Fancy being rudely awakened!

For a change, I went to bed before 11pm last night.  I was pooped and joints had been playing up due to the change in weather.

I settles everyone.   Junior,  Mogs on their favourite perches/beds/windowsills/chairs/rockers/tops of wardrobes, etc..  Dog highjacks one side of my bed and is soon snoring and woof  woof, wip wipping away, with paws doing the galloping action as she lay there, otherwise motionless, deep in dreamworld.  God know what she was dreaming about?....probably a chase.  Very apt.

Ay...all is well.....I settles down.  Pillows nicely fluffed up so I don't get a stiff neck or an imprint of the  metal headboard on the back of my head.

Lights out.......Off, to the land of nod....yay....

THEN.   2am.     NOISE...and lots of it!   

Blumming Police helicopter was hovering around our neighbourhood...again........car chase.  Arghhhh.  (You can tell what a lovely place we live in).  Anyway, police helicopter pilots.... they can go and chase as many cars as they want, but why is it always in the middle of the night and why do they always hover and make the racket of the devil over my house roof ?

Helicopters are noisy things!   Better than alarm clocks for knocking sleep out of you.  Of course, the mogs were then 'up'.  Sigh.   Takes me ages to round 'em up and settle 'em down, again or otherwise they would party.  Then, various neighbours go off to work.  3 am local milk van roars up the road,  A neighbour goes to work at at 4am..car..Another at 5am..car.  Another 5.45..car..  Train in the distance...5.30 bloody am!

Got back to sleep at 6am.   I have staggered through the day....sleep deprivation is crap.    Now it's 6pm and one of the neighbours has decided to indulge in a bit of diy.   Bang, bang, bang.    Another, previous to this, at the top of his voice was yelling at his poor kids.    Arghhhhh!

Fun in Hill Billy Land!

What do I want for Christmas?     Earplugs.  Or a detached house in the middle of a field.

Ah, have been waylaid with the Olympics.  I'm sad that it's all over. 

We stayed up to watch the closing ceremony.  Spice Girls rule!!!..even though Posh nearly fell off her taxi. 

Some folk have made nasty comments about Gary Barlow performing.  (His daughter was stillborn earlier in the week)  .  Jason Manford, who is some tv personality/comedian,  stuck up for him and wrote a moving piece on his blog.  Think the blog is called The Young Turk.

Anyway.... red tape.  Council sent me a letter, wanting to know if |I intend to keep the allotment on....they have a waiting list.  Well, because of the crap weather we've had, nothing has been happening on the allotment.  A lot of the allotments have proved to be too much for their tenants .   It is hard work.  Will take years to get ours sorted.   Veg has been flooded,  soil like a bog, etc.  There hasn't been enough light, too.    The boys (and grandkids) came up and mowed it down for me, to keep the weeds at bay.  They've just taken over..like triffids .  I'll just have to try and  get the soil in the right condition for next season....too late to do anything else on the land this year, apart from the odd planting and hard landscaping..

This was the first mowing.  It got done twice, so the grass is REALLY short  making it easier to dig out little beds..  I'm having grass paths and not soil ones.  Have to laugh at N (Son No 2's best mate) on the left, checking his nails.  Junior is on her bit at the back....flowers and plants at that end.   There are roses down there, view blocked by the tree. 

 The grandkids.  Note to Son no 1,...don't dress your kid in white when visiting the allotment!  lol

 Little one was smiling at her Mummy.

Everyone busy.   Next door's plot is overgrown but not as bad as some of the others.

We're sussing out the possibility of keeping chickens up there and Grandchild  One of Min has the task of naming one.  Up to press, hers will be called Minnie Mouse!  lol    Grandchild Two is only little yet, but she'll probably call hers Dad.  (She's obsessed with her Daddy::o)  )      I was showing Grandchild  One of Min the chickens of a fellow allotmenteer and she was asking all the usual questions, like where were the eggs be, etc...   And, suddently....sharp pain in backside.

Would you Adam and Eve it..some bloody insect had climbed up my trouser leg and then decided to bite my back end!   Ow!!!

Had to rush home....as there was no way I could rip my trousers off in full view of half a dozen or so male allotmenteers.!  (Well, I could have, but it woul have put them off their tea!)  Still don't know what it was that munched me.  I tried to squeeze the bugger but, when I got home, I didn't dare look to see what it was.  Eeeew!    Just dumped the trousers in the washing machine..and put a hot wash on!  |

Next time we are up at the plot  it'll be elastic bands around the ankles!  lol

Roasted Red Pepper, Sweet Potato and Spinach Lasagne

Junior and I were perusing the Meal Deals for 2 at Tesco the other day.  A few of the supermarkets do them.  We ogle the Marks and Sparks ones, but they're getting a bit hit and miss with the wine selections.  lol.    For these deals you get a main dish, side, pudding and a bottle of wine/non alcoholic drink...all for a tenner.  There are various options for you to choose..meat and vegetarian stuff.

Anyway, we were eyeing up one of the mains....(In post title)..and so I decided to have a go at making it, seeing as we're still on this economy drive.  I looked at the ingredients on the back of the ready made one and picked out the stuff that I thought was relevant.  .

Have to say, it was really nice and tasty.  A good veggie dish me thinks.  We made enough for 4 people!  Overdoing it, again.   lol

Ingredients

2 Pointy red peppers - roasted and skin removed
Large sweet potato - chopped and boiled and mashed up roughly
Bag of spinach
Chopped onion
Handful of sliced mushrooms
Half a tetra pack of passata..you could use a tin of tomatoes
1 TBS of tomato puree
Tablespoon of Garlic and Herb cream cheese
Couple cloves of garlice, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Teaspoon of fresh Thyme
Bayleaf
Lasagne sheets....I used dry type
Bechamel sauce..I used milk, margarine, plain flour, seasoning and grated nutmeg.  Cooked it the Crafty way..eg.  cold pan, add all the ingredients.  make sure the milk is cold.  Put heat on and keep stirring.  It goes all lumpy at first but the lumps will eventuall go to give you a smooth sauce.  Saves doing it the roux way.
Grated cheese ..some for in the sauce, some for on top.   The dish is really colourful when you're putting it together...red pepper, green spinach, orange sweet potato.  V appetising.

Method
Roast pepper in oven for 15/20 minutes and skin.  Discard skin and chop flesh.  Add to finished sauce.
Saute onion in a little olive oil.  Add garlic and cook until transluscent.  Add mushrooms and cook a few minutes more.
Add thyme and bayleaf.
Add passata and tomato puree and stir.  Cook gently for 10 minutes.
Add a couple handfuls of spinach.
Stir in cream cheese.
Season.  I used loads of freshly ground black pepper and a smidge of salt

Assembly job is:-

Spoonful of sauce on bottom of ovenproof dish..  Don't forget to take out the bay leaf.
Layer of lasagne sheets
Layer of sauce
Layer of fresh spinach
Layer of sweet potato
Layer of lasagne sheets., etc, etc.....keep going until you've used up everything.

Bechamel sauce on top with as sprinkling of cheese.

Cook in oven...about 170 C for about 45 minutes...until the top is golden brown.

This would be nice with a nice crispy salad.  Don't have it straight out of the oven.  Give it a couple of minutes to cool so you don't end up burning your mouth!   It's really nice the next day)

I used one and a half pointy red peppers but the roasted remnants didn't yeild as much as I thought, so I would use at least 2 next time.

You could, instead of mashing up the sweet potato, just layer them as slices, dauphinoisse style.

Forgot to take a photo of the cooked dish out of the oven.  Just got this pathetic offering left.  We had it with spinach and sweetcorn salad with a balsamic dressing (you can get little pots of this from Asda for 27p each.)  It was lovely the next day with a few chips/fries.

The Olympics

Junior and I watched the opening ceremony yesterday.

Have to say that I felt very proud to be British. 

I loved the bit with Her Majesty and James Bond.  ......and the kids.....bouncing about on their NHS beds, having nightmares and being saved by Mary Poppins.  All mad.  And the mini...  Wonder how many people over the world 'got' our sense of humour?  Then the music...Sex Pistols and Dizzie Rascal...and Mike Oldfield...and, at the end.... all these countries that I have never heard of and their reps marching into the stadium...proud as punch.   Wasn't it nice that instead of some famous British Olympian lighting the flame...our most famous nominated 7 talented youngsters to do the job instead.   Just great. x

You can watch it on the BBC iPlayer.  No commercial interruptions!!..although there is no commentary.    Read the British Newspapers online to get a gist of it all if you're kerfuffled about some of it..

Let Me Depress You a Little

Do you ever fret about what will happen once you depart this life?  I mean, to those you leave behind.

I do.

I haven't felt that I'm 'long for this earth' for a while.   Illness gets you like that.....Especially when you have a 'bad episode' and pain renders you useless..

So, what plops on the doormat this morning?  Michael Parkinson and his life policy.  The one where you get a lump sum paid on your demise.   The relatives spend it as they wish.   Joke.    Actually, it can be used to 'funeral' you, if that's what you desire.  You even get a 'free gift..before you 'pass on'.   16 inch led tv, little camcorder, sat nav, etc.  Personally, I'd go for the £75 Marks and Sparks vouchers.  Junior agrees, so if I were to take this policy out we would be straight off to their food department, clutching afore-mentioned vouchers!  lol

Then, there's a will to sort out.   Don't want anybody fighting over my costume jewellery and crochet hooks.

Depressing, but these things have to be sorted.  Taking early retirement makes you think of these things. 

Tell you, this getting old lark...not for the faint hearted.

It's not all doom and gloom.  Also in the post, to Junior's delight, was a 'Subway' promotion leaflet with lots of free meal vouchers.  She and Son no 1 are unashamed Subbers.

Back to  it.   At my 'Do'....wear bright clothes, tell jokes and play me out to Status Quo!

Sunday Best

All is quiet here...except for Cilla dog's  gentle snoring.  Give it ten minutes and I'll need earplugs!  lol    She's in season at the moment and a proper sex pest.  The mogs are keeping a wide berth!

Junior made Sunday Dinner.... curry.  Very nice it was, too.  Fruit for pud, or a syrup sponge cake.  Bought some Levi Roots ginger beer which I've had with the meal...also very nice.  :o).  I'll be doing the washing up.  Untypically (is that a word?) she's not used every pot and pan in the house.  Yay. 

I've spent a couple of hours tearing up old newspapers for the cat litters..  Emergency, as we've run out of the 'normal' cat litter.    We are about to experiment with a new litter (Cats Best).  Been highly recommended, so we're giving it a go tomorrow.  It's meant to be more cost effective and eco friendlier than the stuff we use now (mainly Tesco's..'cos it's cheap and not that heavy).  Junior's been beavering away on the net, trying to find the best price for it and for food, too.  (Good for the maths and housekeeping skills!)  The mogs haven't been very happy of late with the normal wet and dry food we give , so we're going to try and get them on a good quality dried food.  It's swings and roundabouts expense-wise.  .  Works out the same nowadays 'cos the internet price finds that Junior has sussed means we can afford them now.   The cheaper stuff doesn't fill them up and/or makes them puke...(and the other).  They need more of it to be satisfied.  Supermarket makes they do not like and they've even gone off some of the well known stuff!  So, we may as well feed them the best we can afford.   So,  tester pack buying it is tomorrow for Applaws, Nutram and Royal Canine.

The weather....sunny today.  Yay!   Might even risk sowing some seeds.   We have a large propogater...which should be a snail-free zone.   Junior harvested some mega sized blueberries. 

Up at the allotment, runner bean plants have only grown about 18 inches!!  Soddened soil there is a lot of!  . But, we discovered that we have a globe artichoke plant in amongst the shrubbery and it seems to be doing ok.  The boys cut down the weeds and mowed the plot for me in June.  Think I'm just going to have little beds of stuff and keep the paths as grass/lawn. Much more interesting.  Saves digging.   You can always tell which of the plots are run by blokes because they just look like giant ploughed fields.  All very industrial...and boring.  Mainly brassicas and spuds!    Anyway, the plot wants moving again, due to the amount of rain......the grass has well and truly grown!  We have an array of garden plants there on ours, if nothing else, thanks to the previous plot holder.  Roses, buddliea, bearded iris, jasmine.  And..buttercups...I love 'em..don't care if other folk think they're weeds...they're so bright and lovely.  Remind me of my childhood when you used to hold them up to you and the yellow of the flower would reflect on to your chin.  And we have clover....means the soil has a good nitrogen supply, apparently, according to horticulturist neighbour.   Anyway. not chopping them.  The bees and insects can enjoy them, too.

I took loads of photos but....ping, ping, pong.   You guessed it.....batteries conked! 

Need To Grow More

We need to get our fingers out and get on with growing some food!    Our efforts this time have been thwarted by all this flipping rain and our super Olympian snails.(rage!!)..  So, there's isomniacal  moi, laying in bed..thinking of ways to make the pennies stretch more, 'cos there ain't many pounds around here at Chez Min.

Wonder what you can grow in a poly tunnel? We're craving spinach at the mo..and beetroot..and all manner of things...but they're expensive up at the shops here, being in Hill Billy Land.   Are these tunnels sturdy enough for our mad weather?   Can you grow fruit and veg in one all year round?  I've only just thought of the possibility of getting one..  Put it off because of cost.  Anyway, wonder if anyone has advice/tips on this?  Shall have to do some 'research'.  Do you need planning permission to put one up in your back garden?  No point asking the council, 'cos they won't know. lol

Would be nice if it all comes to fruition, so to speak.  Just in time for my early retirement  AND...it could be an escape from nosey neighbour!  Yay!!