Countdown to Selfsufficientish Day August 13th.

[Peggy Sue]

Yes I think the weather make have put a dampener on my salad cream making....might have to think again...

[Ratty]

Well I had a whole day's worth of sewing planned - altering some clothes to make them funky for us 3 for Shambala festival, making more wee wipes and mending a pillow BUT I now have to trek over to Sheffield in the pouring rain on public transport (bus, then tram, then train, then bus) with a very crotchety 16 month old in order to sort out the disgusting mess my tenants have left my old house in - NEVER allow tenants to have "house" cats as this is just asking for trouble, and cat pee ... I have the Council coming to do a rent assessment for the next tenant (I'm trying to be more ethical and getting someone in who is on benefits and is desperate for a house) in just 2 weeks! Maybe I'll get a bit of sewing done when I get home late tomorrow night!

Hope everyone else has a great Ish Day. And Happy Birthday

[Shirley]

It's almost here - I've decided to do a heap of home baking tomorrow and not to travel anywhere at all unless it's a walk with the camera if it's not pouring down.

Will play some old fashioned games with the kids too.

[ina]

Will have to make my jam tomorrow - the blaeberries have been sitting with the sugar for a few days now, waiting for me to get out and pick a few more... But no luck, so it'll just be a half portion jam. I like to make jam first thing in the morning, due to wasps still being asleep (and the water being hot for washing up!).

And then I'll have to get a lot of work done...

But I might just pick my gooseberries in the evening, and depending on how many there are, make something or other with them!

[Peggy Sue]

I flushed the loo with a bucket of water from the water butt to start the day!
I will resurrect some coats I don't use because they ahve no zips in the pockets with zips on things that arre dead/useless- I ahve been meaning to do this for ages. Maybe the salad cream idea might have to be the weekend if the weather cheers up a bit!

Ina, I had no idea wasps slept in the morning

[barefootlinzi]

Well i am afraid ish day will pass me by....me and OH have been running to the loo in the past 24 hours with a violent sickess and diarrhoea bug and we feel so weak all we can manage is vegetating i front of the telly! hope you all have a great day

[Milims]

Well i am afraid ish day will pass me by....me and OH have been running to the loo in the past 24 hours with a violent sickess and diarrhoea bug and we feel so weak all we can manage is vegetating i front of the telly! hope you all have a great day

Awww you poor thing - I do hope you are feeling lots better very soon! BTW - have you tried Nux Vomica - it might help to stop you being sick.

Today is my first day of joblessness between jobs so I think today will just be spent chillin with the family, baking, soup making, reading my book and perhaps trying to knit some slippers from a simple pattern I found - the thing is I'm better with a screwdriver than knitting needles - so it will be a challenge!

[Peggy Sue]

Well a challenge would be knitting with a screwdriver

[Rosendula]

I really didn't plan anything for yesterday because I know that my plans never work out for one reason or another. So I took the day as it came.

In the morning I baked some sausage rolls and cheesy mountain things that I made up but don't have a name for yet (cut out different size cirlces of pastry, spread tomato puree on the big one, sprinkle with cheese, then put the next size on. Keep going until you get to the last one, then instead of tomato puree, brush with egg and then sprinkle with cheese. Bung them in the oven till they look and smell gorgeous!)

Then the postie came with some heirloom seeds I bought off the internet! So I spent ages just looking at them, sorting them into various piles according to where they will be sown, re-sorting into sowing date order ... you know how it is.

In the evening I managed to get to the allotment. Unfortunately, I said to Richard, "I'm going to the allotment" and it promptly started raining .It always does that! I went anyway, and when the rain eased off a bit I managed to sow a row of turnips and hoe between the peas. Then it came down heavy again so it was a case of hide in the shed and refuse to make eye contact with the giant spider until it eased off again. By then, it was too wet to do anything so I had to go home

After we got Katie to bed I got out my John Seymour book that I've borrowed from library and read about composting toilets! Living in a council house, I don't think I'll ever get round to having one, but they might be getting one at the allotments I go to so I'm interested to see how they work. Question is, would you use compost made from other people's poo on your veg? I think I would use it if it was just my family's, but other people's Not sure. Still a bit squirmish on that one

[Peggy Sue]

I know what you mean about best laid plans- didn't get those coat zips done.... but I did do tow things I've been meaning to do for ages- flush the loo with water from the waterbutt and wee on the compost heap!

I will have to do teh zips at the weekend witht he salad cream, but what a great idea to have an ish day

[ashamomodablam]

well went blackberry picking with the kids, then made green tomato chutney and in the evening made lavander bags for christmas presents

[Peggy Sue]

Sarah Jane- sorry to report the salad cream was a bit of a disaster so I won't bother handing on the recipe! Flavour was OK but it was as thin as water! I shall try another recipe and whn I find one that works I shall rave about it here!!

...back to the mayo for now...

[Peggy Sue]

Update on the salad cream, I heated it up again to thicken it which EVENTUALLY happened, but its such a faff compared to Mayo. You ahve to cook cornflour & milk till it thicken, then cool, then add eggs, cook, then cool, then add vinegar (the lettuce has bolted by now!)

I also tried to make it a bit special by using vintage cider vinegar- bit overpowering I felt! Save that one for the pickles

[Big Al]

Update on the salad cream, I heated it up again to thicken it which EVENTUALLY happened, but its such a faff compared to Mayo. You ahve to cook cornflour & milk till it thicken, then cool, then add eggs, cook, then cool, then add vinegar (the lettuce has bolted by now!)

I also tried to make it a bit special by using vintage cider vinegar- bit overpowering I felt! Save that one for the pickles

so do you start with a roux type base then add the eggs etc...?

[Peggy Sue]

You cook 1/2 pt milk with a tbs cornflour, seasoning and tsp mustard and 2 tbs oil til its thick, so not exactly a traditional roux....then cool, beat in 2 eggs, heat to thicken but don't boil, then whisk in 1/2 pt vinegar.

(Then in my case reheat for what felt like 20 mins to get the damn stuff to thicken enough!!)

I did see another recipe in a Gary Rhodes book with lots of expensive stuff like double cream in, but my OH eats gallon of salad cream so no chance I'm buying pints and pints of cream!!