Early Risers.

[pH]

I cannot touch Indian curries - almost literally. It's not the 'ring of fire', but a serious intestinal upset lasting up to a week. Friends once served appies of vegetables lightly dusted with curry powder - the effects of that lasted a couple of days. It's something that's developed over time. I used to be able to eat curries, and enjoyed them. And I have no problems with Thai curries.

 

This is a shame, as my wife loves curries. We did recently find a restaurant which kept us both happy, however - a German/Indian one!

 

I suppose I could try the individual spices in a curry one-by-one, to see what it is that affects me, but I'd rather not.

[Tony_S]

We didn’t  have Indian food tonight, we had gammon, mashed potatoes with carrots, leeks and broccoli. We ate early as we wanted to see the live stream of (the recording!) of the National Theatres production of Treasure Island. 
Tony

[Kingzance]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Baby Alert.

 

I is a Grandfather.

 

Meet Phoebe Anne Lloyd.

 

 

 

Congrats, I hope you can be united soon!

[Barry O]

Congrats Neil!

 

Baz

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not a great fan of spicesy food despite studying at Bradford University. There seemed to be a curry house at each street corner near the university. Fish and chips for me any day!
Steady at work  but received a box of face masks which we ordered from one of our pharmaceutical wholesalers and ten days ago.  Six quid for fifty whereas paid £60 for same quantity (and quality) last week from a different source. Someone taking the p!ss and ripping people off. I don’t know how people can be so greedy during this international crisis. I suppose they have no scruples. 
Managed to get bit of modelling done but realised that I’ve misplaced some of the parts. Dratt and double dratt.

goodnight,

Robert
 

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[brianusa]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Don't that forget it's your money - so authorized by act of Congress. "He" wanted his name on the paper cheques but was not entitled to sign them, so the Treasury Secretary is putting it in the memo section.

I know Mike, but all the funds arriving more or less together made it a bumper month and as I mentioned, it went straight into savings.  Such excitement!

     Brian.

[tigerburnie]

I was told the Balti dish was invented by chefs in Birmingham and it takes it's name from the dish it's cooked in, I used to know the name of the street, but it's gone now. 

Congrats Grandad Neil

 

G'night all

[JohnDMJ]

Congrats, NHN

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We went to a Tepanyaki restaurant with Matthew. He said they were only pretending to be Japanese as Japanese people didn’t usually speak Cantonese to each other. 

 

AFAIK, the one in Manchester was genuine Japanese. The one where I first encountered Teppanyaki in Rotterdam certainly was.

 

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

   24 minutes ago,  tigerburnie said: 

Our local Indian has a Sikh chef, does a great Balti
 

Aditi’s parents and friends used to have discussions about the origins of “Balti”. 
Aditi’s Dad favoured the “balti is a bucket “ referring to the cooking serving container rather like a deep wok. Others insisted it came from Baltistan.

 

Wasn't the balti meal (agreed, name derived from the bucket in which it is served) invented in Birmingham (UK before anyone mentions Alabama or any other incumbent of a Birmingham!)

 

I'd always had the impression that chicken tikka masala was also invented in the UK.

 

Unlike many people I could mention, if I'm abroad, I'll taste /eat THEIR food - rude not to IMHO. If I can replicate this in the UK, I'm happy!

 

Congrats NHN; try and keep her development on track and her behaviour on the rails! Nothing like good training!

Edited April 16, 2020 by JohnDMJ

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

chicken tikka masala

Glasgow, allegedly. 

[J. S. Bach]

22 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We went to a Tepanyaki restaurant with Matthew. He said they were only pretending to be Japanese as Japanese people didn’t usually speak Cantonese to each other. 

That's alright, the local Asian (mostly Japanese fare) restaurant's two cooks are Hispanic!

Edit: The food is quite good, actually, The name of the place is "UMI".

Edited April 17, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Congratulations grandad Neil. Went out and clapped for the NHS at 8 this evening, some idiots were letting off fireworks but were some distance away. However it set off some dogs barking which did spoil it a bit. 

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

... and peering through the back gate.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/team-meeting/

 

I hope your not going stir crazy John.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well the queue to get in the Trafford Centre was longer than it was last week, it took me 40 minutes to get in, but having said that, it was sunny all the time I was stood there, so it could have been worse. I managed to get all that was on the list so alls well that ends well! There was another queue at the butchers, but thankfully that one was only 15 minutes, but alas, they had no pasties OR pies, so I had to make do with a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner. 

 

After dinner i decided to sort out all the circuit boards id made recently. They were all packed away safely and taken to the workshop where they were put in a large box, ready for using when I get round to starting the layout. 

 

On the subject of curries, I do like a good variation, but I’m more concerned with flavour and taste than heat. I’ve tried a vindaloo and wasn’t too impressed to be honest. It was hot for sure, but as far as I’m concerned there was very little taste. I much prefer a jalfriezi, or even a murghi naga, they are just as hot, but they have loads more flavour too them. But in the summer I prefer a milder curry, such as a, dupiaza, korma, bhuna, karahi etc. 

 

Neil. Congratulations at becoming a Grandad, welcome to the club. 

 

Goodnight all 

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, pH said:

I cannot touch Indian curries -

 

I'm with you on this one.

I daren't go near anything I don't know the ingredients of.

I have a nut allergy.But not quite the normal one.

I can eat peanuts as they are legumes, but anything from a tree will probably put me in A&E - as it has done twice before.........

Trust me - anaphylactic shock is not a pleasant experience.

 

My layout team (and work colleagues) are well aware of this when we go out for the usual Saturday night meal on a show weekend.

 

Just watching "Full Metal Jacket" for the nth time [*] whilst minding the shop at wife's work. Bird is the Word.

 

Congrats to Family NHN.

 

Friday is WF (sort of) H

 

Stay safe folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[*] one of my "go-to" movies.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by newbryford

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Baby Alert.

 

I is a Grandfather.

 

Meet Phoebe Anne Lloyd.

 

 

 

Congratulations Neil and Debs, plus, of course, whoever is on the production team.

[southern42]

Congratulations, Neil. She's gorgeous.   And plenty of soft locomotives on the market for the budding "lady driver"...., then Duplo... BigJigs...G gauge....   Guess I am getting a bit of practice with out 2 little girls.  Good fun!

 

Toot on the flute given a rest, today.  A couple of days ago, looking through some music a books, I found a pennywhistle book. Hmm, I thought and dug out my old pennywhistle which has been lying in one of the kitchen drawers for years and gave it a go.  In the book were a few alternative fingerings which I thought would be useful for the fife.  Funny thing is, every time I pick up the pennywhistle to play, I turn it horizontal...!!!  30 year old habit, I guess! 

 

Bike ride on the spot and pot plants watered.  Rain to follow, I believe so I guess I may be housebound for a bit.

 

A bit of m*d*ll*ng accomplished.  Weathering to follow.

 

Sounds like a bit of a routine has set in.  

 

Fitt   and    Elfie saying ' night all and nos da.

 

________

Best wishes

Polly

[The Stationmaster]

Congrats Grandad Neil and family/

 

As far as curries are concerned I had the benefit in one of my past posts of having two supervisors of Pakistani origin who were both out, literally, to curry favour with the boss.  Hence at least once a week one or other of them would bring in a curry made by his wife in suitable pans for me to take home for Mrs Stationmaster to reheat.  Following which they were served and we consumed them - and played guess the ingredients.  Herself actually managed to make a fair copy of one of them;  all were 100% vegetable content, and very good.

 

Good to see that Brian has had some nice financial news.  Same here today with a letter from one of my pension funds (the one that goes into my personal bank account) advising me of an increase to the pension - I shall be getting an extra £19.44 annually  (less tax at the Standard Rate of course).  I am now wondering what I can spend it on.  incidentally this really shows how the world has changed and what inflation really means as this pension, from my post early retirement Zero Hours Contract job, is more than my annual salary was in the year I started full time work.

 

The rough pasture area - apart from the wild flower area - was duly mown this afternoon with some adjacent jungle growth also treated to a visit from the mower.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... and peering through the back gate.

Had you been reading The Hobbit, your minutes might have been inscribed in runes with ithildin and only visible in the last quarter of a pink moon with Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in alignment.

 

I trust with your new reading material, your minutes are now filed in a locked filing cabinet. I'm sure you know the one. In the cellar. (The lights and stairs are gone.)  In a disused lavatory with that "beware" sign on the door.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[pH]

Had a Zoom 'meeting' today from here in western Canada with two friends, one in Cambridge and one in Brussels. The Cambridge friend I've kept up with, and he was the one who arranged the meeting. The friend in Brussels, with whom I went through several years of university, I last talked to in 1977! In fact, we reckon the last time all three of us were physically in the same room was the day of the 1974 FA Cup Final. (We were all in the same house the next day, but one of us didn't manage to make it out of bed!)

 

There will now be more such meetings.

[BR60103]

One of the fellows that we used to dance with went back to India and returned to Canada married. They had a house party and his new wife made 2 curries -- Indian and a special "mild" one for the Canadians. Her husband had been over here long enough that the mild one was too much for him.

 

We had a walk and were beside a parked bus. I looked in and there were sets of seats marked off with warning tape and the fold-up seats were also tied with tape. Door was labelled for rear entrance only.

We must have seen almost a half dozen people as we crossed the university.

 

We are watching Gilbert and Sullivan each night. I bought a nearly complete set at a sale  a few years ago for $1.00 a DVD. Dayle is following them in the book. This was a BBC series from the '80s.

 

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

Oh happy day!  Trumps money gift arrived in our bank A/C unannounced, so a total surprise as I thought our income was above the criteria so an extra $2400 promptly went into the savings A/C.

 

I'm pretty sure we qualify but when I went to the gubmint website to find out what was going on it was no help at all. I think it's picking on us because we didn't get a refund from the IRS for a few years.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

 

Firstly, congratulations to Neil about becoming a grandfather. Not having offspring myself, I have to rely on the accounts of grandparenthood from my friends who do; apparently being a grandparent means that you have all the fun of having sprogs, but none of the tedious stuff that goes with it. I hope that you will also have lots of fun with your new granddaughter.

 

All this talk about Indian food (or the anglicised Bangladeshi food you get in most UK restaurants) has made me most envious. There is much to recommend about the restaurant scene in Switzerland, attention to detail and authenticity in “foreign“ food is not one. Even Italian food, which was pretty much brought into Switzerland in the 60s by the Italian Gastarbeiter and has pretty much embedded itself into the Swiss culinary landscape, is as authentic as a Made in China Cuckoo Clock (despite there being many second and third generation Italians in Switzerland). As to other cuisines: Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, etc., they are even less authentic than the Italian food you get here (which is pretty hard to do). Once or twice I have tried newly opened “Indian” restaurants and found the food pretty ghastly; the worst “Indian“ takeaway in the UK would be as a three star Michelin restaurant in terms of food quality when compared to the “Indian“ restaurants here. Maybe I am a little bit pessimistic, but when I go into an  “Indian“ restaurant and find the waiters Eastern European, the Cook from Germany and an owner who is Swiss, I know it’s not going to end well (perversely, often the pot washer/kitchen help is one of the many Sri Lankan refugees who have landed up in Switzerland: very much a waste of talent and knowledge, at least from a culinary perspective).

 

Of course, restaurants are a business and have to make money by pleasing their clientele, the problem is that the clientele here is mostly gastronomically thick as two planks. I was chatting to a young Thai lady working in a Thai takeaway near me (parents from Thailand, born and raised in Switzerland with a Basel accent you could cut with a knife) and when I asked her how authentic their food was, she replied “not at all“. Apparently, many Swiss customers want Thai food without such Thai ingredients as fish sauce, peanuts, coconut milk or chilies (what you could argue as being the bedrock of their cuisine).  I suppose it is (possibly) an improvement over the “Exotic Currys“ that were available when I arrived in Switzerland in 1989: best (charitably) described as “mystery meat in a yellow sauce“ Am I an anomaly in wanting my Indian/Thai/Chinese/Japanese/Malay food to be as authentic as possible? Answers on a postcard, please.
 

Many of my Swiss friends, who I have been training to eat “authentic foreign food” (or as authentic as I can make it), when we first met considered “exotic” cooking as waving an unopened tin of curry powder at the pot (and don’t get me started on the topic of “Scharf” [hot/spicy]). Paradoxically, thanks to the presence of well paid expats from all over the world working in the Pharma, Chemical and Banking industries here, getting authentic ingredients is nowadays not that difficult.

 

I’m a fairly competent cook and can prepare various cuisines authentically (as is possible here), but there are times when I would dearly love a “proper Chinese takeaway” as I used to enjoy when living in England. My favourite being the sweet and sour pork (always with the dayglo orange sauce on the side) and the “house” stir-fried noodles. Not at all authentic, but much, much closer to the Cantonese original than you can get here!

 

Final thoughts: when I was in Malaysia, I tended to have curry for breakfast - much to the horror of Mrs iD (Swiss and still the original “Wife Mk I”). And for those of you concerned that Wife Mk II is malfunctioning (i.e. making whining sounds, not functioning properly, etc). Consider scrapping Wife Mk II and getting Dog Mk I. True, Dogs Mk I-V do require maintenance, although far, far less than any Wife Mk II, but they are much more user friendly than Wife Mk II (I know of no cases of a Dog Mk I-V complaining that the owner did “x” instead of “y” or did “x” wrong or not all - unlike either Wife Mk I or Wife Mk II).

 

Stay Safe, Stay Well, Stay Sane

 

iD