(no subject)

[pensnest]

We have emptied the FIL boxes in the garage. There's a Freecycle pile, an Unwanted Fabrics pile, an Electrical Waste pile, and a Metal Waste pile in the garage, and a few items turned up that may be of some use. All this extra Stuff being sorted, and the few things we have amalgamated into our own Stuff has meant I have less urge to purchase random things these days.

There are two pairs of orange plastic trousers hanging from the laundry butler. The... odour... is decreasing.

Was nearly late to my rehearsal last Thursday, because at the last minute we discovered nobody had the car key. In an almost unique twist, it was Beast who had lost it! However, when he went inside to get his shoes in order to help me carry various things to the rehearsal venue (to set up a Zoom camera for the MD), he found the key on the windowsill, so I wasn't late after all.

Otherwise, have not done much. The tomatoes are beginning to produce green balls, which is nice; the sweetcorn appear to be flourishing; the mystery squashes in the raised frame are doing fine; the healthy courgette plants I put in are being eaten into oblivion. It is to cry.

*

I'm seeing a fun meme, so Let's play a game that I just made up entirely off the top of my head called "have you made this?" Works exactly like it sounds: you think of a thing that can be made (food, crafts, building projects, mistakes, etc.) and leave me a comment asking if I have ever made the thing.

Comments

[dine]

congrats on reducing the pile and getting stuff sorted for future disposal - what a huge job!

I need to know if you've ever built kit furniture (IKEA, etc.) - and if so, how successful were you/the project?

[pensnest]

There is a *lot* of stuff. Why FIL was so against sorting out his Stuff *before* shipping it back from Oz and then storing it in a warehouse for several months, I do not know. I tried hard to get him to begin throwing things out, but there was a brick wall of refusal. In the end, the removers came in and packed *everything*, even a half-full waste paper basket.

I have built IKEA furniture! I assisted with putting my son's furniture together, but more recently, when our Library was completed, we put in NINE Billy bookcases. Most of them were accomplished in tandem with Beast, but I believe I did a couple on my own. By the end I thought I could probably do them with my eyes closed. Anyway, they remain happily in the library.

[dine]

good for you (and your books)! I have not myself assembled IKEA furniture - the couple of pieces of kit furniture were assembled by others. I quite enjoy them and actually would like more, but am not up to sitting on the floor to wrastle bookcase parts

[copracat]

Have you ever made booze?

[pensnest]

I have not made booze. I know I've contemplated the possibility of sloe gin once in a while, but never had any sloes. (I think there are some in the garden now, but am a bit hesitant to offer people something to ingest which I'm not certain about!) Also, I don't like gin. And of course, that would only involve ready-made gin in the first place.

[copracat]

Coincidentally, and after I commented, it was only today I learned a way to make sloe gin: fill a bottle with sloes that have been pricked a few times with a skewer. Add sugar to fill all the gaps, then pour over gin until you can't anymore. Seal the bottle and wait.

That seems a lot easier than the cost of a bottle of sloe gin implies but, on the other hand, I think the nearest sloes are in Tasmania. So, no home-made booze for me.

It does help if you like gin, though.

[pensnest]

I have also toyed with the idea of making raspberry vodka, and now that I have raspberry canes... well, they're in a raspberry jungle so I think if I brave the jungle, I'll eat any raspberries I get. And I'm not really fond enough of vodka either.

[frausorge]

Have you ever made macarons?

[pensnest]

I haven't! I did do a cookery session run by our local Macarons & More shop, but it was brownies and marshmallows.

I quite like macarons, but perhaps not enough to go to the trouble of making them. Also, that would be Baking, which is not my forté.

[yarnofariadne]

Yay for getting things sorted!

Have you made a lasagne from scratch?

[pensnest]

I have! Usually using Delia's recipe, which is delicious, but I've also done veggie lasagne with great success. It's quite satisfying, but as it's a rather an unfavourable time to make/time to eat ratio, I don't do it that often.

[turps]

Along with the mutant courgettes, I have an impressive and ever-growing crop of red tomatoes. Also, one huge cucumber. This year may be my best year yet crop-wise. Though I have no idea what to do with the mutants.

Have you ever made cinder toffee/honeycomb? It always looks so cool whooshing up the pan, and dangerous!

[pensnest]

I haven't made cinder toffee/honeycomb, though it does look exciting. I think it wasn't really a Thing in my childhood, and perhaps it is more of a Thing for Northern children? I've never lived north of Norwich.

[bethctg]

The amount of Stuff one can accumulate over a lifetime is astonishing. :(

Have you ever made a decorative wreath? (I have. It was hard on my hands- all the prickly bits, and the bending... )

[pensnest]

It is! When we moved here, six years ago, we got rid of quite a lot, but I cannot bring myself to prune the contents of my craft stash, which is of rather Grandpa-esque proportions. Dear me.

I have made decorative wreaths several times, at Christmas, though I generally cheat with either a base made of florist's foam or a wreath of twigs twisted into a suitable circle, through which I can attach bits of holly, ivy and whatever else comes to hand. This house is called The Hollies, because we have a mighty (and unpruned) hedge of it at the front, and there is also ivy *everywhere* so the materials are plentiful. Once in a while I make the wreath without greenery, though, just using Christmas tree decorations like strings of beads and bells.

[writedragon]

I use a wire wreath frame. We live in a hot climate so I tend to use local greenery such as boxwood and magnolia, which are nontraditional but suitable to the local environment. I love that your house is called "The Hollies." We named our house "Cedar Elm Haus" because we have those in abundance.

[pensnest]

I think the house next door to us should be The Sycamores, but they seem content with a mere number.

[bethctg]

Your home sounds lovely! :)

[pensnest]

The garden is, alas, somewhat out of control, but it is uplifting to live among so many trees.

[writedragon]

Have you ever made a handmade book (and if so what kind)?

[pensnest]

I made a little book of quotations for a friend's birthday back when I was a teenager. Each page was written in a different way - colour, style etc - and they were not so much bound together as tied with, I think, two loops of embroidery silk. I also created a recipe book to give my new parents-in-law when I presented them with a slow cooker one Christmas. Again hand-written, and probably tied rather than bound, but not so much emphasis on style. I have an idea that one surfaced recently, but I can't remember what I've done with it.

[writedragon]

Oh! Those sound lovely. My saved recipes get slipped into plastic sleeves and put in a three-ring binder. Handwritten recipes are lovely, though: I've still got a few recipe cards from grandmothers long gone and there's something special about those.

[pensnest]

My grandma didn't write much down, but I think of her every time I use the ancient and decaying Stork recipe book!

I have an odd habit of saving recipes in a ring binder, and then never using them. Except recently the ones involving sourdough, which I do use quite a bit.

[writedragon]

I have sort of solved the not-using recipes in the binder problem by only including recipes that I've actually tested and genuinely liked. I write comments, notes, any changes, and often a date on the page, and periodically purge the binder. Recently I got some tabs and organized the recipes by type, which resulted in a lot of "this looked good at the time" pages getting tossed. It's not a foolproof system but does tend to keep things moderately less chaotic. I even have a small section at the back for nostalgic or sentimental recipes that I will probably never use but are a part of family history.

[pensnest]

You sound magnificently organised! I am... not an organised sort of person. But it would be a good idea to go through the file and purge it of things I've never bothered to make and don't now think are interesting.

I should probably also sit down with a cuppa and read through some of the cookbooks. It's good to get fresh ideas.

[turlough]

Congratulations to having conqured the boxes!

That's so sad about the courgettes. I'll keep my fingers crossed everything else will continue to grow and flourish!

Have you ever made pottery or worked with clay in any way?

[pensnest]

I don't remember ever working with clay, except plasticine when I was a little girl. As you know, I've done a lot of painting on china, but on reflection, I don't think I've ever wanted to make pots on a wheel, and I don't think I've felt the urge to build something out of clay, either. Funnily enough, it is in the family, as one of my mother's brothers ran a pottery.