Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

My first time ever, up in the loft  OMG. What utter chaos. Still is, but lots more boxes up there for the weekend, then they will all be coming down (two of the three lofts) and into the spare room so the carpenter has room to work, then, yep, they will be going back up there. I have just showered and changed, it was truly grimy. Mission accomplished. Just about thirty boxes  of mostly beekeeping stuff to stash in the storage unit motorhome before I go and collect my click and collect order. Living the dream!!

redofromstart

Your plumbing adventure sounds like us. I'm (un) reliably informed that you can still buy imperial fittings from Ireland. Converter imperial to metric joints really really add to repair costs. 

LadyWithAPlan

Your plumbing adevntures are very impressive - well done

I love your description of the honey warming cabinet - who knew! (well bee keepers I guess do)

KajiKita

The tap pain I can partially relate to. We’ve just had to change ours, purely because we couldn’t find a compatible inner filter - plumber tried initially but it is guesswork without being able to compare in all outlets in person and meanwhile we workday have had no kitchen tap! 🤷‍♀️ Neither of us wants to either be without the tap or torment the plumber so we agreed to get a new tap. Mr KK fitted it, fortunately in a slightly bigger space than yours, with stops on the pipes! 

Awesomely brave work on the loft! It took us six weekends to empty the roof space and garage roof at our old house when we came here! Actually grateful in some ways that we have only the garage roof to store stuff in here as it limits Mr KK’s clutter bug tendencies …. 😉

KK

Suffolk_lass

God, I ache this morning! The friend gardener is coming today, so I shopped yesterday evening (C&C) and I am determined to get the fruit cage up with three of us contributing. There are also three or five trees to prune, if there is any time left. 

Before I describe loft treasure, the Click and collect was eventful last night. One missing item, one declined substitution, but the app told the young woman there was no milk and no sausages (so I asked her to take back the other two meat items (2 whole chickens) as that wrecked the 3 for £10. The milk was in the second tray down and the sausages appeared at the bottom of the stack - so she gave me the chickens free. Then this morning, a quick reconciliation of my receipt and the sausages and milk were free too. I love that SM!

Loft treasure - both woven cat baskets that we thought had been stolen from the cart lodge, my much loved down-filled inner, waterproof purple outer ski jacket and a much loved missing duffle bag with jeans in. I have not investigated which jeans yet as sadly, the bag has evidence of rat incursion in the bottom from when we had them in the roof in 2008. It is possible that bag has been up there since we moved here, err, 19 years ago. I bought it in USA in 2003.

Needless to say I had a very early night last night!

Suffolk_lass

Yesterday the chaps (DH and gardener friend), built my fruit cage. Just in time. I need to take cuttings from blackberries and transfer the dessert gooseberries I heeled in last year. I want to spread more mushroom compost first, so they get a good start. There was still an hour of daylight when they finished so DH took dog and I went out and we pruned three trees!

Suffolk_lass

Today is still about preparations for our friends, coming today and tomorrow for the weekend. That reminds me. Just put the chilli in to warm up! - done. It can sit and do its thing this afternoon in a not-very hot oven. Meanwhile, two batches of sourdough are underway. Mostly rolls, but some loaves too. 

That is in my sphere. DH is armed with the vacuum cleaner and is upstairs currently. Our poor dog hates the vacuum sound. It will be even worse for him when we go over the road for the lunch and leave him behind for an hour! I need to get some streaky bacon and chipolatas out of the freezer next, and make a small batch of pigs and devils - they are traditional here!

Then after lunch I will make a batch of lemon possets and some shortbread for a simple dessert!

foxgloves

I love lemon posset. It's such a foolproof dessert & guests to whom we have served it have loved it. I particularly like that because of the alchemy of lemon juice & cream, it doesn't require any faffing around with gelatine. Having said that, there is a dessert recipe I also like to make which does require gelatine but it has never been a*sey about setting - that's individual cappucino mousses, which are served in coffee cups with a swirl of cream & a dusting of cocoa powder. The first time I made these for one of our friends, he picked up the cup thinking I'd given him some coffee - he was so surprised when it didn't move!
F

peb

Another fan of lemon posset.  So simple to make and always looks and tastes impressive.

Unless, if course, your eyes drift away and it boils 😬

Suffolk_lass

The recipe I make is so simple - a large carton of double cream (600ml) in a pan and warmed gently to dissolve 200g of sugar. Once the sugar dissolves it starts going yell. You bring to a boil and bubble it for 1 minute, then stir in 75ml of lemon juice and the zest of three lemons. Divide into six small wine glasses and let it cool to room temperature, then cover with cling and put in the fridge for min 3 hrs, ideally 24.

I topped with gooseberries I gently stewed so they were still whole, but any berries will do, and I served it with small (Paul Hollywood recipe) buttery shortbread and a small jug of fruit couli. It was actually homemade blackcurrant cordial that was undiluted. That went well!

I love our friends but boy, do they eat a lot, and faff! We loved having them but it is also lovely to get back to our smaller life and routines.

It also puts our minor irritations in perspective when you hear about one of their children's marriage breaking down and the toxic, controlling behaviour from the husband. He has been having an affair with the mother of his son's best friend, has taken over the master bedroom, consigning his wife to the spare room, has locked the study and keeps the keys with him at all times, and has taken her wedding ring, engagement ring and a silver watch (denying these thefts). He has thrown back at her that he pays all the bills, he is the main wage earner and has done x, y and z for her, she only married him for his money (they don't have much). She has sacrificed her own career to bring up three children (oldest rising 11) and worked evenings and weekends to top up their money, only for him to play the "poor me, I work all day, five days a week, then you expect me to look after the children in the evenings and at the weekends" as though she is out galavanting. He has offered a £20,000 settlement in a no-blame divorce with shared custody and a commitment not to move away. He has clearly done a lot of research and has conveyed to their family that this is all her doing. She started a new gardening business last year and has no chance of getting a mortgage herself yet and certainly no ability to buy somewhere with minimum three bedrooms. So her parents, whose plans were to downsize when he retires, and pay off their mortgage at that point, now have to consider how they can help, with over 150 miles distance. So very sad for everyone.

Enough from me. I have meals to plan for this week and two lots of bedlinen and towels to wash and dry!