So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Morning all,

I bake two at a time SL and therefore there's usually one in the freezer. Tbh, I won't bother with bought bread in the freezer in future and had eliminated it anyway - it was only that the pittas came from my last Olio and were the only thing that we thought we might vaguely use. Wish I'd given them away now! There's always flatbreads and naans in there too if we need some bread. Or carrot-top pesto to go with pasta for a change.

RT, as far as I'm aware, it's that simple! Just a bit of stewed fruit with a French name I think! I find the liquid thickens once it goes in the fridge and becomes a bit syrupy, which is delicious.

Our carrot, chickpea and spinach pilaff was nice last night, but I'm not sure what the IP did with it - it was burnt to the bottom and the pot was saying (and beeping) some funny things. It used the rice setting and I don't normally so wonder if I did something wrong.

Not sure what dinner tonight will be. I have a doctors appointment I'm not looking forward to today, so it'll be a case of seeing how I feel this evening. There's daal in the freezer, or Mr MV could get adventurous and cook something different.

My work continues to be quiet, so I'll do some Cambridge stuff shortly, and later if I feel up to it.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done
* Heating is still only coming  on first thing in the morning
* Only bought eggs at Coop as the milk wasn't very long dated and we'd had some delivered yesterday - I will go back when I need to.
* Spinach from the allotment in our dinner (garlic and onions are shooting up; it's nearly time to harvest the oca!)
* 1P surveys
* A small uplift to a PA survey rate I'd done (£15 when all cleared in there)

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine again today (we're still having battery issues and Mr MV can't see why it isn't charging. A tweak has been made and we'll see what happens tonight). Glad the sun is out as we forgot to put dishwasher on last night, so that'll need to go on when the sun is up higher/battery is a bit more charged.
* House is holding heat relatively well - although there has been much talk lately of replacing the upstairs windows (we did the downstairs in 2014, but these are quite old and not to standard)
* Dinner was tasty even if it didn't work well!

Have a good day all!

ETA apparently still having problems with heating automations too, so it hasn't been on this morning! Temp now 15.5, but seems silly to put it on before we go out.... Will enjoy the warmth later though (and the low fuel bills!)

earthgirl2

Sorry to hear you are having problems with solar panels and heating. I'd just popped in to say that you are very inspiring with your planet protecting schemes. It had made me think about solar panels again, and we have gone for it, just in time for winter in Scotland 😆 

QueenJess

rtandon27 said:

Thanks for the method Vix - didn't realise it was as easy as that! I have a fine mesh strainer and spatula that could work for removing peels after cooking - must do a bit of reading to understand how coulis is made - I always thought it was one of those difficult kitchen crafts!

I do roughly 370g fruit to 1 tablespoon brown sugar to make compote. Dump in pan on a low heat, ignore for 20-30 mins and then turn it off. Easy peasy.

Coulis is similarly easy - chuck fruit into blender with a bit of icing sugar if you want, blend, then sieve to remove pips. Job done.

EssexHebridean

I cook down fruit for puree/coulis in the same way Vix does - in fact it was that method which salvaged the TGTG Strawberries from the other weeks Als haul - at this time of year they don't have quite as much flavour as full summer ones but they'll make a nice enough ice cream at some stage, and the puree is now in the freezer waiting for that stage to occur! I'm afraid I never bother with removing peels/seeds from anything either!

I've been entirely spoiled on pita breads since buying the ones from the Turkish supermarket - SO much nicer than supermarket ones! I'll generally just go without them altogether if we're not in a position to get those now. Vix - you may actually have one of the chain we use near you come to think of it - I discovered recently that there is one in Waltham Cross - not sure how much wider they are spreading their net from there. It's "TFC" - yes, that does literally stand for "Turkish Food Centre" so far as I know! 

themadvix

Thanks Earthie - we try! The battery and heating issues are irritating - technology is great when it works, but frustrating when it doesn't 🙄

Thanks for the posher explanation of the differences between compote and coulis Jess! I can only be bothered to remove seeds if I'm cooking for guests!

I don't think we have a TFC near us EH, but we do have a large independent Turkish supermarket in our Old Town - it does fab baklava! However, if I want pittas, I'll bake them myself probably - far less processing and I use Dan Lepard's recipe which is nice and straightforward. They're not something we have often anyway.

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Thanks Earthie - we try! The battery and heating issues are irritating - technology is great when it works, but frustrating when it doesn't 🙄

Thanks for the posher explanation of the differences between compote and coulis Jess! I can only be bothered to remove seeds if I'm cooking for guests!

I don't think we have a TFC near us EH, but we do have a large independent Turkish supermarket in our Old Town - it does fab baklava! However, if I want pittas, I'll bake them myself probably - far less processing and I use Dan Lepard's recipe which is nice and straightforward. They're not something we have often anyway.

Lol. Don’t think I’ve ever been called posh! I think I’ve only made coulis once because I thought the picky kids would turn their noses up at “bits”. Last time I used raspberries for ice cream I just roughly mashed them with a fork and stirred them in. I usually can’t be bothered with sieving.

themadvix

Morning all,

Lol, sorry Jess, brain wasn't working yesterday and 'posh' was the only word that came to mind. Coulis is a bit of a faff, I'd agree!

Yesterday's dinner was the frozen daal from last week, prepped by Mr MV. Am feeling better today, which is good as it's my 'Cambridge day' (i.e. all the meetings) and my main client has returned a piece of work for the next bit. Not sure what dinner will be tonight, possibly squash and cabbage sabzi, but it might be something simpler in the pot. In any case, as I have no plans to bake today, there'll need to be leftovers for Mr MV's lunch tomorrow.

In good news, the battery charged overnight and the heating came on by itself this morning - hooray for tweaks! Weather is miserable here, so glad we have a full battery to use or we'd be on grid power entirely. Octopus have launched their Cosy 6 ASHP, which has a flow rate of 75 degrees, rather than the usual 40, so far more possible to be a straight swap for a GCH system in a normal (i.e. not super insulated) house. We are interested, to say the least, especially as they seem to think it could be possible to have it installed for free with current govt grants. We may look at getting a quote in the spring. It wouldn't be free for us, because there'd be piping requirements as it would be in a different location to our current boiler, but perhaps a £££ rather than ££££ sized bill. We'd still need to replace a couple of rads, but we need to do that anyway as they are old and perform poorly. Without GCH we'd be able to get rid of the gas supply (and therefore save the standing charge) and Mr MV reckons that we might save £100/year on current prices. (Not a lot, but this is an improvement over it costing more to run an ASHP.) It's something to consider, anyway. Link here if you're interested.

MS things:
* A fair few PA surveys this morning - now at ~£19 when cleared
* 1P surveys - £11.83
* Battery shenanigans seem to be sorted
* NSD yesterday (and probably today, unless I stir myself to get milk to make yoghurt - unlikely in this weather!)

Gratitudes:
* Work - I don't like it when there's a few days without my 'proper' work
* Feeling better today
* Mr MV for looking after me yesterday
* The beautiful golden leaves on the trees - absolutely stunning round here at this time of year

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that's interesting about the new heat pump thing! It sent me down quite the rabbit hole checking our eligibility. Sadly we're not, which is what I assumed from before - because we have an EPC rating of G with recommendations to install cavity wall insulation.

Where though?? As far as I know we don't have any walls with cavities! Except perhaps a bit of one of the extensions, but that part of the house is much warmer than everywhere else anyway so I always just assumed it was properly insulated 🤔

Also, many of the features are assumed.

Wall - sandstone, as built, no insulation (assumed)
Wall - cavity, as built, no insulation (assumed)
Roof - pitched, no insulation (assumed)
Roof - pitched, limited insulation (assumed).

Hmm. Weird, because we have 3 lofts, and all have insulation - could be better in some cases, but it's there. All lofts have hatches and are accessible, too. 

Anyway, interesting. Will waffle on on my own thread with further pondering...

themadvix

Morning all,

Feel free to waffle Cheery. That's interesting about all the assumptions! And the clearly 'assumed' double-glazing too!

I wasn't entirely convinced by the squash and cabbage sabzi recipe, so I cooked that and a lentil and egg curry (from a beans and pulses book acquired from Freegle). Turns out the sabzi was nicer than the lentil and egg - the latter had cloves in, which I'd definitely leave out next time. In any case, plenty of leftovers which Mr MV has taken for lunch today. I've got bread dough proving for two loaves (although it's definitely cooler today as it's taking longer to rise than normal) and a load of washing done and on the line. I've been doing Cambridge work so far this morning, but need to switch focus and get this piece for main client finished.

The sun is out (as you may have gathered), so if I finish work early, I plan on cycling down to town - one of the books I've reserved has now come in at the library, so I'm looking forward to picking that up. We also need paracetamol and I may have to get some butter as I'm struggling without anything sweet to eat - especially as I've been catching up on Bake Off the last couple of days!

Somewhat annoyed with the water board. We had our six monthly bill yesterday and we're in debt by £3.89 (over those 6 months), so they've decided to put the monthly DD up by £3 - I don't understand the logic there and when I've got Mr MV to check, I'll be calling them about it (last time I did this, I'd missed something obvious and had to admit their calculations were right, so he needs to check first!).

Our battery provider (GivEnergy) has offered us the chance to export during peak demand times (i.e. when there are Savings Sessions on) at a price of £1-2/kWh. Mr MV has checked this out with our export tariff, but thinks it's OK to do, so this seems like a nice win. The battery will charge prior to the session, so we'll have to pay a bit at peak rates, but this should be more than compensated for by the high rate paid. 

Not sure about dinner tonight, but might opt for peanut butter ramen, as per Kara and Nate on YT. We have the ingredients and it's very simple. But I think we'll definitely need some sort of pud, so butter will be bought!

MS things:
* 1P surveys
* Will be starting some work at the higher rate for other Cambridge boss soon
* Dinner used hg veg (squash and cabbage) and Mr MV doesn't need to buy anything today
* Used Coop reward money to buy milk yesterday. Still haven't got around to making yoghurt though (yes, that would be a good healthy dessert that doesn't require butter, but it doesn't quite hit the pudding spot!). Have also watered it down this morning as we started to use it to stretch it out. The milkman will deliver a pint tomorrow and it would be nice if that was all that was needed until Monday (Mr MV is out for breakfast on Sunday).

Gratitudes
* Sunshine
* Nice new dinner recipes - would have again
* Poor ginger cat had a bad dream (?! Why not?) last night and needed to see us at 1.30 am. I was rewarded by a *lot* of purrs when I said hello though

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Evening all (or late afternoon? It is nearly dark...),

Well the washing was nearly dry when I brought it in. I'll pop it on the airer shortly and that can be set to go on overnight. I got quite a bit of Cambridge work done  (although a project I was about to start has been paused - let's just say it's a good job I'm thorough and checked something before I started!) and have finished the bit of work for my main client. He has just been in touch to say that there's a large piece of work arriving next week, so that's good. No doubt it'll all go mad at once, it's always the way. I have at least warned him I won't be here the Monday and Friday of the following week (the Friday being Dad's wedding - although I don't actually know what time, so I could possibly do some work in the morning).

I've also been down to town (my bike feels much better for the service) and picked up my library reservation and spent £4.82 in Aldi on eggs, butter and two packs of paracetamol. I was sorely tempted by other things (cider, chocolate, okra, custard powder) but resisted.

Have done a little PA survey and will now go and do a Ylive one and catch up on 1P before returning to my book.

Have a good evening all!