Living on next to nought - is that the key?

kem10

Hello Greying,

Long time no see!

Catching up now... All the lovely photos of food is making me hungry when I just had lunch.

Hope you're well.

Cheery_Daff

That's a very festive smiley UpsideDown bear! :j :j :j

Thank you lovely Greying Speaking as someone who is just sitting down to reduced potato cakes with overcooked, microwaved scrambled egg for lunch, I shall endeavour to pop in more often for foody inspiration

liltdiddylilt

Aloha GP & chums

Firstly - Mariah brings back good memories of my mum & mama helping us kiddiwinks to decorate the tree, my big sister with her hair to the back of her knees singing away... and it fills me with happy thoughts. I really don't care for th elady herself, especially in the last 10 years or so... :eek:

Second... oh the birds!! I so love this time of year for the birds. I come from far colder climes than this wet & warm southern county. I grew up with a big chunk of Sherwood Forest on the doorstep and spent half my childhood exploring it. I used to deliberately dress all in white, get on my mountain bike and do a familiar, extremely tough mudder style track on my bike once a year. Whizzing around, until there was no more white to be seen, nor any skin and my legs were like jelly threatening to collapse on the way through the back gate... where mum would hose me down with the hosepipe & I would strip in the garden and run upstairs for a shower! The clothes went in the bin, and I was reborn It started when I had particularly testing times as a young teenager. I'd still do it now if I was there! I saw weasels, stoats, dozens of birds, rabbits, squirrels (grey too ), mice & voles.. I love the countryside!

Finally - I made a banana loaf!! all by my own! And this weekend I shall be baking bread and trying pastry. Amazing what new scales will do.. :rotfl:

Upsidedown_Bear

Smilie of the day.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well - what's left of it anyhoo I'm rather hoping that I have thwarted the startings of a cold. I was beginning to feel lousy yesterday - tickly throat and lacking energy. I even fell asleep in the chair yesterday afternoon for a while - DP valued the peace and quiet :rotfl:I really didn't feel like making anything for us tea - and we'd had a 'bitsa' lunch which had filled a spot. But do you know, Dear Reader, I popped on here at about 5pm and read all the lovely comments about food, and thought - 'I'd better make something'. And so I did Spent the rest of the night watching Masterch3f and DDD and then have had a good 10 hrs sleep :j I'm feeling mucho better this morning

Upsidedown Bear - I love that there is a tree on the thread. No room in RL

kem10 - how bizzare - I was thinking of you yesterday when wishus popped back on Again, I appreciate the time that anyone makes in their day to pop by, so thank you. Lovely to *see* you

Cheery - I had scrambled egg for brekkie with the last of the rye bread as toast. I'd never pass masterch3f as I do my eggs too dry But golly - a dish that's hard to beat eh?

Lilty - Good memories are good memories, and songs are very often a trigger aren't they? Yep, Mother Nature, she's hard to beat in the fulfilment stakes. I'm sure theme park supporters would tell me different, but I like the countryside as my life enhancer Hennnnnoooo to the Jellytotster

Needless to say,I didn't write up my menu-planner yesterday However, I made a Buddha bowl option in the end, which I'm pleased to say, actually was nearer the criteria of 'using up bits' this time than some of my previous versions I started out with rice as the starch. Then I sauted some shredded Brussels sprouts, to which I added some lemon juice and some lemon zest. I then shredded up the last of the thai basil that I'd got YS'd for the Pho. I'd seen a Yotam recipe for brussel sprouts that used 'ordinary' basil, and I hoped that the anise/fennel taste of the thai basil would work with the lentil dish that I made too. So in the shredded basil went. Then I topped this off with a 'version' of a dhal dish that uses brown lentils (masoor lentils, or red lentils with their jackets on ). I made the dhal more or less as stated, but I had no ginger, so ended up using some pickled ginger (think sushi ginger), no garlic, and I tossed in the green peppers from the 2 YS'd bags of mini-peppers that I got in mrm for 19p a bag the other day. There were about 6 green peppers, amongst the red/yellow/orange, so I wanted to use them up in something and the dhal was perfect. I also threw in 1/2 a can of kidney beans that were left over from making the 'sausage roll' filling the other day. It would have been brill to top this all off with a dollop of yoghurt, but I had none, so instead I chopped up some of the plum tomatoes I got from mrL the other day. The freshness was a good contrast, not as good as 'dairy', but good enough. The only dairy in the dish, was a little spot of butter, put in with the sprouts as they steamed to yumminess Picture here;



I was quite pleased with the thai basil in the sprouts in the end - there was fennel seed in the lentil dhal, so it wasn't too 'way out there' in terms of matching. I probably could have used a touch less, but when we'd eaten it, I found a Yotam recipe that uses Brussels with citrus and Star Anise, so I wasn't too far away with my flavour combo after all.....

Well, I'd better shift a tail-feather. I've got to make up for lost time now! Still, I'm only on my first coffee of the day, so best not to rush things

Thanks everso for popping in, reading and commenting. You really spurred me on yesterday. And once I was making a meal for us, my mojo kicked in, and I really enjoyed [STRIKE]fiddle faddling about[/STRIKE] 'experimenting' with what I had left in the fridge to use up

See y'all later.

Greying

satchmo1

Hi GP, sorry you've got the lurgy which sounds similar to mine. Slightly swollen glands and a feeling of dizziness, but mostly bone-weary. Feeling a little better this morning (I'm just scraping in on the morning stakes), so I hope you are too.


To answer last week's query about the B00ts saga, I received a letter closing the case from the GPC stating they'd investigated and whilst some processes hadn't been followed exactly, there were mitigating circumstances (changed doctors so old practice had no reason/willingness to spend time on administration, new doctors not having full medical history... but that's an excuse that shouldn't mean the pharmacist gives up trying, surely?), and no malpractice.


I wasn't suggesting malpractice: it was lack of follow-up; lack of professionalism; lack of care. Was I expecting too much? It would appear to be so. Would I complain again? Absolutely: standards should be upheld, and if no-one complained how would B00ts know that their processes needed dusting off.

Greying_Pilgrim

satchmo1 wrote: »

Hi GP, sorry you've got the lurgy which sounds similar to mine. Slightly swollen glands and a feeling of dizziness, but mostly bone-weary.

That ^ That is exactly how I felt. I was lightheaded to the point of feeling like a puppet as I walked - as though I was not lifting/in control of my own limbs (I know that sounds like a daft explanation, but it's exactly how I felt). I wanted to go out into the fresh air yesterday morning, but made DP accompany me, as I wasn't sure that I wouldn't fall over. As it was, getting outside was the best thing, as the lightheadedness went, and has, thankfully, stayed away. I'm hoping I've headed it off at the pass with my big sleep. I certainly feel much better today.

Well, I suppose you've got some resolution regarding the pharmacy. And no, you weren't alleging malpractice, you were highlighting incompetence - which is serious, whether or not there is malicious intent. Ah well, perhaps behind the scenes someone has had an explosive illuminating device planted firmly up their Harriss and things may improve...... I thought you mentioned you had found an alternative pharmacy to use anyway? I hope you've got resolution for you and your mother anyway, that is all that matters

I've just had to return something to a shop. Isn't it interesting how people who work in shops think that customer service is all about making the people in their queue wait, whilst they stick their nose into their colleague's business - when they've actually no clue what the conversation involved between you and their colleague, because they are at least 10 feet away, in busy, noisy shop? I did have a giggle (purely to myself) as this particular individual does rather think something of themselves, and they managed to make themselves look very silly in front of a whole line of people, myself and their colleague. As it was, their colleague was so nice and so helpful and was an absolute credit to the store. They made returning an unused, but unsuitable item an absolute breeze :T

DP is busy trying to put up a proper curtain rail, so that we can properly fix a curtain across the front door. I have, however, yet to fashion a curtain. I have some from a charity shop, but they need a major restructuring, and I'm really not in the mood to cut and sew. Wonder what I can bodge in the meantime Until my sewing mojo returns.

Greying

satchmo1

Yes, GP, alternative pharmacy is a delightfully refreshingly obliging crew who do what they say they'll do, and follow up without being prompted. I am vocal in my thanks to them.


Ooo, door curtain: I want to have one put up, but the rise and fall curtain rails seem to be rather expensive. I haven't yet looked at material as I was thinking of matching the hall and patio curtains in Springtime.

Upsidedown_Bear

Smilie of the day.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

satchmo1 wrote: »

Ooo, door curtain: I want to have one put up, but the rise and fall curtain rails seem to be rather expensive.

Ah ha, satchmo - I had to look up what one of those was Um, we didn't fit one of those - just a rail across the wall The advantage though for us is that the front door isn't our main use door, so a curtain isn't going to be a major faff going in and out. I can see how those rails come into their own though. If it was a permanent fix, we'd have to consider one of those, not the Heath-Robinson contraption we've currently affixed #hopingtomoveoutoneday.

Ah, I do luvs my DP, but he announced last night that he was going to paint the kitchen today............*sigh*. We've a list as long as your arm of jobs and excursions that we both discussed a week ago, as things we could do on this *holiday*. Painting the kitchen was not on the list *sigh*. It wasn't on the list, because it is a major undertaking. It is almost winter - the kitchen gets very cold and full of condensation, the paint would stay on for...... mmm 2 seconds flat. *sigh*

Dinner last night was another case of 'use ups'. I have actually written out my menu-planner for December now, and it is sitting on the notice-board :T So I find it faintly amusing that l made 'made-up' for our meal last night :rotfl: Anyhoo, it filled a spot and made some space on the provisions shelf. So all is not lost This is really boring, and not in any; way, shape or form the height of culinary excellence, but just to keep the concept going, here's a pic of us tea;



The pasta is cassarecce from h0me bargins. There is onion, garlic, celery and 4 more of the YS'd mini peppers chopped up and sauted. I then mixed in a jar of drained and rinsed green olives (not so keen on those as the black olives). Lastly I snapped in some green beans and heated them until they were warmed through. Put it all in with the pasta, which was them topped with the very, very last gratings of the parmesan style cheese I got from mrS and topped with the last of the plum cherry tomatoes that we got from mrL.

Today we are going on an onion hunt - if I can prize DP away from the paintbrushes and turpentine :rotfl: The local farmers bargain shop had nets of 9kg of onions for £1.49 earlier in autumn. They were a good price, however, they don't appear to be stocking them now, so I've no idea where to get some from - other than going over to the metropolis to get some from the Asian grocers. But it seems a bit of a waste of diesel to go so far for one item

Dinner this evening will be curry - hopefully the aubergine bhuna, as I have an aubergine that needs using up.

Right, I need a cup of coffee.

Thanks everso for popping in and reading. Mucho appreciated.

See y'all later.

Greying