What Small DFW Things Will You Do This Week 23/08/21?

DawnW

Afternoon all

Thanks for starting us off CLF

Nice to see new people posting

@jadewest94 I grow in a small space - my garden is basically 2 biggish raised beds and lots of pots, plus the front garden which is even smaller and is just for flowers. You can grow anything in pots if they are big enough. Most of mine are cheap plastic ones from Poundstretcher and similar, but I also have various other containers of various kinds. Don't bother with small ones except for seedlings, as watering becomes a real pain. You can reuse compost too, if you mix it with fresh and feed the plants. Easiest to grow are summer salads - things like lettuce (any kind, they are better in pots as they don't get munched by slugs quite so readily. I have lollo rosso, little gem and cut and come again salad leaves atm, really worth it as shop lettuces aren't nice at the moment imo), also spring onions, radishes etc. I also have tomatoes and cucumbers. Good to start with those, but try anything else that you like to eat. I find chard and perpetual spinach really good, at this time of the year, as you can pick leaves now, it sort of goes to sleep over winter, though you can often pick a few leaves, and it will go mad for a few weeks in the spring. Oriental greens are good to sow now as well. I could go on about gardening for ages, but will stop now! Just pm me if you have any questions. PS, your dog is cute

Anyway, today I have / will:

Washed my hair and left it to dry naturally (as if I would do anything else ) 

Picked some berries from the garden for breakfast

Dog walk

Took new items to restock my sales unit

Shopping in Lidls - forgot my list but remembered everything except for one non-urgent item. Lidl plus app not working in the shop though   Not sure what the point of these things is if they don't work! 

OH picked beans and courgettes - more courgettes!

I still need to do some cleaning upstairs, some freezer tetris, and make a courgette lasagne for dinner tonight and tomorrow (it is yummy and makes loads). Recipe at https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/creamy-courgette-lasagne if anyone is similarly afflicted with a plague of courgettes. I use more cheese than the recipe states, and make my own tomato sauce rather than using a jar, but that is just my preference. Might make some ratatouille as well.

carrielovesfanta

Afternoon folks

Good day of getting bits sorted yesterday. I called the local cs to see if they were taking bric-a-brac now and they are so OH is dropping a bag of bits off. Also cycled down to nearby retail park to take defunct batteries and lightbulbs to recycling point in well-known electricals store. 

OH didn't enjoy my offering of marrow curry for tea (lied and claimed it was "tough" - marrow many things but not tough). Can't say it was my finest effort but edible. Never mind!

Today's small tihngs:
B/L/D from stores
Small after-work treat. Must not let it develop into dinner out!
Put loaf of bread on
Bit of knitting - making OH a scarf atm

Have a good one all

clf x

foxgloves

@carrielovesfanta - My Nana used to make stuffed marrow. She would cut the marrow in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then pile mince into the middle of one of the halves, fit the other half back on top, tie it in 3 places with string, then roast it in the oven. The mince & the gravy she served with it was lovely & it did look quite effective when sliced & sitting on one's plate. The marrow component however, was watery & tasteless & even at around the age of 8, I could see no earthly point in eating it at all! Nan used to say 'If you'd lived through the times I've lived through, you wouldn't be wasting good food'. 
Our favourite go-to recipe when courgettes cross the line & decide they are now marrows, is Weightwatchers' Lamb & Marrow Bake. It doesn't sound the most enticing culinary offering, but it is actually very nice, re-heats well etc......best of all, it uses 800g of marrow. I used to make marrow & ginger jam too. I don't make it now as we have an apple tree in our current garden so I make apple & ginger now, but when made with crystallised ginger in addition to powdered, it is a decent enough jam for winter toast & crumpets. I've already pickled 2 batches of courgettes (recipe shared on my dfw diary) & as Mr F is eating through them like mad, I think I will use some of my surplus courgettes doing another batch - it makes the sort of pickles that go nicely on burgers, with BBQ, etc.
And those m'dear, are my thoughts on marrows!!
F x

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves said:

@carrielovesfanta - My Nana used to make stuffed marrow. She would cut the marrow in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then pile mince into the middle of one of the halves, fit the other half back on top, tie it in 3 places with string, then roast it in the oven. The mince & the gravy she served with it was lovely & it did look quite effective when sliced & sitting on one's plate. The marrow component however, was watery & tasteless & even at around the age of 8, I could see no earthly point in eating it at all! Nan used to say 'If you'd lived through the times I've lived through, you wouldn't be wasting good food'. 
Our favourite go-to recipe when courgettes cross the line & decide they are now marrows, is Weightwatchers' Lamb & Marrow Bake. It doesn't sound the most enticing culinary offering, but it is actually very nice, re-heats well etc......best of all, it uses 800g of marrow. I used to make marrow & ginger jam too. I don't make it now as we have an apple tree in our current garden so I make apple & ginger now, but when made with crystallised ginger in addition to powdered, it is a decent enough jam for winter toast & crumpets. I've already pickled 2 batches of courgettes (recipe shared on my dfw diary) & as Mr F is eating through them like mad, I think I will use some of my surplus courgettes doing another batch - it makes the sort of pickles that go nicely on burgers, with BBQ, etc.
And those m'dear, are my thoughts on marrows!!
F x

I remember marrows fondly from my childhood. My dad has some sort of strange attachment to them and grew them deliberately. He actually won a giant marrow competition and the resulting newspaper article has a lot to answer for in terms of my very existence! 
I don't know if my mum liked them but she sure served it up in boiled chunks as a veg. Complete waste of time and energy IMHO as, like you say, they are pretty tasteless and watery. This marrow was left outside our lottie shed as a cruel and unusual punishment gift. I'm happy to use it to bulk something out (i.e. a curry) although clearly OH saw straight through my cunning cumin-based ruse.

carrielovesfanta

Afternoon folks

My little after-work wine-based treat bit me on the bum as had a pretty wretched night's sleep. I feel fine, just tired. Plans for today subsequently out the window (I was going to get up early and dig up the potatoes to let them dry off in the day). Weather is set fair for the weekend now so no rush. 

WFH today and trying to write a technical report on a groggy brain is not fun.

Have a good one all

clf x

rigare11a

Thanks for the welcome @carrielovesfanta
@jadewest94 Django is a darling so cute! 

Little things I have done/planning this week have been 

• Cash in some winnings from an old lotto ticket
• Sold an unwanted coffee machine 
• Paid a little bit extra off a debt 
• Cashed in some old USD 
• Added a few coins to the jar 
• Changed holiday destination and made a saving of 1500!!! (that's a card refund so still waiting for that to show up)
• Collected up the old EUR from previous holidays for my upcoming holiday
• Spent some time recalculating debt repayments taking in to account the holiday refund and pending bonus from work
• Set up DD's for those debts that didn't have already

Other than the above I am working from home all week meetings have been mega busy, I have hot ears today from having the headset on looking forward to a weekend of not a lot. Payday next week hurray will be the first month of putting my new budget in to practice so I am excited to start properly. 

Oh an I am also listening to the radio most days to try and win Tell Us The Total its up to £35k - well someone has to win it right ? 

Have a great week all! 

Rigarella 

DawnW

Evening all

Dog walk first thing

Fresh picked berries for breakfast

Dog had reduced wafer thin chicken from Lidl for his   He enjoyed it, but it isn't something I would eat, reduced or not!

Housework - bathroom, main bedroom and landing. Must psyche myself up to tackle the loft conversion / spare bedroom at some stage as the kids have pretty much turned it upside down. The third bedroom is OH's 'den' where he keeps most of his junk 'collections', and I don't go in there!

Load of washing which dried on the line outside

Watered the garden pots and picked some tomatoes. There won't be many more, as most of the plants have blight

Made a concoction for dinner consisting of some YS meatballs which I cooked in a heavy pan first, then added cooked pasta and some of the ratatouille I made the other day, all topped with grated mozzarella and browned under the grill. It was tasty, and there is plenty for tomorrow as well.

CLF and Foxgloves, I do stuffed marrow about once a year, to use up the inevitable escaped courgette. I usually parboil, then fill it with chilli and grated cheese and bake in the oven. OH seems to like it.

foxgloves

That sounds nice, @DawnW. I made chicken & vegetable bhuna tonight & managed to use up a marrow, 3 small aubergines & some surplus french beans in it. And Mr F wolfed it! One marrow down. Result!
F x

DawnW

Morning all

Day at home today, so I must get some stuff done:

Dog walk (already done)

Free fruit from garden for breakfast (also done)

Routine kitchen and bathroom clean up

Shopping ariving from Icyland, as I couldn't face mad pre-bank holiday supermarket. Ours are manic before a bank holiday weekend - I am not sure why, as they will be open throughout   Two items are missing apparently, but they can wait till next week.

Strip beds in spare room, wash linen and peg outside to dry

Put some of the toys and other stuff away up there that the children have left scattered everywhere

Repot the little fig tree I succumbed to in Waitrose the other day

Plant out lettuce seedlings in spare big pots

Dog to groomers this afternoon - not moneysaving, but he looks like my granny's old floor mop

Pick beans, berries and anything else that is ready (hopefully not more courgettes)

Bit of ironing

I have lots of tomatoes, so ought to think about something to do with them. Sadly there won't be many more, as they have blight. The freezer is absolutely stuffed, so I can't freeze, and I have plenty of chutney from last year.

Chicken, jacket potatoes and salad for dinner tonight.

rigare11a

DawnW said:

Chicken, jacket potatoes and salad for dinner tonight.

oooo Jacket potats!! I have not had those in a while. I think I might be grabbing a couple from the shop this weekend