Menu 27 th Oct - 2nd Nov

Mon: scampi and mash

Tues: chicken goujons in brioche rolls

Wed: Chicken Piccata

Thur: quorn lasagna

Fri: pizza

Sat: butternut squash pasta
Sun: braised sausages and cabbage

Menus, and Eating from the Freezer

Last week's menu did not factor in a certain little bear falling ill. The noble, and brave Beloved stepped in and provided meals during this time.

It's standard for us to have sausages, scampi, pizza, and homemade ready meals in the freezer for just such an eventuality. It was also useful as the freezer needs to be given a hard reset. There's goodness know what in there, apart from a huge build up of frost. 

This week, I'm trying to eat as much as we can from the freezer. The goal is to have a pretty empty freezer by the first of November. This will enable it to be switched off, defrosted and cleaned. Then I can get back to the joy of filling it back up again.

The first items to be added will be soups, most likely tomato and lentil, and also French-ish onion soup. On the Monday, (our usual day for going food shopping, the convenience foods will be added, pizza, scampi, sausage, hash browns etc - all so useful for the days when cooking is not an option. There will also be the basics, like chicken, fish and mash. There will be ice cream.  

I'm thinking about designating a shelf of the freezer for the Offspring's use. They can put anything they want in the freezer, as long as it remains within that shelf. 

Menu -- 13-19th October

Mon: Sweet potato and leek lasagna

Tue: Pecorino Chicken 

Wed: Baked Potatoes

Thu: Roasted Butternut Squash

Fri: Cooked Breakfast

Sat: Restaurant

Sun: Chicken tagine

Exercise

I am delighted to report the foot injured on the walking tour of Manchester is improving. Today, I was able to walk 150m before it gave any indication of pain. That's a big improvement on last Sunday. Then, every step was accompanied by some degree of pain.

In addition, the local shops are 1.4km away, and are a gentle stroll away. They are good place to visit for a bit of incidental exercise.

Pickled Ginger

Ingredients

200 g ginger

2 tsp salt

boiling water - to cover the ginger

60g caster sugar

120ml rice vinegar

60ml water 

Method

Using a teaspoon, scrape the skin off the ginger. Then using either a mandoline, or a vegetable peeler, finely slice the ginger.

In a small heat-proof bowl, add the slice ginger and sprinkle the salt over the top. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Pour boiling water on the ginger (just enough to cover) and sit for a further 2 minutes.

Drain the water, and squeeze any excess liquid from the ginger. Set the ginger aside to drain further on a paper towel. 

On a medium heat, stir together the water, rice wine vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.  Boil for 30 seconds. 

Place the ginger pieces into the jar, and then carefully pouring the hot pickling liquid over the ginger.

Allow to cool to room temperature, and then place in the fridge. Wait 24 hours before using.

The pickled ginger will last for 2 weeks in the fridge.

Feta and Spinach Pastries

Ingredients

1  sheet of gluten-free puff pastry

1 onion, chopped

150g frozen spinach

1/2 tsp oregano 

200g feta cheese

100g mozzarella

1  egg 

sesame seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.

Sauté the onion, and then frozen spinach and 60ml of water. Stir whilst the water evaporates. Let the mixture cool.

Separate the egg. Add the egg white to the cooled mixture, also add crumbled feta and grated mozzarella.

Divide the in half, lengthways. Cover one half with the filling. Place the remaining pastry on top. 

Cut the pastry into squares, and place on a lined baking sheet. Use the egg york to make an egg wash. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake on a low shelf for 35 minutes. Even if it looks golden don’t take it out, hang tight for a better bake as there is a lot of filling.

Pickled Red Cabbage

Ingredients
500ml apple cider vinegar
500ml water
2tsp garlic (diced)
4Tsp sugar 4tsp salt
2 red onions
1/2 large red cabbage

Method
Put the water, garlic, sugar and salt into a saucepan. Bring it to simmering point, and hold it there for 1 minute until the sugar and salt have dissolved. 

Add the apple cider. Then remove from the heat.

Slice the onions finely, and the cabbage into strips. Mix together, and put into the container. 

Pour the pickling liquid over the cabbage. Ensure the cabbage is all submerged. 

Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Notes
The pickling liquid can be used up to 3 times before being discarded.

Menu -- 7th-12th October 2025

 

Tue: Stuffed marrow

Wed: Fish pie

Thu: Lamb Scouse

Fri: Chicken tagine

Sat: Risotto

Sun: Roasted veggies with pesto and feta

----

I'm keeping a record of what we are eating. Hopefully it will make future meal planning easier.

Book Launch: Ring the Bells

What a fantastic book launch!

This afternoon, The Beloved and I, and a group of Stranger Tims, took a walking tour of Manchester. Our Group was led by Elaine (Wonderwife) and Brendan (The Voice). It was marvellous. 

Scouse

This recipe is based on the one from the National Museums Liverpool's website.  Scouse is the perfect food for a day when the rain is lashing down, and a wind is blowing a hooli.

Ingredients

vegetable oil

1kg lamb

3 onions (cut into large chunks)

5 carrots (peeled and roughly chopped)

600g potatoes (peeled and quartered)

1 leek (sliced)

1 litre stock

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp black treacle

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method

1. Add vegetable oil to a skillet or large saucepan. Bring ito a high heat, and sear the cubes of lamb until completely coloured.

2. Reduce to a medium heat, and add the onion, and carrots. Cook until they begin to soften.

3. Stir through tomato puree until fully combined, add the potatoes, and then the stock or water.

4. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the lamb is tender or until the potatoes start to break down and thicken the Scouse, approximately 2 hours.

5. Add leek, treacle and mustard and cook for a further 20 minutes, check seasoning and add salt if required.

Serve with pickled red cabbage.

Sail Away

It was an incredibly broken night for me. At 4.30am, my brain said, 'Enough! No more sleep.'

The crossing was 'bumpy' and the seats were horrible. Although I did manage to doze off a few times. It wasn't proper sleep, it wasn't even improper sleep, just a a pale imitation.

10am saw our arrival in Liverpool. We had a look around the World Museum whilst I was research a back story for Sophie.

At lunchtime, the gluten-free offerings were soup, scouse or salad. We elected to try scouse. It is the rich stew Liverpudlians are named after. Its main ingredients are lamb, potato and carrots. When we get back home, I'm going to give it  a try.

Manchester Cathedral is between the railway station and the Travelodge. We stopped in there to escape the almost biblical levels of rain. A cathedral guide was very happy to info-dump, her brain to our brains.

The first person to use the code '007' was John Dee. He had been sent by Elizabeth of England to Manchester to be the collegiate church's warden. It took a few centuries before it became a cathedral.

During the English Civil War, Salford (just across the river) an Manchester supported different factions. People would climb onto the roofs of the churches and shoot at each other!

Amy, First Storm of the Season

Storm Amy is brewing in the Irish Sea, and will start its rampage at around 3pm tomorrow. That's when we are due to sail to Liverpool! Our sailing has been brought forward to 7am.  

I'm all of a twitter, full of anxiety as to whether we will be sailing or not. It feels like anything could happen in the hours of darkness and we won't know about it until the morning. 

I want to go to Liverpool, and on to Manchester!

Mitred Squares in Riot

Many, many years ago, I saw the most fabulous knitted jacket in reds, purples and blues. It is the project that brought me back to knitting. Eeek, I've just realised it would have been 20 years ago!

Now I have to the time and inclination to make that jacket. More accurately, a similar jacket. I'm pretty sure the jacket I saw was made using triangles, and I'm going to use mitred squares. 

**** Pattern Under Construction****

Cast on 30sts in yarn A (King Cole Riot DK Rhapsody).

1. Knit 15st, place stitch marker. K15.

2. Switch to yarn B (King Cole Riot DK Party), Knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, K2tog, K to end.

3. Knit.

4. Switch to yarn. Knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, K2tog, K to end.

5. Knit.

Repeat this pattern until there are 2 stitches left. Then knit the two stitches together. Leave this one stitch on the needle.

Using yarn A, pick up 14 stiches from the left side of the square (15sts). 

1. Knit.

2. Knit

3. Change to yarn B. Knit 13, k2tog.

4. Knit.

5. Change to yarn A. Knit 11, k2tog.

6. Knit.

7. Change to yarn B. Knit 9, k2tog.

8. Knit. 

Continue in this manner until there are 3sts.

K1, k2tog.

K2tog. Break yarns, leaving tails. Fasten off last stitch and weave in ends.

Menu - 20th to 27th October

Mon:  Upside down chicken pie

Tues: Fish pie

Wed: Spanish chicken

Thur: Bacon and cheese crispbakes

Fri: Sweet potato lasagna

Sat: Chinese meal

Sun: Scampi or pizza

2025 Challenges - June

 

My challenges for this month are to write every day, and to take my medication morning and evening. 

Last month I was incredibly rebellious and my medication taking was 'less than optimal', or more accurately, 'piss poor'. The only person this really hurts is me. So, this month I decide to practise a little 'self-care'. 

The goal was to take my medication properly, each and every morning, and each and every evening. After four days, I felt so much better. This has been as important as push ups, walking and cycling.

I had been writing most days, but it felt like I was trying to squeeze and already squeezed orange, and I was hoping for more juice. A drop or two might come, but it was hard and very unrewarding.

A chat with a local author has changed my mindset. There was a realisation stories morph and change over time. I finally understood the phrase, 'Don't be afraid to kill your darlings.'  My novel was born out of lockdown when I tried to find way around money laundering (intellectual exercise). Over time it has morphed into a love story, and I've been struggling to maintain the money laundering aspects.  I don't have to! I can ditch that part of the story.

Now, things are flowing again. It has become so much easier to write. It makes more sense.  And I'm writing more each day.

The Case of the Missing Maid

A LGBTQ author I follow asked his reaers to join a Pride Challenge - read a book either written by a LGBTQ author, or whose protagonist is LBGTQ. There was a list of about 30 suggestions. Figuring that people normally worked from the top down, I started at the bottom. "The Case of the Missing Maid" by Rob Osler sparked my interest.

The book was set in 1890s Chicago, USA - a time when people were careful about disclosing their sexuality if they weren't straight. In this time period, it would have been far easier for women to set up home with another woman than it would be for two men. 

It felt like the author was hitting me over the head with the protagonist's (Harriet Morrow) sexuality. At one point, I wanted to shout, "I get it. She'd a lesbian!" I understand the importance of representation... hmm, new thought coming through... The author repeated numerous times about the restrictions placed on women, and the work they were allowed to do.  Did he really 'go on' about the lesbian aspect any more than he did about the restrictions on women? Am I so used to hearing about this that it slipped in under the radar and I didn't even give it a thought?

In many ways, it felt this was the set up book. The characters in the subsequent books will already have been introduced and have a back story. 

Did I enjoy the book? Yeah, it was okay.

Will I re-listen to it? Probably.

Do I want to listen to the next one in the series? If I don't get distracted, then yes.

Butterscotch Sauce

Ingredients

50g  butter

120g brown sugar

120ml double cream

Method 

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cream. Stir until  well blended.

Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping down the sides occasionally. Boil  for 4 to 5 minutes.

When the sauce has cooled, transfer to a glass jar, and store in the fridge until needed. The sauce will keep for 3-4 weeks.

2025 Challenges - May

I was back to counter push ups again. The starting point was five push ups. On the 6th, it started increasing by one push up per day. Very late in the day, on the 26th, I realised my hands were in the wrong place. I had been trying to do this with my hands on the edge of the counter top. This meant my whole weight was on a 2cm wide strip on my hands. It was incredibly difficult, not in the arms and body, but in my hands.

Next month, I'm going to give this challenge another go, but get my hands in the right place, and see what happens. In addition, the Offspring was looking at my 'form' and asked if I was locking my arms on the upright position. This can cause elbow to hyper extend, and is discouraged. I'll be working on that too.

The other goal was to write every day again, and to use the writing prompt from WIP Snips. This has worked well, for the days when I've not had a migraine.

The writing book I started at the turn of the year has now been finished, as in every single page has been used. This might be the first time I have able to do it, ever. It feels like a new level has been opened - wonder what will be the 'boss' at the end.

Other challenges trickling along in the background are: listen to 52 audiobooks, finish 52 craft projects and try 12 new recipes.

Cheesecake Flling

Ingredients
300g cream cheese

2Tsp lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tsp of castor sugar

Method
Cream the cream cheese until soft and free from lumps. Add the lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well. Incorporate the sugar. 

Spoon on top of a biscuit base, smooth the top. For a large cheesecake, bake at 180C for 30 minutes, for individual cheesecakes, bake for 20 minutes. Add the topping of your choice.

2025 Challenges - April

This month, the goals were to work up to 30 push ups against the kitchen work top, and to walk each day. 

After hurting my foot doing squats lasts month, I decided to be flexible. With this in mind, I've been walking, cycling and garden - anything to get me moving and elevate my heart rate counts. In spite of, or because of, the movement, by back is feeling rather happy.  It really likes the gentle wiggling of cycling and walking. Sadly, I was not able to keep it up all month long. Neither was I able to do the slightly harder push ups.

It feels bad to have fail at on both goals. However, despite not reaching the bar set, I have done more exercise than I have managed in previous months. This is a good thing. I need to keep reminding myself the goals are there to stretch me, and if/when I don't reach them it's not the end of the world. This really is a situation where it is better to try, and get part way, than not try at all.

More new recipes have been tried. Some were almost failures, at least by my standards. Others have been good, and will enter into our rotation of meals. A lovely new recipe (to me) was chicken breasts in a lemon, pepper and herb crust.

2025 Challenges - March

March was the month for movement, for stabilising shoulders, and improving my core. On the 1st of the month, it was one push up against the wall, and one squat. each day, one was added. There were a couple of days when sickness prevented exercising.

My shoulders and back really loved the exercises. I'm feeling stronger and more capable. A few days ago, I saw a video saying if you can do 20 push ups against a wall, you can do five against a bench. Turns out I can do 10 against a bench. I'll definitely be continuing with push ups next month.

Squatting is a different matter. My left foot has not enjoyed the experience. It was broken when the Elde Offspring was a baby, and it's re-asserting its 'I'm damaged' credentials now.

New month, more pushups, and also daily walks. 

2025 Challenges - February

 include the challenges for the month

2025 Challenges - January

Staying away from Bored Panda for a month was tricky for the first week, and then it became easier and easier. By the end of the month, there was no decisions to be made, it was just something I don't do anymore. If only all time sucky things were so easy to ditch!

Writing every day was also surprisingly easy.  It felt really good putting pen to paper and allowing the Honey Hill story to flow. I had thought all of the research had been done, but no, there's more happening almost every time I write. Thankfully, I've learned to mark my writing, and edit in the researched information.

2025 Challenges

No New Year's Resolutions for me. Instead, I'm planning on completing 25 challenges this year. The idea is to make small, but meaningful changes in my life, even if they just last a month.

I'd also love to read/listen to 52 books, make 52 items, and try 12 new recipes.