Living on next to nought - is that the key?

starnac

Hi Greying. I have found your diary and have subscribed. X

little_sweetie

Talking of ouchie - little_sweetie I know you can't post, but I hope
recuperation is helping your back get better

Aw thanks so much for thinking of me Greying. Today, for the first time in a week I can actually sit at the computer for a short time without being in agony I went to see the Doc on Wednesday and the young pup was totally disinterested and actually yawned whilst I was talking to him! So it seems rest and a bit of pottering are the key (as well as keeping up with this brilliant thread, of course ) I've spent my resting time catching up with the earlier posts and I've been in tears of laughter at several points (and it actually hurts to laugh!) So a big thank you to everyone for keeping me cheerful

Greying, the soup looks amazing...I can happily live on a good soup every day...

BTW shortie I do hope your ankle is ok, but what a kind chap to stop and talk to you.....

Beanie that's fantastic news! So very well done :T

I am going to need to do a big shop next week as we have eaten everything I had stockpiled in the freezer Dinner tonight will be shop bought pizza with the last of the salad as I still can't stand for very long but, I'm hoping I can visit the supermarket next week if OH drives me there. Unfortunately, it also means that he will 'help' me to shop meaning a bigger spend but it would be worse if he goes all by himself :eek: Meanwhile I am making meal plans and looking forward to trying new recipes when I am better. The Guinness stew is yet to be tried....I bought a bottle of the black stuff over a week ago in readiness and hid it in the cupboard in case temptation strikes OH. He has NOT found it!:rotfl::rotfl:

Hope everyone has a little of the lovely sun we have today

little_sweetie

We call 'snap' erm, 'snap' out of affection for a dear Uncle, who always refers to 'snappin' or 'snap' (and sometimes 'bait' - which is always 'bait tin' - dunno why). He hails from the outer fringes of Dudley, so whether it is a Dudley, or indeed 'Black Country' term, I'm not sure. We're lucky to have him in our family by marriage. It's a snap box or bag in this house, or a snap 'bucket' if there is lots of leftovers to get rid of available
for lunch. I'd heard of 'piece' before, and being a greedy soul, I hope I never get given a 'wee piece' :eek: :rotfl:

Flippin' 'eck Greying, I learn something new every day! Whilst 'resting' I read post #213 containing the above info. Would you believe it, we lived in Dudley until we downsized to here 4 years ago I was born in Dudley and OH in Quarry Bank (or Quarry Bonk as the locals are prone to calling it) We do indeed use the term 'snap' but some folk call it 'fittle' and, indeed there is a pub in Dudley called The Bostin' Fittle ( in translation....fantastic food, although theirs is nothing of the sort but that's another story :rotfl:) Perhaps Uncle knows of it? What a small world it is

Hope you had a fantastic day x

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Ay up starnac - lovely to *see* you I'll definitely have to experiment with those recipes now eh? :D

little_sweetie - how lovely to have you back posting :DInteresting about The Bostin' Fittle... I wonder whether that is a derivation of 'vittles'? Oooh, isn't our language rich??? I knew about 'bostin' - have seen too much Lenny Henry stand-up on TV

No don't let your DH find the gu1ness - if you are feeling better, the stew could be made on St Patrick's day - as it will be here in Greying Towers


So, today has been good. A lovely end to the week

I grabbed a NSD :j

Dinner this evening was a new dish. Postponed from February, as I had no lemon and no caraway at the time this dish appeared on the planner It was a Yotam Ottolenghi dish, barley risotto and marinated feta. Picture here;



I liked it, it was the first time that I have ever used caraway seed in cooking. And I keep thinking of that pink bubblegum that you used to be able to buy, but DP - he of the 'cheap sweets' mastermind level knowledge, claimed that it reminded him of no such thing...... I think if I was to do it again, I would definitely spend longer crushing the caraway. Yotam said to 'lightly crush' it, well I did, but frankly, it was difficult to eat, and detracted from the dish somewhat. But the flavour was good. I would certainly make the 'risotto' again. The only thing that I didn't do was to use passata in the dish - I felt that the chopped tomatoes were enough. In addition, I didn't have any fresh oregano to top the cheese at the end, so used dried. Not quite the same, but to be expected in a Jalopy half-star caff, that is Greying Towers :rotfl:

If you would like to make this recipe, which is from Yotam & Sami's book 'Jerusalem', then the recipe can be found HERE this blog is one of the few to have the recipe in grammes, rather than cup measurements. If you're more used to cups and ounces, just g00gle, plenty of sites come up with the recipe

Today, I am grateful for these 3 things;

that the 'substitute' dish for dinner, was actually quicker and easier to make than what we would otherwise have had :rotfl:

that the sun shone - at least for a little while........

that we like the taste of caraway - 89p not wasted out of the grocery budget :rotfl:

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I appreciate it. A Lot.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, the day has started well. DP bought a cable yesterday (with his own money, not the H/H budget) to connect the internet up to the TV - in preparation for watching the motorcycling. He connected it all up this morning..... and it works! :rotfl:All I've got to do now is contact BT (ugh!) and get more download allowance - which I'm making DP pay for! :rotfl:I did notice there was a food channel on the system - epicurious..... oh dear.......... :D:D

We're starting out with some outdoor jobs today - utterly boring but necessary. I can't build up any enthusiasm, but I know that it will get us a step closer (along a looonnnggg road ) to moving out. Gotta be done.

Dinner this evening will be lentil Bolognese and pasta - keeping it simple. No glass of red - I'm saving that for the Italy rugger game next week.

At least today has every potential to be a NSD - so no complaints

Right, the call of the wild outdoors is too strong to ignore........:rotfl:

Thanks for popping in, reading and commenting, you know that I appreciate it. Greatly.

See y'all later.

Greying

Shortie

Morning Greying. That feta dish looks lovely!

Just think - getting the house sorted = moving. Now there's some inspiration xxx

Right, I can no longer pretend that I can stay in bed all day, the childerbeasts have just crashed into the bedroom shooting each other with the Nerf Guns, singing a minions songs to the cat, and pestering me to sort out the MineCraft account so they can both connect up. Extra sleep is clearly not happening now lol

sonas_baby

Hi GP just took a copy of feta recipe, it looks so good. I need to get out and do some outside work too, clearing up after the winter is a slog but worth it. Unfortunaly I'm going to the motorbike show tomorrow, (total torcher as I can't afford a new one) but doing research to see how much I need to save (honest). Hope our OH enjoys the racing.

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...Right, I'd best go and pack snap bags. With some wee pieces ...

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...It was a Yotam Ottolenghi dish, barley risotto and marinated feta...

Wow GP that looks lush! Sounds like a lovely dish packed full of flavours - think we'll give it a try too.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, the time has just flown today

Shortie wrote: »

Right, I can no longer pretend that I can stay in bed all day, the childerbeasts have just crashed into the bedroom shooting each other with the Nerf Guns, singing a minions songs to the cat, and pestering me to sort out the MineCraft account so they can both connect up. Extra sleep is clearly not happening now lol

See, now that ^^^ that is just an alien language to me - what do you mean???? :rotfl: Actually, I do know what minions are - they're the yellow ones, right? but 'nerf guns', minecraft??? I know not of what you speak...... :rotfl::rotfl:

Thank you shortie - you are right, sortage = moveage, so we gritted our teeth and got on with it PS, I'm intrigued, does your cat like being sung to, or does it treat it with utter contempt, known only to cats and taught on the 'how to treat servants' course at cat skool ...... :rotfl:

sonas_baby - it does seem like a curious mix of flavours when you look at the recipe, but I have to say, it seems to work

rtandon - lovely to *see* you - I've missed ya Twas Pippi that started it, as she started packing *snap* on her thread, so I nicked her *wee pieces* :rotfl:

Oh, I forgot to add last night, in sort of explanation of that Yotam dish. The reason why I copied it out of the book was because a) it was possibly one of the more interesting recipes using pearl barley that I have seen and b) because actually, it is quite a low cost recipe, utilising store-cupboard ingredients (depending on the make-up of your store, natch ). I used valoo feta, but even if you used the real mcoy, it would still be quite an inexpensive dish - as it would probably feed 4, particularly if you had accompaniments like salad or bread or something. The one thing with the valoo feta this time was that it was a little too creamy (I know, you get what you pay for.....) - even DP commented on it, but apart from that......

Today has worked out well.

We've been confined to the homestead, so I can claim a NSD :j

Neither of us wanted to do the outside work, but do you know what, we got on with it, and what we both, independently, thought would take the day, ended up with us 90% done by lunch time And further more, whilst I was instrumental with lifting, grunting and shunting at the start, there was then a lull, where essential, 'Chap' stuff had to be undertaken and I was duly dismissed with the line, 'What can you be doing for an hour whilst I do this?' So dear reader, I headed to the stove and made lentil Bolognese for dinner and tomato soup and chilli cheese scones for lunch

I wonder would you be interested to see? I ask because we were inordinately delighted with lunch - sad, but true :rotfl: I don't know if it was because it was simple, or we felt we had earnt it or.... I dunno. But the soup was just right, and the scones turned out well. Here's a pic;



The soup was a 'made up' version, but I put carrots, passata and a tsp of sugar in mine. The scones were from the bero book again, if you'd like the recipe, SEE BELOW, (link didn't take), add in whatever chilli you are minded, or not at all The scones are super cheap to make - although i'll admit they were the only thing in the oven today, so not very :money: I hadn't got the time to make a big batch.

After lunch, I did my bit to finish off the last 10% of the job and that was that. Plus, in the spirit of doing one thing today, that I was not at all minded to do, I decided to tackle another job I'd been putting off for too long. Now, I realise that I give the impression that life at Greying Towers is just one *whirligig* of champagne parties and show biz, but this arvo Dear Reader, I spent time.....darning socks :rotfl: And so engrossed was I, that when I'd done as many as I could bear, I realised it was 5.30pm!! Still, I've 3 more pairs of socks now to wear, so :j It's the small things, right? :rotfl:

Right, I'm away to cook some pasta and re-heat the Bolognese, so I'll not be on again tonight. Have fun partying without me Biscuit tin on the side, cake on the stand, tea, coffee, milk and mugs in the usual place

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

the power of teamwork - you can move mountains with another 'some-one' But DP is particularly special...... :smileyhea
that my scones rose! - but I still would of shown you if they hadn't....... :rotfl:

for my [STRIKE]stubborn streak [/STRIKE] power of perseverance - but I still don't love darning.......:rotfl:

Thank you so much for dropping by, reading and commenting. You know that I appreciate it. You are supporting me, my cheerleading gang and my levellers (coz you laugh at me 'baps' and 'wee pieces' ..... :rotfl:) YOU ARE ALL AMAZING

See y'all later.

Greying