Sunday 31 January 2016

Pancakes!

Julie over on Sumoftheirstories blog has just reminded me that it is Pancake day on 9th Feb and posted a good recipe and method.  A good cheap addition to next months menu!  Thanks Julie.


January budget review

Welcome to new follower - knittynutter.

It is the last day of the month so I totaled up the spending on food for the month.  It works out as £5.24 per day to feed the two of us (plus 1 visitor for 2 days).  Of this 40p per day has been spent on fruit and veg that we could potentially  grow and store in future years.  The freezer is one third empty but the store cupboards are not too bad.  Will be thinking hard about February menu before shopping on Wednesday for the next fortnight.

Did you do the RSPB great bird watch count?  Its been a grey and damp day and not a very exciting day and all our usual bird visitors seemed to have disappeared! It was very mundane - tree sparrows, magpies, a single starling, collard dove, pigeon, great tits.  Where were the blackbirds, robins, wrens, kestrels, pallid harrier, curlews when you wanted to count them?  Not even seagulls in the fields today.

We also reviewed out fuel situation. Not too much oil has been used as we have not had the heating on too much, especially last week when we were outside most of the day time and 17C indoors felt warm in contrast. We have gone through a lot of logs for the wood burner in the evenings but as the sheds are improved quite a lot of scrap wood is coming out and is suitable for the fire. Some 4 in by 4 in beams are quite solid in places and in others the previous owners horses almost chewed through - not sure that was good for them?  Electric bill is up £10 partially the use of power tools and lights in the workshop but mostly the propagator and greenhouse heater.  As the greenhouse has 30+ geranium plants, several standard fuchsias, baby delphiniums and foxgloves and a couple of dozen early veg plants.  I think they are worth more than spending so far but it is a balance.

Real shame about Terry Wogan - we were remembering, with a giggle, his "Janet and John" stories.

Saturday 30 January 2016

Getting my seed sowing mojo going

Welcome to new followers - Pretty Vintage roses, Flourgirl and Debbie.

We have had a fairly dry period with lots of sun and despite the fierce wind the days are feeling longer and brighter!  Does not get dark till nearly 5pm - so lovely.  there was some room on the propagating mat in the conservatory  around my husband's Sweet Pea collection so I popped some outdoor cucumbers, Alisa craig tomatoes (an early variety) and sweet peppers into pots. It says Feb planting on the packet so only a couple days in advance. Only a few I just want to get some really early crops and as we are heating the greenhouse (well keeping it frost free at least) I may as well make use of some space.  Meanwhile some salad leaves I got going on the 8 Jan are ready and I have made a corner in the Poly tunnel and planted about 20 of the largest ones out. I added a cloche to keep them cosy for a few days till they get going.  Our spreadsheet is growing at least!
Seed sowing 2016
01-Jan Antrinium (new seed) Large tray
02-Jan Winter lettuce leaves Small seed tray 48 Planted out 20 30- Jan
02-Jan Purple Broccoli 12 tray
02-Jan Cauli 12 tray
08-Jan Antrinium (new seed) 48 tray cells
08-Jan Kale 12 tray
08-Jan Sweet peas Spanish Dancer 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Emily 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Butterfly 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Heathcliff 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Little Red Riding Hood 12
08-Jan Sweet peas April in Paris 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Scarlett 12
08-Jan Sweet peas Blackberry 12
30-Jan Alsia Craig Toms
  Sweet peppers 4 (new seed)
Outdoor Cue 2 (left over seeds)
Broad beans 12

In the gap left by the demolition of our asbestos garage we had 10 tons of gravel delivered in the week and our youngest son came up form London to help do the spreading. This is cheaper than a month's fees at a London Gym apparently!
Luckily the techie son also brought a spare mobile phone and spent some time re purposing it to replace my disaster last week. 

Wednesday 27 January 2016

When clearing out comes back to bite you

Last week we went to the local tip and did a lot of recycling including shoes, batteries and ancient mobile phones. Today, I wish I hadn't as the software failed on my mobile in the middle of a call and it got stuck. No amount of pressing buttons or trying to turn it off would work. In a panic that I was still making that call,  I attacked the thing to get the battery out and promptly broke the glass screen. By which time we were in danger of being late at the dentist! Drove quickly to town and a kind young man in an independent phone shop opened it in a flash and took out the battery. Its still stuck and has a cracked screen. Now if I had not recycled the old phone I could have just moved the SIM card. Luckily two sons have old phones we can have!

Lynn waterfront

When I say we drove quickly, we went quickly to west Lynn and then jumped on the ferry across the Great River Ouse to Kings Lynn town centre. It was blowing hard and the tide was running out strongly - the boatman took us in on the lee of the steep steps but the wind still nearly swept us off our feet. Coming back the tide was well out and there were white caps on the river! Bit too adventurous!

The weather continued awful all afternoon so after a bit of a rest I spent an hour repairing my husband's thick work trousers by forming new hems. Should last another year or so now!

Didn't get a picture of the rare bird, Pallid Harrier, this morning but it was more active walking around the orchard area rather than just sitting on the fence.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Budget challenge

Our expenses have been soaring since Xmas due to renovating the ex-stables into a workshop, having the asbestos garage removed and wanting to re gravel the drive. Now we have a leak in the conservatory and there will be some car expenses soon. After a lot of calculating our expenses we decided we could afford all this from state pension income (no dipping into the savings) if we pulled out belts a little bit tighter.  So our challenge is to spend no more than £80 on food and housekeeping in the next month.
Image result for belt tightening

Our first frugal meal was 4 oz of shin beef cooked in a jar of sauce. Don't usually bother with cooking sauces but we are so busy outside at present I needed a short cut. This was an "ale" stew mix and was very nice. Bolstered by lots of root veg from the garden it made a good meal and there was enough meat in the left over sauce to make a beef and veg suet pudding the next day.

Next meal was very small roast lamb joint for Sunday meal and the 50% left had made a nice Mediterranean spiced lamb with mushrooms and tomato stew with rice. There is enough left overs from that for one lunch tomorrow. 

Lunches have been leek (from the garden) and potato soup and bits of bread frozen over Xmas. I had frozen a part cooked ciabatta and this made a lovely lunch filled with bacon and cheese.  

Double checked my supermarket delivery order to make sure I was on track for what was needed and no extras, I found I had a £5 off voucher. Hurrah!


Monday 25 January 2016

Weird bird?

We have been up a little earlier as we have been trying to complete the re-cladding of the ex-stable workshop and we have seen this weird bird sitting on the fence overlooking the fruit tree area of our back garden.  Its big, a raptor, sort of round body, but not a hooked bill, pale front, big wings. Its been there for two or three mornings, just sitting on the fence and looking around from day break till about 9am.  It is not very active and not looking very "with it".  After a lot of checking our bird books I was sure it was a harrier and found out there was a pallid harrier (juvenile) just across the Wash (20 miles?) at Snettisham bird reserve.  Quite  a rare bird. My husband has put out his wildlife camera to try and get a picture as it is a bit too far for the lens on his camera.

Hopefully be able to post something soon!


Friday 22 January 2016

Tried a new curry rice dish

Ran out of potatoes and a lot of other things as the week came to an end so was searching the web for ideas to do something tasty with rice and a some cod tails from the freezer and on the allrecipes site found an idea which I adapted.
Curry Fish and Rice

Put a little olive oil and butter in a pan to warm, added curry spices (quarter teaspoon of turmeric, ground coriander, paprika, Gramum Marsala, cumin, etc) and cooked for a few minutes. Added a small onion, garlic and chopped peppers and cooked well.  350 grams of RISOTTO rice (it is much softer and creamy) and made sure the rice was coloured well. I had no peas or green beans but found some cherry tomatoes in the freezer (Xmas left oevrs) to throw in. Used a veg stock pot and topped with hot water.   As the oven was on with a pudding, I put it all in a casserole dish making sure there was some liquid to be absorbed, popped the fish on top, covered and cooked for 10 mins.  It was delicious and came from the stock cupboard and bits left over.

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Trying a new fish dish


Tried something new with 500g of nice thick smoked haddock this week which made a big meal for two of us and gave us this portion of leftovers for one lunch the next day.


Parboiled sliced potatoes (you need something like a Desiree type for this dish) and drained, just covered with milk and gently cooked a bit more. Drained and kept milk. Put a layer of potatoes on bottom of casserole, then some saute'd shallots and blanched spinach, cut the smoked haddock into big chunks and added, then another layer of potatoes. Used milk to just cover up to potatoes, seasoned just a little,  and topped dish with breadcrumbs and cheddar cheese.   Baked for 10 mins in my fan assisted oven, did not need much as it was all precooked except fish.   The flavour of the fish really came out and was absorbed in the potatoes.

We need something hot and filling as we have had three cold, frosty but dry and sunny, days and with a good forecast all week we took the old OSB boards off the old stables and started the re-cladding to make it a weather proof work shop.  We used a membrane on the revamped frame first.

Husband thought having really long planks for the bottom part was a good idea, till we found we could not hold them up for long. Finally worked on a way to prop them using wood scraps to take the weight. Looking forward to the short planks further up as it may be more fiddly but less weight.



Had the final bill for the asbestos garage removal - £800 in the end, which was not too bad!  Be glad when spring arrives and we can get back to gardening and not all these building works.




Sunday 17 January 2016

Sunny seaside

Like many other east coast bloggers we went to the seaside yesterday. It is husband's 69 birthday and we wanted a day out to enjoy the sunshine after a run of grey days. It was gloriously sunny and dry at Wells and the tide was in which is a nice change as we always manage to come when the sea is about a mile out!  There was surf breaking on the sand bar offshore, which you will have to take my word for as I forgot the camera. The car park has been tarmac'd recently which made parking a bit more pleasant and less bumpy.

As our favourite lunch venue was closed unexpectedly we went on to Thorne near Hunstanton and had lunch in the village pub before a second walk on the beach there.  Another wonderful sandy beach and bright blue sky, with para gliders clearly to be seen taking off from Hunstanton cliffs. Our new binoculars (Xmas pressie) were great for watching oyster catchers and curlews among the gulls as the tide went out. Husband took some lovely photos of the patterns of the tide and shells on the beach which I will ask him to share.

First really cold night of the year last night, so the greenhouse needs some insulating or the heater will cost  a fortune with the early seeds. The purple sprouting and cauli are well up now. Just a dozen of each on this round as we are trying to spread out the veg more.


We had to re sow the antirhinums  as the first lot died back, with thought it was dampening off as the conservatory is very damp due to a leak, but now we think the potting compost dried out too much on the propagating mat. We have a new tray that have come up well anyway and if the greenhouse can be insulated they can move on out there.

Now the asbestos garage is gone we took advantage of another sunny dry day to cut back a cottoneaster and a bit of fence as part of preparing a new shed base. Bit guilty as our flock of hedge sparrows like to fly in and out of there, but it will eventually be thicker and have more berries next year. I have compensated them with an extra fat ball in the feeder.
Planning a big (2/3 days worth) warm stew in the slow cooker tomorrow to keep us going until the temperatures rise again.  As the carrots I got as a basic buy bag from Sainsbury's are a bit weak and over washed I think it will be carrot soup all week before they go off.

Friday 15 January 2016

Working on my Tshirt make

Hi
I have been working on my first 10 to do's in 2016 and made my first T shirt in a jersey fabric using an old one as a pattern.
Not quite 100% perfection but I learnt a lot about my machine and the material. Used ball point needle and the machines special stretch stitch. Had to use tear away stabiliser for should seams and neck and start sewing well away from edge otherwise the whole lot went into the dog teeth and I had to dismantle the machine three times!  I watched You tube video for doing the neck with a band and I think I can improve on the way that lays next time. One of the reasons for wanting to make our own T shirts is that as gardeners  in flat lands of Norfolk and as sailors we need LONG ones that will tuck and stay in. There is nothing worse than coming apart bending over and getting a nice cold draft.  So my own make comes a nice long way down to the hips.

It is husbands 69 birthday today and I am going to make him one next with an extra 4 inches length and use all the things I have learnt so far. I am still looking for a better quality fabric, this was medium weight and I am not sure it will wash awfully well and last more than one season.

For husband's birthday we had our 1930s asbestos garage removed. It cost about a fortune but we did not want to try to do it ourselves what with bad backs etc. Young man (with relevant licences to deal and dispose) and van came across county and did it very well by himself and cleaned up nicely in a morning. He was delighted we had cleared round the garage, dug out the footings and left him plenty of room to work. Plus it was dry and sunny, if cold, and he would have been back home for an early end to his week.



We can now get on with the redesign of the entrance to the garden and drive way.  We just could not "see" how to do it with this big black smelly thing there.




Thursday 14 January 2016

The water board are coming...

Water people have been sending us letters over Xmas happily informing us of fitting a water meter. We don't have to have it, but it could save money, they have to do it anyway, etc etc. All very jolly and informative.
Image result for water meter

We are happy to give it a try as the new sheds are put up this year we are sorting out guttering and water barrels anyway. But with an acre of garden in the driest county in the UK we may be heavy users! Apparently you can change back to non meter within 2 years if its more expensive.  Which it cant be as the current bill is eye watering itself!

What the water board don't know is we have lots of questions and issues we want to addresses:

  • Why have we got lead pipes delivering our drinking water?
  • Why does our supply run from the road, 500 yards down our neighbours drive, then across his garden and into our house and not from the road onto our property?
  • Where  is the outdoor stop-cock anyway?
  • Will we have to go to the neighbours property to read this meter?  Or like last time we had one lay in the middle of the road with a torch and a magnifying glass to read it?
  • Can we have some water pressure please? Luckily every other house in the road of 15 houses goes out to work, so as long as we wash or water in non peak times we get some flow! The grower next door and us can see our hoses and we co-ordinate not to water at same time!
This water board people may regret coming out to find us as part of the last 25% not on a meter in Norfolk!  We are looking forward to seeing the team on its way to survey and talk to us!




Wednesday 13 January 2016

Update on meal planning


I posted on the 9th of my plan for the next seven days and it is going well.
two chicken breast meals of 300g each - one Korma curry and one chicken and mushroom in stock with a touch of chillis - both had enough left to provide one lunch dish each.
one large shepherds pie for 2 days from 400g of beef mince

We called at the fish wholesalers retail shop on the way home on Monday and got a kilogram of cod for £10. So this evening we had a fish meal instead of chicken. At lunch time we had a pea and spinach risotto. This is one of my favourite quick lunches which uses bits and pieces from the veg drawer and basic things in the store cupboard.  We have some spinach growing well in poly tunnel at present.

Saute some onion, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil. Add the risotto rice and carefully coat with oil and veg. Use good stock gradually and let it absorb. Stir in some peas and fresh spinach (chopped). I stir in a big dollop of cream cheese or cream if we have any.  Test rice is cooked but not soft. Serve with grated cheese on top.  I kept today's portions under control and just made enough for too small bowl each.

I was very brave today and uninstalled Google chrome and re installed it. I am hoping that it will cure all the problems I am having moving around Blogger. So far so good.  Welcome to new followers Debbie and Cherrie.

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Cold day and forgotten jewellery

Welcome to new follower - Katie.  I am have trouble with the back office bit of blogger so have not yet updated some of my links.

Temperatures are dropping rapidly here and I felt particularly chilled wearing a dress for the first time in a year. By the time the funeral of our neighbour was over yesterday morning I was chilled right through.  Our dark clothes are not new, but tidy and appropriate for formal occasions. We were amazed that some people came in jeans and causal wear - am I old fashioned or has the world just changed?

Came home to make parsnip soup from the undersized ones we dug up yesterday; leaving the fatter ones for roasting later in the week. To cheer it up I added a big spoonful of Korma Curry sauce left from yesterday's chicken curry. There is enough in the pot for 3 more modest bowls for lunches.  The good thing about more portion control at meal times is I am making a "lunch" dish for one out of the bits not dished up. Not on the plate, not in the tum - is our new mantra. It is taking me a bit of time to learn not to peal quite so many potatoes etc but at least the husband has stopped offering to mop up the extras! 14 stone and 2 lbs this morning - very near his target.

To accomplish number 10 in my list of things to do in 2016, having my wedding ring mended, I went to look for it! Opps, not where I thought it was. Half an hour of turning out drawers and I had a big pile of "costume" jewellery I have not worn for years and 5 broken wrist watches. Obviously down sizing and clearing out had not been that effective!


 But who wears brooches these days?  Should I have the "dressy" watches repaired as "heirlooms" for my grand daughters? Oh dear, I fear they have crept back into a drawer!

I put some beads into the craft tin for possible future projects. I discovered that despite not wearing earrings for some years my pierced ears still took a pair - so I pranced round all afternoon in a dangly pair!
There were some nice silver necklaces and bracelets which I should wear more often - even if just to go out casually.

I found the wedding ring and have put it to one side to take into town for an estimate from a jewellers along with a set of pearls from my mother's house clearance. My sister in law said they were "valuable" but somehow I doubt it as the only stamp on them says "Hong Kong"!

Lot of chat on blogger about the lottery - we gave it up some time ago and some spare money we had went into premium bonds. You may win a million with one number but you can still get your £1 back!   I have worked on getting Lottery projects and it is NOT easy, time wasting and stressful for volunteer organisations with about a 1 in 1000 chance of getting anything out of it.



Monday 11 January 2016

Need to get fit



Just realised how unfit we have become over the winter!

Got up late, but the sun was shining and with a weather forecast of colder stuff next week, we went to cut up a pallet and some rotten field fence posts to supplement the dwindling log pile. That was OK as we have new electric saw that slices through scrap wood like butter so it was just carrying the boxes down to the house that was a bit of a stretch.

Had baked potatoes for lunch and a bit of Christmas cake, sun still shining so went to work this off by winding up the hoses in the veg garden and putting them away.  Feeling OK and enjoying the clear sunny day, went on to get some veg - leeks, swede, sprouts and then husband came to dig up some parsnips.  He got carried away and also dug up two rows of celery that had gone to seed as well.  By then it was past 3 o'clock and I persuaded him to STOP.


Image result for exhausted person clip artBy the time we walked back to the house and collapsed with a cup of tea we both were completely bush whacked. We need at least an hour with our books before we felt able to get on with something else.  In the summer a day like this would have been normal and we would have much more - we are going to have to get fitter before the spring!

Saturday 9 January 2016

Menu planning

Welcome to new followers! I will be dropping into your blogs to get to know you in the next few days.

After three or four dull wet days (total of 17mm of rain recorded in our rain gauge) we had a brilliant start on Friday with clear blue skies and a low clear sun that lit the fields brilliantly. We went to the waste tip with bits of metal for recycling (not exciting but needed to be done) and then to the butchers.

Our meal plan for the week is to have:
Three chicken breast meals of 300g (brought 950g of chicken breast chunks at £8.25 per kg)
one large pork stew that will stretch over 2 days from 526g of diced pork (£6.95 per kg)
one large shepherds pie for 2 days from the 400g of beef mince in the freezer from last week
Meat is bulked out by using mushrooms, beans and lentils and we are still harvesting leeks, sprouts and spinach from the garden. Frozen veg is dispersing fast as are the frozen packs of tomatoes I am using in cooking instead of expensive canned toms.

For lunches we have fresh local eggs from the farm shop (£1 for 6), half a kilo of bacon and half a sausage meat pack left over from Xmas. There are enough potatoes left from the Xmas sack for baked spuds too. With veg soups we should be able to stretch the food till next weekend.
That should be enough for 7 days.  We may call at the fish wholesalers next week and get a kilo of fresh cod or haddock for the freezer - that usually lasts for 3 or 4 meals and is a welcome change to meat.

I am keeping a food diary to see how my plans and the actual food is working out, as I vary meals a lot at the moment as husband still has a strange re-occurring tum ache and is trying to loose weight. He is nearly down to 14 stone from over 15. We are working on reducing wheat and portion control.

Meanwhile in the dull days we are both working on small creative projects to cheer ourselves up as we prepare for Monday morning and the funeral of our neighbour.
My husband spent a day in his shed and made a bird box from wood scraps and half an old shelf bracket which he has put out in the sheltered shrub bed at the side of the house.
I finished experimenting with a new pattern for a sort of "coverall" loose top for next summer, it was suppose to be size 16 which should have been a bit tight on me, but it has turned out very loose and a bit low in the V neck. Ideal for topping over a t-shirt in the garden. I used some slippery but quite firm polyester given to me to make this one with old thread from the sewing box.  I will do some pattern re drawing before making another one in a firmer cotton or cotton jersey. 

My order for jersey fabric arrived today and I am planning to use that for T shirts. It is one of my 50 to do things to learn to sew with jersey fabric.

I have decided on number 10 in my list of 50 things to do.  Two years ago I had my wedding ring cut off as it was far too tight and painful.  I have been struggling down from nearly 14 stone then to 12 and half now and promised myself when I was thinner I would have the ring mended.  So my husband is delighted that I have chosen as number 10 to do in 2016.
10. Have my wedding ring repaired and refitted.


Thursday 7 January 2016

New Year shopping lists

I booked my fortnightly supermarket delivery a good week ago and have been back into the account three times since.  Never usually do this, but I have been keeping an eye on the cupboards and realised some things are stockpiling and some things are just not getting eaten as my husband is trying to loose weight. My changes are keeping the bill to £40 just so I get the shopping delivered for £1.

I have set myself a food budget of £3000 for 2016 for the two of us. I started a spreadsheet with that at the top and have listed the spending - it was uncomfortable to find nearly £50 had slipped away already!
£3000     left
Coop Food 1.25
Sainsbury Food 34.52

Cleaning 0
Personal(soap etc) 4.95
Medical 0
Town shops Butcher 2.53
toiletries 1.5
household 1
bird food 1   £2953.25
I am going to refund the food account the pink bits - its those pesky extras that add to the total !

How do others check their spending?


Image result for piggy bank