The last of the decorations were taken down yesterday, including those on my radiator shelf and the anniversary flowers.
Because of the nature of the 'flowers' being mostly greenery they had dried nicely and I was able to leave them in the jug all month without appearing to have a Miss Haversham type of arrangement dying a sad and slow death for all to see.
Weirdly the 'sticks with the bobbles on' had new roots so they have been pushed into a planter in the garden .. we'll see what happens there. The eucalyptus and thistle all had their mouldy ends trimmed and then were put back into the jug once it had been washed and dried.
The shelf was sanded and re-oiled before a new arrangement for a new year was installed. It's all looking pleasantly sparse and pleasing to my eyes now.
I haven't posted for a couple of days as there just hasn't been much going on.
We went to Mum's on New Years Day so she would have some company for the first day of a brand new year ... the roads for once were beautifully quiet and we did the journey in each direction in a smidge over an hour ... and we had a good chat but failed to solve the mystery of a HUGE box of shortbread that she found in her kitchen cupboard. Phoning every visitor she had over Christmas failed to find the guilty party!!
I have been eating such a small amount of everything that my bursting cupboards are offering me, that I have made minimal inroads into the food stash and the cash stash of course has not been touched. I find the more I have in the less I want to eat ... just one of my many eccentricities.
The plant-based Fois Gras/pate was delicious as is the cheese that I got just before Christmas, but at the rate I'm eating them they are going to last ... and last.
I decided this morning that in a bid to make space in the now over-filled to capacity freezer I would take out a jar of homemade soup for lunch today. I really hope it's soup, it's not labelled and is slowly thawing to look more and more like pond sludge.
I wouldn't have frozen a jar of pond water ... would I !!
Anyway as long as it's edible that's my lunch sorted and I have one slice left of two week old bread that I will toast to dunk into it. How does sliced bread last for two weeks with no sign of mould forming ... I dread to think!!
Sue xx
I am so glad to get the decorations down now and have a minimal mantel once again. Our tree is still in the corner until DH is well enough to take it outside so I had to leave the lights on it so it didn't look too odd just stood there on its own bereft of baubles! Hope the soup is OK - I am pretty certain it won't be pond water - I often don't label things and play the guessing game. x
ReplyDeleteI'm usually so good at labelling, but not this time obviously. ;-)
DeleteClear surfaces are very soothing now aren't they, I'm really enjoying it.
Well, I hope you enjoy that lunch, whatever it may be. The last time I attempted a photo of soup on my blog someone said it looked like a sludgy koi pond. Hardly a compliment when it was split pea with carrots!
ReplyDeleteHaha ... I guess the carrots looked a little fishy!! :-)
DeleteWell done for being cleared up and put away, same here.
ReplyDeleteIt made me smile that you asked the question about two-week old bread. If I buy broccoli from Aldi or Sainsbury's and do not use it all within a very short time then I have a yellowy-grotty rapidly inedible vegetable!
But if I buy it from Lidl it lasts, and lasts, and lasts . . . which is both odd & worrying because nothing else in their veg/fruit section lasts well. Irradiated?? I tend not to buy much there ☺️
It's just an Aldi Ancient Grains loaf and they usually live in my freezer so I have never had one out on the worktop for this length of time ... amazing. Irradiated veg would be very worrying, we don't have a Lidl near us, although Alan calls Aldi Lidl every single time he mentions it ... which confuses A LOT of people.
DeleteWell, that's why it has kept so well. Ancient Grains have been around forever! :) ~ skye
DeleteHaha ... they must have been!!
DeleteIf you have room I find freezing sliced bread works very well - as long as your favourite type of bread is toast, which mine fortunately is!
ReplyDeleteYes I usually freeze ALL the bread I buy. With slices loosened first and then pushed back closely together once frozen, one loaf lasts me for a month of toast breakfasts. BUT there's not an inch of space in my Tetris-like filled freezer drawers at the moment so this one has been out on the worktop since it was bought. I LOVE toast. :-)
DeleteBob's made gallons of soup from the stock produced over Christmas. I'm being super diligent about labelling because of previous pond sludge incidents here! 🥄🤢
ReplyDeleteGood man. Alan's freezer is full of food that he has put in there once it has gone out of date in the fridge ... you take your life if your hands if you eat at his. ;-)
DeleteI laughed out loud about the unlabeled soup! Happens here too, also with mystery meats I forgot to label in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteI remember putting jars in and thinking ... I will eat them all next week I don't need to label ... famous last words eh!!
DeleteI will start taking the decorations down today. Also, I have a donation pickup scheduled for tomorrow so I will see what I have decided to get rid of... I have lots more stuff than you but it is good to have a clean out!
ReplyDeleteIt's definintely the best time of year for a good clean out. :-)
DeleteThe sticks with blobs on are, I think, pussy willow, very willing to root.
ReplyDeleteQuite possibly ... I have never known the names of flowery things ... my Mum despaired of me she used to know the names in both English and Latin. I sadly knocked off some of the 'blobs' when I pushed them in the soil, but the roots remained. :-)
DeleteI was going to say willow as well. It will happily root, grow, and take over the garden if you let it.
DeleteThere's not a lot of garden and it will have to be in a trough, so it should be able to be contained. Fingers crossed!
DeleteDc has beaten me to it - pussy willow and they will happily grow on for you now. Hope your soup WAS soup!
ReplyDeleteIt was, phew!! Very tasty too and VERY green.
DeleteI had to laugh about Alan calling Aldi Lidl because G calls Lidl Aldi 😂 Every single time too 🤣
ReplyDeleteYour shelf looks good now too, the plate is lovely and you're certainly getting value from the greenery 👍
Good luck with the pond soup!!
The photo is the shelf as it was, I'll have to take a new photo now it's all minimal. :-)
DeleteThe pond soup was delicious, with celery and spinach in it ... and thankfully no tadpoles. ;-)
😂👍
DeleteThe pond soup looks a very interesting shade of green. Slowly taking the decorations down here. I hope to get the rest upstairs done tomorrow, and then I get to take the tree down in the basement.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I think the soup was the healthiest thing I've eaten since the Christmas holidays began!
DeleteOh dear. Unlabeled freezer food. I can tell you that after a few disasters, I have really become quite a good labeler.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually so good, I need to go back to my more careful ways for sure.
DeleteEnjoy your pond water - it might be the start of a whole new trendy diet fad!
ReplyDeleteI wonder where you Mum's shortbread came from, maybe there's a shortbread fairy, Jon would love one of those! xxx
It was very healthy pondwater, and very tasty too luckily. Ooh a shortbread fairy now that would be nice!
DeletePussy willow - it roots easily and I love those 'bobbles'.
ReplyDeleteMy bread all goes in the freezer and I get out what I need, when I need it.
Pond soup, eh? That sounds - er - interesting. :-)
xx
Yes, once there's space in the freezer I want it to simply contain a sliced loaf and a selection of vegetables ... well maybe a few treats as well, but having bread in the freezer means it lasts so much longer and is ready for toasting as and when I need a slice.
DeleteThe pond soup was delicious, and quite possibly the healthiest thing I've eaten in a couple of weeks ;-)
After taking anonymous containers out of the freezer thinking they were something else - I've at least learned to pack fruits or sweets in round containers and savouries in square ones. No more removing a stew box expecting to get something to put custard or cream onto! The only things I label are raw meats and fish - I wrap them in freezer paper and write on this, then put the contents into freezer bags. No doubt about the dates or types of contents on these - but everything else is a bit of a guess. When you find the shortbread fairy - send her round please........ Have a good year, Elaine
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a sensible solution. I used to be so good at labelling things when we had the huge chest freezer and the big freezer in the kitchen at the small holding. I obviously throught with just 3 little drawers I would remember ... how wrong I was!!
DeleteI did chuckle about the 'pond soup' and sounds like there's a few of us who are guilty of non labelling!
ReplyDeleteThe tip from another reader about using different shaped containers is a good one.
Your Alan's freezer practices sound like my mum in laws - she'll often eat stuff that's a bit dodgy - although she rarely gets ill , perhaps taking the occasional risk is what's given her an iron constitution!
Alison in Wales x
Alan is exactly the same, rarely ill. I'm usually more careful with things that he's made ... especially at the moment while I have absolutely no sense of smell. You can't be too careful when you know that your life insurance is up to date ... and that your husband has checked it!! ;-)
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