Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, I was hoping for a peaceful start to the weekend. But we noticed some workmen putting up a fence in a neighbour's garden last night. We wondered whether they might attach something to our fence as they seemed to be in the 'c8wboy' department of handymen. But didn't like to go storming in, demanding what they were doing. But honestly, who starts putting up fence panels at 7.00pm? Needless to say, this morning reveals that they hadn't measured their panels correctly - or couldn't be ars*d to cut down a bigger panel, so they just shoved a tatty old piece of wood onto our fence panel (newly installed this year ) and peppered it and the fence panel with wood sr3ws to keep the fence panel upright. DP is absolutely livid, as we need the panel moveable to maintain it. Ho hum. Still, could be worse, they have put 3, 75mm x 75mm supporting posts in the bottom of next door's garden (which is a rental) - I'm sure they asked for permission before starting to dig holes and filling them with concrete.......

Ah well, I've lots of things to do today to contribute to :money: for the rest of August. First priority is to handwash a load of socks.....:o I know, my life - just a 'Rock 'n Roll' script from start to finish eh? :rotfl:

Not too sure what we will have for dinner yet. I suppose if I got myself into gear, I could set some yoghurt to drain to make cream cheese. Mmm, 'Get to it Greying' methinks.

We've now realised it was a week since we 'bought' the breakdown cover with CCard vouchers, and we've heard nothing, I wonder whether it is too soon to chase them up. We are covered until the bank holiday (not that we're planning any expeditions), but I don't want to let things side - just in case the IT glitch hasn't been sorted.

Today will be a NSD, as I really don't need anything.

DP is away from the homestead working today, just as well methinks If the person at the house with the new fence appears later, I might pop around for a quiet word about things.

Thank you for popping by and reading this diary. It is very much appreciated by me.

See y'all later.

Greying

Fortune_Smiles

How annoying about the fence Greying. I am so grateful we have good neighbours.

Fortune x

Greying_Pilgrim

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

How annoying about the fence Greying. I am so grateful we have good neighbours.

Fortune x

Yes, I'd love good neighbours. To be fair, I suspect that the homeowner/tenant hasn't asked these guys to set out and damage my fence - I think they would do their work in that manner anyway - plus it had the whiff of a 'cash' job about it. And unfortunately it is a neighbour 'at the bottom of the garden' situation. Not someone we routinely see, let alone speak too. If it turns out they are a tenant, well, then it definitely isn't their fault. Just annoying because we've just renewed the fence and try to maintain our things.

Greying

Hopejacob

Greying
I stumbled upon your diary by chance and was captivated by your sparky writing, good humour and all round general 'good egg-ness' (ungillotine-d!)

I am veggie, so am fascinated by your recipes, but as the parent of picky 8 year old twins am unable to try most of them (yet!!).

Reading your blog inspires me to try harder at frugality, providing a better quality dinner for my children and being a better person all round.

With very best wishes to you, and the other regulars of this thread.
Hope

Greying_Pilgrim

:hello: Hi HopeJacob thank you for popping in and leaving such an incredibly kind post. Yes, the folk who pop in here and support me are really fab And I find that the diary makes me focus much more, and gives me the push to try harder. I'm really glad I started it - even though things have gone a little awry and off plan

Well, I've started draining the yoghurt, it's looking like cheese already - and yes, 7 week wonder, I will save the whey - most probably for soda farls

I've washed a load of socks Isn't it amazing how much water spin drying gets out? (and how much you notice it when you've not got access to one :rotfl:) I have hand wrung the socks 3 times, and they are still damp and dripping water Never mind, they'll hopefully dry eventually.

Right, better get on with the next round of chores.

Thanks for dropping in. I appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

7_week_wonder

Afternoon all!

And sorry I've not been around. I've been reading and following what's been going on - but I think the word for this week is discombobulated!! What I thought was "reaction" to the exciting job offer turned out to be a full-blown stomach bug culminating in me passing out at a bus-stop and cracking my head and knee on the pavement (I was oblivious to the whole thing - but apparently it gave Mr 7ww one hell of a fright!) Then a quick quiet drink with one of my pals during the week turned into me playing marriage counsellor for them for several hours (and drinking too much red wine to boot).

However, things are sorting themselves out now and I have decided I need to get a grip on a couple of things that have been sliding. I need to get back to no food waste, I've let a couple of things go mouldy (nothing major, just the odd peach here and half tin of sweetcorn there - but it's the principle) and I've been getting a bit careless with switching things off overnight and small stuff that soon adds up. Plus I'd like to reduce our monthly spends by £20 a month and food seems the easiest target so I need to up my game.

Anyway - enough wittering from me. Greying, I hope your weekend isn't too ruined by the fence incident. And I hope there is positive news on the CC application. I still reckon we should convince you to gice surveys a go. All you do is register with the site(s) then they send you an email when there is a survey to be done. This morning I found myself answering questions about different alcoholic drinks and whether I'd ever seen a particular set of adverts (no I hadn't!) and what I thought of the adverts. It took about 15 minutes and earned me 75p towards a Marks and Spencers voucher. It definitely works out at under minimum wage, but I do them when there is nothing on TV or whatever and reckon I get about £15 a month (either as M&S vouchers, or luncheon vouchers or paypal). I either use them for treats or save them towards Christmas. And occasionally you get stuff to test: a couple of weeks ago I was asked to test some confectionary. I thought they were going to send me 2 vending machine size bars: but I got 2 x 200g of the stuff:rotfl: Have I convinced you yet?

Oops - better go, it's chucking it down here so I've said I'll drop Mr 7ww at the barbers and then there is a cake to be made (by strange coincidence it is a white chocolate and raspberry cake:D)

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Nice to see you 7 week wonder - I've not ruled out surveys yet, but want to tighten up other things first, and unfortunately, I keep finding lots I can tighten up on :rotfl:

I made cream cheese from yoghurt today. I think this is probably the first time that I have made it 'properly'. I've strained yoghurt (HM and bought) before to get it thicker, but this was much more cheese like. See what you think;



I made it to make Jamie's Ricotta Fritters for dinner. We had the fritters in a Buddha bowl, rather than with a courgette salad, but hope that the recipe may be of interest to anyone with a courgette surplus :whistle:

The Buddha bowl comprised; App Fo0ds fine bulghar wheat with sweetcorn, carrot and red pepper mixed in and seasoned. This was topped with sliced leeks, garlic and spinach (all sauted together) seasoned with nutmeg. The ricotta fritters topped that, then I poured on some tomato and red pepper sauce (HM - not out of a bottle ) and to finish off, there was a drizzle of basil oil that was made with our own basil (which is growing slowly, so is used sparsely ). Sorry the photo is not brill, the light suddenly went and we looked like we were in for a thunder storm, so it's the best I could capture;



Actually, making your own ricotta is easy if you have mastered yoghurt making. So I could of made 'bone fida' ricotta fritters, but I have some of the cream cheese left over, and I fancy having tomato and cream cheese topped soda farls for breakfast tomorrow - so 2 dishes out of one product Well, 3 I suppose if you count the whey that I saved which will be used to make the farls.

I should also add that I didn't have any parmesan, or grana padano and I've only a little cheddar left, so I omitted it from the recipe - I don't believe the taste suffered greatly. Although I had intended to add a little mustard, as I do in a cheese or white sauce to intensify the cheese flavour when there's not much cheese to a lot of sauce. But I forgot, so that experiment will have to wait for another day

Today has flown by, but I am grateful for these 3 things;

- the internet - for 'how to' instructions and videos and for constant sources of inspiration.

- that there are still people in the world for whom 'treat others as you would like to be treated yourself' still means something. It makes tolerating the ****'s much easier.......

- for people who join in - you are still making this diary such a delight, and I thank you for that.

So thank you for popping by, commenting and reading today. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, I was going to say that the morning seems to be lasting ageeeesss, as I looked at the clock and couldn't believe that it was only 9.00am. Then DP remembered that [STRIKE]he[/STRIKE] we hadn't responded to a communication from a financial institution, which needed [STRIKE]him to [/STRIKE] us to action, (oops, 2 months has [STRIKE]flown by [/STRIKE]elapsed ), so we got onto responding to that [STRIKE]for him [/STRIKE]and now it's mid-morning already!

I made soda farls for breakfast and had them with HM cream cheese and YS'd tomatoes - seasoned with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Lovely! Sweet-toothed DP had cream cheese and jam (Ald* value ) Actually, I wondered how much I would of had to pay in one of these 'up market' cafes/coffee places for such a breakfast - or as it would be termed 'brunch'. Yes, I realise that these places have overheads to meet, but I still suspect it would be a pretty penny. I think that the whey worked brilliantly - the farls were lovely and light and they puffed up beautifully. Fancy, making things from 'leftovers', topping them with more HM stuff and YS'd or value goodies and you've made yourself a feast. Only sorry I didn't think to take a photo - as they were wolfed down PDQ


Arggh, can't believe that we had forgotten to write that letter. Still, never mind, it is done now and hopefully will sort the matter once and for all - it is the financial institution that has made the error (and they realise), not us, but we should of responded immediately. Still, it's done now. Need to find an envelope and get it ready for posting, need to dig through the penny jar for some money for a stamp

Today I need to cook some chickpeas in the PC. I have soaked them overnight, so they'll be cooked in 10 mins. It'll be carrot and coriander soup for lunch, and I'm not sure about dinner yet. I think I need to take another look at the meal planner, and work out days of the month left versus the contents of my purse :rotfl:

Then there is always general tidying up to do and general household chores. The washed socks are drying incredibly s-l-o-w-l-y. Not sure I'll rush to handwash them again. :rotfl:

Thank you for popping by, reading and commenting on this diary. It is always greatly appreciated by me.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, what a super day today has turned into. OK, so nothing major has occurred, I've not been wined or dined at some fancy eatery (and there is no beer/wine in the house), I've not dashed off to some exotic stately home or garden, not scared myself witless on the rides in an amusement park, nor walked along a deserted beach (:(), but today has been smashing, none the less.

I had one of those 'moments' again this morning, I'd like to call it a 'yoghurt moment', but any newcomers to the thread at this point may get entirely the wrong impression......:rotfl: However, do you remember when I started out on this diary and I was trying to work out how to afford yoghurt with the few pennies that I had to last me until the end of the month (some things never change, eh?), and I realised that I could make yoghurt for 'free' by changing the milk that I bought. Well, a similar thing occurred today once I had cooked the chickpeas. I was looking at them draining in a colander, thinking to myself how useful it would be to make a pot or two of hummous to have in the freezer. If I get hold of some YS'd bread for example, then there are sandwich ingredients for the snap box, right there.

Then I remembered that I had no tahini. And there is no way that I can afford a jar of that before the end of the month. Then an idle thought wandered into my brain as to whether it would be possible to make tahini, and what ingredients would you need? Well, a quick consultation with Mr go0gle, and it seems that I am late to the party. The ENTIRE world (apparently) has been making tahini, for like forever, because.....it is so blooming easy! You take sesame seeds, roast them if you like, crush them, add oil (again if you like) and boom! You have tahini.

I know, you're all shrugging you're shoulders and saying, 'we knew that Greying ' But hey, d'you know what, I didn't - simply because I had never given it a moments thought until today and, undoubtedly because of the influence of this diary

I had bought a large bag (400g) of sesame seeds from an Asian grocery store, to help with making interesting toppings for the Buddha bowls. Of course, as you know, sesame seeds (and other seeds and nuts) can go rancid quickly, so I had wondered about using them up. Well, here's a solution! I used just over 100g - I think something stupid like 114g to empty the bag and this yielded (with the addition of a couple of glugs of olive oil) enough tahini to fill a 185g former mustard jar up to the 'shoulder' of the jar - so let's say 150g for arguments sake. The bag of sesame seeds cost £1.35 and was eAst End brand. So I can get approx. 4 portions out of the bag, and Mr S (according to mesoopermarkit) is charging £1.65 for a 185g jar of tahini :T

I know, it is only a little thing, but it has made me happy If you'd like to make some tahini, frankly, just go0gle, however, THIS blog has quite a nice post about making it. As I was making only a small amount, I actually used my mortar and pestle to crush the sesame seeds, which was much easier than I thought. Most people seem to use a food processor/stick blender though. I found that because sesame seeds are so naturally oily, they break down quickly and don't fly out of the mortar as you grind them.

For dinner this evening we had 'Greek Casserole'. I have made this before and the link to the recipe is contained in Post 11, page 1 (the link after the lemon cake link - forgot I'd done 2 links in the post ) , of this diary thread. However, I thought I would post a pic of the veggie version;




Instead of orzo pasta, which is what I would of liked to of used, I used some 'cous cous' pasta that I bought from App. Fo0ds - to use it up and get rid as much as anything. I've not improved in my food styling as you can tell, and I am quite sure that a proper stylist would not of included the white slices of egg in the shot - however, we are a 'wasted nowt, want naught' household and so I've included it, as that is how DP was presented with it to eat As before, the meat was replaced with puy/green speckled lentils.

Today has been a NSD :T

So, this evening I am grateful for these 3 things;

this diary - I needed it to motivate me, and it has, in spades. And as for all you lovely contributors.................:D:D:D

for Woolworths - they produced a 'Jaymee 0' lookalikee mortar and pestle for a competitive price. They didn't sell, so my lovely stone mortar and pestle came to me for £5 - and it has been used sooooo much...........

for MotoGP - the race is on at the moment, DP is absorbed (and shouting at the TV:rotfl:) and has been looking forward to the race all day. It's nice to have things to look forward to in life. Even if it is all about going around in circles........:rotfl:

Thank you so very much for taking the time to pop by and read this diary it is appreciated greatly by me.

I was thinking today I've not 'seen' CUL8R around - I hope all is well and crafting has beaten the internet for interest

See y'all later.

Greying

beanielou

:drool: to cupcake.