EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

MistyMountainTop

Thank you Abby, I will look out for one!

Edit- I can't find one with holes in the bottom, can you post a link to one?

Greying_Pilgrim

MistyMountainTop wrote: »

Wow, that's quite a productive day! I'd need to stay in bed for a week after that.

Is the rice a bargain then at HB? I buy ours at Als but it's not always in stock. I'll buy white if I'm desperate but would rather not, even though it seems to be half the price of brown no matter where I go...

MistyMountainTop - I hope EH doesn't mind me answering this part of the question for you - as I buy brown basmati from HB too. They are selling the 1kg 'brick' packs for £1. I think I am right in saying that they are easternenders brand - and a £1 per kilo for basmati rice is good going - even for white basmati. I'm sorry I haven't got a packet to hand to double check myself (decanted into the jar).

I always use nigella's ruff puff processor recipe for things like sausage rolls - pretty sure it's in her 'domestic goddess' book. But since h3ron foods sell jUs-r01 ready rolled pastry so regularly at 3 for £1 I rarely bother to make my own these days. If it's good enough for the top chefs......... :rotfl:

HTH

Greying X

abby1234519

MistyMountainTop wrote: »

Thank you Abby, I will look out for one!

Edit- I can't find one with holes in the bottom, can you post a link to one?

I don't think it will show you them, it's only 3 holes(should have been clearer)

I might make a loaf tonight, I use a Japanese recipe that has milk and honey in. It is so so so good!

EssexHebridean

*waits for Misty to reappear saying "I really want bread now!"* :rotfl:

Good tip on the bread tin Abby - I'm a breadmaker fan but do occasionally make the dough in the machine and bake in the oven.

Misty the pastry recipe is the simplest in the world:
8oz plain flour
4oz fat - we use half lard, half butter
Pinch of salt.

Cut the fat into cubes and add to the processor bucket with the salt & flour. (if using salted butter I'd only use the tiniest pinch of salt in addition). Pulse gently until the fat is barely visible and you can only feel small bits of it when you run your fingers through. Set the processor to run and drizzle in a trickle of cold water or milk until it just begins to come together - it should still look slightly too dry, but if you pinch a bit of the mix between finger and thumb it comes together nicely. I then scrape mine out into a plastic bag, and squoosh it together in the bag into a ball, and refrigerate for at least half an hour, although with so little handling it almost doesn't need it. the lard/butter combo, with skimmed milk for the liquid makes a fabulously short pastry that is still resilient enough to let you roll it thin, and bakes to a beautiful crisp finish - the texture on eating is almost like a flaky pastry. If you want a sweet pastry you can add a little caster sugar in the making but we usually use the base recipe for sweet or savoury.

Greying is spot on with the details for the HB brown Basmati - and it's definitely the best value I've found. I've developed such a taste for brown rice these days I always find white quite a disappointment! :rotfl:

Quite a busy few days round here - Barring a couple more tiny things I *think* I'm about there with the xmas shopping now - but everything still needs wrapping. We'll make a start on that tonight but generally speaking MrEH does most of it anyway - he's miles better at it than I am! I need to drag the cards out when I get home this evening and I can hopefully get the limited number we still send written ready for posting.

The paperwork for the 0%BT card arrived yesterday so with unusual efficiency I completed and signed everything last night and that got popped back into the post this morning. Hopefully if all goes to plan the first part of the BT will go through when they get that back, and ahead of the money needing to be set aside for the payment to be made, and the second part (the phone) I'll sort out once everything is in place.

The phone was duly purchased yesterday - £409 via GiffGaff through TCB. £5.50 cashback has already tracked, I doubt I'll get the additional £11 which can be paid for activation of SIM as I'll be activating it into my old phone, of course, so most likely that bit won't work.

Good news on our Christmas jaunt to the Hebrides is that MrEH has managed to arrange to take his final half day holiday on the 23rd (the day we drive up) - as their office closes at 3pm that day technically it's a little more than a half day but bearing in mind the extra hours he's worked lately I'm glad they didn't get picky about it! This means that we will now travel to Glasgow together rather than him flying up - which is a definite relief as it's one less thing to go wrong!

MistyMountainTop

Thank you so much for the recipe, I will give it a try later in the week, it sounds fantastic! And I do actually want bread. Spread with lots of butter. I almost always want bread, especially as I'm trying to cut down on carbs. I can't imagine why I have a weight problem...

I'll be going to HB next week so will stock up on a few bags of the rice.

When will your phone arrive? New gadgets are so much fun, all fresh and fast and with long battery time. There are times when I wish I could have something other than the most basic second or third-hand gadget. Imagine having a laptop that cost, say, £800 and had the best spec available. Then I remind myself that if I had been more careful with money in the first place, I could've had that laptop two or three times over...

Your holiday sounds so exciting!

EssexHebridean

Had I been at home the phone delivery would have been today - as it is though I've rearranged for Thursday - when I will be taking my final days holiday of the year. :T

Can't WAIT for the Hebrides trip - in fact I've just made the phone call to pay for the car hire! I'll be posting pics on twitter while we're there - my username there is the same as my one here so I'm easily found. (And a quick dig through my tweets will also lead you to my instagram account, should you be interested to see what I do with all this expensive camera gear!

I'm starting to get my head back into "Survey mode" - had a couple of decent ones through on Power of Opinions today and Mum is seeing if she can get me a Populus Live referral as well. OnePoll is being its usual PITA self, and I've emailed Pinecone to see what's going on there as I've not had anything from them in flipping ages. Once the TCB payments for the camera and phone pay out they will go straight against the card. Allowing for the minimum payment being taken automatically, if I can find an additional £30 a month to throw at the card I could clear it without having to dip into my savings much at all. Hmmm. Food for thought there. I think wherever the minimum payment starts, I'll "top it up" to that level as things go on, too. LOL - maybe this will motivate me to get rid of the final eBay bits I've had kicking about at home forever?! :rotfl:

Meal plan is running reasonably to plan so far this week - last night MrEH had pasta using up the last of a pack of bacon and the final splash of cream. I had a buddha bowl type arrangement with brown rice (yum) lentils and mushrooms, and topped with a piece of salmon, dressing was the usual favourite tahini and lemon. Tonight will be frittata - I've got 5 eggs to use, so that'll take care of them. I'll cook up some potato, along with however many of the shallots from the other week, some mushrooms, and the last two sausages in the pack I opened at the weekend to make sausage rolls with. Need to come up with a full on "use it up" plan for next week I think - there will definitely be tatties to use, and onions....and bacon... all of which sound good!

beanielou

Not long til your trip

Scott_Weiland_2

EssexHebridean wrote: »

4 days Rosa?! That's the stuff of fantasy for us iPhoners! :rotfl:


Aaaaand phase 2 on the phone also complete - 0% balance transfer card applied for and won. Sainsbury's bank card - 0% on balance transfers done within the first 3 months at zero fee. 22 months on the 0% period which is fine. Also should get 5,000 bonus Nectar points on that. Chuffed to bits - and really feel that I've got my MSE mojo back on this one!

Final phase now is to sort the new phone - and thanks to the old contract being cut short I don't need to feel guilty about doing that right away either, which means a) I'll have the new phone with it's much better camera by the time we go away at Christmas and b) as I think you have to buy the initial giffgaff £10 bundle with the phone, MrEH will have a useable smartphone while he does the travel to Glasgow the day before we go - which means he'll be able to use FindFriends to see how I;m getting on on the drive up while he's still at work. :T

Today has been a good day!

Might just be a minor thing but it's the whole blowing up and catching fire that concerns me lol

4 days my iPhone will last that If charged and in über power save mode all all shut and If I don't touch it

EssexHebridean

:rotfl::rotfl: Yes mine would probably last that long if I didn't use it at ALL! Chances of that though....ummmm.... :rotfl:

Beanie Just over a week to go! :T

MistyMountainTop

I popped into HB when I was in town this morning, sadly it doesn't carry the brown rice. The selection was very small, considering it's a huge shop. The only rice being sold that wasn't microwaveable was Matildas white rice. There are two HBs I can check out when I am in other close-by cities, if either of them stock it I will make a point of buying a few bags at a time.