Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Visitors - how absolutely luverly

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

This thread moves ridiculously quickly.

Ay up in need of direction-great to *see* you Is you saying I can waffle on tho??? :rotfl::rotfl:

cocalls wrote: »

i remember i'd made a cake from a rachel allens cookbook that uses oranges steamed and blended and i thought why not try lemons.

cocalls - that is exactly what I thought of - the Leon version my mind cast to, but why indeed shouldn't they be interchangeable and you've proved they are! Actually, inspired by you - having read your comment before I began to boil the rice - I tossed the de-juiced and de-zested carcass of 1/2 lemon in, and got lightly scented lemon rice for nowt! Cheers :beer: for the idea

little_sweetie wrote: »

Ooo, GP, you cheeky minx

Ay up little_sweetie - 'tas been a while since anyone's called me that :rotfl::rotfl:Love that you've taken the jest in the spirit intended

Karma - ta for dropping in, always lovely to *see* you here

satchmo - have you a concrete moving date yet? Love the lemon hull in with the roasted veggies idea - masterstroke

moneyistooshorttomention - you've a lot on your plate with your house renovations. Without giving detail away, are you going to be able to 'future proof' your house as you undertake all this work? I'm thinking insulation wise, or solar/uv panels etc. Whilst location of our house is.... ok, in terms of access to services, shopping, transport etc, it will never be super-duper warm, we've damp issues and I'm not entirely sure that we're brilliantly orientated for solar/uv, well, not in terms of money making - vanity project, may be. Whilst we're trying to 'live within our means' at present, I hope that I never give the impression that we're living a life of penury, because we're not. Life is good

supersaver - come, join in. There's a lovely gaggle of folk on here. And anything by TP is ok in my book - did you know this thread has it's own vinyl collection???? :rotfl:

beanie - long time no *see* - ta for popping in. Mucho appreciated Yep, libraries are GRAND - no doubt. And yes, you make a great frittata don't you? You've mentioned it before. Tinned pots would be perfect for that

dreaming - I know, you're right, but there never seems to be any thinking past an electoral term - same issue with cutting *home ec* (showing me age ) from the curriculum, and then wondering why people eat $**t or selling off playing fields, and then wondering why no-one is motivated to get sporty and the associated health issues that are now cropping up 20-25 years later........

So, what a Wednesday! All good Snagged a NSD too, so siggie is updated

Dinner this evening - was Ms Monroe's Kerelan Aubergine Curry. And I'm delighted to give it the *thumbs up*. Definitely a useful recipe. Tasty, interesting to eat and not really too much faff. Not too sure how cheap it is to make..... I paid £1.38 for 2 aubergines (mind, they was 'uge! ), I expect if you dropped on some YS'd aubergines, or have access to a good street market, where you've a *bowl* stall - 'aykneebowlferapand!' then this would be a cheap little recipe to have up your sleeve! It would only have been improved with the addition of fresh coriander and yoghurt - which, Dear Reader, I am ashamed to admit I had none of.....

Picture of my bash at the recipe here;



It made 2 good *dinner* portions and there is a *snap* portion remaining. Served with a 75g (dry weight) portion of basmati rice.

I hope the recipe link works - it should send you to g00gle books, where they are showing the recipe in Jack's book. Try HERE If it doesn't work, then g00gle - kerelan aubergine curry jack monroe and look for the g00gle books link. The recipe in her book is not the aubergine and chickpea recipe that she has written up in the guard1an.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

the sight of a heron in flight - how on earth do they stay in the air?? And as for their landing in a tree technique :rotfl::rotfl:

to be the first user of a new book from the library - it was just sitting on the shelf, no need to order nor nuffink!

that an OS map I have been *waiting* for was also just sat on the shelf in the library - look out countryside, here we come a-yomping

Thank you so much for popping in, and contributing - I greatly appreciate you taking the time to do so.

See y'all later.

Greying

mothernerd

Our library now closes at 5pm every night but one - used to be 7pm M-F and we now have 2 machines and check out and return our own books and log onto the computers ourselves, although there are staff to help if people are stuck (and when the machines break down).

My father took me to join the library when I was in the top class infants. I loved it - the children's library was in the basement and shafts of light fell down from the windows onto floor to ceiling wooden shelves. The only draw backs where that you were only allowed 2 books on a childrens' ticket and I read one a night - when I was 9 I started to read my father's library books as well. Oh the relief when I turned 11 and was allowed an adult ticket and 10 books at a time (I had run out of books in the childrens' section as well, even though most of the protagonists were male - I thought Cherry Ames was a bit soppy).

One de-cluttering book I read said that people who have lots of books often have their primary relationship with books - I'm sure that's true for me although I have let a lot go over the years - I had a recurring nightmare that as the boys and their need for space increased I would eventually be left with a chair in the corner of the kitchen and one little shelf for my books.

What I did find helpful was the idea that if you have loved a book and it has given you pleasure then you can send it out into the world to give pleasure to someone else (I had many books that I would re-read every year, some at particular times of the year).

This morning I went to the library and saw information about world book night on April 23rd. They are asking people to choose a book they own, which they love and give it to someone - a friend, someone in the community or a complete stranger. An interesting idea.

Greying_Pilgrim

mothernerd wrote: »

This morning I went to the library and saw information about world book night on April 23rd. They are asking people to choose a book they own, which they love and give it to someone - a friend, someone in the community or a complete stranger. An interesting idea.

Typical of me mothernerd - I peaked *twirly* - gave my surplus books to 0xfam t'other day :doh::rotfl:

I remember the thrill of *joining* the library too, the *card* then, was actually the *holder* that the tickets out of the books went into, to show what you had out....... mmmm, happy days. Interesting that I remember the children's section - in both libraries of my childhood, don't remember the librarians though. I wonder if they were supportive or draconian - shush! :shhh: :rotfl:Now they're generally friendly and provide a running commentary (usually favourable) on my book choices :rotfl:


Great memories mothernerd - ta for sharing

Greying

Ellidee

Love your recipe of the day as usual GP - saw this and thought of you !

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/pack-three-good-sized-aubergines-1-tesco-1874338

satchmo1

I loved the library and had the advantage of my mum working there. She is 84 now, and was recently a guest of honour at the opening of the town's new library as she'd been at the opening of the original one 60 years ago. When my children started borrowing their own books, the rule we had was if they could read the first page and still wanted to take it out they could. A sneaky way of getting them to want to increase their reading vocabulary, too.


Nearly nearly nearly got a moving date (28th April), exchange should happen on Tuesday (buyers solicitors handily on holiday). Sadly the library in our new village has closed, I learned this week.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Ellidee wrote: »

Love your recipe of the day as usual GP

Oh lawks, am I more ancient than I thought, or did anyone else get a, Jimmy Young *Raymondo* moment there? :rotfl::rotfl:

Ellidee - thanks for that, £1 is a great price, but I'd looked on mesoopermarket when making up my list at the end of March - and spotted those at their 'normal' price - something like £1.49/59??? toddled off to our local UGE mrT, only to discover that they don't stock them........ so I was limited to mrAl or mrL on the basis of good quality for least price IYSWIM. Thanks for the link though, I'm here drooling at the potential Wish retailers would wake up to the fact that this is a modest/poor area. We've got a reputation for being 'well orf' - not borne out by the stampede in mrAl and MrL these days.........

satchmo - hope the moving day sticks! And c'mon - first task - get that library opened as a community endeavour! :D

Right, aiming for a NSD today, nowt I should need. Ms M isn't using coriander in tonight's dish :j But parsley - of which...... I have some growing :j:D So we're all good in that department

Right, given that Brizzy was up posting at 5.30am and has already nicked the 'shake a tail feather', I shall have to toddle orf, to get up and at 'em, instead :rotfl:

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I appreciate the support. Greatly.

See y'all later.

Greying

little_sweetie

All this discussion about libraries has made me feel very nostalgic. I do remember going by myself from the age of about 10 and I remember having to whisper if I needed to ask anything. A few years later I would take my little brother with me and be mortified that he wasn't quiet! :shhh: The librarians were always a bit scary in my view. I actually wanted to be a librarian when I left school but I was made to leave at 16 so couldn't take any A levels. I ended up working for the Inland Revenue instead :eek::eek:

Greying, you lost me on the Jimmy Young thingy....:think:

See you all tonight!

moneyistooshorttomention

Looks like libraries are/were a place of refuge to many of us here then. I always felt like it was "too good to be true" almost to be able to freely borrow whatever books I wanted (ahem...turns out it was "too good to be true" in the event, now we're all having our library hours cut or cut-out:().

GREYING
I'm doing what I can re future-proofing the house. It already had cavity wall insulation and doubleglazing (if not much else worth having:(:rotfl:). I cant afford solar panels and am not convinced as to whether I'd have them or no if I could afford them. My futureproofing then boils down to I am in process of starting to plant up an as-productive-as-possible food garden for myself. Should be able to manage to grow quite a bit with the amount of space I have available now. I keep on working out and re-working out how to cram in as much quantity-wise and as much variety as possible.

little_sweetie

iaps wrote: »

If you are a member of public libraries, you can borrow e-Books using new e-Book service.

Using your Library Card and pin, a user can login into a secure eBook service and select up to 6 eBooks to download to your PC/e-reader/ipad/device at any one time. 24/7.

e.g.:

http://wales.libraryebooks.co.uk/site/EB/ebooks/firstlisted.asp

Wow,iaps, I didn't know such a service existed. Could it just be for Wales? I will certainly investigate as I have a basic Kindle device to download to....although I have to admit I like the feel of a real book in my hands It would certainly be a very useful service though. Thanks so much for your post!

in_need_of_direction

For years I thought I'd like to work in a library. Any recent visits though made me rethink as they now appear to be used as unpaid crèches.