Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Ellidee

beanie not many of my old friends post on MSE anymore -except you !

beanielou

Ellidee wrote: »

beanie not many of my old friends post on MSE anymore -except you !

Doesent mean you cant though~~& make new friends

cocalls

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

But I have to say, he actually put us off, as all his beer tasted of..... 'home brew'.

Yeah Oh thinks it's going to taste horrid but I thought well I have all the equipment and I must confess I sometimes spend £8 on one bottle of wine never mind getting 36 for that amount.
Plus if its gross we can take it round to friends at xmas parties and drink their stuff instead tee hee.


I think setting a definite date for the move is a great idea-it's soul destroying living in a house/area you hate we moved 2 years ago after living in our starter home for 10yrs and getting more and more depressed and we haven't looked back since.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Ay up cocalls are you back to being up with the larks? With the home brew, it wasn't that it tasted horrid, but Unc would say, 'this is such and such a kit', or 'this is a new one', or 'this is a wheat beer', but to be honest, it tasted all the same If you did the same 'taste test' in a real ale pub, you'd probably be able to derive some distinctiveness. But it was drinkable - it was the yeast I think, just made it taste the same. Unc makes wine from berries and fruit and veg, and it has always erred on the 'potent' side, which is fine if you want to be legless after 1 glass

I think maybe we're onto the right track with this planning to move......:D

Oh, I forgot to mention, I found 1p *roadkill* yesterday :j - more than made up for the mayhem in a$da

So Monday again

Today must be a NSD. I need to start as I mean to go on. Besides which, the majority of the groceries (non-perishable) have now been bought.

I'm going to try to nip round to the food bank today if I can. So that I can rest easy that the donation is made for this month. I used my voucher from mrT again, for £3 off a £20 shop, so my donation is worth £6.40, instead of £3. Mind you, it does make me laugh that mrT expect us to spend £20 a week - I had to jiggle my monthly spend to get it to £20 :rotfl:

Dinner this evening will be Loobia Polo, we've not had it for a month or so, so a nice change.

Better get up and at 'em.

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

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

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!

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!)

Oh boy! :j:j:j How to stop stalling, in one post! Thats brilliant, Greying, really something. I need to take a leaf from you - as I think you know, its not about debt for me, its about increasing income, but not using my present occupation. Will have a serious think.

Ellidee wrote: »

beanie not many of my old friends post on MSE anymore -except you !

<nudges Ellidee> :cool:

Greying, I know what you mean about rejigging the shopping so as to reach a voucher point - good for you for doing it. Hope today goes well for you.

mouche

Congratulations on the big decision GP! I am sure you will achieve it and I look forward to following your journey.

Just a comment on the pau bhaji...it is definitely street food in India. The 'bhaji' refers to the curry part and 'pau' literally means bread - usually white bread buns lightly fried in butter. And you eat it by dipping the bread in the bhaji (or putting the bhaji on the bread). Oh and 'pau' can be expanded to 'pau-roti' which translates to 'foot-bread'. Ordinary Indian 'roti' is sometimes called 'haath-roti' which translates to 'hand-bread'. I believe when the British introduced bread to India, Indians started calling it 'pau-roti' to distinguish it from the home grown roti that they made with their hands. I don't think anyone actually made bread with their feet!

Being Indian it's funny how sometimes TV chefs get muddled up - I remember Gordon Ramsay did an Indian series where he learnt lots of stuff and then came back and made a 3 course meal for Indian dignitaries in the UK. The first course was an Indian version of scrambled eggs. And despite what Gordon thought, it is NOT an appetiser in India, it is breakfast, or at the most, a between-meals snack! The Indian dignitaries looked completely confused at it's appearance as a starter!

P.S. - Just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to make a contribution to the food bank for the first time. Tesco was collecting so we went there to make a small contribution. Would not have done it if it wasn't for the splendid example you set for us.

dreaming

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Good Morning :hello:
Dinner this evening will be Loobia Polo, we've not had it for a month or so, so a nice change.
Greying

Love the names of the food you cook but have to keep looking up what they are. This one looks lovely as it looks a bit like a biryani which I love. So this is going on my "things to try" list (I love lists!). As I am still emptying the freezer (who knew it held so much!) I am planning to try all these yummy sounding things in the New Year. Also emptying the cupboards and found a ciabatta bread mix so made that last week. Well it was rather heavy to say the least. Then saw that it was best before October 2010 - hmm, maybe should empty the cupboards a bit more often.
I think it makes a huge difference when you know you are in the "right" house. Even now, 3 and a half years after moving in here, I sometimes just sit and think "I'm home". It may only be a 2 bed bungalow but it's like a warm, snuggly blanket to me.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Visitors - great!

Karmacat wrote: »

<nudges Ellidee> :cool:

:rotfl::rotfl:

mouche wrote: »

P.S. - Just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to make a contribution to the food bank for the first time. Tesco was collecting so we went there to make a small contribution. Would not have done it if it wasn't for the splendid example you set for us.

Ay up mouche - ta for all the lovely info on pau bhaji - great stuff To be fair, Rick did say it was a street food, both in the tv programme and in his book, he did eat it with white bread baps on the tv clip - it was the idiot meself that just thought 'new recipe, gotta try it', without thinking about the context But in the right eating context, it is good and I'll make it again - and give the roti a go too

I'm going to have a go at palak paneer on Friday - stand by to have a laugh :D Oh and don't get me started on G0rdy - and as for his 'India' series - cringeworthy in the extreme - he made me embarrassed watching, he was so disrespectful wherever he went. He was awful to that coconut picker, an embarrassment in the ashram...etc etc etc

Hey, well done you with the Food bank donation. I can't see them not being needed anytime soon - and mrT's were contributing an additional 30% at the weekend weren't they?

dreaming wrote: »

I think it makes a huge difference when you know you are in the "right" house. Even now, 3 and a half years after moving in here, I sometimes just sit and think "I'm home". It may only be a 2 bed bungalow but it's like a warm, snuggly blanket to me.

dreaming, dear 7 week wonder kept on 'telling me off' for using fancy names for grub that she had to keep looking up on Go0gley :rotfl: The Loobia Polo can also use meat - it's not a veggie dish, and as I know you eat meat, you could make either version. I don't know what recipe you have, but in my post #103, HERE I linked to a recipe quite like the one I use, (without the meat) and a link for the adiveh spice blend too. The spice is aromatic, not spicy (no chilli) - may be something you like You may want to scale down the quantities though it makes a lot - plus i'd personally put less cardamom in (and I love cardamom), I generally use about 5 or 6 green pods.

Ref houses, if I can, in my lifetime, write that sentence you wrote about your current home, then I figure i'll of made it. It will be even better if I can add; it is damp-free, a cinch to heat and the neighbours are all good people :D

So, here we are. Monday evening. An extended sitting of sub-committee no. 5 has taken place..... DP had to make some decisions....... otherwise it could of been wrapped up in 20 minutes *sigh*.

The food bank donation has been made. I will have to give consideration to whether we continue with it in 2014. Whilst I believe that foodbanks will still be with us for the foreseeable future, there are also other charities that we as a household would wish to support. Depends how many ways the cake can be sliced I guess - if I can do it all, then I will

I found 5p *roadkill* :j And it has been a NSD :j

By the way, did I mention that the yoghurt that I made - from the culture that was '3rd generation' - turned out fine, and I would even go as far as to say that it has got smoother/creamier than the original? I'm very pleased with it anyway

Dinner this evening was Loobia Polo - or Persian Green Bean Pilau. Photo here;



I do like it - tasty and filling, but not a heavy meal. The rice was 15p, the green beans approx. 25p, the tomatoes 34p (lidl punnet), and onion 10p and the garlic free (gardening parental). The spices were from the store, but 10p max? Less than £1 for 2 generous portions? Think that constitutes a frugal dinner - must continue in the same vein this month

So, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for encounters with 'perfunctory' types - makes me want to extract every ounce of joy out of my life that much more :rotfl:

for returns policies and cheerful shop assistants - I'm still without warm socks that haven't been darned on the darns though :rotfl:

for Christmas trees in bay windows - share the love

Thank you so much for dropping by, reading and commenting on this thread. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Bella56

GP, your photos of food always look so fantastic. Do you have a vegetarian cookbook you'd recommend, or do you glean from many sources to get inspiration?
Exciting times, deciding to up roots and move on! :T Hope you find your Forever Home by next November.

Greying_Pilgrim

Bella56 wrote: »

GP, your photos of food always look so fantastic. Do you have a vegetarian cookbook you'd recommend, or do you glean from many sources to get inspiration?
Exciting times, deciding to up roots and move on! :T Hope you find your Forever Home by next November.

Hi Bella56, no, there is no 'one' veggie cookbook i'd feel comfortable recommending. If you have access to a reasonable public library, then anything by Rose Elliot is worth a punt - she's been writing so long on the subject and her stuff 'works'. The advent of the internet means that I really use the net more than books - but I have to say, I plunder my local library of cook books at every opportunity I also make recipes that are meant to be made with meat - either just leaving it out (as tonight) or substituting with pulses/beans or veggies, depending on what the texture/context of the dish is.

I'm finding a lot of inspiration in Iranian, middle-eastern and eastern meditteranean recipes at present

I don't know if that is any help? But I honestly cannot think of one cookery book - even those that I have left - that I use more than about 6 recipes out of.

Thank you for your best wishes - just gotta do it all now :eek::rotfl:

Greying