Archive for August 2008
Money Saving
Posted on Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 14:32 by Michelle
Unfortunately many people aren’t aware of just how easy it is to spend less money.
A quick look at my favourite finance site Money Saving Expert shows just how painless large scale savings can be.
Spending less without cutting back isn't just possible it’s extremely easy.
The first big savings can be made by simply changing gas and electricity suppliers, but go further by looking at what you spend now and where you could spend less and the potential savings are huge.
When I first started ‘Money Saving’, or taking more of an interest in our families I looked at some of the places we spent money, and shopping around meant I saved £1000's over the year.
- Food Shopping
- Home Phone and Broadband
- Mobile Phones
- Water Meter
- Digital TV (Sky)
- Council Tax
It is time consuming, but every minute spent checking it out is money in the bank for you week after week.
Once you start becoming more financially aware it's difficult to view spending in the same way.
I now know that it is the job of shops etc to get my money from me, and it's my job to make sure that when we CHOOSE to spend money we get the best possible value for every penny spent.
There are many places to help with getting the best prices. Money Saving Expert can be a one stop shop, and is always my first port of call. The others I regularly use are www.confused.com and www.gocompare.com.
|Posted in Money Saving (RSS)
Gateshead Taybarns - The Ultimate Eatery
Posted on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 19:57 by Michelle
We just returned from having 'wor tea' at this recently opened restaurant. I was searching for something on the internet last night, and you know how you end up going down rabbit warrens of information...well I stumbled on a review for the above. I thought it had to be worth a try and could add to our restaurant repertoire, which is one other buffet type place, and a lovely Italian, that we go to on birthdays and anniversaries.
When I found the restaurant I realised we had been in before in the buildings previous incarnation as a Brewers Fayre. The service today was certainly faster than that, possibly as it is now serve yourself.
The food was OK, it was nothing special, and if you're only paying for yourself as part of a group then it's pretty good value.
We went before 5 to take advantage of the lower cost (£5.95) and for 4 adults, me and the 3 kids, (who are adults at 10 in Taybarns) it came to just under £30 for the meals and a refillable glass. Now I could do a pretty spectacular meal for £30 at home, in fact I can get most of the weeks shopping for that, but I would have to do the washing up.
It wasn't very busy when we got there, but there was a queue coming in when we left. There was a good range of food, salad, roast meat and veg, a wok and pizza counter as well as the dessert section.
It hasn't been open very long, and was very clean the seating is contemporary, and it was a pleasant experience. It couldn’t help but remind me of the eat as much as you like places in the states, Golden Corral etc. I can foresee openings of many more restaurants of this ilk.
For some reason on the Taybarn site this is called Taybarns Newcastle, but as far as I know Swalwell is Gateshead, it's certainly south of the river. There seems to be snobbery around all the new or good things being classed as being in Newcastle - or the oft coined Newcastle-Gateshead as if it's become one town!
- Newcastle Hilton - Gateshead
- Newcastle Marriott - Gateshead
- Metro Centre - Gateshead
Posted in Eating Out (RSS), Money Saving (RSS)
Italian Pizza Base
Posted on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 8:11 by Michelle
I always make our own pizzas, the bases are very straight forward to make.
I either make a sauce from a tin of tomatoes, oregano, vinegar and tomato paste, or I bung on some cheap ragu.
Then whatever toppings you want, favourites in our family are;
- mushrooms
- spinach
- egg!
- red pepper
- sweetcorn
- mince
- red onion
and I always sprinkle a fair amount of chili seed over my tomato sauce.
Pizza Base recipe
- 1lb flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tblsp sugar
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 2 tblsp olive oil
- 1 cup water
Mix together all the dry ingredients.
Add the oil and mix.
Make a well in the center and pour in the cup of water.
Using a knife, incorporate the water into the flour.
Then get your hands in and bring it all together.
Knead it in the bowl or on your worktop until it changes texture and feels more elastic. (10 mins)
Put a little olive oil on your palms and smooth it over the dough.
Put the dough back into the bowl, and cover with teatowel, cling film, or plastic bag.
Set aside for 2 hours. (use this time to make up your pasta sauce, and slice all your toppings)
~~~~~ 2 hours later
Pre heat the oven to 190, 180 fan oven.
Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured bench.
Knock back gently. (Just take the air out of it with a little kneading.)
Divide into 2, roll out into large rounds.
Place onto pizza trays or any thin baking sheet.
Cover with tomato base, the toppings you like and sprinkle over some mozzarella cheese.
Put into the oven for 15 mins.
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Daily Bread
Posted on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 7:55 by Michelle
This is the recipe for our everyday bread. With the cost of bread rocketing, I throw this in the breadmaker most days. It is a straightforward easy sandwich loaf, which also makes great toast.
1lb Loaf
- 1 cup water
- 3¼ cups strong white bread flour
- 1tsp salt
- 1 tblsp sugar
- 2 tsp butter
- 1 tsp dried yeast
2lb Loaf
- 1¾ cups water
- 6 cups flour
- 1tsp salt
- 1 tblsp sugar
- 3 tblsp butter
- 2 tsp yeast
Posted in Frugal (RSS), Recipes (RSS)
Work Vs Uni
Posted on Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 8:47 by Michelle
I have confirmed my acceptance at university, and start my course in a couple of weeks.…
This was with no little trepidation, and I'm still not sure it’s the right move, because
• I feel old to be going back to college.
• I've just returned to the workplace and I love working in an office.
• I'm really enjoying having an income.
• I work 3 miles from home, uni is about 10!
The course is podiatry and I'm pretty excited about becoming a podiatrist and being able to help people with feet problems. Although I've always enjoyed being in a caring profession, caring for others feet as a profession is not as altruistic as it seems. I'm a picker, when my kids were babies, little made me happier than cleaning out their belly buttons and ears or getting at them with a cotton bud or pair of tweezers. I reckon that working as a podiatrist will fulfill that picker in me, I’ll be able to cut, tweeze, clean and swab to my hearts content.
Currently I'm temping, covering for maternity leave, I may well have been asked to stay on here. If not I would have a good reference to move on to somewhere else with.
But the snob in me very much likes the idea of having a degree, and the hippy in me is looking forward to hanging around and the school library in jeans and discussing things of import in the podiatry world, and the lazy cow in me is thrilled at the prospect of those long university holidays...
|Latitude 2008
Posted on Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:28 by Michelle
Latitude is a 3 year old festival which is really coming into its own. It was referred to on more than one occasion as “the middle class festival”, and it probably was. This festival had the feel of a village fete where you were welcome to pitch up your tent.
It rained, of course, but there were never the mud baths of Glastonbury. The cider was Aston’s and nice, but not nearly as good as Brothers.
The whole feel to the festival was wonderful, very
laid back and cultured. I missed the only band I wanted to see (Black
Kids), Blondie was the other big contender, but she was on at the same
time as Dave
Gorman, so for me it was a no brainer, Dave had
it. He did an entertaining set promoting his book Unchained
America
It’s a chronicle of trying to get from cost to coast without giving any money to “The Man” (corporations). He had to find all gas, food, lodgings and (many) car repairs from independent, “mom and pop” businesses. I didn’t buy the book, but got it from the library when I returned, but I’ve only managed half of it, I was a bit disappointed with the prose, it’s very flat compared to Dave’s live presenting style.
The other highlights for me were the readings done by Word Theatre. Gary Dourdan read Martin Luther Kings, I Have A Dream, and it gave me goose bumps and Beatie Edney, who I had never heard of previously, but had an amazing presence. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be interested in this sort of thing (readings and stuff), but both me and my 15 year old daughter were very impressed and went for all of the readings, I’d definitely look them out again.
There’s no comparison to Glastonbury, it’s like apples and oranges. This one was very convenient as we had to be in Suffolk that weekend to pick up the littlies, and I hope it falls like this for us next year as well.
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