Making Good Use

Good Grief, It's October Tomorrow

I can't believe it's going to be October tomorrow. 

There are still tomatoes to be picked in - albeit a little under-ripe as yet.  And still there are some sizeable green ones hanging on the vine.  Plus a small-but-definitely-still-growing cucumber out there too.

The fuschia is still in full flower, with lots of little buds all over it as well.

I know it is due to get a tad cooler over the next few days but still there seems to be no need to even think about putting the central heating on just yet - hurrah!  I was hoping to get a zero gas bill for this quarter but P did insist on putting the heating on for a couple of hours the other week so that's the end of that goal.  It was most astonishing the next morning to actually have some hot (well, warmish) water in the hot tap.  I'd almost forgotten what it's like to have running hot water.  Not that it's a problem in the summer as I simply boil a kettle for the washing up and we use the electric shower all year round anyway.

And, for the first time in over 30 years, I don't feel the crushing weight of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) bearing down on me this autumn.  I usually start beginning to feel glum as the nights really draw in at the end of August.  It's taken me a few weeks this year to realise I feel completely blase about the coming months of darkness.  I have no idea why I feel so much better about it, but I sure as heck am grateful.

Easily Pleased

I'm sure I'm badly mis-quoting Bill Bryson in his book 'Notes from a Small Island', when he says something about the British being so easily pleased that a Saturday afternoon spent choosing wallpaper becomes a really exciting outing.  If that's not exactly what he said, that is certainly the gist of it.  Now, I'm not a massive fan of wallpaper so I can't say an afternoon spent choosing it would float my boat, but I am British, and I am easily pleased.

Yesterday afternoon we had a local handyman come to put in another post hole for our rotary washing line.  A small job which only took him an hour or so (the post has to be cemented in to the earth) and which cost us a mere £20.00.  I can't tell you how happy that new post hole makes me.  This coming winter there will be no more sliding around on the muddy grass (with the result that come the spring our lawn looks more like the Battle of the Somme) when I hang out the washing as the new post hole means the rotary line is near enough for me to stand on the patio whilst pegging things out.  And the winter sun actually makes it high enough in the sky to hit the patch of garden where the new post hole is, hopefully meaning the washing will dry better and there will be less steaming washing draped over the radiators. 

As a totally unexpected and added bonus, the garden looks so much nicer from the living and dining rooms without the view of our smalls (or in my case, not-so-smalls) hanging out to dry.

Bill Bryson, you're right - the British really are very easily pleased, and I, for one, think that's a very good thing indeed.

Sometimes I Really Don't Like Supermarkets

We only have two supermarkets where I live - Aldi (wonderfully good food at cheap prices but VERY limited choice) and Somerfield (great offers, free home delivery but can be HIDEOUSLY expensive.)  I discovered this morning that although it still says Somerfield over the door and the staff still wear Somerfield uniforms apparently it is now a Co-op supermarket. 

I've always liked the ethos of the Co-op - very left-wing and 'for the people' - and have very fond memories of Co-op shops when I was a child.  (For those of a certain age and from the Bristol area I'll just say Santa's Grotto in 'Fairfax House' and leave it at that.)  Soooo, I was somewhat put out to discover that as Somerfield is now Co-op (even if there is no sign of that change apart from a few Co-op products on the shelf) they will no longer be stocking 4 pint cartons of organic milk.  Yes, you can  buy 2 pint cartons at £1.03 each (making it £2.06 for 4 pints - I think not!!) but 4 pints is no longer available.

For a supermarket who claim to be 'Good with Food' I consider only selling titchy little cartons of organic milk a highly retrograde step - although very lucrative for them.  A strongly-worded e-mail has been sent to Co-op customer services with the plea to reconsider their stance on organic milk and, whilst they're at it, could they please consider selling organic meat too.  Surely I can't be the only person in my area who would like to be able to buy organic milk, eggs and meat without having to travel to the nearest branch of one of the 'big four' UK supermarket chains.

Grrr - it does make me cross!!

So, That Was a Bonus

I only shop in Sainsbury's on a seasonal basis, ie when the Thursday car boot sales are on.  I have nothing against Sainsbury's per se (a tad expensive sometimes but with some excellent offers on at the moment), but I do object to having to pay £3.30 in bus fare to get to my local store.  During the car-boot-less season I make do with the Aldi and Somerfield that my little town can offer, and sometimes wander into Waitrose when I've visiting Billericay - because, after all, there is a limit to what is available in Aldi, and Somerfield can be HIDEOUSLY expensive at times (and they don't sell organic meat.)

Even though I'm hardly a regular Sainsbury's shopper, I do have a Nectar card (a store loyalty card).  I don't know what made me ask the checkout lady in Sainsbury's yesterday if I had any points that I could redeem against the bill.  It was probably the idea that this could be the last time I get to go there this 'season', or just the idea of saving a bit of money.  Whatever the reason, I nearly fell over when she happily announced that I had enough points to get £7.50 off my bill.  What the !!, how did I manage to accrue those many points when I hardly ever shop there??   Anyway, that was a nice bonus.

I happily accepted the £7.50 off and she then explained that she shouldn't really tell customers how much value they had on the points they'd collected????  Which seems a tad odd.  I can only assume that Sainsbury's like to keep these things secret in the hope that people don't ever 'cash in' their points, even though you get a running total of your Nectar points at the end of the till receipt.  I knew they'd changed the rules at some point but didn't realise that 500 points = £2.50 off your bill.  The checkout lady then told me that last Christmas she had a couple who happened to ask about their Nectar points and then found they had £300.00 worth of points.  She said she saw them leaving the store later with a flat-screen TV!

I had another small shopping bonus this morning too.  Long story short, I'd perused the shelves in Superdrug looking for baby talcum powder and could only find a titchy, teeny, tiny one by Johnsons which cost 90p.  I don't think so.  So, in high dudgeon, I take myself across the precinct and go into Boots.  Ah, that was better, a humungous size baby powder - Boots own - for £1.26.  When I got to the till I was asked if I knew it was a buy-one-get-one-free on those.  Nope, I didn't but I certainly went back and got the second one for free.  So, that was a bonus too.

I Can Resist All But Temptation

I thought I'd pretty much given up on going to the Thursday Car Boot Sale after last week's disappointing visit, but the temptation of a lovely sunny morning and the you-never-know-what-you'll-find thrill of any car boot, lured me there once again.

I'm so pleased I went as there was somebody selling lots of flower-bedecked items - items that I didn't know you could get with flowers on them.  Lovely practical things like trowels, forks, scissors and screwdrivers.  Everything was £1.00 each, except the scissors - they were only 50p.  As I needed a fork and trowel I was really happy to buy one each of those.  The scissors are a bit of a luxury as I don't really need them but they'll no doubt come in handy.  As for the screwdriver - well, I just could not resist having such a flowery one.  It's got two different-sized Philips heads and although I've already got a couple of Philips screwdrivers I have to admit they are rather damaged and worn - probably because I can get VERY frustrated when I can't get a screw undone!!  This new one will be a welcome addition to the tool box and certainly won't get lost with it's bright pink handle.

I also found a brand-new Cotton Traders top which I hope will be useful for my sister (S let me know if you like it and also if you'd like me to post it down to you).  It was only £2.00 and is a pretty shade of grey-blue with winter-friendly long sleeves.  It was so warm walking around this morning that I can't imagine it ever being cold enough for long sleeves again - but it will be, and all too soon.

Choices

I just can't seem to leave a plain one-colour garment alone these days - I always think it'll look better with the judicious addition of a button or two.  Last week, at the car boot sale, I found myself a nice heavier-weight three-quarter sleeve top which was just perfect for cooler autumn days.  Trouble was it was totally plain, and a rather mustardy-yellow colour to boot.  I thought it would look a bit fancier if I added just one button to the centre of the neckline, and I had just the button in mind.

  A quick rummage in the button box gave me far more choices than I'd thought possible - and those in the photo are only the final short-listed ones.  My original idea was to use the rectangular brown button on the neckline but now I'm not so sure.

My current favourite is this quite chunky brown and cream button but, again, I'm not totally convinced it's the best of the bunch.  Anybody out there like to say which are their favourites from the photo.

Trees

Some considerable time and effort has been spent by me this afternoon trying to hack back some of the really tall branches of a large shrub / small tree in our garden.  We had it well trimmed back in the spring but during the summer all sorts of leggy branches have shot out of the top of it and are waving around looking very untidy and, more importantly, beginning to get in the way of the sun now that it's lower in the sky.  I did take some before and after photos but, really, there was so little discernible difference that it would be a waste of space to put them on the blog.  When I was going through the photos I'd uploaded I had a hard time working out which were the befores and which the afters - grrrr!  It's not been a total waste of an afternoon though as when I went into the shed to try and find the small saw we've got - yes, I'd become so desperate I was going to start sawing the damn branches down - I remembered the vintage Christmas tree I got a few weeks ago at the car boot sale.

It has about 60 separate branches that fit into a central trunk and as the sun was shining it seemed a good chance to try putting the thing together.

It is missing the original tripod stand but all the branches are there and although it's a bit of a faff slotting them all in it didn't really take too long.

I only paid £1.00 for it so took a bit of a gamble as to whether it was any good or not.  It really is quite pretty and will be being listed on ebay this week.  (I know, I know - keep Christmas in December and all that - but the market in vintage Christmas decorations seems pretty strong at the moment so I thought I'd strike while the iron's hot.)

Pink and Blue Thrifting

As the weather was really lovely this weekend I went off to the local car boot sale yet again.  With each week that passes I begin to wonder if this week will be the last time I manage to get to a car boot this season but, fingers crossed, the weather seems well settled at the moment with a large high pressure centred over the British Isles. 

I didn't buy much this week even though there were a lot of sellers - and hardly any of them were traders, thank goodnes - but a huge proportion of them seemed to be selling baby and toddler items.  Great if that is what you're looking for but not much use to me.

Pretty much everything I bought was colour co-ordinated, either pink or blue.  There was a very cheerful PVC passport holder in a bright cerise pink with owls all over it.  Not strictly a 'necessary' object but good fun nonetheless and it was only 20p.  Also 20p was a tube of Molton Brown Lipsheen - a sort of slightly-coloured lip balm - I had a look on the Molton Brown site and these things retail at £11.00 each!!!!  Who one earth would pay £11.00 for a lip balm!!  I have quite a collection of these types of things - one downstairs in the living room, one in the bedroom, one in the pocket of my shopping trolley and another in my handbag as I hate it when my lips feel all dry and cracked - yuk.  This new one will soon get taken into use.  I also found a bottle of Molton Brown body lotion which was a tad pricey at 70p but Molton Brown is a really nice brand and the scent to this one is lovely.

I also bought a 3 metre x 54 inch wide piece of Osborne and Little fabric for £1.50.  It's a good home dec. weight piece, pure cotton with a glazed finish to it.  It really is a lovely print - Candle Chestnut - in such beautiful sugared-almond colours although I've no idea what I'll do with it!

If anyone is interested the plum and apple crumble on Friday was delicious and the fact that I'd stewed up the fruit before putting it in the oven didn't seem to matter one little bit.  The roasted tomato sauce was fantastic too (I certainly won't bother to stand about skinning tomatoes in order to make tomato sauce ever again).  The whole meal was a great success and it was even sweeter knowing that most of the ingredients came from our own garden.

Squeezing Yet Another Meal from the Garden

I thought I was so over chopping up plums but a suggestion in this weeks Economy Gastronomy, about using up over-ripe plums in a plum crumble, sent me back out to the tree this morning.  I managed to find approx a colander full of really ripe plums and chopped those up and cooked them.  What I ended up with didn't look quite enough for a crumble so I went back out into the garden and picked in a few more apples - which were also stewed up - and added to a small bowl of stewed apple left over from earlier in the week.  Now all the stewed fruit has been mixed together I think there should be a good sized crumble in the offing.  Of course, when I read the recipe for making the crumble topping I realised that I shouldn't have pre-cooked the fruit!!  I'm pretty certain I made the same mistake last year - what a twerp!  Although somewhere in the back of my mind I remember last year's blackberry and apple crumble being highly tasty.  We'll see - the proof of the pudding and all that.

I also made a roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce from the tomatoes I've been picking in over the past week.  It was my Mum who suggested making the sauce this way (she read the original recipe somewhere in the blogosphere) and it was so simple - just chop up the tomatoes and place cut-side down on a baking tray add a few cloves of garlic and slosh over a bit of olive oil.  Cook on a medium-ish heat (I cooked them at approx. 175 for approx. two hours) until the tomatoes are soft, let them cool a little, place in a saucepan and blitz with a hand-held mixer thingy.  No need to skin the tomatoes - just chop it all up into the sauce.  I haven't tried it yet but the resultant sauce looks very tasty and quite professional.  I've just added a good pinch of dried basil to it as well as I do like a bit of basil with tomatoes.  We'll be having it on some fancy pants pumpkin-and-ricotta-filled-pasta which was on a special half-price offer at Sainsbury's.  Roll on tea time.

A Chill Wind

I went off to the Thursday car boot sale again this morning, but somehow fear this may have been the last time I'll be going there this season.  There were an awful lot of traders - it was more like a market than a car boot sale - and there was a very chilly wind blowing.  I have to say I wouldn't have wanted to be standing around for a few hours in those temperatures - very nippy.

I managed to find a couple of nice tops for myself, which have now been washed and are out on the line blowing in the still fairly chilly wind.  As they were only £1.00 each and one of them is a three-quarter sleeve, heavier-weight cotton one which will be suitable for the cooler weather that seems to be the norm here now, I was very pleased.

I also got yet another bottle of Body Shop Shwer Gel - this time a rather yummy smelling pink grapefruit one.  A little of it has obviously been used but it's a 250 ml bottle and only cost me 30p (they're £5.85 to buy new - gosh, I hadn't realised quite how expensive Body Shop stuff is!) so that was a nice bargain too.  It's a good job the car boot season is drawing to a close as I'm running out of space to store all the shower gel, face wash, moisturiser etc etc that I've got at the moment.  Come next spring though it'll all have been used up.