Living on next to nought - is that the key?

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Dinner this evening will be curry. I am going to make a new curry for the first time - it is the 'Pau Bhaji' from Rick Stein's India series/book.

That series of his on the telly was quite nice - a foodie travel show! After seeing the episode with that particular recipe we picked up this from one of our rare trips to grocery store. OH wouldn't touch it as it smelled to spicy - I thought it was rather chili hot but quite tasty! I'm sure with a bit of effort, a vat of it could be made for around the £1!!!;)

cocalls

Deffo a win month I'd say


Im sat hear listening to my wine bubbling and fermenting (Ive put it behind sofa warmest and safest place to stop LO fiddling)and wondered if you'd thought about making your own? I must admit it's my first attempt (although I've done a lot of cider making as inlaws have an orchard) but wilkos were selling the kits for £2 so I thought id give it a bash. It makes 6 bottles and I also got one that makes 36 bottles for £6 but id have a find a different hiding place for my demi johns than behind the sofa when I get starting on that one!


Failing that do you have any Nicolson pubs or pitcher or pianos near you as if you sign up to their news letters they send vouchers out once in a while to get a free drink.




(slightly later post from me today-had a sleep in! Been waking up at silly times for no reason)

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

rtandon - I totally agree with you about Rick's last series, in fact, at times, it became more travelogue than food! That chap wants to make up his mind what he wants to be seen as; chef, historian/travelpresenter or literary academic. I did like his interview with the Dalai Lama though - thought it made a refreshing change Also, thanks for posting that link. I have seen that brand - HB has it a lot, but I'd not seen they did the pau bhaji. mmm, I agree you could make it cheaply, but I'd try the packet once to see what it was like. I was not overly impressed with Rick's version - more on that anon.

cocalls - lovely to see you - and glad that you had a lie-in. Waking up early for no reason is not pleasant. We need our ZZZ's We did consider the home-brew route a few years back, and an uncle is very good at it, and was encouraging us. But I have to say, he actually put us off, as all his beer tasted of..... 'home brew'. I actually like trying different beers and getting different taste sensations. His HM wine was just lethal :eek: As it turns out, we don't really drink enough to justify the investment. I don't think we have any of those pub chains in the vicinity...... if I tell you that it is still a novelty to folks round here that we have a w3th3rsp00ns.......... As boring as this sounds, after our experience in October, we would be more likely to become teetotal that homebrewers - although I suspect that won't happen

So, dinner last night. We watched the rugby (union) and had 2 beers each, along with some crisps (and no, this is NOT the healthy eating thread...... ) then we had our curry. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the pau bhaji. It looked nothing like the version did on the TV programme, and I'm glad that I made the spice mix that I did, as if I'd of used RS's alternative suggestion, it would of been a 'pedestrian' dish in the extreme I'm going to do some research and see if it really is supposed to be like that. The recipe used marrowfat peas, and all I had were m*shy, but in saying that, the peas did stay quite intact, so I wasn't too far off the ball, but of course, they made the dish green, rather than orange, which is what the colour was of the dish on TV. I wouldn't be surprised if split peas/chana dal were used in the original. And of course, the other blindingly obvious thing now is that the recipe is a street food dish. It didn't really work in a curry plate, as I'd done rice too and it overbalanced the carbs I served it with ramja curry and beetroot curry (which actually is one of rick's recipes too out of his 'eastern odyssey' book) and out of the whole plate, the beetroot dish was the best and tastiest. I have done a close up of DP's plate, and I have to say, it distorts the portion size. We were half full of beer and crisps, so actually, dinner was modest - I even put mine on a smaller plate and it was sufficient Oh, and the tomato didn't cook down, so I put it on top of the pau bhaji as a 'poncy' touch :rotfl:but yes, it was one of the L*dl ones. I used about 230g of the tomatoes that had 'soft' spots on them (the recipe called for 400g of tomatoes) But of the whole 6 punnets, I only had to throw 1 small tomato away that had gone mouldy - not too shabby I think

Here's a pic to see what you think;



I think if I made that version again, I would think of 'context'. It would probably be great as a 'rib sticker' lunch with naan or chapattis or something, or a camping supper after a day's hike.

So we've spent already this morning, so first day of December and I can't claim a NSD already But I'm going to have to come back and fill you in with a separate post. If Friday was a 'funny old day', yesterday turned out to be a little bit extraordinary........

We have got so much to start sorting out today......Where to blooming start

I might be back in a minute, I might be back later. So, whatever you are up to today, have a great time.

Thanks for dropping in, reading and commenting. I do greatly appreciate it.

See y'all in a bit.

Greying

Karmacat

Hiya!

Definitely looks like a ribsticker - I love that

Interesting about Wetherspoons - when I did a lot of mystery shopping, I went to quite a few :rotfl: Gatwick, the City, other places as well- they were much, much better than I remember in my 20s, I guarantee you that

For your Saturday to be extraordinary ... sounds wonderful :j I'm just glad to get going doing normal things again, its lovely, even going to my Egyptology (on the history of what happened to Tutankamun's mummy *after* 1922 :eek:) was brilliant.

Hope today has been great for you :beer:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon :hello:

We just popped to A$da to pick up a few items :eek: Why did it have a December 23rd feel about the place? or has war been declared, or are all truckers going on strike or are shops shutting for the rest of December or something???? Lawks. Utterly bonkers. Still, at least I won't have to ruin a NSD this week

So, well. Yesterday, when I was supposed to be doing something constructive, I wandered back onto mse.....:whistle:..... and as it happened, noticed that shortie had posted on nsk's thread that Friday they too had become debt-free - which of course is fantastic :D If you cast your mind back, you may recall that I said that Piq, ninjasavingkat and shortie had all contributed to inspiring me to have my LBM the other week. So of course, my mind starts mulling over the fact that isn't it coincidental that Piq, ninjasavingkat and shortie all achieved DFness at the same time...... this morphed into, perhaps there is something special about November... perhaps the end of November... perhaps November 2013.... In addition, I had written in my first post yesterday that 'perhaps I needed to set some deadlines'. Y'all can see where this is headed can't you......:D

Sort of unconnected, DP did something a little unexpected, and because I was disappointed with him, it turned into 'words'. DP came out with, 'We need to move on with sorting this place out, we've stalled......'. So I took my cue, and blurted out, 'Right, November 30th 2014, we won't be still living in this house...' GULP.

Dear Reader, we have shaken on it...... Double gulp!

So, there you have it. I have my deadline. I have a supportive DP. I am sh*t scared that it'll all go wrong and I haven't a clue how to do this sort of thing :rotfl:There is no way that we can let it slip out of hand though, and it is imperative that we don't get ourselves into debt, otherwise we'll never be able to climb back out the other side.

Still, we know we need to sort out the 'outside' of the property and to that end we started a mammoth task this morning. Moving some of the items that we need to keep, but are, of course, in just the wrong place. I did however, on numerous occasions have a smirk to myself, as I knew that once again, I was going to have to admit to cocalls that I am a loon and do manual lifting and shifting in my leisure time......:rotfl:

From an idle thought, a careless sentence and a 'joining of the dots' I am now hurtling down a road that I thought I'd never get too. I suppose I'd better believe in serendipity doo-dah after this - but if it's not for you, I do still hope that you will join in and cheer from the sidelines, as I'm so grateful for your forbearance thus far :D:D:D

I'd like to keep on with this diary, rather than start a new one, as a) I kinda like it here and b) living on next-to-nought is so going to be the order of the day if we are to pull off this in a year.

Right, here's to 30th November, 2014 :beer: (gulp!)

Greying

Ellidee

De-lurking to say whoo hoo ! :j

Good for you

Have been lurking on your lovely thread for a week or three

AliBee16

Good luck to you with your new dream, Greying. One problem at a time, baby steps, and your own resourcefulness should lead you there. I would like to send some positive energy your way

Greying_Pilgrim

Ellidee - how kind and Welcome. Stick around and join in - as you'll know - I greatly appreciate 'joinerinners' (made up word )

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks Alibee16 - I accept your positive energy vibes and thank you And of course, you are right - one step at a time.

Greying

beanielou

All sounding good

Ellidee~why are you lurking? :ponder: