And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Happy Tuesday all - how are we doing? hopefully those who aren't already lurgified are managing to avoid becoming so, and those who are will be treating themselves kindly and giving their body a good shot at recovery, yes? Very much hoping to avoid picking up anything grotty here - fingers crossed! 

I took the opportunity to head to the Turkish Supermarket along the road to work yesterday evening to restock spices. Managed to get everything I wanted aside from Blade Mace - but did have to compromise on the size of pack of Black Peppercorns (smaller than ideal). On the flip side, 500g of smoked Paprika will keep us going for a while I should think! Took advantage of their special offer for 3 packs of their fantastic pitta breads for £1.50 as well (I'm incapable of going in there without buying some form of bread!) £16.xx odd spent, which was a reasonable price for that I got - it was a long list!  

Meal planning still needs work but at least I've got the rest of this week worked out now. 
Tonight - couscous (maybe rice?) with the sticky sesame chicken I did last week - this is a "by popular demand" decision!
Tomorrow - chicken and mushroom risotto
Thursday - Sausage & mash I think, almost certainly with home grown beans from the freezer. 
The above will leave us with the final 2 chicken thighs, and two cooked lamb sausages to go into the freezer to be used in meals next week

- At some stage over the weekend I'll do roast potatoes so I can evaluate how well the ones from the free Lil's sack work for roasting - if they're good then that will sort the christmas roasties I suspect! 
- Also plan to try out the tub of ham stock that's lurking in the freezer at the weekend to turn into some form of soup, although it might yet be too salty, I'll have to see. 

Made a start on christmas decorations last night - so the front room mantlepiece, chest of drawers in the hallway, and the division between the kitchen and living room are at least all looking festive! We need a dry evening to get the lights round the front door, hopefully the command strip hooks from last year are still in place! I think the spare set which aren't labelled (I don't think they were used last year) are going to go on the banisters - I reckon they're long enough and I can probably get away with plugging them in under the stairs. 

It's looking like we might get some cheap electric overnight tonight - if so, the WM and DW will both go on. 

Makingabobor2

Wow, you have been busy. 

Cheery_Daff

Busy indeed! I need to get on the case with more cous cous recipes. We have quite a backlog (mostly out of date now) - Mr C went through a phase of slinging a bag in the trolley every week at one point because it was cheap, but it's not something we use by default so it's just sat there. Need to use it up - it's so much quicker than boiling rice or pasta too! 

Sun_Addict

I love a rummage in an international supermarket. I pass one on the way home from work and I'm like a kid in a sweet shop when I get amongst all the shelves of spices 😆 This one seems to be more biased towards Asian and Afro Caribbean though with a smaller offering of other cuisines. 

EssexHebridean

I find that when I get one of these drives to get things done I need to work with it - there might not be another one along for a while!   

I LOVE couscous Cheery - in part because yes, it IS quick, but also because it's just such a flavour sponge. My defaults to go with something like roast veg for example are either lemon, parsley and a knob of butter, or lime, coriander, and a knob of butter. I'd quite cheerfully just eat it with a BIG knob of butter, salt and plenty of black pepper though!  Our standard Tuesday night tea is couscous as a base, topped with roast (actually usually just fried) veg of some description, then some form of protein (halloumi, for us sometimes chicken, or a salmon breast, or a 2 egg omelette) and then toasted sunflower & pumpkin seeds scattered over the top. Really simple, and quick, but also just so tasty! 

lucielle

Busy lady!! Food prep sounds like it’s going well. Lurve roast spuds!
L

EssexHebridean

Oh me too L - it will be no hardship making sure we get a trial run on them, in fact, might even have to do a second one just to be certain! 

The photos and canvas I ordered for the front room should be with us in the next couple of days, so we'll be able to get them hung at the weekend hopefully. 

MSE Stuff:
- Nice cheap electric overnight so I got the bedding through the WM and ran the DW too.
- Also ran the dehumidifier overnight to make sure what was on the airer was ready for taking off this morning so the bedding could be swapped over.
- Spent time last night setting up our new Tap0 smartplugs (we had one fail, so I opted to buy another set of 4 when they were on offer recently) so the ones that were borrowed from their usual places to take account of the failure have now been returned to where they should be, and we have three new ones waiting for allocation - a couple will likely go to christmas lights.
- Freezer raiding is still going well, and the chicken thighs I cooked when the oven was on at the weekend fed us last night, and will do so again tonight. The final 2 will head to the freezer ready to do a meal next week. I also yanked out a tub of roasted squash that had been lurking for a while and that got thrown into last night's tea.
- CC spending all balanced off and the cards should be showing clear as at today
- MrEH transferred across some money he owed me/the CC/the joint account from the weekend so that's all sorted too
- £15 cashback received from TeeEssBee has been transferred to the mortgage OP account

Spendiness:
I mean, 'tis the season... 
- Some presents ordered for Mum
- A slight impulse buy in the shape of a couple of cute wooden Christmas decorations, but they're from a small business I like to buy from, and they'll go well with the ones we already have too - £14 spent but good VFM. 
- Needed to buy something in Al's yesterday to account for using their car park so a box of savoury crackers has been stashed aside for christmas, and I bought some garlic too - I must remember to roast that before it sprouts, then it can go in the freezer and get used as needed.

Plans:
- Got my Aunt's funeral tomorrow, I'm taking my Mum. It sounds like the service that is planned is going to be lovely - very non religious and something my Aunt would have felt fitted her well as although keeping her faith, she had stopped attending church as a conscious choice in recent years.
- We think we have decided on going to the beer festival in Cambridge on Friday night so I must crack on and get the tickets booked. (Hoping the tickets haven't gone up in price!) It will be a nice little last CAMRA social event of the year. 
- There will be a small amount of spendiness at some stage as I intend to pop to Dun3lm and the swedish shop to see about getting some christmas tea towels and hand towels - as we're hosting Christmas day, I'd like to try and add those little extra touches, it can be done for relatively little money and will of course be items that will get used for years to come too. 

PennysIntoPounds

Sorry to hear about the funeral but hope it goes as well as possible. Condolences to you and your mum.

Little Christmas touches around the home for hosting sounds lovely 

EssexHebridean

GAAAHHHHH - Madam has just decided that we'll not be closing for business for christmas until 5pm on 23rd - when usually she goes for midday on the 23rd. This now means that I will have to come in for a HALF FLIPPING DAY on Monday 22nd as I only have one and a half days holiday left. That now means that my "expected" Christmas break of  a lovely 17 days has just dropped to 13. 

I am officially not impressed, allowing I've been asking her for weeks to confirm dates as I needed to plan things out.  

PennysIntoPounds

Agh, that is so annoying!
Can she be bargained with? Can you use half a day from next year's leave? Can she be bribed with one of the bottles of wine?