Living on next to nought - is that the key?

7_week_wonder

Hello! I've just stumbled across your diary and I will definitely be popping back to keep up with your adventures. I love some of the blogs you've linked to, and, like you, I keep meaning to try growing pea-shoots from a box of marrowfat peas.

My greatest delight of today was my local library emailing me to say a book I wanted to read is available. They actually went out and bought a copy when I requested it - and it's all free:T
Keep the recipes and daily reporting coming....

Greying_Pilgrim

:hello:Good Evening

Well, I've had visitors again, how loverly........

I must quickly correct something that I forgot to embolden in the post I did this morning - Thank you for encouraging me - is what it should of said.

Today has been a NSD :j

Piquant - how come you know I am a [STRIKE]perfectionist[/STRIKE] *tweaker* of things?? :rotfl::rotfl: Yes, you are quite right and I am an advocate of plurality - the yoghurt adventures will continue. If nothing else, I tried this batch with a starter of greek strained yoghurt, I would like to see what happens with 'ordinary' yoghurt. I'll try to grab a pot of R*achels organic live yoghurt if they have it in H*ron Foods anytime soon.

I'm more than happy to share recipes, techniques, trials, tribulations etc etc, does it have to be right now? I only ask, as I would like to have another go at least - I'm not entirely happy with the recipe I used - I didn't follow it to the letter, and neither did several people who left comments in the comments section :rotfl: I suspect that there is a typo and it should read 3 teaspoons of starter rather than tablespoons per 500ml of milk. This would then put it on a par with a lot of the other recipes I read - a high proportion of them American - who used 2 tbsps of starter per US 'Quart' of milk. Well a US 'Quart' is approximately 950ml - so 2 Tbsp a litre, 1 per 500ml. When Adam was a lad and I was taught home economics in school, we were taught 2 and a half teaspoons = 1 tablespoon. In modern parlance, a teaspoon is 5ml, a tablespoon 15ml - so that would fit and point to a typo. As it was, I used 2 tablespoons and hoped for the best!

I'd hate to come across as an *expert* when it was just a case of beginners luck, and I never make a batch of edible stuff ever again!

CUL8R - I hope you have a go. I can't believe the effort/reward ratio of it.

Upsidedown Bear - I am in love with my *dishwasher* - it does weeding too - *swoon*

7 Week Wonder - how lovely to *see* you. Now I owe you a deep debt of gratitude (I think I did say thank you at the time ). On one of the OS threads (a couple of years ago), you posted a link to a site, I have a feeling it was something like Sustrans or a similar organisation, that mapped out Food Co-operatives in the uk (rather than food banks, which we know to be something different). I followed the link and found (to my amazement) that there were several co-operatives near to me that I didn't even know existed. Long story short, I joined in one and today I buy good quality oats for the same price per kilo as I was paying (retail) some 4 or 5 years ago. :T

Gosh a *new* book and you get first dibs :T Libraries are fab! No two ways about it.

I will try to keep posting - that's if I don't bore folk rigid with my witterings.

Actually, I wanted to use this post to *talk* about an issue that both Upsidedown Bear and Piquant touched on. That is that the debt-free or money saving journey is not a sentence, life is still for living, whatever your circumstances. I just wanted to add in something that occurred to me today and that is mind your language. Nope, I'm not being rude. I shouldn't of used the phrase 'forgo' when talking about deciding whether to keep having a tv listings guide. It implied 'doing without', 'lack', 'loss'. I was hurrying and wrote in shorthand, when in fact the thought swirling round at the back of my mind was, 'the current listing magazine we buy is very expensive, is there a different way of approaching this? And of course, Beanie called it right, by pointing out that there were a range of such things and they were offered at differing prices. And, now I can still have a tv listings guide, but it will only cost me c.£2.50 per month instead of the c.£6.50 I was paying. £4 to the key fund at the moment, but in the future, who knows?

In RL I'm normally quite positive and upbeat, and positivity and enthusiasm are important traits to retain when you encounter a difficult situation. And let's be honest, there are good folk on this site that are really going through times much more difficult than mine. This thread, and the input people give are encouraging me to focus, and being mindful of my language is a key part of that, because I in fact, agree with everything that was said about keeping the journey fun and marshalling your resources.

Right, on that note, I am away to eat dinner. It is summer morrocan stew and minted bulghar wheat. I suppose it should be cous cous, but I have a bulghar mountain courtesy of appr*ved foods (who doesn't?? ) so I though I'd better cook some.

Thanks for reading.

See y'all later.

Greying

Bad_Weather

LOVING this diary!!!

You wouldn't know if from my diary but I am too veggie - when i say sausage it's Linda McCartney sausages i'm referring to!

Love the avocado recipes, we recently binned 4 avocados wish I had checked out a recipes first. Still trying to catch up on the your yogurt outcome...

xx

Shovel_Lad

Ooooo pictures :T Thank you.

Having just read your latest post my first thought was "If only more people were like Greying the world would be a better and happier place for them and others".

I know obviously from being on MSE that people have many problems and difficulties particularly with regard to debt but people's attitudes to that can be so different.
I remember saying some time ago to a friend who also posts on here that you can usually tell from the opening few pages of a diary whether that person will succeed with what they want to do - whatever it is.
Some people, regardless of how difficult things are or how much debt they have just have that positive attitude that they will get there. They will be happy despite circumstances. They will make the best of what they have and enjoy themselves.
You're definitely in that category and that's what makes reading this diary such a pleasure. :D:D

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening (again) :hello:

Bad Weather thank you for dropping in. Yes, we eat veggie 'sausages' from time to time too - for preference the lincolnshire spiced ones (usually T*sco own brand). A 'sausage' bap (with HM bread rolls) is our little ritual when we go off on holiday. We stop after about 3 hours of driving (if it's been an early start) and tuck into one of these each - always with chipotle/smoked paprika flavoured ketchup on - delish, and we know we can begin to r-e-l-a-x.

Right, today has been great. I haven't been able to put anything in the key fund, but I've not spent either. I had a delish, almost free breakfast :money:and I used up another of the 'whoopsied' courgettes in the dish for dinner. It was the first time I'd made it - a variation of something I make in winter, using butternut squash* - it worked, so it'll definitely be made again.

The 3 things for which I'm grateful today are;

- Focus. It's becoming clear that you can achieve an awful lot with focus. I bet all them Olympians are staring at the screen, shouting, 'we cudda told you that GP, did you not notice our achievements last year????'. Um, yes, I did

- Digital Cameras. I mean, point, shoot, import, upload, view. Boom. What were we thinking, messing about with 35mm? Still, take it from me, it's not terribly easy to capture a 'focus' point of yoghurt :rotfl:

- children who are keen to know the answer to questions and don't care who they are asking. 'So, your maj, what'd you prefer for a great-grandchild, boy or girl?'. Priceless. :rotfl:

I have an early appointment tomorrow. If you find me here, please remind me I'm not supposed to be.

Thank you very much for dropping by and reading. It is appreciated.

Greying


* A1di are supposed to be having butternut squash and courgettes (presume a 3 pack??) as part of their 'Super Six' starting tomorrow, 18th July. At 69p each. HTH



Edit: Oh, my, gosh, Shovel Lad, what an INCREDIBLY generous thing to write. I'm just, well.......:o

I hope though, you can also see it from my perspective - in that DFW and DFW Diaries is an amazingly, vibrant and (above all) supportive community. In RL I don't suppose many people are afforded the level of support, help, kindness, guidance (I could go on) that is given so readily and so freely on these threads. I so value that this 'place' exists. And I love the fact that people take the time to read, join in, interact with.... how many diaries???

I am, however, incredibly humbled by what you have just taken the time to write. Thank you.

beanielou

Funnily enough I had courgette risotto for tea & it was very tasty :drool:

Shovel_Lad

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Edit: Oh, my, gosh, Shovel Lad, what an INCREDIBLY generous thing to write. I'm just, well.......:o

I hope though, you can also see it from my perspective - in that DFW and DFW Diaries is an amazingly, vibrant and (above all) supportive community. In RL I don't suppose many people are afforded the level of support, help, kindness, guidance (I could go on) that is given so readily and so freely on these threads. I so value that this 'place' exists. And I love the fact that people take the time to read, join in, interact with.... how many diaries???

I am, however, incredibly humbled by what you have just taken the time to write. Thank you.

I agree with everything you say - I love the MSE forum too.
I am constantly amazed about how much time and effort people put into helping others on here. Some posters must spend most of their free time on here helping others.
Martin really started something wonderful when he set up this forum didn't he? :money:

My thanks too to all the lovely people on here :T

beanielou

Have to agree Martin certainly all did us such a service when he set up MSE.
I have been so lucky & have met some amazing & lovely people here & in some cases have been fortunate enough to go on to meet them in real life too
Never ever thought I would be nearly debt free too

Greying_Pilgrim

Good evening :hello:

Yes, I quite agree Shovel Lad and Beanielou, Martin created something wonderful. I especially like how people volunteer to be board guides. It must be a pretty thankless task, but one on the whole that they do superbly. And just how can they know that such and such a topic was discussed on 4th November, 2006, then do a search and come up trumps with the relevant thread or post? Marvellous.

Beanielou - nearly debt free? Bravo. When you take your place on the debt free roll of honour we shall all come and show our appreciation. Is there a 'congratulations' or 'well done' button on that thread, rather than 'thanks'. There should be.

Today, has, on balance been good. A couple of incidents tried to rock the equilibrium, but no, on balance the day 'went well'.

Today's expenditure was all planned - not much (household non-food items). I also bought a bottle of wine for the weekend today - so that hopefully I can have a NSD tomorrow. I bought a 'brand down' again, and have put the £1 in the key fund. Must remember to update my sig.

Oh, I've been forgetting to update you on the seedlings development. The beetroot are now vying to catch up with the lettuces and are going bonkers. I love the shade of purple that a beetroot stem is - fabulous. Also the perpetual spinach has germinated and the basil. The coriander is starting to make a move, I remain unsure about the parsley - but seem to think that takes a while to germinate even when dealing with fresh seed.

So, progress indeed. I'm going to start some more seeds off too - I'd love to have a pot of cos lettuce, but that is probably too ambitious. Best stick with what is working perhaps and make BIG plans for next year

Dinner this evening was scrummy and I'm actually quite full. I thank a gal called Jack Monroe for her 9p bean and veggie burgers - recipe HERE. The only alterations I made, were to add in a handful of toasted oats to the mix - I find kidney beans can be a bit soft for burgers. I also threw in a couple of minced garlic cloves (coz I always do) and a teaspoon of turmeric. So it made my version more expensive, but I doubled the mix and got 7 burgers out of it. The eagle-eyed amongst you will point out that I should of got 8, but I made them each approx. 100g and pressed them in the hamburger press I have (consistent size and shape = even cooking) - I think Jack's may of been free-form. Still, that is enough for our dinner, plus extras for snap boxes - either tomorrow or frozen for another day.

They were served with new potatoes (almost at the end of those donated by the gardening parental), cabbage (used up the heart again from that donated), broad beans and sweetcorn (dug out of freezer), salsa (a teeny leftover pot dug out of the freezer) and a minted yoghurt dressing that really complimented the burgers.

Goodness, a friend has just dropped off some sweetpeas. I don't know which room DP has put them in, but the scent is absolutely intense (in a good way).

Well, I think that is it from me today.

I am grateful for the following 3 things;

- Friends. Who lend you things and deliver them to your door, accompanied by flowers............:T
- Goodwill. Bosses who sometimes recognise that they are employing human beings and buy them an ice-cream on a hot day. (twasn't me that benefitted btw, but someone close to me )

- Sharing. Especially when it is done with true altruism and with no expectation of reward.

Thank you very much for reading.

See y'all later.

Greying

Upsidedown_Bear

Really pleased the seeds are germinating

I love sweet peas - they are truly fabulous They are on my (ever growing) list of things to grow when I have a garden.

I agree - there should be a "Well done" button on the Debt Free Roll of Honour. I love seeing that thread updated.