2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

diminua

I've bought slippers - I don't usually wear shoes in the flat but I think it's going to be a bit harder this winter and I might be less tempted to turn the heat up if I'm not walking in bare feet on a cold kitchen floor - and a sports bra, mostly to go under a linen top I've got which isn't entirely opaque and has flowers of the same shade of yellow, and again as an extra layer. That, a strap top, and a blouse, should trap a bit of heat even before I add a jumper. 

I've taken off the 6.5 coupons. 

CAFCGirl

Hello All!

Apologies for the absence. I was sent away on 'finger tap to side of the nose' business.
But I'm back at the beck cottage now by the little bridge.

No coupons to report as all spends of late have been secondhand, but I have purchased a good few pairs of dungarees and a jumpsuit. I'm waiting on them to arrive via the village postie so from Monday will be stalking him through the window, and hope they arrive before the strike action

@Gem-gem Foraging tales are such a feel good story time to me. Have you ever picked haws and hips? I believe HFW has a recipe for 'hawsin sauce' - a take on hoisin. I think hips are/were used for a syrup/tonic for vitamin C, very good for autumn/winter upon us. I've been keeping an eye out on elderberries for the same reason

Laura_Elsewhere

Gem-gem said:

 I spent two hour peeling and stewing down, filled two and a half containers - apple crumble here we come. I have 20+ apples to peel and stew this morning.

If you keep the apple peel and cores, then you can simmer those up and drip it overnight through muslin/jelly-bag to make a pectin-rich liquid which you can then use for a range of preserves... you can simply add it to other fruit to make jam that will definitely set; or you can fill a jar with fresh chopped herbs, then boil up the apple liquid and sugar as if making a jelly, and pour the slightly-cooled liquid over the herbs, and end up with a really lovely mint jelly, sage jelly, etc., to have with meat or cheese... actually I sometimes just have a teaspoon of my mint jelly just to refresh me on a hot day or if I'm slaving over a hot stove - it's delicious (I also add a touch of cider vinegar to mine)... 

Laura_Elsewhere

CAFCGirl said:

@Gem-gem Foraging tales are such a feel good story time to me. Have you ever picked haws and hips? I believe HFW has a recipe for 'hawsin sauce' - a take on hoisin. I think hips are/were used for a syrup/tonic for vitamin C, very good for autumn/winter upon us. I've been keeping an eye out on elderberries for the same reason

Welcome back from your, ahem, 'holiday, cough cough...

I keep meaning to try the hawsin recipes, as we have oodles of haws round here.

I make rosehip syrup every winter and forcefeed it down Mr E if he sniffles - at first I was baffled by how it could keep any Vit C after all that boiling but finally found research on it: whatever you do, don't cut up the rosehips - they lose Vit C by air exposure rapidly but the amount lost to heat is comparatively very small - it does indeed leave the hips but that's because it goes into the water, which is what we then ingest, so that's all good   

And elderberry syrup, we have a spoonful of that every day of the year - I make 12-14 pints of the stuff every September! Good solid research says that it reduces the number of respiratory infections, and if you do get one, it's likely to be milder and shorter. And that research held good for both colds and influenzas, meaning it's something to do with respiratory infection-defences, rather than being specific to one lurgy, so we reckon it's a useful thing for Modern Times. You can buy elderberry syrup online or in Wellies the Chemist, but if you have elderberries available it is very easy. 

Gem-gem

CAFCGirl said:

Hello All!

Apologies for the absence. I was sent away on 'finger tap to side of the nose' business.
But I'm back at the beck cottage now by the little bridge.

No coupons to report as all spends of late have been secondhand, but I have purchased a good few pairs of dungarees and a jumpsuit. I'm waiting on them to arrive via the village postie so from Monday will be stalking him through the window, and hope they arrive before the strike action

@Gem-gem Foraging tales are such a feel good story time to me. Have you ever picked haws and hips? I believe HFW has a recipe for 'hawsin sauce' - a take on hoisin. I think hips are/were used for a syrup/tonic for vitamin C, very good for autumn/winter upon us. I've been keeping an eye out on elderberries for the same reason

CAFCGirl, No, I have never picked either. I am going to have to explore you tube to expand my foraging skills and to see what haws and hips look like. 

Gem-gem

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Gem-gem said:

 I spent two hour peeling and stewing down, filled two and a half containers - apple crumble here we come. I have 20+ apples to peel and stew this morning.

If you keep the apple peel and cores, then you can simmer those up and drip it overnight through muslin/jelly-bag to make a pectin-rich liquid which you can then use for a range of preserves... you can simply add it to other fruit to make jam that will definitely set; or you can fill a jar with fresh chopped herbs, then boil up the apple liquid and sugar as if making a jelly, and pour the slightly-cooled liquid over the herbs, and end up with a really lovely mint jelly, sage jelly, etc., to have with meat or cheese... actually I sometimes just have a teaspoon of my mint jelly just to refresh me on a hot day or if I'm slaving over a hot stove - it's delicious (I also add a touch of cider vinegar to mine)... 

Laura, I do wish I had read this before I started yesterday because my DH has just gone out and bought pectin as my strawberry jam hasn't set and I am going to have to reboil it. 

I am seeing my aunt in three weeks time, I always come away with a bag of apples, so I will have a go then. It will be handy to use with my h/made redcurrant jelly. 

Thank you for sharing. 

MrsCD

PollyWollyDoodle said:

Ah, dear Henry Blofeld. I  used to love TMS in those days, often more entertaining than the cricket itself 

Same here 😄

florianatwobob

In a make do and mend mode I have resewn the seam on a pillow! 

Laura_Elsewhere

Gem-gem said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Gem-gem said:

 I spent two hour peeling and stewing down, filled two and a half containers - apple crumble here we come. I have 20+ apples to peel and stew this morning.

If you keep the apple peel and cores, then you can simmer those up and drip it overnight through muslin/jelly-bag to make a pectin-rich liquid which you can then use for a range of preserves... you can simply add it to other fruit to make jam that will definitely set; or you can fill a jar with fresh chopped herbs, then boil up the apple liquid and sugar as if making a jelly, and pour the slightly-cooled liquid over the herbs, and end up with a really lovely mint jelly, sage jelly, etc., to have with meat or cheese... actually I sometimes just have a teaspoon of my mint jelly just to refresh me on a hot day or if I'm slaving over a hot stove - it's delicious (I also add a touch of cider vinegar to mine)... 

Laura, I do wish I had read this before I started yesterday because my DH has just gone out and bought pectin as my strawberry jam hasn't set and I am going to have to reboil it. 

I am seeing my aunt in three weeks time, I always come away with a bag of apples, so I will have a go then. It will be handy to use with my h/made redcurrant jelly. 

Thank you for sharing. 

Ah, strawberry jam is *notoriously* awkward! I am very good at producing both the strawberries-in-syrup and the strawberry-concrete versions...  

Re hips and haws, as always make sure you know what you've got is what you think you've got Cut open a rosehip to check, but make sure you stand upwind of it as the inside has, as well as the little seeds, tons of tiny tiny hairs which are so irritant that kids used to collect them and put a big pinch down a pal's neck to act as itching-powder for a laugh Another reason to ignore the internet recipes involving whizzing rosehips in a food processor or blender - you lose masses of the Vit-C that was, and you gain tiny tiny hairs that will have you constantly clearing your throat for hours afterwards... 

Gem-gem

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Gem-gem said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Gem-gem said:

 I spent two hour peeling and stewing down, filled two and a half containers - apple crumble here we come. I have 20+ apples to peel and stew this morning.

If you keep the apple peel and cores, then you can simmer those up and drip it overnight through muslin/jelly-bag to make a pectin-rich liquid which you can then use for a range of preserves... you can simply add it to other fruit to make jam that will definitely set; or you can fill a jar with fresh chopped herbs, then boil up the apple liquid and sugar as if making a jelly, and pour the slightly-cooled liquid over the herbs, and end up with a really lovely mint jelly, sage jelly, etc., to have with meat or cheese... actually I sometimes just have a teaspoon of my mint jelly just to refresh me on a hot day or if I'm slaving over a hot stove - it's delicious (I also add a touch of cider vinegar to mine)... 

Laura, I do wish I had read this before I started yesterday because my DH has just gone out and bought pectin as my strawberry jam hasn't set and I am going to have to reboil it. 

I am seeing my aunt in three weeks time, I always come away with a bag of apples, so I will have a go then. It will be handy to use with my h/made redcurrant jelly. 

Thank you for sharing. 

Ah, strawberry jam is *notoriously* awkward! I am very good at producing both the strawberries-in-syrup and the strawberry-concrete versions...  

Re hips and haws, as always make sure you know what you've got is what you think you've got Cut open a rosehip to check, but make sure you stand upwind of it as the inside has, as well as the little seeds, tons of tiny tiny hairs which are so irritant that kids used to collect them and put a big pinch down a pal's neck to act as itching-powder for a laugh Another reason to ignore the internet recipes involving whizzing rosehips in a food processor or blender - you lose masses of the Vit-C that was, and you gain tiny tiny hairs that will have you constantly clearing your throat for hours afterwards... 

I have been making strawberry jam for years. The strawberries were ys - so very ripe and I didn't add pectin, just sugar and lemon. So I was chancing my luck. 

I've got an old batch of blackcurrant jam that is concrete but my latest version was spot on. If it is concrete, I have been known to put some in a dish and add a little boiling water to soften it up. 

Make do and mend...

Sewed up a hole that was appearing on a dress - by the label. 

Sewed up a rip in the side pocket on my DH shorts plus the massive hole in his right pocket. I won't win any awards for my stitches but as the colour match with the thread was so good, you cannot see the stitches.