AS: Tea and biscuits and GIN, the British thread

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  • Good news on the clothes and the hall CK, sorry to hear about your cancelled trips - very disappointing :(

    We are back from Lindisfarne with a mountain of washing. I’m thankful for my heated clothes airer on days like this! (rain rain rain rain).
  • You could have our glorious sunshine with best wishes from me.

    The beginning of the week was grey and dull, so I got overconfident and sunburned on one of the grey days. It's been gloriously sunny since, but I really don't enjoy having teenagers shouting "But it's not sunny!" across car parks at me. (At that moment, on the way back from the GP, the sun was going down, but it had been too sunny to go out without sun block, hat and scarf when we went out.)
  • O dear. It's a lovely sunny day here, too, but not nice for everyone, obviously.

    Ck, are you recovering still (slowly, I know)? Hopefully it won't be too long before you have to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Yoof no more.

    IJ
  • CK, you have my sympathies - I have a small area on my arm that has to stay out of sunlight, and that’s hard enough. So I can’t imagine the complexities that you’ve been facing.

    Just had a disconcerting online conversation with my goddaughter - next year she will become a grandmother so does that make me a great-grand-godmother? I’m not old enough!!
  • Ah - I recall the time when grandmothers were old people! Not so these days....

    And it's not uncommon for great-grandmothers to be pretty fit and active. Indeed, at one baptism at Our Place a few years ago, I was talking to an elderly lady, who I assumed to be Great-Gran. No, no - she was Great-Great-Gran, still spry at 96. Great-Gran was 70+, Grandma was under 50, Mum was 20-ish, and the Baby was about a year old.

    Five generations!
    :lol:

    IJ
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    We had 5 generations of family together (until my mum and gran died 10 years ago) as my sister was a granny at 39! She had her daughter aged 17, who had her son at 22. I was only 6 when my niece was born so was a young aunty and grew up very close to her. When my niece was a teenage babysitter she often said she’d bring her aunty along and people would expect her to roll up with an old lady.
  • So my Nan would have been 93, my mum 71, my sister 50, my niece 33 and her son 11 (rough guesses).
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited September 2018
    D's godson became a father a few weeks ago, so I suppose that makes D. a god-grandfather ... :astonished:

    It's another gloriously sunny and hot day here (28°, feeling like 33). Had a quick trip to the market to get some corn-cobs and learned that next week will be their last - the hot weather has shortened the season a bit. Oh well, I suppose summer has to end sometime. :(

    Having now procured the necessary bits and bobs for the manufacture of crab-apple jelly, I suppose I ought to go and do something about it before the apples start to rot ...

    eta: jelly now made, but whether it'll actually gel might be another matter.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    ... jelly now made, but whether it'll actually gel might be another matter.
    It didn't. :cry:

    I'm contemplating getting a packet of liquid pectin and re-heating it to see if that'll work. I don't want to waste (a) the time it took to make or (b) seven diversely-proportioned jars of what I think would be really rather nice jelly.

  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    Our lone chicken doesn’t look well, she is moping around and her tail is down. Usually she comes running when I go out but today she sat on the ground and didn’t eat her food. In my experience chickens go rapidly downhill so we’ll have to keep an eye on her. She’s the last of our flock and we hatched her under a broody hen from fertilised eggs bought from eBay, she’s a beautiful pure breed gold laced Orpington.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    In a fairly spectacular manifestation of Murphy's Law, I bought a packet of liquid pectin on the way home from church, and when we got home I gave the jars a bit of a shoogle ... and guess what? The smaller jars appear to have set of their own accord. The bigger ones still seem to be mostly liquid, but I'll give them a wee while before doing anything more.
  • Slightly liquid jelly, in my experience, is much easier to use than solid jelly - I have a couple of jars that i fear opening because another in that batch contained a substance not unlike rubber. A few secs in the m/wave made it usable, but of course added to the cooking time and it got more and more solid and caramelised. Oh, finding that word in my dusty vocabulary pulled up memories of Caramac - I loved that bar way back when!

    On a browse of a local plant nursery, looking for fruit trees, I found goji berry bushes which apparently are the super food of the moment. They grow larger than my front garden could manage, but it’s oh so tempting for t’allotment. Along with a fig bush that has the capacity to grow humongous - less ground to worry about! I absolutely love figs, especially the brown Turkish variety. I love the thought of being able to make fig tart, jam etc with them, rather than treating the few locally grown I get given or can buy as a precious item. mmmmm fig rolls mmmmmm.
  • I don't think I've ever had Turkish figs. Can you describe the difference, if any, in taste?

    I mmmmmmm with you on fig rolls.
  • As far as I can see, it’s the colour - Turkish (I now see they are really Brown Turkey but there are other varieties) are brown and, when ripe, the skins seem quite edible. The other ones that I’ve seen (various varietes) have green skins which I find more bitter, but maybe that depends on the variety.
  • Another fig roll fan and I’ve just bought some figs this morning, which I will bake with honey and pistachios later.
    My chicken won’t come out of the hen house this morning. She doesn’t look distressed though.
  • Fig trees are odd and like their roots confined. They do well in a raised bed in a courtyard garden in the UK, rather than somewhere they can range free. Before you plan planting one in an allotment, I'd check.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    Here are some nice figs in Istanbul: https://tinyurl.com/y8z2dper. At least I think there are some there!
  • Well they do not seem to bothered about whether their roots are confined in Sheffield
  • That was an interesting link, Jengie. Thank you.
  • Fig trees are odd and like their roots confined. They do well in a raised bed in a courtyard garden in the UK, rather than somewhere they can range free. Before you plan planting one in an allotment, I'd check.
    Yes, I’ve been reading up and consulting experts in this area. Here they are fine without confined roots, in fact too fine and tend to “walk” while still producing a heavy crop, so I’m deciding which is the best method for the location.

  • Here are some nice figs in Istanbul: https://tinyurl.com/y8z2dper. At least I think there are some there!
    Oh yummm!

  • Can't say I give a fig for figs per se, IYSWIM, but I am another paid-up member of the Fig Roll Appreciation Society!

    For dried/preserved fruit as snacky things, I prefer dates or apricots.
    :grin:

    IJ
  • Those Medjool dates are yummy, much better than the usual Tunisian ones.
  • I get mine from Tesco. They're already de-stoned (can't think of the technical term!), but I'm not sure where they're from.

    They're very more-ish (or Moorish?), and I have to resist the temptation to devour the whole lot in one go...

    IJ
  • Doing that could have Interesting Consequences. You might need to keep the room well-ventilated.
  • O indeed. Not only well-ventilated, but with a short, and free-from-obstruction, passage to the Palace WC...

    I speak whereof I know.
    :grimace:

    IJ
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Not far from our house is an Iranian eatery. Very tasty it is too.

    With the coffee they bring out the most delicious giant sweet sticky dates in the world. I don’t think they come from Iran itself, but somewhere in that general vicinity. They also have a saffron ICE CREAM which I defy anyone to eat and not believe there is a benevolent God in the Universe.
  • Where? Where? Where? I want to go there!

    Mind you, this place is good (and quite cheap): http://www.shaamnights.com/
  • Not far from our house is an Iranian eatery. Very tasty it is too.

    With the coffee they bring out the most delicious giant sweet sticky dates in the world. I don’t think they come from Iran itself, but somewhere in that general vicinity. They also have a saffron ICE CREAM which I defy anyone to eat and not believe there is a benevolent God in the Universe.

    All of which goes to show that Iran is clearly not the home of the Anti-Christ, as some fundagelicals would have us believe.

    Saffron ICE CREAM? O wow......
    :grin:

    If I can say this without being called a Dirty Old Git, the nurse who looked after me in Intensive Care after my brain surgery in 2016 was Iranian, and, I swear, the Most Beautiful Woman In The Whole World.

    IJ

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    That doesn't make you a dirty old git, BF - it just means you appreciate female beauty. Nothing wrong with that.

    I'm afraid that memories of being force-fed syrup of figs as a small piglet prevent me from joining in the chorus - the fig-tree can "putteth forth her green figs" for all she's worth and I won't take a bit of notice. :flushed:

    It's still very hot here - 28° and feeling like 35. I'm ready for a spot of autumn, and some of the trees here are as well - there's a couple already in glorious autumn colours on the way into town.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I'm afraid that memories of being force-fed syrup of figs as a small piglet prevent me from joining in the chorus - the fig-tree can "putteth forth her green figs" for all she's worth and I won't take a bit of notice. :flushed:

    With you on that, Piglet - I thought syrup of figs had been invented to stop you trying to stay off school by pretending to be poorly...

    Mrs. S, to whom fig rolls = anathema

  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I find both dates and figs way too sweet. I remember having them as a kid, and not liking them, so I would give them up for Lent each year!

    By the way, my blackberry gin is rather nice. I know I'm supposed to leave it for four months, but I've had a few tasters!
  • fineline wrote: »

    By the way, my blackberry gin is rather nice. I know I'm supposed to leave it for four months, but I've had a few tasters!

    Come, come - I think we need to be the judge of that! Please to send Blackberry GIN by virtual post a.s.a.p.
    :wink:

    IJ

  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    Ha - sending copious amounts of virtual blackberry gin to all shipmates!
  • fineline wrote: »
    Ha - sending copious amounts of virtual blackberry gin to all shipmates!

    Oh thank you - I’ll compare it with mine in my decluttering of the booze cupboard.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Right on! :mrgreen:
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    @BF: the western media talks lots of nonsense about Iran. I was once invited to an Iranian wedding (Iranian Christians FWIW) and let it be known that they are *serious* party animals :sunglasses:
  • @BF: the western media talks lots of nonsense about Iran. I was once invited to an Iranian wedding (Iranian Christians FWIW) and let it be known that they are *serious* party animals :sunglasses:

    Many years ago, I was at Tech with a bunch of Iranian students, and they were some of the best and nicest people I have ever met. I have often wondered how many of them lost family - or died themselves - in the Iran-Iraq war.
  • daisydaisy wrote: »
    ...my decluttering of the booze cupboard.

    Do you need some help with that?
    :wink:
  • @BF: the western media talks lots of nonsense about Iran. I was once invited to an Iranian wedding (Iranian Christians FWIW) and let it be known that they are *serious* party animals :sunglasses:

    Many years ago, I was at Tech with a bunch of Iranian students, and they were some of the best and nicest people I have ever met. I have often wondered how many of them lost family - or died themselves - in the Iran-Iraq war.

    I went out for a time, aeons ago, with an Iranian lass (actually, she was Armenian - the family left Tehran when the Ayatollahs took over, as they seized her Dad's transport business) and she was the only person I've ever met with two Zs in her surname.

    We were both at that time 'culture vultures', and had some enjoyable visits to the Royal Festival Hall in London.

    IJ

  • A local pizza-by-the-slice chain has one called the Figgy Piggy. Very tasty snacking.
  • Well the Iranians were sure partying last night at church I was at for my writers group (this is a Muslim group that regularly hires the church hall for its festivals). The food smelt delicious and the men were cooking it.
  • Could some virtual left-overs be sent via cyberspace post, please?
    :smile:

    On a more serious note, Iran is one of those numerous countries that many of us in the UK know very little about, apart from the Dread Tales Of Horror told to us by those lying bar-stewards, the Polly Titians. Yet, at one time, the UK had close and friendly links with Persia/Iran.....

    IJ
  • Could some virtual left-overs be sent via cyberspace post, please?
    :smile:

    IJ

    I'm not sure. Can you send food by cyberspace when you do not even know what it was but only smelt it cooking?
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    O I think so. Some Fervent Prayer might be needed first, though.

    It's possible that the mere smell might be sufficient as virtual nourishment....
    :wink:

    Time for tea - SOUP today - chicken & veg, with some nice crusty bread, and a bottle of ALE.

    IJ
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ... at one time, the UK had close and friendly links with Persia/Iran ...
    My best friend in school was half-English, half-Persian. Her family were Baha'is and as I understand it, her father had fled from the Shah's regime - I assume in the late 1950s, as they were in Orkney by the time she and her two brothers were born in the early 1960s. Sadly, she died of cancer in her mid-40s.
  • Yes, it wasn't just the Ayatollahs who made things uncomfortable for various groups in Iran - the Shah was by no means a benevolent despot....

    We're not as badly off in this country. Yet.

    IJ
  • Yep. Shah-me on him.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I do hope you're wrong about the "yet" bit.

    Autumn seems to have landed here with a bit of a bump. At 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon it was 24° and feeling like 31; by 3 o'clock it was 16° and blowing a bit of a hoolie. Temperatures for the rest of the week look pleasantly autumnal (mid-high teens), and full-length trousers have been applied.

    Our sunflowers don't seem to mind the change in temperature - there's now at least 30 flowers and more thinking about opening. :) 🌻🌻🌻
  • Piglet wrote: »
    by 3 o'clock it was 16° and blowing a bit of a hoolie.
    What a fascinating expression! I guess it means blowing quite strongly?

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