Finding the chase and cutting to it

Microwaves are often scorned in cook books and recipes but I’m a huge fan – I got my first one when I was 19 as a grown up, but I’d grown up with one in the house. My dad was keen, cooking meat, fish, and egg dishes (seperately, not combined) and his favourite dish was […]

Sorry for the delay since my last post but it has been an exciting few weeks. Our son dropped out of university but made a good go at things in Newcastle but as his flat mates have moved away, he had no home so has returned. We were not unhappy empty nesters but having an […]

During lockdown, I started to make fresh pasta.  Which is great from a taste and cooking point of view, but not great from a food waste point of view unless you make use of this handy tip. Oh yeah, one word from the wise, eh? Hey, enough of that.  Collect knowledge. Several sites spoke of […]

Today is likely to be one of the hottest days in the UK and at 11:28 the temperature in my lounge is around 24.8°C, and that’s with the south facing windows protected by closed curtains.  I know as while the boiler is off, if it’s not burning gas it’s not getting hot, the room thermostats […]

That’s vehicle to grid to you and me. When we’re not driving, our car is plugged in to a charger which is controlled by our energy supplier. This is key – our supplier, Ovo, do not have ANY means of generating electricity but they are a supplier.  Well, technically, a value added reseller. That’s the […]

I started a new job on Tuesday, which has meant I am working in a different, swanky, office. Swanky? It’s been recently refurbed and thanks to lockdown, largely unsoiled since the work was done. Of course that means you try many new things. One of my learning points today was a different type of charging […]

What? That’s not practising what you preach! You’re right and I’m not: in fact I’m multitasking.  Well, I hope. I thought I’d share my first go at microwaving (or at least partially microwaving) a roast chicken. What on earth for? Well, I hear many people saying they cannot afford to cook given how high energy […]

fish are jumping and the cotton is high… Not so easy for some! It was my husband’s turn to do the weekly shopping and I think he went shopping hungry – big mistake, big supermarket bill just for two people! We have very little food waste.  But that is largely as we both take account […]

I think it’s very easy to see EPC, or energy performance certificates to the uninitiated, as being theoretical ideals and bearing no relationship to the real world. But over the 20 years they have been around, they have improved the estimates no end. As a nation, we understand that our winters are cold (and damp) […]

Eh? Few things in life are as good as enjoying time with friends, catching up on what’s been going on, and getting to enjoy the world going by your back garden. Oh, yeah? Yes. It’s well known that humans are gregarious and after the past couple of years, it’s great when old traditions start up […]