Moving on

Watty1

I think that might be a lovely low cost family fun thing to do

Cherryfudge

Admittedly, that was enough pizza to last a while, but yes, @Watty1, I think it would be fun.

This morning was a bit busy as we'd offered to help with refreshments which, during August, are at the mid-point of the church service. Thankfully a couple of friends had offered to help and were both really useful. There were lots of donations of cake (resulting in hurried hoovering afterwards before it gets trodden in) and between the four of us we juggled coffee, decaff, water, juice and tea till we had used all the prepared flasks and had to make apologetic instant coffee. There were more people than last week as the speaker was the former pastor and he's very popular, but we went with the amount needed last week which was clearly not enough. We also had a shortage of cups, teaspoons and hoovers, which I think have all migrated to the young people's camp for the week! On the positive side, no one seemed at all bothered to get served their cuppa from a staff mug ('I like a larger mug!') and it did mean the odd assortment of colourful china got a work out.

Dinner was the remains of the chickpea tikka from the other day with added spinach. That worked very well.

We had a relaxed afternoon but later went out for a walk over the fields and round the back of the town: about an hour and twenty minutes. It was much hotter than we expected, and the fields are now either white and shorn, or suddenly green. Last night was the lightest of warm, light drizzles, more like a lazy mist than rain, but it's slowing the drought. Our birch tree is shedding and changing colour at the same time and some of the pots in the garden were in dire need of water, which I did this evening, after picking greengages and blackberries till it got dark.

Watty1

Sounds a lovely day.

Cherryfudge

It's been exactly what an August bank holiday should be, today. Quite hot, sunny, leisurely...

We took the hobby car out to the car boot sale this morning, only to find there wasn't a car boot sale but no one had updated the website. I decided to pretend we were on holiday somewhere so I explored a hardware shop (DH would tell you, I have a thing about hardware shops. All those useful gadgets and cook-ware, all those mugs that I would never choose so I can play at 'what if I had to choose one?'). Anyway, we wandered round the town, which is very picturesque, then went home for lunch.

I've done three loads of laundry, all of which dried admirably. It was forecast to rain from tomorrow, but there's no sign of it yet. I also did all the ironing (drum roll please) and actually put much of it away before I got distracted.

DH pulled out the (still-broken) dishwasher and checked the filter which a helpful forumite suggested, then attached a new inlet pipe and tried starting it up. I think the new inlet must have nudged something as it's now filling up nicely, but the waste pipe is still leaking. A bit of Youtubing and DH thinks he can replace it but the shop he tried didn't have the part in stock.

We did a bit of local shopping as DH needed some clothes and I had L1dl vouchers for freebies to use up. We discussed getting the 7.5 kilo bag of potatoes for my free vegetable, but realistically it wouldn't get used up even if we shared it with family as people are going to be away quite a bit. I got a bag of sweet potatoes instead, we both got free pastries (I went for a smaller one as I suspect my weight is going up after the pizza bonanza), we got frozen salmon and store cupboard ingredients too. Dinner was chicken and chorizo pasta, using up some frozen chicken and adding the rest of the chorizo to the freezer.

More greengages gathered this evening in between watching the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. They are falling faster on hot days but there are still lots on the tree! I'm using grey water for the garden when I can as it's all so dry, and watering in the dusk. It's lovely and warm out there but I can hardly see what I'm watering!

Incidentally, there was an article on the radio to say the population of Scotland is about the same as that of Yorkshire but uses about 40% more water. I am intrigued. Why? And which bit of Yorkshire, or all the Yorkshires combined? Do we Yorkshire folk not wash as much? Do the Scots use fewer water-efficient appliances? Yorkshire Water (the company) has a pretty hefty leakage problem: do Scottish water pipes leak more? They really shouldn't allow such teasers without more explanation.

P.S. Some of answers here: there's more detail than there was on the radio.

Expenditure:
E-books £1.98
Clothing £18.25 
Housekeeping £10.95

dawnybabes

I’m Yorkshire water and we’ve some really bad leaks around us that keep getting repaired again and again!  We walk our dog round some of the reservoirs and they are really low. 

Cherryfudge

We are also Yorkshire Water @dawnybabes, and I was just thinking you must have our share of leaks when we saw water on an otherwise-dry road today.

Another day of looking after the grandchildren, but before I joined them I put together another batch of jam. I've just stewed the fruit with sugar and water in jamming proportions, to stop it deteriorating, but haven't yet actually jammed it. Then this evening there was a fresh lot of fruit to collect. We've thought of a couple of people who would probably use some more!

We had a nice time with the girls: they love the library and got a couple of books out. N has taken to choosing books for me, but when I asked her about borrowing one to read at home, she said no, so I don't know quite what's going on there. She has one on princess sparkly unicorns or similar, and her little sister has one where you look at all the pictures and name the things in it, which is the right level for her. All I wanted was a beginner's guide to turning several kilos of greengages into wine - or possibly gin, which I'm more confident of - and wouldn't you know it, they were all borrowed. I probably have it in a book at home somewhere, and if all else fails, there's Google.

From the library, we went on to the swings and there bumped into a couple we know who are similarly on grand parent duties, then back to the house and both girls fell asleep en route. That gave DH and I time for a quick lunch before waking N. The afternoon was spent reading to them and playing games, so we eventually put the telly on to give us time to tidy up and find our scattered possessions ready to go home.

I actually dozed off once we were back (salmon with pasta and sauce for tea) and had a phone call to say I'd missed a shift at work. That's awful, I hate to be unreliable, but I don't usually do Tuesdays so it had completely gone out of my mind. I've apologised and there's nothing I can do about it.

Small spending today: £2.05 on soft drinks as I forgot to take any out with us. I've paid off the credit card so that if I forget on the due date, they won't charge me so much. I think I've cancelled the paid version of the computer cleaning program but unfortunately I've let a freebie membership of a resources website lapse into paid. When I thought about it, though, that's £15 to give me a month to look through what they have and download some to fill the gaps I've found in free resources. After that I can cancel again.

Watty1

I am sure work understand that was just an oversight.

Thinking about your greengages, I went to check my old cookery books, only the collection has been so thinned out there was only one.  The others are 'missing'.  Possibly ex nabbed a few, possibly decluttered.  Was a bit fed up as one I remember had some fab blackberry recipes in.  However found "Quiche Reine-Claude" which is a greengage patisserie quiche.  It sounds fabulous.  Happy to send and come for a pot of tea and a slice soon!  It sound so good I think all your MSE readers will be there!   (It is not budget friendly I must admit but would certainly be a showstopper).

Another suggestion is greengage and apricot puree (dried or fresh apricots) which also sounds lovely - the greengages are cooked in the oven on bread and butter with a knob of butter and served with an apricot puree

(Readers Digest Cookery Year 1973 - clearly a lot more time was spent in the kitchen looking through this book)

Laura_Elsewhere

Just a note- you might find the fruit you stewed with sugar and left may jot set as well- as I understand it, once you’ve set the pectin free by simmering it with sugar, it’s best to boil it up asap. Maybe just simmer the fruit without the sugar? Or of course you can freeze the greengages whole! 

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

I am sure work understand that was just an oversight.

Thinking about your greengages, I went to check my old cookery books, only the collection has been so thinned out there was only one.  The others are 'missing'.  Possibly ex nabbed a few, possibly decluttered.  Was a bit fed up as one I remember had some fab blackberry recipes in.  However found "Quiche Reine-Claude" which is a greengage patisserie quiche.  It sounds fabulous.  Happy to send and come for a pot of tea and a slice soon!  It sound so good I think all your MSE readers will be there!   (It is not budget friendly I must admit but would certainly be a showstopper).

Another suggestion is greengage and apricot puree (dried or fresh apricots) which also sounds lovely - the greengages are cooked in the oven on bread and butter with a knob of butter and served with an apricot puree

(Readers Digest Cookery Year 1973 - clearly a lot more time was spent in the kitchen looking through this book)

Oh my goodness @Watty1, if ever you publish a cookery book, please reserve me a copy and I will be on your doorstep (if I can find it) the next morning with a wad of cash in my sticky paw and possibly a thank you gift of greengage jam. You have sent me down a rabbit hole of reine-claude recipes! The only reason I happened to know offhand what a reine-claude is, is that I was in a market in the south of France (Aix en Provence?) and was so completely proud of myself for negotiating a conversation with a kind stall holder who explained that these are what I'd call 'greengages' - but I was so bowled over at managing a conversation in French that I have remembered it ever since.

I can only suppose that the southern sun has given French greengages a massive edge: my English ones ripen on sunny days and some years there probably aren't enough of those. But they have so many recipes!

I would love the quiche recipe if you have time to send it, please. And I will either set the dainty china ready for your arrival or post you a slice.  

I have a great many old cookery books so I may be able to help with some recipes if there are remembered ones that have gone awol. Every now and then I realise I've never actually used such-and-such a recipe book and go to donate it, then end up looking through it, and so the collection has grown and grown.

And I have plenty of dried apricots so thank you for the idea of baking greengages with a puree. I love it when people come up with ideas far beyond my range but which I can actually try.

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Just a note- you might find the fruit you stewed with sugar and left may jot set as well- as I understand it, once you’ve set the pectin free by simmering it with sugar, it’s best to boil it up asap. Maybe just simmer the fruit without the sugar? Or of course you can freeze the greengages whole! 

I had no idea it works like this - any thanks Laura. I have already added the sugar to that batch but of course that makes it perfect to freeze for future use - mid-winter gooseberry crumble, perhaps? I need to have an onslaught on freezer contents to create space! Or perhaps I should try bottling, though it always feels dauntingly technical and I've never tried it.

Watty1

Let’s see if this works.  I’ll send pics