The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

An early Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Dave Hunt]

American bacon comes into its own when teamed up with a short stack and maple syrup for breakfast. Yummy.

 

Dave 

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Eeh up Youngsters now a days want everything - meat he says in there pie what ever next!

Back in my day you were lucky to get a gravy stain.

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Back in my day you were lucky to get a gravy stain.

 Gravy eeh heaven that wood have been. I'd have given me kidney for a meer smell of gravy.

[figworthy]

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I find if you ask a waiter about a dish in the US you get chapter and verse about it, in Britain you're lucky if they're able to repeat what it says on the menu.

 

That reminds me of a conversation in an English pub that I was eating in.  Looking at the menu, I spotted "Fruit Crumble" as an option for pud.  I asked the waitress what sort of fruit it was.  "Err, Fruit" was the hesitant reply.  I suggested that a bit more detail might be helpful.

 

Adrian

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, figworthy said:

 

That reminds me of a conversation in an English pub that I was eating in.  Looking at the menu, I spotted "Fruit Crumble" as an option for pud.  I asked the waitress what sort of fruit it was.  "Err, Fruit" was the hesitant reply.  I suggested that a bit more detail might be helpful.

 

Adrian

There's always one who finds fault with everything isn't there. I'm surprised she knew it was even on the menu.

[SM42]

Today, as many UK dwellers know, has not been the warmest of days 

 

As it is not yet Christmas, despite mince pues being on sale at the local supermarket, the heating ain't going on. 

 

I've spent all say extracting as much heat from the sun as possible and conserving it, the TV and hoover helped add a bit too. 

 

SM42 Towers has been hovering around 20c most of the day till Mrs SM42 got home and opened all the windows for some fresh air.

 

Now she says it's cold in the house. 🙄

 

Andy

Edited September 11 by SM42

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Now she says it's cold in the house. 

If we visit MiL she has her flat heated to quite high temperatures as she feels cold all the time. Her main carer who is Russian however insists on opening all the windows every morning to “clear the air” . 

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

American bacon comes into its own when teamed up with a short stack and maple syrup for breakfast. Yummy.

 

Dave 

 

Lorna loves crispy bacon. We buy a five pound slab, vacuum pack it into five slices then freeze them. Five or six minutes a side in the air fryer. Served on a Kaiser Bun (roll)  and we are good to go. (I'm usually excused further duties for the day 😄)

 

It's probably not all that unhealthy either as cooking in the air fryer eliminates most of the fat while leaving the crispy flavor-full bits behind.

[jjb1970]

While I am not the biggest fan of American bacon I'd take it any day of the week over 'turkey bacon' which is the 'equivalent' served in much of the world. Butchers and super markets here sell proper bacon (British style bacon) but in restaurants it tends to be 'turkey bacon' to maintain halal certification. Of course Chinese restaurants have menus bursting with pork dishes as they're obsessed with pork, but unfortunately bacon doesn't appear in many Chinese dishes. Great pork belly in Chinese restaurants though. 

[BR60103]

This was new chair day.  The chair we use at the computer was wearing out on the padded bits. This was put in the back of the car and taken to the tip. We exited with no charge. Then up to office supplies and we picked up the cheapest item in "manager's chairs".   After lunch I managed to assemble it with only one misstep. Chair is very much like the old one. 

 

[AndyID]

44 minutes ago, BR60103 said:

This was new chair day.  The chair we use at the computer was wearing out on the padded bits. This was put in the back of the car and taken to the tip. We exited with no charge. Then up to office supplies and we picked up the cheapest item in "manager's chairs".   After lunch I managed to assemble it with only one misstep. Chair is very much like the old one. 

 

 

 

Such luxury! I'm sitting on cardboard box in middle of t'road.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

While I am not the biggest fan of American bacon I'd take it any day of the week over 'turkey bacon' which is the 'equivalent' served in much of the world.

 

Bear hasn't sampled that but has had chicken snaggers numerous times whilst working in Kuwait.  All I'll say is "you can live on 'em" but I sure as hell won't be spending of my own money buying them.

 

[jjb1970]

Ah yes, chicken or turkey sausages, usually frankfurter style, the other staple of trying to replicate pork breakfast food without using pork and which is best avoided. I like good frankfurter sausages, but the ersatz chicken/turkey things in the Middle East, Malaysia, Indonesia etc are awful.

[jjb1970]

Arabiki sausages (the Japanese style of frankfurter) on the other hand are splendid and well worth eating.

[Oldddudders]

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 I'm surprised she knew it was even on the menu.

Important point. Some years ago, Sherry and I took an evening sailing from Plymouth to St Malo, and decided to have dinner in the a la carte restaurant. The waiter brought the wine list, and I chose a bottle of Vouvray. When it appeared it was a still wine, not the sparkling I was expecting - so I demurred. He said they didn't offer a sparkling Vouvray, and I demurred again. Off he went to get the wine list to prove me wrong, whereupon I pointed out the wine I had requested. He did not enjoy pouring it..... 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

 

Such luxury! I'm sitting on cardboard box in middle of t'road.

Eeh a cardboard box that's the height of luxury. Weee didn't even get to look at a cardboard box.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Important point. Some years ago, Sherry and I took an evening sailing from Plymouth to St Malo, and decided to have dinner in the a la carte restaurant. The waiter brought the wine list, and I chose a bottle of Vouvray. When it appeared it was a still wine, not the sparkling I was expecting - so I demurred. He said they didn't offer a sparkling Vouvray, and I demurred again. Off he went to get the wine list to prove me wrong, whereupon I pointed out the wine I had requested. He did not enjoy pouring it..... 

Just goes to show the sort of clientele they normally got really.

[DenysW]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

a sparkling Vouvray

Wise to go with the sparkling. The still Vouvray is very variable, from pretty sweet to pretty dry. You've no idea whether it'll suit the food until you've tasted it. The reason for your choice?

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Eeh a cardboard box that's the height of luxury. Weee didn't even get to look at a cardboard box.

 

Cats stole our cardboard box!

 

[Happy Hippo]

Poor old Gordon won't be over this morning as he is unwell.

 

It's a pity he didn't let me know before I spent an hour tidying up the garage for hs arrival. We'll be having words🤣.

 

So it falls on me to carry out the reballasting of the small section of line I'd previously replaced.

 

Then at 1230 I am booked in for my last summer haircut which will be fun.

 

This afternoon's activities, who knows?

[PhilJ W]

59 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Cats stole our cardboard box!

 

Did you get it back?

[Hroth]

15 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Did you get it back?

 

Would YOU want a box after a cat had been using it? 🤔

 

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

Wise to go with the sparkling. The still Vouvray is very variable, from pretty sweet to pretty dry. You've no idea whether it'll suit the food until you've tasted it. The reason for your choice?

We like sparkling wine - poor man's champagne if you like. From the time we moved here, Deb and I would down a bottle of sparkling Saumur every night, or sometimes two! Prices have gone up, but even now, local Lidl will sell me Saumur for 4.49 euros. On my own I tend to drink Chardonnay, but I absolutely do not pretend to have a sophisticated palate, so even a winebox brand works for me. And the Lidl Seth Efrican Chardonnay is still 1.99 euros a bottle. 

[iL Dottore]

31 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

We like sparkling wine - poor man's champagne if you like. From the time we moved here, Deb and I would down a bottle of sparkling Saumur every night, or sometimes two! Prices have gone up, but even now, local Lidl will sell me Saumur for 4.49 euros. On my own I tend to drink Chardonnay, but I absolutely do not pretend to have a sophisticated palate, so even a winebox brand works for me. And the Lidl Seth Efrican Chardonnay is still 1.99 euros a bottle. 

Do you drink it, or use it to strip paint?

 

The thing about wine, I find, is that there's a sweet spot where reasonable cost and drinkability meet up. I find it is in the SFr 15 - SFr 25/bottle range. Anything cheaper and it's pot luck whether or not it is drinkable, any more expensive and you are either paying for the name or you are paying the vintner for having stored the wine for you (you can often get wines which really do need to mature, like Barolo, when they are young and undrinkable and thus cost a fraction of what they cost when "ready to drink". Stick 'em in the cellar and forget about them for a few years).

 

I am not much of an oenophile, so whilst I can tell the difference between a decent wine and something barely drinkable, the difference between a SFr 25 bottle of wine and a SFr 250 bottle of wine is lost on me.