Fireworks, Fictitious Whiplash and Feta

Nov 3, 2014 | 11 comments

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More lovely family times were had this week. Both daughters, a DGD and a SIL, and myself went off to Dunorlan Park on Saturday night to watch the charity firework display held there every year. I love fireworks, the smell of the gunpowder, the crump that you feel in your chest and I really do go Ooh and Ahh, especially at the REALLY BIG ONES!

This is the park at a normal time

dunorlan 1

We had some hog roast rolls, with apple sauce, onions and stuffing supplied by a pub near to me, the Mark Cross Inn. They were delicious, a few crispy bits, succulent pork and tasty accompaniments. Looking at their website, it is all Christmas, I don’t want to start thinking about that yet! DD1 says that quite a few houses on her bus route home from work have had Christmas decorations up for 3 weeks!! Much too early for me. When do you put yours up? I like to put them up in the first week or so of December, and they used to come down again when I went back to work. These days, when I work from home, I take them down on the 1st or 2nd of  January,  I love the festive season but I’m tired of  it all by then.

pork at dunorlan

Looking for some firework pictures I came across a magazine dedicated to them, Fireworks Magazine.   So if you want to find an event near you, might be worth a look.

It was a brilliant display and we had a great time.  DGD reckoned it was super awesome, her new favourite word

fireworks

DD1 and her daughter stayed over, which meant extracting a camp bed from the depths of a cupboard. I really must tackle the stash of various stuff in there! Although DGD was unwell during the night, we still went off on an adventure down the woods looking for conkers. I could only find chestnuts, no conkers. I took a walking pole as we had had quite a lot of rain and so of course DGD wanted one too.  I adjusted it to her height and you should have seen her, she looked so cute swinging along beside me copying my every move. We found lots of beasties to look at,  crunchy leaves to kick through and ‘awesome’ puddles to jump in, all of which had to be thoroughly tested with the walking pole to find out how deep they were before jumping in. I love walking through woods.

When we got back, I discovered that DP had been involved in an accident. He had nipped to Sainsbury’s for a couple of bits and on the way back, he got crunched. There is a gym at the top of our road, a couple of houses before our turn off.  A chap was waiting to come out of their small car park, and because DP was indicating to turn down our road, this chap interpreted that as indicating to turn into the gym and drove straight out, right into the side of our car, crushing the nearside wing so much it destoyed the tyre on that side.  None of the airbags deployed, which is surprising considering how big the bang must have been, and DP swears he’s alright. I bet he gets loads of cold calls now from people trying to persuade him he’s got whiplash! And no, he won’t be making a claim for a fictitious case of it.

 

When I eventually rustled up a bit of lunch, it was a throw something together type of thing, which turned out very tasty. With a couple of adjustments, it is something that will fit our budget here. It’s not really a recipe as such, more an idea. And as Pasta Pesto is so ubiquitious, probably one you do already. In case you don’t, here it is

Pasta pesto, with peas and cheese
For two

200g value pasta 29p/500g, 200g, 11p
160g peas, £1/kg, 160g, 16p
50g feta, asda £1/200g, 50g, 25p
half a jar of pesto, Asda Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, 79p/190g, half the jar, 40p
Total cost 92p

Boil the pasta in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes until it is almost done. Add the peas and bring back to the boil. Drain well. Stir in the pesto and feta. Serve immediatley

 

I used some lovely Italian pasta I got from Approved Foods at 60p/500g. I added a chicken breast for added protein that had been cut up into pieces and lightly fried. If you have any and want to  use it here, feel free. I couldn’t taste it much as the tomato pesto was pretty strong, but wanted the protein in there.  The pesto I used was Sacla, as that is what I had.  Asda’s one will do just as well.

Other pestos of course would be just as delicious, in a different kind of way. If you have any of the Wild Garlic Pesto left, that would be delicious. Or Broccoli and Lemon Pesto,  which I tend to keep pots of in the freezer, or the alternative Cauliflower version, or Spring Green Pesto or how about this unusual recipe for Carrot Top Pesto from the Larder Love Blog, or you might like to have a go at making your own Red Pesto using this lovely sounding recipe from Delicious magazine, adding a little chilli for a bit of a kick.

The feta gave a lovely, acidy flavour to this, you might want to use cheddar in it, or on top. Or olives would give a similar strong flavoured hit. Asda have big 400g tins of black olives for 68p, or 310g jars of green ones for 69p. Don’t know about you, but I have found that if I have something with a strong flavour, I don’t need so much of it to feel satisfied.  Do you find the same?

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. sheila

    Oops sorry about repition of above don’t know how it happened.

  2. sheila

    Don’t use a strong tasting dripping for the cake with some spice does make it very nice.This was one of my late husband’s favourites(no it was not the cake that contributed to his death ha ha) I have also used dripping in savoury biscuits topped with onion seeds,sesame seeds or herbs

  3. sheila

    The cake surprisingly is very nice but don’t use a strong flavoured dripping it was my late husband’s favourite.No it was not the cake that contributed to his death ha ha.I have also made savoury biscuits with dripping.

  4. Lesley

    Sheila, dripping pastry sounds far too good to miss, I will def be trying that one.
    Don’t have enough to try the cake as well although I must admit, I’m intriqued how such savoury dripping would work in a cake

  5. sheila

    Dripping makes lovely savoury pastry.
    Farmhouse fruit cake.8ozs SR flour 4ozs dripping
    4ozs sugar brown or white
    4ozs dried fruit of your choice 1egg grated nutmeg or spice of choice.rub fat into flour add rest of ingredients mix together add a little milk if too stiff.bake in greased and lined cake tin. Hope you enjoy.

  6. Lesley

    DP is Dear or Darling Partner, and bless you, we are both well over 50, and live together. He is of the gruff male variety and would only admit to being affected if he had to. No way would I have been able to get him to go to Accident & Emergency unless he really really needed to.
    We’ll see tomorrow.
    Sympathise with the headache part, they are dire. Pain can be all-encompassing. Am off to bed now, hope you start to feel better soon

  7. Sarah

    Sorry about the grammar! I have had a nasty back-/head ache since Friday, I can barely think/sit straight.

  8. Sarah

    Oh, he will definitely know if he has it or not by tomorrow morning if he gets up gets pulled down by his head. Did he not get himself checked out though? Is “DP” your dad? Then he must be older (around 50 🙂 ) It would probably have been a good idea to go to the Emergency Room? But it is good that you have an eye on him? Can you check in in person tomorrow to see whether he can walk or not, or do you live too far away?
    Yes, that was a nasty accident . a Mercedes, a family car and a “lady car” crashed right into my poor back! 🙁 I was afraid while driving for 13 months after that.

  9. Lesley

    Sarah, so far, so good. He still swears he’s alright, and so far, we’ve had 2 text messages trying to persuade him to claim.
    He (me really) is keeping an eye on it, plus the ins co. are ringing each day.
    Your experience sounds horrendous!

  10. Sarah

    Lesley, if the accident happened today, the whiplash could set in overnight. I felt alright right after a horrible accident, and the next morning, I had to lift my head off the pillow by my hair (!!!)! My neck didn’t work at all! Of course I hope he/she escaped without whiplash injury!! It is not pleasant at all!

  11. pumpkin and walnut loaf is gorgeous also

    out of one large pumpkin i got 4 pumpkin and walnut loafs and a huge amount of pumpkin and chicken soup. yum

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