Unbought Delicacies: 27/11/2011

Friday, 2 December 2011

Frugal Friday

Another Friday rolls around :) Went shopping at the tip again, came home with this little haul:

Here we have a brand new and unused Spong mincer ( I know, but I'll add it to the collection lol) a vintage chip cutter - I had one a while back, but it broke and I hardly ever used it; however, I have an experiment coming up with homemade oven chips, so thought this would ensure uniform chips for that lol). The contraption at the front is a pasta machine. I have one, but it only does straigh sheets, would have to buy attachments for it; this one does three types as it is, so it came home with me, very little used and good quality. Just checked it on the net, seems to be over £60 for that. Total for all 3? £2.00, thankyou very much :)

Frugal Friday's supper was home made chicken curry, loosely based on HFW's murgh makhani. Chicken was £9.00, fed three adults, with enough for another meal for three, plus the stock from the carcas, served with brown rice. Washed down with half price Montana wine, followed by homebrew.

Big satisfied smile :)

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Old Irish prayer

Dear Lord,

Give me a few friends

who will love me for what I am,

and keep ever burning

before my vagrant steps

the kindly light of hope…

And though I come not within sight

of the castle of my dreams,

teach me to be thankful for life,

and for time’s olden memories

that are good and sweet.

And may the evening’s twilight

find me gentle still.

-Old Irish prayer

(Irish kitchen at Strokesdown Park http://www.strokestownpark.ie/ )

Monday, 28 November 2011

Stop and think for a Monday

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life