Living on next to nought - is that the key?

in_need_of_direction

why do you have 40 flowerpots?

mothernerd

I think we all have skills and we also have things we 'can' do, often not from choice. I have always done a lot of diy, helped my mother do the decorating since I was 11, my brother did it once and had a reaction to the paint so was never required to do it again (he also took the credit when mum said thanks to whoever had done the washing up whilst she was at work, don't think she ever believed I had actually done it).

Did a lot of work on my own house and due to my ex OH's limited diy skills (cameras and hi-fi equipment no problem, anything else forget it) continued to do so - in fact anything house related. I have sewn my own clothes (+ curtains, sheets, duvet covers - it was originally a Canadian Army Officers sleeping bag, probably the only thing I missed when I divorced OH) since I was seventeen and repaired many of the boys things. My sons grew up with no knowledge of 'male and female' jobs (we run an equal opportunities household here, my sons are perfectly fine with being rescued by the princess) everything was just a 'grown-up' job and I was the grown-up.

DS1 complained when I needed his help moving a sideboard (he was about 8 or 9). I said "I'm sorry love, but you're the nearest thing I've got to another grown-up".

My mother trained as a confectioner and has made all the family (and many other) wedding cakes for several generations but she didn't really learn to cook until we were all grown up and left home (except for aforementioned brother). We subsisted on black toast and sausages (she claimed to be too busy doing other things to notice until they set on fire), green shiny liver (urgh) and slimy kidney (I stopped having dumplings because they made me sick).

Even though she could make beautiful cakes (with me as faithful helper since I was 3 - dad walked out to go for a drink when she was preparing the buffet for my youngest brother's christening, so she stood me on a chair so I could reach the table and set me to stirring the jelly - she's since said it never occurred to her that I wouldn't be able to do any thing she asked of me and I just got on with it) our birthday cakes were often thrown together at the last minute. On one memorable occasion youngest brother's cake (iced green as it was supposed to be a football pitch) rose so steeply at one side that it looked like a green ski slope and the blue lettering slid slowly down as we were eating.

And Nigella probably has an army of 'staff'' to do all the boring chores while she flies off for a weekend in (was it Venice?) where they have a shop which is 'the only' place to buy such and such an ingredient. The rest of us make do and mostly make reasonable job of it - I've never really taken to knitting and I did teach myself crochet from a book but couldn't get the hang of turning round so if you need posh string, I'm your woman.

little_sweetie

Those scones look so tempting, GP, glad you had a well deserved rest this afternoon. Enjoy the risotto!

mothernerd you have really made me think with your post above. What you say makes perfect sense. Thinking back to what I used to do when the children were small, I have lost some skills through lack of use. I made myself a pair of flannelette pyjamas at school when I was 10 and knitted a jumper at the same age. When I took it into school to show the teacher she wouldn't believe I had made it myself until I demonstrated my knitting skills. I knitted lots of arran jumpers and baby clothes over the years, I baked cakes because we couldn't afford to buy any and darned socks to make them last longer. Wow, did I really? I had forgotten! I am with you re crochet though I never did master it.
You really made me smile about the football pitch cake! I once made a birthday cake which sank in the middle so I just filled the hole with smarties and the kids loved it :rotfl: :rotfl:

Thank you for jogging my memory.....x

Greying_Pilgrim

LAWKS!!!! In trying to rush, I made a hash of things, so i'm back for version deux!

I was trying to rush, as I've still a risotto to make!

However, I HAD to come on to say a MASSIVE ta, to maddiemay, for making me think. This morning, as I was typing, 'that recipe uses cream of tartar, doesn't it', I began to realise why I'd not made the scones. I had been labouring under the impression that c of tt was expensive - not true. But also, I began to remember that I had some c of tt - liberated from the c0op, as a YS'd item...... But where was it? In the back of the cupboard - of course! It was however, 6 months out of date....... but I thought that I would give it a whizz anyway.....

So, imagine my surprise when this occurred;



And do you know what, Dear Reader, it was absolutely a gnats leap of faith to go from ^ to skipping off into the afternoon sunshine, with a flask of tea, some butter, some peach & raspberry 'conserve' (29p from B&m) and a couple of scones, to an absolutely brill vantage point/seat/picnic zone for a spot of HM 'afternoon tea'



I feel like I have crammed 1 week's relaxation into a couple of hours. And even DP who was not really 'on board' (mucho gone wrong today ) began to relax and admitted it was the best tonic of all

ALL THANKS TO maddiemay

If you'd like a bash at the scones, Nigella's recipe is HERE I got 12 scones out of the mix, and the only adjustment I made was to use marginally less milk - maybe 280ml? It does depend on your flour though.

Right RISOTTO!!!!

See y'all later.

Greying

maddiemay

Greying, pleased to be of help after all the inspiration I have gained from your diary:D Your picnic looked great and hopefully recharged the batteries before return to work.

Laughed about the OOD C of TT, last week I treated myself to a whole new tub of baking powder as I noticed that what was left in mine was 3 years old:o, somehow a while back (well quite a while back) I had doubled up on it and the older one had got pushed behind the newer one:( Suprisingly it had worked pretty well)

I have been to see Ma this afternoon, she gave me a couple of pounds of red plums:D, on way home I came across roadside stall and bought another 6lbs @ 50p per pound, no guesses what I will be doing this week, but will have one very happy OH (he is trim and fit through cycling approx 6,000 miles per year for pleasure and excercise) so always need to have cake, jam and fresh bread on hand.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

'This is Greying Pilgrim, I repeat, Greying Pilgrim reporting to you live from Greying Towers.... If Dear Reader, I inadvertently fall asleep before the end of this evenings live broadcast, would one of you kindly give me a jolly good prob, and implore me to 'get on wif it'. I thank you.....'


Ho hum. Hit the wall. Too tired to think right.

karma - great to *see* you - I feel your pain with the plant pots, you get to 40 in no time at all.......

INOD - how are you? Have you had chance to use the new bag yet?

mothernerd - you always contribute such interesting posts. I too was brought up in an environment where children just pitched in. I do recall on several occasions adults cautioning that we were trying to tackle things beyond our years, and in hindsight, they were probably right. But yes, it didn't matter that you were a child, or a boy or a girl, it mattered that you were doing it right (not making more mess/work), that you were safe/not putting yourself in danger or that you were handling tools/animals or resources correctly. Nope, I only encountered male-chauvinism later on in life, and I have failed to grasp it as a concept, as it was not how I was raised. I was raised to either do, or not do - but you'd better find summat you can do, and do it to the best of your ability......... :rotfl: Which of course, makes you a jack/jill of all trades........

little_sweetie - I knew you was blessed and capable

maddiemay - i'm not letting DP see how well you treat your DH, otherwise he'll want treats for cycling 6 miles...... :rotfl:

Beanie - are you in da hoose?

What do you think of my version of courgette risotto?



Personally, I wouldn't mark myself too highly, as I think it wasn't a good effort - I got distracted. However, I thought that the dish was tasty It utilised the last of the risotto rice (bought for our other holidays I think....) it used 3 YS'd courgettes that cost 35p, I added in lemon rind and juice (36p for the lemon) and some HG mint, and to top it off, I used 3 spears of asparagus (per plate) out of the freezer that we had been gifted back in June. It is a little too liquid for me - but this is entirely my fault, I added in the courgettes at a later stage, should have put them in earlier , when I added salt, their water leached out, and made more liquid. I did also add in a puree of onion and celery - I like celery as a base note in risottos. But I hadn't got any fry light, so rather than just chop the onion/celery and then fry them, I tried to keep within the spirit of your recipe and fried off the puree in the tiniest little bit of butter - it worked to give the risotto a nice creaminess Plus a good savoury note Think I need to improve beanie - not too sure that I have done your recipe justice

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

That DP keeps trying - sometimes a little too hard, but until the job is finished, always.

for the restorative powers of a little while in the sunshine

for prompts, ideas and for people who make me really think -THANK YOU ALL

Thank you so very much for reading, commenting and joining in. I'm grateful to you

See y'all in the morning.

Greying........ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Busymumofthreeplusdog

Must be jam making season. I made plum jam this afternoon too. Tree is still pretty ladden. Will have to have a wee think bout what else to make....

beanielou

I like the asparagus touch

liltdiddylilt

Bonjour all

Sorry I have been out of the loop a while. I have just thoroughly caught up! The risotto looks lush and I am off to try it myself shortly. I have some randomly left over arborio rice begging for a nice risotto. I do love a bit of asparagus.

Did an online Mr A shop tonight for later in the week. The most odd of things were on 2 for £3. 2.5kilos of potatoes, and a pot of egg mayonnaise anyone? How about Broccoli and a pot of sweet couscous? I think it was a mistake but will be checking the receipt hard. The blessings of having it delivered; if it doesn't add up right, you can ask them to do so at the door. And if not then you ask for a refund over the phone or online and mostly get told to keep the goods. I'm not sure where that puts me morally. Frankly they are a big corporation and I am a little mostly single mum of one. I will take free food, battered as it may be any day over them having yet more profit! :rotfl:

Am making my most wonderful meal of... ever tomorrow. Stuffed marrow (freebie from MIL as she has decided to let the odd courgette get a bit massive for me as we like it so much!).

Was looking at your persian recipe greying. Did you use the saffron? I nearly died looking at it in the supermarket. A bit of red fluff taking up a tiny portion of a glass jar for a ridiculous amount of money! I can't bring myself to buy it!

Well done on finishing the DIY. Your house sounds much like mine growing up. To this day there are only 5 rooms decorated... Out of 17. And that is GOOD! When I left home there were 2... :rotfl:. I was 15 when I went on a school trip and came home to find my bedroom decorated. The first time in my life my walls were not bare plasterboard! My dad is hard at work currently covering the main bedroom and upstairs hall and landing tongue and groove wood panelling in bright orange and sky blue that has been there since he bought the place (complete with orange ceilings) with a £16k payout from a mining accident 35 odd years ago. I was about 18 months old when I helped him dig out the drainage to finally install a bathroom. Until then it was a wash in the kitchen sink and an outside toilet! May I point out now that I am not in my 50's, when this may have been partly acceptable in those days. I am 28... :rotfl: Whilst I am on this tangent, might I also point out that we had no central heating in the 18 years I lived at home. I had a tiny little oil filled radiator that my dad insisted I plug into a specific socket in my room. At my naive age I believed him for 15 odd years when he said it made the radiator warmer... I spent most winter nights sleeping on the floor with my back against it under my duvet... It was only when they sent a letter when I was about 17 saying they were changing the meter that my dad, muttering many expletives and armed with a few tools shot off to get rid of the bypass he had had on the meter "here and there" for most of my life :eek: without it, I don't know that I would have been allowed my radiator, and may genuinely have frozen to death (molodramatic here?! LOL) some years with feet of snow at the door...

Right, enough rambling on your lovely diary. That is what mine is for Night!! x

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Arrghhh, back to 'normal'.... with a bump

Busymumofthreeplusdog - HM plum jam - YUM

beanie - I must do better, next time

lilt - now you've made me feel really bad - my house is tiny, having no where near 17 rooms And the rooms are quite small Still took ages to decorate though Our house growing up had no heating other than one highly ineffective coal fire in one room. We had paraffin heaters in the kitchen and bathroom - smelly and added to the condensation problem. Now I have a house with radiators, that are rarely if ever turned on, as old houses eat heat

No I didn't use saffron. I don't buy it, but it is one spice that is justified its cost, with the hand processing involved. On the rare occasions that I have bought a box, I have kept it 'so long' for that one 'special dish' that I think it has gone over, and I've wondered why folk make such a fuss about such a musty taste.....:rotfl:

Right, must.get.self.organised.

Will take the items to the foodbank today and hope that the reception is open and functioning.

Dinner is currently a mystery - I have a meal plan - have shopped for most of the ingredients, but not actually allocated them against days yet we'll not starve

I'd better love y'all and leave you, it'd be better to start the day ahead of myself than behind.......

I'll be in the vicinity of a mrS today, so might swing in there on the way back to pick up a few items. So currently undecided whether I'll snag my first nsd.

See y'all later.

Greying