A little help from my friends

I hate the Beatles, I really do. I think it’s an inbuilt hatred, fed down to me in my formative years by Rollings Stones-loving parents and then nurtured by a traumatic primary school project to create a mural of a yellow submarine. But every time I hear those whiny Scouse voices (and they really are whiny) the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. And not in a good way.

But just this once, I’m going to make an exception and quote them….

“I get by with a little help from my friends”

In this case, it’s my lovely friends at my book club who I’m referring to. I went to a meeting a few days ago, and as my book club is in Belper, I was excited to tell them all about my move. The cottage I’m moving into is about a two-minute downhill walk from the Queen’s Head pub where we meet so I’m already looking forward to rolling home after a couple of glasses of wine.

Perhaps more than a couple….

And my amazing book club friends immediately rallied round with tips on where to shop and a couple of much-needed donations to help me with the kitting out of my new place, which as I’ve said before, I need to try to do on a shoe string. Lovely Hilary has volunteered a TV that she was going to put on Freecycle, and Lovely Jill is donating a microwave.

Both of these gifts are hugely appreciated.

Then this morning I received an email from another book clubber, Michele, asking if I'd like any help moving as her partner has a van.

With the exception of my book club pals and a couple of Derby Telegraph colleagues (plus my friends at my second home – Fresh Bite Pizza) I don’t actually know anyone in Belper – I really am starting afresh. So the warm reception and donations really made me feel like I’m making the right move. And of course, also mean that I won’t be buying either a TV or a microwave from Tesco!

A list!

After nine months of bitching, I think it’s probably becoming pretty obvious that I don’t very much like Tesco.

But I do have one thing to concede….

If you need to kit out a house, cheaply and in a hurry, you could pretty much find whatever you wanted – from microwaves to pots and pans, bedding and even candles - at any decent-sized Tesco Extra store.

They even sell Tesco branded horse rugs. Not that I would…. (and I don’t particularly need one of the house either)

But I do need to kit out a house in a hurry. Unfortunately without the help of Tesco.

The little cottage in Belper that I’m moving into next week is unfurnished so I need to buy a hell of a lot of stuff, and because this move is the second I’m making this year (neither of them planned!) the funds at the Bank of Beecroft are running a little low.

Tesco’s well-known motto is “Every Little Helps” and right now I could see how the supermarket could actually be helpful… simply by providing me with a lot of the stuff I need, at a decent price, all under one roof.

But no. Don’t worry. I’m not going to crack. I’m going to do this move without the supermarkets. Here’s my shopping list for the next week (and I’m sure I’ll be adding to it)….

Washing machine + installation
Fridge
Freezer
Hoover
Ironing board
Microwave
Freeview box
TV
Frying pan
Set of saucepans
Knives and forks etc
Plates
Bowls
Glasses
Chopping knives
Chopping board
Toaster
Kettle
Throws
Cushions
Kitchen bin
Potato peeler
Blow up bed
Kitchen utensils set

On the move again

One of the reasons this blog has occasionally fallen by the wayside is that this has been quite a year for me – in terms of changes to my life – and things are certainly looking very different now to how they were when I started avoiding the supermarkets back in January.

And one of the reasons I’ve been a little distracted again of late Is that I’m on the move again – this time to a little cottage of my own in a town called Belper, which is just north of Derby. The big move is happening next week and I’m hoping it might be my last for a little while.

Hilariously, one of the first people to find out about my relocation to Belper was the lovely guy in Fresh Bite Pizza – where I imagine I’m going to become an even more regular customer!

However, as well as being good news for the till at Fresh Bite, I think my move will be good news for this blog too, because Belper is a really brilliant, thriving little town with lots and lots of independent shops for me to explore.

And yet again I’ll be doing the move without the aid of Morrisons banana boxes, and kitting out my own place on a budget without the aid of Tesco’s homeware aisle, so there will be plenty to blog about over the coming weeks.

Giving in to the inevitable

Another Sunday… another night in the newsroom….. which regular readers will know is usually my excuse to stuff my face with all manner of naughty treats to keep me going. There’s something about the graveyard shift that just inspires over-eating. It’s like I can’t possibly put Monday’s paper together unless there is something sugary or stodgy in my mouth at all times.

So today, I decided to give into the urges early and make myself a pack-up accordingly, rather than pushing coins into the office snack machine at regular intervals. If I’m going to be naughty, I may as well make it good-quality naughty.

So I popped to Brown and Green, the artisan foods shop near Little Eaton, this morning for a better class of naughtiness, and bought myself treats including posh chocolate, Belgian waffles, real cream from Duffield dairy and so on.

My pack up for this evening includes some olive sourdough bread made in Crich, homemade humous, an amazing looking lemon meringue with raspberries and cream, a waffle (which I have just polished off with a cup of tea), choccies and a really nice salad to go with the (inevitable) Pizza Hunt pizza.

I’m all set. Bring on the news….

Wild thing... You make my loaf spring!

These days it seems like there’s a promotion week for pretty much everything…. And working in a newsroom we get all the crazy press releases for them. It ranges from the very very worthy breast cancer awareness month to the slightly crazier things like mushroom fortnight… national sausage week, and so on….

So imagine my (admittedly slightly dubious) excitement when I came across the news that this month is officially Britain’s first Sourdough September.

Sniggering aside, this is actually quite worthy of a plug. In the UK we really are totally crap with bread, favouring those horrible, tasteless white sliced loaves and huge round stodgy bread cakes over properly baked bread, which tastes better and is so much healthier.

The Real Bread Campaign is attempting to address this, and it is the organisation behind Sourdough September.

New campaign ambassador Duncan Glendinning, of the Thoughtful Bread Company, in Bath, said: “For me, the best Real Bread combines great crust, depth of flavour and fantastic crumb. Sourdough is the only bread capable of delivering all of these and the only type that actually improves with age.”

And campaign coordinator Chris Young added: “Happily Britain is rediscovering the delicious delights of Real Bread made with just flour, water, salt, time and care. Plain sourdough has the simplest recipe of any loaf and yet, like alchemists, the most skilled bakers can transform these three basic ingredients into a whole world of gold medal Real Breads.”

On Twitter, @RealBread is running SourDOH! inviting people to name and shame sourdough shams by posting photos using the #sourdoh hashtag, and joining the #RealBread conversation.

Genuine sourdough bread is leavened only using a live starter culture produced by mixing flour and water to nurture one or more species of yeast and lactic acid bacteria that occur naturally on the surface of cereal grains, and therefore in the flour. As well as developing a greater depth and complexity of flavour, aroma, and texture than commercial baker’s yeast, some studies have found long fermentation using a sourdough starter to have a range of dietary benefits. The Real Bread Campaign calls for more research into real bread.

For more go to www.realbread.org