Pond Scum Soup ... and Halloween Decorations

 

We give our food some good names don't we.

What with Compost Heap Jelly and now Pond Scum Soup we are inventing a whole 'rubbish' way of eating ... and we love it.  😄

Of course I am only joking, this particular rubbish soup, although looking exactly like pond scum once it was whizzed up, was full of lots of good stuff.  I used up a lot of the trimmings from my fridge, and almost everything that was left over from the last Riverford box in preparation for the new box arriving on Wednesday.  Then I added some of the outer red cabbage leaves from a cabbage I hadn't yet started.

So with the cauliflower leaves, stem and trimmings, the greenest bits left from the leeks, the dark Cavolo Nero and the red cabbage leaves it was always going to come out looking very dark and very green.

It also tasted very good, and very healthy.

I served my portion with a bit of bread and butter for lunch on Saturday and really enjoyed it.  Alan had a portion for his tea  last night alongside a cheese sandwich, and the two portions in the jars are still in my fridge, I'll have them for lunch a couple of days this week.

Oh, and my only Halloween or maybe Autumn decorations are these two lovely little pumpkins that I was tempted into buying in Aldi on Friday.  These two will be a lovely bowl of soup when their time comes ... or when I get fed up of them on the worktop.  😁

Sue xx

Provisions ... and Store Cupboard Spot the Difference

Provisions by Lucy Almey Bird

As well as being a book collector I also seem to be a food collector, although this year I have been making a real effort to nip this in the bud slightly.  But do you ever change your spots ... well leopards seemingly don't so why should I?   😄

 Books and food are of almost equal importance, if I had to choose between a packet of biscuits and a second-hand book I think you all know by now which one would win.

But as well as sorting things out to sell on Facebook Marketplace in readiness for our move, I have also been trying to eat a lot of the foods from the store cupboard.  The bottom cupboard is still absolutely full of all the food that I have with longer dates on, either next years or even further in the future.  But back in March of this year I moved a lot of the short dated or out dated things from the bottom part of the cupboard into the top, and I have managed to go through a lot of them.

Doing this really helped me focus on things, I should make sure I rotate things much more carefully in future and never let things get so outdated.  But it's never the end of the world if best before dates pass by.

March 2026

October 2026

I had a little tidy this week to see how well I am doing.  I have moved a few things into the cupboard that didn't used to live there, the free condiments sachets etc, so if I hadn't it would look even clearer.   If I had to look into a crystal ball I would say there is a tomatoey chickpea recipe in our near future, and maybe some flour based products.  

Do not be kidded by the 'Biscuit' tin, it holds a large bag of bread flour, my other 'biscuit' tin out on the worktop actually holds Weetabix, but in my favour there is Bisto gravy granules in the Bisto tin.  😄

Sue xx

Buying and Selling - Exciting Times

 

We are now into the more exciting time of the renovations.

All this week Alan has had the company of our joiner at the bungalow, so while Alan has been tiling my bathroom the joiner has been fitting skirting boards, door frames and doors.  So with two pairs of hands we're now coming on in leaps and bounds.

We have a cleaning company booked to come and do a thorough post-renovation clean on 10th November, and a removals company booked for the following week.

My mission today was to choose and order the curtain poles and curtains for all the windows.  After initially thinking he wanted to choose something unique for his bedroom window, Alan has now decided that he likes my choice so much that he wants the whole bungalow to match, and as the curtains are green ... I have absolutely no problem with this.  😁

We've gone for nice simple metal curtain poles in keeping with the style of the open-plan kitchen, dining and living room.

Along with ordering stuff we've also been selling stuff, a big declutter of all sorts of things that we have come across in our cupboards and drawers.  This morning the large Le Creuset casserole pot left home after many years of good service.  It was far too heavy for me to be able to lift these days, and we have enough pans between us to more than happily equip our new kitchen.

You'll have to excuse me now as I have bags of tiling adhesive to list on Facebook Marketplace, and then a table and chairs set to order.  Alan has talked me into selling the chunky table we already have ... as seemingly it won't suit the aesthetic of the new room.  

Sue xx

The Borrowed Book

 

After yet another weekend trip to Wickes for some more building supplies that Alan needed for the bathrooms of the bungalow, we went on to Morecambe for breakfast.  I'll be honest I had a bit of an ulterior motive for the venue selection ... a brand new second-hand bookshop was opening that morning.  

I had been following the progress of the proprietors on Instagram as they turned the derelict shell of an old shop into the most cosy looking little book emporium, and with it being in one of our favourite seaside destinations it just made sense to visit on it's first day.  😁

Alan was all for it too as it meant he had his favourite cooked breakfast in the little café that we regularly frequent on the sea front there.

Alan treated me to three books, and we had a nice chat with the owners.

I could not resist picking up one of their 'Blind Dates with a Book'.  Remember the lucky bags of our childhood years, well this is the adult readers version.

The only thing is, it is that pretty I have yet to bring myself to open the lovely little package.

The ex-retailer in me thinks that this is a genius way of making extra money for a book that maybe they had a few copies of or that they thought might not be that popular.  Oh well, one rainy day I will break into my 'Blind Date' and see what I have as my surprise.

The address of the shop in case anyone is interested.

Oh and yes, this is their loyalty card ... I obviously need to buy some more books.  😉

Sue xx

Tomatoes ... and Chickpeas

 

A slightly blurry photo, but isn't it nice to still be able to pick some homegrown tomatoes so late in the year.  

The majority of them are the yellow ones now, but a few of the red cherry tomatoes in my hanging basket are still ripening.  These gloriously seemingly spur of the moment sunny and warm days are keeping them going.  Helped by being in the sunniest part of the garden.  I thought I would be making some green onion chutney again, but I've now lost all the green ones to various shades of yellow and red ... which I am quite happy about.

I think a cook up of some lovely garlicky, tomatoey pasta style sauce will be on the cards in the next couple of days.  It will be lovely in the dark, short days that will soon be with us, and a nice reminder of the sunnier and warmer days of Summer.

I had made a small panful last week with the pickings from the week before, first we used it for our tea stirred through some pasta, and then the next night we finished it off on some homemade baguette style pizzas.  While the oven was on I put in some salt, pepper and garlic powder chickpeas to crisp up as a evening snack to go with a glass of wine.  

I might do the same again next time the oven is on for something else, they were very moreish.

Sue xx