Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

Afternoon all,

We enjoyed our country music night on Saturday and were relatively restrained with spending (no pub Friday night, walked to/from station, bought beers in the little Mr T to reduce out-outgoings, beer and dinner in the pub and then just one paid for drink at the venue (we would have had another but the queues were abnormally long and very slow - we'd also have had 241 had we been served promptly in the first place, but happy hour had ended by the time we got to the front of the queue - having queued for 15 mins 🙄 - we did enjoy a free shot on arrival and I nabbed another later in the evening, so can't complain too much). Yesterday morning we found a local bakery and had a pastry (apparently not a cheap pastry - but I didn't notice and Mr MV paid!) before heading home. Final settling up needed, but think I'm still in the black, just, in personal spends. Other than some basic housework and a couple of rows of my rag rug, we didn't achieve much else this weekend.

Still working our way through the TGTG bag for bread (lunch yesterday was the last of the hot x buns). Dinner last night was turkey curry with rice for Mr MV and dal and jacket potato for me, followed by rhubarb crumble and custard. The rest of the dal, with an omelette will be dinner tonight. Might try to save the crumble for dessert tomorrow as am thinking it might be soup and pud night tomorrow.

We are going to do Frugal Food February. We have a lot of stuff in the freezer that needs eating, plus random other items (jarred white aspargus anyone?) and I think Feb is a good month to try to use these up and minimise grocery spending - it's short enough that it won't be too much of a stretch but we should make some good progress. I am currently still debating the total budget, but I think maybe £150 (maybe less??). I'm ordering R'ford this week (from Jan's budget, which is also still under) - fruit mainly (a £15 special offer fruit box) and top-up onions and potatoes. Then I think we'll see how we go - if  I do a supermarket delivery order, it'll be for the bare minimum; need to shift some of the frozen veg/asparagus before I do another R'ford order etc. etc. I'd like to have room in the freezer to make a batch of veggie sausages and the tomato-onion masala sauce from the Dishoom recipe book - it's a great base for several curries. Currently there's not room for anything in there!

Workwise, I have been inundated with work from main client - on top of the two bits sent on Friday, he's sent something else this morning. I've just returned one project to him (not a small one either) and will be back at the second one shortly. I hope to get all of these done this week. I'm also cat sitting from tomorrow for the last stint with long-term cat (owner is back Sunday/Monday - I need to check!). Cambridge reports are also in full swing (I may have got carried away with contacting people about these on Friday - so now have meetings in my diary for this week and next - and not sure when I'll be starting the work!).

MS things:
* Work... lots of it
* Long queues = less spending at the venue!
* Saved the bus fare and walked home yesterday - probably not ideal for energy levels, but it did save a few quid

Gratitudes:
* Found Trinity Wharf and its lighthouse (playing a 1000 year composition) - random little gem in London
* Great night out - the last at this venue
* Plenty - we have so much food and a warm home and I am always grateful for these small things

Have a good afternoon all!

KajiKita

Good to see lots of work coming in from main client 😊 Is that the one that pays sensibly and you don’t have to invoice in five second increments? (I exaggerate but I hope you know what I mean 😉)

Glad you had a good time on Saturday night 🤩

I’d interested in the veggie sausage recipe of you wouldn’t mind sharing it? I’m eating q0rn sausages when we have that kind of meal and I’d prefer a HM / less UPF option 😊

KK

themadvix

KajiKita said:

Good to see lots of work coming in from main client 😊 Is that the one that pays sensibly and you don’t have to invoice in five second increments? (I exaggerate but I hope you know what I mean 😉)

Glad you had a good time on Saturday night 🤩

I’d interested in the veggie sausage recipe of you wouldn’t mind sharing it? I’m eating q0rn sausages when we have that kind of meal and I’d prefer a HM / less UPF option 😊

KK

Yes, main client is the one that pays on time, every time (and communicates even if it's going to be a few days after I've invoiced) and not in five-second increments - great description! 😆

I use this recipe for my Glamorgan sausages (they are carb heavy!), but instead of the 4 large egg yolks, I just use two whole eggs, mixed in, and add all the breadcrumbs to the mix too (less waste). Rather than the faffy dipping at the end, I just roll them in flour - I find they're damp enough to take a bit of flour and I'm not worried about the crunchy outer (which I've never managed to make work anyway - bits just fall off in the pan). I do have to use my non-stick pan rather than my Netherton ones for cooking them off though - they are just too stick for the spun iron. I tend to find the mixture makes 16/17 short and stubby sausages, but they're very filling (being basically a cheese sandwich!), so two is more than enough at any one time. Mr MV prefers them to meat sausages now (which means there's less for me....).

ladybird1106

Hi I put our homemade Glamorgan sausages In the oven for about 40 minutes and they come out crispy.
love 🐞

Greying_Pilgrim

themadvix said:

.... Mr MV prefers them to meat sausages now (which means there's less for me....).

Darn that law of unintended consequences applying to scrummy veggie food! 🫤🤣

Greying X

themadvix

ladybird1106 said:

Hi I put our homemade Glamorgan sausages In the oven for about 40 minutes and they come out crispy.
love 🐞

Good to know - I usually only bother cooking them for 25 mins after frying them. Perhaps I'll do them for a bit longer next time (although without the breadcrumb outer it might not work).

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

themadvix said:

.... Mr MV prefers them to meat sausages now (which means there's less for me....).

Darn that law of unintended consequences applying to scrummy veggie food! 🫤🤣

Greying X

Tell me about it! Of course, he doesn't contribute to making them! 🙄

rtandon27

@themadvix - any thoughts of using the mixture to make a meatless-meatloaf? wondering if it might be less faff - as in bung it in the oven and let it cook? - i do a similar thing when mince needs to be made into meatballs and i can't be bothered with the shaping - into a flat dish (a metal tin, paper lined) and baked, then once cooled cut into the appropriate-ish shape - small squares instead of meatballs or long fingers instead of koftas. I'm not a lazy cook - it's hard to be when most meals are made at home, but I find the less effort the better when trying to get a meal together and still do all the things!

themadvix

It would work RT - it's basically a cheesy glorified stuffing, which I do as you do with 'meatballs' - shove it in a dish and cook as one. You might lose a bit of flavour with the 'sausagemeat', as the frying off adds to that. But for me, I am prepared to faff a bit as I want a 'sausage' for doing sausage-y things with (get your minds out of the gutter people 😆) - barbecuing (I was surprised and pleased to discover they hold together well on the bbq when cooked from frozen), toad in the hole etc. I think you and I are both 'lazy from-scratch cooks' - I know for me, I'm not necessarily worried about looks, just whether it's tasty - I could never go on Bake Off!

KajiKita

Thanks for that 😊 I have copied out and added your and LadyBird's amendments!

KK