Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Whilst I try never to wish my life away, it is at this time of year I begin to look forward to the winter solstice and the shortest day - 'coz then it is 'upwards' in terms of light gain on a daily basis

Today will need to be spendy again. I'm going past an asd*, so I can get bananas - in which case I may as well get the TV listings guide today too. At this rate, there is no way I'm going to hit 20 nsd's this month Still, if I look out for 'greens' of some description too, that should be all the shopping we need for this week, so maybe I can begin to claw back these nsd's afterall

Dinner this evening can go in any of two culinary directions - over to the middle east, or further to the far east, depending on whether I secure a cabbage In any rate, either dinner will be frugal fare, as the grocery budget is shrinking.

Have a great day, I intend to

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

See y'all in a bit.

Greying

Edit: Beanie - have done

beanielou

Many thanks GP

Happy Tuesday GP & friends.

Karmacat

Yuck to *that* sort of taste of autumn, Greying - witchety grubs, snails, maggots, I don't care, I don't want them :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: appreciate the thought, though

I only pop onto half a dozen threads ... do tell about the inspiration in the middle of the night, if you can, I'm always looking for inspiration :j

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, today has been 'full on', but a lot has been achieved, so I am surfacing into the evening tired but content

I can't claim a NSD - but hopefully that is it for a while

I didn't find any *roadkill* either, but to be honest today I was whizzing about so much to try to fit everything in to the time I had available, that I was looking pretty much where I was intent on going To that end, I have deposited £10 into the Credit Union - the cash is from the 'social' budget. I figure that now we are over 1/3rd of the way through November, what we haven't bought drinks wise, we haven't missed, so the cash has been moved to more useful means I can't go squirreling all the social budget into the emergency fund though, as I need to buy stamps for the 'C' cards this month too. However, I am glad that I have moved the money over - must update siggie.


I also dropped off some items at a charity shop. A little local animal charity. They have had a bit of a revamp - but they used to concentrate on fair prices and high turnover of stock, so I'm happy to support them. I hope they are not getting more corporate......... Still, it helped me - got rid of 11 items that we have no further need for, but someone should find useful.

Then I whooshed over to ASD* and h0me bargins and picked up the TV guide (Corrie actors.....again) and a couple of other bits. That's it. Purse now welded closed!

Dinner this evening was Hoi sin mushrooms, coconut dumplings and veg 'Chinese style'. Jaymee O is the inspiration behind this - I think in his '15 minute' series. He did HS chicken with coconut dumplings though. I adapted for veggie, using mushroom and lo and behold, when I goggle for the recipes for anyone interested - this lovely blog has done all the hard work for me I will freely admit, I used a sachet of hoi sin sauce - I had one left from when BD had their 3 for £1 event in ASD* - I think Jaymee used jarred stuff. My mushrooms were YS'd and I picked the largest to slice and freeze (you can't really tell that from the pic) and I used coconut powder for the dumplings. I'm not sure where the 'Chinese style' recipe came from - it is actually for broccoli, but I used; carrots, sweetcorn, cabbage leaf ribs, celery and green beans - cooked and then dressed with rice wine vinegar, oil (should of been sesame, but I didn't have any), soy sauce, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and toasted sesame seeds. I cooked spring greens to serve with it all too. Photo follows...........



Lots of using up, inexpensive vegetables and store cupboard ingredients. It was tasty and filling, and DP loved it I bought some spring greens rather than cabbage - as they were 75p for 500g - a lot more product for the money. They kept their colour wonderfully, had a nice, distinctive taste, contributed 2 different textures to the dish (leaves and rib) and were within my budget with more leaves for another dish :T

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for lovely sunshine - it was glorious today to be bathed in sunshine and to see such a clear blue sky - really made the tree colours stand out. I'm never tiring of the view

for tasty, affordable food - the money to buy it and wherewithal to cook it

for how easy it can (sometimes) be to make someone smile and react positively towards you.

Thank you so much for dropping by, cheering us on and commenting - it is greatly appreciated by me

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Brr, it's a cold one.....

Snap all packed up, coats, hats and scarves dug out and I need to vamoosh sharpish.

I made yoghurt last night and it is interesting how the taste changes. The first batches I made had a definite lemony fresh tang to them - as the milk is purporting to be from British farms, this would coincide with cows being out on grass. Now the seasons are changing, presumably the cows are coming in and their diet changing to grain based. I really never thought you would be able to get all that from 'factory' milk. Wish I'd been interested enough to make yoghurt when we were on the farm. I suspect raw milk yoghurt would be stupendous

However, aims for today; NSD deffo.

Dinner this evening will probably be a middle eastern soup/stew that I have a new recipe for. Mind you, I should of checked I have all the ingredients If I've not, well ....pot luck anyone?

Beanie - no response as yet.

Thanks for popping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later - have a great day.

Greying

dreaming

I have been reading your thread for a couple of weeks now and really enjoy hearing (seeing?) all about your days. Although I am not a vegetarian your food always looks scrummy (apart from mushrooms - yuk) and I may try some of them as I am looking for a bit of inspiration for trying different things and now I am retired have a bit more time to do more than just cook the same old same old.

EssexHebridean

Dreaming, don't diss the mushrooms! :rotfl:

Afternoon all - all well I trust? Greying your chinese dinner looked fabulous! I really need to remember not to read your posts at a time when they'll make me hungry!

I empathise entirely with your requirement for scarves and gloves etc this morning - it was flipping FREEZING here first thing. Quite literally actually - Mr EH had to scrape the car windscreen when we went out. Walking from car to office (about 2 miles) I could well and truly have appreciated a pair of gloves.

Definitely no NSD here today as we're swimming after work. Should have brought out a hat to throw on afterwards I reckon. Talking of all things warm and snuggly, I finally got around to making the curtain linings I've been talking about for *coughs* a long time. Thin fleece throws bought from B&M...curtain hooks sewn on....and the difference they have made to the warmth in the bedroom in the mornings is just astonishing. Highly recommended. Total spend £8, and I still have one spare fleece blanket to use, although I'm unsure for what, yet.

Pippilongstocking

Loving the looks of the coconut dumplings and the 'use a blender, trust me sticky mitts isn't a pretty sight' commentry.

Thanks for a lovely new blog.

I'm up for a pot luck - whatcha making.

Pippilongstocking

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Dreaming, don't diss the mushrooms! :rotfl:

Afternoon all - all well I trust? Greying your chinese dinner looked fabulous! I really need to remember not to read your posts at a time when they'll make me hungry!

Mr EH had to scrape the car windscreen when we went out. Walking from car to office (about 2 miles) I could well and truly have appreciated a pair of gloves.

Definitely no NSD here today as we're swimming after work. Should have brought out a hat to throw on afterwards I reckon. Talking of all things warm and snuggly, I finally got around to making the curtain linings I've been talking about for *coughs* a long time. Thin fleece throws bought from B&M...curtain hooks sewn on....and the difference they have made to the warmth in the bedroom in the mornings is just astonishing. Highly recommended. Total spend £8, and I still have one spare fleece blanket to use, although I'm unsure for what, yet.

Ok call me inspired (*you're inspired pipps) - wrap head/hands in spare fleece and keep warm you daft sausage.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

PS well done on such goodly warmth and savings

Greying_Pilgrim

Beanie - J has had a look and no joy Sorry.

Greying