Other other things

[flick]

Some of them, on the other hand, weren't horse related.

We went for a walk in the woods, and scoffed blackberries by the side of the road. It was quite nice, other than the bit after we left the woods and I was in the sun, which was surprisingly warm.

Mike made naan bread stuffed with chickpeas and stuff. They were lovely but pretty much took all morning to make. Fortunately, the recipe made enough to freeze for two future lunches, but I suspect they won't make it onto the regular lunch rotation. We need tasty much things that aren't bread-and-cheese-and-meat, but none of my favourite quick-and-easy things (scrambled egg on toast, fishcakes, tinned fish mixed with 2-minute-microwave-rice) are Mike-friendly. Any suggestions? Bonus points if it can be frozen in batches and quickly heated up, possibly with the afore-mentioned microwave rice. When the Aga's turned on, I'm totally going for cheese toasties and quesadillas.

(I gave the cucumbers to Next Door, in the end. I think they appreciated them.)

And, to accompany dinner (left-over-roast chicken and end-of-veg-box risotto, nom. We are eating *so* *many* vegetables!), I made FIRE for the first time in years, in the firepit. I shall gloss over Mike's unsuccessful attempts to make fire in the fire pit and the stove, other than to note that we inherited a fair bit of kindling and lots of enormous logs but very little in between, so it was a little tricky to get through the middling stages of lighting it. I think this may be a Project for the next walk in the woods: I'm sure we'll be fine as long as we're sneaky about it. Anyway, my fire was mighty and warm and only moderately inconvenient when the wind changed direction. Fire is good. The table wreath that I made for the party made a very good fire-re-lighter when it nearly went out!

Comments

[ceb.livejournal.com]

My current favourite quick thing is: tin of chickpeas + tin of tomatoes + about 100g chopped chorizo + herbs as you see fit, simmer for 10 mins. (Might even freeze, but I find chorizo is not nearly as nice after freezing+reheating.)

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Swap the tinned tomatoes for a little thing of concentrated passata, add in a bit of rice or a couple of chapattis out of the freezer, and that should be mutually acceptable: ta!

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Our number one plan for lunches is 'whatever we ate for dinner 2-3 days ago in slightly smaller portions'. After that, I like wraps -- I use the grill pan to sort of do a mini-fajita with chicken and whatever veggies are around and grill, and wrap it up with whatever sauce seems appropriate. Still in the leftover vein, if we have leftover rice then egg-fried-rice with odd bits of meat or veg. Eggs of all types of course, but especially poached eggs on potato cakes with hollandaise, or omelettes. Scotch eggs, or pork pies, or little pies more generally, and salad. Risotto, especially if it's lunch for four. Bagels with cheese and tuna grilled. Pizza toasts -- a slight variation on the student standby (which uses tomato ketchup); I normally have proper homemade tomato sauce in the fridge, so I toast the bread, whack on a bit of sauce, cheese and whatever cold meat is around, and shove under the grill. That's obviously just a toasted variant on bread and cheese and meat, but there you go. Pancakes.

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Fire? FWAGG.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Hell yes. Investigation revealed that Mike was in the ACF, which rather explains his failure! (Although he claims to be able to field strip a Bren, which might have other uses.)

[guybles.livejournal.com]

That would be a terribly useful skill if you had a Bren lying about the place. He should just stick with marching up and down the yard.

Come the zombie apocalypse, you're probably better off mounting the Aga on wheels and using it as a battering ram. Although given where you live, the chances of having the undead making it all the way over to nibble on your tasty, tasty brains are pretty slim.

[elvum.livejournal.com]

A horse-drawn AGA with a bren gun turret sounds like the ultimate middle-class zombie survival weapon.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Come the zombie apocalypse, we reckon we'll be ok if we just shut the gates at either end of the valley: any zombies smart enough to actually open a gate would fall prey to the horses before they got to us!

[elvum.livejournal.com]

If you're going to be burning logs, you might find an inexpensive moisture meter useful, if you haven't already invested in one... particularly if you're going to be collecting firewood in the woods.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

That's not a bad idea, ta. We inherited a shed stacked up with Some wood, and we've got the old fence posts as well, but I dare say we'll need more.

Now, to train the dog to pull a little cart for collecting firewood in the woods: anyone coming across us doing so would be so overcome by cute that they'd forget to tell us off for taking wood!