Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Beanie - lovely to *see* you, as always Thank you for your kind wishes, you have a great weekend too. And keep well :D

Tilly - they are good, for the ingredients that go into them. These were 'burger' sized, but I often make them 'spherical' (;)) or, of course, you can make them in the traditional 'fat finger' kofte shape. As long as your lentils don't cook down to absolute mush, you'll get a good dish at the end of it

Greying

Pippilongstocking

Burgers look lovely.

I'm glad you've had some sun.

I remember the sun, I saw it once.

It is beautiful



Have a great weekend Lady Greying and readers.



I'm working but hope you'll all have some fun (in the sun?)

mcculloch29

Thank you Greying - I would encourage folks to give the hotpot a go. Jocasta's version was cooked for hours in the oven with raw ingredients. Frustrated by potatoes that took hours to cook, I tried tinned and voila!
Jocasta's comment on the original recipe was 'If I had to cook the same five recipes for the rest of my life, this would be on the list.'

Which is quite a statement.

We've not seen much of the sun in the NE of England either Pippi, though more than Orkney.

I saw a comment in a review of Jack's book on the Book People website doubting that tinned spuds were cheaper than fresh.

Well, that's one person who clearly doesn't need to buy the book, if she's missed that trick..

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Hope that it is enjoyable work this weekend Pippi. We're just about to embark on our travails

mcculloch - tinned potatoes seem to divide people, I've no idea why. At least the potatoes that went in the tin once grew in the ground - were cultivated, much like tinned peas/carrots or any of the frozen stuff. Compare that with industrially manufactured 'gloop'. Last year I gave myself a challenge of using 2 tins of potatoes - I think there were murmurings of a potato shortage looming (what a load of cr*p that turned out to be) so I had a dabble with recipes. I used one tin to roast, and whilst I was pleasantly surprised that they did roast, there was no significant taste to them, but I'm sure the other tin got used...... I'm thinking in a curry - and they worked well. I should look it up on the thread. I of course used valoo/bAsik/smartie price, at probably 15p a tin.

Since being on this site - actually since 2007ish. I've learnt that what folk say in the wider world, and what they do is quite different matter. I joined around the time that the wonderful Weezl74 was in full 'feed 2 for 50p a day' mode, and she, and a gaggle of people on here went on to develop 'Cheap Family Recipes', which used A$da as it's pricing/product base. In the 'we're so rich we don't need budget recipes' area that I live, I got derided for even mentioning such things in company - however, whenever Weezl was testing dishes, and made it known what ingredients were needed, a trip to the local A$da showed the shelves of that product to be empty, within hours of it being on the net..........:rotfl:

I'm happy to try things out, and want options up my sleeve for if ever thesh*t hits the fan in my life. Besides which, I feel like I'm learning all the time - if someone start a sentence with 'I doubt', are they really open to learning something new?

Oh and just as an aside, in the 'food parcel' of food that got given to me last year, because someone was moving out and didn't need all the tins/jars, I had a small tin of mrS potatoes - probably packed in spring water or something..... :rotfl: These were no better than the basic/valoo potatoes in taste/texture, although I remember seeing the tin on a subsequent visit to mrS - they were actually quite pricey. However, their convenience - not going green, not going all sprouty, a small tin (probably still 2 portions worth in it for them) was invaluable for the person who had bought them in the first place. No spoilage. Easy to store.

So Saturday.

I was aiming for a NSD today. However, DP has now come round to my way of thinking about chore organisation and is making a trip to the recycling centre. And has also mentioned that the milk is low, so I suppose that's my good intentions hijacked

I shall be continuing de-cluttering. Shall today be the day that I break and fling the windows wide open????? :rotfl:

Dinner this evening will be a little bit luxurious - in keeping with it being Saturday night But it is still a 'Jack' recipe and true to form, I got two ingredients on special offer, and another one YS'd :rotfl:

Right, DP is off adventurising, so I better shift a tail feather and get doing summat constructive.

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

See y'all later.

Greying

Pippilongstocking

Morning GP

Mind on when opening the windows and flinging to leave a stash of hard hats on the doorstep just in case.

Tinned potatoes - being a tattie fiend I should have a strong 'hopinion' however, like you say even those packed in spring water of poshness are done for a reason and do keep very well.

My ex-flatmate in the big rock when once I was a city lass (very true dear reader) made a really lovely (although I scrumpled up my nose) at the thought of a tinned potato, carrot and tuna curry. But I have to hold me hands up it was utterly lush.

I must email him for the recipe, in the name of research of course.

Have a great day.

Frugality baffles some folks, whilst others (like TRG and I) have come around to its usefulness. Mine out of necessity like many folks, his out of a curiousity (and mind on he was addicted to 'the bestest of the best kissed by newly borne angels brands' ranges of everything before we met and for a goodly long time after.

These days he tells folks proudly about the savings we make and it allows those wee holidays (and a guitar breeding programme it would seem )

Funny how things change.

Have a sooper day and looking forward to the posh saturday night tea report when its posted. Lovely to be back and begin to catch up whilst I'm home alone until DD and EH come home/visiting.

I hope the sun's out with y'all.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Pippi - I have an 'acquaintance' who works for that big food company that grow (under contract) acres and acres of muddy spuds, harvests them, admits them into the factory....... where they are set to emerge..... As a range of reconstituted potato products.......... For where I'm sat, tinned tats, have a lot more going for them that folk will credit

Right so where exactly did yesterday disappear to??? The good news is that I have completely cleared out one room. Everything in it has either been donated to charity (or set aside ready to go next week), been discarded (only rubbish, I promise) or put in some sort of box/container to be kept tidy. Then the fun work of preparing the room for the plumber and redecoration can begin now. Sigh. Only a couple more rooms to do exactly the same thing in.......

DP has got on with his 'chore in hand'. Just as well, as I didn't want him to do it - it isn't a priority in the grand scheme. Still he claimed he would finish it in a day. We're currently on day 5...... :rotfl: Still, there's a good chance it will be mostly finished today.

I did spend money yesterday, so can't claim a NSD, although I was very canny, and spent DP's money! Still, I have got 3 tomato plants now. I figured that we would hopefully be in one spot long enough to see them to harvest, so got 3 plants - 2 red salad, and one yellow - roll on summer for exciting salads that's if I can keep them outta the frost for the next 6 weeks DP also bought milk.

We didn't have dinner until late, as DP was making best use of available light to crack on with his chore. However, eventually, we had Jack's Earthy Red Wine and Mushroom Risotto. I've made plenty of risottos in my time, but never with red wine It was very nice - very tasty. The rice was carnaroli from mrS - on special at £1 for 500g, the wine was from mrL on special at £3.99, and the mushrooms were mand$ YS'd. The only downside, was that whilst I accept DP was engaged in a lot of manual work yesterday, his comment on finishing was, 'Yum, I could seriously eat that all over again'...... I don't know if it is a case of petite portion size strikes again..... although to be fair, the rice portion is nearly what I would use for 2 people (140g in the recipe, I'd of used 150g) Here's a pic of his plate



If you like mushrooms - I realise not all of you do - then Jack's recipe is HERE I would make it again, most certainly, maybe with a dessert course if we'd had a busy day

Oh, and yes, the picture isn't great - I'm not sure that red wine is ever going to make your cookery look stunning, but the taste was good, and there is a lovely aroma in the kitchen this morning.

Oh, and actually, more important than food..... ! ...... whilst outside talking with DP yesterday, we saw the first swallow (actually, on research, more likely to have been the first swift) of the year :j There's usually one that comes, then we see none for a few days/week, then perhaps 2 before the rest descend. But the 12th!! That's a week earlier than 'normal' Are we in for great weather/ a good summer???

Whilst eating risotto, we watched, The Woman in Black - the Daniel Radcliffe, Hammer House film production of Susan Hill's book. Mmm, had I known that it was Hammer House, I'd of not bothered to watch it, but, having said that, it was very tame for a horror movie. And do any of you literary folk know if the film is a faithful adaptation of the book? I'm afraid I was well miffed by the end - I kept on expecting it to 'spark into life'. What a waste of 1 and a half hours... Mind you, must look up where the causeway bit was filmed - unless that was all CGI??

Well, I can't sit still, I've got to crack on with more work. Hoovering and then trying to take up a carpet/underlay. May well have to get DP's help on that one...

Thank you so much for dropping by and reading. So appreciated. By me. At all times.

See y'all later.

Greying

Fortune_Smiles

Very jealous of your first swallow Greying. We're still waiting for a glimpse of one. We've put a swallow nest box up on the garage this year so hope they will take up residence.


Fortune x

Pippilongstocking

First swallow?

Blimey we still have penguins with their beaks pressed against the patio doors here looking for a sustainable fish treat.

They'll booger off when the puffins arrive n May.

*morning*

Greying_Pilgrim

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

First swallow?

Blimey we still have penguins with their beaks pressed against the patio doors here looking for a sustainable fish treat.

They'll booger off when the puffins arrive n May.

*morning*

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

is all

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

Very jealous of your first swallow Greying. We're still waiting for a glimpse of one. We've put a swallow nest box up on the garage this year so hope they will take up residence.


Fortune x

Ah - hang on a minute, I've just had a thought - and referred myself to the RSPB...... It may well have been a swift that I saw.... we get both, but the pattern is always the same. A single bird, then 2 a little while later, then the skies begin to fill and you can't remember when they weren't here.

But it was still a wonderous sight to see, and it'll still have flown in from Africa, which is stunning.

Greying