Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Bleurk.... i'm tired already. I love DP to bits, but sometimes, when he gets a bit between his teeth....... I was up, nearly as early as cocalls lugging heavy stuff about in the dark...... the only saving grace? That it is, in part, contributing to the new direction we're headed in, but golly, I could of done with a bit more kip

Anyway, done and dusted now. So let's get on with things.

cocalls - snapping pics of pretty chickens, whilst out on a bike ride sounds like my idea of heaven - well done

Today may be a NSD, but I am also leaning toward buying a bottle of red, as Friday night is (sometimes) pizza night We don't have to have a glass of wine, but it might be nice. I'll see how the mood grabs me later in the day. Anyway, HM pizza and HM wedges on the menu at Greying towers tonight :T

Right, best get up and at 'em. Seize the day and all that

Thank you for popping in, reading and commenting, I do appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Edit: I've just remembered it's the footy tonight - England v Chile (I think) - so an opportunity to shout at the telly - whoop!

beanielou

Happy Friday Grayling & friends

Karmacat

Happy Friday to you too, beanie :kisses3:

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Thanks for ....
for generosity - we have been gifted a pumpkin and some apples (cooking)....... all because 'we know you'll use them'... Thank you

for twinkling shop displays - because you can 'look' for free, and it does brighten up the (increasingly) darker evenings :D

I like these two in particular :T Kind folk towards the very rich little village thats near where I live, they don't bother using the apples from the trees in their garden, but they gather them and put them in wooden boxes, with a sign to help yourself - so I take two, and have a couple of helpings of stewed apple, its gorgeous.

And twinkles! Very special for me - there's an association with my grandad who took me shopping when I was pre-school, in the dark with all the Christmas lights on - between having him all to myself, being in the front seat of his 750cc car, and being out in the dark, it was *so* glamourous, I can't tell you :j

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Bleurk.... i'm tired already. I love DP to bits, but sometimes, when he gets a bit between his teeth....... I was up, nearly as early as cocalls lugging heavy stuff about in the dark...... the only saving grace? That it is, in part, contributing to the new direction we're headed in, but golly, I could of done with a bit more kip

I'm feeling a bit this way myself - can't lie on my right because of shoulder pain, have *never* been able to lie on my back because of lower back pain, and at the moment I can't lie on my left because of my flu jab - bad planning on my part, I was *asked* which arm I wanted the thing in!

Today may be a NSD, but I am also leaning toward buying a bottle of red, as Friday night is (sometimes) pizza night We don't have to have a glass of wine, but it might be nice. I'll see how the mood grabs me later in the day. Anyway, HM pizza and HM wedges on the menu at Greying towers tonight :T

Ooh ... I have a bottle of cava in the fridge, been there for weeks, since before I fell ill ... this could be the night! It would help me sleep, after all

Hope you're having a wonderful day, you marvellous person you :j

Pippilongstocking

I hope you're going to indulge in a bit of red wine me dear will go marvellously with the pizza/wedges/footie combo.

Mind on if you've been lugging since silly o clock - one glass and you'll not see the footy!!

Get your feet up later and have a lovely weekend!

Waves a happy Friday back to Beanie et al too

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Karma - thanks for that story about you and your Grandpa. Interesting isn't it how we can recall such memories. Very nice.

Pippi - we ended up snoozing in front of the footy - not because we were up at silly o'clock, not because of a glass of wine, not because the wood stove was on...... but because it was so bl00dy boring! A well deserved win to Chile. The England team were an utter shambles - and yes, I know it was a friendly, but where's the will to win?

Happy Shiney new diary anyhow my friend LINK here for everyone else

So, I made DP promise that we wouldn't be lugging stuff about at silly o'clock this morning. He did manage to stay asleep for a little longer, but no much..... *sigh*. But at least we were moving stuff in the light this morning. When it is all done and dusted, I shall tell you the why's and wherefores However, that is the last 'lugging' we need to do for the time being :T

So, today. I shall be aiming for a NSD. Dinner this evening will be a curry - sound boring? Well, it is one that I have never made before, and I am also using an ingredient that I have never used before...... so watch this space for the triumph or the tragedy :rotfl::rotfl:If it works out - and boy is that a BIG if, I think we will have 'made at home', something that would cost you a pretty penny out and about. So there is an incentive for me to get it right - in addition to the money that I have shelled out for ingredients (although admittedly, they have not broken the bank )

Oh, I forgot to mention our good news too. I have told you that we have a 'known known' coming up in the first quarter of 2014, which will impact on our household income. This is in addition to all the normal expenses and bills etc. Initially, we could of had this 'known known' foisted upon us ... actually this month. Those of you who have read for some time, will know that we have only 'just' got through the really squeaky period due to the events that kicked off this diary. If we'd of taken that financial 'hit' this month, we would of been sunk - in debt, no doubt At least by 'delaying' it until 2014, I have been able to work out the 'minimum' that we would need to save to be ok financially - with anything else a bonus. Well, having [STRIKE]nagged[/STRIKE] encouraged DP to claim (legitimate) expenses off HMRC for ages, and being studiously ignored, the whole issue prompted DP to get the paperwork completed :T A cheque arrived yesterday for the amount we *need* plus about £20 'spare' - whoop! Serendipittydoodah strikes again :D Plus, DP has learnt a valueable lesson - HMRC have changed the no. of years you can go 'back' to claim..... DP lost one year's claim.......get that paperwork in order people!

Right, so on that 'Good News' note, I guess I best get 'up and at 'em'.

Thanks so much for popping in, reading and commenting - you know I greatly appreciate it

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Wonderful! Seredipitydoodahwotsit is a brilliant thing :j

I think I might have a claim for last year - I think I used the wrong exchange rate for euros, and ended up declaring I'd got more income than I actually had how daft!

I'm *fascinated* by all this lugging things about - so glad to hear you'll tell us eventually :rotfl::o

walkers60

Good afternoon

I don't often post - but I wanted to say thank you for your very interesting thread. I love the 3 things you are thankful for at the end of your posts. It is good to remember to do this - I must do it more often!

I have a couple of chooks that should look like the one in cocalls photo - except they, and my other ones, don't look as pretty. Unfortunately they have got into the habit of feather pecking. I have tried lots of remedies - sprays, tar etc but to no avail. Parts of them are bald so I have sprayed with a mauve antiseptic. Now I have bald, mauve chooks. They look a bit funky and lay extremely good, plentiful eggs so must be happy - even though they look different from the crowd!! Reminds me of the blue bird on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square!

Pippilongstocking

Aw thanks lady!

And a big

CONGRATULATIONS

To the wee bit of goodluck you've had and shows filling in forms (and posting them) actually works

beanielou

Good news on the rebate

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

You toddle off to do a few bits and pieces and the world drops by your thread.....

walkers60 - welcome and thank you so much for your lovely post. Please de-lurk more often Aw, poor hens, they do manage to look scraggy don't they? I remember when ours (looooonnnnggg time ago in my childhood ) used to moult, they looked like nothing on earth. I hope you sort out the pecking soon. I'm not versed enough in chicken management to offer any assistance I'm afraid

Karma - don't diddle yourself hun! There's enough folks after getting their dibs on our cash as it is

Pippi - thanks - I was in charge of posting...... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Beanie - hey you! Keeping well??

Well, although today started a little later than yesterday, I'm beginning to flag. I think 'Borgen' will have to be taped rather than watched in real time - don't tell me what happens right - as we'll probably tape all the episodes and watch them in a 'Borgenfest' weekender now The good news is, that means I can have an early night

Bad luck England rugger (union) team - a hard fought match, but New Zealand always seemed to have the edge (I only saw the highlights, as we don't have satellite).

Well, I achieved a NSD today :j must update siggie.

I really must fill you in on the 'lugging' but I'm flagging fast, so I'll save that for another time, so that I can fit in telling you about dinner.

I want firstly to thank ninjasavingkat and the crew over on THIS thread. If they hadn't been discussing WAgamama's 'Katsu Curry', I wouldn't of looked it up to see what food substance they were talking about and wouldn't of had a 'ping' of an idea of how I could veggie-fy it, following seeing an ingredient I had not used before, in Marksis$pensiv.

So, for dinner this evening, we had 'Paneer Katsu Curry' with sticky rice, pickled beetroot, vagareli makai (curried sweetcorn), steamed greens and lime wedges. Photo follows........



I didn't have any panko breadcrumbs - and no 'affordable' way of getting some, so I used toasted oat flakes - lightly crushed by hand - to cover the paneer (indian cheese). They weren't as crispy as panko, but not bad.... I also sprinkled everything with toasted sesame and nigella seeds, but forgot to do it before I took the photos (it is a toss up between taking pics and the food going cold ) The restaurant chain that inspired this meal serve it with pickled veg. I had none, but the only thing I had that could be pickled was some beetroot. I used my pugilese salad recipe, but I have to say, something was not quite right - either my balsamic is getting 'old' (?????) or the OOD mint sauce has had it's chips?? Also, the vagareli makai wasn't as good as I've made before - I had no peanuts/nuts so used some toasted pumpkin seeds - didn't work, they went soft in the heat, and also the 'mild' green chilli I put in was...... no so mild...... In the photo, I have put the curry sauce in a separate bowl. I think in the restaurant they put it over the rice, but I wanted to try to show the 'separate' elements of the meal - in reality, DP just poured it all over the meal when the 'photoshoot' was done :rotfl:

I did the breaded paneer off my own bat - although I bought my paneer from mrT as it was on offer at £1 rather than £1.54 or 64 at Mand$. For the curry recipe, I used THIS recipe (which also has how to do breaded chicken for the dish ). It was very easy to do - but I had no carrots, so substituted pumpkin - which worked well I thought I also used a Japanese curry spice mix, made up from several versions I found on the internet, rather than using 'mild curry powder'. The sauce was nice, not unlike chip shop curry sauce - without overpowering star anise

The 'sticky' rice is some thai jasmine rice I have had like forevaaa. I wouldn't like to guess how 'OOD' it is...... but it tastes ok, cooks ok and has no weevils in it, so I'll use it up

Apparently in the restaurant/takeway this is a £8.75 - £9.50 dish. It was time consuming, but I think it made a nice Saturday night 'treat' dish. I would be happy to make it again - I would definitely 'tweak' my treatment of the paneer and I would pay much more attention to my accompanying dishes, as they detracted a little from the meal, as they were not quite right. DP liked it and said, 'I'd have that again'. So there is incentive for me to improve

So, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

teamwork - it has yielded DP and I some much needed extra income - we work well together and complement each other - and in general pull in the same direction

Hazelnut chocolate - DP bought me some For all my hard work :D Spontaneous gifts are nice :D:D Especially when edible and for only a few pennies from Ald* :D:D:D

lists and progress - there used to be a time when I could retain all sorts of information about a diverse range of things in my head. These days I rely increasingly on lists. But I have the satisfaction now of crossing items off these lists, to see how far - in this case, in less than a week - we are progressing towards our goal :D

Thank you so very much for dropping in, reading and commenting. I really appreciate it. Very much

See y'all later.

Greying