In Which Daddy Goes a'hunting.....

Not really..but he was going out to Maghull on one of his mooches to get cat food etc., so I told him to get some of the bargain toilet rolls from Lidl. Charmin ones at £6 odd for 24..pretty cheap. Now he wasn't too keen on this, but he rang up before to tell me he had got "my" bog rolls. He said they had loads and lots of people were buying them.
Haven't been in that shop much at all, well it is a bit out of the way really, off the beaten track, but he says it is a big shop with a big car park so maybe we will make a visit some time.
Neither of us wanted to move this morning..I do have to say the new duvet is gorgeous. It makes the bed too comfortable though so you don't want to get up and face the cold. We have put the old one in the middle room on the bed, and Bobby has settled on that..she looks lovely, all curled up and innocent looking. Mind you she was crawling all over me at some ungodly time this morning, tickling my face with her whiskers, and picking my neck with her claws. I know it is lovely, but it still wakes you up.
Cheese scones from Farrington Gurney todaly for lunch, I will warm them in the oven later. It is a lovely farm shop..and it is a good job it isn't nearer, we would be as fat as pigs!
Last night in the end..we did a casserole with...potatoes 8oz, 2 carrots 1 parsnip 1 leek 1 swede all chopped in big chunks. A jug of stock, and a tin of chopped tomatoes, and tucked some quorn meatballs in the middle of it all. Absolutely delicious actually. With it I did some Aunt Bessies red Cabbage and apple which was really good.
Tonight we are having:
Chinese.. Egg fried rice with 4oz of rice,
Quorn popcorn bites,
Cashew sauce,
Stirfry vegetables.

The friday Outing..

Over to Sainsbury's in Walton today for a change. Still no snow around here but the traffic news on the radio is full of blocked roads and traffic chaos especially in the midlands.
We went via the Aintree retail park to have a look at where the new M&S is opening, but the one we thought it was in wasn't. No sign of it there so must be in the other one. Very mysterious...we expected lots of green signage but no sign of anything. We shall have to expl;ore it again another time.
Did a bit of weekend shopping in the Sainsbury's. It was really quiet today, so we were able to get around really easily.Got the weekend things as usual, and a few treat things also. We do try to be careful with what we buy so that it is healthyish..and so we watch the calories. We did buy ourselves a Deli sandwich today though, and really nice it was too. it was four cheese and sweet red chutney in a panini..for half price. Gorgeous too..4 minutes in the microwave for the two of them and done. Lovely, snd so quick.
Tonight we are having:
A casserole.. I want to use up a pack of casserole vegetables I bought the other day.Might do a cheese sauce on top if VT wants it or might not. Will play it by ear when we start.

Stop Ins...

Stayed in today. Did some household stuff, like vacuuming and tidying up. needs to be done every so often, so the house looks reasonably tidy.
It is still very cold today with a very few flakes of snow in the air, but there is a lot around the country. the midlands are particularly badly hit today and a lot of counties are running out of salt for gritting. Poor Gordon Brown I suppose that will be his fault too, like everything else seems to be.
Not sure what to have for tea tonight.:
I have a tray of stewpack vegetables, and some potatoes but was thinking of having a pasta bake of some sort. I will see what VT fancies when he comes down.

Still Snowing..but Not Here..

We don't get much snow here on this coast. It has to be bad to snow in this area. I can only remember being snowed in once and no-one could get out of Hightown at all. We couldn't get to work that day, and after that the Authority said that anyone who couldn't get to work lost their pay! never happened again though.
The papers are full of schools closing, thousands all over the country, but none in Merseyside.
We nipped over to Ormskirk this morning for a bit of a look round. The centre was very quiet,a lot of the shops closed now..well three anyway,Woolies, a jewellery shop and the Ponden Mill shop. Some of these were quite big shops too so really make a difference. Didn't buy much today just a few bits and pieces.
Tonight we are having:
Quorn Minced beef pudding. I was going to have that last night but it was frozen, and it needed to be defrosted..so tonight.
Mashed potato and leek,
gravy,
carrots.
Last night in the end we had...Broccoli and cauliflower au gratin,
Saute potatoes in fry light,
Garlic Kievs. very tasty actually.

Snow Gone...

But, very cold. Since we didbn't go out yesterday we made up for that today. VT had an early appointment at the dentist in Waterloo, 10.30, so we got up reasonably but not before our coffee! We stopped at the library, where the car park was full, but we were lucky and a car was just pulling out. It is ages since we went to the library, well before Christmas. We tend to renew the books we have online now, you can do that easily now. I just renewed my Handmade Loaf book which \I have had out for an age, then got some large print reading books. The library has been re-organised and so now you can't find anything! which is par for the course. Took me an age to find the cookery books, but then I didn't see anything I fancied getting out. Truth be told, a lot of the cookery books are so heavy, and I didn't fancy lugging them around. VT came out of the dentists very quickly and caught me up at the library, and then we nipped off to Sainsbury's to get our veggies for the week.
It said in the Crosby Herald which I had a quick look at in the library, that the Sainsbury's in Crosby is looking to upgrade their store to one four times the size. What a good thing that would be. It is my most unfavourite store in Merseyside, apart from any Tescaw that is! It is so small, and you can't move in there. We just get the free half hour parking, then whizz round as fast as we can.
Got a good selection of veggies though, so have enough to keep us going for the rest of the week. I am aiming to use things out of the freezer for the next few weeks, so just need top ups of veg.
Tonight we are having:
Quorn mince style puddings,
Baby potatoes crushes,
Vegetables..carrots and broccoli.
Gravy.
Well it is so cold today you really want warming things.

Let it Snow..let it Snow..Let it Snow...

Awoke this morning to a covering of snow. Only light here but it is heavy elsewhere in the country, especially down South, London and areas. Seems to have brought the country to a halt, no buses or trains and flights cancelled. They need to get their acts together in this country, they seem to manage ok abroad like in the States.
We didn't go out today and have decided to use things from the freezer. Haven't really got any fresh vegetables, but will use frozen ones instead.
Well the new duvet is proving to be a good buy especially in this cold weather. It has a higher tog rating than our previous one, and is of all goose down rather than feather and down. Plus our last one had a big hump of feathers in the middle rather than over usso that would probably lessen the tog rating I should think. The cats seem to like this one anyway.
Snowing a little bit today, very light flakes, but not sticking. Rusty and Bobby haven't been out much today though, they seem to want to stop in.It is just saying on the radip that up to six inches of snow fell in London. What a shame!
I wonder if John got his birthday card in time..maybe not but it won't be long, the post to Australia seems to be good, better than ours anyway. We sent Jane some Toastabags the other week and she hasn't recieved them, and that is only Manchester. Something not right there somewhere.
Tonight we are having:
Something out of the freezer..not totally sure what yet, but will find something.
Potato Croquettes,
Mixed vegetables, carrot, peas, and soya beans.

Busy Day!

Sunday is probably our busiest day of the week really. We start with our coffee and then it is all go. Neither of us wanted to get up this morning because the bed was very comfortable. We put the new Goose Down Duvet on yesterday and it is really warm and cosy. We were surprised how light it was, which worried me slightly, but never fear, it was lovely. it is now of course going to be much harder to get up in the mornings!
Made a beautiful Sourdough loaf this morning, mostly white with jumbo oats in it. As U type this the aroma of freshly baked bread is surrounding me, very appetising. Then we did the roast vegetables and the pizza dough.
VT went to Maghull and came back with some hanging baskets he had bought, really nice ones. If we put primroses in it they look very colourful.
It is very cold today VT says, he came back from his mooch quite cold and said the Farmers Market there was getting smaller. What has made the difference in Maghull is the Woolies closing, it makes the Square look quite miserable now.
Tonight we are having:
Pizza homemade dough with our tomato sauce, Roasted Vegetables
Salads..potato and cous cous,
Salad with avocado and baby yellow plum tomatoes,