Today is the first sub-zero morning of the winter (-1degree Celsius) - brrr! It is difficult to know the best way to keep the house warm but not waste gas and electricity. Whilst Rod and I were both at work we just set the heating to come on for a short time in the morning and evening. Now I am at home I do not want to feel cold. I am wrapping up in warm layers and am experimenting with having the heating on constant but turning the thermostat to 15 degrees over night and tweaking it up a couple of degrees as and when I need it in the day and evening. Until I see a bill I do not know if this is going to be a good idea or not - watch this space.
The last few days have been spent making Christmas puddings and a cake for Christmas. The puddings look delicious but the cake was a bit of a disaster so, today, I am going to make version 2 (using a different recipe!). I thought I was using a recipe I had used before but, in hindsight, think I was mistaken. The recipe was fine - it was the cooking time that was so wrong and it ended up over-cooked even though I kept looking at it through the oven door. My head was telling me that the time was far too long but I put too much trust in the recipe - silly me. Usually my instincts are right so I am cross that I ignored them. It's the first time I have ever needed to make a replacement cake but as the mother-in-law is with us for Christmas it had better be right!
Yesterday I had my first go at making lasagne using the pasta attachment on my Kenwood. I think it is fair to say that I have 'room for improvement' as the pasta was a little thicker than ideal and more dense than expected. I have now read all about making pasta and think next time will be 100% better. As with a lot of cooking there is a certain amount of instinct required as well as knowing what to expect at each stage of the process.
Retirement is starting to 'kick in' now. Yesterday I was cleaning my downstairs windows (partly to keep warm as the temperature is dropping fast now) and my neighbour, Chris (also retired), came across and asked "Are you so bored already that you have resorted to cleaning windows?". I laughed and said "No, but for the first time in years I have got the time to do them and I hate looking out of dirty windows".
I am still managing to fill my days and keep busy but am starting to realise that at some point (probably after Christmas), I will need to have something constructive to do to keep me interested and give me a reason to get up and get going.
I'll be interested to discover how you get on with your heating experiments. I've never thought having heating on 24 hours is efficient. I tried it once, but found the all-night noises of the boiler/pump etc. kept me awake! I would suggest using radiator thermostats in every room, then only heat the room(s) you are using.
ReplyDeleteHere, of course, we have only electric heating plus our wood-burner, so we roast in the evenings in front of the stove, and wear thermals and fleeces during the day to avoid spending too much on electricity!