The picture above isn't a true panorama, as you can see, I have just joined the two images together because they 'adjoined' in fact. I know I have mentioned it before but The Watnall Farm Shop really seems to have taken off. Each time we go they seem busier. Mostly I guess it is word-of-mouth because the quality is excellent. All the chicken products are 'free range' the meat is reared on the farm and the pâtisserie shouts 'home-made'. In the meat pies they don't stint on the meat and a single-size one is ample for us to share. We are particularly keen on the fruit cake, and the jam and lemon-curd tarts.Our main purchase was a leg of lamb (a 'gigot' for cordon bleu people) on the bone, because the practice in this part of the country is to bone it out and sell it rolled. Not a good idea for flavour in my opinion. Tracy is coming for lunch on Sunday, and lamb is her favourite.
After that we had a little more shopping and then home, putting away, lunch and enjoy the rest of the day. Fun on our computers and although Bungus or Jill mentioned it in jest, we do actually e-mail each other. Mostly to share incoming things but, if I am in The Office and Y is online in the Big Room it is as easy to e-mail her as it is to get up and walk there. Is this what 'Relate' mean when they say a couple have a 'communication problem' ? .. Oh what fun !!
Incy Wincy e-mailed me this lovely Lumsdale sepia.
I love the treatment of the margins although I know it won't be to everyone's taste. His treatment, in sepia, is in-keeping with the subject matter of the derelict mills and factories of Lumsdale. He is keen to have the right conditions for infra-red and I would really like to see the results.An informant tells me I made the right decision to 'bunk off' from the EPS judging last night. Apparently my blood-pressure would have beaten Bungus's by a neck. Congratulations to Helen though... I understand she collected 3 second placings !..... Well done you.
Comments
bungus ....... Thanks for the 'drip-trip' saga episode. And get you ! discussing Buddhist mantras with the nurse. I bet she was well impressed.
As you know, I am not a muso but I will try your recommendation.
Re Picasa 3. There certainly is NO problem. Last time I mentioned it, I made the title, a link to the download page. But I guess you didn't open the link. Here it is again - Click Here - I hope it works. As you know, all your pictures are safely in your 'My Pictures' folder and nothing can be harmed by the download.
Nice to read the chip-cob, and chip-butties info. During boyhood I have no recollection of the 'cob'. Even finger rolls were considered somewhat daring. There was white-bread, brown bread, hovis, and then, along came bloomers! Certainly not the done thing to put chips inside any sort of bread. A slice of bread and butter with chips was considered the norm. But it's progress mon brave......
Sorry for any editorial errors in attribution, whereby some gems of wisdom have been credited to the wrong source. But my RG editorial chair can be soporific as bedtime approaches. I ought really to write in the mornings. But some 'comment' writers don't add their comment till the evening and we would all become confused if people were leaving comments on the last-but-one blog-post.
mannanan ..... Glad the book arrived safely and you like the look of it. It didn't take long to reach you. Would it have come on the splendidly named Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Such a romantic name I always think.
p.s. to all - Please click here for Pete's latest webpage. But I've searched without success for the Queen snaps. Please give us some directions.
anonymousrob ...... Please see above apology for editorial miss-attributions.
You are probably right that 'chip-buttie' is a Coronation Street legacy to the Nation.
I share your reservations about the quote. But it was contributed by an occasional reader and I felt I should include it. It was, as you will have noticed, very carefully attributed. We are, as you say, much better with Gordon Brown than George Bush who is way out of his depth in the current crisis. As the Editor of The Telegraph said .... "He doesn't understand the questions, much less the potential answers".
Is it really 18 months since you were in Cuba ? Surely it's about 6 weeks ago ?
The last picture will also do as the quotation. It is from my slim cherished Tennyson. As the quote is not attributed I assume it is one of his own.
Tomorrow we are at Calke Abbey for a National Trust Conference about Volunteers and Supporter Groups. Although we are going as representatives neither of us has anything to present, so all we need to do is sit and try and look intelligent. But Y, as Secretary, will need to produce some sort of note, for 'report back' purposes. Should be a nice day, and we are looking forward to it.
Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow
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Graham and visitors, just a very quick visit to explain that the Queeen I was refering to was indeed the ship QEII which was in Douglas harbour early yesterday morning, passing through on her goodbye British Isles tour before heading off to pastures new in Dubai. Photos of her can be seen on yesterdays blog on the Ramsey Ramblings page....Cheers
ReplyDeleteI'm back.....we had a good break in Devon, four days of really warm sunshine (which must be a record this year)one cloudy day and one rotten one. Hotel was great, we had a large first floor room with a balcony with sun-loungers and table, overlooking the sea. I could wake up in bed and look out over the sea......www.westcliffhotel.co.uk. Food was excellent, the usual for breakfast including poached haddock and kippers. Four courses in the evening, food was suited to the elderly (I shouldn't think there was anyone there under 60)things I hadn't had for years, like blanquette de veau (very nice too) skate wings with black butter (not as good as I remembered), a proper steak pudding with a suet crust (lovely) braised rabbit (I didn't have it but it looked good). Steamd sponge puddings and custard for afters, like date and raisin, lemon, golden syrup. There were other things, plenty of choice! four main courses, one was always a roast (guinea fowl and duck as well as the usual) one fish, one vegetarian and one other meat one.
ReplyDeleteSidmouth well-suited to the elderly - pedestrianised shops, seats everywhere, cafes did small portions by request and had a place by the door for walking sticks. Full of hanging baskets and flowers, they won an award. Very little night-life though!
I have read through all the blog and comments, but it seems a bit old hat to comment now. Will just say how much I admire all the tatting, esp. the pin-cushion. Do you have it on display? That little collection looks like snow-flakes, or fireworks to me. And I realised that 4 ticks was Maureen, nobody said! - are you not the lady who had the operation on her hand with all the scaffolding? I take it that it is now all healed.
We still don't get chip cobs down here, I wonder where the dividing line is - Watford Gap?
I loved the sepia photograph in the current blog, could look at it for hours.
I hope Calke Abbey is a good day for you today - it's bright and sunny here, but v.cold wind. Think we are off to have flu jabs later, open day at surgery.
I saw an interesting prog. presented by Ian Hislop on trains and the Beeching report - on BBC4 - for those who have this facility it is repeated on Sunday, BBC4, 8.00.
I had a computer problem for a few hours yesterday, or rather a mouse problem, the cursor was frozen in one place, would not respond to mouse. I tried the few things in my repetoire (not a lot) to no avail, so put it off, left it for an hour or so, then started it up again and it was working fine. Is there somethng I should have done/known about?
I Must admit to a little disapointment in the judge and amusement also, Althrough there is no sure winner my photo got 14 for turning up with very little reason why,I dont beleive that its perfect but it had some merits that would have got a mention.
ReplyDeleteI relise That judges have personal areas of intrest, very strange dicisions made on the night,Your own photo(ordering the yam chops) got a few laughs as the judge tried to discuss the technical merits of it before the penny dropped.
Kevin
DIARY:
ReplyDeleteReg’s fungus:
The photographic evidence is inadequate for accurate identification, so better not to eat it.
From my bible it could be one of perhaps a dozen (some poisonous/hallucinatory, but not the edible but tough as harness Dryad’s Saddle) inc Honey Fungus, which has several different forms (Phillips says “Some authors now recognise several species previously considered merely as forms of this variable fungus”) is a strongish contender. And it is not as much a threat to other growth as horticulturists suggest. My parents lost about 2’ of a privet hedge to it but it then ran out of steam. And in the wild (eg, the woodland at Rufford Country Park) it co-exists quite happily with all the other trees and plants. Its edibility is somewhat uncertain – some experts declare it poisonous (which does not mean fatal) others, inc Phillips regard it as edible (I found it good to eat).
On the subject, the following is extracted from a long-winded letter in this week’s Mansfield Chad:
“Today … walking home … I came across a clump of wild field mushrooms. Pristine … popped out of the ground that very morning. They ranged from 8 to 12 cm or so and unmistakeable with their brown underside with collar and creamy white domed top, the skin of which peeled back quite easily. I collected … half a dozen … and set off … home.
I peeled them, chopped them … rinsed them … seasoned them … and put them in the microwave …
(On the plate) … they didn’t look quite right. They had taken on a sort of yellowy tinge and had a sort of carbolicy smell. I tentatively took a bit on the end of my fork and tasted it. It was vile.
I (looked on Wikipedia) … and I found what I was looking for.
Agaricus xandothermus (Yellow Stainer). A poisonous mushroom that grows in fields and woodland … Fatal in some cases but a bowel irritant in most.”
Wikipedia, by its nature, is not always totally accurate and acknowledged expert Roger Phillips says, “Poisonous. The symptoms are sweating, flushing and severe stomach cramps, but only some people are affected”. Ie, not deadly.
Before I became interested in mushrooms I too found some of these in the orchard at the Durham Ox. I prepared them and chucked them in the frying pan where they immediately turned bright yellow. I decided not to eat them and looked them up in my Readers’ Digest Book of the Road (my only reference at the time).
BLOG COMMENT
I like the sound of Watnall Farm Shop, particularly the free-range chicken and the meat pies (you can keep the lemon curd tarts). A pity it is so far from Ollerton.
I just hope they don’t become so popular that they have to start buying in stuff that is below standard. It happens to a lot of such ventures. We once tried an organic veg box but some of the stuff was far too clean!
I do not ever recall having a leg of lamb without the bone in! (Leg is one joint of lamb that I can enjoy, provided either that I do not have to smell it cooking or it has been studded with garlic and rosemary).
Apart from ‘bungalow legs’ I suspect emailing could lead to atrophy!
I think the ‘communication problem’ to which you refer is the one, of which I know you are aware, when someone who shall be nameless - and I don’t mean anonymousrob – starts talking and then walks into another room halfway through the first sentence. I get most of MY exercise by getting up and following.
Very nice sepia pic with furry edges.
Thanks for repeating the Picasa3 download link. I think I must be getting forgetful.
We had occasional cobs when I was a child – mainly from Moons I think – and never chips without fish or tripe or a pie (one of my mother’s aunts used to make meat pies for her local ‘fish & chip shop’ (never just ‘chip shop’ in those days). But my recollection is that there was no brown bread, only Hovis which my aunty Trude always served and which my father HATED. There was a sort of wholemeal wartime loaf which was universally despised. And I used to carry on ‘something alarming’ (as my mother would have said) if our children made chip sandwiches.
Chips inside bloomers conjures up… but I had never heard of bloomers (bread) until I met Sandra.
Just you carry on making the odd mistake as you nod over your keyboard (remember Hoagy Carmichael). It wouldn’t do for us ALL to become confused.
Talking of keyboards, Jessica last night picked out the theme from Titanic on her mobile phone. Apparently she had shown some previous aptitude (as did her uncle Dan who composed on his BBC Computer) and enquiries were made about keyboard lessons but it meant travelling to Mansfield and paying £25 a lesson. However, if it had eventually led to her winning 2 Olympic gold medals …?
I agree that – apart from Idi Amin, Hitler, Mugabe and Stalin – almost anything would be better than Bush. Perhaps a Brazilian is called for?.
I understand that he now enjoys(?) less than 10% support in the USA and that no-one has ever scored lower.
As I indicate later to Rob, I think bringing back Mandelson may be a shrewd move. He is what I believe is referred to as a ‘player’ and at least GB can blame and sack him if necessary.
I don’t find the Tennyson quote particularly helpful. A bit ‘easy to say’, glib and supercilious, I’d say. (Or, what first came to mind, ‘pi’, but I couldn’t find it in my dictionary. Roget has it though; short for ‘pious’ but meant sarcastically, ie, ‘self-righteous’.)
But that’s just my view.
Mannanan:
It’s nice to be appreciated as I am sure both you and RG will agree.
Hope the ‘chowder' is to your liking (incidentally, as in other instances, the potency of dried fenugreek leaf does diminish in time as I discovered last night (but the UBD on mine – the fenugreek - is 2006. So no surprise).
Thanks for identifying the Queen. I had thought it must be the 2nd coming of Freddie Mercury.
Anonymousrob:
I have always thought Mandelson to be perhaps the most astute politician around. Not always easy to put up with, sometimes ‘a fool to himself’ but bright and possibly the man for the situation. In some ways rather Churchillian?
I understand your accommodation problems. We currently have daughter (Stephanie) and granddaughter (Jessica) installed, sharing a bed. Steph’s new boyfriend bought a caravan, now parked on our drive, as a 'cave' for Jess (13) to do homework and socialise. She has had sleepovers in it with her friends and has also rented it by the night to her 18 years old cousin Alex(andra) who lives in a remote village and spends weekend evenings in the throbbing Ollerton hotspots. I say evenings but, as someone said recently, they (teenagers) don’t go out till 11.00 now.
The caravan serves a further purpose as an irritant to our nasty neighbour who claims it protrudes an inch over his boundary but has so far failed to prove it.
Regarding false attribution of words, from now on, if I am accused of anything, I shall just say it was you wot done/said it.
Your view of chip cob history accords pretty well with mine. We sold them in the pub late 70s – very popular.
Fish fingers (or breaded plaice, hot or cold, for the more cultured of us) also makes a good sandwich (tomato ketchup essential.
I didn’t detect praise for Dubya but have no doubt you could be right. If so I distance myself from it – by a moonshot at least.
Cuba it is, then.
I still regard the 60s as the best decade of my life (so far) if only because I cannot remember it.
Although, to echo Dickens, “It was the best of times and the worst of times”.
Jill:
Glad you enjoyed good weather. Daughter Steph and fella were in Cornwall and also enjoyed – went surfing and all!
The food at yur hotel sounds very good although I am not a great fan of veal; usually bland to the point of tastelessness, I feel (a Knight of the Realm of my acquaintance - more significantly a farmer - once told me that, in this country, most Wiener Schnitzels are made from turkey and no one detects the difference).
You say ‘for those who have this facility'! I bought a digital set recently and it is fine (we can now get Ch 5) unless it happens to be windy or raining (ie, 80% of the time) in which case we are back to the same old 4 Channels. Although this bothers me not a lot in itself, it is annoying after all the hype. And I was annoyed Thur night when there were 3 successive European Cup matches on Ch5 and I couldn’t watch any of them. It didn’t suit Sandra either, because, on account of the football, she had arranged to go out when she didn’t really want to.
We also have a mouse problem. Ours keeps pinching the nuts I put out for the birds. But he (or they, because there are at least 4) are lovely little things and far from timid.
I sometimes get the frozen cursor and simply have to switch off and boot up again.
As with cars etc, the problem does not happen when the mechanic (son Dan in this case) is on hand. But being a computer trouble-shooter, he, I suspect would give the standard offering, ie, “Have you tried unplugging at the mains, then plugging it in again?” (something which one was once terrified of doing for fear of blue smoke and demons).
AnonymousKevin:
I hope RG will explain the ‘yam chops’ to us. Always good to fool the pompous (I recall myself once getting very irate and about to send a snotty letter to the Caravan Club because they proposed making everyone move their (his/her) van on Sunday to allow the grass underneath to be mown or the tarmac swept clean. Then Sandra pointed out that the mag was dated 1 April. Oh how they all laughed)
I have to agree that observing Thursday's judging would have been very risky for anyone with a blood pressure issue! As has been mentioned, my pictures did rather well (so I think it's OK for me to criticise him) but he placed my doggy advert second without making a single comment on it and there was certainly no indication that he got the joke. Besides yours, there were several pictures which were ironic or joking and I don't think he understood any of them. In particular, there was a really nice picture of part of a shop front focussing on the ironic juxtaposition between the old advert on the brickwork and the new one on the window which the judge criticised because it didn't include the whole shop front! Someone commented to me that the problem was his background in advertising and it certainly looked sometimes as if he was judging adverts rather than photos. Am I beginning to sound like one of you old camera club cynics?
ReplyDeleteI love the sepia print of Lumsdale but I think Thursday's judge would have said it's not colourful enough.
Cheers!
thankyou about the comments about watnall farm shop! glad u like the pies! i can assure you that we will not buy in lesser quality produce! we have an open day on sunday 7th june 10am till 3pm where you are able to go around the farm and have a look at what we do! hope you can come along! must go got alot of pies to make!!!
ReplyDelete