Gas and bills

I got another letter from the gas company telling me that because I am "using less gas" my monthly payments have now been cut to £10. Since they also showed that there had actually been a shortfall in what I paid versus what I had been charged since July I found this a bit alarming, but given that they are sitting on hundreds of pounds' worth of accumulated overpayment after spending a year billing me at fifty pounds a month, I suppose it makes sense that they want to reduce the excess a bit faster.

The extra five pounds a month helps counteract the increase in council tax, even if it doesn't go far towards the concurrent increase in the telephone bill...

I ran the figures for the last ten months' expenditure. ( payments analysis )

Savoury bake

Another surprisingly successful wartime recipe: grate up half a pound of potatoes and half a pound of carrots (eked out in my case by some onions and leek for added variety), mix up with 6oz oatmeal and 3oz mince (or minced leftover meat), add herbs (I used parsley and thyme), salt and pepper for flavour (I also put in a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce), press the mixture into a lightly greased tin and bake in a moderate oven for one to one and a half hours. Then you cut it into squares and serve them as if they were rissoles: about four helpings.

I thought it would be too dry, but it wasn't. It's a lot more filling than I'd expected, and a good deal more interesting in flavour than the ingredients would suggest. Surprisingly, you can actually taste the meat — and can't taste the carrots! Recipe retrieved from my assorted collection of Ways To Use Up a Carrot Glut When You Don't Like Carrots :-p