We are Moving....

Okay, so to let you in on what's happening.  Today Pete and two lovely friends, Chris and Ian, sailed Carpe Diem round from her winter berth and moored her alongside Bonnie.  She is looking a little scruffy and neglected, but nothing that a good wash won't sort out.  In my last post I said that the kids would be moving back into the house, well we decided to move out!  All our 'stuff' will be stored in one of the bedrooms in the house and the kids get the rest of it, whilst we live on Carpe Diem and get on with the barge.  It makes sense.  It gives my son and his girlfriend somewhere a bit more stable to live, especially as it looks very likely that it will be a long, long time before they can buy somewhere of their own.  They just want somewhere that they can stay in longer than six months (Rob wants to keep chickens!).  They will pay the bills etc so it gives us more money to use on the barge and Pete will also be able to spend a lot more time on the barge.  Carpe Diem has heating, shower etc so we will hardly be 'roughing it'!  Also, having the barge next door will give us the illusion of more space and we will be able to use my 'office' on the barge for more storage space.
So it's all change and I am frantically packing everything up before they move in on Tuesday.  We won't actually move on to the yacht for another couple of weeks, as we have to clean it, take of all the boatie stuff and put on what we need to live.  Watch this space!

A Snippet!

My youngest son and his girlfriend have been let down on the flat they were supposed to move into next week.  They cannot stay in the house they now rent as the landlord has new tenants.  So they are moving back home.............

................and as much as we love them, and we really really do, the thought of all of us sharing the house ..........................!!!!!!

Boston Baked Beans

Today I have cooked Boston Baked Beans in the slow cooker using this recipe.  I've been meaning to try these beans for a long time but just never got round to it.  My goodness, what time I have wasted, they were absolutely to die for!  The best bit about doing them in the slow cooker was that they were ready and waiting for me as I walked in the door.  I had them just with a hunk of bread, but Pete is planning on having them with bubble and squeak using yesterday's leftover cabbage and potatoes.  I am about to pack the slowcooker away, so it may be the last time I use it for a while ;)

Coming Soon..............

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but lots and lots of things are happening at the moment.  I will update you all soon about some major changes we are making in our lives, but let me just say that it involves this boat....................

Some of these .............................................

And maybe even this.............................

Be back soon !!!!!!

Kimchi Fried Rice

When I was a lot younger, I worked for a Korean company in London.  Here I developed a love for Korean food.  Kimchi is the staple of  the Korean diet and I absolutely love it.  For many years I could not buy it anywhere and I had to make my own. but recently a friend took me to Wing Yip's supermarket and what a wonderful place!  They had Kimchi galore! I bought fresh Kimchi from the chiller cabinet, tinned Kimchi and Kimchi in jars!  I also bought many other ingredients that I had previously been unable to get or were too expensive in normal supermarkets (the prices at Wing Yip's are fantastic) along with sensible size bags of spices.  If you love Asian food and are close enough, Wing Yip's is worth going to every few months to stock up as it would definitely save money.  Anyway, apart from eating Kimchi straight from its bag, jar or tin, I have started experimenting with different recipes.  Today we had Kimchi Fried Rice which was delicious, even a sceptical Pete thoroughly enjoyed it and it is definitely something that I will cook on a regular basis. The other bonus was that it was ready to eat very quickly, just what you need when you get in from work.  So that's new recipe number 2.  I promise there will be an update on the kitchen and barge soon!

Healthy Start

There is something really wholesome about homemade soup.  It just feels healthy as you are eating it.  After the last few days of excess, I decided I really needed some vegetable soup, so I hunted through the fridge and came up with these............

.......celeriac.  In the village we have a greengrocer's van that comes three times a week and is always full of fresh and, wherever possible, local produce.  Derry (the greengrocer) gave me two small celeriacs as he reckoned they were too small to sell (along with two free red peppers that were "too far gone to sell" that are about to become chilli jelly).  I then turned to my River Cottage Everyday cookbook and came up with this recipe for celeriac soup.  It was absolutely delicious and so easy, I strongly recommend you try it.  So that's recipe No. 1 of the 52 New Recipes Challenge and I will definitely now be growing celeriac this year.

Happy New Year!

I have had a hectic couple of years with lots of responsibilities, deadlines,  no time for anything I really wanted to do and a bout of ill health.  This year looks like it is going to be a lot easier.  I am not going to make any really challenging New Year's resolutions this year.  My aims are to live more simply, spend more time with friends and family and do a lot more of whatever I enjoy doing, even if sometimes that is nothing at all.  Without all the pressure, some of the other things like losing weight, getting fitter etc will probably all come naturally (I hope!).  I will set myself mini challenges each month towards our life goals, but nothing too taxing and I will not beat myself over the head if I don't achieve them.
I love cooking and I am going to join Colour it Green with her '52 New Recipes This Year' Challenge.  It is as it says on the box, roughly one new recipe per week.  I am hoping that later in the year, lots of my new recipes will include home grown ingredients.
We will soon be able to get back to work on the barge.  We are going to put the house on the market soon and hopefully (fingers crossed) get rid of it.  By not having the house to pay out for, our outgoings will drop considerably and Pete should be able to work less with 'work' and work more on the barge.  It would be good if we were able to set a 'moving on date' by Christmas this year, but I am not going to put any pressure on Pete as I know that he is as keen as I am to move on to the barge. I will help wherever I can even if it just means keeping Pete going with bacon butties and tea!
Whatever your plans are for 2011 I wish you luck, health and happiness but remember also to enoy yourselves and sometimes just chill!  Happy New Year xxx