AS: Tea and biscuits and GIN, the British thread

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  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I need to trim my front and back lawn - after not growing in all the July heat, they are back to growing fast again. Might do it tomorrow.

    I went to pick blackberries in the woods again today. Normally there is no one else picking them, but today there was a very enthusiastic couple diving in with their big Tesco bags for life, grabbing every blackberry they could find! And there was me with my little freezer bag, just picking a few here and there, not wanting to spoil their fun. So I went to a different part of the woods and picked blackberries there instead.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    @BF: Surely the opposite of forthwith is clydewith?
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Just back from walking the pooches.

    Mr Boogs has man flu so I offered to make the evening meal. He said ‘no, let’s have a take away’.

    Says it all about my cooking skills :tongue:

    It always makes me smile that men can be dying of man flu and still able to face eating. When I'm ill all I want to do is curl up in bed and sip water. Food seems to be the last thing they go off.

    Well. Maybe not the last. :wink:
  • Piglet wrote: »
    You want to get him a nice curry - nothing better for clearing out the tubes when you've got a cold the flu. :smiley:

    Hope he feels better soon.

    Thank you Piglet. Neither of us felt like takeaway in the end so we’ve resorted to bacon sandwiches (sorry about that!🤭 🐷)

  • O not at all, BACON sandwiches are a proven cure (or at least an emollient) for ManFlu.

    I know whereof I speak.

    IJ
  • @BF: Surely the opposite of forthwith is clydewith?

    <Like>
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited September 2018
    @BF: Surely the opposite of forthwith is clydewith?

    <Like>
    So do I. :mrgreen:

    Despite my moniker, I completely agree with Boogie and BF that bacon sandwiches are a panacea for most ills.

    Sorry about that. 🐖

  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    Piglet wrote: »
    Despite my moniker, I completely agree with Boogie and BF that bacon sandwiches are a panacea for most ills.
    Presumably preceded by a little Amble - or even (when things are really serious) a Peregrination?

  • ArachnidinElmetArachnidinElmet Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    I prefer a meander. Or a mooch. Though neither are designed to work off a bacon sandwich.
  • The green patches to the front and rear have been tamed but they are terrible. There is some grass, but rather more thistle and dock leaves and one half expects to find a small donkey. In addition the surface is so uneven that the “mowing” is anything from a #4 cut to a scalping. It’s not nice.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Our patches of greenery could do with a haircut too, but I don't think either of us has the get-up-and-go to do anything about it. It's not at the hay-field stage yet, although there's a rare crop of buttercups (not to mention our Mystery Plant). I think it can probably wait for a few days yet.

    Tuesday and Wednesday look quite promising - 25° and sunny - which is as near to "good mowing weather" as we're likely to get.
  • Buttercups are pretty and don’t require mowing. You could be setting a trend.
    Whoever, way back when, started the grass lawn trend can’t have known what a time consuming nuisance they’d become. Mind you, while I was cutting mine by hand yesterday (it’s only small, I was making sure no hedgehogs or frogs got srimmed) I could see how someone could get addicted to achieving the perfect lawn. My grandfather wanted his to be as perfect as a bowling green.

    Today I harvested 34lbs of grapes at t’ plot - eek. That’s more than twice last years crop, and about 11 times more than I need for a batch of jelly. If I get brave I’ll go into the roofspace for my wine making gear, although last years attempt got invaded by a bug & went off. That’ll take care of another 16lbs or so.
    I also visited a large orange diy store and found some raspberry plants, alongside the grape vines but decided a grape vine won’t be joining them in my new productive garden.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Wow - that's a lot of grapes. You will let us know when the WINE's ready to drink, won't you? :mrgreen:
  • We've been eating frozen grapes instead of lollipops, but also as a way of getting hold of slightly cheaper fruit. They were frozen individually, as you would blackberries. And I've been eating them straight from the freezer.
  • MMMMMM Shipmate
    We've got a fine crop of grapes on our little vine this year - only the second time we've had any since we got it about 10-12 years ago.

    It might help make up for the exactly zero apples and two pears.

    MMM
  • I’m very jealous of all these grape vines! My pear tree had moth again (need to remember to collar it), the plums withered in the heat but the apple trees are good.
  • Mmm...grapes. Never thought of eating them frozen -- will need to try! Do white, red and black grapes freeze equally well CK?
  • Freezing grapes is great if they are dessert grapes, but those that I harvested are for wine making and cooking, so have a couple of large butter pips in. In fact, they are mostly pip.

    I’ve cleared an area of things that sort of grow but don’t actually do much, but it’s where I saw a tiny hedgehog in the summer so am seeking out a locally made hedgehog house for it, to compensate for spoiling its snuffling area.

    Looking forward to some of the wet stuff so I can get on with undoorsy sort of things, but none on the forecast for the next couple of weeks at least.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    When I am OLD I am going to get down to some serious gardening. We are planning to retire to foie gras land and this summer I was thinking about all the exciting things one can cultivate down there. A grape vine (for eating) would be very nice. It's more than hot enough. Tomatoes go without saying - once you've eaten vine ripened tomatoes grown in a very warm place you can't ever go back to the tasteless watery abominations you get out of the supermarket. I also want to grow beans, radishes, salad and courgettes and we need some kind of fruit tree. I was feeling quite jealous of the neighbours' fig tree so I think that's what we might have. Failing that I like the idea of some kind of citrus. Melons also grow well down there but they attract wasps so we might go without.
  • The thing that puts me off gardening is all the weevils that come and eat the stuff. 🤔
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Boogie wrote: »
    The thing that puts me off gardening is all the weevils that come and eat the stuff. 🤔

    Boogie, that’s no way to talk about your family.

    In my brief career in vegetable gardening (before it Got Away from me completely) I lunched on a salad of my own potatoes and broad beans and thought, if I could have food like this every day, I need never touch meat.

    Now it’s things that don’t have to be planted or dug up: feral raspberries and a pie’s worth of Hawthornden apples.
  • LVER, a memory of foie gras land is that corn grows like a weed, inches per day ( I think). Even locally canned corn tastes good.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    My dad was a very keen gardener for most of his life: he grew his own root veggies, brassicas, soft fruit and (in the greenhouse) tomatoes, lettuces and herbs. There was always something very special about the first, tiny but intensely sweet tomato of the season, usually some time in August (the seasons tend to be late that far north).

    Sadly, I haven't inherited the green-fingers gene: I'm just managing to keep my rosemary plant alive, but probably more due to luck than skill.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    I am just back from the paediatrician's and I thought you would all like to know that baby en rouge weighs a gimungous five kilos :heart: :heart:
  • Yay that’s great news - well done baby en rouge!
  • Well done baby en rouge. That sounds as if he's doing well.
  • Wey hey for Bebe en Rouge!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well done, baby en rouge! Must be all that foie gras ... :mrgreen:
  • Yay Bébé and Maman Rouge!
  • That boy is growing so quickly. Best wishes to the whole family.
  • Wonderful news!
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Very happy to read this about Bébé en Rouge!
  • Très bien [= very good], BeR! L'appetit vient en mangeant! [approx = Eating whets one's appetite.]

    I dedicate this formidable little ditty to BeR and toute [= all] la Famille en Rouge.

    Hurray! Food is good! :)
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    O how lovely it is to hear Good News!

    (LVER - how soon before you introduce him to CHEESE? Not, perhaps, thinking of Asterix & Co., to WILD BOAR....).

    IJ
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Actually he will end up eating wild boar at some point. It is one of the most popular game meats in France (and widely hunted because they're a bit of a menace and the populations need to be kept under control). Very tasty too :sunglasses:
  • I've just translated that 5 kilos into pounds - my goodness, he's growing fast! Well done Bebe en Rouge! (and well done Famille en Rouge for making sure he's well fed and happy!)
  • Yay for Famille en Rouge and the not-so-petit bébé!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    All that talk of food reminded me to go and give today's lunch chez Piglet a prod. As inquiring minds need to know, it's The Sausage Thing, and is bubbling away nicely.

    D., if you're reading this,* you can come home about now. :mrgreen:

    * he won't be - he hasn't registered on the New Ship yet.
  • Pssst, he can still read, though, Piglet, just not post! :smiley:
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I had to translate kilos into pounds too - for some reason I got confused and thought kilos were smaller than pounds, which didn't make sense, but the online converter put me right. That is wonderful that Baby en Rouge is growing so fast.
  • Actually he will end up eating wild boar at some point. It is one of the most popular game meats in France (and widely hunted because they're a bit of a menace and the populations need to be kept under control). Very tasty too :sunglasses:

    Indeed it is. My sister lives in a remote part of France populated by wild boar, and her (sadly now deceased) dog used to have a special bark, which meant 'Help! I've chased a wild boar, who is now waiting at the foot of this tree to devour me!'

    A specimen charged into the side of her car a while ago, leaving a large dent (and a few clumps of hide), before continuing his/her charge into the scrub (maquis is the word, IIRC).

    We have them in England (farmed, of course, not wild).

    IJ

  • Oh we have wild boar too. The Forest of Dean has quite a population, as does Kent
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I'm sure I've bought wild boar sausages from farmers' markets in the past.
  • fineline wrote: »
    I'm sure I've bought wild boar sausages from farmers' markets in the past.

    Yes, but the boar would probably have been raised on a farm, which is what I was thinking of.
    Oh we have wild boar too. The Forest of Dean has quite a population, as does Kent

    But I didn't know (street urchin that I am) that we had wild wild boar here, IYSWIM. They are indeed formidable beasties, and not to be messed with.

    Lightly grilled, however, with APPLE SAUCE..... :grin:

    IJ

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Does it still count as "wild" if it grew up on a farm? I have a feeling that I've had wild boar sausages at some point too, but I can't remember when or where - possibly as bangers and mash in a pub somewhere in the Home Counties.
  • Hmm. Good point - I think the farm shops, pubs etc. advertise it as 'wild boar', and they (the boar) do indeed roam freely about the farms.

    However, I think it refers more to the type of animal than to its habits...

    IJ
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I think you're right - it really is a different beastie from the cute, inquisitive and friendly domestic piggy. 🐖
  • I buy wild boar sausages from our local butcher in the Forest - they are delicious and are made from culled wild wild boar. There are hundreds of them and you can see evidence of them digging up the forest edges outside Miss S's house, to name but one, I'm sure no-one would bother farming them!

    In fact we plan to eat some tomorrow as we have visitors for lunch :smile: and they have also proved successful as presents for those not lucky enough to live here :smug:

    The Intrepid Grandson is also a devotee.

    Mrs. S, who has just remembered the French word for wild boar :smile:
  • Sanglier, IIRC.

    If any of you have any nice cold roast or grilled virtual BOAR, please send it quickly, as the Palace fridge is devoid of meat at the moment.

    Thank you.

    IJ

  • Oh we have wild boar too. The Forest of Dean has quite a population, as does Kent
    Sydney, down here, had its own wild boar some years ago. Not quite but as close as we willget to it. A friend was a gardener on a 90 acre estate on the Parramatta River, not far from my place. He lived there and had chooks taken from his yard.

    It was discovered that a rather large pig had been foraging and included his chooks.

    Apparently a pig had escaped from the markets several kilometres away and had made its way through areas of very heavy traffic till it found heaven. 90 acres of open pasture basically. Along with whatever else it could find to eat. It grew to quite a substantial size and fears were held for young children . Picnics were popular there. Eventually it was tracked and shot.

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