Waste Not Want Not.

Dear reader you do know I love all things thrifty and mostly I only hand over hard earned money when I'm receiving a bargain in return.

Now, I do like to share any little gems I've spied, on my blog. Not because I have any links to the sellers, it's simply I like to share things that may bring a little (discounted) joy.

I receive a marvellous weekly newsletter from Martin Lewes who is a wizard at managing moolah. If you do not subscribe to it already through his money saving expert website, may I suggest you do.  His many nuggets of wisdom have saved us a lot of money over time and helped us make financial decisions.

Today he highlighted the supermarket special offers for veg and fruit boxes. About time the supermarkets started to do this. I shop at various big food stores and Morrisons have for a time sold 'wonky' veg at reasonable prices. Although I have to say sometimes the produce is not as fresh as it should be.

Whilst I'm picking bones, I might also add I'm not best pleased with Sainsburys, who despite the fact I've been spending heaps more during lockdown, have not issued any money saving coupons or double/triple points coupons during the whole of the lockdown. Shame on them, taking advantage of their regular customers.

Anyhoo, I was very impressed with this Lidl offer.

5Kg of fruit and veg for £1.50. Edible but not perfect, slightly past its best before date. All types of fruit and veg, some more exotic than others. A good rootle around and I think you could pick up a box that would provide quite a few meals. I believe they are only available early on in the day then anything left unsold is donated to good local causes.

If we stopped wasting and discarding so much the planet would be a lot happier. And so would I.

Thrifty Tipples

I have just seen a warning on Rosemary's blog about the new 'blogger format', I popped over to have a look and oh dear it doesn't look promising.


Changes always feel strange at first so I'm quite happy to give things a go but I can't seem to access my photos. That may be because the new format hasn't gone fully live yet? It does indicate an option to continue with this style of blogger so we shall see.

Anyhoo, on to more important things, thrifty tipples.

I originally posted about making elderflower fizz way back in 2014, so I thought I would revisit the making of said fabulous tipple as the flowers are just about ready, after all of our recent sun and rain.

There are many folk posting various recipes and I guess it doesn't really matter who you follow on this, as the results of this concoction are usually delicious whatever the ratio of ingredients are.

I did watch a deightful little film on Dick and Angel Strawbridge's site on the making of elderflower fizz, so if you like to see how it's done pop over there. (No pun intended)

Ingredients

600 grams caster sugar
4 litres hot water
2 litres cold water
juice and zest 3 to 4 lemons
2 tbsps white wine vinegar
25 or thereabouts fresh Elderflower heads (try to keep them upright when picking as this will help keep any natural yeast on the blooms and don't wash them for the same reason. You can strain out any bugs later, but feel free to pick the big ones off as you collect).

Kit

Flip top glass bottles or plastic bottles. I used glass flip tops from IKEA but if you check out the Escape to The Chateau way (above link) they reuse pop bottles. Wash these in the dishwasher just before you decant the fizz then the bottles will be sterilised.

10 litre plastic bucket for fermenting the fizz

Funnel to decant into bottles.

Muslin fabric to strain any unwelcome bits of flowers and creatures from liquid.

lemon zest

How To

Dissolve sugar in 4 litres of hot water, then add 2 litres of cold water stirring to mix.
Add the lemon juice and zest, then the white wine vinegar, stir well to combine.
Add the flowerheads cutting off any excess stalks before you do so.
Cover with a lid or clean tea towel and leave to ferment.

When I made this before I added champagne yeast and left it for 4 days before bottling. This time I'm hoping the natural yeast will work it's magic and I decanted after only two days. The last batch was soooooo explosive it broke the first bottle on opening, so I'm hoping I will get a good fizz that won't take an eye out.

Wash everything you use in hot soapy water and rinse well before use. ALSO WHEN OPENING THE BOTTLES AFTER TWO WEEKS COVER WITH A CLOTH JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

Now if you can't be bothered to do this or you can't get your hands on the flowers you could order a very reasonably priced substitute. I've done both, so typical of me, FOMO.

I saw an advert for a case of 6 fruity La Vida Bonita, a VERY light soft 5% alcohol summer tipple, made from the Moscatel grape. Amazingly thrifty at £19.74, plus I got a small 10% cashback from Visa offers, so rude not to really. If you go to radiotimes.comvidabonita you can take a squiz yourself.

Cheers and a very warm welcome to my three new followers.

Love & Magic

I stumbled on the film version of Bewitched yesterday on the tellybox, yes I have seen it before, but no matter, I bloomin loved it. The gentle mix of magic and silly fun was perfect for a gloomy covid day. I delighted in the TV show as a child, when everything and all things seemed possible.

I rewatched Chocolat for the very same reason a few weeks ago. Fanciful imaginings I know but they warm my heart.

Bad News & Good News

Very bad start to this week, but doesn't do to dwell. Things are looking up, it's our son's birthday today and he's with us of course, so current mood is....................

Did someone mention Mumm Cordon Rouge? My favourite fizz. I've given up on cheap Champagne, it truly is a false economy if ever there was one, but I do buy Mumm when it's on special, normally a third off, buy it pop it away for a rainy day. And as luck would have it the forecast today is rain.

After all 'In victory you deserve Champagne, In defeat you need it'  (Napoleon Bonaparte).

Hello Knitting Chums

I had the bright idea to knit myself a very complicated jumper for our holiday later on in the year. Plenty of time at the moment right? I have made heavily patterned garments before, lots of Fair Isle and such. But with those patterns you do get a fair amount of pattern repeat which I find helps with the rhythm of knitting. Not so with this beast.

Wedgewood by Martin Storey

I have knitted about 8 inches so far and as every row is different my eyes boggle when I look at the chart. Each row is taking about 30 minutes. But I must press on otherwise I will have wasted money on the yarn and of course I won't have my impressive jumper for my hols, and that will not do.

I wonder if I take a copy of the pattern and enlarge it, would it make it easier? Then I could also cross through the rows I have completed as I do it. Mmmmm any thoughts folks?

The pattern is from one of the gorgeously lush Rowan knitting & crochet magazines.

I have also nearly finished a little blanket for Morgana the kitten. I just need to crochet an edging.

This has been made from washable wool that I had in my yarn stash. Left overs really from other projects so hasn't cost any extra. And of course sooooo easy to knit. The edging should give it a bit of a flourish.

Coming Soon A New Member Of The Family

A house without a puss is strangely empty, even with lots of folk living in it. So although we are still grieving for our ole puss Pendragon, we decided to reserve a new kitten , who should be with us in another 5/6 weeks. She is a British Shorthair the same breed and her Mother has the same colouring as our ole puss, which really rather sold her to us.

We have chosen a name that connects her with Pendragon too and follows the Arthurian legend that she was named from, following a holiday in Cornwall 18 years ago. Plus this little girl is Welsh. We have decided on Morgana and her second name is Mittens, which is her Auntie's name.

Sian the breeder is exceptional, kindness itself. She sends us regular updates and is already using Morgana's name to help her settle when she comes to us.

We are really looking forward to this new life in our home. I'll keep you updated on her progress.

Some peonies from the garden.

Lost - A Piece Of My Heart

It's been a full month today since our lovely girl Pendragon died. Just two weeks short of her 18th birthday. I don't need to tell any of you how much a part of the family she was, we all love our animals deeply.

The house seems empty without her and often, still, we think we see her. Perhaps we do? I did ask her to haunt us.

We buried her in the garden and have made a really nice area for her. So gone but still with us.