Snowstorm, so soup it is!

It's been snowing 7 hours. Forecasts say it will be snowing until tomorrow noon.

So soup.

We had one and a half cervelat-type sausages in the fridge (local basic sausage). Not my favourite, but hb likes it and it IS cheap. And I know how it's made, because I've been in most sausace factories here. I fried it before adding to the soup -not necessary step, but it tastes so much better.

It looks like any other potato-based soups I make these days, because I have a lot of beets and everything cooked with beets gets red. Ok, someone might call it a stew, whatever. This is how my grannies made this ❤️

1,5€ for the sausage, 0,2€ for spices and stock cube, max 1€ for vegetables (carrot, swede, beet, potato, peas). So pot full of soup less than three euros, less than 50 cents per portion.

Hello darkness, my old friend....

 As a child I was afraid of dark. While walking to school I frantically squeesed my flashlight. It wasn't very powerful, it was 70's anyway.

Now the darkness is my friend. It's a good thing that we have formed a friendship, becaus during cold seasons there's not much light. It's dark when I wake up. It's dark when I take 'Suma for a walk. It's dark when we leave home when I take ys to school (no public transportation here, school trip is 14 km one way). And of course it's dark when I finish my work, at four pm. Yay.

But it's not pitch dark, there is tones in darkness. Last weekend there was more than enough light - full moon at it's brightest illuminated even forest floor. And if there's clouds, nearby town sheds enought light to shatter it from the clouds so I can walk safely without having to worry about stumbling. It WAS darker in the 70's. There was energy crisis (oil crisis) so street lights in the town  were off, if there even were any. It was 70's, not a modern day light pollution era.

And if I don't use any extra light, I can see everything around me, with flashlight I can see only what's in the narrow beam of light. And if there's too dark that I can't see - well, nobody else can't see me neither! So it is safe to walk in the darkness in the countryside.

Cities are totally different. I've never seen so dark shadows like there are in cities - darkness is a deep void, not a soft and comfly blanket like it is in the countryside.

Chocolate semolina pudding

I usually cook one porridge a week. And when I say porridge, I actually cook something rest of the world calls as pudding. 

Today was porridge cooking day, as it is Sunday. On Sundays I try to make something that can be easily eaten during the week as a snack, breakfast or when you are hungry but have no time to make a sandwich!

Favourite is, of course! Semolina chocolate pudding. Chocolate semolina pudding? Chocolate porridge 😁

I'm cooking on the woodstove now. It keeps the house warm and save electricity.

Once cooked, you can see separate semolina grains. This time I used a small amount of polenta, too. I'm the only one liking polenta, and we were given one package. I'm not wasting any food!

You can buy semolina grains with cocoa and other stuff, but it's quite expensive - at least I think it is. It's easy to mix yourself.

1 l milk

1 dl semolina

1 dl sugar

(1 tsp vanilla sugar)

1/4 tsp salt

I cook this in bain marie/double boiler pot, because I just can't cook milk in normal pot without burning it...

I mix everything but salt and let it cook in double boiler for half an hour or longer. In normal pot it takes only 10 to 15 minutes. Once it's cooked, I add salt.

This is very good hot and cold. You can have it with  milk, cream, vanilla custard etc but I just eat as it is. It is very sweet! But this is how we like it.

I also made a sort of Yorkshire pudding. We eat it as a sweet dessert with jam.

I use pizza cutter to make slices, I forgot to take a picture before I sliced this. (and someone had already took a slice or two)

And it's October

I don't know how days go past so fast - or rather weeks. It was August, and September somehow just rushed by, waved and puff! it's October.

August and September were exceptionally warm months, summer didn't want to leave. And then in one morning it was autunm, trees went yellow and red overnight, grass turned golden yellow just like that.

Now we have had frosts - few years ago frosts were here in the end of August, not in the beginning of October...

I'm quite confident we will have winter very soon and without any warning. Bugger.

I've been mushrooming, today we were in our forest, me, my sister, Number One and 'Suma. In 45 minutes we picked our bags full of mushrooms, and we hardly touched the edge of the mushroom harvest there. I still need few bags more mushrooms to freezer. It's going to be an expensive winter, I think.

At least I managed to pay off one car loan, and another has only one half payment left. Then all vehicles are our own again! And it gives me a small extra sum of money to build up an emergency fund. For now my emergency find is my Master Card, which is not good. I have still money reserved for some specific purposes, like sys's drivers licence...

Since beginning of covid our money situation has been tightening and tightening - we are not buying anything more than before, but everything is so much more expensive. We have less money to spend with higher prices. I don't get paid more if I work more, I could have the hours off, but will not get any extra money. Hb is working only day shift, so no extra money from night shifts either.

But we'll manage, I just need to cut all extra spending (not much there) and be wary of any pitfalls. Few more years and our mortage is completely paid off. Hb might get a small amount as inheritance once hir parent's house is sold - but it could take two or three years before that happens, and keeping up the house costs us around 200 euros per month! I have suggested that the house be put up for rent, but it's too much effort, they say (hb and his siblings).  Oh well, it's only money 😡

Overcompensating?

I might have mentioned this is very difficult year financially. Not only for our family, but in general. Even my aunt, who's been retired about 20 years said such. And she's not in debt, she has a steady stream of pension every month and she's ablebodied and ableminded. She's not so much worried for her own sake, but for others. And so am I.

Funny thing I've noticed: when I'm skint (for any reason) I cook and bake. A lot. I just made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of Thrifty Lesley's red lentil nuggets and there's two huge tubs of rice pudding in the fridge, as well as big container of pre-cooked mushrooms for tomorrow. And on the stove there's a rather big pot full of boiled potatoes (hot, can't put them to the fridge yet) and half a frying pan of fried cabbage/zucchini (the other half is eaten already). And I'm planning on baking buns tomorrow (I don't usually bake bread/buns, but this last month has been really really expensive and I had some flour bags that really needed to be used (best before date last year...). Yesterday I made pickled cucumbers and zucchini fritters. On top of regular cooking. And yes, I put the soaking liquid of lentils aside for the buns, as well as the liquid from yesterday whe I grated zucchinis and drained it with salt.

It's like I'm trying to cook and bake everything before I run out of money/food/change to forage...

Rowans are overcompensating last year's complete lack of berries. I'm trying to find reciepes other than jellies and liquor. Maybe I just put them in the freezer and I'll figure out later what to do with them?

Blue cheese quiche

 I need a lunch to take with me to the office tomorrow. I didn't have any leftovers in the fridge - I mean I didn't have anything leftovers I can take with me, those who stay at home tomorrow will need them. I've been fancying a quiche for some time, and at some point during the weekend I noticed a packet of blue cheese in the freezer. I knew I had a some margarine left in the fridge. I usually use only butter or oil, but I baked some dairy free things before summer. It was really time tu use up that small parcel!

Quiche is in the oven now - a bit late, but I went mushrooming with 'Suma and then we had sauna night.

Blue cheese quiche

Crust:

100g fat (butter, margarine)

3 dl flour - I mixed 1 dl of rye flour and 2 dl basic white wheat

1/2-1tsp salt

1 egg

2 tbsp cold water

Work soft fat, salt and flour into sand-like mixture, add egg and water and mix into a smooth dough. Oil the baking dish (24 cm round or similar size square)Pat the crust evenly into baking dish, lift the crust against sides ot the dish. No need to put this on the fridge or blind bake it. Put oven on, 200C.

Filling:

3dl cream or 2dl creamy yoghurt + 1dl milk

2 eggs

salt, pepper

1,5 dl / 100g grated mild cheese

half a packet of blue cheese

Crumble the blue cheese

(I'm allergic to onions as well as leeks, but I've heard caramellized onions or leeks work lovely with blue cheese)

Mix dairy and eggs, add seasoning. Grate cheese. Turn blue cheese into crumbs and spread them evenly over the bottom of the crust (and onions/leeks)
. Sprinkle some of the grated cheese on top of the blue cheese, the pour the filling mixture in. Add rest of the grated cheese.

Bake about 30-40 mins in the middle rack of the oven. Timing depends on the oven, mine bakes very unevenly, so I turn everything 180 degrees in the middle of baking.

I'll have a piece of this with a simple tomato-cucumber salad.

If you need me, you know where to find me

 I'm mushrooming.

I'm trying to teach 'Suma to find shrooms.

She's not very eager, but patiently sniffs around. She doesn't have a clue what she's supposed to do, but it's ok, I love her even if she's not the smartest dog in the world. Not even the smartest dog I've had.

This year's harvest begun poorly. My veggie plot is eaten by snails, completely. Snails ate my pepper plants, beans, all salady things (and everything green which weren't weeds). Then I got decent harvest on black currants and now mushrooms are everywhere!

So far I've only found a dozen porchinis, but chanterelles, black trumpets and hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum repandum) are are saving the day. Or winter, I suppose, because we will eat mushroom dish once a week next winter. Saves money but most importantly - we really really like mushrooms!

I know, I'm a bad forager. I don't have fancy baskets with separate compartments to different shrooms, I don't wear fancy outdoor clothing (my wellies are fixed with gorilla tape!) and I usually go mushrooming only as far as I can still see my house or yard...

Still here

 My summer has been ... busy?

We had  a double graduation, and all those preparations took a while. I've not yet send thank you - cards, we've chosen pictures, but...

I've been busy at work - done a LOT things I've never have done before. Everything has been extremely interesting, but also so very tiring. My days were long, from 8am to 22pm straight. All day, in my feet, walking around...

D moved to another apartment, so I spent two weeks moving with her - her new apartment is at the sixth floor - and basically no elevator (there is, a tiny closet you can fit max 2 people). At least the staircase is grand!

My veggie garden is neglected, completely overgrown with weeds. At least potatoes are growing. This has been a very wet and moderately warm summer - which means potatoes are suffering, all critters are in abundance and... I just don't even know.

On the good news...?

I've paid my car, it's all mine now!

Sister has chicken, and a cockerel. The cockerel is very loud, from 4am to 9pm. Well, he takes a nap before noon and is quiet about 1- to 2 hours...

Old man and my mother have completed their move to mansion (log cabin), and my sister has the house all by herself (= her family) now.

Grandma's apartment finally sold last week (she died last year), so no more worrying for that.

For real!

Yes, it's been a long winter. Since October we've had snow, freezing tempetatures and some more snow. So this winter has been longer than six months!

I have no want to sow anything, or plant anythin - not even plan anything. 10cm of blindingly bright white snow prevents digging in vegetable plot, and the ground is still frozen solid.

Oh again, tell me about extremely hot spring in Mediterranian... maybe jealousy keeps me warmer!

Nevermind

 I thought we are heading towards spring... then I thought wait a minute, we haven't had our end of March/beginning of April snowstorm. Welll.

So no swimming yet?

I just don't get it

 I really don't understand how blogger/google accounts work. On my laptop I've been kicked out from this blog. Here on my phone I can log in and add posts. Can't kept logged in so that I can comment on others' blogs.

Deers, daily sight.

 As most of Europe is enjoying full spring, here in the backwoods it's still a dream.

But it is still beautiful. We had a small snowstorm today, now sky is clear and temperature is going down. It was -8C and still getting colder. (little black dot is 'Suma)

That is my forest. It's not dense and dark, but airy and light, and it's something I love. Here are my roots growing, and I hope I can pass this to my grandchildren; my grandfather bought this forest after the war, he has lost everything. His house (my father's home) was built with trees from this forest. This gives me food, and this is my safe place. Yes, I do hug my trees.

Snow was only knee high in the woods, but in the open it was up to my waist. Not fun, not at all. Few weeks and there will be no snow? Even if I don't say it out loud, I'm quite tired of this winter thing. I would like to have spring and warming soil beneath my feet. I'd like to plant seeds to grow.

Ys is doing fine, his papers (virtual) will be transported to adults neurological department now, so far he's been under the children's department. His meds are working fine, he is no longer gaining weight (actually, he's lost some which s good).

Sys is having his exams this spring, and D is doing her final courses. If everything goes as planned, they will be graduating this spring! D has been dating a lovely girl, and loves the big city.

I've been baking. First it was a need, few BIG bills to pay so didn't want to spend any money, and second - I had a lot of flours to use before they spoil. 

My fresh yeast has been in the freezer for four years, I wasn's sure if it had survived:

I left it there a bit longer and it was foaming all over the place! Yup, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Later I found some dry yeast, best before 9/2019. Weeellll. It's alive, too.

Weekend shift

 I usually work only on week days, and on office hours. Weeeellll, that's a bit flexible to say, because I quite often stretch my days to Portuguese or Irish office hours. During the winter it doesn't matter, there's nothing I can do outside anyway, winter is time to hunker down and enjoy warmth of my home.

Sometimes I need to work at different times. This weekend was one of those times. It was ok, my hours were long of course, but it is what it is. It is quite peculiar to walk through stations in the late night or early morning hours, it is a complete different people living in night than in bright daylight.

This will be a very long winter. I begun on October, and seems to drag on forever. We were prepared for a long winter, but this has been extraordinary long and cold. We had twice the amount of firewood, and unfortunately even this hasn't been enough! Right now I'm sitten by my fireplace enjoying the warmth of burning real fire - it is so different heat from any other heat.

O by the way, due to several reasons this is going to be a VERY tight year financially. My paid salaries will be down 5k€ from what it was last year (including raising income tax). So we will eat trough last of our savings? I will get our car loans paid this year, and that leaves some extra for my budget. Let's hope there will be no extra expenses coming...

It's been cold

Most of the world is suffering hottest years ever. Not here, this tiny spot on the world map has been much colder than usually - it's only around 20 million people who have been affected (few countries).

But it means I'm hauling wood in and burning it in our wood burners - in stove, in a big heat reserving fireplace, in sauna stove and in my little constant burning fireplace. We were prepared for a cold winter and expensive electricity, it's cheaper for us this year than it was last winter, but it still takes an indecent chunk of our income. Last spring and summer I was able to save a nice sum of money, but it was all vanished by the end of the year (I know where it all went, and it was all the expenses I had saved it for). We've had some very tight years because of covid and hb's fall and injuries (he was on sick leave for few months early 2021) and of course due restrictions my income has been a bit smaller that it could've been.

But we are still on surface, not sinking.

I wouldn't mind loosing few kgs, but unfortunately my cooking keeps getting better and better. Today I made a stir fry using just ordinary cabbage (no pak choy or any other fancy named veggie), carrots and sweet pepper (and of course garlic). A slice of a cabbage head had been in the fridge for about month? and before that it was two months in my cold/cool entrance hall (a small room with only one heater fan keeping it from going near zero C) so it was about the time to use it. Sauce was made by the most simple things, soy sauce, cola, corn starch. Some seasoning and that's it. We ate it wit fettucine, not even noodles and it was so good! For teenage boys I fried some pork (freezer) but it really didn't even need that.

Today were back down to -17 decrees (celsius) and tomorrow even colder. On Tuesday evening lowest was -29. And let me tell you it is way too cold even for me. I'm quite happy 'Suma doesn't like that cold either. But the amount of cat litter...🙀

it's a new year already?

 I never seem to have enough time to write. I start and then after few weeks I find my text unpublished just lying there, forgotten.

There's been a lot. I went to see Queen- musical with hb's nephew's wife. She's nice, not my "type" if I may say so, but on the other hand, I don't do people much anyways. But she 's only one I thought might like musical like that. I loved every moment of that show, I just don't go out often to do things like that anymore. And she loved it! Perfect!

I went to see Fallen leaves, it was a special screening for our office. I quite liked the film, went there with my colleague who I knew would appreciate a Kaurismäki-film. I think this is the best film he has made so far. The film was moving, funny - it did start veeery slowly but it was worth the suspension 😁   I know many people will not get it. I loved the dog, of course. And I think it is worth mentioning than someone is able to tell a whole story in less than two hours! I will NOT go to see Killers of the flower moon, just can't cope with nearly four hour film.

Then I ate an elephant, figuratively. You know, piece by piece. I bought an armchair for my sister for her 30th birthday and she will be 35 soon. It didn't have any cover, therefore it was dirty cheap even at Ikea. I promised to sew a cover, and promised several times... At first she didn't need the chair, because they were living in a small flat and there was no room for the chair. Then they moved to my grandmother's flat (when she moved to assisted living and then to nursing home) and they might have had room for that chair, but it was nod necessity. And then she moved to the other side of the field. Finally my sister brought me a bagful of upholstery velvet in petrol green. Very pretty fabric! I draw patterns, cut pieces, made mistake and hid the evidence. Then I had to continue, because the fabric was in the middle of my dining table - it was there so that I wouldn't be able to forget it.

So I made a new cut for the piece I had cut upside down (you need to be very careful with upholstery velvet to cut it the right way... I wasn't). I sew some seams, needed to take some apart again and hide that all again. Then I put on my big girl pants and made it: seam by seam, stich by stich I made the cover and FINALLY was able to deliver it just in time for Christmas.

I made only few Christmas presents. For d I knitted a hat, mittens and socks from acrylic yarn. She can't wear wool (itchy) but acrylic is ok. Number one needed a medieval hood (not! with liripipe) and I had some leftover wool from ys's hood. Because wool fabric is very itchy, I made lining from an old bed sheet. My sister asked for dish clothes and flannel pieces to use instead of kitchen roll (I've made those for her before so she knew she could ask me to do them). So I made about 20 pieces of flannel, 12 out of christmassy print and then another dozen out of flower print. And knitted half a dozen dish clothes. Or rags, whatever.

On Christmas Day I knitted a pair of socks to os (he was wearing an old pair with holes in). Sys got a telescope and because it's cold outside he needed mittens and there was not a pair of mittens in the house that fit him! So I knitted a pair.

And then we got COLD. It's been freezing, -28 or -29 on several days. Not funny, Not funny at all. Sys complained his room was cold to sleep (it was, because he kept opening the balcony door in his room to use the telescope to see the moon and stars) so he needed another blanket. Well, I didn't have any extra, but I knew I had some squares I knitted eons ago with double yarn, found them and stiched them together. Now he has a huge and thick and WARM blanket.

Cats have a serious case of cottage fever because it's been way too cold for them to go outside. Of course little brother have tried every day to go out, but he has to turn on his heels right at the doorstep. So he's been stripping Christmas tree out of it's decorations. The tree was tied up to the ceiling so there was no danger of it to fall, but we did lost few glittery balls to 'Suma's teeth.

And the endless war on cat litter! Oh dear.

'Suma has not been able to go on for long walks. One day we made it to the post boxes but that's it. Her feet are freezing so I will not make her to go any further. It's a bit warmer in the woods, so we have managed to have some 15 min walks every day. She's so bored, even playing with Christmas tree decorations don't perk her up anymore.