Mulligatawny Soup.

 

J found a tub of this soup in the "Specials" section in Lidl today.  They must be just selling for the run up to Christmas.

It is one of those soups that you place in the machine that goes "ping" for two minutes.

It wasn't bad.  I think I might have a go at making it from scratch some time.

Mulligatawny sounds like the name of a town in the West of Ireland.

Mulligatawny Soup could be the name of a prog rock group?

I have lit the stove and we have snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

It is definitely soup weather.

I think I will make some of my homegrown and homemade leek and potato soup tomorrow.  I could add some parsnip, onions and tomatoes?  🤔

Anyone else buying soup or even making it?

Have The Supermarkets Been Reading My Blog About Freezing Onions?

 We went Christmas shopping the other day before the world and the wife descend on the shops.

Remember back in September when I posted a blog about us slicing and chopping our organic home grown onion bags an placing them in small freezer bags and putting them in the freezer?

Well we noticed now Dunnes Stores are doing the same and selling them for a Euro.

We made a chilli last night and took a bag of our readily frozen chopped and sliced onions and placed them in the pan.

We are getting like M &S with our ready washed and chopped veg.

Do you freeze your home grown onions and vegetables?

Oriental Turkey Plates And Thinking What To Eat For Christmas Dinner.

 We washed our turkey old serving  plates I told you about on Sunday:

 

Willow Pattern.  They originate in China but a lot were made in the Potteries in Staffordshire in England.  Farmers and Industrialists realised the land had a lot of clay.  This was/is not ideal for growing vegetables but ideal for making pottery like our plates.  There was also no shortage of coal to heat the kilns.

This red one has Japan printed on the back.  On further online research this tells me it was made between 1921 and 1941 and made for the American market.  So it is at least 80 years old maybe an hundred.

Some of the blue willow pattern plates look very old.

If only they could speak?  I wonder how my Christmas turkeys have been served on these plates?

It's a shame we are not big Turkey eaters and we don't believe in leftovers  or Turkey sandwiches and Turkey  curry for days.  Any meat left over the dogs get it.  Any vegetables the pigs get it!

What are you having for your Christmas Dinner?  

We will probably have steak again and an all day hot and cold buffet.  We have even had a chilli and a curry one year.  Oh one year we made homemade pizza with a curry topping. 

Hope you like the plates?  I think I will sell them some time or get plate hangers for some of them and hang them on a wall.  If I can find some vacant wall space that is?

We placed them in sealed polythene bags and are resting back on top of a cupboard.  

I think I am a bit of treasure Womble or maybe a Jackdaw?😃 Perhaps I should live in a second hand shop? Only trouble is I wouldn't sell anything I liked.

Some Of Our Oriental Collectibles.

 GZ over at Ook blog feaured an Oriental box on her last post.

Here's some Oriental items we have collected over the years from flea markets, car boot sales and charity shops:

Very old Tea urn.

Geisha girls and my reflection.

Mount Fuji.

Oriental vases.

We also have 4 or 5 large willow pattern serving plates.  Big enough for a big chicken or Turkey.  They are very old.  I will dig them out some time and wash them and show them you.

Any one else collect Oriental items?

Tight Wad Tea Choice.

 Here's how I picked my tea for tonight.

We walked around Tesco and went to their Reduced Section.  Here's what I found and I made my meal choice by looking at the price label:

Stuck for a food idea for tea?  Have a trip to your supermarket and look in the Reduced section.

Do you go looking for food bargains?

The Deposit Return Scheme Seems To Have Been A Success.

 

Earlier this year the Irish Deposit Return Scheme was introduced into supermarkets and shops in Ireland.

Here's a receipt from the machines on one of our latest shopping trips:

The paper receipts can not be recycled I think because of the ink?

There are 13 EU countries participating in the Deposit Return Scheme. It's a pity that the UK chose Brexit and they could have participated in the re cycling scheme.

I wish someone would invent a machine for pet food cans, cooking oil plastic bottles and glass bottles.

Do you think there should be a Deposit Return Scheme introduced in other countries like the UK and the USA?

Warsaw Zoo Revisited.

I spent an half an hour looking at old photos I have posted on blogger since I began writing on here in 2010.  If you want inspiration for new post ideas look at your old blog posts.

Here is a fantastic photograph J took of a Siberian tiger eating Elderberries at Warsaw Zoo in 2013.  I think this is the third time I have shown the photograph on here.  I think it is fantastic:

 I will post another favourite photo or two another time.