Living on next to nought - is that the key?

mouche

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

for the anticipation of a holiday - or am I odd to find the planning, preparation and budgeting to have a great time as fun as the holiday itself?...... I am........oh

No, not odd at all - am planning our own vacation right now and am sure the planning and dreaming will be far more fun than the holiday itself - after all it never rains and toddlers never have tantrums in dreams!

Karmacat

Absolutely with you on the anticipation - without that, I find I'm not as ready to have fun on the holiday itself, if that makes sense - so its a twofer, to anticipate and plan

kem10

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

kem10 - thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment. Are you veggie, or do you just like to cook a variety of foodstuffs? And yes, I want to eat 'interestingly', but unfortunately my budget is not so huge, so invention and research are key to my culinary mash ups

You're more than welcome No I'm not veggie I just like to cook and eat a variety of food stuffs. I like to have a few meat free dinners a week and I think it helps me to be more adventurous with food ingredients than I would be otherwise.

Hope Wednesday treats you well!

EssexHebridean

That's the reason I decided to donate our cards this year rather than just throwing them in the recycling at home GP - more "value foir money" that way! :rotfl:

The curry link with the RS one looks excellent - I wonder whether something similar will be in the India book too? Must take a look. It'll be out on Friday anyway as I intend to cook from it for Friday night tea.

with you on the holiday thing - I LOVE planning ours, and we both agree that the planing, and the travel up, is very definitely part of the fun. Also a fan of UK holidays as you know - where will yours be?

Pippilongstocking

Love love love planning holidays.



And for my next adventure - hmm not sure yet, does taking your whole life on a new holiday count?

Hope the mystery meal manifests itself in its entire beauty.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

mouche - how lovely to *see* you - and I agree, holidays go like clockwork in our dreams don't they? Although I'm not too sure that tantrums are limited to toddlers..... :whistle: :rotfl:

EH - I took note (coz Karma got me wondering) of what the deal was with the cards in M&S today, and it has changed a little I think, but now it is that for every 1,000 cards donated, the Woodland Trust plant a tree - so today I have contributed 3 twigs and a leaf

Oh, and the beetroot curry? 'Twas outta Rick's Far Eastern Odyssey book. But the India one is chocka with recipes - not as many for veggies as the FEO (but I know that is not of relevance for you, dear thing) but I've got 3 or 4 to try out of it. Already done the Pau Bhaji and need to do it again properly. Is the goat curry the 'First Class' Curry? I'm trying to remember from the series - the chap cooked it outside. And are you actually using goat, or mutton to be more authentic?

Pippi - lovely to *see* you. I can't imagine you having much of a hols when you head orf into the arms of your RG - I've a feeling any employer worth their salt will be snapping you up pronto!

Well, today has been..... well, what has it been? I received an e-mail this morning informing me that someone I know..... not close friend as such, but the partner of a friend, so someone I knew and had dealings with, has died. Very, very sudden. Very, very unexpected. Very, very sad and, as per usual, way before they should of I'm afraid that I've been a little caught up in the 'unfairness' of it all for most of the day

So, cue coming onto MSE earlier this evening, and I find lovely folk have kindly visited this thread and left lovely comments, I find that kissjen has started up a new diary, and the thread's already awash with every biscuit in known manufacture And, well, things just got a little brighter

I did manage my de-cluttering though. The charity shop got 2 big bags. M&S got the Christmas cards and I got to do my best 'pack pony' impression

I'm not able to claim a NSD, but as between us, DP and I got everything on our 'lists' and it came to way less than a tenner, I think that I can claim a 'co-ordinated result' I even remembered to get the TV listing guide.

As for dinner, well, I wasn't in a particularly chipper mood when I got in. If we lived anywhere near a decent takeaway - I would of been wearing one of these in front of you tonight. However, we ended up having the left over stew from our French style solstice dinner, with baked potatoes and broccoli. I did not, dear reader, take a photo, because I did not want to insult your collective intelligence with pics of 'leftovers'. Even I couldn't come up with some fanciful advertising spiel about it being a traditional meal of Belgium trappists monks, only partaken when word came through that the magi and their camels had made it to the maternity wing.........and only ever served in a cereal bowl......:rotfl: Anyway, a slight deviation to the norm was that we followed it with a bowl of HM yoghurt each, with sliced banana and a little drizzle of honey. And no, there is no photo of that, 'coz I have yet to work out how to photograph white yoghurt in a white bowl and actually come up with a recognisable image

So, for my 3 things for which I am grateful today;

community - and for being part of it.

for recognising the 'reason, season or lifetime' nature of friendship and acquaintance - but for also recognising the value that such interactions have.

for the existence of the Hospice network.

Thank you so very much for popping in, reading and commenting on this thread today. You weren't to know I needed a little 'lift' - but thank you for supplying it anyway I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

I'm sorry to hear of your friend's partner's death, Greying. I've had a brush with that myself over the last few days, though its thankfully been averted. I think we all need comfort in a situation like that.

Very interesting about the card collection points - I'll make sure mine go to a good'un: save the twigs, an' all that

Yogurt in a white dish :money::rotfl::money::rotfl::money::rotfl:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

A quick note from me as I've an early appointment.

Karma - go for it with the cards - every little contributes

I had a dream featuring - of all things - *keys* last night. Thankfully not lost, but I have no idea what that was all about.... :rotfl:

I'm aiming to grab a NSD. It is there for the taking, so I'm up for the grabbing

Dinner this evening is going to be soup - of yet to be determined variety - with the last of the veggie sosage rolls left over from our boxing day walk (and frozen I hasten to add ). Not exciting, but frugal and filling

So, have a great day whatever you are up to today. I intend to

Thanks for dropping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

EssexHebridean

Oh GP, that's tough. We had a client of ours in here the other day who was just on her way to a funeral - the first of her friends to lose a partner - she's a lady we know really well and it was sad to hear her speaking of how devastating it was and how it had made their whole circle stop and think.

Loving the cards thing - so between us on here we could probably raise about a branch! (Although mine went to Sainsbugs, so I've probably got my twig on a cheaper tree than yours!) :rotfl:

Our curry will indeed be made with goat - as that's the meat we have. Looking forward to trying it, and I must check the ingredients required to night to see if there is anything extra I need to pick up. Must also see if we have any of the AF naan bread stash left in the freezer - they're only Sharwoods, but they're OK.

Good luck for the NSD!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

EssexHebridean wrote: »

was sad to hear her speaking of how devastating it was and how it had made their whole circle stop and think.

Mmm, I hear you, thing is, *that* bliddy disease claimed this one, before they even reached their half century.........

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Loving the cards thing - so between us on here we could probably raise about a branch!

Yay :j Pippi will be so proud of us :rotfl:

EssexHebridean wrote: »

(Although mine went to Sainsbugs, so I've probably got my twig on a cheaper tree than yours!) :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: PMSL


So, today has been a great day. I made the mistake just now of goo gling what *keys* meant in a dream - basically it is opportunities. Dear Reader, I dreamt of great big bunches of keys - y'know, like a school caretaker (they're not called that anymore are they?) would have and there were also very *interesting* keys with ornate bits on them. Plentiful and interesting opportunities headed my way??? Knew I shouldn't have looked :rotfl:

I took a note of condolence around to my friend's house and walked back a different route. I have to say, I'm glad I did. I was at one spot and for about 30 seconds, maybe a minute, all I could hear was birdlife. I wish I had EH's knowledge and I probably could of identified it all, but it was nothing but cheeps, and peeps and chirps, and fluttering as they flitted about from tree to tree. I was totally lost in an instant - absolutely magical. Then a car came out of the car park and the moment was lost But to add to it, a little further along, I again got absolutely wrapped up in the moment watching a female sparrow hawk. She was gently flitting from tree to tree to tree - I'm not sure if she was seriously hunting, or just floating for the fun of it. What was amazing, was the amount of blue t*ts that were bouncing about on branches right by her. I almost forgot myself and shouted to them (the tree was at least 100 yards away) to *mind out* - silly me I managed to linger a little too long, but at least I was 'on time' back, not late :whistle: Someone on MSE has in their siggie a line that goes something like, 'living in the natural world and not being part of the material world' (or words to that effect). I am just thinking more and more each day how I get such pleasure from being and doing and less, less, much less from 'having'.

I can claim a NSD :j I think that whilst I *budget* well, I must manage to *fritter* money in dribs and drabs, because I definitely have a healthy portion of the housekeeping budget left - and yes, I know it is only day 9, but I mean in relation to what provisions I have in/how long they will last etc.

Oh, and I should just add that whilst I was down about things yesterday, after all, the news was a shock, I do feel better today. But I think it is all adding to my resolve to make change for DP and myself, after all, none of us know what is around the corner and I so just want us to be able to enjoy our lives. And you know that I periodically like to look at the bigger picture - and re-evaluate why I'm doing this diary etc. Well I checked into one of the blogs that I dip into now and again, it is a veggie blog and the gal is a talented chef. Considering that the latest entry is dated yesterday - although it is set out as 01.08.14 as the gal is in the US - I wondered if serendipity was playing a part again, particularly with reference to paragraph 4 - don't feel obliged to follow this link, but if you are interested...... HERE

So dinner this evening turned out to be Minestrone soup with a veggie version sosage roll. Both recipes are always 'made up' on the spot with what ever is to hand, or by whatever direction I wish to take them in. So I'm afraid that I have no links to any particular recipes. Although the pastry is Nigella's food processor 'ruff puff'. Picture here;



Oh, and I'm afraid it was only one roll each - but I put them together for dramatic photographic effect. You mind, I'll be stuffing sprigs of parsley all over me grub next........ :rotfl:

So, today, I am very grateful for these 3 things;

for mother nature - so entertaining, and no subscription fees.....

for DP [STRIKE]escaping[/STRIKE] getting home early - half an hour extra with my love today :T

for sunshine - it was wonderful to be out walking in it today

Thank you so very much for popping by, reading and commenting. I continue to appreciate it very much.

See y'all later.

Greying