Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Hey McCulloch - mmm, these chillies are v small, but actually yellow - so not even ripe (they morph into orange then red), but golly, they pack a punch.

Have you seen Jack's started the LBtL Challenge. I don't feel so bad sorting my frozen veg out now, to make 'different' meals Interesting that she is reporting how difficult the challenge is this year due to price hikes and lack of availability of the valooo/basiks/smartieprice ranges. At least I don't feel so bad - she's confirmed what I've been experiencing

BoB - how wonderful to *see* you. Are you well??? I hope so

If anyone wants to make whoopee and jump up and down on Pippi's thread in celebration of her birthday, just go ahead - but don't let on it was me what told ya

Right, Tuesday. Mmm.

I'm not going to buy the TV listing guide today, as I can claim a NSD otherwise. We can wait for the mag - unless some absolutely barginacious YS'd thing leaps out at me Then I'll get the mag too But I won't be looking to spend today

Ooh, I just made some toast with some bread I'd made. It does taste scrummy. I'd heartily recommend Dan Lepard's bread recipes. He does faff - I simplified his recipe, to fit in with the way I now make bread - but oooh, scrumsdelish

Dinner this evening will be Loobia Polo and yes, Dear Reader, our *old friend* ......rice.... will be making a comeback in that dish :rotfl: Is it May yet???? :rotfl::rotfl:

Bet get a wiggle on, have an earlier start today, and I've been enjoying being on MSE this morning

Thank you for popping in, reading, saying hello and supporting each other. Greatly appreciated

See y'all later.

Greying

EssexHebridean

:rotfl: at dinner roulette - you're a braver gal than me Greying! :rotfl:

Andrea - while I think to mention - I've finally reached the last bottle in my massive shampoo stash - you remember the one?! :eek:

Oddly enough my coarse bulgar was also from AF - now there's a coincidence, NOT! We bought a bag of each - but I used the fine stuff first as Cheery helpfully told me it cooked just like couscous and I had the last of that needing used when I started on the bulgar.

.....ok then, I'm going to bite, (someone has to) Loobia Polo?!!!!

Lamb & Spinach cannelloni was extremely nice last night - not the most traditional of meals but worked for us - and I remembered the last of a pack of garlic bread in the freezer too so that got used up. I've blown my NSD's for this week entirely by forgetting I needed to grab yogurt while I was in Mr T's last night. Your title of NSD Queen is still well in place, no competition from here at ALL!

Hope your day's going well!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Ay up EH - yes, isn't fine stuff good as a sub for cous cous? I made a really nice breakfast dish - from a Heidi Swanson recipe - using the fine bulghar. Really good

I like folk who ask questions, as it is always me that asks the questions - I'm old enough to have got past the, 'I didn't want to look like the class plank', and ask away Loobia Polo is the Persian or Iranian version of a pilau, or biriyani. Polo is 'pilau' and Loobia I think is bean. However, the 'true' version does contain meat (although there are different polos, as pilaus) and given that it is likely, being middle eastern that that meat would be lamb or goat - I suspect this may be right up your street The recipe I link to is a meat version, so you may like to take a peek

Well, I managed my NSD today. I suspect that that is probably it for April, I do think I may have to start getting groceries for May tomorrow, it may be a bit too squeaky to leave it until Thursday to make a spend. I haven't finished off the meal planner yet, so I'll have another bash at that and see how it goes.

So, to dinner this evening. Reliant on the every present mountain of rice :T YAY It was a vegetarian version of the middle eastern dish, Loobia Polo. I have made it before, but according to the thread, not this side of Christmas So, as it is a dish we enjoy, I'm glad it found it's way back onto the planner. I like the spicing in the dish - it is a blend with the name adiveh. I will link to the original post that I made about it, and you can see that there is a link for the Loobia Polo (meat version) recipe on a blog, and there is a link to a blog for the recipe for adiveh spice blend. I don't put rose petals (culinary grade) in my spice blend - I would have difficulty tracking them down

A pic of it is here, served with a single egg omelette for added protein;



The details/links are in BLUE text in the diary entry I made HERE

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

to be able to send birthday greetings to a chum

for the acrobatics of a young sparrow, contending with particularly lush growing privet sprigs - it kept trying to find solidity and encountered extreme boing-i-ness :rotfl:

for my storecupboard - it's turning into a l-o-o-n-n-g-g-g month

Thank you so much for popping in, reading, asking questions and joining in. I continue to greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Pippilongstocking

:bdaycake::happylove

A wee bit left over on my patch - so thought I might share.

I've popped a few napkins in too.

And as for 'boing-y-ness' and spyuggies - :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

:A

My long month seems to have been supplemented by a gazillion eggs.
But the stores as a squeaky!

satchmo1

Hi GP and friends-in-the box, my move went very smoothly, apart from DH being sick 5 minutes after finishing his breakfast this morning. We've put it down to nerves, as he was otherwise fine. He may have "lost" most of his daily medications, but as there is no way of knowing how much he had absorbed he couldn't risk taking more. Sorry for the TMI.


Still, we are now at the sunny seaside. Pigeons perch on the balcony. They're not as harmonious as skylarks.


In MSE matters, I got a bargain YS dish for dinner, when the lovely lady in M0rrisons say "would you like me to reduce that for you"! I hope that's the standard service I can expect :-)

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, here we are at the last day of April. If I make the dish on the planner this evening, we will have had 23/30 dishes as set out. Better than I thought actually, since we've not starved the other 7 nights..... However, the root of the problem still appears to be running out of ingredients, or not having 'ready-meals' (HM of course ) for those CBA'd moments - which we all have, irrespective of our circumstances. I'm really going to try to tackle the running out of ingredients, running out of money before the month end and improving the availability of a ready meal or two in the freezer (small as it is), in May - wish me LUCK! :rotfl:

I'm just going to assess whether we need milk and one or two other 'vittles' as to whether I need to break my nsd run. No biggie if I do as the cash will need spending at some point

Pippi - thank you for sharing the cake - and to Beanie for generously supplying it and napkins, too, ooh nice Oh, I wish I knew someone (local) that kept chickens, you can't beat a bit of egg bartering And to know the chucks your eggs have been produced by...........*sigh*

satchmo - seems counterintuitive to say, but yes, I hope DH was just nervous and everything else slots into place now. Whoop to the YS bargain - and indeed, yes, I hope that that is indeed a sign of the way things are to be

Right, I've snap to pack up, so I best had get a wiggle on.

Thanks so much for popping by to *see* me. Sure is appreciated.

See y'all later.

Greying

in_need_of_direction

Why shouldn't it be rice for tea?

Pippilongstocking

Unless its some greying law for the 30th of April - I think its cos she had it for tea yesterday.



Waves to INOD and everyone.

Satchmo - I hope ds settles quite well? Have you moved house or schools? Sorry I've not caught up for a bit.

Have a good un. There is something nice about knowing the hens who laid the eggs, although I do apologise each time I see them for putting them through such daily agony.

Although seeing the prices at the supermarkets I'm surprised folks can afford eggs - had the same convo with ds at the weekend who was bemoaning the lack of decent eggs in his life, him living in a toon with no transport aside his trusty bike.

I love it when you see wee boxes outside gates with eggs for sale - but maybe that's just up here.

Have a good un dear greying and chums.

EssexHebridean

My reason for wanting to get the freezer a bit emptier is that I was to re-stock on "ready meals" - a big batch cook using the slow cooker I think! It's getting there - 2 pots of stock came out last night to defrost for risotto (or actually orzotto) this evening. It makes such a difference having things you can just grab and know dinner is done for those midweek nights when time is a bit more precious. Not getting in until 7pm as a rule means that if I do anything that takes too much time for dinner we don't eat until ridiculously late.

Thanks for the description of Loobia Polo too - that does sound good - I'll need to investigate the links too as the spice mix sounds intriguing. :T

Ahh yes, In Need Of A Direction - the reason for not having rice for tea AGAIN is that Greying has been practically living off the stuff for the past few weeks! :rotfl:

Eggs - I'd LOVE to know someone locally with hens. Free range ones from T35c0 seem to be one of the things that's been affected by their current "prices down and staying down" promotion - as their "local" ones are now £1 a half dozen. That's cheaper than the trays of 15 mixed weight I had been buying. I'll still pay a bit extra and buy from the farm shop when I'm in there though.

starnac

I too would rather pay a bit extra for eggs and know that the hens are being looked after!

I'm lucky that my parents keep chickens so I've only got to ring my mum and she sends my step dad down the garden to get them! DD used to help him but she's developed an aversion to "eggs with brown on them" :rotfl: