Early Risers.

[DaveF]

It was a cloudless sky when I got up but cloud is now building from the west but it should stay dry with bits of sun now and then and about 13°C.

 

I got up, had breakfast, put some washing on and did my share of the housework - the dusting.  Someone will come about 11 to do the rest.

 

The plan is for some reading, modelling, perhaps a walk during the day and a trip to see the consultant to discuss how things are going.

 

I'll be glad when that is over.

 

David

[Tony_S]

39 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear Castle, plus a heat alarm in the Kitchen

When we had the storage batteries for our solar panel installed In the garage  we were advised to install a heat sensor alarm.  However we couldn’t hear it in the house so we upgraded all our alarms to a linked system, so if one goes off they all sound. The kitchen has a heat sensor and the adjacent utility room has a carbon monoxide alarm. We used to run a lot of electrical devices like the washing machine or tumble dryer overnight using the cheaper nighttime electricity but having solar panels often makes,it cheaper to use it in daylight. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No problem sleeping last night, a straight 6 hours plus another hours snooze. However when I did get up my left knee wouldn't take any weight and I had to grab a walking stick to stop falling over. Fortunately once I was moving it settled down and I haven't needed to take any pills. Haven't decided what to do today after putting the washing on, a bit of tidying up in the garden is on the cards.

[The White Rabbit]

Morning all,

 

Not an ER today, broken night. Maybe too many nightmares about t'fella near the castle of Aughhh... ? 

 

I saw https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/mar/17/tom-kerridge-easter-recipes-shoulder-of-lamb-onion-tart-and-a-hot-cross-bun-bread-and-butter-pudding for those who may be fans or are toying with ideas for later this month. 

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... Final thought: some people claim that UPF are a addictive as narcotics, alcohol and nicotine - and just as hard to give up.

 

I've seen articles on that. For example, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/15/the-big-idea-why-we-need-a-new-definition-of-junk-food and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/10/addiction-to-ultra-processed-food-affects-14-of-adults-global-study-shows 

 

Also, perhaps my thought for the day, something else to consider? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/06/people-who-eat-breakfast-high-in-refined-carbs-rated-less-attractive-study-finds 

 

I accept I could do more but I do try and eat food without artificial chemicals and which hasn't been highly processed. It's not always easy, for instance I use free range eggs but they are almost always commercially produced rather than 'farmyard free range'. The latter are a long way away from the commercial ones in taste and colour. And you can (almost) bounce them off concrete! Unfortunately my first supplier died, my second emigrated and my third had a nocturnal visit from Mr Fox and didn't want to restock. We have a covenant which says we're not allowed to keep poultry in the garden (a common one in England) and while I could bribe the neighbours with fresh eggs, should a Mr Cockerel start greeting the dawn with the typical enthusiasm of his kind, that goodwill would vanish like morning mist in the summer. 

 

Time to stop waxing lyrical and go and peel the potatoes... 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/rise-air-fryer-fire-reports-27991639

I'm now taking to switching mine off at the socket, not that there's been any problems with it.  

At least you live in a country where you can switch things off at the plug.  The French don't do switched sockets.  You have to pull the plug out. 

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

or eggy-bread if you're not being posh!)

It took me until last week to learn that the posh name for eggy bread was French toast!

[iL Dottore]

44 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

I saw https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/mar/17/tom-kerridge-easter-recipes-shoulder-of-lamb-onion-tart-and-a-hot-cross-bun-bread-and-butter-pudding for those who may be fans or are toying with ideas for later this month. 

Thanks for that link. Mrs iD has issued The Command that I am to cook the Lamb in Ale for an Easter Lunch.

44 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Also, perhaps my thought for the day, something else to consider? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/06/people-who-eat-breakfast-high-in-refined-carbs-rated-less-attractive-study-finds 

Well that explains a lot!

Presumably, “Beer Goggles” are used to compensate for the “white toast and marmalade” effect. 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Therefore brunch was enjoyed mid-morning and comprised of French Toast (or eggy-bread if you're not being posh!)

 

17 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

It took me until last week to learn that the posh name for eggy bread was French toast!

French Toast is the “posh” name for Eggy Bread?

What a load of &£#@#

 

There’s nothing “posh”* about the term “French Toast”, if you want to be culinarily pedantic it’s actually “Pain Perdu” and is made with day old brioche (or other French bread).

 

* I’m really starting to dislike the term “posh” - especially when used in regards to food and culture. It’s a nasty little invidious word, redolent of inverse snobbery.

[Coombe Barton]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

There’s nothing “posh”* about the term “French Toast”, if you want to be culinarily pedantic it’s actually “Pain Perdu” and is made with day old brioche (or other French bread).

Thank you for this posh pedantry :)

[Hroth]

I was poking about in the back of the shed this morning, it being sunny and almost warmish, when I came across a net bag of daffodil bulbs that I had been gifted some time ago as damaged stock (they had become damp) from a garden centre. I'd plonked them in a bucket and forgotten all about them.

 

Anyhow a large number had started to sprout, so I took them out and planted the sprouty ones in tubs.  There were some rotted ones that had failed and it was almost as if the sprouty ones had cannibalised their less fortunate companions.

 

Now, they're watered in and sitting in a patch of warm sunlight.  I'll just have to see how they go!

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

while I could bribe the neighbours with fresh eggs, should a Mr Cockerel start greeting the dawn with the typical enthusiasm of his kind, that goodwill would vanish like morning mist in the summer. 

Which is one reason Aussies are allowed to keep up to six chooks in their backyards but no roosters.  

 

When one of ours hatched a clutch of eggs brought in from a neighbour's farm we were ready and waiting to take her up on the "rooster-return policy".  A baby chook for every baby rooster so long as one was available.  And sure enough one started to stretch its neck and squeeze out a squeaky "ca-doodle-do" after a few weeks.  

 

Rule 1 : No Cockeroosterdoodling in the backyard!!!

[Gwiwer]

33 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

“Pain Perdu”

Lost bread?  

 

But I found it in the bread-bin exactly where it should have been, Sir.  

 

 

 

Yes indeed the French call French Toast "pain perdu" for reasons all their own

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

I was poking about in the back of the shed this morning, it being sunny and almost warmish, when I came across a net bag of daffodil bulbs that I had been gifted some time ago as damaged stock (they had become damp) from a garden centre. I'd plonked them in a bucket and forgotten all about them.

 

Anyhow a large number had started to sprout, so I took them out and planted the sprouty ones in tubs.  There were some rotted ones that had failed and it was almost as if the sprouty ones had cannibalised their less fortunate companions.

 

Now, they're watered in and sitting in a patch of warm sunlight.  I'll just have to see how they go!

 

I happened to switch on the telly, rarity at Chateau Winslow as there's so much carp on it nowadays, and who should i spy but Monty Don waffling on about planting tulips. Now hang on a minute Monty me old mucker I said to myself, it's a bit late for that, but you know what if you think about it so long as there late flowering i.e May/June you should be able to get away with that. So I will be potting some up shortly.

Edited March 18 by Winslow Boy

[Smiffy2]

L'Armee de l'Air has just been over - four Dassault Mirage 2000s at 200 feet, somewhat noisy! But quite impressive...

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

...Yes indeed the French call French Toast "pain perdu" for reasons all their own

And I have NO idea what those reasons are, or even the logic behind it.

 

At least with some dishes, like the Chinese dish of 蚂蚁爬上树 (Mǎyǐ pá shàng shù) - "ants climbing on trees", the name is descriptive of the dish (which is stir-fried minced pork with mung bean vermicelli, flavoured with soy sauce, ginger, cloves garlic, and chilli bean sauce). Legend has that it was first cooked by a dutiful wife from the few ingredients she had to hand and served to her grumpy Mother-In-Law (are there any other types???), who with her bad eyesight mistook the tiny meat bits as ants but loved the dish nonetheless; praising it to her neighbours.

 

Mind you, "Toad In The Hole" must be baffling to anyone who has missed out on a British uprbringing...

[Ian Abel]

Monday, good morning all.

 

Very nice weekend overall;

Friday evening great happy-hour with Jemma and Brendan, nice pop-up beer event at local wine&cheese shop.

Saturday, much to-do activity around the house.

Sunday, Mrs off to a birthday party followed by us at a concert, one of our fund-raiser events. Six local female singers put on a '60s womens' songs special.

 

Back working today, slow but "proceeding"

 

Weather dropping down again here, -6c first thing with partly cloudy skies, only going to manage 2c later. Forecast of some light snow by the end of the week!

 

Carry on.

[Smiffy2]

Surely pain perdu is sweet, and eggy bread is savoury: they aren't the same thing.

[Ozexpatriate]

22 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

And I have NO idea what those reasons are, or even the logic behind it.

Lost in the sense that being a day old, it was beyond being eaten fresh - a new baguette from the boulanger being available anyway.

 

So explained a French associate. I've never heard of "eggy-bread". It is always "French toast" on this side of the pond.

 

I wonder if "eggy-bread" is an archaic equivalent to "Freedom Fries" - given the historical antipathy to anything south of La Manche. 

[Gwiwer]

45 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Toad In The Hole" must be baffling to anyone who has missed out on a British uprbringing...

Maybe so but the sausages resemble toads with a little imagination and they sit in a hole in the batter. 
 

But Shepherd’s Pie / Cottage Pie are not made from shepherds or cottages.  

[Smiffy2]

In colloquial English 'French' often means 'done differently so we assume it's foreign and France is nearest' - see also French Knitting and French Cricket. And 'pardon my French' when using an English, or even Anglo-Saxon swearie.

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

It was dinner ladies and dinner in northern Ireland, Wiltshire, the outer Hebrides and Inverness for me.

But dinner at home has always been when ever the main meal is, be it 12: 00 or 17:00.

Mostly for us now our main meal is 17:00  ish this is a hangover from me taking sandwiches to work, now that in central Scotland is your "piece" though in some places it's your "snap".

 

I've been decked twice today, heavily...

 

Sanded cockpit rail, filled cockpit rail,

Went and sat on club frontage while filler set.

Newby brings his sailing boat in at vaguely controlled high speed, I attempt to stop him damaging boat on quayside, and speed of boat plus me catching boot on quayside wood work, puts me on the deck hard.

 

Sanded new filler, painted cockpit rail.

Laid back on pile of planks to straighten back, fell asleep.

Woke up sometime later, couldn't get up, had to roll off pile, I fell onto ground along with a lot of planks. 

 

Can see more filling and sanding is required.

Covered up boat went home had long soak in the bath..

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

And I have NO idea what those reasons are, or even the logic behind it.

 

At least with some dishes, like the Chinese dish of 蚂蚁爬上树 (Mǎyǐ pá shàng shù) - "ants climbing on trees", the name is descriptive of the dish (which is stir-fried minced pork with mung bean vermicelli, flavoured with soy sauce, ginger, cloves garlic, and chilli bean sauce). Legend has that it was first cooked by a dutiful wife from the few ingredients she had to hand and served to her grumpy Mother-In-Law (are there any other types???), who with her bad eyesight mistook the tiny meat bits as ants but loved the dish nonetheless; praising it to her neighbours.

 

Mind you, "Toad In The Hole" must be baffling to anyone who has missed out on a British uprbringing...

Let alone one of my favourites, fly pie. 

 

Jamie

[DaveF]

I've spent the day doing a lot of little things, a bit of tidying, finishing a book, reading some articles in a magazine and so on.  The cleaner came, worked quickly and well so the house looks a lot better.

 

I decided to go and buy a Kornish (sic) pasty for lunch, while I was out I had a look at the Quayside and a walk on the promenade, no photos as there wasn't anything really interesting to see, just some water, sand and pebbles.  There weren't even many people or dogs about.

 

This afternon has been more of the same.  There may be more news later.

 

David

[The White Rabbit]

43 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

... But Shepherd’s Pie / Cottage Pie are not made from shepherds or cottages.  

 

My proposition is that it's a different preposition. Dishes (supposedly) made by shepherds or by cottagers?

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

A quiet morning post-paddlin'; post-din dins meant giving Mickey a "pretty good but not the works" wash - it still saw off 2 hours though ☹️

Now a totally shattered Teddy - I reckon paddlin' + car washing must've seen off a good few calories....

 

BG

 

edit:  Just had an email from Aldi - they're floggin' Dual Basket Air Fryers from Thursday for sixty five notes should anyone feel the urge.......I imagine they'll sell pretty quick

Edited March 18 by polybear