July 25, 2010

Jamie Oliver – TedPrize.org

I don’t get to see a whole lot of TV (actually zilch until very recently when I finally got Rural Wireless Broadband and have now become a YouTube.com and Ted.com junky..)

During a recent visit to Ted I came across a talk on tedprize.org that Jamie Oliver gave on his passion for changing the way we eat and how our children eat..

Please take 20 minutes of your time to watch his video and save your life if you happen to be obese (like me). You and your children and your children’s children could avoid being a statistic of the biggest but preventable cause of death in the developed world- obesity.

Coming next- getting back to simple eating

2 Comments »

June 28, 2010

Frugal Days Out- The Ovens Natural Park

1:48 pm | No Comments » |

I recently spent a lovely afternoon at a place called “The Ovens Natural Park”..

I had heard such great comments about this place that when the opportunity arose for a traveling companion and I (and one of the Hobbit’s) to visit- I grabbed it with both hands very firmly. I was not disappointed

QUOTE
“Ovens Natural Park is a privately owned 190 acre pristine reserve of coastal forest, located on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, along the scenic Lighthouse Route. For hundreds of years, people have been drawn to the incredible beauty, diverse geography, spiritual solace, and fascinating history that make The Ovens Natural Park so unique. Every year, thousands of park visitors hike the spectacular trails along the cliffs to view the famous sea caves, or “Ovens” for which the park was named.”
- Angel Chapin

Admission was $8.00 per adult and $4.00 per child. If you take your own drinks and food it is an affordable day out that will give you some great views and memories and some exercise too.

Never rush your day at “The Ovens”- walk slowly, finding time to stop and stare. There are many benches to stop at on your way around. It is nice to take advantage of these and enjoy the beauty of the coastline … already I want to go back again.

Note: on warm days make sure to bring LOTS of drinks and carry a couple of bottles with you as you walk the coastal path.

Click here for directions http://www.ovenspark.com/local_maps.shtml

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June 2, 2010

Oh what a perfect (and frugal) day..

10:41 am | 3 Comments » |

Sometimes one gets in a rut….things that lead to getting in a rut are time, finances, domestic obligations and just having someone to go places with. Last Saturday, for the first time in a very long time, I put everything else aside and spent the day traveling our beautiful coastline from Chester to Peggy’s Cove with my friend Mike.

I have never, since moving to Nova Scotia in 2004, travelled this route and hadn’t even been to Peggy’s Cove which is a right of passage for anyone who visits Nova Scotia yet alone lives here!

We visited many areas of the coastline on the way to Peggy’s Cove that were simply stunning. As the sun bounced off the sea it sparkled and areas of the sea took on a jade green hue- without the tell tale pine trees one really would have thought it was the Caribbean at times! (and all here on the South Shore!)

Having worked on the content for the ‘Southshorenow’ webpages for the Swissair Flight 111 anniversary it really meant a lot to finally visit both the memorial sites dedicated to the people who had lost their lives and the spirit of the local people who opened their homes and their arms to anyone who needed them.

Perhaps my favourite part of the day was visiting Peggy’s Cove & the Lighthouse- somewhere I had really wanted to visit for many years. The day was very warm and it was delightful to feel the Atlantic Ocean air-conditioning running on full power while standing on the huge rocks and boulders surrounding the Lighthouse. The landscape in this area is quite amazing…

And all that one needed for this pretty perfect day, to lift the spirits and bring a smile to my face was a car, a companion, some sandwiches/drinks and a cool box.

Perfick !

3 Comments »

May 31, 2010

ACNA Awards & Social Media

1:58 pm | 4 Comments » |

Tim Currie presented the seminar on social media, Keith Corcoran (editorial team) & Tim Reeves-Horton (Video producer) looking on…

It was great being able to attend part of the 38th Annual ACNA (Atlantic Community Newspapers Association) conference this year.

The conference took place at the wonderful Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax and the day I attended saw some useful and interesting seminars related to editorial, sales and multi-media.

My occupation at Lighthouse Media Group is their web manager and my personal interest is social media so I was delighted to find that the first seminar of the day was changed to using social media on your news site. Tim Currie gave a nice presentation and it was good to see them using an example of one of Keith Corcorans online articles from the Bulletin as an example of a well written searchable title!

AWARDS: 40 newspapers submitted 1,083 entries this year from works published in 2009 and these are the winning entries from Lighthouse Media Group!

General Excellence – Class 3

Bridgewater Bulletin (NS) (Winner)

Premiere Awards:

Best Advertising Program

Tina Hennigar, Lunenburg Lighthouse Log (Winner)

Best Community Service

Bridgewater Bulletin (Winner) (Time to Remember)

Best Feature Photo

Keith Corcoran, Bridgewater Bulletin (Winner)

Best In House Promotion

Lighthouse Media Group Staff, Bridgewater Bulletin (Winner)

Best Overall Ad

Angie Pearson, Bridgewater Bulletin (Winner)

Best Website

southshorenow.ca (Winner)

Outstanding Journalist Award

Lisa Brown, Bridgewater Bulletin (Winner)

For full details of awards and finalists go to http://adatlantic.com/2010-BNC-Booklet.pdf

Oh and the FRUGAL & GREENISH part of this day? We car pooled from Bridgewater to Halifax, the food was free (for us!) and I wore something green…. (ha!)

C xx

4 Comments »

February 4, 2010

I am the love child of ‘Benny Hill’….

4:14 pm | 6 Comments » |

Last night my greatest fear was realized… I am indeed the love child of “Benny Hill”.

For those that do not know who Benny Hill is- lets just say he was a politically incorrect, comic genius of lewdness in the UK, most famous for the Benny Hill Show, who died a wealthy man but lived like a pauper, eating lots of baked beans..

Ok I’m not really the love child of Benny Hill but last night in need of some humour suffering with a throat that may have well received one thousand cat scratches while I wasn’t looking, decided to play with an application on Facebook.

As it was FREE and as it looked like FUN I uploaded a head and shoulders photo to http://www.myheritage.com to see if there were any Celebrities out there I could use on my Facebook profile for Dopleganger Week.

While other women on Facebook seemed to have the most gorgeous lookey-likeys, mine generated a selection that confirmed I was indeed the love child of Benny Hill, that my brother was Stan Laurel and my cousin twice removed was Jackie O (Ok that one is pretty cool), my sister is PD James and my strange neice is Asia Argento..

TRY IT- it’s fun. Who do you look like?

6 Comments »

February 1, 2010

THE BIG PINK STRAWBERRY BIRTHDAY CAKE

5:17 pm | 4 Comments » |

It was my eldest hobbits 21st birthday the other day. Despite looking in the mirror daily, at my snow white hair around my temples and increasingly drooping eye hoods, somehow, I never actually realized my eldest child was THAT OLD.

Surely it was only a year or two ago that I was making decisions like …..

“tomorrow I stop breast-feeding” (after my eldest hobbit, at 1 year old decided she would use my nipple as a teething ring) ….and surely it was just a year or two ago I proudly paraded my daughter around in those fabulous sets of dungarees (with cute animals on) and could get away with it.

Jess is my dark child. Jess loves things that are different and there has been no room for pink in her life for many, many years…

So to my total surprise, to my question… “what would you like for your birthday”, her response was – “A BIG PINK STRAWBERRY BIRTHDAY CAKE”. Not just a bought cake but a cake she would make herself..

The cake ended up being totally fun and fab and BIG and PINK and it couldn’t have been easier to make ( she used my standby boxes of cake mix) and was totally frugal except for the strawberries when we served it ..

Here is the recipe…

THE BIG PINK STRAWBERRY BIRTHDAY CAKE by Jess (for about $5 not including strawberries)

2 boxes of golden/plain cake mix (total $2.50)
6 eggs ($1.50)
3-4 oz of spreadable margarine
6- 7 oz of icing sugar (for butter icing and for top of cake)
strawberry jelly crystals
Red/dark pink sugar crystals
red food colouring

Have on hand 10 inch round cake tins and a cookie cutter (Jess used a heart)

Easy Peasy..

Get the packet mixes and empty into a very large mixing bowl
Use a fork to break up the lumps
As per instructions on packet mix in water and eggs (don’t bother with the vegetable oil)
Add in 36 drops of red food colouring (more or less depending on what shade you would like the cake)
Use electric mixer on medium to mix up thoroughly
Pour equally into cake tins that have been greased with parchment paper on the bottom (I use removable bottoms!)
Cook as per instructions- I find about 40 mins at 180 works well for each tin.
Once cooked remove from oven, stand for 5 mins or so. Gently use blunt knife to work around the edge making sure its not stuck to the tin.
Remove to wire rack until cold.
As you are going to make a large sandwich sponge you may need to trim the top of one of the cakes. Turn that one upside down once trimmed so it goes on the bottom.
Mix soft margarine with icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add food colouring until you get a lovely baby pink colour. Spread on the bottom cake.
Place other cake on top (so both flat bottoms are together in the middle)
Put 1/4 pack of strawberry jelly crystals in a jog. Boil water. Add a little bit of water, just enough to dissolve the crystals.
Add this to the icing sugar and mix well to form a nice thick but spreadable mix.
Spread over the top of the cake working it with a spoon dipped in hot water until smooth.
Get cookie cutter.
Place on top of cake
Sprinkle red sugar granules into cookie cutter shape and gently press into the icing. Leave for a few minutes and remove carefully to leave a nice heart shape behind (or whatever shape you have used)
Decorate with LOTS of candles!

This is a BIG cake and serves 16 big slices or 32 average slices

MUST SERVE WITH A TON OF JUICY STRAWBERRIES AND WHIPPED CREAM (or cool whip)

4 Comments »

January 16, 2010

Fabby & Frugal Breakfast Muffins

1:32 pm | 1 Comment » |

One of my significant money saving schemes at home starts right at the beginning of the day and that is boycotting boxes of cereals.. I do buy the occasional box of cereal when it is on a huge saving for a change for the kids but generally probably only 3 or 4 times a year. Instead we tend to eat large quantities of plain oatmeal (the stuff that comes in big bags), wholemeal bread/toast, pancakes and fruit…

As this can get a bit samey, I’ve just started introducing breakfast muffins to our diet and this can make breakfast time a little more exciting as there is a myriad of exciting flavours based on a basic muffin recipe which I am going to share with you. This morning I made 24 wholewheat cinnamon & raisin muffins and they tasted really nice..

Basic Recipe for Breakfast Muffins (12)

* 2 or 2.5 cups of flour ( I use half white and half wholewheat/wholemeal usually)
* 1 cup of milk (may need more if using no moist added ingredients)
* 1/4 cup of fat (I use half this amount)
* 1 egg
* Up to 1/2 cup of sugar (use just a few teaspoons if making a savoury muffin)
* 2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Up to 1.5 cups of extra ingredients (dry or moist- could be raisins, nuts, fruit, grated carrot, applesauce, grated cheese etc)
* Herbs or spices

Put all dry ingredients in bowl and mix
Add all wet ingredients and mix together- doesn’t matter if the batter is lumpy. Underworked is better infact.
Pre-heat oven
Bake for about 15 minutes or so at 200 C.

Always make double batches if you can, they freeze well and are great in kids lunch boxes too.

1 Comment »

January 12, 2010

A Christmas for $217.25

5:35 pm | 4 Comments » |

Happy New Year!

Although I thought a whole 7 days off at Christmas would provide me with an abundance of time to achieve everything, especially my chest of drawers conversion to shabby chic lavender drawers, I was, it seems totally deluded. I am afraid that a brief encounter with a sanding sheet is about the extent of this craft project at the moment but as soon as I make more progress the photos WILL be blogged…

Instead the 7 days allowed me to enjoy time with the kids FLOLLOPING into oblivion, usually in front of good movies with a glass of wine in hand. Time is a precious thing and being a busy working Mum any time that I can spend intertwined on the sofa with my 3 hobbits, without being distracted or needing to rush away and ‘just do something’ is infrequent.

Our Christmas did come in around budget, we enjoyed a Christmas within our means and due to some careful choices and some damn luck, our Christmas for 4 including presents, drinks and food came in at $217.25…..and we really did have a LOVELY holiday.

My eldest hobbit so wanted this Zen Healing Garden- I obliged at $9.99 from Bridgewater Pharmasave. I want one!

How did I have such a frugal Christmas without the kids hating me forever?

First of all my kids are older, they understand, they empathize and they supported my decision- I can’t tell you how proud I am of them but here is how I did it and a breakdown of my costs..

a) Planning ahead. Small less-perishable food items for cooking such as raisins, sultanas, sugar, flour and snacks like peanuts can be purchased months in advance. Buy small amounts out of your normal grocery allowance every week. Your very own Christmas hamper soon builds up and you have spent no extra money. $000

b) Budget for gift purchases. Sit down, see what you can comfortably afford and establish a budget for Christmas gifts way in advance of the date. With my kids, who are older (12, 16 and 20), they were told that they could select some items up to the value of $50 each and I would do my best to get them. In the end they picked one or two items and requested the remainder in cash and fun cheapy gifts. $150

c) Recycle wrapping paper and cards. I used old cards for gift tags & tree decorations, used up some wrapping paper left over from last year and used some nice wrappings/tissue I had been saving. I did splash out, in a moment of weakness, on some bows from the dollar store just because I wanted to have some fun on the kids presents. $ 1.25

d) Christmas drinks. I had already purchased soft drinks from my normal grocery budget but that would not run to Christmas drinks so I had to use ingenuity. In the end I swopped a Sirius Satellite Radio (which I had won at a Christmas party in 2008 and hadn’t unwrapped) for two bottles of Yellow Tail Chardonnay. In addition I purchased a whole bottle of Glenfiddich Single Malt for $3.95 (before you rush to NSLC it was a miniature one!) and a bottle of sparkling wine. $17.00

e) Indulgent food. So I had purchased the majority of Christmas goodies within my weekly grocery allowance over a period of time however there were a few items I hadn’t bought as it is impossible to keep chocolate safe in my house especially if they come in a box with cellophane on. $16.00

f) Other gifts family. This year I only purchased one item for family abroad and I ordered my modest gift online in the UK and had it delivered with special wrapping and a card. It was cheaper than posting it from Canada. $16

g) Other gifts friends. This is where I saved LOTS of money! I made all my work colleagues and friends gifts this year. About 25 gifts in all. I purchased cinnamon, a jar of applesauce, two rolls of cellophane and used some ribbon and confetti I already had in the house. $7

h) Christmas decorations. Just made do, made some paper snowflakes, used some of the leftover Cinnamon and Applesauce decorations and didn’t worry when the lights stopped working on the Christmas tree $0.00

i) Extras. I purchased a small pack of Christmas cards and a few extras I needed at the last moment! $10.00

j) Damn luck! And I was so lucky too. My giant ham was a free gift from my employer Lighthouse Media Group, my Christmas tree was a free gift from my eldest hobbits boyfriend and then just a few weeks before Christmas I had an e-mail from a farming friend who wanted to share some of their overstocked freezer and due to this kindness we served a lovely free range 10 lb chicken for our Christmas dinner- the best I had ever tasted.

Total cost of our Christmas $217.25

Happiness = Priceless….

4 Comments »

December 19, 2009

Chocolat…

7:46 pm | No Comments » |

Today was absolutely ALL ABOUT FOOD…

First I attended a delightful Christmas Brunch at my friend Margaret’s house and totally indulged by nibbling my way through various items laid out in a glorious buffet. The champagne and orange juice at 11 am was divine…

Next, a little while later at home, I made a huge batch of Christmas decorations out of cinnamon and applesauce (see previous blog) which smelt like you could eat them except that I had emptied a vial of glitter into the dough AND the copious quantities of cinnamon used probably would burn your mouth off….

Finally, my eldest hobbit had been reading my Company’s Coming Squares Cook Book and had bookmarked the Chocolate Brownies page..

“Mom- we should so make chocolate brownies- we have all the ingredients even the walnuts…”

And that’s when the cocoa powder came out of the cupboard, and the butter out of the fridge and soon there were saucepans with gloopy chocolate sauce in, mixing bowls with chocolate cake mix in and eventually a big bowl of chocolate butter icing with coffee…

“It’s like that movie Chocolat……” eldest hobbit announced

I could see what she meant as every kitchen surface had chocolate on it and there was a lot of furtive dipping of fingers into bowls of chocolate sauce, but that’s where the similarity ended as in my kitchen there was

* no grumpy diabetic lady lingering near the counter
* no spinny plate thingy
* no imaginary Kangaroo in the cupboard
* no husband to test out aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate on
* no Johnny Depp willing to mend my front door
* and as much as I wish there is no way in hell I bear the slightest resemblance to Juliette Binoche!

The choccy brownies did come out well and I did eat ONE (I actually am not a fan of chocolate brownies and I am trying so hard to lose 100 lb in one year!)

So here’s the recipe just for you- thank you Jean Pare

Easiest & Fastest Brownie Recipe
* Butter or margarine 1/2 cup
* Cocoa 1/4 cup
* 2 large eggs
* Granulated sugar 1 cup
* All purpose flour 3/4 cup
* Chopped walnuts 1/2 cup

ICING
* Icing sugar 1 1/3 cups
* Cocoa 1/3 cup
* Butter or margarine softened 3 tbsp
* Hot prepared coffee or water 1 1/2 tbsp

Method
In a small saucepan melt butter and cocoa, stirring as it melts. remove it from heat.
Beat eggs in bowl until frothy. Add sugar, flour, walnuts and salt. Don’t stir yet.
Scrape batter into greased 8 x 8 inch pan.
Bake in 175 C oven for 30 mins until edges show signs of pulling away from the sides and a wooden pick comes out clean after inserting into the centre.
For the icing bet all 4 ingredients together adding more liquid if too dry or more icing sugar if too wet.
Spread over warm brownies.
Allow to set before cutting into 25 squares

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December 18, 2009

On the 5th blog of Christmas frugality gave to me- 5 OLD things

4:58 pm | No Comments » |

On the 5th blog of Christmas, frugality gave to me- 5 OLD THINGS!

Actually the one way I have saved spending money (or money exchanging hands) this year is by swapping things I no longer need or use for things at Christmas I really do need like WINE!

This year I have found FIVE OLD THINGS to swap……

1 Sirius Satellite Radio (which I won at a Christmas party last year and have never used)
2 Star Choice Satellite boxes for extra rooms in the house (we cancelled our subscription over 2 years ago and never used them)
1 Popcorn Maker (which I am trying to give away for free)
1 Ceiling Fan

So far I have been successful in swapping the Satellite Radio which has netted me a couple of bottles of rather delicious Yellow Tail- this now means I can uphold the Christmas tradition of being red cheeked and giggly by the time I start eating Christmas pudding.

I know this sound weird, I know I should just stick my hands in my pocket and pay with money, after all it’s easier and quicker BUT there is something eating away at me that harps back to a bartering system, to making good use of what I already have or don’t need instead of just spending more and accumulating more…

So if you really want to save money at Christmas and start to de-clutter your life, dig out something OLD you no longer need and swap it for something like WINE. You are guaranteed to have a very MERRY Christmas!