with something

I was thinking this morning how much we have (over the years) cut back at Christmas - and given that we were never that profligate anyway, it is amazing that we have still cut down. And yet this year, again, there have been items that we have not yet used. Now of course, they are items that will keep - to a greater or lesser extent, clearly a block of cheese will not keep for as long as a packet of unopened biscuits, but there is still 'excess' food in the fridge, freezer and stores. Now, I'm not for one moment suggesting going all 'bah humbug' and surviving on baked beans - after all, we used some of the nice cheese on our baps for our boxing day walk - but it is interesting what we actually use versus what we have actually bought.

I opened up the McV***es Jamaican spiced cake last night and cut some up and covered it with custard. It only cost 49p from HB and was supposed to be in lieu of our Christmas pudding, which - surprise, surprise - we had no room for on Christmas Day. Mmmm, I don't know how much this product retails for normally, but put it this way, it was very, very dry and not a nice eat. The custard was very much needed - and I'm not a fan of custard! I think next year I shall just make Memorygirl's version of the ginger cake - as it keeps so well - and we'll have that for our Christmas pud. The cake will keep until we've room to eat it, it is simple to make and we know that it tastes nice - job's a good 'un!

Right, well, time is a marching on. Best get and do some work I guess.

Ta for popping by and reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Edit: missemptypiggy - I was thinking of you yesterday - I *saw* you on FQ's blog and wondered how you were - Thanks for stopping by - lovely to *see* you here with us

maddiemay

Good morning to the Greying household, I too was only thinking last evening about the food that we have left, as I had a lurgy we didn't buy that much either. My shop was only a handful of luxuries above our normal 10 day/2 weekly shop, but nothing that has to be used that quickly. I hate food waste and will nearly always be able to find a use for things.


Another vote here for Memory Girl's Ginger cake, a few weeks ago I doubled up on the quantity and made 2, my only deviation from her recipe was to add a little chopped ginger and some of the syrup from a jar of crystallised ginger that I have lurking in the cupboard, they tasted gorgeous and just got better with keeping. OH was chuffed to have them to cut at and as he uses quite a lot of calories when cycling I don't need to restrict his intake of such goodies.


I hope that you have a productive and enjoyable weekend, family post Christmas party for my gang tomorrow (31 bods I believe), but we have hired a comfortable venue and all will be providing food - I wonder how many sausage rolls will be brought? LOL

dreaming

Hi GP - glad you enjoyed your Christmas.


Hmm, leftovers! Well for only the 2nd time in about 38years I was not in charge of Christmas Day dinner. Instead went to Son & partners and had lovely dinner there - gammon/chicken and all the trimmings. Played with 7yr old twin grandsons and then DD arrived after working in the morning and then she stayed with me until Friday morning. I cooked some beef on Boxing Day and still have small piece of that left - will have tonight with jacket potatoes. My big win this year was to NOT buy 10 different cheeses and a similar amount of biscuits to go with them. Xmas puds from 2 years ago still not eaten so may have to admit defeat on that. Although it does seem a bit strange not to have a fridge groaning with stuff it is also quite nice to get back to "normal" eating. Do have quite a bit of veg. left but that will get used up in next couple of days or frozen in casserole/stew pack portions.
Going through the box where I keep paperwork to find receipt for son's shirt which doesn't fit him I found the Xmas present for my niece (which I thought I had lost and had to rush out to buy something 2 days before Xmas Day) so may claim that as an early start on next Christmas' shopping plan!
Itching to take the decorations down but under strict instructions by family to leave until at least New Year's Day, although as I treat that as a non-event (every day is new year's day in my book) I may just start to pack away piece by piece over the next couple of days.
Lovely sunny day here after horrendous winds. No damage done round my area luckily. Hope all is well for you.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon :hello:

maddiemay - thanks for dropping by. The post-Christmas get together sounds good - I guess a 'bring a dish' means no washing up either? Also, I am so with you on the 'no wasting food' thing.

dreaming - I hope your daughter's Christmas day shift went smoothly. And yep, I'm with you on the getting back to 'normal' eating - I can only stick festive fare for a day though! :rotfl:

Well DP has done a sterling job removing paint off the ceiling - not a great job at the best of times, but working above your head? A back and arm killer We will need to do some filling, before the paint goes on, but it will look better in the end.

I've managed to get the 'thank you' card made and a few other bits and bobs sorted. So not as strenuous as DP's day, but I'm sufficiently chuffed.

Also I can legitimately claim a NSD

We had lentil and bean soup for lunch - I made spicy lentil soup and then added the leftover HM 'baked beans' from last night to warm through. It got served with a couple of slices of L*dl 20p baguette and I topped that with HM labneh into which I had chopped up a couple of those spicy peppers. Very tasty and very filling.

In fact, we're both still quite full, so dinner this evening has been designated a 'cheese & cracker buffet'

So, to take advantage of not being tied to the kitchen for the next couple of hours, I'm signing off early, so that I can enjoy a restful evening in front of the log burner, catching up with some quality (?) tv on tape.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for the time to complete something creative - very relaxing, even if the finished article is somewhat on the 'wonky' side of artisanal :rotfl:

for DP's hard work - very much appreciated

for the inventor of the 'buffet' - occasionally, even a food and cooking mad nut like me values a little down time.......:D

Thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting. I've enjoyed *seeing* you.

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

Enjoy your evening

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...'cheese & cracker buffet'...

...mmmm - cheese! - the yummiest of dinners!