Tomato and Bean sorting

Hello All
Back to my computer.
It's been a busy couple of days., mucking out the hens and rabbits, taking in the delicate plants ( not many of those as I don't really do delicate) burning twigs, bean plants, spent blackberry canes and all the other detritus of late autumn. The family have been for tea and Adam has been this weekend. Today EGD and myself went shopping for the ingredients for the rest of the presents she and I are making for family at Christmas.
 Below is a picture of Adam sorting the last of the tomatoes. he really enjoyed this task as he likes things to be organised and in their place. He was a little sad when he finished this big bowl full. However I had another bowl in the fridge, so he was extremely happy. The green ones are now to the side of the kitchen fire, with half the red ones back in the bridge and a the rest of the red ones processed for passata and paste.
  I then sorted through the beans, giving Adam the dry ones to pod and put on a tray to finish drying for next year's seed or into jars for cooking in the winter.   I picked some more beans  and ED and YGD shelled them on sunday  and when Adam comes next there should be several trays of beans to sort into colours/ types and place into jars. he will love that!

I'll take a picture when all the beans are ready and  give a bit of a run down an their uses.

Today D. has been attacking all the niggly little jobs that have cropped up over the last few weeks while we have been busy with the exhibition and the the re-siti ng of the memorial. The programmer for the central heating, which we rarely use, stopped working, the bathroom and study strip lights were not working and my sewing machine was playing up. So while YGD and I we shopping. D. set to and solved all the probs. What a star!!
I usually plan my weeks meals on monday, but for some reason I haven't done that today. I shall have to do that tomorrow or I will waste stuff .... and that would never do!!
 I also need to sort out D's " Santa diary" He has a Santa costume that I made for him some years ago  and he is in some demand as Santa  (  he has white hair and actually doesn't need a cushion up his shirt!) As he is CRB checked because of our shared lives work and provides his own costume he is extremely popular. However he doesn't accept many offers as it is really quite tiring and stressful.
 Enough for tonight
I'm thankful for the roof over our heads, while others in the world have lost what little they had to the forces of nature.
Sleep well dear frugal friends
Gillx

meringues

Whoops
Just posted two pictures with no explanation!
In Brief then (as I am cooking tea at the mo) The first picture is the first, and only, picture of the mini-meringues I made on thursday. This picture demonstrates how I blind bake the cases. I cut out the pastrey and line the tins. After pricking the base with a fork a couple of times I then place a paper bun case inside the pastry and fill it with dried beans and peas. ( I keep a large jar of mixed dried legumes for blind baking ) the trays go into the oven for 10 minutes and, after emptying the beans and paper out, for a further 5 mins. At his stage you can freeze the cases for another day if you want to.
next I put a good spoonful of cooked bramley apple in each pastry case before piping meringue on the top, ensuring that it buts up to the side, with no gaps for the apple to get out of. These then go into the oven for 4 mins on 200o and are turned out straight away onto a cooling rack.

Hope that all made sense, if not, it serves me right for rushing!

The next photo was taken by YD today after I took in as much as I could from the garden, before tonight's expected frost wipes out the toms, celery, squash, baby spinach and beans. I also took in the last of the bramleys and some beetroot and parsnips for tomorrows tea. The beans are the last of the drying borlotti and drying butter bean.

Back to making the chicken pie that we always have when Adam comes to stop.
 Will make a more coherent post soon!
Gillx

On the radio and the TV

Phew ! What a day!
 Up at 6.30 so that I could meet with a reporter  from the local radio station for the early morning show. Talked aboutt he meeting tonight
Home to let the chicks out and feed them and the rabbits.
Started making my individual apple meringues. half in and the phone rings. it's the local TV reporter,  "Could he come and get a picture of the memorial ?
Yes, no prob says I. When I get back in the kitchen I smell burnt meringues. Oh B****r !
 So I take those out and put the rest in, fogetting to take a picture of the second satge before the meringue.
Fly upstairs to change my shirt which was a bit ditched now from cooking etc. The phone rings again "Can I spare a couple of minutes to complete a survey?" I very politely told her no, but maybe too politely as it took quite some time to tell her I had no time , and guess what ?! I burnt the second half of the meringues! Grrr. Now a few burnt meringues is not the end of the world, but I had already taken pictures of the first steps to show you guys and now I shall have to show a picture of burnt meringues with the middle stage missing.
 Round to the caretakers to get the keys and back to the hall. Where I meet an elderly lady who doesn't mix too much since her husband died a couple of years ago. I'm looking forward to tonight she says. I was SO pleased !
 The guy with the camera  arrives, we talk about the memorial and he says  " can I get a shot of you polishing the memorial?" Okay, I grab a tea towel and try to look as though I'm the sort of person that dusts stuff (I'm not)  I'm blabbing on about how nice it was to speak to aforementioned woman and he asks me to wait until I face the camera before talking, when he will ask me a question. I then realise ,doh, that he has a video camera. For the next ten minutes or so he has me polishing stuff, walking in and out the door to the hall and speaking directly to camera about how we came to get it etc. Thank goodness I changed my shirt!

 I wrote that yesterday, prior to icing a couple of slab cakes and setting up the hall for the re.dedication.
 I shan't bore you with the usual stuff I do wether I am organising an event, suffice to say that both D. and I and the animals managed to grab some food and we and our clothes were clean when we set off to the hall.
And I managed to forget to take a pic of the meringues !!
What a great turnout ! many local people turned up, as did a quartet of councillors and the mayor (and we didn't even ask him!). As folk came through the door several said that they had just seen me on the tele.
The raffle and sales of preserves raised over £50 for the British Legion - a representative of which attended and laid a wreath. The vicar held a (very) short service and then nearly everybody stayed for tea, cakes and a chat.
 A great night but gosh I was tired. I was in bed by eleven, which is early for me, and I even slept most of the night.
 Up earlyish to accompany D. to the hospital for some routine stuff. Home in time for lunch with one of our shared lives guys and YGD, who had come to look over some recipes and patterns with me.
 Since then I have answered the phone and emails and facebook messages which have been coming in thick and fast, just when I thought that I would be settling down to some sewing and taking a break from Civic Society stuff.
I have promised myself that I will deffo do some cake recipes and a couple of patterns for the blog tomorrow and get back to blogging about the stuff my frugal Friends  follow for!
Welcome Julie on Bloglovin !
But for now I'm off to make tea and then do NOTHING tonight
until tomorrow Dear frugellers
 Oh yes and well spotted Sandie !!! I have seen it now, all half a minute of it, with quite a lot of my left nostril.
Gillx

Doggie Dishwasher and a new shop in town

Today has been a little busy.
I have been getting a couple of display boards ready for our social evening on thursday. I have also returned some equipment that we borrowed at the weekend and made some phone calls to firm up the itinerary and allocation of tasks.
 After popping to the shops, I then started some baking. here is my new dishwasher!

 This is Sammie-was-foster-dog-now forever-YD's dog! She thought he had developed some sort of ecema (how DO you spell it?) and then realised it was dried cake mix!
While in town I popped into Sainsburys for some cooking margarine and noticed this pack of "cooking" bacon for £1.10p. It is four thick bacon chops and a couple of bits. I cooked them all once I had opened the packet. The two larger chops we had with potato rosti from a couple of large potatoes from the garden, some scrummy, ripe, homegrown tomatoes and a couple of our eggs.

The extra bacon, which I have now frozen, will go into a quiche at the weekend.
I called into a new shop in town (Ripley) called Boyse. I am very pleased to see a new shop opening as so many have closed. This shop sells all sorts of hardware and soft furnishings  and...fabric!!!! Not a lot to choose from at the moment, but the assistants tell me that there has been a surprising amount of interest in this, so who knows?. There is also a pretty good haberdashery section, so I'm well pleased. I bought some material to complete a certain Christmas task and a few squares of felt for another.
 A warm Derbyshire welcome to new follower, Mickle in New  Zealand, who is also a cat lover. I'm also  pleased to welcome Pam from a Good Life in Tydd as a follower. She and I have been reading each other's blogs while believing we were following each other! I guess I need to sort out this sort of thing so that I don't miss those blogs that I have been reaching by "blog-jumping" from other favourite blogs. Crikey, another thing to sort for the new year.
Off to join D. and some friends at the pub -I'd rather stay in the warm really, as it has dropped cold this week. All the extra curtains are now up and extra blankets on beds.
keep warm dear Frugal friends
Gillx

My Carrot Cake recipe

Great weekend, but gosh I'm tired! The maps and pictures from the the exhibition would normally be covered in polythene and packed away. However we are hosting a re-dedication evening for the village war memorial on Thursday and as many older people will be attending we have decided to put some of the smaller exhibits that contain old photographs around the room to be enjoyed.
Today I caught up on the washing and put as much as I could on the line as rain is forecast and then it will be a touch of of the widow twankeys all over the house.
I managed to strip about twenty of the bean plants, yet again before the rain. Picking beans in (or indeed after) the rain is THE wettest experience, from all angles. Today all the french beans came down and most of the Borlottis with help from EGD. There were few worth eating green but plenty for drying, so there are even more trays around the house.
 Tomorrow I start to bake for Thursday evening. So it will be carrot cake day.
I know everybody has a recipe, but hey ho here is mine and I shall reduce it to one cake's worth ,I usually bake in industrial quantities. So for a 9 or 10 inch diameter tin....
mix together
9 ounces SR flour  - half and half wholemeal and white is good but not essential
9 ounces sugar  - white will do
2 tablespoons cinnamon
pinch of salt
 then add
200 ml oil - rapeseed, corn or vegetable - whichever is cheapest
4 loosely beaten eggs
  stir and then add
 9 ounces grated carrots

If you wish you could add walnuts or sultanas at this stage. I don't do this as I am usually baking for others and adding too many ingredients reduces the numbers of people who can, or want to, eat this cake.

 Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake at 180 for 35mins. (or until it springs back when pressed gently)

This cake is good just like this, but is traditionally iced with cream cheese.  Which I don't do!  No surprise there then! As you will have noticed I use oil for this cake and so I continue the no-milk product and make a simple icing made with icing sugar and the grated rind and juice of a large orange. Spread this fairly thinly over the top only, which is sufficient and makes it easier to eat.
This is not an expensive cake to make especially if it is kept simple.

I have started on a couple of Christmas presents today, just to relax. I can't say what they are because we always keep our gifts a surprise. As I finish them I will try to remember to take a photograph to show you after Christmas. Also did the final planning with EGD for the presents she is making. I have just realised that I have used the "C" word twice now. oooh er! Must be getting closer.
 If anyone is interested I will put up the recipes for the rest of the cakes as I make them.
A huge welcome to my new Blog lovin followers, I hope you are enjoying following my somewhat rambling blog.
Until next time,  night, night dear Frugellers
Gillx

Back from the exhibition

Hello Again
Back from the exhibition and having rested by sore feet I'm sat back at the laptop.
Well, today was a great success. Not so much for the numbers through the door, though they were pretty good, but because of the atmosphere and what was achieved.
 People came to look at the maps, models and old pictures , then sat down for a cup of tea and some cake and then they talked   and talked   and talked. They talked to us and each other and to people they had never met before and they met old friends that they had gone to Sunday school with 70 years ago. Some looked at the exhibits with a learned eye and others with a moist one. It was wonderful. We recorded stories  -  "while I'm still breathin me duck !" corrected facts that we were unsure of and filled in gaps in our knowledge.
A couple of our members took a group on a heritage walk around our district, which has a rich industrial heritage. We are not always pretty, but we are interesting. When the walkers came back they were all ready for a cup of tea and a sit down in the warm (oh yes, and the loo!)
Tomorrow we do it again. I hope I enjoy it as much as I have today.
Oh yes! and the cake went down well too.
When I got home tonight I prepped tomorrows dinner (tea) I have made a huge lamb casserole and have the cobbler ready to put on top. Potatoes and carrots peeled, cabbage shredded. I have also weighed out the makings of a chocolate pud and some drops scones. YD will be helping out tomorrow (bless her!), so one of us will nip back to put the dinner on. When ED and family arrive they will help us to dismantle and get everything back to ours, wrap it up in plastic and put into the hay loft for safe keeping.
 Then we can sit down to a family meal.
 The fireworks are banging away outside tonight (bonfire night, dear non-UK friends) I was worried that Dixie our cat might be upset by them. (Unfortunately we don't have Annie our goat to worry about this year - she used to hate them so we would leave a radio in the goat house for her) I finally found Dixie asleep in a tray of beans I was drying. I stroked her gently, She looked up at me... and signalled "sod off!" so I guess she is okay with the fireworks this year!.
I think a cup of hot milk and an early night with a book is called for. I have a great book I am reading which is lengthy and very carefully researched . It is called "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes and tells of the penal transportation system which was the precursor to origin of Australia. It is not an easy read, but truly Epic.
Goodnight dear Frugal Friends.
Gillx

Off to the Exhibition

Morning All !
--   and a special welcome to Kate from Pennsylvania, nice to see you here.
Just back from hanging balloons outside the village hall. This weekend  we hold an exhibition and some walks as part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Discovery Days ( what a mouthful)
 The weather isn't looking too kind, but we have done our best, so we shall wait to see who turns up. I cooked slab cakes - lemon drizzle, ginger, carrot cake and apple cake for the refreshments. My colleague reckons I should put a sign outside saying "come and get your five a day here". If they don't have the saying in your country, it means you should eat five vegetables or fruits each day.
The animals.who are now knee deep in mud, are fed and watered(!) and tonight's veg are prepped, so I will have a shower and then wend my way round to finish setting up.
  See you later and let you know how we got on.
Gillx