Bargain Face Paints at ELC

I was trying to get a present for some friends recently in The Early Learning Centre and came across these great paints:

http://www.elc.co.uk/toy/girls-face-painting-kit/

They are half price which is great but then they are part of the three for two on the Art and Craft stuff at ELC which makes them a bargain. I can't say I am the best at face painting but the children seem happy and it those keep them entertained for some time. There is both a girls and boys version so roll on the mess.

The Early Learning Centre also have a half price sale at the moment with some great things in there so it is worth a dig.

Joomla Works

I am embracing my inner geek today and finding things to put on my website. I have only just got into Facebook and now I am going to try out the power of tweeting (I think that is right because I did say the wrong thing once calling it twitering in a crowd of people who thought this was the funniest thing ever, didn't think it was that funny really but as long as it made them laugh I suppose). I have found a twitter feed that I can add straight to the website but I can't quite get it to work. I will have to hit the forums and see if any of my fellow geeks can help.

http://www.joomlaworks.gr/content/view/67/34/

I found the feed on Mary Queen of Shops, I think that woman has my favourite job and something I would love to do. Perhaps that is what I should aim to do.

Primark Bargain Buys

On my lovely shopping trip I visited all my favourite shops Primark, H&M, Zara, Gucci (if only) and managed to pick up a few items to make me feel just a little bit fashionable even if I am at home. I am currently wearing a great little unlined jersey jacket in white and navy stripes with cropped dark blue jeans and t-shirt. It is machine washable easy to move in and fashion for only £8!!! I will take some pictures and add them in a minute.

Shopping on my own again

For the second time this month I have been shopping on my own and spent money I don't really have. I had to buy shampoo to go on holiday and I am afraid that I have convinced myself that only Aveda shampoo is good enough for my hair (I do have some evidence to back this up, my hair is a mess when I stop using it and it makes my hair look much better, this is my story and I am going to stick too it). The good news is there is an extra 10% off all Aveda products this week so I saved £10, I know it was worth spending the money to save money, haha! I was also conned into joining the Aveda club, which you have to pay for. I did ask for and get a very nice little make-up bag with a huge jar of wonderful bath salts plus cleanser and a face scrub all of which are lovely, I get a birthday present worth over £25 and I get points towards a spa day (some time in the next 10 years because that is how long it will take me to save enough points). Oh well, it may turn out to be OK and I told my husband he can give me the present for my birthday!! All joking aside this is a brilliant shampoo and I use it on my daughter who an some itchiness in her hair too. It has improved the look, feel and texture of my hair and I am going to stick with Aveda because I have spent more money in the past sorting out my hair when I use other products to save money.



http://www.aveda.co.uk/home.tmpl

Red Stickers at Waitrose

I had some friends coming around for lunch on Thursday and I realised that I didn't have anything to give them for lunch. I set my husband to putting the children to bed so I could pop to Waitrose. I don't normally get to my local Waitrose of an evening but I was really surprised at the prices they were reducing some of the food too. I bought 8 packs of pork mince which were only 29p each (now I am looking for recipes of pork mince everywhere but still), cheese reduced from £1.69 per 100g to 22p, a really lovely mature cheddar and a smelly Irish cheese and all the wonderful bread was 75% off. All in all a bargain and I will be trying to go to Waitrose in the week more often to get those bargains. Tonight I plan to make "Stuffed Tomatoes". This recipe is from Raymond Blanc's recent BBC TV series and it is wonderful because I have tried it once before. I bought the tomatoes in Reading market (last time I bought them in Waitrose the tomatoes alone cost over £4) and only cost £2 for too any even to use in this recipe. I have included the link to the original recipe too. Try it is worth the little bit more effort and it isn't that much effort either.


Ingredients

For the tomato sauce
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
45g/3 tbsp olive oil
30g/2 tbsp tomato puree
12 Roma tomatoes, (*1) ripe, seeded and chopped
4 pinches salt
2 pinches pepper, black, freshly ground
3 pinches sugar (optional)
3 leaves of fresh basil
For the stuffed tomatoes
4 x 200g each Marmande or beef tomatoes, top removed and flesh scooped out
For the stuffing
200g pork mince
60g fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
20g banana shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
20g flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 sprig tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
15ml/1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
60g Comté cheese, grated

Method

For the tomato sauce
On a medium heat, in a medium saucepan (16cm) soften the onion for 3 1 minutes in the olive oil without letting it colour.
Add the tomato puree and cook for one minute before adding the chopped 2 tomatoes and seasoning.
Cook on medium heat for a further 20 minutes. Taste, correct seasoning 3 and add sugar if necessary.
Pass the sauce through a moulin and reserve.4
Preparing the tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Slice 1/3 off the top of the tomatoes to make a 1 hat. With a spoon, scoop out the pulp and juices of the tomatoes into a bowl. Make sure you don’t remove too much of the inside of the tomato as this will weaken the wall and the tomato may split during cooking.
In a large bowl mix together all the stuffing ingredients apart from the 2 cheese, divide the stuffing equally between the tomatoes; top with the grated cheese and place the lid back on top of the tomato.
Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and cook in the 3 preheated oven to cook for 25 minutes.
To serve
Reheat the tomato sauce and pour into the baking dish around the stuffed 1 tomatoes, or you can serve directly onto individual plates and place a stuffed tomato on top.
Serves (Yield): 4
Difficulty rating: •
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Mouli

VARIATIONS
Try this recipe with vegetable risotto (see recipe 33) cooked three quarters of the way through and bake as above.
Tomato Theme
This complex dish from Le Manoir is made up of five separately simple elements, which can be served in their own right as a home-style dish.
This tomato theme was born from me enjoying Maman Blanc’s tomato salad as a boy and moping up the juices around the plate. That was the essence of the tomato, this dish is the ultimate tomato experience.
Kitchen Secrets
r e c i p e s
35
RECIPE
EPISODE 8

http://www.raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/34%20Stuffed%20Tomatoes.pdf

New Curtains for my bedroom

I have once again been to Henley looking for bargains and I saw these curtains last week, thought about it and decided I had to have them. After getting them home I realised they are very similar (read into this the same) as the ones I currently have but they are much heavier and I have convinced myself that they are going to keep my bedroom much warmer!!! I will photograph them and get them on the site tomorrow. I would love to say my room is coming close to being finished but it is not. I want to paint it white but my husband doesn't seem interested. How can I get him to do it? Pointing out the lovely pictures I have bought to go in the room will look rubbish against a cream wall doesn't seem to be a winning argument!

I almost forgot to write my curtains cost me £10 and they are huge and very heavy so we will see this winter.

Mineral Make-Up

I am not normally someone who would watch and be interested in, what I think the Americans call "inforermials" and how colonial do I sound. I have seen the one for Sheer Cover and I thought it sounded like a miracle that I had to try! The price is very high though and after having a good read about it I found that they tie you into having the make-up sent to you every 3 months, not for me at all so I found on money saving expert a British company who do the same thing and even better you can sent for samples.

http://www.lilylolo.co.uk/

I ordered on the weekend and it arrived today so I tried it straight away. I was basically looking for something that I could spend 3 minutes doing in the morning that made me look amazing and not look like I was wearing makeup at all, a miracle I know but always aim high. I must say the first time of trying I thought it was great. It didn't feel like I was wearing makeup or look like I was but I looked fresh and well and it covered a few spots that I have at the moment. It lasted well all day and when I asked my husband he thought I was looking good but he does have to say that. I am going to try it for a few more days before I commit because I do have quite sensitive skin but the miracle many have happened :)

Dress Agency Bargain

I had a rare morning to myself this morning and instead of working I took myself off to Henley-on Thames which we are lucky enough to live very close too. Quite recently opened is a great little dress agency called Revolution:

http://www.secondhandstyling.co.uk/homepage.html

They have some great buy at bargain prices. A lot of the items still had the original tags on them so had never been worn. I am hoping to get back up there very soon and even to sell some of my own things in the future. I bought a long white and blue Monsoon skirt that is right on trend for this season with a dark blue denim jacket, pair of Gladiator sandals and a long necklace. I have found a photograph but I can't seem to get it on here.

I also went in a few charity shops which are more expensive than the Dress Agency! I did try on a wonderful Coast dress but I have no one to wear it so I was really good so I didn't buy it.

Making use of my old clothes

I have the morning off last weekend and I went shopping for myself. It isn't quite as exciting as it used to be because a. I have no where to go to where the clothes I really want to be wearing and b. I don't have the money to buy the clothes I really want. I am determined to get around this by looking at some of my old clothes and remaking them into something I want now. I don't know if I am going to find time to do this but I am going to give it a good try. Normally I would have given them to the charity shop but now I am looking in the charity shops myself (the poshier the area the better the clothes they give away, exactly the same as looking in skips). I have a few silk dresses that I have never woren so I think they hold no great feelings for me so I have to use the scissors on them. Wish me luck.

Cheap mornings out

What to do with the children on a rainy Monday in summer. They have been so used to be out in the garden that this has come as a bit of a shock and no body including me likes it. I have recently discovered that our two main rival garden centres have gone into competition over getting the Mum's/grandmothers into garden centres in the week by providing free bouncy castles and play centres. They are really out doing any other to our advantage. For the price of a piece of cake you can sit in there for hours and combine with a trip to the "Fishy" shop and the morning is complete. The garden centre across the road has a bouncy castle that you don't even havce to buy a piece of cake to sit in because it is so far from the coffee shop (not good if you do want a piece of cake).

Oldest Birthday Party

It is a little early but I am planning for my oldest birthday party now and it is in September. I am going to be away for most of the summer so I have to get going now. I was thinking about doing a Teddy's Tea Party. I have started looking on some websites but they are all American and while they are wonderful I don't know where people have the time or energy to do all of this stuff. I think the first thing I will do it work out how many people we are going to invite and then work it out from there. They are going to be 4 so will take up that bit more room so I am thinking a maximum of 12. From there I can work my budget.

Signed Nigella Lawson Book

Luck was with me today when I bought a second copy of one of my favourite cookery books to take to our holiday home when I realised that it was only a first edition signed copied!!! I do love Nigella Lawson, her writing and her cooking. She makes you feel completely at ease in the kitchen and in her earlier books like having a friend to chat to about what you were going to make for tea. In all my excitement I forgot to say that for this great puchase I only paid £1. I also bought two other cookery books, a Nigel Slater and a Claudia Roden. I would have bought more but my husband was there so I stopped myself. It was like going back in time to the 70s cookery book shelf, lots of books that my Mum has (I didn't buy them that reason, she has them so I can "borrow" them from her).


I also bought a few Agatha Christie. I only really like them second hand with that doubt as to whether you will get to the end and it will be there and not lost (this did happen to me once and I had to get it out of the library to see what happened). A good day out at the Donkey Derby in Twyford.

Not such a bargainess (is that a word) Trip to Waitrose

Having collected a £10 off Waitrose voucher from The Telegraph this Saturday I set off today to spend my £60. I actually spend £96, which is surprising easy to do in Waitrose, everything looks so lovely and is lovely in fact. I use Waitrose to top up my shops at Aldi and Lidl which can't always supply everything I need. Very annoyingly they don't sell pulses, baking powder or good fresh bread. Even so you save so much money that a trip to another supermarket every so often isn't that bad. Waitrose do have some very good offers at the moment, 3 for £10 on a great selection of meat. Waitrose meat is farm assured and does taste much better. They also always have minced pork on offer which has so many uses from burgers (flavoured with fennel seeds, black pepper and chill), meat balls, great pies that I will add the recipe for soon because they are the best. It also cooks in a lot short time than beef mince. This recipe is a great one for a quick pasta sauce without the time taken to fry the onion only garlic is added because both garlic and onion make pork a little bit too sweet:

Spicy Pork Pasta Sauce
400g minced pork
500g of sieved tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic crushed
Dried chill to taste
Chicken stock cube (Knorr do have to know how when it come to stock cubes so try and use them)
Oil

Heat a frying pan or sauce pan with 1 tablespoon of oil (your choice of which olive but good olive oil is a wast because all the flavour disappears when it is heated). When the oil is really hot add the minced pork, stirring to break up any lumps. When the pork has some colour and looks cooked through add the crushed garlic and chill and cook for 2 minutes until rawness has gone from the garlic then add the stock cube and tomato. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. You can then start to cook the pasta and when it is cooked your sauce should be ready to go. You can cook it for longer if you have time. It will only improve. The best shape pasta to serve with this is penne, not something I would normally go for (from my mother I think who acts like you are serving her poison). I do have a picture of this so I will dig it out and post it.

Bows T-Shirt Project

Bows are apparently and I found this great picture and I thought I would have a go. The cost of this t-shirt is £175 so I have a Primark t-shirt, some great ribbon from Craft Fairy, a needle so of I go. I will hopefully have the results some time tomorrow if the children and I see eye to eye.

Making my own ice-cream

I bought an ice-maker a few years ago a similar version to this one, with quite a small capacity but enough for 4 to have a good amount for dessert. It was a bargain, of course, but one of those bargains that sit at the back of the cupboard waiting to show their true potential.

Since the weather has heated up and good ice-cream costs a lot then I decided that I would have a go. I found another bargain bought in a charity shop in Dublin:






This book is brilliant. It is Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking for ice-cream. My first attempt at ice-cream I made the custard and the raspberry ripple sauce and don't get me wrong it was lovely but this was a dream. Take one tub of custard, cream and your choice of favour, mix it together, chill and out in the ice-maker. It made wonderful ice-cream and you look like a domestic Goddess which is what I am aiming for but never quite get to.

So far I have made:

Mango and Lime
This is an even simpler version than the book
1 410g can of mango in sugar water
250ml double cream
2 tbsp of lime juice from a bottle
A little extra icing sugar

Blend all the ingredients together adding a little extra sugar if needed (the mixture should always be a bit too sweet because when it freezes it isn't so sweet). Put in the fridge to chill right down (or the freezer as today I was pushed for time). Add to the ice-cream maker and leave churring for about 20-30 minutes. You can sprinkle with toasted coconut or serve with coconut cake to make it more of a dinner party dessert.

Chocolate Ice-Cream
200g ready made custard
150ml double cream
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
70g dark chocolate (only because I like dark chocolate)

Melt the chocolate with the cream and sugar. I do this in the mircowave, do a quick minute blast, stir gently to see how much melting is left to do then do it in much smaller bursts after that. Mix in the custard and chill the whole lot. Add to the ice-maker and 20-30 minutes later you have brilliant ice-cream and much better than any chocolate ice-cream from the shops which can be really powdery. I use Aldi dark chocolate, they have lots of different levels of price but they are all good. Terrible that it is, I do use the cheaper stuff when making things for the children!

Shopping for Someone Else

We have had a friend staying with us that has had to set up home again so I have had the pleasure of doing some second hand shopping for him. I have had great fun and managed to buy a sofa:

It is a great sofa, suede feel and such a great shape because it will sit easily in both modern and older styling. I was very pleased because I had it deliveried free too! This sofa was only £85.

My next purchase was some bathroom shelving and a bathroom stool:

The place my friend is moving into has a very large bathroom that I can only dream of so since I can't put anything like this in my bathroom then I am going to put it in his. Both of these were £10. I can only image how much they were new because they were very solid and treated to be able to be in high humidity places such as bathrooms.

Next on my list was a modern solid wood coffee table. I don't have a picture here but I will try and find a similar looking one later. With a bit of love, a sand down and a quick wax it looks brilliant and still only £105 spent. Plus the person selling the table gave him a lamp, some knives and forks and a few place mats.

This is my favourite of all the things I found and a bargin at only £15. It is a solid oak set of draws. Perfect for the hall because he has lots of room. I would be adding a beautiful vase of flowers but realistically I don't think my friend will but all the same it is too cute.



I managed to dig out a futon we no longer needed that I bought a few years ago in Free Ads for £10, 2 chests of draws that we were given that I repainted, some old bedding that looks like new, this together with a new feather duvet and pillows from Amazon for only £60, some towels from Tesco for £10 and he is all set to move in with only £200 spent! He was also very lucky to have a lot of airmiles through work travel so managed to buy himself, pots and pans.

Oh God, just thought he hasn't go anything to eat off, I will get onto it now.

It has been far too long

I started this blog over a year ago to be able to tell everyone how I could live on a budget and still live a good life. I didn't do very well because I seem to have stopped blogging shortly after :( I am back because I think that the need to write is back even if it is for myself. Over the last 7 months I have been bargain hunting for myself and others (what a joy that was). My biggest purchase, in volume lately was a new bedroom for my oldest little darling. She now has a "Princess" bedroom purchased by Mummy from Gum Tree, my new addiction for bargains. For £150 I bought, a 4 poster bed complete with mattress, a wardrobe, bedside cabinet and chest of draws. All in white with very girly pink heart nobs. She loves it and shows it to anyone who comes near the house. It cost the person I bought it off over £700 4 years ago so quite a good deal.