Away From The Madding Crowd

Nebulous2

Humboldt said:

Thank you all for your lovely comments whilst I have been away on holiday.  

@bluenose1 I was pleased to read that you managed to take advantage of the Wh!stlefish offer.  I am on a mission to declutter our entire house, having done my wardrobe, next on the list is the paperwork drawers.  I hope that you have a fabulous holiday in Florida.

@Nebulous2 how lovely that you not only returned the book to the charity shop, but you also increased it's resale value. It would be interesting to know what you thought of 'Travels with Charley'. Whilst some regard it as a classic of American travel writing, more recent reviews believe it to be heavily fictionalized. Whatever, I'm sure that it makes for interesting reading.

@mark55man great that you got to enjoy a trip to beautiful Scotland.  Apparently empire biscuits are a traditional Scottish recipe. Is it just me that did not know that? I only found out when I checked out the ones with a CRM design that you mentioned. 

@uralmaid I agree with your daughter and I hope that you are enjoying your new purchase. Looking forward to reading about your trip to Scotland.

Today's simple pleasure - almost caught up with the holiday washing.

 @Humboldt.     I love stories. I started working in my mid-teens, with a lot of retired men, mostly war veterans, who like me had taken a summer job. They always had a story to illustrate their point. Often these stories were their own, sometimes they were attributed to someone else, but as I absorbed their wisdom and experience through an oral tradition,  I came to believe there is a power in story telling. 

I often illustrate a point I'm making with a story. 

I also like poodles - which is what Charley was. As somebody who is allergic to dogs, discovering I wasn't allergic to poodles was a defining moment. 

So to finally get to the point - it doesn't need to be factual for me. Some of it was dated, we have moved on in a lot of ways, but some of it spoke to me, including his experience with vets, and his observations around people protesting against the removal of segregated education. He was also at pains to point out he was describing his experiences, and someone else might make the same journey and have a totally different experience. As one of the top fiction writers of his generation, I'd be very surprised if his travelogue wasn't embellished.

Small, or was it a big, pleasure? 

I'm currently on holiday in France. We fetched up in a place that was liberated exactly 80 years earlier, and had the opportunity to join their community commemoration. 

Humboldt

@Nebulous2 I really enjoyed reading your latest post, thank you.  I love a story, and have added 'Travels with Charley' to my ever increasing list of books to read.  What a privilege to attend such a commemoration whilst on holiday in France.  Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week

“Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindnesses” said the mole – from The boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse by Charlie Mackesy.

Money saving

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 1 spend for September was £93.75.

We gained some ‘extra’ Nect@r Points this week. We were awarded 500 points via ‘the great fruit and vegetable challenge’, 4,000 points added as an incentive for purchasing house & contents insurance, 20 points gained via instant wins that appeared in my App, and 128 points gifted by a kind lady in front of me in the queue who offered me her points because she did not have a Nect@r card. 

For anyone that maybe interested in the S@insbury’s annual ‘great fruit and veg challenge’ – Having joined via your App, you are then allocated your tailored shopping tasks.  For every fruit and veg item you purchase during the challenge period you are rewarded with bonus Nect@r points when you complete a task (you will also collect points from your shopping as normal). This year the promotion applies to purchases of plain fruit and veg (fresh, frozen, and dried) between 31 July and 17 September 2024.  There are some excluded items, so read the t&c’s for more details.  I generally purchase most of our fruit and veg at Ald!’s, but I am happy to buy more at S@insbury’s during this challenge period if the prices are comparable. 

Each December we convert our credit card points into S@insbury’s vouchers (credit card balance is paid off in full at the end of each month), we use these together with our accumulated Nect@r points to pay for much of our Christmas food shopping. Despite shopping at Ald! for our main weekly shop, it is amazing how these points accumulate (mainly via fuel for the car and thanks to a few double point vouchers). Using our Nect@r points this way is a real bonus and helps to reduce the additional costs associated with the festive season.

Bought 2 x boxes of 18 cotton scented tealights on clearance in S@insbury’s for just £1 a box.

This week’s main menu

Monday – Chickpea, hot-smoked salmon, and pomegranate salad (H@iry D!eters recipe). I will adapt this recipe slightly to use non-smoked salmon. I will flavour the salmon with Cajun spice and serve warm. Chilli, parsley, and cucumber are all homegrown. 2 x salmon are on currently on offer in Ald! for £2.99.  The rocket was reduced in price. When I buy a jar of harissa paste I freeze it in ice cube tray portions and use as required. 

Edited - One defrosted ice cube portion of frozen harissa paste was enough to coat the salmon and make the salad dressing.  I should have said that the rocket was an addition to the recipe. This was a new to us recipe and one that I would recommend.

Tuesday – Chicken jalfrezi (H@iry D!eter’s recipe), small portion of brown rice, homemade onion bhaji (from the freezer) and a homemade yogurt and mint dressing. Green chilli and ginger were reduced in price and frozen until required. Mint is homegrown.

Wednesday – Our special cassoulet (H@iry D!eters recipe) with lightly steamed cabbage. I will omit the gammon, but add a portion of sweet potato and chorizo stew from the freezer to add more flavour.  I will reduce the water content so I can cook the casserole in the slow cooker. Celery was reduced in price.

Thursday – Lasagne with salad. I will use Quorn mince, make the cheese sauce using half-fat cheddar and replace the pasta with aubergine slices. Frozen Quorn mince is currently £1.25 for 300g at S@insbury’s.

Friday – Ping meal (cook once – eat twice, saves on time and fuel costs).

Saturday – Wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza.  Pesto is homemade using foraged wild garlic and from the freezer.

Sunday – North African squash and chickpea stew (R!ver C0ttage Veg recipe). If you do not have saffron add a bit more turmeric.

Breakfasts continue to be oat based and now that the season has changed, we will include more warming porridge with homemade spiced plum compote and stewed apples (both homemade with gifted fruit and frozen until required).  Lunches this week will include homemade soup from the freezer, homemade hummus, and salads.

Healthier lifestyle

Completed 0 free workouts via Fabulous50’s on Y0utube.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Step count this week was 33,704. 

Simple pleasures

A walk in nature with DH with a picnic lunch and a flask of coffee. It was good to see that the trees are beginning to display their autumnal colours and the hedgerows are adorned with fruits and berries.

Candle light adds a cosy feel to the evenings.  

A cuppa and natter with friends upon my return from holiday.

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

 

Katiehound

One of my  aunts used to regularly make Empire biscuits. They were yummy softish shortbread sandwiched together with regular (often pink) icing so I was surprised to see  her recipe (written in her own hand writing) included jam- we never had that!  I sometimes made the simplified version as a teenager- they didn't last long and of course some / many cracked (they were quite fragile) as they were iced so had to be eaten there and then!

The other aunt in the same town, always had a huge tin of homemade ginger biscuits in the larder!

a and of course the piece de resistance was high tea... yummy but not too healthy.

Oh dear, now you have made me reminisce when I should be varnishing my bench as the sun is finally shining. All my aunts were Scottish except one (she was Swedish & lived in USA!) Another aunt always made fresh scones & another made Scottish pancakes (drop scones) & a delicious pie from tinned salmon & mashed potato. I'm feeling peckish now.

Somebody

So what's the correct pronunciation of the British afternoon tea staple, scone, then? 

For me, it depends if it's before or after it's eaten:

- before it's scone, to rhyme with ‘bone’

- after - it's gone (scon)

Boom Boom.......

Humboldt

@Katiehound how lucky were you having such wonderful aunts! I love an afternoon/high tea, it is so decadent.

Welcome @Somebody.  Your comment made me smile.  I am happy for you to pronounce scone either way, I'm not fussy.  However, the scone must be warm and accompanied with a yummy jam (my preference would be homemade raspberry) and lots n lots of real clotted cream. 

Today's simple pleasure - DH is cooking our evening meal. 

Savvy_Sue

Humboldt said:

Welcome @Somebody.  Your comment made me smile.  I am happy for you to pronounce scone either way, I'm not fussy.  However, the scone must be warm and accompanied with a yummy jam (my preference would be homemade raspberry) and lots n lots of real clotted cream. 

I vary how I pronounce it, but dare we enter the REAL question: jam-or-cream-on-top?

mark55man

cream on top - none of your Devonian ways.  cream tea served Cornwall style is my preference

Humboldt

Morning all.

@Savvy_Sue now that is a controversial question.
I have to agree with @mark55man, jam first followed by lots of thick clotted cream. 
That said, I do get the argument "but you don't put jam then butter on your toast".

Today's simple pleasure - a friend is joining me for a walk today. 

Katiehound

I know you like to have your horizons stretched just a little , in a gentle way so here are a couple of pieces of music for you.

you might already know this, from a poem by Dylan Thomas, it's Eli Jenkins' prayer, very lovely, sung by the Treorchy male voice choir. tingles up the spine! Of course it had to be from Wales- there's another version by Bryn Terfel if you hunt on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnveBGI0zk

The next one, you can't hear it yet!!
I heard it on the radio today. Piano composition by Debbie Wiseman called 'I'm walking with you' & played by Lucy the Pianist. She is going to perform it at the Paralympic  Homecoming tonight & shown on Channel 4 on 14th September. It is very lovely too- but in a different way

Enjoy