The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Greying_Pilgrim

In terms of how my challenge is progressing, we've done better than expected, despite one or two setbacks. We've made a good start - now to keep momentum and have a stonking finish!

One room in the house is now 'finished'. It's only taken 2 years......! Having said that, the other rooms in the house have been in various states of repair/disrepair for alot longer........

We popped to du3lm yesterday to get a lampshade. We left home in sunshine, and by the time we came out of the shop - not having spent overly much time in there, as I actually dropped on what I wanted relatively quickly, the heavens had opened and a mini-monsoon was in progress! It was difficult to remember that we are on the cusp of summer! :rotfl:We had popped into Greying Town in the morning, and picked up a couple of useful items for BG in a chazza - I had procrastinated about them - having spotted them earlier in the week, I suppose I was lucky they were still there! £4.50 well spent DH wanted a chip butty, so we popped into our favourite greasy spoon. Unfortunately, they have decided to put their prices up and a chip butty is now £2.20. It's no longer worth it The chips were overcooked and the bread is always cheap white sliced (which is part of the charm of a greasy spoon, right?) So I'm not sure we'll continue going there. Which is a bit of a shame, as it won't become part of BG's childhood memories as it was mine - can you believe, we went so rarely, it was a great treat to go there :D #differenttimesdifferentexpectations

Unfortunately, my 'veg man' in the market'all has raised his prices, he too was charging more for lemons than M&$ do!, and they weren't the really lush Spanish ones that he had several weeks ago, so there is going to be no need to visit the market 'all anymore. I don't think the stallholders quite grasp the concept of what a 'market' is supposed to be about. Either that, or they are charged through the nose for their stall rents.

Not too sure what is on the cards for today. DH has woken up in a grump It happens at the end of every holiday, and has become worse since we've had darling BG....... I'd better go and get my thinking cap on and come up with something nice, so that we can enjoy some family time together. Make some more memories

Oh, in terms of natty trusty visiting, we've chalked up one 'new to us' visit and then we popped over to our local one on Friday. After indifferent weather in the morning, the sunshine came out in the afternoon, and we had a glorious time picnicing in the garden. can't be beaten. I also bagged some garden produce that was very well priced. I'll look forward to making something gorgeous with it, and feel smug at 'wheelbarrow miles'

Right, there is sunshine, and we need to be having fun in it, as it has been a little bit of a stranger this week!

Ta for popping in and reading. Appreciated.

Greying X

Fortune_Smiles

Those meals look amazing Greying - I'm awarding you a Michelin Star.

Fortune x

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning :hello:

Back to normality with a bump

I've some bits and pieces to pick up today, and I'll also try to pop my donation over to the community hub for the FB. It's with the money left over from last month. I'll have to think about what to do going forward, as our charitable donations aren't huge....... most of our preloved stuff goes to charity shops rather than online auction sites, i suppose, but still.

Tea this evening will probably be a version of broad bean kuku, with assorted salads.

I've my meal plan to devise for this week and research for some things that we need to buy going forward. Sure I need good prices, but I need dependable delivery too :cool:

There is always tidying and dusting to do if I've spare time on my hands.

Right, think that is all in an MS vein. Best vamoose.

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

There is always tidying and dusting to do if I've spare time on my hands.

GP - are you secretly moonlighting as Fly-lady?!?:eek:;):D

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 wrote: »

GP - are you secretly moonlighting as Fly-lady?!?:eek:;):D

Oh ay rtandon - me & housework? We're like;

:wave:

---

A MILLION MILES APART

---

:wave:


:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

XX

apple_muncher

That close, huh? Sounds like best buddies to me...

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

apple_muncher wrote: »

That close, huh? Sounds like best buddies to me...

*Snort* Cheeky!! :D:D

Well, we achieved stuff yesterday, although the dust remained undisturbed.........

I bought and took half a dozen cartons of milk over to the Community Hub for the FB. The friendly receptionist was on, so that was a bonus It does annoy me that £3 was all I can afford, but then again, I'm glad that I provide milk. It's a product that is in high demand, and I guess if it means you can have your cuppa, or your kid can have a bowl of cereal, then perhaps it brings a little happiness to a life or 2.

For tea last night we had a version of Broad Bean Kuku, using the produce that I had got from the local natty trusty place. I used brown rice to accompany, carrots, sweetcorn (frozen) the last the cherry tomatoes and some slices of cucumber. Picture here;



With the exception of the eggs for the kuku, I needed to buy nothing for this meal - and we needed the eggs anyway. there is some kuku left for my lunch. Unfortunately one of the eggs in the box was unuseable, as I took it out to break it, a piece of the shell dropped out - like peck damage. I daren't use eggs that may be compromised, so we're going to be back to meticulously checking every egg again. There is a piece of kuku left over for my lunch and some rice to use in tonight's tea.

Tea this evening will be Lebanese Gaspacho with flatbreads. Again, everything will come from stores/what i already have. I'm really determined to nail down my grocery expenditure and stay well within my limits.

We're going to take a trip over to the community centre today, to see what we can see. It's a bit of a trek, but as long as it stays dry, it will be manageable. I'm not leaving it until later in the week when temperatures are set to soar.

I will need to get a TV guide today, and as I am the right side of Greying Town, I may pop into mrM to see if they are still providing a laugh with their YSing of 'bargains' :rotfl: I've already noticed that our local M&$ either price YS differentially to other branches or they are starting the '2 or 3' stage process of price reductions - what a waste of staff time. The veg that I roasted with halloumi the other day was 70p a bag from a different M&$ - our local branch still wanted double that for it, YS'd. However, unless I spot any actual 'barginacious bargains' I think my purse is going to remain shut - we need nowt.

Right, I've a wriggle wort in my possession, so I had better vamoose.

Ta for popping by, reading and pulling my leg...... :rotfl:

Greying X

Silver_Queen

Greying, I think it's very admirable that even though money is tight, you still find the time, money and energy to make food bank donations.:beer:

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Thanks for the Lebanese Gaspacho link. Just made it ready for this evening

Blinking windy day here - wish I had some bedding that needs washing :T

Tilly xx

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon :hello:

Time has flown, I had difficulty getting back here. But at least I can.......

Silver Queen - Thank you.

Tilly - hope you enjoy

So, we did have Lebanese Gaspacho for tea on Tuesday, and it's just as well it is a *room temperature* soup, as DH's was, by the time I rescued him from trying to get BG to sleep............ I used brown lentils as my base, as I didn't have a whole load of chickpeas cooked, so I saved what I did have to put into the soup, and used the lentils as the 'carrier'. I also used brown rice (leftover from Monday) in the soup too. I made flatbreads, with sesame seeds, but they weren't very good at staying stuck to the dough - so I gave up. I think one without seeds made it to the front of the pile in the pic!



Last night's tea was a bit of a mish-mash through necessity, lack of vavavoom, lack of inspiration - you name it. We ended up having pizza from the freezer and pasta with a red pepper, black olive and tomato cream sauce (actually yoghurt). I didn't take a pic, as you know what pizza and pasta looks like. I managed an early night :j

I got some fruit today from the overpriced on somethings grocers. The strawberries were 'local' - actually next county along - and were £1 a punnet. I weighed it when I got home, and it equates to about 400g of fruit, which is the same as the punnet size I got YS'd in m&$ for 70p the other week. i think that the lancastrian strawberries (m&$) were sweeter, and these are clearly seconds - we will eat them for dessert tonight, with a cheeky plop of ice-cream and enjoy them, as they won't keep....... I'm hopeful that the nectarines are as juicy/tasty as the last ones i got from there.

We did pop into mrM on Tuesday. Oh how we laughed...................... Most of the YS'd stuff was organick and still at waaaaayyy above my price threshold. They did get £1.15 of my money though, as I bought some pasta and the TV guide.

It's a book that has been mentioned by Tilly oodles of times and on Tilly's thread recently, so I got a copy of Economy Gastronomy from the little library in the Community Centre. I remember watching the series, I like Allegra and I like Paul, and I remember eschewing the book at the time, as I thought it didn't have alot for veggies in it. Interestingly, nearly 10 years on, I think that there is alot more than I gave the book credit for, and I have a long list of recipes to try.

The other interesting point is, should any COMMISSIONING EDITORS for the BBC be reading this - how about a NEW SHOW, 10 years on? And how about we give Allegra and Paul FIRST DIBS on presenting it again, and how about - Allegra, and Paul - should you be reading this, YOU SAY YES! And how about we keep it simple, background music free and have some real-time cooking, with readily available ingredients utilised, hey, y'know, like encouraging folk to cook an'all........ No gimmicks, no cheese, no 'reveals', no overly-pregnant pauses and NO JOURNEYS!

Tea this evening will be a salad bowl of some description.

Right, I best get on. BG is having a snoze and I need to make hay (metaphorically speaking - I do not live on a farm! )

Ta for popping in, reading and commenting. Much appreciated. As always.

Greying X