Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Ponderings on the pantry, Amazon credit, and a YouTube link

My current non-review reading

We will soon be entering into my least favorite month of the year... February.  I actually like winter for I can stay inside, read, cook, and light candles with no explanation needed at all.  The weather outside can be frightful.  However, by February I'm beginning to feel the need to see flowers on the deck and to walk to the mailbox without looking like Nanook of the North.

In the meantime, I am sitting in my Study with Dean Martin singing You Belong to Me and Volare on the CD player.  It feels warm and cozy in the house with a chilly rain outdoors.  A return to very cold temperatures and snowfall is in the forecast.

So what does this have to do with the pantry?  I haven't wanted to get out in the weather any more than necessary as I'm still nursing cold symptoms and warnings about the flu epidemic prevail on the local news.  So I have been cooking from the pantry a lot.  It has reminded me that the pantry is mostly for everyday use and one only deepens the pantry for unexpected events.

I used Christmas gift money to restock the pantry on my most used items and put some meat on sale in the freezer.  That enabled me to use Amazon credit to buy some Mountain House meal pouches that I have tried and know I like.  The pouches are kept for true emergencies like the end of the world as we know it... or should I get sofa bound with an illness.  That is what they were used for before.  Illness.  Not the end of the world.

I admit there are more frivolous items on which I would rather spend monetary gifts and sometimes I do use gifts for fun.  But I made a promise to myself long ago that the first priority is to stock the pantry and then buy something I absolutely do not need. 

Okay, I did use Amazon credit to purchase Nigel Slater's amazing new book (shown above) third party from England.  It was a gift to myself. I think Nigel is still residing on the sidebar of the blog.  I will share more about it when I finish it but right now I'm very slowly enjoying one chapter at a time between review books.

I thank everyone who takes the time to enter their Amazon shopping through a link or the widget on the sidebar. It doesn't cost either of us anything but time and you do not have to purchase the item you click on. 

When I spend credit, I order through my friend's widget unless it is for an e-book on another person's blog link like Modern Mrs. Darcy's Daily Amazon Deals (if they go to all that trouble to embed a link then they deserve the credit!). I buy almost all my birthday gifts for my kids and grand kids with Amazon credit.  They thank you, too.  Whether fishing gear for David or a toddler tea set for Piper... you were part of the gifts at Christmas.

I want to share a photo of Florentine soon.  It has now been a year since she came to live with  us.  She is entirely different than Victoria, who would stop and pose for the camera when she saw it.  Florentine reminds me of my son at that age and many photos of him are action shots.

I thought I would leave you with the YouTube video I watched recently about making a homemade cough syrup.  I made it and it really did help in the daytime.  I plan to make more and keep it in the refrigerator.

For my Australian friends, a belated Happy Australia Day... and I'm loving those summertime photos.   :)

LINKS

YouTube video about natural cough syrup (I really enjoyed watching this)... here.

Nigel Slater's Christmas Chronicles (his Ode to Winter)... here.  I had excellent service with Eagle Books.  Click on third party "New" and Eagle Books is currently the second seller listed.

This book has not been transferred to American weights and measurements but I bought it primarily for the prose, anyway.  I love his writing.  I have people I can ask to translate the measurements from metric to "American" should I need it.

Disclaimer:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate links.  I thank you.