I knew who I was this morning ...

 

Quote from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Never has this quote been more true for me.  

I fired up the laptop this morning to write a blog post, and made the mistake of reading lots of other peoples posts before I'd even thought about starting to write mine.  After missing a few days due to 'stuff', I scrolled back and read through lots of posts to catch up, as I always do.

I shouldn't have done it.  Apart from a few bright lights it was such a downer.

The world is full of such negativity at the moment, and over the past year or so as well as being shown all over social media, television and newspapers it has silently, insidiously been slipping itself into blogland.  

This space used to be so different.  I understand some of it, but not all of it.

My first thought was to completely discontinue my blog, and delete it all entirely.  

Luckily I had a think, over a coffee and a bowl of chips in Booths café with Alan, and on getting home and sitting at the computer I came to the conclusion that I will alter what I post about, change what I do and hopefully, in doing so, make sure that I am making no contribution to the steady decline in blogland.   

It might just be me, hey it probably is.  

Please don't worry about stuff, but I'm taking time and space to change things up, work things out and do what's right in my mind for me.  If you've noticed this trend towards the negative let me know, if I'm the only one ... let me know that too.

In the meantime I will be here but differently.  

If you don't like the way that I change things up ... and I don't mind at all if you don't ... I'll be leaving all the other blogs on my sidebar for you to hop over to as usual.  I can see from my stats that my blog is used as a jumping off point to lots of other people's and I would hate you to lose the links.

Although it's chilly these days ...  I'll be wearing my slippers.  😄

Sue xx

Let It Be

Art by Sophia Love Storey

Let it be.

Right here, right now.

The breath rises, the breath falls,

and nothing more is needed.

Let it be.

The world moves, the clouds drift,

the sun warms, the rain falls,

all is unfolding as it will.

Let it be.

No grasping, no pushing, no wishing it different.

Just this moment, exactly as it is.

Let it be.

Hear the silence between sounds,

feel the space between thoughts,

rest in the gentle pulse of now.

Let it be.

And in letting go of all else,

find the tender hush of now,

a cradle for the weary heart,

soft, open, and enough.

~ 'Let it Be' by Spirit of a Hippie

Mary Anne Byrne

Too beautiful not to share with you.

Sue xx

 

Butter Chicken Cooking Sauce ... Used at Last!!

I have had a sachet of Butter Chicken Cooking Sauce in my store cupboard for such a long time, so this week I decided that it was time to make use of it, and in the process use a couple of tins from the cupboard too.  So I added a tin of carrots (they were only 18 months out of date 😄) and a tin of chickpeas. 

It looked a bit sad with no flashes of green, so I added a big handful of mixed vegetables from the freezer, I should have added a couple of spinach pellets too but I didn't think of that until I was eating it much later.

Once it was all cooked together I decided to whizz it up with my stick blender into a nice thick curry sauce.  I do like smooth sauces and smooth soups, I'm not one for lots of things floating in a sauce, although Alan is.

It made five perfect sized portions for me.  I wasn't in the mood for rice by the time I had made the sauce and washed all the pots, so I had it with a lovely fresh roll ... with perhaps a bit too much spread, but it was delicious.

I put two of the remaining portions into the fridge and the other two into the freezer, so that I didn't need to rush to eat them.

I still didn't fancy rice the next day, so I decided to make some Curry Pasties with one of the pots of curry from the fridge.  I chopped all the potatoes into quarters and stirred them into the curry sauce, diluting it slightly as it had thickened up.  The ready rolled pastry was from the freezer, and originally from Mum's bungalow when we shared out her frozen foods between us and my brother.

Tip of the Day 1 - Roll your ready rolled pasty out a little bit thinner, it always cooks and tastes so much better.

Tip of the Day 2 -  Roll it out between the paper it came on and a liner from a cereal packet, that way you don't have to add any additional flour, which would make it tougher.

Tip of the Day 3 - Cook your pastry products on the same paper that the pastry came wrapped in.  It saves you using baking parchment or having a messy tray to wash.

I managed to make four pasties, one of them split open so I ate it straight away, before I had even taken a photo, I should have remembered the photo though it actually looked quite nice with all the filling visible.  I then gave two of the pasties to Alan for his tea and ate the other one myself ... two meals half an hour apart ... why not!!

I had the tiniest portion that just wouldn't it into the pasties so I saved it ...

... and had it on a piece of buttered toast for my lunch the next day.

It was surprisingly tasty this way.

The other portion of curry sauce was eaten nice and simply with a portion of Basmati rice and peas, and was very filling.  Sadly, there is no photo of this either ... gosh I've been a bad blogger this week ... but I'm sure you can imagine it.  😄

One pouch of Butter Chicken Sauce, which I rate really highly in terms of flavour, ingredients and price ... and lots of lovely meals made from it.  Also, in finding that link above I have just discovered that it is currently on offer in Sainsbury's, so I think I will have to stock up on a few of them if I can.

Sue xx

Another Week of Minimal Shopping

 

Just another week of minimal shopping.  I need to make a list of things to buy with the remaining money on my Sainsbury's gift card, but in the meantime Alan wanted to shop at Aldi yesterday morning, so I went with him.

I didn't need a lot, so I didn't get a lot.  The large cucumbers were just 10p more than the 'normal' sized cucumbers, and they were tiny, skinny little things, so I went large.

The receipt for posterity.  

It comes in handy having the prices on my blog posts for comparison over the years, mostly the prices go up but every now and then there is a nice little surprise reduction ... none that I can see on here though.

I bought the oats to refill this jar once I get right to the bottom.  

I've been eating weetabix most days since our holiday, but I'm starting to fancy some porridge again now that the mornings are so much cooler.  I don't like warm milk on weetabix, I've never been able to eat any cereal that way.  My Mum used to have hot milk on her corn flakes when I was little, but I never understood the attraction.

 I did, however, quite like the idea of myself with the Ready Brek glow.

Sue xx

Leaves and Sausage Rolls

 

Travelling up and down the motorway on Sunday to go and visit Mum we were treated to the full display of mostly British trees giving us their autumnal displays.  The colours are just starting to really stand out and it always makes me happy.

We were also treated to the sight of a squirrel having a snack in front of my car before I pulled away from the car park at the care home.  I didn't want to disturb him by starting the engine so we just watched ... he was literally 'having a break and having a KitKat'.  If you are from the UK you will remember the adverts for that particular chocolate bar, although they never mentioned squirrels!!  😄

We struck lucky with our 'freebie' timings at Greggs when we stopped at the services on the way home.  We had enough on the app to qualify us for a free coffee, a free sausage roll and a free doughnut.  It meant we got our Sunday lunch for two people for just £7.10.  

Out in our garden everything looks fresh and washed after Storm Amy, the stones remind me of being on Llandudno beach and all the plants seem to have come back to life.  Weirdly my Hydrangea has put out another white flower, just as all the others are in their Autumn colours.

A final hurrah to see the season out.

I'm also loving the colour of the leaves on my blueberry bush.  It will be a plant pot full of twigs in a few weeks so I am enjoying it while it lasts.  

I love seeing the garden readying itself for the Winter, I think we all need to take time to wind down a bit and lay dormant for a while.

Sue xx