Living on next to nought - is that the key?

little_sweetie

Hmm, must admit I much prefer real tatties to tinned but one man's meat etc as they say....

Right, so I'll put me order in now for a tray of living salad everyweek - and make sure that you put an interesting mix in for us - none of this iceberg monoculture - I want 'frizzy' and 'purple' and 'blotchy' and, and..... :rotfl:

Greying, I couldn't agree more. I sowed my first little packet of seeds on Sunday and we have shoots! It's the CALIFORNIAN mix with Land Cress, Kale Red Russian, Red Chard, Salad Rocket, Corn Salad and Spinach. Honestly, I have no idea what some of them are :eek: but I will grow and eat them nonetheless. Apparently, there will be edible shoots in just 2-3 weeks. Woohoo!

Next instalment in the Bee Tee saga:

I checked my account this morning 3 months to the day since the last bill and I am in CREDIT to the tune of £30.66. No sign of a refund just a promise that the sum will be carried forward to next month's bill :mad: which will in all probability still show a credit after taking out the amount due for May. I do despair sometimes. I suppose I could demand an 'instant' refund but it doesn't seem worth the effort as it could simply c*ck up their system further. Should I leave well alone methinks :think: ??

I love the look of your Jack's curry from last night GP. OH refuses to eat peaches so I probably won't try that one but we are having Jack's Onion Pasta with Parsley & Red Wine tonight. If nothing else I'll get to slurp a little red wine whilst cooking it

Hope you feel better soon mothernerd, pain is horrible x

little_sweetie

BTW moneyistooshortomention, I worry about the demise of our libraries too. I think it's another case of 'use it or lose it' as money is so tight for the councils and closing libraries is an easy way to cut costs. Trouble is when they're gone they're gone, I'm afraid. We MUST use our local ones.

dreaming

Well now, I was putting an electric heater on e*bay yesterday and saw a slow cooker being advertised, so I only went and bought it, didn't I? It is one where you can brown meat before cooking, and I got it for a little under half price (inc p&p). It is sold as new as the owners received it for wedding present and they can't use it as "they are vegetarians"(!). Perhaps I should have directed them to this thread. Have also freecycled some other "stuff" which was in the way so am freeing up some room for it.

kem10

I used to love going to the library but in my local one they've put in a games console ( or 2 ) and reduced book space to make way for them... Ever since then I have gone less and less.

Used to go once a month with my dad when I was a kid and get 4 books to be read to with or to read myself at bed time.


I think I'm going to give Jack's curry a go for Saturday night. Meeting some friends and we are all bringing a dish and 2 or 3 are veggies so that'll work out well Thanks!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Erm, I'll admit to being a bit confuzzled.

Why all the argument about tinned potatoes?

Karma - 3 of the reference books I have held on to are for gardening

Ay up Piquant - do you know, many, many, moons ago, we ate home grown spuds all the time in the parental home. Tinned potatoes got wheeled out..... for company.... namely my vicious auld bag of a paternal grandmother, who had airs and graces and always bought shop cake, because it was 'better'. They were too expensive for us to eat *normally* so we had to do with mud splattered, fresh, organic tatties. *sigh* how times have changed :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention - howdy - did you see I had a bash at one of the recipes off the blog you kindly directed me too????

Wholly concur about trying out JM's recipes. Not expecting everyone to work - after all, which celeb cook book does anyone own that they slavishly cook every single thing out of. Also, there is method to my project of trying them out when I can *afford* to do so, so that if ever I'm down to figuring out how to make £10 a week feed me and my SB (DP ), then I'll know which are winners and which.........

Yep, hear you on the libraries thing too. I do borrow a lot of books from my local library. However, I don't believe that I am *keeping them open*. Whether they stay open or close is purely down to one person looking at whether the bottom line adds up within the 4 year political cycle. There is no joined up thinking, no appreciation of the value of wider learning, life-long learning nor social contribution/cohesion. Its about budgets and the bottom line, not books. I have reference books for gardening, sewing, DIY and then my cookery books - although my 'own' cookbook of *gathered* recipes, is always my goto tome. And yes, I also see your point about the worldwidewondaweb, I'll use that for as long as I can, as I still believe that it has opened up *community* more than ever. However, you only have to listen to the news to know that not every citizen of the world has unfettered access to it. It can be taken away at anytime.

Mara - I agree that fresh are preferable to tinned, but also appreciate that people use tinned for a wide variety of reasons. I do buy fresh potatoes 99% of the time - which made the disappointment with the lack of taste of a bag of new potatoes from mand$ just recently all the more ironic. Their only saving grace was that they were heavily YS'd and were not British produce - and yes, I got what I deserve for not buying British

little_sweetie - I fear you are getting too organickartisanmybodyisatemple for this thread...... get you with your *Californian mix*........ :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: [pulling ya leg - Forest green with envy really!!! :D:D]

With Bee t they just keep rolling your credit onwards - I was £17+ in credit before my last bill. If you can find the bit on the account page to claim it back - do so. I was going to try to claim the £11 credit back and wait for the £12 overpayment of DD until the next bill - but do you think I can find 'claim back credit' on my account now?

dreaming - well done, bet you'll get a bargain. I must admit, that whilst there is a SC veggie cook book, I've never been tempted to get a SC myself, although many, many moons ago, we had a secondhand one gifted by an aged aunt and I did cook meat (for guests) in it, but the fact that the crock did not remove from the base, made cleaning a nightmare :eek:

kem10 - lovely to see you

So, the day has been OK, I managed to take a carrier bag of stuff out of the house and drop it off at a charity shop. It's not a charity I would normally support, but I was passing and was in the car today. However, I was met with......... well, I won't elaborate, we'll put it down to volunteer 'less than professionalism' - aka opening your mouth without engaging your brain. I will not donate to that charity again - they got some good stuff, narrowly, today.

Dinner. Right, what can I say. I made Jack's Moroccan not a tagine - as per her recipe in the book. It's not a recipe I would make again. I prefer other dishes, that it is *in the style of*, although I appreciate, that they would probably cost more to make. Jack's recipe has beef stock in it - well, a stock cube. Unless that is the source of protein, I would query where the protein was in this dish (happy to be put right by any lurking nutritionists out there ) I would normally use chickpeas or lentils in this type of dish as the protein source. I probably would have not bothered adding in the prunes. 50g equates to.... 7 prunes, in a dish that can feed 6........

Picture here;



And if you'd like to have a go at making the dish, the recipe (from Jack's blog, so slightly different) is HERE

For the cost, the recipe is a brave attempt at something *different* on a teeny budget. It just wasn't for me. There was, however, a portion (probably snap sized) left in the saucepan, for another day Oh, and I used sweet potatoes because I had some - something Jack suggests in her recipe notes on the blog.

Today I am grateful for;

removing more clutter from the house - and that clutter will be of use to someone else, it won't go to landfill.

volunteers - I know one fell *below par* today, but too much now depends on volunteers doing the work, so :T for the majority.......

for the effort and motivation of folks who at least *have a go* to come up with ideas/solutions/new ways of doing things - unfortunately, they are usually met with nowt but criticism, but I'm grateful to them, for their contribution and the diversity it brings to my life

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate you making the time to join in.

See y'all later.

Greying

PS - the mint in tonight's dish was home grown - polishes halo :rotfl:

brizzledfw

Looks lush...good one GP

cocalls

morning greying im really going to have to order jack's book from the library as the recipes look really interesting-does she use ready made lemon juice from a bottle or real lemons?

As if you have some lemon carcasses left over you could do what i did the other day for the first time and once all the juice has been squeezed from it i popped it in a steamer and steamed it until soft then blended it and added it to some bun mixture and made the most moist and lemony buns which were really tasty and from something id normally have thrown away!

Great CU total btw.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

brizzle - lovely to *see* you, as ever. I agree, the dish looks good, but the recipe isn't a keeper for Greying Towers. I remain grateful to Ms Monroe for her recipe development activities though

Gosh - are we on Wednesday already????? Due to ongoing austerity measures, are some gubberment munchkins making minutes of the day disappear due to *cutbacks*? Has anyone checked that we still have 1440 minutes each day anymore?? :rotfl:

Should be a NSD today. I have the majority of the ingredients for dinner tonight. It's a fail on the fresh coriander again, but then I don't grow my own (yet) like Jack, so I can't easily put it in everything

I've been musing over the whole debate around 'self-sufficiency' (in knowledge) due to library closures/dilution of service and potential restrictions to future access to the internet. I was thinking how easier it would be here to 'maintain' a home, if actually, that home had been constructed in a very simple, but highly energy efficient manner in the first place. Retro fitting to Victoriana ain't easy or funny I was also minded about something the plumber mentioned, about the 'codes' around wiring/electricals having changed again, to the point where competent DIYers were forced to used electricians, as everything has to be signed off to meet insurance/guarantee requirements. Clearly, this is also to curtail the *cowboys*, but a) *cowboys* still exist and b) it pushes the cost of everything up so much, by the time you have added in VAT etc.

The system does rather foster 'dependence' doesn't it? still, *bread and circuses* is probably a debate left to other forums......

Mind you, I have also been musing on the tinned food issue to. I suppose I see tinned as on a par with frozen, although some things are better frozen than tinned (mushrooms spring to mind), making up a pyramid of food solutions. Dried goods have their place in that pyramid too. I would rather eat fresh, frozen, tinned or dried foods than pink gloop *grown* in a petri dish, anyday of the week.......

I know why I have been musing on these points. It all fits into the *living retirement life now* structure - something that is quite a hot topic on the MFW thread too. And I think that a common theme is emerging, that as well as having *enough* money to live on, knowledge is power, as is having an open mind - to such matters as *simple living*, raising additional income, investment strategies or re-training for different employment. All issues, which, thankfully, you can learn about if you peruse MSE

Well, I'd better get a wiggle on. These 'ere snap bags won't fill themselves

Thank you for popping in, reading and commenting and joining in. I continue to greatly appreciate it

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

cocalls wrote: »

morning greying im really going to have to order jack's book from the library as the recipes look really interesting-does she use ready made lemon juice from a bottle or real lemons?

As if you have some lemon carcasses left over you could do what i did the other day for the first time and once all the juice has been squeezed from it i popped it in a steamer and steamed it until soft then blended it and added it to some bun mixture and made the most moist and lemony buns which were really tasty and from something id normally have thrown away!

Great CU total btw.

cocalls - cross-posted, sorry.

Actually, she uses both fresh lemons - zest and juice and bottled juice. It kinda depends on where the recipe originated, but including tonight's recipe, she's used fresh lemons in 2 out of the 3 recipes I've tried. Friday night's dish uses lemon juice - presumably from a bottle rather than squeezed fresh - as I've seen her 'cost' bottled lemon juice. HTH

Good tip with the lemon shells - had you zested them too? Could see them sneaking in a source of fibre into the buns too - :shhh: shhh! don't the kids :rotfl:

Greying

supersaver1000

PS - the mint in tonight's dish was home grown - polishes halo :rotfl:

LOL am truly tickled by your posts. Cheered me up before I go to work especially you polishing your halo. Do you have wings too?
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Oh well. Hi ho .....