Sorting Out the Food Stash - Part One

Behind closed doors ... you can hide a multitude of sins.

(The marks are on the camera lens not the door.)

This food cupboard at the Van is just over a foot wide and yet behind this innocent little door ...

... there's a chaos of food on two levels.

Neither of which are tidy and or that well organised.

Well things seem a little bit better when you get through to the back layers.

But these little 'step storage shelves' have been a bit of a disappointment to tell the truth.  I had high hopes when I bought them last year, but when they are in use although you can see more of the layers of things you have, you are actually losing valuable storage space underneath them.  Something in a small kitchen I that can ill afford to lose.

So now they have been removed.

This little cupboard held a lot!!

No wonder that I had kept putting off this job, I had a good look at everything, checking dates and condition.  

The only two things that were no good were these, somehow I had completely missed that the dates were well up before lockdown.  A check and sniff later and they were in the bin.

Then all that was left to do was to wash out the cupboard, and while it dried ...

... poke a certain little girl awake and go for a walk.

Sue xx

Dhal for Dinner

Oooh, you can't beat a nice big pan of Dhal puttering away on the stove top.

I keep my recipe dead simple, just sauté a chopped onion, add a big squirt of garlic paste, some cumin and this time I added a teaspoon of coriander and some turmeric.  Then I poured in some rinsed red lentils and enough water to more than cover them.  It simmered away for around an hour filling the Van with the most gorgeous rich curry scent.  I fancied making it creamier but I didn't have any coconut milk to add, so I waited until it had completely cooked and then stirred in a huge spoonful of coconut yogurt the lovely thick Coconut Collaborative one.

It's was delicious.

For the first meal I ate it just as it was.

Leaving a couple of portions to cool ready for the fridge and freezer.

The next night I added a Spinach pellet from the freezer and it was even more delicious.

Then last night I just couldn't help myself,  I really fancied it again and it reached a whole new level of green loveliness with two spinach pellets from the freezer.

Maybe the next one will have to pellets of spinach AND some frozen peas added.

Just how green can I go  😄

Sue xx

Caravans on the Move

With my Van being on the corner as you drive into the caravan park ... currently the only way to drive into the caravan park itself due to the back gates being closed for Track and Trace requirements ... I get to see all comings and goings.  One of the most fascinating is when the guys are playing 'musical caravans'.

Caravans are moved around the park for lots of reasons, sometimes the owners just want a change of scenery ... the riverbank pitches are a firm favourite, or they want new neighbours or to be nearer the amenities.  And for the sum of around £800 you can have your van repositioned into any available space wherever you want on site.  It costs that much as it involves disconnecting, and reconnecting to the mains services, repositioning of your TV aerial or satellite dish and of course the safe transportation of your Van from point A to point B so this also includes the insurance for your van being on the move .  All this takes two men a good couple of hours to achieve.

Other reasons for vans being towed past my window include total removal from the site for older vans, they are usually taken across the river if they are very old and either sold on to be a building site office for a cheap price or they are broken down completely for disposal.

Sometimes people will part-exchange their old van for a new model, bought through the caravan park owners and the game of musical vans means old out and new in to the same space on the park.  And sometimes there is a mass bring on, something that happens every few years when the caravan park owners upgrade their small fleet of van rentals for ten new models.  Part exchanging the older ones to the people on the park that have even older models that they want to replace.

A caravan being moved past my Van is always brought to my attention as it is done to loud cries of  'left hand down, left hand DOWN, LEFT HAND DOWN, now right hand down.  With the instruction getting louder and more insistent as it is repeated.  The driver of the Landrover is instructed by the guy walking backwards in front of him with a better view of whether the 38ft long Van is about to take out a guttering or snag on a corner, so shouted instructions are vital for the safety of everything and everyone in the caravans path. 

This one moved past without a mishap and is currently now parked outside the office, I'll walk Suky past later and have a nosey to see if it is for sale.  The person that had this one now has a brand spanking new model parked in the same place that this one came from.

Doggy walking around the caravan park is always a game of  'Oh is that new? That's nice, I wonder where the old one is?  Things here can change on an almost daily level.

Oh and look what I found in the bin when I was putting out my rubbish bag yesterday.  Far too nice to stay in the bin and be smashed and ultimately end up in landfill.  So I rescued it.  I have no idea what I will do with it but it's far too pretty not to live on in another life.

Sue xx

Snippets of Van Life

I bought some Stocks from Aldi for the jug on the mantlepiece, and a little Peace Lily for £2.99 in a ceramic pot.   I just couldn't resist, the Stocks matched Amira's little Babygro in the photograph and the greenery just had to be had.

Some days Suky just decides it's time to go back to bed, not just her little living room bed but her night time bedroom bed.  She has so many beds, so much choice, so many naps.  

Oh to be a Pug.

Washing dripping dry over the lavender in my little garden.

The bees buzz around and I feel guilty disturbing them while I peg my things out, but they soon return, the deliciously scent of the Lavender pulling them back the minute I step away.

Spices in the kitchen.

I need to sort out the main food cupboard today.  I keep putting it off thinking the longer I leave it the less there will be to sort through, tidy up and put back ... but then I go shopping and my little plan is foiled.

Me, just me ... and not in stripes!!

Sue xx

Flying Ferrets

I stopped pretending to be something I wasn't a long time ago, but with it I got ratty.  I didn't just say the words and leave it at that.  I worried, I pondered and I dwelled on the words, on their effect on me, on others, on the world.

Well the world can go jump!!

Now, I don't give a flying ferret about saying those words.  About saying it how it is, some days I might be polite with it other days I will be the devil incarnate.  You says your piece to me, you takes your chance on which of the days you have chosen. 

Good luck!!

We reached a monumental decision over the weekend.  

We threshed out our future with words spoken over alcohol after a long, lazy chatty sort of day.  Not enough alcohol to slur the words or diminish their power or meaning, but just enough to temper them with laughs and memories shared.

Moving forward will be good, doing it in a good way will be better.

Better for everyone.

Sue xx

(And ... won't everyone who Googles the words Flying Ferrets be shocked when this post pops up 🤣)

Apple Crumble for Breakfast

Here at the Van my breakfasts are a bit erratic to say the least.

Recently I've gone off the idea of having just porridge or just cereal and have started switching things up a bit, but this mornings early offering took the biscuit, or should I say took the crumble.  I was half way through a little yoga session ... ooh look at me all fitness and light, it happens once in a lethargy inspired blue moon ... when I suddenly realised how hungry I was.

Downward dog started being a meal planning three minutes, and I decided that I fancied something apple-y.  Now that could have been a much more 'normal'  apple slices and yoghurt or apple and Weetabix, but no my brain said APPLE CRUMBLE, yep out loud and very clear.

So apple crumble it was.

After a quick shower I prepped three of the lovely red Gala apples from the fridge.

Eyeballed a bit of crumble mix, adding lots of oats ... because yes this was for breakfast!!

And quickly put together an apple crumble.  

I decided to be good and while the oven was on for my slightly unorthodox breakfast I would utilise the heat and also cook myself as a couple of the Aldi meat-free sausage rolls for my lunch, they are lovely by the way and even meat eating Alan really likes them.

I was going to have my crumble with some of the coconut yoghurt I have in the fridge, but then I spotted the dairy-free single cream dupe and thought why not.

Why not indeed ... what a brilliant way to start the day  😁

Sue xx

For a Friend

💙