(This picture looks a lot brighter than it actually was - that's the camera flash at work there!) We spent the evening cooking over the open fire, by candlelight. It was great. No electricity (apart from the things like fridge freezer etc) - just candlelight. Heat and cooking source was from the wood which was all free - discarded pallets that someone didn't want. Anthony made the stand in the fireplace from some old chair legs, a few bits of box section he had in the garage left over from another bigger job, and an old cooling rack welded onto the top. Entertainment for the evening was provided by a combination of cooking the vegetable casserole in the pot on the fire, watching and playing with the dog and cat, and chatting over a glass of home-made apple wine (made from windfalls). Sadly the veg weren't all home-grown but we're getting there!
It really was what we're aiming for in life - getting back to basics. It was so satisfying doing everything like that. We both got a real sense of achievement from the evening. Cooking was an event that we both shared. Not using electric was also great - it really shows if you need to it's actually quite easy to live frugally but still eat well and be happy. In fact happier.
Here's to even more of the same. (I'm wondering whether wind-up laptops exist...!)
Us x
