Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Blackcats

Chutney sounds lovely - would you be able to share the recipe?  I had the Cranks cookbook when it first came out but I don't know what happened to it.  Interesting that 40 years later the principles of the cooking are as relevant as when it first came out.  

A utility room is so useful!

Pixiehouse55

Foxegloves your apple and ginger chutney sounds heaven. Ive got the cranks cookbook I must look for that recipe. Hubby made marrow and ginger jam, it was lush, didn't last long in our house🤣😂🤣😂. Picking up our Granddaughter tomorrow weve not seen her since January so really looking forward to seeing her. My daughter lives 2 1/2 hours away and she says its too far to travel. Its always us that makes the effort. Very upsetting at times. The next 4 days are going to be jam packed of going out doing things and crafty making at home. I probably won't be around for a few days.  Stay safe everyone and keep up the good work
X

Onebrokelady

I sent  both my Cranks cookery books to the charity shop years ago because at the time I barely used them. I did copy out the recipes I used the most first though but that was only two. I have just discovered both the books I used to own on Amazon though 😀 

foxgloves

Blackcats - I think the Apple & Ginger chutney recipe is published online by permission of 'Crank's, but let me know if you can't find it. Yes, the books are regarded as classics now. I've never been a vegetarian but I didn't have much money when I bought mine. It was mid-1980s & I was coming to the end of a poorly paid job, & just about to do a post-grad work experience year prior to applying for my MA course. I was a keen cook & when I saw that the book contained recipes using pretty basic ingredients, I decided to buy a copy. Of course I was spendy back then & although I didn't earn much at the time, I'd have been a lot less worried about my finances if I'd actually bothered to acquaint myself with budgeting......or even the simple notion that if I spent more in a month than I earned, I'd continue having a black hole rather than a functioning bank account. Of course I've edited my recipe books over the years - all keen cooks end up with way too many - but the Cranks recipe book has remained in my collection because there is a core of recipes in it which I have always returned to again & again. The apple & ginger chutney recipe is one of those. Others are the tomato soup, lentil & tomato soup & cream of watercress (or it might be broccoli, as I do mix the green component up a bit), luscious lemon cake, country biscuits, nut roast, lentil & cheese wedges, mushroom stroganoff, date slice (which I also love making with apricots)& various others. My book is now in a shocking state......written all over & barely more than a couple of pages actually joined together. I think I will order another copy.
OBL - Interesting that you jotted down some recipes from your copy to keep. I expected to find reasonably decent condition copies in our local charity bookshop, but I haven't, so probably time to dip into my spends. 
Pixiehouse55 - And you had the book too! I think it just shows that whether people were vegetarians or not, it was quite a trendy book when it first came out. My sister certainly bought a copy, but she says she hasn't got it now. A friend borrowed it & she can't remember who, so has never got it back.
F x

foxgloves

And good morning diary readers,
Cloudy here, but with some encouraging ribbons of blue & hints of sunshine. Definitely nice enough to head out for my pondside bench after lunch with my book & knitting basket. Off down the shed bright & early this morning to get my rubber gloves & trug ready to tackle sorting out the worm composter ready for winter. Harvested two trays of compost which I've already applied to the celeriac bed for a free shot of nutrients. The top tray was still being chomped, so that now becomes the bottom tray & I've put lots of shredded paper in with that, so that it provides 'bedding' as well as food. I saved a whole bucket of scraps yesterday while I was processing all that fresh produce in the kitchen, so I was able to use that & more shredded paper to build up the middle layer to a good level......it will take them a while to get through that, but I can keep adding small amounts of peelings, etc. I also put a new moisture mat on top, prior to adding the lid. I don't buy these, as I find that a big circle of cardboard cut from a large box serves just as well & they eventually eat that too, so it's very sustainable card recycling. One thing that never fails to amaze me when I sort out the worm composter is just how fast the little bugg*rs can move! They are also amazing escapologists. They don't like the light, so as soon as the lid is removed, they wiggle off for cover. I was sure I'd located every single last one of them before hosing out the base (acts as a sump for the liquid plant feed which you drain off with the tap) yet once I was balancing myself on one leg at the back of a courgette bed, trying to rinse the last of the compost onto courgette roots, about 20 worms suddenly appeared apparently wondering why their chief scrap feeder was trying to drown them! Managed to rescue them & add them to the bedding tray, where doubtless they went on to tell their wriggly comrades how they had just bravely avoided a Very Narrow Squeak indeed!
Other plans for today.....not a lot! I've updated our grocery budget, made a payment to our 'just for points' credit card, done today's pickings (a yellow courgette, more red chillies, a lb of tomatoes & a little bunch of grapes). I intend to make a big fish pie later - sufficient for tomorrow's meal too. You know how much I like 'Cook once, eat twice!' Apart from that, I want to crack on with mitten knitting, as would like to send all 10 pairs in a box of stuff I intend to post to my sister at the weekend. Trouble is, I've only knitted 7.5 pairs. That means I need to crack on & it will be motivating that I can then choose another knitting project. I also want to read my book as I am only managing 2 or 3 pages a night before falling asleep & that isn't giving me much plot continuity.
Oh & I've done a survey - my Prolific total is coming along nicely, so I thought that if I maximise my efforts there, I could have a nice little cash-out before Christmas.
OK, that's me done,
Love F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Blackcats - I think the Apple & Ginger chutney recipe is published online by permission of 'Crank's, but let me know if you can't find it. Yes, the books are regarded as classics now. I've never been a vegetarian but I didn't have much money when I bought mine. It was mid-1980s & I was coming to the end of a poorly paid job, & just about to do a post-grad work experience year prior to applying for my MA course. I was a keen cook & when I saw that the book contained recipes using pretty basic ingredients, I decided to buy a copy. Of course I was spendy back then & although I didn't earn much at the time, I'd have been a lot less worried about my finances if I'd actually bothered to acquaint myself with budgeting......or even the simple notion that if I spent more in a month than I earned, I'd continue having a black hole rather than a functioning bank account. Of course I've edited my recipe books over the years - all keen cooks end up with way too many - but the Cranks recipe book has remained in my collection because there is a core of recipes in it which I have always returned to again & again. The apple & ginger chutney recipe is one of those. Others are the tomato soup, lentil & tomato soup & cream of watercress (or it might be broccoli, as I do mix the green component up a bit), luscious lemon cake, country biscuits, nut roast, lentil & cheese wedges, mushroom stroganoff, date slice (which I also love making with apricots)& various others. My book is now in a shocking state......written all over & barely more than a couple of pages actually joined together. I think I will order another copy.
OBL - Interesting that you jotted down some recipes from your copy to keep. I expected to find reasonably decent condition copies in our local charity bookshop, but I haven't, so probably time to dip into my spends. 
Pixiehouse55 - And you had the book too! I think it just shows that whether people were vegetarians or not, it was quite a trendy book when it first came out. My sister certainly bought a copy, but she says she hasn't got it now. A friend borrowed it & she can't remember who, so has never got it back.
F x

The paper backs are cheap on Amazon, Entertaining with Cranks was £2.49 and the basic cranks book was £4ish 😊
DD1 bought me a recipe journal/folder so I wrote the recipes in there because I didn't want to forget them.i used to cook more back then too 😊

foxgloves

OBL - That's the reason I am wanting to buy a large notebook. I too have bwen writing various recipes down over the years & I have 3 books full plus a box of clippings from magazines, etc. I have a plan in mind for a re-edit plus addition of notes & memories. Perhaps a nice project for the winter months, though have got quite a few refurb projects to do too.....new curtains to make, items to upcycle, etc.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams, 
I'm just having a peaceful few minutes while I wait for the oven to heat up. Mr F, who is using up his annual leave with several random days off, decided he'd go & get the grocery shopping done, the electricians have finished & the builder has gone home early as is feeling poorly. I don't feel I've achieved much at all today - meal plans for next week, shopping list, a half-hearted tidy-up & a bit of knitting. I've made a loaf.... must pop it in the oven in a minute. No need to cook tonight as plenty of nice fish pie leftover from last night & sufficient french beans to feed the street.
Manage an hour yakk with my sis via skype, despite racket from power tools & we discussed the logistics of sending a piano up the A1 (& other things, in case anyone is wondering how on earth we managed to get a whole hour out of that!)
Useful chat with electrician this morning. Obviously the work he's done today was subbed out from builders but we are going to get a separate quote afterwards to get some longstanding, hugely annoying & probably dangerous bits of electrical stuff sorted out once & for all. Let's just say that Mr Numpty, who's DIY efforts I've already told you about, has clearly had quite a hand in some of the older electrics in our house & we'd like to erase all trace of his dodgy efforts!
Well, I must go & set my bread to bake.
Cheers all, 
F xx

Baileys_Babe

Is the builder planning on coming back tomorrow? or is he having the day off to recuperate?

Erasing all traces of Mr Numpty DIY sounds very sensible as you are now in a position to financially and you are already in builders chaos, get it over and done with, in as short a time as possible.

foxgloves

Yes, BaileysBabe, we both agree.... & we need some bits of electrical stuff doing before redecoration... for instance getting wall lights removed so as to be able to use two wasted spaces for book shelves. We are compiling a full list of the wide variety of jobs we need doing so that we can get a quote for all of them to be done together. 
The builder is aiming to continue tomorrow. He looked & sounded poorly so we were definitely in agreement that he'd be better to call it a day today. Good progress is being made, anyway. 
F x