Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

I've just watched (off tape) the first episode of that US series Ray Mears did about 'How the West was Won'. It focused on the mountain ranges - the Appalacians, the Rockies and the Sierra Neveda. Very interesting. And the scenery was stunning. Can't help but see links with MWC's Norwegian pics In the Appalacians, Ray spent time with an elder from the Cherokee nation. They made a blow pipe together, but it was interesting as they foraged for the 'bamboo like' plant that would make the pipe, the elder said that they never took from the first plant (that they were looking for) they waited until they came across the 4th or the 7th. A lesson for all us 'foragers' I think. No sense in running down stores on your doorstep - and leave some for others Oh, and Pip's the 'feathers' for the arrow that was sent down the blowpipe? Thistle down - YUP! I kid you not

Well, I've achieved a bit today, DP has achieved a lot and I am grateful for his help - he has done a lot of the 'boring' stuff today. We got all the shopping that we needed thus far. I've still to hit mrA$da, but nothing is urgent on the list.

I found 2 pennies in *roadkill* today in the supermercado carpark. and I forgot to tell you all that I found 7p - 2 pennies and 5p piece on my travels yesterday. 9p in 2 days - I tell you, folks have forgotten the ancient art of pocket-darning once more :j The recession must be over :rotfl:

Lunch was soup - I had a handful of carrots that had gone super-bendy in the bottom of the fridge. In fact, I was seriously thinking of sending them up to Glasgow, let them there squash players biff them around the box a little In addition, DP got me some sweet potatoes from Ald* yesterday and 2 of them had rotten bits. I lost about 90% of one potato and about 10% of another, so one salvaged outta 2 ain't bad I suppose, if it'd been left longer, I'd of lost both and the rot may well have spread to the other potatoes. That is the down-side to having everything packaged in blooming plastic I suppose A little bit of onion, celery, stock and a handful of lentils and a teaspoon of berebere spice and a soup was born! There was enough left over for a snap portion and we had our fill with a bread roll to accompany.

Actually, talking about the Commonwealth Games, I caught a little of the crown green bowls yesterday. Scotland were absolutely trouncing England at the time The setting was lovely - I think the commentator mentioned they were in Kelvingrove? What art gallery/museum is there? Is it the Rennie McIntosh building? (or one of them I should say...).

Cheery Daff - WHAT a LOVELY post THANK YOU. Mmmm, again, you have highlighted something that just hadn't occurred to me - and wouldn't have in a million years, just like starnac made me ponder. I hadn't thought, 'I'm not taking up much space and I am not diverting resources away from those in need......' Actually, very profound, and yet a point of view with a great deal of common sense attached. :T:)

I have, indeed, shoved the battered, brown leather suitcase back on top of the 1930's walnut veneer, mirrored wardrobe and I shall sit down and enjoy a cuppa. Who's turn is it to pour, and have we topped up the biscuit tin?

Dinner this evening was always definitely going to be a curry of some description, but I vacillated all over the shop until I decided on Beetroot and Aubergine Pilau with lentil dhal. I have made the pilau before, and you can find the recipe HERE I didn't have any coriander leaf, so omitted it. Also, I never know how Emma manages to keep the rice so white - she reckons that it needs to steep for an hour to go pink....... Um, I forked my ingredients together - they are significantly more than pink...... Picture here;



The dhal was some leftover from the last curry, retrieved from the freezer. I know that the actual recipe I use is not on the web, but I thought I had found a very similar recipe to the one I use...... Mmmm, I'll try to remember to look into that and see if I can find it for you, just in case you fancy having a go at making it yourself.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for a glimpse into lives and landscapes in other countries - Thank you MWC

for the ability of soup to resurrect 'seemingly past-it' vegetable matter into something gloriously edible

for your reassurances

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

See y'all later.

Greying

supersaver1000

Made Meaty Glassy page 34 of the Anglo-Indian Delicacies: Vintage and Contempory Cuisine from Colonial India By Bridget White. I'm not a huge meat eater so we put in cherry tomatoes, green and red pepper, pineapple and shallots as well as chicken, although it really would have been fine without.

I also marked up a pineapple rasam recipe which is the same website as GPs Rajama Masala. It's comfort food so I'll be making that. I also made HM peshwari - yum.

Have ac go od night all. X

Coulddobetter

graying - love the diary it is very inspirational.

Have just found you so have started at the beginning, will post more when I get caught up.

Coulddobetter x

mrsinvisible

good morning, a weird thing has just happened, l was blithely writing this and suddenly l was on a different page, on someone elses diary (Lucille if you are dreading this, it was yours, and thank you for invit,ing me!) how did that happen?
Any way, l was saying that' a photo of a boy scouts hat' just means that there is no real money, but space for it in there. I much prefer the interpretations you have given!
I had a lovely day out with DD, we hoofed up to the outlet village and visited the clearance section of marksandspensive, it was lovely to be able to treat her to a pair of jeans and 2 tops and proper knickers, and get change from £20.
We sat outside the shops, in the covered area and ate our HM butties, drank our juice and felt like we were 'it'.
The china nibs are back from their stay in Canada, so we can Skype later on this morning, will be more than lovely to see them, so I must go and tidy up, as nibess likes me to show her all round the house.

Ayeshalush

Just a quick post from me to answer your Kelvingrove questions (still reading but not had chance to post lately sorry). Kelvingrove Art Gallery is there, but it's not the Rennie Mackintosh building, I think you are thinking of the Glasgow School of Art, which had a major fire recently or possible The House for an Art Lover.

[URL=]http://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum-p246571[/URL]

[URL=]http://www.gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/[/URL]

[URL=]http://www.houseforanartlover.co.uk[/URL]

All well worth a visit if you're ever in the vicinity

HTH

Ali
xx

liltdiddylilt

I am late to the party as always... And it has all been decided and what a *phew* moment for me. I am still putting in my two pen'orth though.

GP - I wrote on my own thread, when you were mentioned as a fountain of knowledge for all things lentil related - 'I popped over there but it is a bit daunting'. I didn't mean you. I meant the sheer volume of your diary. The incredible and epic contribution you have made.

It is thanks to diaries like yours, and that of NinjaSavingKat who frankly dragged me out of debt by the scruff of my neck through sheer force of written will, that people like me BECAME debt free. We aspired to BE LIKE YOU. If we didn't have a lead to follow, then how do you suppose we would have known where to start?

I am no longer in debt. I am still here. My own diary was started after I became debt free, to help me cope with my husband up and poofing off, leaving me with a 1 year old and a broken heart. There was no debt, but the very real prospect of it rearing its ugly head again. The diary was for me, not for anyone else, but again the contributions of others are what make it all the more worthwhile.

I am still trying to be frugal. I am learning new things all of the time. I learn them on the DFW board, because this is my MSE home. This is where I chose to come, and where I found people like you, people like me, and so much help and experience in one little webpage.

The beautiful thing about these forums is that there are no round pegs. We all fit squarely in with each other. You would most definitely be welcome on any part of this board, I am 100% sure of that. You are an invaluable asset, and one I am much blessed to have been pushed towards by the lovely SuperDave.

For every newbie in dire straits who comes here with stories that fill the rest of us with sadness, there is hope, because they are in the right place. The whole of MSE is the right place. One day they will be like you and I. No longer in debt, but living in the right way to keep out of it!

Now, off the subjects of superheroes. And onto Lentils. How long do they last in the fridge once cooked?! I had to eat an entire tub of Ben & Jerrys in one go last night (oops how did that sneak into the basket!) as it pushed my poor freezer over the limit, and everything started to feel slightly melty. So likelihood of fitting portions in the freezer is zero.

I cooked a SW chickpea dahl courtesy of my mum, a roast chicken dinner, spicy tomato & red lentil soup & chilli con carne from scratch (despite having several 'packet mixes' in my cupboard :eek:) which tasted much better than aforementioned. I can't eat all this. I've got half a pack of uncooked minced beef, 3/4 of a large cooked roast chicken stripped and bagged, a kilo of chicken breasts to think about what to do with if I don't start eating or freezing somehow. Note to self: when batch cooking, remember you have no storage options... :rotfl: - some can go to work with me but at this rate I will ave to make a special trip just so it doesn't go off before I go to work properly!

What a ramble all over your thread. Thank you as always for your help dearest one.

My painkillers have kicked in and my legs have gone numb, wrong bit of the body but I am sure once I lie down I will be fine Night love

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

I've got to 'glance and run' - everything is 'A' - OK, going brilliantly in fact, but I'm up to my eyeballs and I gotta fly.

I'll try to be back as usual this evening to update

In the meantime, THANK YOU

Greying

in_need_of_direction

Whoop! Whoop! Glad things are going well.

maddiemay

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

I am late to the party as always... And it has all been decided and what a *phew* moment for me. I am still putting in my two pen'orth though.

GP - I wrote on my own thread, when you were mentioned as a fountain of knowledge for all things lentil related - 'I popped over there but it is a bit daunting'. I didn't mean you. I meant the sheer volume of your diary. The incredible and epic contribution you have made.

It is thanks to diaries like yours, and that of NinjaSavingKat who frankly dragged me out of debt by the scruff of my neck through sheer force of written will, that people like me BECAME debt free. We aspired to BE LIKE YOU. If we didn't have a lead to follow, then how do you suppose we would have known where to start?

I am no longer in debt. I am still here. My own diary was started after I became debt free, to help me cope with my husband up and poofing off, leaving me with a 1 year old and a broken heart. There was no debt, but the very real prospect of it rearing its ugly head again. The diary was for me, not for anyone else, but again the contributions of others are what make it all the more worthwhile.

I am still trying to be frugal. I am learning new things all of the time. I learn them on the DFW board, because this is my MSE home. This is where I chose to come, and where I found people like you, people like me, and so much help and experience in one little webpage.

The beautiful thing about these forums is that there are no round pegs. We all fit squarely in with each other. You would most definitely be welcome on any part of this board, I am 100% sure of that. You are an invaluable asset, and one I am much blessed to have been pushed towards by the lovely SuperDave.

For every newbie in dire straits who comes here with stories that fill the rest of us with sadness, there is hope, because they are in the right place. The whole of MSE is the right place. One day they will be like you and I. No longer in debt, but living in the right way to keep out of it!

Now, off the subjects of superheroes. And onto Lentils. How long do they last in the fridge once cooked?! I had to eat an entire tub of Ben & Jerrys in one go last night (oops how did that sneak into the basket!) as it pushed my poor freezer over the limit, and everything started to feel slightly melty. So likelihood of fitting portions in the freezer is zero.

I cooked a SW chickpea dahl courtesy of my mum, a roast chicken dinner, spicy tomato & red lentil soup & chilli con carne from scratch (despite having several 'packet mixes' in my cupboard :eek:) which tasted much better than aforementioned. I can't eat all this. I've got half a pack of uncooked minced beef, 3/4 of a large cooked roast chicken stripped and bagged, a kilo of chicken breasts to think about what to do with if I don't start eating or freezing somehow. Note to self: when batch cooking, remember you have no storage options... :rotfl: - some can go to work with me but at this rate I will ave to make a special trip just so it doesn't go off before I go to work properly!

What a ramble all over your thread. Thank you as always for your help dearest one.

My painkillers have kicked in and my legs have gone numb, wrong bit of the body but I am sure once I lie down I will be fine Night love

LILT - As GP probably won't be around until later, a couple of things spring to mind. Firstly make sure that your fridge is running at the colder end of the range (i.e. very cold but not freezing the milk or stuff in the salad drawer:rotfl:), I would suggest cooking the mince asap, even if you just fry it off in a pan then bag it up when cold. If your freezer has settled down can you feed one or two things in at a time and leave them to freeze before adding more, is there anything in the freezer that could/should be thrown, either because you will never eat it or because it is only worth pennies and the food needing storage is more valuable? IMO the chicken is the item that needs the most urgent attention. We consumed a cooked chicken over three days last week (hot first evening, cold 2 following days) and it would probably have been fine for another day.
HTH - otherwise tell me to butt out:D

MM

P.S. After years of having a full freezer and nothing to eat:(:o, I now have an A5 size cheapie hardback book, every so often we do "a freezer audit" and write it all up, the aim is to cross off as we take out and add in as we shop/cook, not 100% by any means, but really does help and stops me popping out to find something for supper (I really like food shopping and live in a "foodie town":eek:)

wishus

That's a great idea Maddiemay!

I'm having a troublesome Monday, folks... I've broken the front of a drawer on a freezer we have borrowed from the friend we are buying out of our house while she is between places with space(s ). It was great for us as we didn't have a freezer before. Searching for replacement parts, and it's looking like we might have to replace the whole thing. It fell off while I was taking out food and split in two when it hit the floor! Oh well, that's only another couple of hundred we owe her then But I can count my blessings that we had the use of it at all, saving us a load of dosh at a crucial time.:)

Secondly, my fella's asthma's bad and he's decided not to go to work. Worst week for it as he has issues there to deal with...

On the bright side, I've already managed 2 NSDs this month, found another roadkill penny this morning and had a free croissant for breakfast. Also, had an awesomely inspirational weekend in the company of lovely, creative, non-materialistic people.:)

That's more smileys than frowneys.:)