Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Karmacat

rtandon27 wrote: »

Yikes KC - those are LONG days!

Your comment though has suddenly put some things into perspective for me! I'm currently at 11 hours out of the house... with a real need for 8 hours sleep, this leaves 1.5 hours in the morning to get ready & 3.5 hours in the evening to get things done & unwind! Not much time TBH!!!

Perhaps I'll be a little less harsh on myself about the occaisional unswept floor or clean cloths that havn't made it into the cupboard!

Also thinking that a small re-evaluation of what is done with that limited time might be in order!

Strange which comments jog the brain and provide lots of food for thought!

It is interesting, isn't it! In my 20s, I had a commute of 2 hours each way for about 4 months, Croydon to Sutton, the suburbs of both, and I couldn't bear it - I left the job, actually, and went back to working in the City. Now, I don't have any commute at all, not even the weekly trek to North London to see clients there - I count myself fantastically fortunate, to have all that extra time (and money!) which is why I "use" my neighbour to stay mindful of what luxury that is. And as for not having swept the floor or put the laundry away - pah! :rotfl:my only concession to any of that malarkey is that when I sit down in the evening, I want my living room not to be draped in wet laundry - during the day, its fine

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Goodluck lady. We've a lax plan for 'off' before next July - which as I'm renting doesn't really mean anything but DD leaves school before that and I can't bear to live away from my Rock God for much longer.

Awww! July means a great deal if you can get to live with your Rock God full time :j

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Good Evening :hello:
..............

Right, as it sounds like himself is nurturing a case of 'man-flu' I'd best be out of here to take up the nursing role once more..... :rotfl:

Today I am grateful for these three things;

stimulating conversation - cos who knows where it may lead?

Jacques Offenbach, his 'Can Can' and Radio 3 - he wrote it, they broadcast it and I managed the high(ish) kicks, but not the splits, whilst cooking dinner :T

for what I have - because I know it can be taken away in a split second.

Thank you so very much for popping by, reading and commenting. I do appreciate it greatly - and on 'wobble' days, it helps me immensely. So thank YOU

Another Awwwww! On portion size, you know, you can eat what you want, its your choice, it *is* your home, y'know? I tell you what, reading your ingredients has reminded me about eating a *variety* of food, something I got quite lax on when I was virus-ridden - I'd make sure I got dark green leafy veg, and that was that. But I actually *went* to the supermarket yesterday, instead of feeling so tired I needed to order a delivery, and bought veggies - tomatoes, radishes, that sort of thing, as well as the frozen peas and frozen broccoli that make a safe standby. Even my sister is reminding me of that, by chance - she's a teacher, and has a freshly cooked meal each day at lunch, & she's always said she just has beans on toast or something when she gets in - turns out she also has a salad, just a few ingredients, again to keep up the variety. I must do better! So thanks for reminding me once again.

Hope today goes well - may you find ever so much roadkill :T

EssexHebridean

Maybe your sauce did the splits while you did the can-can?! :rotfl: Sorreeeee!

As you vegetarianism isn't an ethical thing the presence of gelatin in things doesn't really have any relevance does it. My sister in law is veggie through choice as well - also a textural thing - and she happily eats ice cream, sweets, cheese etc without any concerns about the gelatin/rennet thing. It's only hypocritical if you're the sort of vegetarian who berates others for their choices, then secretly stuffs those things down without thinking too hard about it!

Hope the wobbling has stopped now, or at least is containing itself within manageable proportions.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Ay up Karma - I know, but the shot of the food did make it look like a huge portion Yep, variety - that's the key isn't it? Staves off boredom too

Unfortunately no *roadkill* found today

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Maybe your sauce did the splits while you did the can-can?! :rotfl: Sorreeeee!

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

EH - welcome back! - was beginning to miss you and wonder if you were still working out the complexities of 'spaghetti junction' You have just made me laugh out loud - that was just a brilliant 'spot' you made :rotfl::rotfl:

So, today was a spend day, but that is me until the weekend now (fingers crossed ). Got the bananas, milk and the TV Guide (a disillusioned David of Corrie, if anyone is interested ).

I also made it to the post office to pay in our Credit Union money (from wages) so will update my siggie. Had to laugh, DP was discussing buying some car related things - and he really hadn't twigged that he is now in charge of the car budget - therefore that it is his budget to sort out :rotfl: Oh dear, things were going so well........ Mind you, perhaps the penny will drop as to how convenient it is when someone else is in charge of the budget and you can just snap you fingers and say, 'need x pounds. Now.' :rotfl:Different kettle of fish when you've got to find the money and have enough budgeted for all the other items that cars need, like tax, mot and insurance

Dinner this evening is pasta and tomato sauce. I am not going to insult your intelligence with a pic - and it'll be ready just now, so need to type faster! Yes, another frugal dish, but nice and simple too

So today I am grateful for;

the sight of the bright light of Venus and the rising young (new) moon - what a staggering sight they both were as dusk fell this evening. Beautiful.

humour - may I always keep my sense of it.....

that there was no queue at the post office - a rarity for this time of year surely?

So, I'm away to eat dinner and sit in front of the woodstove. We'll watch something off 'tape' and I'm going to address the envelopes for the 'C' cards. I find it easier to do that separately rather than doing it when writing the cards - which can make it an onerous task...... even though we send few cards

Thank you so much for dropping by, reading and commenting. I remain grateful and doubled up in giggles :rotfl::D

See y'all later.

Greying

boredofbeingathome

You think of me when you post about Turnips-I think of you when i get a bit of road kill. £1.50 this week

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

You think of me when you post about Turnips-I think of you when i get a bit of road kill. £1.50 this week

:rotfl:BoB - I can't make out whether I live in a land where everyone has sewn up their pockets, and never drops money or whether it is credit card central or whether, in fact I live smack bang in the middle of MSE and all you MSE'rs are picking up the *roadkill* afore I've even got out the door :rotfl: Well Done though - £1.50 is excellent

Today is going to be relatively straightforward. I am going to try for a NSD. Dinner this evening will probably be soup - but I need another look at the planner. If you are wondering why dinners are perhaps a little less 'interesting' at the moment, it is something that I try to do each December. It is easy to get carried away and eat fine, rich foods at every opportunity. We prefer to try to have 'treats' and appreciate them more. However, I can appreciate that this doesn't make interesting reading - so thanks for sticking with me :T

I got the 'C' cards addressed last night whilst we watched a positively depressing film May go for starting to write notes to put in with some of the cards tonight.

Please be careful whilst out and about today. DP and I will try to do likewise.

Thank you so very much for popping by, reading and commenting. I do appreciate it

See y'all later.

Greying

maddiemay

You are not on your own with the dire lack of roadkill. I pootle off to town and back about 3 times a week and because of a rather dodgy and painful ankle I spend a great deal of time looking down at the road/pavement - so that the many crags and craters do not waylay me:rotfl: In the last two months or so I have found 1p in the street and 1p under a dusty counter in the well known book and newspaper shop W** whilst grovelling looking for the 20p that I had just dropped. (Which I did find:j)
Have a good day and keep safe.

EssexHebridean

Great roadkill total there BoB - well done! MrEH is fabulous at that game - "earned" over £80 that way last year and this year is going to top £100 I think. I found a £5 note lying on the footpath a few weeks back too so can feel I've contributed!

No - no getting tangled in spaghetti thankfully - Nice straight route round from the M6 to the M42 so I don't have to get lost anywhere. I do get confused with the fact that I require M42 NORTH when coming back though - makes no sense going north to enable coming south! :rotfl: Glad to have obliged with the laugh re the splits too. Yogurt is the very devil like that isn't it - a useful tip I heard is to mix a spoonful of cornflour into the yogurt before adding it to the hot ingredient - seems to work quite well. Also that full fat works better than reduced, although i guess you know that already.

I had soup for dinner last night - got home with no plans (bad EH) and no idea what I fancied until I saw the large squash sitting in the larder - boiled up half of it cut into chunks with some chicken stock, a touch of smoked tabasco, quite a lot of smoked paprika and added some gently friend onion then blitzed the lot when everything was soft. It was absolutely delicious! The other half of the squash is going to be roasted tonight with some potato, mushrooms, leeks & peppers I think. Yum! Wonder if MrEH will notice that it's two meat-free nights on the trot?! :rotfl:

Hope today is being productive for you!

Pippilongstocking

Now tonight when getting DD's pj's I found a crumpled fiver on her bed.

Is or isn't that road kill?

I mean I know it started as mine, but it was clearly 'lost' on there.

rtandon27

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Is or isn't that road kill?

I'd say that's yours to claim!

Same goes for anything fouind in pockets when doing the wash!:D

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

oooof, what a day! Brrr and bloomin' 'eck in equal measure!

maddiemay - I remember reading an interview with the new CEO of WH* and she is credited with keeping the co on the high street through efficiency measures - I didn't read the bit that mentioned slashing their cleaning bill by getting customers to do a 'little light dusting' whilst they are waiting to be served :rotfl:
Thanks for dropping by - lovely to *see* ya

EH - you've got a lucky fella eh? Do you hire him out as a money magnet? Could sure do with him round here That soup sounds lush - I am a sucker for smoked paprika and my new bestest ingredient is chipotle chilli powder - smoke and heat - yum! Well, I know meat-eaters like their meat, but if the food is as delish as yours, then there is no reason why 'meat-free' on consecutive nights shouldn't work Pop some sausages on the top if in doubt I know you buy quality products - they'll complement the veg no end

Well, funnily enough I didn't find any *roadkill* today, but I was a little too preoccupied making sure that nothing was going to drop on my head like; tree limbs, shop signs and estate agent boards. I expect any *roadkill* is now in the next street, if not the next county and more likely in the next country!

I did however, manage a NSD. I would like to claim that it was due to extra ordinary will-power and determination, but the truth of the matter is that I forgot to put my purse in my bag :rotfl:

I ended up trying out a 'new' recipe for dinner in the end I was originally going to make 'beggars soup', but I think we only had that last week. Then I decided to make Ash-e-Jo - which is the Persian barley soup, but then I remembered that I had seen a similar soup in the recipe book by Sally Butcher, 'Snackistan' but which used 'freekeh'. This is a 'green' wheat grain that is toasted. I hadn't got any, so used pearl barley instead - which I toasted first, for some semblance of imitation I also had no carrots - so went to the vegetable substitute of 'first choice' ...... yep a lump 'o turnip! :rotfl:I made flat bread too. A photo is here;



This soup is apparently Algerian in origin and is called 'Chorba Frik' - and is normally made with meat - traditionally lamb, which obviously I left out As usual, I topped it with a little HM yoghurt. You can't see, but it has mint in it - frozen, but from our pots - and is topped with a sprinkling of sumac. I put zaatar in the flatbreads too - used up the last of the mix that had been in the back of the cupboard. I only started using it in the first place because of the influence of this diary

If you'd like to have a go at the recipe, I couldn't find a version of Sally's on the net, but THIS version is pretty close (scroll down for the soup), to get it just like Sally's, add in 2 sticks of celery - diced, 1 carrot - grated, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp turmeric and a few grinds of pepper and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Unlike the recipe given I did not whizz the cooked barley/freekeh with a stick blender, I prefer to leave it whole.

It was sufficiently different to Ash-e-Jo, used predominantly store-cupboard ingredients and worked well with substitution It was lovely and filling and is reasonably cheap to make. DP liked it so I reckon it makes it into the 'Greying Frugal Food Stable' And co-incidentally, I was quite pleased that I'd used the yoghurt and mint as the turnip was quite 'peppery' - more than you would get with a shop bought one

So, day 5 of December and we've not had to shell out for any expensive ingredients for dinner yet...... well, if you overlook the expense for the chipotle chilli powder, on the basis that it'll be added to quite a few 'dinners' over the course of several months.... :whistle:

I do hope that you and yours all managed to keep safe and warm today. I'm hopeful that the folks that are currently being evacuated from their homes as a precaution will be able to return in due course with no damage done. Fingers crossed for them all anyway.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

friends who lend out their items unconditionally - and press gifts on you - as you are heading out of the door - too Thank you.

that the old and battered fence panel stayed put for another day - we've panels to replace it, posts too - but dear sibling who's assistance is needed, where on earth are you?

for library books - inspiration and education

Thank you so very much for popping in, reading and joining in today. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying