AS: Cool Britannia (sort of): the British thread 2019

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  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited March 2019
    I have complained to one of my Deacons about the late running of said Storm.

    He wonders if it has been organised by Mr. Grayling?

    The Beast from the East got us here in the West, too! Last year the ice was on the ground. This year it came in cones, tubs and glasses, festooned with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    edited March 2019
    Perhaps there will be a breeze replacement service?

    ETA: Continental WesShire has got a storm warning as well for Monday all day, starting at 6am, but it's not the most severe level. Winds of up to 110 kmph expected, so we'll see.
  • Mr RoS has just gone into the hall and screeched!
    Apparently the bottom is falling out of the barometer.

    March is definitely coming in like a lion this year - so lets hope it turns more lamb-like before it goes out
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    The beast from the east coincided with the birth of Captain Pyjamas, who was a year old last week (happy birthday to Captain Pyjamas, happy birthday to Captain Pyjamas...)

    I well remember being transferred between hospitals wearing nothing but a surgical gown and discovering that hospital the second had run out of blankets... It was COLD. They found me one in the end after some very Gallic complaining from husband en rouge.

    Poor old Captain Pyjamas is rather under the weather today. Between a fever from his MMR shot and the advent of teeth, he's feeling distinctly sorry for himself.
  • Happy birthday to him. What a difference a year makes.
  • Happy Birthday to Captain Pyjamas - although he isn't counted as a year old at this stage, developmentally, is he?

    Yeah, it was horrible a year ago - it was a couple of days ago, but a year ago I was also in and out of ambulances in not enough clothes, arriving at the wrong hospital, and/or trying to get to a burns unit to be treated disguised as a mummy.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Happy birthday, Captain Pyjamas! :heart: Hope he feels better v. soon.

    It's been a long, busy day - we were at the Cathedral from 9 in the morning until after 5 in the afternoon. When D. pointed this out, I couldn't resist telling him that's the sort of hours most people work, but I know he works lots of hours - they're just not usually all in a clump like that ...

    The services (four for him, two for me) were interspersed with a very nice lunch - the verger, who's a v. good cook, had made an excellent lasagne for those of us who didn't have time to go home in between, and I provided some bread to go with it.

    As we're expecting tomorrow to be meteorologically interesting, we've planned for having one of the lamb-shanks - cooking it in the slow-cooker and eating in the evening, so I'm contemplating putting it into a marinade overnight.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Happy birthday to Captain Pyjamas!
  • Storm Freya blew both our telly aerials down! Interestingly, we can still get a picture, so we may not have to miss Only Connect and Universally Challenged this evening.

    Mrs. S, just glad it wasn't a Six Nations weekend :smile:
  • Got to love the quizzy Monday evening.
    It was blowy in the northwest but no major disasters.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    MaryLouise wrote: »
    Happy birthday to Captain Pyjamas!

    Indeed!

    A few strong gusts over here, shortly after 8ish, but just blowy and with rain right now. Nowt major yet, either. Yet. :)

  • Belated Happy Birthday to Captain Pyjamas.

    Commiserations on the teething/ post inoculation grizzle, I have vivid memories of the twins suffering from the same. Try giving the Captain wedges of red pepper to mash between his inflamed gums - and you and the Captain's dad should apply ALCOHOL to yourselves, probably best as a liquid to be drunk... :grin:
  • Captain Pyjamas - well done!
    After a wet and blowy evening yesterday, it’s just damp and overcast here in daisydaisy-land so I’m finding lots of to-do things to slowly turn into ta-da things - so far cleaning the fridge (bleah) and sowing broad bean seeds in egg boxes has taken me all morning - I really should hide all sources of internet so I see a few more on the ta-da list.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited March 2019
    Hippo Birdy Two Ewes etc. to the Captain! May his gums soon be un-inflamed, but his teeth strong and upstanding (mind yer fingers, LVER et mari)

    Not sure about the application of red pepper, but the use of ALCOHOL (e.g. GIN) as a medicine for his Fond Parents is a Good Idea.

    SE Ukland survived Storm Freya, I think, but we have had a very heavy shower this afternoon, complete with a Black Apocalyptic Sky, got up regardless, and worthy of the Fumes of Mordor.

    Just as I was struggling with the trolley in Mr. Tessie Cohen's Corner Shop car park.....
    :grimace:
  • I had a funeral to conduct this afternoon, I was a bit worried that the heavens would open as we were at the graveside, but despite an Ominous Cloud appearing we stayed dry (if cold and blustery).
  • Red Pepper contains a mild anaesthetic (capsaicin) so it tastes soothing to the child and dulls the pain: I'm not talking red chilli pepper, but the old-fashioned large, bog-standard red pepper.

    If that doesn't work, celery can also be good - its got eugenol in it, which is why you can get a tingly tongue if you eat a lot of the stuff.
  • O - that might explain why I once (many years ago) got some sort of allergic reaction (swollen lips and fingertips!) from eating celery at the same time as Danish blue cheese. I ended up in A&E at St Thomas' Hospital, and was treated satisfactorily by a hefty dose of anti-histamine...

    Since then, I've avoided combining the two, but occasionally risk a bite of celery (to which I am rather partial). A very slight tingling is indeed noticeable, but nothing unpleasant or discombobulating.
  • Come, come: is celery really worth taking a risk over? Methinks not.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited March 2019
    You may think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

    (Actually, I now crave celery SOUP, but I'm not sure if it's available in local supermarkets. Does anyone actually make it, or is it Too Dangerous? The same applies to Steak and Kidney PUDDING, which also seems to have disappeared.... :confused: ).
  • Campbell's do a Cream of Celery soup, available in all good retailers (and, quite possibly, in some less good ones as well). And S&K pud. is purportedly available in at least Sainsbury's and Waitrose.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Happy Belated Birthday Captain Pyjamas. I hope the teeth come through and the fever abates. Yesterday was my mother's birthday so the whole family went out for a meal on Saturday to celebrate. The weather wasn't bad, much better than the snow we had last year for her 90th. The reason we couldn't celebrate yesterday was that we were driving from my mother's to my mother in laws so we could go out with that side of the family to celebrate a family engagement. Two pub meals in a weekend might be one too much, but I enjoyed them both.
  • LothlorienLothlorien Glory
    edited March 2019
    I give a gentle reminder about putting what could be taken as medical advice online here. Particularly when it involves someone as young as Captain Pyjamas. Please, no more, thank you.

    Capsicum sounds fine but the capsaicin can give some people an allergic reaction as has been related here already.

    I hope he is feeling better.

    Thanks

    Lothlorien AS host
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ... I now crave celery SOUP ... does anyone actually make it?
    I do! :mrgreen: It's dead easy - just do what the blessèd Delia tells you!

    The recipe in the link comes from One is Fun, which I haven't got; I use the one from her Cookery Course, which is quite similar. I hadn't thought of adding bacon to it, but next time, I think I will. After all, are there any foods (apart from CHOCOLATE and possibly GIN) which wouldn't be improved by the addition of bacon?

    * * * * *

    Well, yesterday's snow might have passed us by, but today's certainly didn't. The forecast said 6", but even without the drifts (which have all but obliterated the steps of the deck) that was a conservative estimate*.

    * i.e. complete b*ll*cks
  • I make it too - not Delia's recipe 'though. No salt other than that in the stock, and no bacon. that would be far too salty for me. It's a lovely easy soup to make, and freezes well.
  • Add some cream too before serving or even a dollop of sour cream.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'd certainly add cream - the recipe I use from the Cookery Course uses cream and milk, and is very nice.

    It passes one of our restaurant tests - turning a vegetable you don't like* into a soup that you do.

    We had the first of the lamb-shanks this evening - I marinated it last night and slow-cooked it today - it was very nice indeed, and fed us both generously. As we've got the Holy Joes' pancake supper tomorrow evening, I think I'll make some SOUP for a light lunch - all this talk of celery has given me an idea ... :smiley:

    * Celery is actually one of the few veggies D. does like - it's me who doesn't, but I do like it in soup.

    * * * * *

    The power shovel was a good investment - D. managed to get the path and drive sufficiently cleared to get the Pigletmobile out without (a) needing any help; or (b) wrecking himself, and it took him less than half an hour.
  • Piglet, do you like celeriac? Is it the stringiness of celery that you don't like?
  • Thanks for the heads-up re availability of Celery SOUP and Kate n'Sidney PUDDING. I shall investigate further.

    As for home-made SOUP, I'm afraid my Cook Ing is on leave at the moment....
    :grin:
  • Sorry, Piglet - I know you are still trotter-deep in snow, but I need to share this. Our 'new' garden has a fruit patch - strawberries, three miniature apples, two gooseberry bushes and two blackcurrants. This is all lovely as it is, but as spring springs into life here in the Deep Dark Forest, we find the whole patch is full of bulbs - snowdrops, miniature daffs, crocuses...

    I thought it was a lovely idea to make a bit of garden look wonderful till the strawberries put up new leaves, and of making the most of the somewhat limited space :heart:

    Mrs. S, still finding new Stuff in her garden
  • ferijenferijen Shipmate
    Ah that’s lovely Mrs S. The growing bits of my new garden are all in the shade (round two edges) though the sitting bit of the garden will get full sun. I’m missing my daffodils this year, but not convinced that the garden has space for them. It’s obviously been designed as very low maintenance, all shrubs in railway sleeper-shaped trenches, and the house itself is only 12 years old. However, across the road from the front door is a patch of grass which divides our estate from the next road and I’m wondering about a spot of guerilla daffodil planting in the autumn...
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Sorry, Piglet - I know you are still trotter-deep in snow ...
    No need to apologise, Mrs. S (though it's considerably deeper than my trotters!) - I'm happy to hear about the onset of spring. It gives me hope that one day it might make its way over the big pond ... :mrgreen:

    The Cathedral secretary, who's a keen gardener, has been posting pictures on Facebook all winter of her garden in summer, by way of cheering us all up.

    We've just come in from doing a bit of tidying in the choir library, and it seems that a Kindly Soul has done a bit of ploughing in our drive - not sure if it was Heroic Snowblower Bloke or someone with a bigger rig - it looked as if something with fairly big tyres had been there, and there's quite a substantial bank of snow where the drive ends and the path begins.
  • ferijen wrote: »
    The growing bits of my new garden are all in the shade

    Hellebores!

    Mrs. S, already planting some out ;o)

  • Hellebores are lovely. We used to live quite near a specialist nursery when at our last place, and took advantage of their sales.

    Today our garden has become a wetland, although (after much digging and composting) it drains better than it did last year. (We're on horrid, heavy clay).
  • ]

    Hellebores!

    Seconding that!
    Mine are absolutely gorgeous at the moment, and the wind we've had in the last couple of days has been making them toss about so that I can see the inside of the flower from my kitchen window
  • @Baptist Trainfan I think this is the first garden in 40+ years that is not on horrid, heavy clay!

    Mrs. S, gleeful
  • I love my new hellebores purchased a few weeks ago, they are sturdy and blooming.
    Productive day so far; lots of issues sorted, emails to staff and students written and planning done. For lunch I’ve just eaten some delicious chicken livers with a fried egg, one of my favourite lunches.
    Now I’m going to write a tutorial on the grieving process.
  • Yes - the avine colleagues of the chickens which provided your tasty lunch are going to be very sad.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Good grief!
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    @ferijen - I was going to suggest hellebores too. I'm not sure if its the same nursery that @Baptist Trainfan used to live near but I had some from such a nursery that were lovely in my last place, and I gave hellebores from their catalogue to several friends and relations as presents and they are still very happy with them.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Steady, heavy rain here, and cold too. Bleugh!
  • Sarasa wrote: »
    @ferijen - I was going to suggest hellebores too. I'm not sure if its the same nursery that @Baptist Trainfan used to live near but I had some from such a nursery that were lovely in my last place, and I gave hellebores from their catalogue to several friends and relations as presents and they are still very happy with them.
    Harvey's Garden Plants in Thurston is the place we went to (they have/had a nice cafe, too!)

  • Hereford Cathedral cloister garden has beautiful hellebores and other Spring flowers at the moment.
    Meanwhile, just a bit further North than Baptist Trainfan, we've had some torrential showers - a little while ago it was *tamping down.

    * to tamp a ball - to bounce it on the ground. In other words, it was seriously chucking it down.
  • ferijenferijen Shipmate
    Oh I love a hellebore and that sounds a splendid suggestion. Thank you!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I can't add much to the gardening discussion - my trotters are the opposite of green!

    I did, however, make some quite decent celery SOUP for lunch ...

    Someone asked up-thread what it was I don't like about celery, and TBH it's hard to explain. Maybe it's partly the stringy texture, but I think it's more the taste, when it's raw; once it's cooked it seems to taste nicer, and the soup is whizzed with a blender, so the texture isn't an issue.

    If I'm putting it in something that won't be pureed, like a casserole, I just chop it small enough that I don't notice it.
  • I'd never heard of hellebores, have to admit. It sounds like our minister having a bad Sunday morning.

    But this is soup weather indeed, and one of the best parts of this time of year. Leek and potato, added to plenty of garlic, a little ginger, and a pinch of red pepper flakes all fried in olive oil to start it will make you warm and happy, I promise.
  • Sounds like my kind of soup and my kind of recipe too.
  • balaambalaam Shipmate
    I prefer celery raw, with the channel full of cream cheese. Heaven.
  • Or peanut butter. School lunch was sometimes a sandwich with celery and peanut butter as filling, or cheese or vegemite as a variant.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    @Priscilla I spent some time in Hereford a few years ago and had tea often in the cathedral cloister garden, such a beautiful and restful place.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    I'd never heard of hellebores, have to admit. It sounds like our minister having a bad Sunday morning.
    Sometimes known as winter roses, Christmas roses or Lenten roses. (They are no relation to roses.)
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