Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

FairyPrincessk

Nah, I'm not so good at thinking, I just have lots of experience with cleaning burnt bits of cake etc. off the bottom of the oven. I had a very recent reminder yesterday as the reason I don't like making this particular cake is that it calls for boiling water to be added to a batter of a normal consistency just before baking. While the resulting cake is very tasty, it leaks everywhere (from both the spring form and loose bottomed tins), takes twice as long to cook and makes ever so slightly too much for my tins. It also sticks no matter how nicely you grease and flour or line with paper.

Now, I did get clever yesterday and bake over baking trays, but has my brain stopped me re-finding the recipe on the internet and giving it a go and then suddenly slapping my forehead when I get halfway through mixing it going "Oh, THIS is why I don't like this recipe!":doh:

Well, my lentil rissole mixture is made, the breadcrumbs are waiting to be put in the freezer, the cake is iced washing is on the line, tzatziki made...so just going to finish up in the kitchen, have a quick tidy round and then change sheets/vac upstairs THEN I can sit with a nice cuppa and some Agatha Christie and my knitting.

Vulpix I like the houses and the clothes. I get lots of sewing inspiration from these programmes. I don't enjoy a lot of television for various reasons and we still prefer not to have a proper box but to watch things on catch up. I don't like the mindless flicking that seems to happen when there is a tv there. Having it only on catch up means we only watch the things that we intentionally set out to watch and there is a natural end to it. I do like to have it as a knitting/sewing companion. I also like a good documentary during my lunch breaks when I'm working from home. It helps ensure I stop working and take a real break. I particularly like the ones about the history of food or daily life in various eras.

THIRZAH

The other thing you can do to stop a cake tin leaking GreyQueen is to use a paper liner. I treated myself to some new loose bottomed sandwich tins. The first time I used them I ended up scraping half the mixture off the oven floor so now I always use a liner. Poundland sometimes have them and there's a stall on our local market which sells them.

MyHappinessProject

GreyQueen wrote: »

:T Never had one of this ilk before but have been seeing them around and thinking they were pretty clever. We shall see how we get along with each other, and part company if necessary.

.

GQ I used one of these tins for the first time recently, for a strawberry cheesecake(broken biscuits/butter for the base) and it worked out amazingly well and looked fantastic, you could see all the layers . Yum. I was surprised how easy it was to use. Hope you have fun trying it out .
Happiness

camelot1001

Been away but now I'm back. Copenhagen was fabulous and then went to a friends in Yorkshire and had a truly blissful time.

Vulpix and FPK we visited Wentworth Castle Gardens, really beautiful grounds and had a yummy lunch! On the way back we stopped at Cannon Hall where there was an exhibition of Downton costumes, not many but enough to make it worthwhile. Cannon Hall was free too so a bonus. They have a fantastic kitchen there too with a working range where they take school trips and the children can dress up and cook.

Just mended the hem of DDs work trousers and also sewn on a button that fell off when I was in Holland (5 weeks ago!). The button has been on the microwave all that time and somehow hasn't been lost with all the work going on.

Waxed all my new skirting boards and door frames which has saved me a small fortune. Also spent 3 hours today sanding down the living room door. I can't get all the varnish out of the mouldings and there are 2 more doors to do. I may bite the bullet and send them to be dipped, it was soul destroying! Fuddle, your shelf sounds great, any chance of a photo?

vulpix

Hello Good people,another good day over.

Visitors brought desserts with them.Didn't say at the time but my tastebuds did not enjoy them(shop bought)Too sweet and too fake flavoured.Still managed to stuff them down though lol.

The cheese scones and chilli jam were lush though.Depends on what you are used to,visitors didn't touch em.

I will post the jam recipe if you like.I didn't follow it to the letter but it is lovely.eg I used yellow peppers instead of red.

Crunchy stick at it,a little every day will make a difference.

Vx

fuddle

GreyQueen wrote: »

Ooh, fuddle, that sounds brilliant, I hope you'll be able to show us pictures of your woodworking projects, I was very impressed with the earlier ones.

Yeah sure GQ



Those flickering candles on the shelf are LED candles just so there's no :eek:

I also have set to on the wardrobe. You may remember the previous tenants left it for us as it was too big to get down the stairs. It's a bit battered but got years of life left in it yet. I think I might look into some sort of decoupage on those panels.



I have also been busy in that I sewed a liner for my bread basket (that has had life and purpose in every room since I got it!) and knocked up a sack to store my potatoes in the cupboard.

I am wanting to make some sort of ham and egg breakfast roll for DH to take to work tomorrow so will investigate and use some of the bread dough. I also fancy making short bread. Tea tonight is carbonara, I'll make a few slices of garlic and cheese bread to go with it.

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

Camelot thanks for the tip! We have a hire car booked for the last weekend before OH goes back to school. It will be our last hurrah but we haven't actually decided where to go yet. We want to explore some local-ish places that aren't very accessible via train. I've added Cannon Hall as free admission will be great and it sounds fab! We'll also do a few errands that are just easier in a car--trip to ikea and b&q and the like.

Vulpix I know just what you mean. Once you're used to homemade it is hard to go back.

Fuddle your furniture and woodwork are lovely. I really like the shelf! Pretty and practical. Reminds me I never posted pictures of the dresser we rescued from neighbours who put it out with a sign. I'll try to remember to do it later. As a fellow renter I've been reading about a way to use fabric as temporary wall paper or wall decals (you can cut shapes out). You basically hang it using liquid starch and then it should come off when wiped with a damp sponge without damaging the wall. I haven't decided how and where to try it yet, but I'm thinking an accent wall with an off cut of a nice old fashioned print might be nice. My grandmother also gets lots of gardening magazines and catalogues and one with birds as well. She passes them on to me so I'm saving them up for decoupage but I haven't identified the target yet. Post a photo of your cardigan when you finish! I'm slowly making my way through a knitted one, I'd love to see yours.

Well, OH made it home yesterday in time to do the shop..just about the time I was going to sit down for a break. I was exhausted by the end of the day but all for a good cause as there is fresh bread, a gorgeous cake, leftover chilladas, a clean kitchen, clean sheets and shopping to show for it.

It is work this morning and then gym this afternoon. Breaks will be spent researching places to go in the hire car and knitting. OH is making tea tonight. Not sure if it will be the recipe involving halloumi or the one involving bacon and pearl barley. Probably depends on how ambitious he is feeling, I haven't decided if I should warn him in advance that pearl barley takes ages to cook or if that would be seen as 'interfering.':p

vulpix

Thanks camelot,I would love a trip to a lovely house and garden,will look into it.

Good finish on your makes fuddle,makes all the difference.

I am painting youngests donated bedroom furniture at the moment.I also have a bookcase which my Dad made in 1952 which has also had every use in every room since I aquired it in the 80's.Presently it is royal blue with RAF and car stickers on it from when my son had it.I have bought a part roll of designer wallpaper from eeebay and intend to paint it white and then decoupage the backs of the shelves.It is an animee type print in black and white.It's on my list.

As it is fine at the moment I will tidy round in the house and then get in the garden and see if I can get it done today.

Laters Vx

silvasava

Your shelves look really lovely and professional Fuddle. Certainly don't look like pallet wood any more! Please post your wardrobe when you've finished it too x

dND

crunch_time wrote: »

Hi there!

I've been following this thread for a while! Just wanted to praise you all on your make do and minimalize attitudes!! I have 'bay e'ed the heck out of our house' to get rid of clutter and anything we don't need is gotten rid of as quickly as possible.

Crunchy

Hi Crunchy and welcome to the thread :hello:

There are lots of ideas posted here and lots of support from a really great crowd. I don't participate as much as I feel I should - occasional 'dark' days and on other days life just takes over but always read this thread for the inspiration it gives me to keep working away at whatever I need to do.