Thursday 11 December 2014

What A Dreary Day ..... A Thrifty Pie Kinda Day!



 Hello there ....
Well .. what a dreary sort of day ..
 I don't think it really ever got properly light ... and so cold.

As you can see from the top pic .. Hubby P now has good/proper lighting in his workshop ....
so that means he can work ... every hour possible ... 
Not that he would for a moment consider himself 'Driven' as they say on the Talk Shows!

But well .. he is always doing something .. and the lack of good lighting in his workshop was always a problem for him ...
Not so for me .. at least I knew he would be in for his tea when it was too dark to see..

Anyway enough of our little domestic issues ...

Whats for tea ?
Something warming and sufficiently stodgy to warm our cockles on this dreary day ...
and of course Thrifty ... money is tight over the winter months.


 I thought a gammon and egg pie would be welcome.
I had bought some very thrifty gammon pieces the other week ... 
cheap and cheerful because they were the end of the 'gammon' .. all misshapen end-y slices ..
not that it mattered to me .. they taste just the same.
So I pulled a pack from the freezer .. defrosted and chopped into small pieces .. fried up with an onion.

Made a lump of simple shortcrust pastry.
There was so much of the gammon and onion mix I made two pies .. 
I cracked a couple of eggs on to the mix and plonked on a pastry top.


I had some pastry left so I made an apple pie .. I have one or two apples hanging around.
Not that we will eat the Apple pie tonight ... two lots of pastry may be a bit much.
But we can have it tomorrow ... just lovely with some warm custard.


I switched the oven off and put one of the gammon and egg pies back in to keep warm...
we will have it for tea with some cheapo beans ..

I put the 'spare' pie in the freezer for another day.

This afternoon was so dark .... 
I had all the lights on in the house just to see where I was going ...

Just the sort of day a Girl wants to sit by a nice fire and read a comforting book.



 These are my 'go to books' when I need a comforting read.
I must re read them every winter .. to me they are like a warm comforting blanket .. they make me feel good .. its gentle escapism.
I do so love the Miss Read books .. they tell of a gentler time ... idealised life in a small village...
warm .. funny stories ... 
and I really did go to a village school just like the one in Fairacre.

But no doubt I am preaching to the converted .. a lot of you will be familiar with Miss Read.


Now just look at these wonderful illustrations ...



 Hubby P found these hardback versions of Lillian Beckwith's books ... again much treasured.
If you like stories of simple village life with all the funny .. lively .. quirky characters of a rural village .. 
then again you will love the tales of life in a Hebridian Isle.


 Well its time to go and drag Hubby P out from his workshop ....


Here he is busily repairing and renovating ... recycling and restoring ...
Make Do and Mending ...

We will have lots of new stock to take out Trading at the weekend ...
lets hope people want to buy ..
And keep us small traders in business .... keep the money flowing around our small community.
  
Enough of me .. what about you .. have you had the chance to snuggle up with a comfy book?

Bye for now x