Making Good Use

And So Begins the Short Christmas Bazaar Season

Yesterday was the local church Christmas Bazaar, the official (for me) start of the short but usually very sweet Christmas Bazaar season.    Those local bazaars are a great way to fill in the rather empty thrifting time after the finish of the boot sale season (for now we'll draw a veil over the tedious bazaar and boot sale free months of January and February.)

As the scrum around the bric-a-brac and china stall was huge, I strategically decided to have a shufty at the toiletries and linens table instead.

I found a few nice bits and bobs, including Molton Brown and L'Occitane bodywashes and a couple of Urban Decay eye shadows - all 30p each.

On the same stall was a lovely Christmassy-print unused linen tea towel - £1.00.

And a dinky little unopened umbrella that comes with its own little handbag - £1.50.

And on the raffle table I 'won' this brand new robot lunch box which I hope might be of some use for my nephew (if he decides to stop having school dinners.)

Not the biggest haul I've ever had but a few nice and useful bits and bobs.  Next Saturday there's another Christmas Bazaar at the local village hall and the following week there's one at a 13th century church just behind Sainsbury's.  And, to my shame, I had no idea there was even a church in that vicinity, let alone at 13th century one!

Culinary Experiments

I can get very stuck in a rut when it comes to our main meal of the day, come to think of it I'm pretty predictable when it comes to lunchtime too, but these last couple of days I've been trying out some new-to-me recipes.  Having to stick to a low-fat diet does somewhat limit what I cook - no more sausage casseroles or anything in a cheese sauce for example - so it's not always easy to think of different meals that won't aggravate my gall bladder.

I've been enjoying Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's new Channel 4 programme about vegetarian food, although a lot of his recipes are firmly verboten for me as there is quite prolific use of butter, cream and cheese - though many of those veggie treats do look tres delicious.   On Sunday he had a recipe for Chachouka with duck eggs which I thought sounded rather tasty and which had minimal amounts of saturated fat in it.  I made it yesterday evening - sans duck eggs of course which would be impossible to buy here in Wickford but using ordinary organic hens eggs instead, and also sans saffron as that would be totally beyond my budget.  There was A LOT of chopping and preparation involved and I don't think I've ever used quite so many peppers in one dish before but it all came together most satisfactorily, though I would have to say that I don't think there are too many calories in it as we were both rather peckish a bit later on.  And that was despite the fact that I made a small loaf of bread to go with it and we ate most of that with the Chachouka too.  I may make it again I may not - the jury's still out at the moment.

One recipe I've already made  more than once is Roast Sweet Potatoes with Chilli and Onions that I came across on Robin Ellis's blog (and yes, that is THE Robin Ellis who played Poldark so dashingly in the 1970s.)  His blog is very much a food blog with particular emphasis on recipes suitable for people with type 2 diabetes (which he himself has been diagnosed with) but many of them are low in fat too which makes them ideal for me to try as well.  He has some fabulous mediterranean-inspired recipes on his blog and if they're all as tasty and easy to prepare as the roast sweet potatoes then I definitely think I'll be buying his new recipe book.  P and I have the sweet potatoes with veggie burgers in a bun and a nice green salad - makes a very quick and tasty evening meal.

Tonight I tried out yet another new-to-me dish, Sticky Lemon Chicken, which I got from a BBC Low-Fat Cookbook that Mum let me have a while ago.  Again a nice easy tasty meal with pretty much no saturated fats in the recipe at all - just chicken pieces, thinly sliced carrots, green beans and a red pepper cooked in a marinade of honey, lemon, soy sauce and chicken stock.  We had it all atop a pile of noodles - tres delicious but I do fear the 'munchies' may strike a bit later if I'm not careful!!  I think tomorrow it may be time to go back to one of my more regular recipes and give the experimentation a bit of a rest.

 

I've Come to the Conclusion I'm Actually Solar Powered

Yup, sadly for me, I only seem to function properly when there is daylight - preferably sunshine but at least a glimmer of daylight is needed for me to actually get my act together.  Yesterday, which was a gloriously sunny day, I had boundless energy and got oodles of things done - including some serious Hoovering of the house (the only downside of sunshine is it has the unfortunate ability to show up my shocking lack of housework!) 

Today in contrast has been grey, grey, grey - even the weather forecaster last night had to admit that it would barely be daylight today, and he was oh so right.  Consequently, after a fairly busy morning in the High Street I lost all energy by 3.30 pm (in my defence, it was practically dark by then) and retreated to bed for a couple of hours.  Now I'm feeling all agitated and annoyed with myself for having wasted time sleeping when I could have been doing something useful. 

Is it me or is this November even duller, darker and more depressing than usual?  Even my lightbox doesn't seem to be helping.  But at least it's not cold so that's a big bonus, as well as being a metaphorical two fingers up to the energy companies and their humungous price rises.  It would be marvellous if it stayed mild all winter and they lost oodles of money due to lack of gas and electricity usage.

 

Good Life-ish Giveaway Winners

First name out of the virtual hat was Morag who already has a copy of 'The Pauper's Cookbook' so she'll be getting the copy of 'On Next to Nothing' and Sarah Morris was the second name out so I'll send her the copy of 'The Pauper's Cookbook.'  I'll send both of you an e-mail so you can let me know your addresses.

I seem to have absolutely no other blog-worthy news at the moment.  I'm finding these days of perpetual gloom and semi-daylight - swiftly followed by pitch-black darkenss - exceedingly trying, and we've got weeks and weeks of this to look forward to yet!!!!  Gordon Bennett, it's enough to drive me bonkers.  At least there's the annual Christmas Bazaar at the local church next Friday to lighten the gloom at little - it's usually a fantastic bazaar and I am looking forward to it with great anticipation.

Infinity Scarf

There's a rather nice idea for an infinity scarf - plus good straightforward instructions - in this months Mollie Makes magazine.  They showed it made up in tweed which I thought a lovely idea but perhaps a tad scratchy for neck wear, so I dug out some brightly coloured fleece that I had and made my version from that.

It should keep my neck uber-warm when wrapped around twice as well as cheering me up no end with its psychedelic-style colours.   It was incredibly quick and easy to make, though perhaps we'll gloss over the fact it took me THREE attempts to work out how to correctly sew the short ends together to create the 'infinity' bit!!

It's a Stick Up

I thought I'd give the vintage Japanese iron-on appliques I found at a recent boot sale a whirl on some card blanks.  It took me longer to open the packets and read the instructions than it did to iron them onto the cards.

Though it did then take overnight under a pile of heavy books to flatten and un-warp the card again.

I'm thinking a) the little gnome figure is quite Christmassy and b) at 20p each I wish I'd bought a whole lot more of the appliques as they make great cards.

Fabulous Finds at the Coffee & Jumble

With the boot sale season now firmly behind me (it was most odd yesterday morning not to have to check the weather and get up and be ready early to go to the car boot, though I'm really not complaining as I've managed over seven months of boot sale-ing this years) I'm now pinning most of my thrifting hopes on the local church's weekly Coffee & Jumble.  And this morning it didn't disappoint.

A gorgeous mid-century modern solid teak salad bowl and servers - £1.50.  I seem to have a bit of a collection of salad servers going on at the moment, which is fine by me as at least they don't take up too much room.

And a set of four rather snazzy Ikea dining chairs.  We've only got the one at the moment and will pick up the other three at next week's Coffee & Jumble.  Our dining room table and chairs were bought by me second-hand nearly 25 years ago and much as they are good quality they're definitely showing more than a touch of wear.  One of the chair backs fell off a couple of months ago and although we managed to fix it back on again they are all becoming rickety and the fabric is going into holes.  These new-to-us Ikea chairs stack one on top of the other and can be stored in the shed if / when we need to seat extra guests or if / when our dining room chairs finally give up the ghost!!

Good Life-ish Giveaway

I picked up these two books at the second-hand book sale last week and wondered if anyone on here would like them.

They both date from the 1970's and have more than a 'whiff' of The Good Life about them.  'The Pauper's Cookbook' is pretty self-explantory - lots of cheap recipes (costing, according to the blurb on the back, between ten and twenty pence per head!!  Ah, those were the days.)  'On Next to Nothing' is much more wide-ranging, covering topics such as shelter, food, clothes, machines, transport, toys, holidays and how to grow your own tobacco - lawks, how times have changed!

Anyway, if you'd like these two books leave me a comment and if there are a few names I'll do a draw sometime in the middle of next week.  Apologies, but I'll have to say UK only readers for this one as the books are a bit too heavy to post overseas.

£2 Work of Art

After all the fuss and palaver that came about from my going into the shed the other Sunday to find a picture pin - a torn calf muscle being the unfortunate result - it turned out I had a box of such things in the sideboard all along.  Cue a couple of minutes with a pencil, hammer and the picture pin and our £2.00 work of art, found at the local Cat's Protection League auction, is now gracing our dining room wall.

We're quite stupidly delighted with how it looks, and it's yer actual genuine oil paint too (although more daubings than high art.)  The frame is a bit plasticky and naff but that can wait until I thrift something a bit more suitable one day.   Meanwhile, it's cheering up our meal times no end, especially now the clocks have gone back and it's already pitch dark by 5.00 pm.  Groan, I hate this time of year.

Book Sale With A View

Essex Wildlife Trust were holding a second-hand book sale at Hanningfield Reservoir this weekend.  Hanningfield Reservoir is just up the road from us and is always a beautiful place to visit at the best of times, with the prospect of a rummage through second-hand books as well, it was just unmissable.

The selection of books was far better than I'd expected (I was fearing they'd all be bird-watching or nature tomes,) and the prices were excellent - I came away with quite a stack for only £3.50.

Best of all was the stunning views from the window of the visitor centre (where the book sale was held) - binoculars are provided so you can see the birds (and various cheeky squirrels raiding the bird feeders) up close.