I seldom use my slow cooker these days, probably because I work from home and enjoy the physical process of cooking after a day staring at my computer. Mr Heavenly uses the slow cooker occasionally; he has made a temperature control adaptor so he can turn it into a sous vide!
Mr Heavenly is busy upstairs tidying away piles of books, admittedly into a different storage place than agreed yesterday but that’s fine. I think he intends to take a couple of days off soon to do a major blitz of the large spare room ready for decorating. The boys’ books have been purged but there are shelves of random childhood things to get rid of. The Elder has already cleared his wardrobe cupboard but the Younger needs to tackle his when he is home.
@mark_in_manchester - you're quite right - using a slow cooker on the Ark would be far too expensive, as well as being a bit hard on the rather frail electrics...
The Dragon is alight 24/7, so provides heat for cooking, the radiators (all two of them) and hot water. I'm usually here for much of the day, so I can top him up with Coal now and then, and clean out Ash and Clinker every twelve hours (10pm and 10am seems to have become the norm).
Another grey, windy, and cool day in Arkland the Chill, but the above-mentioned Dragon is busy cooking CHICKEN and ROAST SPUDS for my lunch.
Bit too much lentil in the soup today; you could have hung wallpaper with it.
Brought a winter top into circulation - hopefully. It's a stretch fabric, but with a crew neckline, which I dislike. So I cut several inches of notch, and went round the raw edges in tiny blanket stitch.
Not 4 o'clock yet and the shades of evening are closing in. It's the feeling that's there's no point in starting anything, the day's practically over that I hate. Though of course there's dinner still to be got - salmon en croute - which I hope to make a bit more thrilling with the addition of Boursin.
I use my slow cookers a lot - the large one is on even as we speak, cooking the chicken for our roast meal.
I have barely noticed the hour change - we slept in this morning for some reason and I was, shall we say, not early for church (not exactly late but there was no time to spare).
I had a lovely lunch, courtesy of my son. Roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and 5 veg. His wife made two crumbles: rhubarb, apple and pear, using fruit from our gardens. Leftover portion brought home. I’ve still got birthday cake I brought back on Friday too.
I didn’t get a second plateful to bring home, but a lasagne instead. Not frozen, so that’s another meal I need to use or freeze soon. That reminds me: time to check the slow cooker. Today is all about food.
Up at my usual time so about ten to six rather than ten to seven. It meant I could do the ironing before I went to church. It very much needed doing as husband had run out of polo shirts and there was stuff in there from our holiday we got back from over a month ago. I had a quick turn round before heading to the cemetery for the Polish All Souls Day service. As always an excellent service with people coming from all over to attend. The only slightly alarming moment was the group of supporters of a Polish football club who added football chants to the end of the Polish national anthem and then lit flairs. We then went to one of the (disused) chapels for tea and biscuits, a good chat and to warm up - it was rather cold and rather damp at times.
This evening we've just watched The Thursday Murder Club. It didn't get great reviews but we enjoyed it for what it was, which wasn't great drama but more akin to a well-made cosy afternoon crime drama.
Woke from dream a which puzzled me so I couldn't get back to sleep. No idea of the time. After a while I put on an audio book , which normally eases me back to sleep - but that didn't work, so I started fretting that it might be nearly time to get up anyway. Eventually put a light on, to find that it hadn't even reached 5 o'clock Listened to the radio for an hour, then got up and started the day.
Been very busy, as had visitors for lunch (including 2 youngest grandsons). By the time they left it was too late for my afternoon nap (how I envied those little boys who were probably asleep in the car within ten minutes of leaving!).
Am struggling on, trying to get to 'normal' bedtime in the hope of a better sleep tonight
I definitely noticed the hour change yesterday evening - was starving for our meal by 6pm and falling asleep at the computer at 8.30. Woke this morning at 4am, though :rolleyes: .
Bright and chilly here this morning. Mr Nen's car is in for a service so we were out of the house early to deliver it to the garage and for me to bring him home in my car. Lots of domestics to be catching up with: first load of washing of the day is on the go.
Up at my usual time, though it felt rather late. I've already put my everyday backpack and my Rambling one on for a much needed wash and I now intend to wash the kitchen floor. No Pilates today, instead I might do an exercise video while I wait for the floor to dry.
Someone - was it on the Ship? - suggested that we should do it ten minutes per day, starting on the Monday before the complete time change... One or two small details to be worked out, but I like that.
Had a better sleep last night.
Into bed about eleven, and fell asleep very quickly - with the light still on! Woke for a trip to the loo just after one. Woke again at an unknown time, didn't go straight back to sleep so put on an audio book (a different one to the previous night) and was soon asleep. Woke a bit before six.
All pretty much like my 'normal' timings, so am hoping that my body clock stays with the new start & finish time.
Someone - was it on the Ship? - suggested that we should do it ten minutes per day, starting on the Monday before the complete time change... One or two small details to be worked out, but I like that.
When I was teaching teenagers we used to take a big group for a week's boating on the Norfolk Broads during half-term week. If the beginning of the trip started the weekend the clocks went back then we would all just ignore the change until the week was over. That gave us extra daylight for sailing - the only disadvantage was groups of kids queuing outside shops waiting for them to open an hour early! My husband and I did the same thing if we took our children away for a half-term holiday.
Someone - was it on the Ship? - suggested that we should do it ten minutes per day, starting on the Monday before the complete time change... One or two small details to be worked out, but I like that.
I do it ten minutes a day because the dogs don't cope with a whole hour in one go. It works well for my body clock too.
When I was teaching teenagers we used to take a big group for a week's boating on the Norfolk Broads during half-term week. If the beginning of the trip started the weekend the clocks went back then we would all just ignore the change until the week was over. That gave us extra daylight for sailing - the only disadvantage was groups of kids queuing outside shops waiting for them to open an hour early! My husband and I did the same thing if we took our children away for a half-term holiday.
I was glad of waking early as it meant I could start work early; I’ve had a really busy day, with weird curveballs thrown at me and no lunch.
Just having a cup of tea before I start dinner, something with chicken legs I believe.
Last day at the Hotel Parents. In honour of my birthday a bit later in the week, this lunchtime featured some very excellent ROAST BEEF and a truly delicious bottle of Burgundy, followed by CAKE. I am also the proud owner of a new garden gnome.
Happy Birthday for later in the week @la vie en rouge . I hope you have the chance for another lovely birthday meal.
Tea tonight was minestrone soup and very nice and filling it was too. Husband is out so I'm going to settle down to a night of BBC Two quizzes.
On Saturday I went to bed at more-or-less my normal time for a Saturday when I'm not doing anything in particular at church the next day, and woke at about the time I wanted to.
Last night was less successful: after going to bed around midnight (normal for a working day), I woke at about 1:30, 3:30 and some other Godless hour which I can't remember. However, I managed to get back to sleep each time, so it could have been much worse.
Back to work today, but it wasn't too bad as L doesn't work on Mondays, and A is on holiday this week (although the one voice file she left from Friday was a complete dog's breakfast ...).
It was decidedly twilight as I was coming home, and fully dark very shortly thereafter, but that's winter in Scotland for you.
Supper was a STEAK, with mushrooms, green things and lovely buttery BOILED POTATOES, washed down with a nice glass of Malbec.
It was all go here this morning as the grocery order and the plumber turned up at the same time. My husband had booked the plumber, but he was out this morning, so I was left looking like an idiot as I didn't know where various things he needed were. There is a lot of house stuff we share, but things like plumbers as very firmly in his domain.
I was pleased as I need to be out this afternoon and I thought it meant that husband didn't have to dash home to be in for the plumber. Now something he ordered from Amazon is arriving and he needs to be here to give the driver the password.
The trouble with online grocery ordering is not seeing the items, and even the information given (weight, capacity) doesn't always translate (at least to me) to an accurate idea.
The wrong size/type of filter papers was my fault, ditto the 'family size' pack of ham, but how did my request for fresh ginger morph into about half a kilo of the stuff? Or a request for a single Yorkshire pudding baking tray turn into a stack of six?
Well, never mind: the freezer is my friend. Ham and Ginger Surprise at some point.
It's just occurred to me (too late!) that I should have decanted some of the chicken stock into the ice-cube tray, so that I could have really small quantities of it if they were needed.
No matter; what I made for supper didn't need any stock. It was a variation on a usual Piglet theme: pasta with broccoli and green beans, with crème fraîche, lemon juice and zest, shallots, tarragon and garlic, finished off with Parmesan, and it was lovely.
Thank you both! Of course, you haven't seen the chaff I had to sift through to get the wheat. The camera is average, like the user, but the lens is very good indeed and, as you might suspect given its owner, of a length and girth that has led to much crudity.
Hmmm my son has a lens like that on his camera. Not sure about crudity, but people are always pointing out interesting wildlife to him when he's out and about.
I had a lovely afternoon in the cemetery chapel, which I seem to be seeing rather a lot of lately, at an event to celebrate the town's success in the East Midlands in Bloom competition this summer. Afterwards I had to walk back to the Town Hall carrying the award for most litter free town. It's a small silver dustbin on a plinth. It'll be proudly displayed somewhere in the building.
The camera is average, like the user, but the lens is very good indeed and, as you might suspect given its owner, of a length and girth that has led to much crudity.
The online grocery delivery has arrived and been packed away. Being a domestic goddess I'm now cooking up a bolognese sauce for the next couple of days. We are out this evening (No Cooking For Nen - Yay!) but this does mean we're going to get behind on The Celebrity Traitors and will need to do some serious catching up at the end of the week.
Today's despatch from the Wilder Shores of Soup: green soup - onion, garlic, pea and lettuce in veggie stock - with a scattering of diced gammon. Very palatable.
A very nice morning was spent walking with the Ramblers in a National Trust property to the north of here. The weather didn't look as though it would be great, but a quick look on the BBC showed it was actually somewhat better further north and so it proved. Now trying to catch up with some bits and pieces ahead of going out to a meeting tonight.
That soup sounds lovely, Firenze. My mum used to make lettuce soup, as Dad inevitably grew more lettuces than we might need. I think hers was based on a watercress soup recipe, but it was very nice.
I've had a fairly satisfactory day; having not heard from the opticians that the next attempt at my new contact lenses had arrived, I called in at lunchtime and asked, and they had. The lady said they had a slot at 4:00 if I could come along, and I said I would. I'm pleased to report that they seem to be quite excellent; for distance vision, I'm only one step off "normal", which with my ocular history is little short of a miracle.
I shall, however, have to get some new reading specs, so it's back off to the interweb to see what they can offer. No matter, the last lot (four pairs in assorted colours) cost the best part of not very much.
Supper was a lamb cannon; I saw them in the chiller in Tessie's and thought, yes. It was very nice, with one of those microwaveable packs of assorted veggies, and a drizzle of a sauce made with some of the flavoured butter that came with the lamb and a splash of red wine.
Comments
Mr Heavenly is busy upstairs tidying away piles of books, admittedly into a different storage place than agreed yesterday but that’s fine. I think he intends to take a couple of days off soon to do a major blitz of the large spare room ready for decorating. The boys’ books have been purged but there are shelves of random childhood things to get rid of. The Elder has already cleared his wardrobe cupboard but the Younger needs to tackle his when he is home.
I need to go for a walk.
The Dragon is alight 24/7, so provides heat for cooking, the radiators (all two of them) and hot water. I'm usually here for much of the day, so I can top him up with Coal now and then, and clean out Ash and Clinker every twelve hours (10pm and 10am seems to have become the norm).
Another grey, windy, and cool day in Arkland the Chill, but the above-mentioned Dragon is busy cooking CHICKEN and ROAST SPUDS for my lunch.
Brought a winter top into circulation - hopefully. It's a stretch fabric, but with a crew neckline, which I dislike. So I cut several inches of notch, and went round the raw edges in tiny blanket stitch.
Not 4 o'clock yet and the shades of evening are closing in. It's the feeling that's there's no point in starting anything, the day's practically over that I hate. Though of course there's dinner still to be got - salmon en croute - which I hope to make a bit more thrilling with the addition of Boursin.
Wood smoke is rising from the chimneys of adjacent Arks, and it is time for SOUP to be prepared.
I have barely noticed the hour change - we slept in this morning for some reason and I was, shall we say, not early for church (not exactly late but there was no time to spare).
I didn’t get a second plateful to bring home, but a lasagne instead. Not frozen, so that’s another meal I need to use or freeze soon. That reminds me: time to check the slow cooker. Today is all about food.
This evening we've just watched The Thursday Murder Club. It didn't get great reviews but we enjoyed it for what it was, which wasn't great drama but more akin to a well-made cosy afternoon crime drama.
Been very busy, as had visitors for lunch (including 2 youngest grandsons). By the time they left it was too late for my afternoon nap (how I envied those little boys who were probably asleep in the car within ten minutes of leaving!).
Am struggling on, trying to get to 'normal' bedtime in the hope of a better sleep tonight
Bright and chilly here this morning. Mr Nen's car is in for a service so we were out of the house early to deliver it to the garage and for me to bring him home in my car. Lots of domestics to be catching up with: first load of washing of the day is on the go.
Into bed about eleven, and fell asleep very quickly - with the light still on! Woke for a trip to the loo just after one. Woke again at an unknown time, didn't go straight back to sleep so put on an audio book (a different one to the previous night) and was soon asleep. Woke a bit before six.
All pretty much like my 'normal' timings, so am hoping that my body clock stays with the new start & finish time.
Or not do it at all.
I do it ten minutes a day because the dogs don't cope with a whole hour in one go. It works well for my body clock too.
Tried that once with our family, it didn't work.
Just having a cup of tea before I start dinner, something with chicken legs I believe.
Rum Baba Yaga's Hut?
Tea tonight was minestrone soup and very nice and filling it was too. Husband is out so I'm going to settle down to a night of BBC Two quizzes.
Last night was less successful: after going to bed around midnight (normal for a working day), I woke at about 1:30, 3:30 and some other Godless hour which I can't remember. However, I managed to get back to sleep each time, so it could have been much worse.
Back to work today, but it wasn't too bad as L doesn't work on Mondays, and A is on holiday this week (although the one voice file she left from Friday was a complete dog's breakfast ...).
It was decidedly twilight as I was coming home, and fully dark very shortly thereafter, but that's winter in Scotland for you.
Supper was a STEAK, with mushrooms, green things and lovely buttery BOILED POTATOES, washed down with a nice glass of Malbec.
I thought I'd blow my own trumpet
Bet you didn't realise I was that flexible!
I was pleased as I need to be out this afternoon and I thought it meant that husband didn't have to dash home to be in for the plumber. Now something he ordered from Amazon is arriving and he needs to be here to give the driver the password.
The wrong size/type of filter papers was my fault, ditto the 'family size' pack of ham, but how did my request for fresh ginger morph into about half a kilo of the stuff? Or a request for a single Yorkshire pudding baking tray turn into a stack of six?
Well, never mind: the freezer is my friend. Ham and Ginger Surprise at some point.
No matter; what I made for supper didn't need any stock. It was a variation on a usual Piglet theme: pasta with broccoli and green beans, with crème fraîche, lemon juice and zest, shallots, tarragon and garlic, finished off with Parmesan, and it was lovely.
Thank you both! Of course, you haven't seen the chaff I had to sift through to get the wheat. The camera is average, like the user, but the lens is very good indeed and, as you might suspect given its owner, of a length and girth that has led to much crudity.
I had a lovely afternoon in the cemetery chapel, which I seem to be seeing rather a lot of lately, at an event to celebrate the town's success in the East Midlands in Bloom competition this summer. Afterwards I had to walk back to the Town Hall carrying the award for most litter free town. It's a small silver dustbin on a plinth. It'll be proudly displayed somewhere in the building.
Oh! What a beauty! I've never seen one as big as that before!
The online grocery delivery has arrived and been packed away. Being a domestic goddess I'm now cooking up a bolognese sauce for the next couple of days. We are out this evening (No Cooking For Nen - Yay!) but this does mean we're going to get behind on The Celebrity Traitors and will need to do some serious catching up at the end of the week.
Sausages, CHIPS, and Gravy have been eaten, and there is some nice CHEESE for later. Also SOUP.
I'm glad I don't live in Jamaica, though.
I've had a fairly satisfactory day; having not heard from the opticians that the next attempt at my new contact lenses had arrived, I called in at lunchtime and asked, and they had. The lady said they had a slot at 4:00 if I could come along, and I said I would. I'm pleased to report that they seem to be quite excellent; for distance vision, I'm only one step off "normal", which with my ocular history is little short of a miracle.
I shall, however, have to get some new reading specs, so it's back off to the interweb to see what they can offer. No matter, the last lot (four pairs in assorted colours) cost the best part of not very much.
Supper was a lamb cannon; I saw them in the chiller in Tessie's and thought, yes. It was very nice, with one of those microwaveable packs of assorted veggies, and a drizzle of a sauce made with some of the flavoured butter that came with the lamb and a splash of red wine.