Cooking for one (Mark Two)

caronc

Good evening everyone,
MTSTM - hope you get the socket issue sorted. It's really unnerving when things go bang :eek:

Night and day weatherwise here today. It's been a lovely sunny day though cold today after yesterday's wet misery. Finally got my daff bulbs planted, just the remaining pots with bedding plants in them to clear now . The painting is coming along beautifully and the lovely chap also gave my gutters a good clear out while he was up there. He hopes to start top coating tomorrow and finish on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.


I'm still workig my way through the assorted bread products I found when I re-organised my freezer. Consequently it was a toasted muffin for breakfast with cheese spread and an apple and a herby roll for lunch. The roll had gone a bit dry so I toasted it and had it with brie, chilli jam and tomatoes. Tonight I'm going for an easy option, I've cooked bangers in the freezer so will have a couple of these with mushrooms, onion gravy and the remaining portion of root veg mash I froze last week.

[Deleted User]

oh heck money, we all need that put-by money safety net. I hope the initial electrician gave you the certificate after he finished and I hope it is just the fire

Me, well my ch and hot water are not working today and I have spent the afternoon testing my very complicated system. All in one area, solar hot water gubbins, rainwater harvesting gubbins as well as hot water tank and loads of pipework. Linked up to sophisticated wood pellet stove with eco controls etc. I have contacted the reliable plumber who normally comes but no doubt he and his team are manic busy, so I wait patiently. I have put it down to probably the 2 port motorised valve +/- the actuator, I pushed the 2 port valve manually and that fired the stove and made the ch work but no hot water whatever which way. At least I can add heat to the house but need to manually turn the stove on and off first, at source. I am pretty good practically but don`t want to mess with anything. If I was absolutely stuck then I would get a new motor and replace it but there is always the chance that I could be barking up the wrong tree. Tomorrow I will spend an hour or so just testing the hot water aspect, only to the point when I think the stove tank is getting too hot. Maybe it is an air bubble?

Food! haha, when something is on my mind then I just grab whatever, nothing planned so thank goodness for the lovely soup and roll mops and parsnips and even all the green veg and the hm biscuits that I didn`t need but grabbed because something was on my mind

elona

I switched on my tv this morning to find it had frozen on one channel , there was no sound and I could not get channels changed or anything even when I kept switching it on and off.

Went to the shop for new batteries for both remotes and even that did not help so turned everything off at the mains, rebooted the BT hub etc and eventually I managed to get things working.

Finished off the veg soup I made yesterday and really enjoyed it. Also finished the last bread roll with bacon and egg and have my soup maker on with ingredients for leek and potato soup. Will look out a couple of home made meals from the freezer and let them thaw overnight so that will give me healthy meals for tomorrow without any hassle.

PasturesNew

elona wrote: »

.... rebooted the BT hub etc and eventually I managed to get things working.
.....

I can't even imagine what sort of system connects a BT hub to the telly ... but I have noticed a LOT of people posting today about problems with BT/signals etc. All very odd.

My telly was a 2nd hand portable, but I've now got a 2nd hand small flatscreen (my inheritance from clearing a care home room).... linked to a £15 freeview box and an indoor aerial. It's all very 1980s in my house I'm afraid as I stick with what I know/understand - and, I have recently found out that the TV sockets in the walls I assumed would work need to have a little man out to fit an aerial

Oh well.... I have been here 3 years and so asked a neighbour who'd bought from new and he told me I had to do that. Previous owners hadn't as they had Sky fitted... but I've never had/used Sky so don't understand that at all....

poppystar

PasturesNew wrote: »

I It's all very 1980s in my house I'm afraid as I stick with what I know/understand .

Same here. I've occasionally been into electrical shops to look at more up to date things but I don't understand the words they say to me so end up running out:(

The longer I stay in the 1980s the less chance I will understand and upgrade. I don't even know the questions to ask or how to say what I want as I don't know what is possible.

I have thought of kidnapping a child or teenager to help me but gather that is frowned upon:D


…we are of course talking here about someone who does not even have a toaster or slow cooker or any mixing equipment except a (1980s) ken wood electric whisk:o

My confidence is not helped when I visit friends with these advanced tellies, BThubs etc and a whole coffee table of remotes, who scream "NOT THAT ONE" at me when I try to be helpful:o

caronc

Goodness seems as though lots of CFOers are having "technical" issues today.
I'm reasonably savvy but I'm afraid you lost me Kittie. However, smart phones and doing "complicated" things with smart TVs etc. defeats me! Mainly because a) I've never taken time to learn how do it and b) even with my specs on I can struggle to read the instruction booklets (why oh why do they use such small, faint font). Thankfully most manuals can be found online these days:D. I had to laugh recently - my Dad's very basic mobile died and he ordered one of the basic ones with big buttons and enlarged font for the display. Obviously these are aimed for elderly folk, but the set up instructions were in a tiny, closely printed font which defeated him (and me:rotfl:). Daughter to the rescue, thankfully it was basically a plug in and go job......

[Deleted User]

solar emissions caused interference and even freeview spent the whole time pixelating and freezing. Wasn`t worth watching anything when that happened

I finished my ch/hw investigations and have pinned it down to two faults. Air in the hw system (gurgles) and a faulty 2 port motorised valve in ch system. It all helps to save money, if I can just tell the plumber what I suspect

I feel as though I should make one of those `good for you` casseroles on saturday as I don`t have any ready meals left. Probably diced turkey, I don`t use a lot of meat really but what I do use is organic grass fed and comes via an online chilled. Tomorrow probably a dehydrated soya/rice/ umiboshi plum/ginger type meal all in one rice cooker with a nice medley of green veggies. If it is a nice day then I will work on the allotment, so a timed meal will be good

wort

Back home,from bday meal, can't remember the thai name but had prawns in spicy sauce followed by thai green curry with chicken and rice. One third of a bottle of rose . Then on to a nice bar for a chat and a gin with rose lemonade . Lovely.

Invited dgson after school tomorrow for tea, so got a chicken bhuna out ,I'll have some aloo saag with mine, rice and poppadoms.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yesterday was a hodge-podge day for food - what with figuring out whats what re my darn electrics (darn electrics - as I had the house virtually rewired when I bought it - so shouldnt have to touch it again ever).

So food mainly consisted of various fruits, milk and toast at lunch and dinner.

I've now had several things go wrong electrically in this (virtually rewired:cool::cool::cool:) house - so this (different) electrician I've got coming in shortly will be asked what he'd charge to check the electrics over in the whole house:mad::mad::mad:. Am expecting a 3 figure bill for what I've already paid for so to say:mad::mad::mad:. Just found a way to give previous electrician a bad review rating.

[Deleted User]

oh money!! at least you will feel safer. Get those certs out and claim for a botched job if that is the case

Meat/fish freezer drawer had jiggling space at last, found 2 chicken drumsticks last night. Obviously for one meal today plus lots of veggies, I have a sweet potato to use, chard purple sprouting etc. Healthy stuff for lunch

I made oatmeal this morning with almond milk. That`s it, my last one, I just didn`t like the texture and life is too short. All oatmeal is now destined for oatmeal biscuits and parkin or I will grind into flour and incorporate in crumble toppings and breads. I am on my last bought almond milk, not nearly as nice as my own to which I add a date for sweetness plus vanilla extract. Will be soaking almonds this weekend, to make my own milk, I need to use these. I vac pack nuts bought in bulk in the past, keep cool and dark and they stay fresh for a long time. I also keep all opened packs in lock n locks in the fridge or the freezer, if already soaked. (Soaking makes them much more valuable as food)

ok, back on track today. Berries emerging from freezer soon and will add a few nuts and half a yoghurt. No baked apples left and stored home grown bountifuls (apples) should be used, so I will make another 5 portions. Stuffed with raisins and added honey in water. I may well make some cashew nut cream to add some protein and nut goodness and velvety smoothness

I have some celeriac/bacon soups stored, a starter for lunch. Yay, I will be bringing more bags of berries and ratatouilles over from the garage freezer this weekend. Got to empty that garage one first. I have frozen halloumi and frozen pizza dough so am ok for readyish food. Possibly pizza at 5, topping: tomato paste, small frozen tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, frozen mozarella. No sardines etc as possibly a bit too rich with sardines, for my last meal