We haven't actually got an open log-burning fire, so this is from The Shoulder of Mutton at Hardstoft on Wednesday. It's the sort of day when it would be great to have one, cold and very stormy. Wind speeds up to 90mph are spoken of even though 70mph is more likely.Don't know who the picture should be attributed to. I set the camera up (The Casio) and put it on the end of the table. Mike then jiggled it about laterally until the flames were in the right place, and then I pressed the shutter-button. Can't see it winning many prizes anyway. It is an atmosphere-blog-shot.
I feel distinctly woozy due to handfuls of pain-killers and we decided against the car this morning and Y braved the weather to walk round to the little shop for essentials. Then she cooked a real comfort meal - bacon, fried bread, and fried egg together with grilled tomatoes which are one of her specialities.
Picture 2 is of Bungus and his tame Moorhen (triggered by yesterday's Moorhen Picture) and I will leave it to him via the 'comments' column to give you the history.
Comments....Talking of 'comments' and Bungus's complaint that he sometimes doesn't understand what I am talking about.Re the woodland picture and the cloned-in ballet dancer, I am sure that anybody who uses 'photoshop' would understand what I was saying, without seeing the picture. AnonymousRob would be a fair test because due to illness he wasn't there. Re: Anything else, I feel unable to comment on the clarity of my prose. It is for others to judge, not me.
Broccoli & Stilton soup always seems a winner Jill and I'm glad you share the dislike of the George Foremans (or should it be the George Foremen). I've made Fishworks a live link so we can see where you ate . Shame if it is faltering because it looks an exciting place to eat. Presumably your Skate would be 'wings' because I'm not sure if there are any other 'cuts'. Son David still tells the story of when I cooked them and insisted on the being finished up. He says they were awful and probably he was right. No doubt the cook's fault rather than the fish's.
Our continued best wishes go to AnonymousRob. Perhaps we ought to research 'folk remedies' for shingles. There must be some, somewhere, and there is no stopping us Googlers poking about in hidden nooks and crannies.
Tonight is the big night for Strictly Come Dancing junkies. Even though Letitia has done really well to improve so much, I feel that perhaps this week should be her last. Competition is now fierce and 'marks for effort' should now be replaced by 'quality of performance on the night'. Then later we have This is Civilisation which we both love. Matthew Collings is excellent and I understand tonight's episode includes stuff about Ruskin who we know a bit about.
Hence the early blog. Two programmes to watch. Lots of telly, for me anyway.
Shan't be going 'clubbing' thats for sure. Sleep
tight and I'll catch you yomorrow. What a mover Whacko was ?This is the current moon, if anyones eyes are good enough to see it. 1% ? I'll take their word for it.
I would like to know about this tame moorhen....
ReplyDeleteYes, it was skate wings that I had, and yes, Bungus, we both love kippers, the sort you buy whole, not the poor little ready-filleted ones.
I am wondering about buying a slow cooker, have never had one. I see Lakeland do a 2-people one at around £20.00. I don't want it to be another gadget that takes up the worktop that I hardly use. Advice would be appreciated?
Indubitably an absolutely foul day. I literally did set only one foot outside the house (in order to reach the mail box). I understand there are 30 or so flood warnings but not in our area.
ReplyDeleteBoughton is without doubt the best place in the country for avoiding bad weather. Most of the time we have no weather at all (according to TV forecasters and they are never wrong).
For breakfast today I had floured herring milts, fried, on toast, with balsamic vinegar; a pleasant mild taste and smooth texture reminiscent of calves' brains and steers' testicles (probably sweetbreads too, which I have never tried). Lunch was a toasted cheese sandwich, courtesy George Foreman, and for tea properly rubbery scrambled egg on toast followed by the last slice of lemon drizzle cake (I lied yesterday to prevent anyone stealing it).
Fortunately I like toast.
OK Jill. We raised Gonzo the moorhen some 20 years ago from a 2 or 3 days old chick to about 2 months. We named him(?) Gonzo because when Dan first saw him running along Hallam Road (a mile from any water) he looked like a muppet. Just a ball of black fluff on huge feet. As the photos show, he was amazingly tame He made no mess, and his favourite roosting place was on top of my Amstrad.
We took him on a holiday to the Caravan Club site at Elvaston Castle, near Derby, where I would hold him and let him hoover up the tiny flies from the gutter of the Princess’ roof. He also enjoyed baby frogs and tiny fish, caught by and in the lake (that's 'by and in', not 'by hand in').
When he was about a month old we let him live outside, first in a pen with his own little pond and later free range. Eventually he decided to leave, spending a night in a (clementine?) box at the greengrocer's 5 doors away before he disappeared.
I still Do-a-little talking (play on words there) to any moorhen I see, calling them Gonzo, but, unlike Daniel with the lion, no luck so far (not that I am frightened of being savagely pecked).
I too like broccoli and Stilton soup - but I like broccoli (or, more correctly, calabrese) and Stilton anyway. I like purple sprouting better as a veg but it is seldom available outside the city (Nottingham) and always ridiculously expensive and usually past its best.
Skate too can be very good - but not always. Apart from the wings there are Skate Knobs which, I hasten to assure you, would be the vertebrae if it had any. Not something I have tried.
We find our slow cooker invaluable for casseroles. A quick fry to brown meat and veg then in it goes with hot stock and, once up to a simmer, it can be laft on the lowest setting for hours (or days) without coming to any harm, probably improving.
The remaining gravy and shreds of meat fom the steak have now been joined by butter beans, chorizo, pearl barley, potatoes, celery, etc. Once, when Sandra was away, I fed the family for a week on the same stew, simply adding more potatoes and different pulses each day and finally covering it with crushed crisps and sticking it under the grill (Simon the Fireman still regards that as one of the best meals he has ever eaten).
Although we both find our Georges Foremen extremely useful, Sandra accepts that RG may well be right about them being unsuitable for steak. It was a large piece so half is in the freezer. That will be grilled by gas or pan fried anon and I shall report back honestly.
Talking of Foreman, I watched Amir Khan's 75-second demolition job earlier tonight and will be online at 4.00 am for news as it happens on the Mayweather / Hatton contest which should be a thriller (possibly matching Sugar Ray Robinson v Jake la Motta or Ali v Frazier).
Please RG, do not be hurt that I sometimes find your ramblings hard to follow. I quite often don't know what I myself am trying to say either. I shall, however, be interested to hear AnonRob's reaction to your challenge. Perhaps it will help take his mind off his intensely irritating condition (irritating to him, I mean - not to me because you keep on about it).
Those of us who prefer 'The X Factor' to 'Strictly Come Prancing' find it hard to believe that Rhyddion can possibly be beaten in the 3-way final. Having at first appeared scary (Sandra says in a David Bowie sort of way although he reminded me more of the android in Red Dwarf) he has proved to have a superbly flexible voice, absolute confidence in performing in a wide range of 'styles' without believing he has a right to win, and a winningly modest charm. And only 17! He must have a great future, either as a solo artist or as a successor to Michael Crawford.
I haven't looked for the moon as, given the cloud cover, it would be a waste of time!
And so to bed, for 2.5 hours!