Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@marionmgcars - We both love simnel cake, despite Mr F not really having been a fan of fruit cake in the past. I like the stickiness of the marzipan layer in the middle. You really do just put half the cake mixture in the tin, then put a big circle of marzipan on top, then add the rest of the cake mixture. I love how that centre sheet of marzipan melts into the cake. The only thing to remember when baking one is that because marzipan goes melty, it affects the 'skewer test' for checking the cake is done. Cake could be perfect but still produce squidge on the skewer. I make the Mary Berry one & give it the full oven time plus 10 mins for luck. It's worked so far!
F

marionmgcars

I wondered if it was baked with marzipan or split and added later.  Thanks.    I’ll be giving it a try next  year x

foxgloves

@marionmgcars - Yes, you cut the marzipan into thirds. The 1st one is rolled out into a circle which is baked in the centre of the cake. The 2nd chunk is rolled into a 2nd circle which you glue onto the top of the cake when it's cooled (I use marmalade for the glue). You score the top into squares with a sharp knife then brush it with beaten egg. The 3rd chunk is divided into 11 pieces (the disciples minus Judas!) which are rolled into balls & stuck on around the edge before also brushing those with egg & flashing the whole thing under a hot grill to toast the marzipan a little. 
I always make dimples in the marzipan balls so as to accommodate mini-eggs & lob a couple of fluffy chicks on too. Still using a box of fluffy chicks I bought from the 99p shop absolutely years ago - 36 chicks for 99p - can't say fairer than that!
Look forward to hearing you've had a go next Easter!
F x

kayannie

foxgloves said:

@Suffolk_lass - We don't usually go on holiday until Autumn, so watering veg & young plants not a problem. This year, because of my big birthday, we are going to be away at a much more plant-critical time. No family or friends nearby to pop in to water & Mr F will simply not agree to letting a neighbour have a key, despite there being someone I would both trust & for whom I'd return the favour. Mr F & I agree on the vast majority of issues & are good at finding compromises, but he just absolutely will not budge on this. So I am currently trying to get everything as robust as possible. I will have to try not to think about it while we are away, grrrrr.
F

@foxgloves. When we used to go away in summer for more than a few days, I would put an old towel
(well wetted) in the bottom of the bath & stand any plants that I was worried about on that. I never lost any that way. 
KA

rtandon27

What a great idea @kayannie - I might pinch that for our houseplants the next time we go away for holibobs.  In the past I've always lost at least one plant, despite using various self-watering contraptions!

@foxgloves - such a great description of Simnel cake decoration! - baking is such an art. - my Gran always made one for Easter when I was a child, but I never knew the significance of the balls despite having grown up in a deeply religious household!

Makingabobor2

I've only got 1 houseplant, a bonsai tree & its ok for a week, if I stand it on a damp towel & water well before we go. Its my veggies I worry about. We are away 1st week of June this year & DD & DGS's will be watering for me. I need to leave very precise instructions, as she is NOT a gardener   lol.  She's the one who gave me an apple tree & had no idea that it would take a few years to produce fruit, or how tall it will grow...lol
 

foxgloves

Thanks everyone for your suggestions about holiday plant survival. I'm not too worried about my houseplants, although I know the bath towel in the bath method is a good one. I'm more worried about young vegetable plants which are too numerous to fit in the bath. I am working on a few ideas though & am going to ask my friend with the allotment as I seem to remember she has some kind of drip-watering contraption possibly with capilliary matting. Atm, my aim is to get everything growing as robustly as possible. When we are away, it's a bit too early to put tomatoes outside, but if the nights don't look too cold, I may plant out some of the dozen+ which go outside in bottomless pots & fix up some permeable fleece or even an old charity shop net curtain, which I've used for this purpose before.

@rtandon27 - I didn't know about the 11 disciples minus Judas being represented on simnel cakes until I was well into adulthood & I too grew up in a very churchy household. Always something to learn!
F

EssexHebridean

We too will have the "what to do about plants while on holiday" issue while we're away. It's a tricky one - we've lost various veggies etc in the past because of that very issue. The "spikes" you can get which work with plastic bottles are ok to a point, but not so good for larger amounts of water being required, or indeed for smaller pots.

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers!
What an odd day for weather. It looked like a write-off for garden jobs first thing with showers on & off (mostly on), but the sun has shown its face this afternoon & I have managed to do a few outside tasks. Anyway, the small budget-helping positives are:
*Baked a batch of bread rolls for the freezer.
*Tonight's nosebag feels like a real cheapie - have defrosted the rest of the pasta sauce I made the other week & will just grate a bit of cheese to lob over the top.
*Mr F had a slightly later start today as had to call at car hire place to swap faulty vehicle. This meant I was able to nobble him over breakfast to put a meal plan together & I also jotted down enough ideas to serve as our April master meal plan. 
*Wrote grocery shopping list for tonight.
*Wrote town list for tomorrow. I am going to get my hair cut, so may as well make the best of the parking charge & get other useful stuff done.
*Did a few minor surveys.
*Pruned & tidied all the conservatory plants. All the geraniums I brought inside in early Autumn have overwintered fine so shouldn't need to buy any for this year's tubs & containers. Re-potted one. Watered & fed everything.
*Dealt with the aloe vera which was again threatening imminent triffidism. Took off a 'baby' plant & potted it up to replace, & was about to compost the large parent plant when I had an idea. It suddenly reminded me of a big agave I bought years ago, which sat in a pot next to the pond. It was expensive & doubly so as I forgot to bring it indoors during a very cold winter when it froze solid & turned to black mush. Something happened between then & now, which meant I never bought another big agave.....yes, the LBM!! Anyway, it struck me that this large aloe which I was about to chop up & compost could actually look very similar in a big pondside container, so I have potted it up, given it a drink of seaweed & put it in the greenhouse until the weather warms up. It'll survive or it won't......which is incidentally what a rogue city centre landlord once told me, in relation to my life chances with his highly dodgy electric wiring!! 
*Noticed that the geranium cuttings I started hydroponically are beginning to root so that is potentially 4 more freebies.
*Dug out chutney recipe as may as well think about making some while the rhubarb is growing so lushly.
Ok, nothing exciting there for sure, but keeping the money saving faith.
F x

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean - I have had varying degrees of success with the water bottle 'spikes'. Sometimes they have worked, but I have found the spike often blocks with compost & stops the water seeping out. I have never been able to rely on them. I may trial some DIY versions using inverted bottle cloches minus spikes. Atm, I'm thinking I will get as much stuff outside as I realistically can, so as to take advantage of any rain showers. I have lots of shallow containers in which I can stand pots for an extra water reservoir. Only away for a week.....it's just the wrong time in the growing season to have a big birthday!
F