Rounding Off August - Freebies and Shopping

 

4th  Barton Grange Garden Centre

We ate or just drank out more than either of us thought we had during August.  But almost every time I managed to bring something home with us to add to the 'freebie stash'.  We only bring home things that we have picked up thinking that we will use them with our drink or meal, and never ever take from the 'help yourself' pots on café or restaurant tables.

The things that I bring home would be swept into the bin by the person clearing the table after we have left if I didn't take them.  I have seen it done far too often for my liking.  I do not believe in waste.

8th  Burnside Garden Centre

We get two free coffees a month at this garden centre.

14th  Dobbie's Garden Centre

We also get two free coffees at this one.

14th Also Dobbie's Garden Centre

Alan did not get the meal that I thought he was getting, so we didn't need the mayonnaise that he would normally have used.

15th  Ralphy's Café in Morecambe

We went for breakfast here, you always get a little biscuit with your coffee which is really nice, a lot of cafés have stopped doing this now, but we did not want to spoil our appetite for the food before it arrived.

16th  Rivington Services

I got a free coffee on my Greggs app, you buy nine and get your tenth cup free.  These add up quite quickly as we stop here on our way home from visiting Mum, so we're usually there twice a week ... it's our 'decompression zone'.

26th  Barton Grange Garden Centre

We went for lunch here, the salad came drenched in a very tangy dressing ... far too much dressing in both our opinions ... so the mayonnaise wasn't actually needed.

29th  Booths Café

A tasty pit stop for a bacon bun for Alan and a coffee for me.

30th  Rivington Services

There were no napkins at Greggs, so Alan walked over to the Burger King outlet and picked some up, also getting some salt and ketchup for his chicken nibbles and sausage roll.

30th  Rivington Services

However, there were doughnuts at Greggs so I picked up the free one that I was owed.  😁

31st Booths

And finally, this morning we had a very early lunch.  Alan didn't buy the coffee that I thought he was getting so the sugars were superfluous.

Barton Grange - 26th - £3.29

The only shopping that I have done this week was to buy some bread rolls from the garden centre.  We go to Barton Grange regularly as rather strangely, it is the cheapest place to buy Ginger's preferred cat food.

We are both trying not to shop too much as we want to whittle our food supplies down a bit ready for moving in a couple of months.  Which is a bit opposite to what a lot of people are currently doing after the Government has seemingly issued instructions that every household in England should hold more supplies for 'emergencies'.  Maybe once the kitchen has been fully installed we can start moving some food over and see exactly what we have.  I'm sure two more weeks won't make too much of a difference.

Well, I hope two weeks won't make too much of a difference!!

Sue xx

You Win Some, You Lose Some

 

I was stood in Morrisons in Morecambe, just inside the doors where there was a huge display of doughnuts.  Ooh, I thought they look nice, what a lovely sweet treat.

Then I looked at the list of ingredients ... and immediately changed my mind. 😐

So when we got home I rewarded myself, and Alan, with a nice fresh salmon and pasta salad.  It was so tasty I didn't even need a sweet treat of any description.

Later on determined not to waste the crusts off my loaf of bread, I made some garlicky croutons to go into a bowl of soup for my tea.  I left them slightly too long and had slightly charcoal-y croutons.  Still edible but not the luscious little pillows of bready garlic-ness that I was hoping for.

You win some, you lose some.  😄

Sue xx

The Kitchen Delivery, and What I'll Miss When We Move

 

Late yesterday morning the kitchen was delivered.  

At the moment it's all safely boxed and/or wrapped up, but peeking into the visible bits it's already looking good and just as we wanted it.  So for the rest of today Alan is grouting the floor tiles at the kitchen end of the living room ready for the kitchen to be installed on top of them starting next Tuesday.

Alan worked like a trouper on Monday and Tuesday tiling the whole of the living room as there was a chance we would be needed to help my younger son move into his new home on the Wednesday.  He's a big lad and he did have his partner and her brother to help with the lifting and shifting, but after having a biopsy last week he still had stitches in his stomach so he had to be very careful. I thought it best to leave them to it if they could manage, as it is a big sense of achievement to move into your first purchased home together without the parents.

 Happily he managed everything he wanted to do and we weren't needed, so Alan had a well earned day off and we went out for lunch ... still on standby, just in case.  😊

Somehow it got me thinking about what I will miss when we move, so I went around the annexe snapping at the things I thought I would miss most.

High on the list is my beloved SMEG fridge freezer.

It's been my best ever purchase, and while they are expensive to buy they do keep food amazingly well.  I must have recouped a lot of the money spent on this beautiful appliance in non-wasted food costs over the years I've had it.

I couldn't make my mind up over whether I will miss the little half sized section of my kitchen sink.  

We both made the joint decision to have a one bowl stainless steel sink at the bungalow, as this is what we were used to before we moved here.  Having a plastic bowl in the sink means that you don't really need the centre section much, as you can pour things down the side of the bowl if you need to drain them.  

Having a bowl in the sink is the usual way of doing things in the UK.

I will definitely miss my radiator cover.

It's been good to have a sort of seasonal change of my favourite things on top of it, making me smile daily, and looking lovely when it's all illuminated at Christmas time.

I will also definitely miss having actual radiators.  They are very handy for quick drying of things that you need in the Wintertime when the heating is on.

I will miss having the two sets of French doors.

 I currently have one set in the living room, and the ones in this photo are in the bedroom.  On a hot day it's great to fling them all open and let air circulate.  Ginger has never quite got used to the doors looking identical, but leading him into different rooms when he comes in from the garden. 😺

At least we will have one set in our living room at the bungalow, letting lots of light flood in.

Something I thought that I would have to let go was this useful little drawer unit.  It's currently being well used in the kitchen of the annexe, but in the bungalow it might fit into my bathroom where it would be extremely useful.  I have my fingers firmly crossed.  🤞

What would you miss most if you had to move house and leave  something behind?

Sue xx

A Shopping Catch Up Post - and a Warning

 

Just a catch up post of the shopping that I have bought since my last shopping post.  Time seems to be running away with us at the moment and I have fallen a bit behind.

19th  Sainsbury's - £43 exact

I spent quite a bit on this shopping trip last week, but I treated myself to a new travelling coffee cup while they were on offer, and some hair dye, also on offer ... which I have still not round to using yet.  The Linda McCartney meat free products were all on special offer '3 for the price of 2' so I was careful to choose three products that were all the same price.  I'm not falling for that get the cheapest one free malarky!! 😄

And ... as you will notice my favourite toilet rolls were back on a reduced price offer, it was good timing as my last rolls were just about to run out so I bought a pack of those as well. 

As well as buying my things I got a couple of things for Alan which are also on that receipt.  I've been picking up a few things for him each time I go out while he's been so busy at the bungalow.

The receipt for posterity. 

Aldi - 22nd - £13.83

Going to the shops twice in a few days meant that I really didn't need much at weekend when Alan was going for his main shop.  So I just got the things that I had run out of and a little treat of a bunch of simple flowers.

The receipt.

The 'warning' that I mention in the title of this post is about the blogs listed on my, and many other people's sidebars.  Blogger in it's annoyingness is more often than not failing to update when a new post is published.  So you may see the name of a blog that you follow on my sidebar and see from the title that it's a post that you have already read the previous day or earlier.  BUT ... .if you click on the blog name rather than the post title it will more often than not take you to a brand new post that hasn't yet been updated by blogger.

It's a frustrating thing if you just quickly scan the list and think that you have nothing new to read, when in fact there are lots of available posts just waiting to be discovered.

If you read my, or anyone else's blog on your phone, you can get to see the blog list by scrolling to the bottom of any post and clicking on 'View Web Version', then you will be able to view blogs as though you are on your laptop or main computer.

I hope this helps.

Sue xx

Dahl, Rhubarb ... and the Smallest Harvest of Them All.

 

I'm supposed to be working on emptying the freezer but this past week I seem to have been making an effort to fill it.  Oh well, if I cut back a bit further on the shopping and instead eat what I already have it will still empty ... eventually!!  😄

I made a reasonable sized batch of dahl, a very tasty batch if I say so myself.  This time using my curry powder mixture from the cupboard instead of predominantly cumin like I usually do.  We each had some with rice and a salmon fillet for tea, and then I potted up another seven single portions for the freezer and one for my breakfast the next day.  I do love dahl and rice for breakfast, I discovered this when I did the refugee Ration Challenge a few years ago.  I re-read some of the ration challenge posts to find this link and discovered that I had made some wraps for myself way back then. 

Also into the freezer were four tubs of our homegrown rhubarb.  

These will be so good with my morning weetabix in the darker mornings of Autumn and Winter.  I reckon I have one more good sized picking and stewing to get through.  I always share with Alan, although he eats his rhubarb with ice-cream rather than weetabix.

I am really pleased with this years rhubarb, I have had three pickings up to now, and there's one more to go. Each and every one will be so much more than the 400g that you get for £2.50 in our local shop.  You have got to love a crop that you put in once and reap the benefits of for years to come haven't you. 💚

I've been picking off the three blueberry bushes whenever I have been out watering the garden, and I have to admit that most of them are simply popped in my mouth as my garden watering payment.  But this past few days I have been making an effort to bring some inside and each day adding them to the little tub that I now have in the freezer.  

The tub was quite full until I made the mixed fruit jelly last week and I decided to empty it into the pan.  Hopefully I can get another tub of the lovely berries together before the plants stop producing, which no doubt they will very soon.

Back soon.

Sue xx

Cucumbers ... and a Confession

 

This for me has been the year of the cucumber, and considering how hot and dry it has been this year I am amazed by how many cucumbers I have managed to get off just one plant. 

As fast as I pick them another takes it's place, growing like an alien under the cover of the leaves, surprising me a few days later by already being ridiculously big.  They are tasty thank goodness, and have been my snack of choice whenever I get the nibbles, well it saves on buying any biscuits.

I have a confession to make ... I have never actually made a wrap!!

I always make sandwiches, I do buy wraps but I use them as thin pizza or quiche bases or to make homemade 'nacho style' crisps, never have I made a wrap in place of a sandwich until this week that was.

I had run out of fresh bread and needed to make Alan's lunch, the thought of driving backwards and forwards was too much so I got some wraps out of the freezer, thawed them to warm them and make them more pliable, and had a go.  The one you see on the plate with a bite out of it was my trial wrap ... it worked, although I struggled a bit with the folding at first.

I loved it.  Now I don't usually buy them for me when we are out and about although Alan has them regularly, I find the ones you get in the shop seem to be all bread and hardly any filling, mine were much more filled and so much more balanced.

I also have to confess that the 'chicken tikka' flavoured pieces of chicken that I used in Alan's wrap had been bought in error for Ginger, he has the plain chicken regularly but I doubt that's he's a chicken tikka flavoured kind of cat. 🐱

Alan had no qualms in using up the chicken, I had already admitted to the error of my ways.

Two wraps for Alan's lunch and I made another one for me while I was practising my new found rolling techniques.  As you can possibly just about see, I got super good at it by the time I made Alan's.  😄

Sue xx

Underfloor Heating ... and a Wildlife Haven

 

Alan has worked like a trooper this week and he has the sore, creaky knees to prove it.  

All the underfloor heating mats were first glued into place, with the doorways and edges being like a mind-boggling jigsaw of little bits cut to keep the pipes travelling logically in the right direction. 

 Then he was onto the task of pushing all the pipes into the grooves.

Missing out areas where we do not need the heating to extend to.  This is in the en-suite, and beyond the line of bricks is where the shower tray will fit.

All I can say is he has a LOT more patience than me.  😄

By Thursday evening he was all finished.

All the pipes lead to the manifold, which he is commissioning this morning.  An engineers delight and a total mystery to me. 😐

Then we will have the weekend to wait and check for any leaks before he starts on the next job, which is laying the floor tiles in the main room ready for the kitchen to be installed the following week.

He's had a busy week, and he's rewarded himself with a new set of knee protectors ready for the tile laying.

I've been taking him his lunch each day, and we sit on the back step while he eats.  The 'mountain' as it's now been christened, is alive with all sorts of insects and it's fascinating to watch.

So much so we have decided to keep a wildlife area when we finally get around to sorting out the garden next year.  It's the least we can do for all those very necessary little pollinators. 

Sue xx

A Morning Out in Morecambe

 

After a week of working hard at the bungalow, mostly on his own, Alan needed a break and some nice fresh air.  So with the temperatures going down nicely, and a weekend virtually to ourselves we headed off for breakfast in Morecambe last Saturday.

And that was just what we did, had breakfast in one of our favourite cafés, Ralphy's and then went for a circular walk on the prom.

We stopped to read the billboard, telling us about the coming Eden Project North.

It's been promised for so long, and was stuck in the planning stages for years.  Alan was hoping that they would have broken ground on the development and there would be something to see.  Unfortunately, there was no sign of anything happening yet, although it had been reported on social media that they were starting in June.  

It will be very good for the regeneration of the town and it's tourist trade when it finally happens.

https://youtu.be/whhHTVQH44o?si=qFlejGcgdmXBGLxd

We bench-hopped along the prom and stopped for a while to look out to sea, it was such a beautifully clear day and we were playing 'spot the Cumbrian town' on the opposite side of the bay.

Sometimes you just need a little seaside break to clear your head and re-invigorate yourself, ready for some more hard work the following week.

Sue xx

Art, and Mixed Fruit Jelly

 

Tea, toast and marmalade - Artist Lucy Almey Bird

It's that time of year again for me, time to dig out all the fruit peelings, cores and random bits from the freezer where they have been added to for months, and make up a batch of Compost Heap Jelly ... only this year I have renamed it Mixed Fruit Jelly as there was so much good fruit in there too that would never have ended up on the compost heap.

I assembled all the bits well over a week ago and chopped some extras up.

They simmered away nicely on the hob ...

... then I discovered a tub of extra blueberries in the freezer so these were added and I kept it all puttering away for quite a bit longer.

After a night of dripping away through a jelly bag and into a large bowl, the resulting liquid was stored in the fridge ... for well over a week, it was just too hot to be stood at the hob boiling up any sort of jam or jelly.

With the weather having cooled considerably now I got it out this morning and boiled up the beautifully coloured jelly.

Three and a half jars of beautiful tasty Mixed Fruit Jelly.  Alan is very happy with his two jars, he loves this stuff, no matter what the colour and what the flavour.  I think it just reminds him of our smallholding days when we had jars and jars of jewel coloured preserves lined up in the cupboard.

Sue xx