Tuesday and a few little purchases

We had a really rough night last night with Missy.  I had to get up twice to swab her down with water as she just did not cope well with the heat.  She has not been much better today either.  Not much sleep was achieved, and G got up and went without me realising he had gone.  I ended up getting up about 10:00am when Missy started calling again that she wanted to go out.

The heat has also put paid to me doing anything today and absolutely nothing has been achieved and with Missy as well it has been very much a quiet day otherwise.

I managed to play catch up with my older cousin J.  Boy was it lovely to catch up with him it has been a few years. He is more like an older brother and we are going to keep in touch from now on in.  Apparently he is not going to let me escape this time.  He lives in Wales and loves it.  Still the lovely cheeky sense of humour and it was though the years in-between had never happened and that we had picked up from the last conversation we had had.

I finished off drying the two bags of Spinach I popped into the dehydrator.  The peppers are more or less done, I processed 8 of the Bell peppers and they disappear down to more or less nothing.

Next up Strawberries, Blackberries and Raspberries for use in homemade Muesli or Granola.  That is what I am planning on doing.  I am a big one for a decent breakfast of a morning.  I tend to go for cereals, fruit and toast or Croissants with homemade jam during the winter months and/or porridge.

Well I have made a few little purchases this week - nothing major just items I need for my preserving. Very boring me but preserving is one of my passions.  I like to feed people.  I also like lots of different foods available to cook with throughout the year and also especially during the winter months, when the weather can be depressing and good colourful, tasty food can make a big difference to one's mood.

I have a big box of Le Parfait jars that still have contents in but I have been unable to open the jars and so I have sent for a Le Parfait key/jar opener to see if I can manage to save the jars.  I have had these jars a lot of years and they cost an arm and a leg to replace.  I have loads of the seals, as these were my original preserving jars at this house going back a good 38 years  (not the contents).  So fingers crossed I can salvage them and in all honesty I do like these particular jars.  I lost a load of them in the fire 4 to 5 years ago as well.  So I want to preserve as many as I can.

I could not wait to have a go at the bottle with the key, and success on a couple of jars in getting them open.  I had mistakenly put the tab through the wire bail, which made it difficult to get the lid off.  The tabs should always be to the side on these type of jars to make opening them a lot easier.  I now have to try cleaning up the wire work as best as I can as you cannot buy replacements for these.  So wish me luck.  I will set about these over the next couple of days or so.

I was also waiting for some Bormioli Quattro Stagioni (Italian Preserving jars).   I found a bit of a bargain on Amazon (well I thought it was a bit of a bargain) 4 x 1 litre jars for £11.99.  That includes p & p without subscribing to Prime.  

They arrived this morning and I am extremely pleased with them.  Going to be used to preserve some fruit.

Bormioli Quattro Stagioni Jars

Equally there is an offer on with Hobbycraft at the moment 24 x 380ml jam jars for £17.00 and so I have ordered two boxes as I am out of jam jars and desperately need them with the preserving I have on my list to do.  Work has stopped play for other preserving until these arrive.  I am still concentrating on the dehydrating at the moment.  Link is here for those who are interested.  You get a discount on the p &p if you order over minimum order of £25 if that helps.  You also earn vouchers which can be put towards reduction on future buys.  I already have an account with them and this does help a bit.  There is also a membership for £80 a year which you can subscribe to for further discounts however I do not have this.  You get the lids as well.

24 x 380ml Hobbycraft jam jars

The heat has been stifling here today and for me it is far too warm.  Have managed to cool both the cat and the dog down with washing them down with a cloth to help cool them down a bit.  The cat tolerates the wipe down as well but not the top of her head thank you very much, so there is a tacit practical practice when wiping her down.

Right am off to bed.  We are down to the Tip to start getting rid of some of the rubbish tomorrow.  Will see how we get on.

Catch you soon.

Take care

Pattypan

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