White Chilli

I’m sure I’ve often written about my 2 week schedule for proteins at dinner.  (Beans, poultry, fish, beans, cheese, fish, meat, vegetarian, fish, eggs, beans, combination, fish, vegetarian)  Sounds rather insane, I know, but it for me it makes menu planning much simpler and helps ensure we eat reasonably healthily.  The woman who sits next to me at the sewing group insists that she can’t put anything from the freezer out to defrost for her dinner in the evening because she doesn’t know exactly what she will want and she can’t eat unless it is just what she wants at that moment.  You needn’t worry that she’ll starve; I’ve been watching her steadily expand over the past two years.  Anyhow, we eat what’s on the schedule.

I’ve been working on emptying the ‘protein’ drawer of the freezer which was stuff to the gills (so to speak) when I started.  We're now down to a couple of chicken breasts, the last bit of grated cheese, some turkey broth, ancient cabbage rolls, plain yoghurt, lamb's liver and something unidentified.  I used allrecipes for cheese and chicken and it came up with something called ‘white chilli’.  I liked the idea, but didn’t get around to printing the actual recipe, so that evening I ended up free-wheeling, which I always find rather fun.  This is how it ended up (plus what I would do differently).  Bill declared it his favourite new dish:

Saute a diced onion in 1-2 TBS oil, add a diced chicken breast and brown.  Open a tin of white beans, rinse off the sauce and add.  Put in 1 cup of uncooked rice and 2 cups of chicken broth.  Split open and de-seed 2-3 small chili peppers, mince and add (or omit if you don’t like spicy food).  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  When the rice is cooked, sprinkle grated cheese over the top and let it melt (even low-fat cheese tasted pretty good this way, though I normally don’t buy it).  Serve with steamed veg (eg broccoli and carrots) on the side; alternatively, add 2 cups of any veg to the chicken and rice (which makes this a variation of my usual rice dish).

Does Not Apply to Horses...

Sewing Books

Stitching the pages of a book to narrow linen tapes is possibly my favourite part of bookbinding, probably because I'm already familiar with a needle and thread.

Derek, the 'master bookbinder', tells me that in the old days ladies did this two-handed. That is, they worked with one hand inside and the other outside the book.  They were able to both pull the needle and thread through and insert the needle with either hand. I think it would take me all day to sew left-handed!

Clarissa & Richard

This is about another programme we watched on iPlayer, one about King Richard the II, narrated by Clarisa Dickson-Wright. Have you heard of her? She is one of the Two Fat Ladies. Did they make it to your part of the world? I have only ever been vaguely aware of them having written a cookbook. Sadly, the other woman, Jennifer Paterson, died. Their life stories are pretty remarkable, but I’ve never considered buying one of their cookbooks or even reading one. Frankly, when I saw the photo of the two very large ladies –  motorcycle or not – my thought was, if I eat the foods they write about, I’ll look like they do. I already know how to do that, thank you very much. That said, though Clarissa Dickson-Wright is not exactly eye candy, she's a woman of obvious intelligence, she has an accent that is 'ever so' and speaks with compelling authority.  I will look forward to other programmes she narrates.  

The basis for the programme was a cookbook that survived from King Richard’s court, the oldest surviving cookbook in England. Clarisa talked about the role of the chef in the King’s kitchen and how important he was. He would sit in a high chair, overlooking the cooks and orchestrating their work. Sounds very grand, but perhaps a little boring.  I think the best part of cooking is in the doing, though the planning part is good fun as well.

Richard II (1367-1400) was known for his eating habits. (Picture) He didn’t take to war with the relish that other Plantagenet kings did, but rather lived The Good Life. Though the church ruled over him, he ruled over all else and tried to create a mystique about himself and his office, in part like Louis the 14th via eating well, but also by holding himself aloof from others; he believed strongly in the divine right of kings

Richard loved hunting with birds of prey. There were strict rules about who could use what sort of bird. Only a King could have a gyrfalcon or an eagle. Richard paid a lot of money for a gyrfalcon: about £24,000 in today’s money. He once also paid £56,000 for a banquet feast.  He was noted for being fastidious about table manners and insisted on napkins and use of a spoon. He also brought into vogue the use of a handerchief, something I find quite useful; I detest tissues.

Spices from around the world came to Richard’s table, spices we of course take for granted today. For over half the days in the year the church decreed that no meat, but fish should be eaten. However, in another programme, we learned that the wealthy were given certain dispensations and that some creative interpretation occurred, for example, that beaver were fish, as they lived in the water.  Nevertheless, fish was eaten often and these exotic spices and herbs were useful in giving the plain white fishes some variety of flavour.

During the course of the programme, if I remember correctly, Clarissa prepared two meals, one fish (a large whole one) and the other a stuffed goose. Both recipes came from this oldest surviving cookbook, a scroll, the writing in which reminded me of the Book of Kells only without the lovely drawings. This was all shown with the back drop of an ancient stone-walled kitchen, with the huge walk-in fireplace with its iron accoutrements and a large wood table at which she worked. I took no notes about the food dishes, mainly because it went too fast, but also because I didn’t ever see me preparing a whole fish, head and all, or stuffing a goose.

Richard of course taxed his subjects heavily to support his lifestyle and became quite unpopular. He also withdrew from his court, eating alone in his chamber, preferring solitude. This didn’t endear him to the aristocracy. Though he exiled or killed most of his rivals, a cousin returned from exile and wrested the throne from him. 

Ironically, after having such an extravagant, luxurious lifestyle this gourmand starved to death in prison, at the age of 33.

The Lost Art of Popping

I can’t remember not knowing how to pop popcorn.  We had it as snacks occasionally at home and Mom always brought a big paper bag full with us when we went to the drive in movie as a family.  Between the popcorn and her fried chicken, I used to feel sorry for the people who bought food from the concession stand.

Popping corn is actually a bit difficult to find here in Britain; everyone seems to use microwave popcorn, which is massively more expensive.   In browsing through my Tightwad Gazette newsletters, the very first issue she published had a cover story about popcorn.  She had a race with her husband to see whether the microwave popcorn was really any quicker; of course it wasn’t.  I developed a trick to make even bigger bunches of popcorn, which I’m about to share with you.

Take a pan with a handle and a lid that fits securely even when shaken.  If you have to hold the lid on when shaking, it’s a bit trickier.  Put just enough oil in to cover the bottom of the pan.  Pour in enough kernels to cover the oil with about two or three layers of corn.  Judging the amount of corn is the toughest part, better to err on the lesser side if in doubt.  I shake it just a bit to coat the kernels with oil and then leave it to heat up.  Once it starts popping, I shake it occasionally, but not constantly.  I’m guessing the purpose of shaking is to help the un-popped kernels get down into the oil so they can cook.   I shake the pan more frequently as the popping gets faster.  If I’ve done my usual trick of putting too much popcorn in (usually on purpose), the popped corn will begin to push the lid off.  I have a big bowl handy and whip the lid off and pour off the top half of popped kernels into it.  It has to be done very quickly to avoid popcorn going everywhere, mind!  That’s half the fun, though, I think.    When it all slows to only the occasional pop, turn off the heat and remove the pan from the hot burner.  I only put salt (and too much, at that) on my popped corn; the oil is enough flavouring for me, though I used to add melted butter years and years ago.  In my opinion, popcorn is a perfect frugal snack, though I do try not to have it too often, given the number of calories it has.

What sort of snacks do you have around your house?

Weird Fabric

The Tightwad Gazette once featured an article about how to furnish your first home for practically free:  ask people for the stuff they have that they don't want.  The main principle was that you turned down nothing, lest you put people off offering things to you.  I've adopted this principle myself concerning fabric.

But what do you do when someone gives you a piece of fabric that, interesting though it is, you'd never in a million years make something to wear from it?

Wrap a gift

or cover a waste paper basket

to coordinate with the new green bathroom.

Where Did All the Cookies Go?

It’s funny how tax time is always such an awakening for me.  (Actually, it’s only funny if you have a really black sense of humour.)  I write this now instead of April because as a 'taxpayer living abroad' I'm not required to file until the 15th of June. 


I have prepared my own tax returns off and on for years.  My mom did my first few returns for me, and then my husband did them.  After a few years he couldn’t be bothered any more and I started panicking that we weren’t filing.  A friend at work who was retired from the IRS helped me get caught up.  Then I paid accountants for the years I lived in Salt Lake City.  It always struck me how long it took me to pull together the information for them and how easy it was for them to type the numbers into their computer, print out the finished return and collect a wad of money.  I grew to hate that smile they had, when they were handing me a pen to sign the return and write the check.


When I moved to the UK I quickly discovered that accountants were only too happy to do my US tax return – for about £1,200 (nearly $2,000 at the time).  That was enough to get me to buy some books and study up.  I was really proud of myself when I was able to file the US and two state tax returns.  It only took me a few weeks of reading mornings and evenings.  And of course there is more reading to do every year as things change.  It’s not the most straight-forward language and sometimes my brain just freezes and won’t take in the information, but I generally get there in the end.


Then came the day when I discovered that the UK expected me to pay tax on my USUS and the UK.  I quickly hurried to a tax accountant who prepared 10 years worth of UK returns, charged me £6,000 and the Inland Revenue collected £28,000 in back taxes and penalties (ignorance is no defence).  It was about that time that I lost my stomach for work and decided to pack it in, as I’d originally planned to do about the age of 50. rental income – at 40% tax; and by the way, US citizens are also expected to pay tax on worldwide income, something I only recently discovered, though I have no other income other than in the




My tax return gives me more concrete information about where I stand financially, particularly as my rental income is sporadic.  It is easy to say that I collect X dollars in rent income and so that is how much money I have.  In fact, from that X amount is subtracted management fees, maintenance and repairs, utilities, property tax, and insurance.  After that of course out comes federal and state income taxes.  Then there is the exchange rate from US dollars to British pounds and the fee associated with the exchange. 


It’s sort of like trying to get all the cookies out of the cookie jar, but your hand won’t fit through the hole, you know?  Except that in this case, everyone else gets to take cookies out before I do.  I honestly don’t resent paying taxes, but it is always a bit of a shock to see the money shrink.  I tend to do my budgeting on the previous year’s income, given I don’t really know about what will come in from month to month, and my federal tax return gives me about the clearest picture of what is in the pot.  I think of tax return preparation – at least the fundamentals – as being part of financial literacy, though I realize that as soon as one does something complicated it becomes harder work and for many an accountant is the only way to go.


Do you DIY?  Do you learn useful stuff from it?