A new royal start

QueenJess

LadyWithAPlan said:

Sounds all busy and focused at yours ! £130k is still heading in the right direction
No doubt you are ready to move onto the new job not having to handle the last bits of your current one.

Yes, the mortgage is getting there.  It seems so close, but really far away at the same time!  Trying not to obsess over it though and will just put into it what I can each month.  Hoping to try and round it down a bit each month.  I am so ready to move on re: work.  Still struggling to motivate myself at my current job, but I have a list of what I need to do before I leave for work and each day I plan to achieve one thing from the list.  The new job seems quite far away at the moment and particularly because there are 4 birthdays, Valentines day and half term before it starts!

Plans cancelled for the weekend as I had to pick up DS from school yesterday with some sort of nasty virus.  Poor thing has been in bed ever since, has a fever and doesn't want to eat.  All completely unheard of for him, so it must be a horrible virus that has hit him hard.  As a result I've been awake far too much in the night checking on him and too much time to think about stuff.  I did review my budget again in the night and realised I've omitted to start saving an emergency fund for the joint account, so I've squeezed that in at £20 a month.  I'm still in a negative position because I started the year that way already as we weren't putting enough into the joint account, but I'm hoping to catch back up the end of March/April.  Then I can start holiday savings.

Making good headway through the veg box at the moment with parsnips, cavolo nero and carrots cut up for the roast later.  I have two massive cabbages though and no matter how much you eat of them, they never seem to get any smaller!  I am considering being brave and trying to ferment a load in a spare glass jar and effectively make my own sauerkraut.  Doesn't look too tricky, so I may give that a go later.  I also want to try and make my own sourdough starter as I never seem to get to the end of that, but since I am no longer ridiculously busy at work (and when I start the new job I definitely will be!), this is the time to try this stuff.  And yes... making my own yogurt is still on the list... maybe I'll give that a go the week after next!  There is just too much stuff to try out and not enough time.

DH has booked a local restaurant for his weekday birthday lunch which has a 2 for 1 offer for this month.  It's an expensive restaurant, but this is a fabulous deal and we can walk there which is very convenient.  Looking forward to it.

themadvix

Go for it with the sauerkraut! Key is to pack it all down really tight and save a leaf to cover it all to make sure the brine covers everything. Pop a Gu pot on top to hold everything under. You won’t need to add any water to the cabbage - just 1.5% salt (to weight of cabbage). If you use a Kilner you won’t need to burp it and don’t open for 6 weeks 😊

(Apologies if you know all this already!)

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Go for it with the sauerkraut! Key is to pack it all down really tight and save a leaf to cover it all to make sure the brine covers everything. Pop a Gu pot on top to hold everything under. You won’t need to add any water to the cabbage - just 1.5% salt (to weight of cabbage). If you use a Kilner you won’t need to burp it and don’t open for 6 weeks 😊

(Apologies if you know all this already!)

No, this is really useful.  I knew some, but not all.  I just finished it and it took me a lot longer than I thought it would, although I hadn't appreciated quite how much I could pack it down and therefore I probably didn't need to spend as long massaging it as I thought.  I did use a Kilner jar, but didn't have a Gu pot.  Had to be inventive and so I used a mini Kilner spice kar filled with rice to weigh it down!

Fingers crossed it all works!  DH thought I was mad...

themadvix

Spice jar sounds like a good plan. It does pack down a lot - sorry, I probably should have said I don’t bother with massaging - just chop, salt and leave for a couple of hours. Amazing how much liquid comes out, I always think! 

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Spice jar sounds like a good plan. It does pack down a lot - sorry, I probably should have said I don’t bother with massaging - just chop, salt and leave for a couple of hours. Amazing how much liquid comes out, I always think! 

Ah - good to know for next time!  It did feel a bit like magic... one minute you have dry cabbage and the next you have very wet cabbage.  I really hope it works as I am already worried about it and whether the cabbage is all still below the level of the water.

DS is feeling a bit better today and wants to make gingerbread men later.  He suddenly got interested in baking after watching Bake Off with us and then I started him on watching the junior one (despite me trying to interest him when he was younger).  This will be his first try at baking and I will be getting him to do most of it himself with very close supervision.

Other than that, I am knackered and just trying to get through the day.  DH has taken DD out for lunch and to feed the ducks before she goes loopy being cooped up inside.  Need to do 2 loads of washing (one already finished) and some tidying, but otherwise I am free.

Breakfast for me was mixed berries with kefir, yogurt, flaxseeds and hm granola.  Lunch is the rest of the roasted harissa veg and chickpeas with couscous followed by satsumas.  Dinner will be hm tomato pasta with hidden carrots and garlic bread.  Dessert is more yummy cinnamon apple crumble and hm ice cream, but the kids will probably choose to devour yogurts instead.

I have quite a bit of cavolo nero left and just found a lovely recipe online for cavolo nero and bean pasta sauce which I have photogaphed to try as a lunch in the week.  Work have a billion meetings next week as their annual thing to improve processes etc in the business and I am meant to be in the office.  I shall not be venturing in as it takes too much out of my day.. I mean what are they going to do at this point if I join on Teams instead?!

themadvix

Definitely agree that they can’t complain if you join on teams at this point.

 The brine level will change as it ferments and don’t be tempted to open to top it up, this is part of the process. Highly recommend the UK Fermenting Friends group on Facebook if you use it - really friendly, very helpful and loads of info in the files. Plus you can get free starters/grains etc.

QueenJess

I slept very poorly last night even outside of checking on DS and feel terrible now.  DH is now in bed with whatever DS still has and DS is still in bed as well.  So am running around tending to everyone and also trying to do my day job

I popped out this morning on a mission for some stronger cold/flu stuff for DH and whilst I was out I took my M&S £75 voucher with me and had fun spending £30 of it in there.  Some of it was definitely not "needed", but was enjoyable spend and I even got a reusable silicone freezer bag and treated myself to some daffodil bulbs that will cheer me up in the kitchen.  Also picked up some discounted fresh herbs that have nothing wrong with them.

So for lunch I reheated the hm potato and leek soup from the freezer, adding pumpkin seeds and a generous portion of fresh dill to have with our very expensive M&S seeded sourdough.  It was so good..

Dinner will be leftover chicken stir fry from the roast at the weekend with whatever veg I can find in the fridge to throw at it with a frajita spices, fresh coriander leaves and rice.  DS is eating whatever he fancies at the moment, so no idea what he will eat, but I did get more grapes for him (we got some with the Riverford order on Thursday and between DD and DS, they ate the whole box by the end of Friday!).

The food budget is definitely going over this month, but will try and contain it as much as I can.  It is partly because I needed to do a yeast order online and I also use it to stock up on bread flour (the latter of which I could have otherwise waited for) and also DD refuses to use her newer toothbrush as it is not yellow... I found one online she thought was acceptable and so I ordered it along with some other bits I would have otherwise waited a while to stock up on, but didn't want to waste the delivery charge.  I am hoping Feb won't be as expensive so I can get back on track, but am keeping a close eye on the budget I did to determine if it is actually realistic or I just have expensive/bad habits!

Oh - I did also get some whole milk in M&S so I think that means I "have" to make yogurt now!  I do have a shiny new Instant Pot from DH for Xmas and I've not had a chance to properly use it yet.  Will try and break it out later and then figure out how to do some yogurt later this week.

Right - better attempt to do some work today!

themadvix

I make yoghurt with semi-skimmed 😉 although I do add milk powder for creaminess, so maybe that balances out. Haven’t had much luck with making it in my pot, so let me know if you do!

 Sorry to hear DH is now down with the lurgy as well - that’s not great!

 I’m off out later and you’ve inspired me (to spend - oops) - I’ll look out for some daffs! 😊

Bluegreen143

I make yoghurt with whole milk, so you definitely can. We only use whole milk in this house, for everything, so I didn’t want to buy a different milk to make yoghurt and it worked fine 🙂

QueenJess

Bluegreen143 said:

I make yoghurt with whole milk, so you definitely can. We only use whole milk in this house, for everything, so I didn’t want to buy a different milk to make yoghurt and it worked fine 🙂

Fab.  In my head whole milk would make it creamier, but who knows!

So tired today as although DS is better and at school, I slept very poorly.  Need to get back into a good routine.  DH is still ill and so I made him a ginger and paprika chicken noodle soup with coriander leaves and plenty of veg.  Dinner is ...umm.... answers on a postcard please?  No idea yet, but something simple I think as my brain hurts!

Need to get back to my to do list as January is slipping away.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow?!