Monday 27 October 2014

More...


 
More input...
 
 
Still reading... back soon
 
 


Friday 24 October 2014

Eleven

 
The new Hunger Games film is out soon.
 
Am off to read the books.  It could take some time....
 
 


Have a great weekend!

Thursday 23 October 2014

Guess which one I am having...

I saw a link on the BBC website to the {Sounds of Nasa}.  Guess which one I want for a text/sms message alert!
 
*SQUEAL*
 
Which one will you have?

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Hola


Have you ever seen one of these shops?  It is pitch black inside and not a few areas with spot lights.

I went past this shop on Saturday and it was even darker than this picture. 

I have never been in.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Fig



Went to see my cousin.  I came face to face with the fig nicker.  He is really vicious.  He is a refugee of the recession and bank crash.  His days will be numbered if he keep flying up at peoples faces and rushing anyone getting out of a car or chasing cars and tractors.  He wouldn't let us in to the office.

Pea brain.

(p.s. saw a dirty great rat about 2 seconds after this picture. *shudder*)

Thursday 16 October 2014

Mise en Place


Have you ever noticed when some thing is a horrid job or when we are wanting to make something every day sound fancy we use foreign words.  Mise en place, a fancy way of saying prepared, to get ready.  I learnt this phrase as a teenager, not in school, but in my Saturday job as waitress.  To make your shift better, you prepared all the cutlery, shining it and getting all your table linens in you station for a quick turn around and hopefully a little extra tip.  Mise en place.

Today whilst some more people wandered around my home with the view to buying it (one dirty great builder who didn't take his shoes off and has tramped mud on to my stairs and landing, let alone the bedrooms, grrrr!), I walked into town.  I would normally have ridden my bike but after my near miss the other week I have a slight kink in the front wheel and the front forks don't look completely straight.  I will at some point load it into the car and take it to be fixed, but until then my two feet are good enough...  Anyways, I don't normally browse, as I like to get in and get what is needed and get out. 

It was all a bit weird.  I feel discombobulated.   d.i.s.c.o.m.b.u.l.a.t.e.d.

You would have thought with the amount of houses we have bought and sold I would be used to it.  I am.  But I feel very *gesticulates wildly*, 'free to the wind'.  I cant explain it, I cant find words. 

As we are (hopefully) moving we have been running down our stores.  When I used to open my cupboards it was like a mini supermarket not unlike the scene from the film, Sleeping with the Enemy.  where all the labels faced forward and everything was in sections.  Having this 'Stock' makes/made me feel safe.  My own mise en place for being slightly prepared. 

Call me a prepper, call me crazy, call me what you want.  My little store is complete piece of mind and an area of my life I can control.  So, this afternoon I am doing a stock take, and then I am off to the supermarket to restock.  I can no longer take it.  I don't care if I have to do 2 trips to the new house with my stock.  I have to have it.  My friend has agreed that if there are buy one get one free offers she will go halves with me. 

I dream of my new house and my pantry and the storage shelves and rotation system.

I daren't use the word 'Prepping' near some of my family.  They get twitches in their eyes and then they glaze over.  So now I am going to call myself 'Domestically Primed'.

Do you have a stock in your house for lean times?

(p.s. I saw tinned basic range chopped tomatoes in Sainsburys at 40p each.  and then I saw in the world food aisle in Tescos, the same weight tinned chopped tomatoes, 4 cans for £1.  That is a 15 pence saving.  Since when did tomatoes go from 31p a can to 40?  Utter madness.)

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Cracked it - NOT!


I would really like a pet. 

Yesterday I had convinced myself the best pet would be a hamster.  Small, easy to keep clean, no walking in the rain, easy to transport in its tank.

About 20 minutes later I had decided that I couldn't have a hamster because they don't live very long and I would be really upset that my little buddy would die.

I then felt very sad mourning a pet I never even owned. 

I need to get a shift on and find a job. 

Monday 13 October 2014

Hands that do dishes...

Rubber glove?  Roscoff marina
 
Gosh it seems all like hard work at the moment and am swimming in treacle.  The weekend flew by.  Washed the windows, good old faithful washing up liquid always brings them up a treat, better than all of those squeezy bottles of stuff.

Off to lunch with the girlies tomorrow and then a spot of toddler sitting on Wednesday whilst my friend goes for an ultra sound of the new baby.  I cant wait, we are going to watch the little mermaid and then if there is enough time, some peppa pig.  LOL  We will eat all the treats and snuggle under the blanket whilst we await the news, girl or boy.

What are you all up to this week?


Friday 10 October 2014

Wow


Although for now we are finished with super long distance travel.  When I {read things like thishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29521102}, I get a little wanderlust.

I have quite a few places in the UK I want to see.  We have travelled quite a lot of Scotland.  Nothing much of Wales so this could be next on the list. 

I think we will {try this recipe} on Tinned Tomatoes blog for tonights dinner.  Looks yum.

Are you planning any travels?
 

Thursday 9 October 2014

Tiger


I have often said before that if we had children I would be a Tiger Mum.  My own parents were very relaxed and although everyone thought that was cool at the time.  From me now having to go back to school to try and better myself, there is that nagging feeling that I wish I had been pushed really hard at school.

When I {read things like this}, it makes me think that a balance of Tiger Mum and chief cheerleader could be the way to go. 

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Window Dressing

 

This shop window is in Quimper, Brittany.  They sure had a lot of people stopping to look at it.  A lady in the shop opposite said that they had complained about it.  It was still there, so I think the shock value was making sales in the shop.

I love the window displays in London for Christmas... not long now.  Was that a groan I just heard?

The shops are already full of stuff and decorations.  Its as if as soon as the schools go back it must be Christmas...

Have you bought any presents?  I haven't!  lol

Tuesday 7 October 2014

A Use For That Book


This is what studying looks like in my house.  Notice the small red and white triangle in the middle of the picture at the bottom?



The only real difference is under the table.  Yes, the HFW book is relegated to being part of my foot stool.  My feet really do dangle that far off the ground when I sit at the table.  That pile of books is 6 inches high if you were wondering.

What are you up to today?

Monday 6 October 2014

Love It, or Hate It

Restaurant Quimper, Brittany, France
 

I love marmite.  It was 8Euros a jar in France.  Can you imagine?  I get the same size jar for £3 here in England.
 
Yes, I am one of those sad people who takes it on holiday with us to our holiday Gite.
 
Marmite on toasted baguette and butter from Brittany's cows.  Yum. 
  
Got to get my B12 vitamins, good for the blood.  I don't eat enough dairy, meat or eggs.  Apparently this also is why I don't sleep well... and now take folic acid and have found that I sleep much more soundly.
 
Do you like Marmite?
 
p.s. I do like vegemite, but I find it grainy compared to marmite and thicker.

Friday 3 October 2014

The Future is Here



I saw this single person car in Quimper, Brittany. 

{Renault Twizy}, electric car.

 

Thursday 2 October 2014

bored housewife


Lunch yesterday. 

Found these suckers at the bottom of the freezer.  I will finish the bag of them.  They are vegetarian sausage rolls (meat substitute).  Tasted of nothing, I should have dipped them in chilli sauce.  Sorry I don't know the name of the make as I only ripped the cooking instructions of to make room in the freezer...

I am now obsessed with food as well as my vacuum stick.  I feel I am expanding my horizons.

Who says I am not balanced?  lol

Went for a bike ride.  Susie was right it blew the cob webs away, (nearly got clipped when a van drifted into the bike lane when he was texting. all adds to the excitement).  Whilst out, I found a new bakery.  Will take my camera, next time.  The lads that have opened it are super passionate.  I will buy some focaccia, to have with dinner on friday.  Sad I have already planned dinner right up to Saturday. 

Lunch with the SIL and BIL on Sunday.  I will make a cake to take and a vegetarian dish, so I know there is something we will eat.  Their cooking is *gesticulates so so with hand*, hit and miss.  They make creations, is the best explanation and they end up only part cooking chicken a lot of the time. I always take dessert along.  I am feeling strudel this week.  Plus I have lots of apples in the garden.

Are you eating from your garden? 

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Never too old.

Roscoff Car Park, Brittany, France
 

Didn't have my SLR with me.  Point and shoots are a pain aren't they?  It messes about focusing and then either miss the moment or it is a blur...

Anyways, the 2 people on the scooters are a couple in their 70's, if not late 70's.  Out for a baguette on scooters.

C'est la vie.

Cooking cauliflower and chickpea curry tonight... page 27 of Hugh Fernley-whittingstalls Veg cook book.  If this doesn't turn out then I wont be using the book again.

What are you up to or cooking for your dinner?