Happy 1st Anniversary

 Happy 1st Anniversary to my blog. Time passes so quickly. Does not feel like a year since I first took tentative steps to start a blog. I'm so glad I did. Feels like I have a whole bunch of lovely friends out there, we just never get to meet up.

Sorry not been posting

Shall resume shortly. Not at home at the moment. Took myself off on my own for some thinking and sorting time. My heads not into blogging over the last few days. I'm in a little rented flat on the coast and it's lovely only having to think about myself but I do miss my family but I need this time to sort my head out. Normality will resume shortly so don't give up on me yet, please. : (

PS thanks for following my new followers. Much appreciated.

Menu Week 07/11/11

MONDAY - Baked coley with a herb citrus crust, potatoes, vegetables and parsley sauce

TUESDAY - Sausage & liver and onion gravy, mash, cabbage & carrots

WEDNESDAY - Beef casserole, Yorkshire puddings and mash

THURSDAY - Egg, chips and beans

FRIDAY - Salmon fishcakes, wedges and coleslaw

SATURDAY - Homemade doner kebab, pitta salad and white kebab sauce

SUNDAY - Not sure yet

Well the time came to put the heating on. Quite pleased we went so long without it but it's been on for a few days now.

Daughter No3 tried on her coat from last winter this morning. The sleeves were short and it was not a good fit with the blazer being a bigger size this year. So off we went to town when she finished school. We went in New Look and she found a black 3/4 length jacket for £39.99. We went into another shop and she found a jacket she liked more so we bought that one too. It cost £36.00 but had a label on saying £10.00 off so we got it for £26.00, bargain. I shall take the expensive jacket back tomorrow when I go to do my voluntary job. Need to take daughter No2 now and find her a winter jacket, hope we can find as good a bargain for her

M5 Crash

Lets take a moment to think of all the people who have lost their lives or nearly did because of the M5 motorway crash. 7 dead so far and 51 injured in the 34 car pile up on the M5. My god, how those families must be feeling! Does not bear thinking about. I have been following this story all day.

                                               RIP

Hallelujah!

Finally got some of the trees pruned today. Watched the weather forecast when eating my breakfast and it looked glum so thought I'd better get on with the job straight away. After taking the dog for his morning walk I got the ladders out and got straight on with the job. The blossom tree was stripped of most of its branches and will benefit from this drastic pruning as it has not been done in the last five and a half years we have lived here. I then chopped all the branches into small pieces to go in my compost wheelie bin which the council collect every other week. This is then turned into compost for the local farmers to use. The one tree nearly filled the bin. I saved thicker branches to give to sister-in-law for fire wood.

I then started on the three lilac trees of our neighbour. They are down the boundary of our properties and encroach on my garden and are a pain as I catch my car wing mirror on them so I was ruthless and chopped all the branches that came into my garden. Again theses were chopped small to fit in the recycle bin. I only have another tree to prune now so shall leave it until my bin is emptied then I shall fill it again with tree branches.

I love the fact we have a bin for garden waste to be recycled. When we lived in the city this was not done. I just love the fact that I am recycling and helping farmers grow what we eat. It saves us having to fill our car with garden waste and drive to a tip with it. Saves fuel and time and land fill space.

My version, seafood paella

Really fancied a seafood paella this week but seafood can be expensive. I bought a bag of mixed frozen seafood from Aldi which cost £2.99 for a 500g bag.

It had a good mix of squid, mussels, prawns and plenty of king prawns. I only used about 1/3 of the packet for two of us. Paella uses saffron as one of the main ingredients but I can't afford saffron so made do with a bit of turmeric to add the yellow colour.

Seafood paella (my easy cheaper version)

1 tbsp olive oil
onion, chopped
Red pepper, chopped
clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
Plenty of hot stock
Paella rice or risotto rice
Mixed seafood
Frozen peas
Juice 1/2 lemon
Parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper

I cooked the onion, pepper and garlic in the oil over a low heat for 5 minutes.
Add the paprika, turmeric (or saffron) and the rice and cook for a minute.
Add some stock to cover and keep giving it a stir adding more stock as it's absorbed until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
Add some frozen peas and cook for a few minutes.
Add the mixed seafood, parsley, lemon juice and season. Heat through until seafood is just hot. Cooking any longer will make the seafood chewy and tough.

Not given any quantities. Just add whatever amount you fancy for however many people you are feeding. A really good stock will give it a good flavour.  I think it made a lovely colourful bowl of food.

Nothing much happening here today. Spent part of the day sleeping as I worked last night. Washing still getting hung in the garden to dry as the weather is still lovely for the time of year. I plan to have a busier day tomorrow. Want to attempt to cut the trees I planned to do last week but got rained off the day I wanted to do it so hopefully will get this sorted tomorrow.

Plenty of packages been delivered this week full of Christmas presents. This is the way I like to Christmas shop, on the Internet, no crowded shops, no wasting petrol and free delivery for all the gifts I got delivered this week. Another job I must do tomorrow is to go in the loft space over the garage and find my Christmas cards. I usually buy them in the sales in January then stash them away with the Christmas decorations so must find them tomorrow to check I've got enough. If I have time I might try printing some of my brown wrapping paper tomorrow too.

Just a short one

I'm setting off for work very soon so just a short blog today. I saw daughters boyfriend today when I went to pick her up from his house. He looked a bit under the weather and was still in shock and in a lot of discomfort but at least he's alive. He booked his driving test today. I think this has really scared him and he wants to get rid of the bike.

I made chicken, sweetcorn and mayo sandwiches this morning for daughters packup and needed to open a new tin of sweetcorn. When I only need a bit of sweetcorn for something what I do is drain the can then portion the sweetcorn into small containers.

I pop these containers in the freezer so whenever I need a bit of corn I just have to defrost a small pot and I am not wasting any food.

Forgot to show you my bargain shoes I got at my charity shop last Friday.

These are my glam shoes for over christmas. A bargain at £3.75 and they are nearly perfect. I think someone bought them for a special occasion and only wore them the once they are that new.

Got to go now. Bye