How to make time.....

I am trying hard to make time.....time for my partner, time for the children, time for my friends, time for family and time for work.

well unless I have the ability to turn back time. 

So I am now trying to plan the next few weeks/months. 

Work has been very busy and as you can see from my blogs in the last week or so I have been having a few late nights and was planning to get the slow cooker out more....

Yesterday, instead of clearing the loft, I embarked on a major cooking session. 

These are the ingredients for Somerset pork,(except the swede) 

some roast chops , the base for shepherds pie and swede for clapshot.

2 portions of minced pork with onions, peppers and mushroom for use in chilli and spagbol.

2 finished shepherds pies with a roast pork joint.

cooked somerset pork, clapshot, and some bacon and veg soup..

There was also a bacon joint and some sausages that I cooked off without photographing. 

So the meals for the week are sorted. Sunday,roast pork (as above) 

Monday, the rest of the roast pork heated with rice, shallots, lemon and garlic with sweetcorn. tasted great, I just forgot to photograph it! 

Now in the freezer we have, 9 meals for four ready to go, that is not including the soup and soup ingredients still in the fridge. Also in the freezer is a chicken for Sunday lunch next week. so my plan is to go to Aldi for some veggies, fruit, yogurt and milk and that is it. 

I hope to make some time in the week for me. i am going to try and have 1 day per month off to spend with LSP and 1 day to spend with friends. I want to make a nice lunch and have a leisurely lunch giggling at the table, having time to have conversations that last more than 5 minutes. 

my days with LSP will be trips out for us, we have planned January and February and I am looking at March.

Also the need to plan to get our brood round the same table at the same time and to try and enjoy things together that are not about shopping! (the joy of having daughters) I love shopping I would like to do other things as well. 

So my way of creating time is about planning. I am making time by fixing time. putting time aside and planning for it. 

Have a good week. x

Lamb stew and a trip to Wales.

Morning.

(these were the clouds over the garden this morning) 

We have had a busy few days. It started with a mega shop on Thursday night. This was a now rare Tesco shop. we are doing more and more shops at Aldi and Lidl, however once in a while we need to stock up on the bits and pieces that they do not sell. odd things like, my favourite shaving gel, clear recycling bags, favourite coffee etc. It also meant for a mega meat shop! they had lots of short date, lamb, pork and mince. So I made a lovely slow cooked fruity lamb stew.

 You may observe one or two strange ingredients. tomato sauce, brown sauce, cranberry sauce and rose wine.

When i make stew, it is often a chance to use things up. the wine was left over from Christmas day as was the cranberry sauce. The tomato and brown sauce were nearly used up so they were swilled out and added to the mix. we had an assortment of potato's both old and new so they were chopped and peeled and thrown in.

How did it taste?? lovely. however we have not had any yet. We gave my sister some and the rest went into the freezer for an easy meal in the week.

Friday. ahh I had a day off on Friday. I had planned to return to the loft and continue with the big clear up. Did that happen? No. I spent the morning pottering and then the afternoon shopping. lots of lovely Christmas shopping. I have bought the presents for my cousins and lots of bits and pieces for the girls for Christmas. I just love the words 70% off.  Home then mince and tatties for tea. double the amount 1/2 for us and 1/2 for the freezer. I now have to get the   presents into the loft and away from prying eyes.

Friday was also a sad day. I am a public Sector worker and the cuts are really taking effect. many of our colleagues and friends are having their posts cut and are either being made redundant or having to first interview for their own jobs. its horrific. Some of our friends found out on Friday so we were texting and messaging people to find out if they survived the cull. I still have to wait and see if the axe will fall on my team but we wont know till after April.

Saturday.
We went visiting wider family in Wales.

A lovely day to be travelling as the weather was good and the motorway was clear. I still get excited at going over the Seven Bridge, although was not happy that the toll is now £6!

It was a very busy day filled with lots of talk and chatter. We went to an Italian  for lunch. The food was nice and we got very engrossed in our conversation. We took our time over our meal, then dessert, then coffee. We got the hint that we might have overstayed our welcome when the waiter was coming over every 5 minutes to take something off the table. First the cups, then the jug of water, then the salt and pepper, then giving us the bill, then the music being turned off. We decided that we were either being ushered out or the waiter was interested in what we were saying.

By the end of the day we were tired and ready for drive home. Once again the motorway was clear.

So now its Sunday morning. I am sat with a cup of coffee and listening to the Archer's and writing this blog. Perfect. Hope you all have a nice day. x

dinner time.

its time to get the sloe cooker out as yet again I am very late with the dinner. Luckily we are a house of adults now. So people are able to snack and wait for me to get in.  Its now 7.55 and we have just finished. tonight it was spag bol with garlic bread.

So next week the stews and slow cooks will start again, that way no one has to wait till 7.30pm.

My favourite slow cooker meals are...

Lamb stew,
Pork stew,
Chicken stew,
Chicken cassolet.
shepherds pie
mince and gravy
chilli con carne

and that's about it.....i have some lovely slow cooker recipe books and the whole WWW, I just keep cooking the same things especially in the slow cooker.

I cook without thinking, I find it really hard to explain timings and quantities. I cook from memory, I know when to put things in and the exact ingredients depend on what is in the cupboard. I am the first to admit, I do not cook everything from scratch. I do get assistance from jar's from time to time. especially for tonights spag bol. fresh onion, mushroom, mince, jar of sauce, linguine, parmasan, and garlic bread.

I start cooking and it all falls into place.

I have a shelf full of recipe books and only use them when I am trying something special or new. Or baking.

So I am going to try to add some variety to my slow cooker meals. watch this space...

100 mile an hour wind

This morning I woke to the sound of the wind roaring down the chimney. As well as the sound of the wind roaring up the street. In the back yard there was a fence panel that was starting to unravel itself.

This was at 4am.

At 6.30am I got up having spent my time between 4-6.20 dozing, tossing, listening. worrying.

A nice quick shower and then the morning just was not long enough.... I made porridge for LSP and I and our sandwiches for lunch, fed the dog and sorted out the cardboard. Looked at the fence panel and decided it could wait till tonight (luckily our neighbour (who is responsible) has patched it up). LSP was sorting out the way the garden had redistributed itself.

arrived at work (slightly late) the day started ok, emptied all of last years yoghurt, cheese, pate etc from the work fridge made a cup of tea, turned on the computer.....then it all started getting very busy and stayed busy, I felt like I was caught in a 100 mile wind. I managed to finish at 6.10 with a massive to do list for the morning.

I can't believe its 8.15pm already. I have only just finished cooking and eating dinner. (sausage, egg and chips) Bed time is in 1 hour 45 minutes and I have so much to do. So I am going to have a glass of lemonade, a mince pie (yes we still have loads) and read some blogs for the next 13 minutes then get to it.

Hopefully the wind will calm tomorrow.

What to do today?

Today is a bank holiday so no work! Unfortunately the spaniel does no do lie in's. so I took myself downstairs, sat on the sofa and opened the laptop. It was nice and quiet and calm. I have a list of jobs to do that is a mile long but I just wanted some peace and quiet. LSP woke up enthusiastic and eager to crack on with the day. Job 1, To get all of the decorations into the loft. 


After much grunting and groaning (from me) and a complaint that I over pack the boxes (from LSP) The decorations are in the loft. 


This has now lead onto job number 2. sort out the loft! 


Our Loft is an Oubliette. 


Oubliette is a french word for a dungeon that is only accessible by a hatch in the ceiling. 


For anyone who is a fan of the film the Labyrinth, it is a place to put things to forget them. 


Yes our loft is defiantly a place to put things to forget them. if you were to test me, I could not name everything that was in there! So this is the first big job of the year to tackle the loft. to make it an accessible space where everything is sorted and organised. 


It is a big job! 


I will not be posting any before pictures. 


At some point, (possible March) (its a big loft) I will post the after pictures. 


If it is not beautiful, useful or sentimental. its going. 


The local Charity shops will be the primary benifciaries. with some stuff going to the recycling centre that is of no use to anyone. 


it will not be empty as there is a lot of things that are up there for a reason or purpose. its not all junk. 


I just need to be able to see the wood for the tree's. 


Anyhow. I am going to have another cup of coffee, finish watching the bad film we are watching, change into my scruffs, arm myself with clear bags for the charity shop and black bags for the recycling centre and get to it. 

Tyrolean Roulette and by bye Pat

What a busy first day of the year!!! I awoke early with a clear head as we had an early night and no alcohol. Unlike the vast majority of my facebook and twitter friends! (apart from the pregnant ones)

The day started with Packing up Christmas. LSP and I have been getting what is needed for next year and we have been able to pack it away in our new Christmas Tidy.

How amazing is that!!! It contains all the things we will need early, before the decorations go up. There are 10 rolls of wrapping paper, 80 Christmas cards and dozens of stickers and tags as well as lovely ribbon. we also have space for the stockings and sacks. I love it. 

Next,  the taking down and packing away of the ornaments. 

(it took more than twice as long as to put them up) 

Its my own fault, we have 2 tree's and 3 garlands all of which are decked with baubles and ornaments. I could not bear the thought of any of them getting broken, so all of the glass baubles get put back into their boxes before being packed away in the bigger boxes. We have one box for the sitting room ornaments and one for the dining room. it makes it a lot easier. (Yes I can be quite sad and anal, this is why LSP is long suffering). 

I have my own way of organising the boxes, so the rest of the family let me get on with it.

We had a surprise call at lunch time as GFM and her Faïence (I think that's how its spelt) were passing through so we met for a spot of lunch. 

Now we had invited OD and ODBH for Dinner this evening as it was New Years Day. Now when  we were planning dinner I did not take into account that Pat on Eastender's would be breathing her last. So dinner was turned down while I sat cross legged on the floor watching her go. I felt Sad, Sad for the loss of a character who I enjoyed watching each week. It also made me think of those who were close to me who had passed on. 

This resulted in a dinner of well done roasties, slightly tough meat and the veg was a bit mushy and cold. but never mind it was all edible. 

The red and silver wrappers were from where LSP, OD, ODBH and YD had a competition to see who could break into a Kinder chocolate Santa and assemble the toy the fastest. 

This lead onto more organised games. 

We had a fab game of Articulate, we played old vs young, it was hilarious and LSP and I won. 

After this we turned our attention to LSP's new game Tyrolean Roulette. LSP collects wooden and vintage games. This was modern and from Aldi. 

you spin the spinner and it knocks the balls into the holes. Simple but great fun. natural balls are worth their face value green are double and red are minus. It was great fun and tested the mental arithmetic. (I won) 

So it has been a very fab (but busy) day. its now 1 hour past my bedtime and I am only just finishing my blog for the day. night night all. 

oh and RIP Pat. 

xxx

What a fab way to end the year.

What a great way to end the year. LSP whisked me off to Oxford to see........

South Pacific. 

It was amazing. The cast was fantastic. Samantha Womak made a wonderful Nellie, but I was blown away by, Emile played by Paulo Szot. We were very lucky to see him as he was part of the original Broadway (2008) cast and won a Tony award for his performance. he had only done the past couple of weeks in Oxford and although South Pacific is continuing to tour, this is his last performance. His voice was amazing and his rendition of "some enchanted evening" will stay with me forever. 

The other songs were good as well, I am going to wash that man right out of my hair, there is nothing like a dame and Happy Talk.   

Being new years eve before the curtain come down the cast and audience all sang Auld lang Syne. It was great and brought a tear to my eye. 

Before we went to the theatre there was time for a shop and some lunch. 

Yes it had to be Cath... My Bag of lovely purchases....including, christmas candle holder, paperchains for next year, enamel jug, square oilskin bag and a new shoulder bag. along with a new diary I bought yesterday thats all my Christmas money gone now. (but am very lucky and love all my things.) 

Oxford is very special to LSP and I as we both studied there. However, it still does not stop me snapping away like a tourist every time we go. 

for Lunch we went to the Grapes. 

A lovely pub opposite the Theatre with good priced pub grub. 

It was a fantastic way to spend the last day of the year. 

So a Happy New Year to all of you and all the best for 2012. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxx