Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

vhalla1478

Afternoon Everyone,

I was out early this morning with daughter-in-law; we had a good look around several garden centres and indulged in a little bit of buying, although I'm holding fire as I'm waiting for my seeds and I also want to buy a couple of ornamental obelisks to give height to a part of the garden.

Whilst I remember, Prinzess, don't buy the spot cleaner that goes with the laundry ball - Vanish Gold is all you need.

And whilst we're on the subject of cleaning, apparently the very large sizes of Fairy are 'commercial' and not as strong; I have that on good authority, although I promised I wouldn't say who told me. It does seem strange; you'd think it would be stronger, but there you are.

I'm as up to date as I can be with my garden at the moment - just a little bit of hoeing tomorrow, now that I possess one!

I'll find another naughty recipe after tea for your delectation.;)

Viv xx

cheerfulness4

I knew I was right about that Fairy. I did the side by side squirt test to prove my point. See, I'm not just getting suspicious in my old age as certain offspring accused.

Jan, how do you put up with that? Its pure neglect. My son needed the doctor last week and I was told neither he nor I were registered with the surgery. Was news to me as I'd had a hospital referral from my doc last year and he'd written to me several times since.
Mine they found, DS they have to retrieve. They were very apologetic though as this is the second time its happened and the doctor did call to reassure me that we definitely his patients still. Twice is just ridiculous.
Hope you soon get sorted anyway, Jan.

janb5

Thanks Cheerfullness! It must be awful for people whose notes are fuller than mine and have to struggle to get some clarity on this. I collected my photocopies this evening. I was amused that the consultant remembered me. I would have a problem on `Crimewatch` - oh it`s that woman again.............!

vhalla1478

Hello again, Folks,

Here's another naughty recipe - it serves 4-6 or one if Prinzess is making it.:) only joking, Prinzess.

Treacle Tart

350 grams short crust pastry made with 225 grams plain flour, 115 grams cold butter, 3-4 tbsp. water , 260 grams golden syrup, lemon, 75 grams breadcrumbs (I prefer brown or better still, granary)

On a lightly floured surface, roll out three-quarters of the pastry to a thickness of 3mm/eighth of an inch. Transfer to a 20cm/8 inch flan dish and trim off the overhang. Chill the pastry case for 20 minutes. Reserve the trimmings.

Put a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 200 degrees/gas 6. to make the filling, warm the syrup in a pan until it melts. Grate the lemon rind and squeeze the juice. Remove the syrup from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs and lemon rind. Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then add more crumbs if the mixture is too thin and moist. Stir in 2 tbsp. lemon juice, then spread the mixture evenly in the pastry case.

Roll out the reserved pastry and cut into 10-12 thin strips. Twist the strips into spirals, then lay half of them on the filling. Arrange the remaining strips at right angles to form a lattice. Press the ends onto the rim.

Place the tart on the hot baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 190 degrees/ gas 5. Bake for 15 minutes more until golden. Serve warm.

Viv xx

meritaten

vhalla - I could kiss you! I have sometimes made my nans treacle tart but it never turned out 'quite right' and I couldn't work out where I was going wrong. its one of the few recipes she wrote down, her recipe just says to mix the golden syrup, breadcrumbs and lemon juice together - I bet she warmed it in a pan and let it stand - but didn't write that down! apart from that the recipe is virtually identical!


I WILL be trying that on the weekend as a treat for my mum.

DollyDabbler

Nearly all the photos I looked at went in the bin. I kept the albums to donate to other family with family @ celebrations.

I kept my old wedding album.

Lots of the photos I bined were scenes of places we had visited.

I still have a old box of family photos and some of our children growing up.

The photos I have taken in the last few years I now upload onto my desktop computer.
The ones I realy like I print off and put on the walls for a wile - till I update and swap photos around.

Thanks Good Advice, I might sort out some first before we start on the hobby and holuday photos, as that might take a bit more persuasion from me, before DH parts with his part of the collection :rotfl:

Prinzessilein

Oh my! I LOVE treacle tart....preferably with a vat of custard!


I was planning on posting Mum's recipe for Sticky Gingerbread...it is seriously good - AND it can be frozen so a greedy little thing like me doesn't polish it off in one sitting!


But I will do that tomorrow!...For today I will share a nice healthy recipe, which is pretty darned tasty too....Courgette, Chickpea and Coconut Curry....(original recipe from Riverford...slight tweaks made over the years as I have made it)


2 tablespoons oil ; 1 onion (peeled and sliced) ; 400g courgettes (chopped) ; 400g tin chickpeas (drained) ; 400ml tin coconut milk ; 4 tomatoes (chopped) ; Spices (I use the following...1 tspn each of...cumin; mustard seed; turmeric; coriander); 1 stick of cinnamon ; 1 tbspn tomato puree ; 4cm chunk of ginger (peeled and grated) ; 1 chilli (chopped...deseeded if you like a milder curry) ; 200ml veg stock


In a large pan fry the onion in the oil for about 10 minutes, add the spices chilli, ginger and tomato puree - cook for a few more minutes. Add the stock, coconut milk and cinnamon stick - bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients (ie the veggies) and cook until the courgettes are done - about another 15 minutes)...remove the cinnamon stick and serve the curry.


This is quite reasonably priced - and freezes well. I make 4 portions from it. ....I often add a good handful or two of spinach right at the end - it just needs to wilt not be cooked to death!.....and this tastes so good that most people forget to moan at the lack of meat!....if you do want to add some, I would add a few cooked prawns at the end and warm them through (this way you can cook the curry for veggies and just add prawns for the diehard carnivores)

Prinzessilein

Oh.....and I am 'making do' with my old glasses for another year!


The optician said that my prescription is pretty good as it is - just a slight tweak perhaps for the reading glasses, but he doesn't see the need to change them at this point!

DollyDabbler

Sorry Silvasava, I missed this when scrolling through.

I've got to sort a mountain of photos too - I've also been binning the scene ones & realise that the photos you tend to keep are those of friends and relatives.
I've rephotographed some of the old ones. I put them on a flat surface & set my camera to close up & photograph the photograph. Its worked very well 'cos once its in digital format you can crop those wonky ones It also means that the photos can be put on disc and you can put who's in them especially on the really old ones
Hope this may help.

DH might do this if the pile is small or he could scan them into the pc. I will try this approach, as they will get looked at more approach, as we use digital photos as screen savers. The bin seems a bit too drastic to him.

[Deleted User]

As an amatuer genealogist can I please say if you have any old family photo's and you know dates taken (even if only the year ) or who they are, please please stick the names and dates on the back.Helps people, who are, maybe in the future building a 'tree' and saves months of research.

Re things OH's have done and you can't moan about My late OH, after my eldest was born and I had just come home from the hospital in 1967 !!! I sent to the shops with a list for the only time in 40 years I let him get the shopping Carrying a weeks housekeeping (in those days around £10.00) in his pocket he came home bearing a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates and a a bottle of fizz as a present for me:):):) no shopping at all and nothing off the list. he was so pleased to be the bearer of something 'nice ' as a treat

I didn't have the heart to complain.But he never went food shopping again bless him he did mean well.Luckily I have always had an emergency stock of tinned bits and pieces ( a throwback from my post-war upbringing I think)so we survived for the following week on that In those days he was paid weekly and it seemed the longest week ever. No maternity leave for men then.He managed to get a couple of hours off to bring me and our daughter home from the hospital but had to make the time up by working through his lunch hour when he went back to work

Well NSDs this week at all and cupboards still full.:):)
I am off out for afternoon tea at a 'posh' hotel this afternoon with DD as part of my birthday treat from February.DD paid very silly money for this I wonder if they will have any 'doggy bags'
:):)

Looks like its going to be another glorious day here in the South East
Have a good day chums
JackieO xxx