Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Z'nuni is Swiss German for "Elevenses".

 

 

Thats Australian for "Smoko"

 

As in "can you give me a hand here for a sec?"

 

"Nah, p1ss off, I'm on smoko!"

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

If I were  to travel to  Australia, I think I would still have travel insurance, in case I was taken ill en-route and left somewhere in between. 

 

I wasn't advocating for not bothering with travel insurance - theft etc is still an issue, but if @polybear ever gets here he'll have no worries about the cost of treatment from being attacked by  all the dangerous stuff that is just everywhere and he  won't have to worry about his insurance excess or have to "read the PDS to ensure the coverage is suitable " as they say at the end of the radio ads. 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Many years ago, not long after we were married, my wife’s 14 year old brother came to stay with us for a week. When asked by his mother if he was being looked after, he said yes but “they only eat three meals a day and at funny times”. 

Typical teenage boy, on a see food diet, see food and eat it.

[PupCam]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Err, what you are describing is a bastardisation of the American breakfast classic: “Biscuits and….” The “biscuit” being a savoury scone, with the “and…” being sausage, ham, bacon, “chicken fried steak” amongst many other things. But never, ever fried bread (carbohydrate sandwich anyone?), I mean Americans eat some pretty carb heavy breakfasts (such as biscuits and gravy with country fried potatoes), but even they draw the line at a breakfast biscuit with a fried bread filling.

 

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

I think the reference was to your second breakfast  which most certainly doesn't represent breakfast to Puppers.   Now, if it was an exceedingly large, plain unsweetened biscuit to which you were referring onto which bacon, fried eggs, fried bread & grilled tomatoes had been piled then that would constitute breakfast.    Whether the user chooses to consume the biscuit as well or literally just use it as a plate is up to them.  The Devil is in the detail ...

 

 

 

Err NO!   🤪

 

For those that can actually read between the lines I was  just suggesting (my preferred version of) a full English on anything conveniently to hand to use as a plate.  

There, I've emphasised  the key bit for you now.

 

But then, as many of you know, I'm more gnome and less gastro.

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I suppose I was a bit misleading and sent the culinarily naïve off in the wrong direction by using the term “second breakfast”. The culinarily savvy will have understood I was referring to Z’nuni. A snack - sometimes substantial - taken at anytime between breakfast and lunch, the exact time depending upon when you had breakfast and how hungry you are.

 

No, elevenses are something quite separate (where as has been suggested a cup of coffee and a biscuit is typical fayre) to the second breakfast.        Of course, anyone claiming a third breakfast is really just a piggy.

 

The art of communication is clarity.  If you are talking about a second breakfast make it a breakfast.  If you are talking about elevenses just pass me a coffee and a biscuit.

 

ION

 

I have commenced making a slightly more robust second mini MPCB for the unmentionables.    I REALLY MUST become more rigourous with the documentation of my electronic gizmos.  Half the time has been spent trying to work out how the first one actually works!    You'd think after 45 years in an industry that prides itself on excessive documentation something would have rubbed off on me and I'd at least make a point of sketching something up but no 🤣

 

I understand we may be being visited by JJP later.    I'd better get the 08 and Jinty fueled up in readiness for him to test out the new shunting puzzle layout.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

.......and the fish and chips are  nothing like  back home". 

 

 

Bear has just received a leaflet from Bearsville Chippy** thru' the door.....

 

It seems M. Cod n' Chips is now £11.80.  Jeez.  Throw in Mushy Peas and a can of Pop and you're looking at £14.60.  Add in SWMBO and it's thirty notes trashed.  The days of F&C being a cheap takeaway are long gone....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7l6kzppyxo

 

edit:  Fortunately Bear doesn't "do" fish (though Smoked Haddock is ok and - very, very rarely - Kippers).  But as it's incompatible with The Great D**t anyway it's all a bit academic really....

(I might just celebrate - when it happens - hitting the 63Kg final target with a large chip roll and a jumbo snagger though - plus M.P. for that 1-of-5 a day too.  Just once, mind.....)

 

 

Edited August 26 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

My ideal breakfast would be scrambled eggs with sausage, but the scrambled eggs have to be cooked how I like them - soft and quite fluid. Unfortunately most scrambled eggs are overdone, the country that knows how to do it is Japan in my experience.  Omelette are the same, I like omelette to have a crisp grilled skin but soft and fluid inside, most omelette are way overdone, again the Japanese have a knack for it.

I like omelettes well cooked. The trick is to get the pan as hot as possible and pour the mixture in then turn the heat off, that way nothing gets burnt. If I make an omelette while the pan is heating I prepare the mixture. Egg (or eggs if they are small and single cream. Whipped to a foam and poured quickly and evenly into the pan. That way you get a light and fluffy omelette. Also I keep a pan just for omelettes, just wipe it round with some kitchen paper.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Going to have a bit of eyelid inspection. Hay fever and warm (23 C.) temperatures are very soporific.

[iL Dottore]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear has just received a leaflet from Bearsville Chippy** thru' the door.....

 

It seems M. Cod n' Chips is now £11.80.  Jeez. 

SFr 13.20 seems pretty cheap to me for fish and chips

22 minutes ago, polybear said:

Throw in Mushy Peas

For God's sake why...

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

...and a can of Pop

No! Just no!

 

A decent stout or porter is the thing to drink with Fish and Chips and if you don't drink alcohol, there are quite a few drinks out there that don't involve synthetic flavourings, carbonated water and enough sugar to give an Elephant Type II diabetes.

 

Besides, wasn't the traditional Working Class "chippy tea", fish and chips, mushy peas, a pickled onion or two, plenty of salt and malt vinegar, a few slices of bread and butter and a cup or two of tea.

27 minutes ago, polybear said:

....The days of F&C being a cheap takeaway are long gone....

The good stuff never really was cheap.

[Danemouth]

26 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear has just received a leaflet from Bearsville Chippy** thru' the door.....

 

It seems M. Cod n' Chips is now £11.80.  Jeez.  Throw in Mushy Peas and a can of Pop and you're looking at £14.60.  Add in SWMBO and it's thirty notes trashed.  The days of F&C being a cheap takeaway are long gone....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7l6kzppyxo

 

 

 

My local chippy does a Pensioners Cod & Chips for £5.20. The portion of chips is smaller than normal but is just right for me

 

IIRC the normal cod and chips is about £8

 

I think @polybears chippy if it were in the Capital of The Principality would be seen as extracting the urine with those prices 😃

 

Dave

[iL Dottore]

44 minutes ago, PupCam said:

For those that can actually read between the lines I was  just suggesting (my preferred version of) a full English on anything conveniently to hand to use as a plate. 

Have you gone all "gastropub" on us Puppers? https://www.boredpanda.com/weird-food-serving-ideas-restaurants-we-want-plates/. Anyway serving a full English on a biscuit is just plain weird!

47 minutes ago, PupCam said:

No, elevenses are something quite separate (where as has been suggested a cup of coffee and a biscuit is typical fayre) to the second breakfast.        Of course, anyone claiming a third breakfast is really just a piggy.

I didn't claim that Z'nuni and Elevenses were gastronomically the same. Apart from saying that Z'nuni translates into Elevenses (we're talking linguistically here), I very clearly stated that a Z'nuni is "A snack - sometimes substantial - taken at anytime between breakfast and lunch, the exact time depending upon when you had breakfast and how hungry you are".

 

Good luck in offering a hungry Swiss Farmer just a tea and biscuit....

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Bear has just received a leaflet from Bearsville Chippy** thru' the door.....

Did they ring the bell or just post and run!
Years ago the local chip shop had a very big rise in price. I overheard the following exchange

Customer “why have you put the price up?”

Fryer “cost of petrol had gone up”

Customer “so that’s  what you fry them in” 

[Tony_S]

The nearest fish and chip had changed ownership recently .The new owners have changed the name . Aditi said she wouldn’t go there as the new name is “vulgar” . 

[DaveF]

The threatened showers have not really materialised about from a few spots now and then.  I read some bits of the supplements which were included with the Saturday paper, the one I miss from years gone by is the Property section, one could always dream of some of the places.  I don't often buy newspapers, just now and then for a change at weekends.

 

I got some more uPVC cleaning done by when it was time for a quick salad lunch to use up some ham.  Then I checked the grocery order for tomorrow and made more changes than usual as I checked the cupboard and freezer and realised I already had some things.  In the end I got it to come to just above the minimum order value which is a bit less than usual.

 

I've sorted out another batch of photos for the internet after which I went in the garden to do deadheading, cutting down things which are over and weeding.  I am finding that doing a bit most days makes it much easier.

 

This evening looks like being the TV quizzes again.

 

I too have noticed how expensive fish and chips are getting, when I walk past the chippie at the beach I always look at their prices.  Then I come home and either have salmon or plaice/sole at a fraction of the price.  I haven't had kippers for years, I should go to Craster where they smoke them, it is only along the coast.  One of the local farm shops stock them as well so they are not hard to get.

 

David

 

 

[iL Dottore]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The nearest fish and chip had changed ownership recently .The new owners have changed the name . Aditi said she wouldn’t go there as the new name is “vulgar” . 

????

 

If the place that serves the very best fish and chips in the UK with a very good portion size/price ratio was called The Angelic Cod or The Fisherman's Big Rod, I wouldn't care if it had either name.

 

Some of the best food I've ever eaten has been in rather shabby and disreputable places (like the backstreet Trattoria in Milan - which is an interesting story in itself [and one that I'd better not recount on ER!])

[Ian Abel]

Mornin'

 

Weekend as expected, somewhat;

Friday evening we dutifully ordered our bed and "smart base". Delivery next Saturday. There went a LOT of "Benjamins" (US slang, google is your friend/go to).

 

Saturday was "wedding dress shopping day" for the bride-to-be and crew. I was taxi  service at various points in the day, the rest of the time managed some eyelid inspection, reading and various mundane household chores. Apparently, the shopping was a success, though no-one but the bridal party are allowed to see the selected item. We were shown several of the also-rans.

 

Sunday the air quality was abysmal here, and temperature 32c with a humidity approaching 80%, made for an environment to stay well clear of. I could feel it in my throat even inside, so spent all day avoiding it and feeling congested...

 

Today, back working, good thing too as it's actually WORSE outside with a temp expected to reach 33c with 85+% humidity and poor air quality - oh joy!!

 

Carry on.

[TheQ]

Mr Franklin has a lot to answer for..

 

Very happy with the new mini drill, much cutting of parallel bits of metal, much more accurate than the old one doing Insitu cuts, because it's slimmer therefore the blade is more vertical. Still more to do though.

[Tony_S]

21 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Some of the best food I've ever eaten has been in rather shabby and disreputable places

The nearest chip shop isn’t shabby or disreputable. Under the previous owners the fish and chips were such that it was worth going a bit further down the High Road. Rather than go to a business with a name she thinks is “cheap and tacky” she would much rather stick to Waitrose fish and McCains chips. She doesn’t mind a witty pun, she did like the food in Swanage from “The Fish Plaice”. 

Edited August 26 by Tony_S

[polybear]

49 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The nearest fish and chip had changed ownership recently .The new owners have changed the name . Aditi said she wouldn’t go there as the new name is “vulgar” . 

 

What's the new name?

 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Have you gone all "gastropub" on us Puppers? https://www.boredpanda.com/weird-food-serving-ideas-restaurants-we-want-plates/. Anyway serving a full English on a biscuit is just plain weird!

 

 

Compared to that lot I reckon a biscuit sounds ideal.....

As for Number 16.....🤮

[BoD]

22 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

she did like the food in Swanage from “The Fish Plaice”. 

We have one nearby called ‘The Cod Father’.

 

Most though are just known by the location or the owner’s name.

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, petethemole said:

Construction industry breakfast times like this can be disconcerting to archaeologists carrying out watching briefs.  Having been on site since 8am or earlier, the workers all disappear, giving you a chance to catch up on recording.  Then they reappear, and if you're lucky, take a short break at about 1.00, before finishing about 4.00.  They usually didn't; it wasn't unknown to eat on the hoof, as long as you had something with you, or take lunch coinciding with a pause in groundwork proceedings, such as muckaway or a concrete pour.  On one memorable occasion I had nothing with me as there were shops nearby, but didn't grab a bite at 10 ish as I was too busy.  the builders then worked right through until 3.30 when the concrete was due.  It rained all day and I was working in freshly dug trenches with my coat dragging along the sides.  I cycled back to the office via the chippy, still covered in mud, took my coat off and announced "Never mind core hours I am now having lunch!"

....housebuilders are part-timers. Civils or pipeline work will start at 0700 and continue until sometime between 1700 and 1900 depending on the season. 

[petethemole]

49 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

....housebuilders are part-timers. Civils or pipeline work will start at 0700 and continue until sometime between 1700 and 1900 depending on the season. 

I never got those jobs as they were mostly out of town and I don't drive.  Some of my colleagues got to attend sites over an hour away.

[tigerburnie]

Fish(Haddock, no Cod in Scotland, it's all exported) and chips was £14 last Friday evening......................................for two portions in Montrose down by the harbour.

[BoD]

22 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Fish(Haddock, no Cod in Scotland, it's all exported) and chips was £14 last Friday evening......................................for two portions in Montrose down by the harbour.

Cod is the norm here, although you can get haddock if you ask… and that is about the going rate here too.  It doesn’t seem that long ago that two decent portions would come in at under a tenner (including mushy peas and a can of pop).

Edited August 26 by BoD

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Apparently, there's a chippie in Grimsby where one can get fish, chips and mushy peas for £3. Yes, £3.

And the quality is good with a large portion size. 

If you search "Gary Eats" on YouTube, you'll find his review. I find him a very engaging character.