Great to hear that you’ve now got all your legs, @Piglet - and at no cost!
Not a lot happening around here, not that I’m complaining. Pancake Day has been appropriately celebrated, my snowdrops are slowly opening, and a microphone has arrived so I can attempt to record 3 pieces that will be added to recordings by other members of the flute orchestra that I play with. A stroll into town later to get some steps done and to bank a couple of cheques (remember those?).
It's going all the way up to 18° here in foie gras land. Which is quite pleasant, but also an alarming sign of global warming.
We went into town this morning for a bit of shopping, and passed in front of the posh boulangerie, where the brioche smiled at us invitingly... My MIL has been diagnosed with pre-diabetes and we are pretending to eat low sugar wholefoods in solidarity. Consequently the brioche was purchased and eaten on the sly before we got home. Lunch will be on the late side - steaks and green beans - but I think we can wait.
I haven't seen tonight's menu, but I would be willing to bet the house on it involving SOUP and green salad.
Cheques... oh yes, I still use them. Occasionally. Just often enough to remind the world they exist and to help keep their use going for those who use them more. My bank occasionally tries to suggest I try other options when I order a new cheque book but I'm not going to.
I get paid for organist duties for occasional services by cheque and I don't see that changing though my regular services money is paid directly into my account.
Not that I've had any additional services for some time now, and I have written in the 2020 report ready for whenever that's required that I seem to have been far more of an administrator/church social media bod/video creator for that year than an organist.
What - no wine rack???
@Boogie - what sort of Posh Whisky was it? Enquiring minds need to know!
@Wesley J - I rather like the idea of Orkney as the ancient capital of Britain - it is, after all, the Centre of Civilisation™!
The Brainlessness of Piglet, Chapter XXXIX
I had a Sudden Thought late last night, and looked at the box containing the table top. Lo and behold, it was labelled "1 of 2". This set me thinking: if the one with the legs is "2 of 2", there can't be any more ...
I looked in the leg box when I got home from work, and I was right - the way I'd looked at it when it arrived, it didn't look as if there were two fixtures in it, but there are.
This makes me a very happy but embarrassed piglet.
What makes me an even happier piglet is that the refund of the price has appeared in my bank account ...
I think this counts as a win - where's that spinning "yipee" smilie when I need it?
The whisky is Auchentoshan single malt ‘Sauvignon blanc finish’. To be enjoyed chilled!
For our son's 21st birthday (some years ago now) we got him (at Heathrow Airport, of all places) a bottle of 21-year old triple-distilled Auchentoshan. It went down well.
For our son's 21st birthday (some years ago now) we got him (at Heathrow Airport, of all places) a bottle of 21-year old triple-distilled Auchentoshan. It went down well.
Did it actually manage to leave the airport, and safely reach your son?
It seems to be sold at around £25 a bottle, but I suspect the more mature creature will be a tad pricier...
Is it polite to be discussing The Legs of Piglet in her absence?
I'm not absent ...
It's a glorious day here in Embra; so much so that my boss has declared it must be Spring.
I've abandoned my boots for the moment in favour of lightweight shoes, but as I stuck with my winter coat, I was jolly warm by the time I got to the station (I've had a couple of really easy commutes so far this week - this morning I saw the bus arriving and actually ran for it, and was in the office by 8 o'clock).
When I was in M&S the other day, they had a 3 for £7 offer on various salads, and I regret to say they're rather delicious, so it probably won't be long before I've spent the money saved on the table! In particular, prawns with sun-dried tomatoes and chicken with spiced potatoes - far too convenient for an easy lunch!
Just finished making leek and cheese sauce for the pancakes this evening. Also, I picked up a lovely big cauliflower yesterday, so we now have four lots of cauliflower cheese for the freezer.
I do like having lots of things like that in the freezer!
For our son's 21st birthday (some years ago now) we got him (at Heathrow Airport, of all places) a bottle of 21-year old triple-distilled Auchentoshan. It went down well.
Did it actually manage to leave the airport, and safely reach your son?
It seems to be sold at around £25 a bottle, but I suspect the more mature creature will be a tad pricier...
Actually it was bought on the outward journey and picked up on the return! And it cost much more than that; this was basically "old stock" distilled before it changed hands.
Currently in the oven is a vegan frangipane cake, made using gram flour ferment. Intended for yesterday, but the ferment didn't overnight and needed a bit of encouragement because it might be warmer than it has been, but it isn't as warm as a commercial kitchen or an Indian kitchen, from whence the recipe comes. It's a very different recipe and I'm interested to see how it works. The mix mostly tastes of olive oil.
Pancakes for supper, using buckwheat flour and filled with butter beans and pesto - well a variation on that theme, definitely basil, garlic and olive oil, plus maybe cheese, maybe sunflower seeds. Pine nuts are off the menu, which means commercial pesto is too.
Very grey dull day, with walking more than a little enlivened by large puddles at the edge of the roads, making avoiding lorries a lot more necessary. The road section is usually avoided by heading across the common, but not currently, not while it resembles a mud bath. One of the ponds that have overflowed to add to the squidginess was still a least partially frozen this morning.
For our son's 21st birthday (some years ago now) we got him (at Heathrow Airport, of all places) a bottle of 21-year old triple-distilled Auchentoshan. It went down well.
Did it actually manage to leave the airport, and safely reach your son?
It seems to be sold at around £25 a bottle, but I suspect the more mature creature will be a tad pricier...
Actually it was bought on the outward journey and picked up on the return! And it cost much more than that; this was basically "old stock" distilled before it changed hands.
Yes, the prices do seem to vary (upwards) from £25...
It's not one I've heard of, or tasted (AFAIK), but I might treat myself this Lent, and seek out a bottle - purely for medicinal porpoises, you understand.
And possibly also to give myself something to repent of...
Interrupted - and thoroughly annoyed - by neighbour wanting me to get rid of my beautiful young beech because 'it blocks their view of Blackford Hill' - an unremarkable rise about a mile away. It also does much to obscure the view of a 30 ft communications mast and a gaggle of garages.
Presumably your tree has been in situ for some time, and hasn't suddenly sprung up overnight, so why the sudden desire to see an unremarkable hill?
If said neighbour hasn't complained before, I wonder what the underlying reason actually is...
I think it's Lockdown. The husband is now working from home and presumably has more time to resent other people's gardens. They're also anti-plant in general. They have nothing green bar a patch of lawn: the rest is down to paving, gravel, barbecue, furniture and a hot tub*
*which I notice they didn't use in the recent weather - surely the whole point is sit and steam among the snowdrifts?
In the absence of being able to go to Iceland and do it in the Blue Lagoon, you'd think so, wouldn't you?
I've just googled Blackford Hill, and Firenze's right - it's one of the most unremarkable hills I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of unremarkable hills - I used to spend quite a lot of holidays in East Anglia).
Presumably your tree has been in situ for some time, and hasn't suddenly sprung up overnight, so why the sudden desire to see an unremarkable hill?
If said neighbour hasn't complained before, I wonder what the underlying reason actually is...
I think it's Lockdown. The husband is now working from home and presumably has more time to resent other people's gardens. They're also anti-plant in general. They have nothing green bar a patch of lawn: the rest is down to paving, gravel, barbecue, furniture and a hot tub*
*which I notice they didn't use in the recent weather - surely the whole point is sit and steam among the snowdrifts?
Lockdown has a lot to answer for - and so do *gardening* programmes on TV that are mainly concerned with *hard landscaping* (no plants ).
And so do *gardening* programmes on TV that are mainly concerned with *hard landscaping* (no plants ).
Grrrrr! It's the idea of the "outdoor room" for [loud and frequent] socialising which completely ignores the fact that there are neighbouring gardens just a few feet away.
Interrupted - and thoroughly annoyed - by neighbour wanting me to get rid of my beautiful young beech because 'it blocks their view of Blackford Hill' - an unremarkable rise about a mile away. It also does much to obscure the view of a 30 ft communications mast and a gaggle of garages.
I'd point that out and then ignore them. You have your beautiful tree, it's your garden.
Lots of marking done today then a short evening meeting followed by fish fried and vegetable chips. Then pancakes with honey.
Oh and my plants arrived, must unpack them in the morning and put them in the shed.
Interrupted - and thoroughly annoyed - by neighbour wanting me to get rid of my beautiful young beech because 'it blocks their view of Blackford Hill' - an unremarkable rise about a mile away. It also does much to obscure the view of a 30 ft communications mast and a gaggle of garages.
I am often puzzled by the number of dendrophobes who make a point of moving near to other people's trees and then demanding their removal. We had them around my last place. And we have them here, in a village designed to have "fingers of the Kentish woodland" interspersed among the homes. One near me doesn't even live in her property, but rents it out. I've lost a lovely view of trees to her activity - but apparently we managed to prevent the full turning to telegraph poles.
Breakfast - bacon and egg sandwuch, followed by 3 pancakes, plus a clementine
Lunch - 6 pancakes, followed by an orange and an apple
Supper - 2 pancakes with chilli con carne filling; 4 pancakes with bitter chocolate sauce
I'm now struggling with a recording review: how to wrap up in a sweetened coaring that the repertoire is already well, and better, covered and that the world doesn't need a further, third-rate (and that's being generous) addition to the oeuvre.
I'm now struggling with a recording review: how to wrap up in a sweetened coaring that the repertoire is already well, and better, covered and that the world doesn't need a further, third-rate (and that's being generous) addition to the oeuvre.
"Completist collectors of performances by/of x performer/composer will find this recording excellent background music to play quietly at a dinner party"
Just off for my walk and then I need to unpack my plant delivery and move it into the shed; I’m too busy to plant things today but Saturday looks like it will be warm and dry.
I’ve almost caught up with my marking (the week of the boiler fitting screwed up my workload) so today I get the joy of starting to write an assignment - the first draft of my methodology chapter. The education doctorate is taught for the first two years and we have to submit draft chapters of our thesis throughout, presumably because they know we are all too busy working to get it done unless we are pressured.
I'm feeling stuffed after reading your pancake quota yesterday @TheOrganist. I thought I'd pushed the boat out with one pancake with mushroom sauce and two with maple syrup, ice cream and banana.
@Sarasa I know, I had four buckwheat pancakes, two with butter beans and pesto with grated cheese on top, two with lemon juice and sugar. And that was plenty. I still have a load made, which my daughter will eat for breakfast with chocolate spread for the next few days.
In other news the frangipane is interesting, if I do it again I need to cook it in a wider shallower tin. The edges are very crunchy but it's a bit squidgy in the middle, although that may be a result of the frozen cherries I used on top (as per the recipe). It is made with gram flour ferment, olive oil, sugar, ground almonds, flour and baking powder. The good thing is that you can't taste the GF flour.
@TheOrganist completionist collectors of this composer/piece will find this an interesting companion to the (earlier recordings) and will find this piece throws new light on the other versions.
Yes, I was pretty impressed by the number of pancakes TheOrganist got through as well! We had two each of the leek and cheese and two each with lemon and sugar, and that was more than enough. And they were quite small pancakes and a bit raggedy around the edges because I’m not very good at making them.
Still, tonight we’ve got beef and Guinness stew with one of the cauliflower cheeses I made yesterday (yes, cheesy sauce two days running, but hey!)
We had two ordinary pancakes and half a small higgledy piggledy one, with lemon juice and sugar. Boring, me. The egg situation being a bit low, I did the batter with dried egg from my prepping foray last year - got to use it up somehow. You couldn't have told, I think - not under the lemon, anyway.
I had pancakes for breakfast. The plan was to use the batter up over the course of the day, varying what went with them. But I decided I needed to practise until they looked good so I just kept going. None of them looked as good as I'd have liked, but they tasted fine with lemon and sugar. I was so full I skipped lunch, so I guess they did do for 2 meals.
I had pancakes vicariously. The slimming version. I dreamt and salivated about having warm pancakes and chocolate sauce - nutella of sorts. And that seemed to satiate me.
Although I am still salivating - perhaps syrup in place of chocolate sauce.
No pancakes here, as I don't like them all that much.
Still, I'm being abstemious today, because Lent, and have dined on Fish Cakes and Chips. Bread and CHEESE may be consumed later.
It always amuses me when FatherInCharge exhorts us to be abstemious, especially on Fridays, and during Lent, as though he thinks we habitually eat venison, and turtle soup, with a gold spoon...
I made pancakes with TIG#1 yesterday, and he ate 3. Mr S ate 2 and I sent the rest of them home with TIG as part of my Meals on Wheels service - they were well received, I'm glad to say.
TIG also remembered very clearly going to our church Pancake Party last year - or more likely the year before - which had completely slipped my mind. I think he ate three there as well...
It always amuses me when FatherInCharge exhorts us to be abstemious, especially on Fridays, and during Lent, as though he thinks we habitually eat venison, and turtle soup, with a gold spoon...
Is it more virtuous to use tinplate, aluminium or pewter utensils, then?
... as though he thinks we habitually eat venison, and turtle soup, with a gold spoon...
You mean you don't?
TBH I'm not a huge fan of pancakes either; I used to eat them in Canada (with maple syrup and BACON, natch), but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.
Ghastly commute today - I must have just missed a bus, as I had to wait for half an hour for the next one. At least it wasn't a bad day.
Perhaps I used up my quota of good commutes at the start of the week.
A productive day, I filled the bird feeders, topped up the wormery and sorted the delivery of plants to keep them alive til planting - fruit bushes, rhubarb, buddleia and honeysuckle. I then gave in and planned the assignment and wrote the first quarter. There are now books strewn all over the floor.
I find Athleat a good source of high quality, good value meat including venison (though we buy more free range chicken than anything else at about half the price it is in the supermarket).
I joined the Bishop of Derby for her FB Live Ash Wednesday service this morning. Technically I don't think I was supposed to serve myself communion, as she put a line in there about "not being able to commune sacramentally", but this is the closest I've come to a communion service for a long time, so I did.
That is something that we're lucky to be able to do, we have bread and wine at the Zoom service every Sunday (Relational Mission church, what was New Frontiers).
Comments
Sagan af fótunum á grísnum in Icelandic, for instance.
I do love a happy ending, though - looking forward to hearing about Successful Table Assemblage.
Not a lot happening around here, not that I’m complaining. Pancake Day has been appropriately celebrated, my snowdrops are slowly opening, and a microphone has arrived so I can attempt to record 3 pieces that will be added to recordings by other members of the flute orchestra that I play with. A stroll into town later to get some steps done and to bank a couple of cheques (remember those?).
We went into town this morning for a bit of shopping, and passed in front of the posh boulangerie, where the brioche smiled at us invitingly... My MIL has been diagnosed with pre-diabetes and we are pretending to eat low sugar wholefoods in solidarity. Consequently the brioche was purchased and eaten on the sly before we got home.
I haven't seen tonight's menu, but I would be willing to bet the house on it involving SOUP and green salad.
I get paid for organist duties for occasional services by cheque and I don't see that changing though my regular services money is paid directly into my account.
Not that I've had any additional services for some time now, and I have written in the 2020 report ready for whenever that's required that I seem to have been far more of an administrator/church social media bod/video creator for that year than an organist.
The whisky is Auchentoshan single malt ‘Sauvignon blanc finish’. To be enjoyed chilled!
Glad to hear about your legs! 👏
Did it actually manage to leave the airport, and safely reach your son?
It seems to be sold at around £25 a bottle, but I suspect the more mature creature will be a tad pricier...
It's a glorious day here in Embra; so much so that my boss has declared it must be Spring.
I've abandoned my boots for the moment in favour of lightweight shoes, but as I stuck with my winter coat, I was jolly warm by the time I got to the station (I've had a couple of really easy commutes so far this week - this morning I saw the bus arriving and actually ran for it, and was in the office by 8 o'clock).
When I was in M&S the other day, they had a 3 for £7 offer on various salads, and I regret to say they're rather delicious, so it probably won't be long before I've spent the money saved on the table! In particular, prawns with sun-dried tomatoes and chicken with spiced potatoes - far too convenient for an easy lunch!
I do like having lots of things like that in the freezer!
MMM
Pancakes for supper, using buckwheat flour and filled with butter beans and pesto - well a variation on that theme, definitely basil, garlic and olive oil, plus maybe cheese, maybe sunflower seeds. Pine nuts are off the menu, which means commercial pesto is too.
Very grey dull day, with walking more than a little enlivened by large puddles at the edge of the roads, making avoiding lorries a lot more necessary. The road section is usually avoided by heading across the common, but not currently, not while it resembles a mud bath. One of the ponds that have overflowed to add to the squidginess was still a least partially frozen this morning.
Yes, the prices do seem to vary (upwards) from £25...
It's not one I've heard of, or tasted (AFAIK), but I might treat myself this Lent, and seek out a bottle - purely for medicinal porpoises, you understand.
And possibly also to give myself something to repent of...
https://tinyurl.com/10nmnfey
Interrupted - and thoroughly annoyed - by neighbour wanting me to get rid of my beautiful young beech because 'it blocks their view of Blackford Hill' - an unremarkable rise about a mile away. It also does much to obscure the view of a 30 ft communications mast and a gaggle of garages.
Presumably your tree has been in situ for some time, and hasn't suddenly sprung up overnight, so why the sudden desire to see an unremarkable hill?
If said neighbour hasn't complained before, I wonder what the underlying reason actually is...
Yes, I have a Suspicious Mind...
Doesn't work as I haven't got a Google account.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faccombe
I think it's Lockdown. The husband is now working from home and presumably has more time to resent other people's gardens. They're also anti-plant in general. They have nothing green bar a patch of lawn: the rest is down to paving, gravel, barbecue, furniture and a hot tub*
*which I notice they didn't use in the recent weather - surely the whole point is sit and steam among the snowdrifts?
I've just googled Blackford Hill, and Firenze's right - it's one of the most unremarkable hills I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of unremarkable hills - I used to spend quite a lot of holidays in East Anglia).
I'd much prefer a view of your tree.
Lockdown has a lot to answer for - and so do *gardening* programmes on TV that are mainly concerned with *hard landscaping* (no plants
Aha! I didn’t know that happened, I thought anyone could view them. 🧐
I do have a Google account, but it wouldn't open for me either.
Lots of marking done today then a short evening meeting followed by fish fried and vegetable chips. Then pancakes with honey.
Oh and my plants arrived, must unpack them in the morning and put them in the shed.
I am often puzzled by the number of dendrophobes who make a point of moving near to other people's trees and then demanding their removal. We had them around my last place. And we have them here, in a village designed to have "fingers of the Kentish woodland" interspersed among the homes. One near me doesn't even live in her property, but rents it out. I've lost a lovely view of trees to her activity - but apparently we managed to prevent the full turning to telegraph poles.
Breakfast - bacon and egg sandwuch, followed by 3 pancakes, plus a clementine
Lunch - 6 pancakes, followed by an orange and an apple
Supper - 2 pancakes with chilli con carne filling; 4 pancakes with bitter chocolate sauce
I'm now struggling with a recording review: how to wrap up in a sweetened coaring that the repertoire is already well, and better, covered and that the world doesn't need a further, third-rate (and that's being generous) addition to the oeuvre.
"Completist collectors of performances by/of x performer/composer will find this recording excellent background music to play quietly at a dinner party"
Just off for my walk and then I need to unpack my plant delivery and move it into the shed; I’m too busy to plant things today but Saturday looks like it will be warm and dry.
I’ve almost caught up with my marking (the week of the boiler fitting screwed up my workload) so today I get the joy of starting to write an assignment - the first draft of my methodology chapter. The education doctorate is taught for the first two years and we have to submit draft chapters of our thesis throughout, presumably because they know we are all too busy working to get it done unless we are pressured.
In other news the frangipane is interesting, if I do it again I need to cook it in a wider shallower tin. The edges are very crunchy but it's a bit squidgy in the middle, although that may be a result of the frozen cherries I used on top (as per the recipe). It is made with gram flour ferment, olive oil, sugar, ground almonds, flour and baking powder. The good thing is that you can't taste the GF flour.
@TheOrganist completionist collectors of this composer/piece will find this an interesting companion to the (earlier recordings) and will find this piece throws new light on the other versions.
Still, tonight we’ve got beef and Guinness stew with one of the cauliflower cheeses I made yesterday (yes, cheesy sauce two days running, but hey!)
MMM
Tonight's pulled lamb is supposed to be served on tortillas, which are pancakeoidal.
But to me pancakes involve buttermilk, which is not readily come by.
Although I am still salivating - perhaps syrup in place of chocolate sauce.
Still, I'm being abstemious today, because Lent, and have dined on Fish Cakes and Chips. Bread and CHEESE may be consumed later.
It always amuses me when FatherInCharge exhorts us to be abstemious, especially on Fridays, and during Lent, as though he thinks we habitually eat venison, and turtle soup, with a gold spoon...
TIG also remembered very clearly going to our church Pancake Party last year - or more likely the year before - which had completely slipped my mind. I think he ate three there as well...
TBH I'm not a huge fan of pancakes either; I used to eat them in Canada (with maple syrup and BACON, natch), but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.
Ghastly commute today - I must have just missed a bus, as I had to wait for half an hour for the next one. At least it wasn't a bad day.
Perhaps I used up my quota of good commutes at the start of the week.
A productive day, I filled the bird feeders, topped up the wormery and sorted the delivery of plants to keep them alive til planting - fruit bushes, rhubarb, buddleia and honeysuckle. I then gave in and planned the assignment and wrote the first quarter. There are now books strewn all over the floor.
Supper chez Piglet this evening is salmon baked with potatoes, veggies and crème fraîche and mustard sauce - so easy, but so good.
* not literally, you understand.
I find Athleat a good source of high quality, good value meat including venison (though we buy more free range chicken than anything else at about half the price it is in the supermarket).