Not sure about Yulade, but I love Yuletide! So there.
(I am certain many of Yulade the table beautifully in said joyous season, about which I reminisce gladly, and which is now, alack and alas, a thing of the past, or a somewhat distant future. - By the way: Piglet can send me half of her snow, I think I'd enjoy that! )
... Piglet can send me half of her snow, I think I'd enjoy that! )
You'd be most welcome, Wesley - we've had about two feet of the wretched stuff.
After a v. lazy morning (there really wasn't much point in hurrying to get up), D. made a shepherd's pie which we had for lunch (and another one to freeze), and then I decided the snow wasn't going to shift itself, so I went out and attacked the deck and the path. The way it had blown meant there was a drift almost obliterating the steps (which actually wasn't too hard to shift), although there was a clear bit on the deck and further along the path. The drive, though, has drifts up to my waist, and I was really struggling to shift them, so I gave up, as anything I could shift was just blowing back in my face.
Trouble is, if we leave it too long, the soft, fresh snow will freeze and be absolutely impossible to move.
I like shandy made with beer and ginger beer - also called a shady-gaff - much less sweet than a shandy made with lemonade. But it's far too easy to be served with lemonade and ginger beer mixed, which is foul.
The gentleman who saw me struggling to shovel the snow-drifts in our drive while he was snow-blowing the drive across the road and then came over and did ours is an absolute hero and should be knighted.
I go to small private Pilates classes on Friday mornings and love them. Today I’m off to a big class at the gym - I don’t expect it to be as good, but we’ll see.
All the people at my class are older than me and I imagine the teacher suits the class to our age. I hope they are not all whippersnappers at the new one!
Pilates is just the thing for keeping your balance in tip top form as you get older - I highly recommend it. 🙂
I’m off to yoga as usual this morning, my class is also mainly middle aged to older women, lots of people post cancer surgery or injuries.
Then I’m meeting other half for lunch in the botanic gardens with our new membership. Alas, marking looms this afternoon.
Pilates is just the thing for keeping your balance in tip top form as you get older - I highly recommend it. 🙂
I tried a Pilates class (it was a series of 10 - not just a case of "tried it once and didn't like it" *sniggers childishly at Carry On film innuendo *) and didn't get on with it at all. I think, as is often the case, it depends a lot on the teacher. I'd like to give it another go one day but can't fit it into my week at present, alongside working and other things.
I do four Zumba classes a week but am giving this morning's a miss in order to get some other jobs done. I'm out with some girlfriends this evening.
I tried Pilates several times, and each time had to recover in a darkened room, nursing a migraine. It turns out that this happens to some people. I still haven’t really found a class I get on with, so rely on the allotment in the summer but do need something for the winter.
I'd like to do T'ai Chi, must have a look for local classes. I do Pilates and Zumba on a Thursday morning. A real mix of ages and a few are older (and fitter than me). I think Pilates classes differ a lot. I haven't been to loads of different ones, but I much prefer the one on a Friday that uses bands to help you stretch. I can only get there in the holidays when my writing class isn't running.
The nice thing about my Thursday morning is that a few of us often get together in the Leisure Centre café for tea and a knit and natter.
Just back from Pilates session 3 (1:1 - 50 minutes' worth!)...
The Torturer says some progress is being made, despite the agony. I was OK last Friday (the session was on Thursday), but could barely move on Saturday. I was much more mobile on Sunday, though.
The Torturer, and her Osteopath colleague, diagnose this as 'DOMS', to wit, 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness', and say that it's OK, as it shows that the muscles are working and responding, if unwillingly.
Actually, I'm surprising myself at how well I appear to be doing with the exercises on the Reformer machine, given my advanced age, and the fact that the last real sporty/exercisey stuff I did was ski-ing in France exactly 30 years ago this week!
My first bedsit in Paris was near a neighbourhood with a large Chinese population. Every morning a group of elderly Chinese people would be in the park doing Tai Chi. I never plucked up the courage to ask if there was some sort of registration or whether anybody could join in.
I'm just glad Pilates is not called Herod. It be would rather unsuitable for children. While now, all you do is wash your hands. Or perhaps even shower, after the deed done.
I rather like the idea of exercise that doesn't require speed (I'm definitely not built for speed). I really miss my ambles in the winter, but I honestly don't relish the prospect of staggering along on sheet ice almost in the middle of the road because the snow-banks have obliterated what doesn't quite pass for a pavement.
We didn't get much more snow after the drive was cleared last night, but I reckon it'll be fairly treacherous out there as what we have has probably frozen.
Roll on spring!
In other news, our bread-machine has snuffed it. I made a batch of dough for French sticks this morning and when I opened the machine one side hadn't been mixed - I think the paddle on that side has given up the ghost, so we'll be off tomorrow to the Home Depot to get a new machine. We've had it for probably about three years, during which time it's been used on average twice a week, and saved us a fortune over shop-bought bread, so it didn't owe us anything. At least it had the decency to wait until we could afford to replace it before it died.
I am just passing by with news of an old friend. Welease Woderwick and I had a long chat on the phone this morning. He is doing fine and seemed his usual perky self - Mr Irrepressible it seems!
I am aware that some people have had news of him being unwell and the house being damaged in the floods. The good news is that he is fine (apart from his sight and the usual annoyances of a body which is aging faster than the mind) and the house is on a hill so was untouched by the flood waters last year, the only difficulty being getting food in for a short while due to being on a temporary island.
My first bedsit in Paris was near a neighbourhood with a large Chinese population. Every morning a group of elderly Chinese people would be in the park doing Tai Chi. I never plucked up the courage to ask if there was some sort of registration or whether anybody could join in.
Normally a group practises in unison, so if you knew which Form they were following you could join in.
There are a great many forms, though a good deal of overlap in the specific moves. I think I’ve been to classes in at least four over the years.
For a couple of years I went a local authority adult ed one in a particulary snappy 24-move sequence. But the tutor kept restarting each term to accommodate new entrants, so I knew the first 10 extremely well, but after that...
The Taoist is 108 moves, albeit with a lot of repetition - which is part of the problem I find in memorising it. I get to Single Whip (which happens a lot) and then think either I am going into Wave Hands in Clouds or Fair Lady Works Shuttle or something else entirely. This is why it is good to be in a group with someone at the front who does know what they’re doing.
Glad to hear WW's in good form - thanks for letting us know, Smudgie! He's always in my prayers.
* * * * *
A new bread-machine has been bought - a little smaller than the old one, but we were really having difficulty finding one. I'm hoping it'll be big enough to make the French stick dough recipe!
We decided to treat ourselves to one of those nice, shallow cast-iron casseroles that all the TV cooks seem to use, and as I'd got a birthday voucher from a chain of kitchen shops, we ordered this one and it arrived today.
I'm planning on christening it by braising some lamb in red wine in it for Sunday's lunch.
I like cast-iron cookware; we got a pair of Le Creuset casseroles and a roasting pan from my sister and b-i-l when we got married, and bought a set of saucepans a few years later, and we won't be throwing them out - although they're a bit stained and bashed, I still think they'll outlive me!
My wife would love to use them, but finds them too heavy. You must have stronger wrists than she has!
In other news, I was lucky enough to go to a splendid performance of "L'Enfance du Christ" last night. It's on "BBC Sounds" as it was the start of their special Berlioz weekend. I was rather shocked to work out that it was over 47 years ago that I sang in it!
Same here, I love le creuset but do find them hard work - I use a casserole dish but wouldn’t buy a pan one. We also have several small and ancient cast iron frying pans which I love but I can’t use the matching pans as they are too heavy for me.
Good to hear about WW.
No one else is up yet and I really must get dressed and go for a nice walk. I really appreciate the relaxation of weekends since increasing my work hours!
I go now to a big Asian hardware store that clearly supplies restaurants and the like and buy cheap but serviceable pots and pans. If they last two or three years I’ve got my 15.99’s worth.
I brought one which looks similar, even to colour when I moved here. Found a blue one already here. Two large frying pans, enamel on iron are also here and a smaller cast iron frying pan. We are all interested in cooking and it shows.
When I was a kiddo, all of my ancients had a least one Le Creuset pot, fabulously long-wearing. As I, myself, never (yet?!) got into the sort of cooking that would reasonably require one of these, I am afraid I am currently devoid of them. I'm a huge fan nonetheless, designwise, because they just look absolutely marvellous!
What I got though quite a few years ago is a formidable Le Creuset kettle, stainless steel, similar to this one! Oooooh, shiny!
It's in daily use, but I guess it needs considerably more power (I used to have a gas cooker, now it's leccie and glass-ceramics) than a plug-in one. Ach well. It whistleth beautifully (and loudly), and is a joy to behold!
Weatherwise, another pleasant early spring day here, just like yesterday, no more snow on the ground, just some on the nearby hillocks, but probably melting fast , daytime temperatures up to 10 to 13C, nighttime still in the minus C's. They tell us we'll have a whole week of that now, so we'll see. A bit of solar energy for human and nature-al wellbeing certainly can't go amiss!
The first Mrs BF wanted some cast-iron Pans, so I bought her a set from a place in the City of London (I was working near Waterloo at the time). It was some sort of mail-order setup, but you could buy stuff from their HQ in person.
IIRC, Mrs BF had some rather elegant silk Blouses (Blice?) from them. She was rather a snappy dresser, unlike myself, alas. Shipmates of A Certain Age might recall the name of the company concerned, as this was back in the late 70s or early 80s, those Dear Dead Days Beyond Recall.
How I carried them on the Bus from place of purchase back to the office, I'll never know. They were taken home on the Train one at a time!
They lasted for years (longer than the marriage). I think she got Custardy of them when we parted company....
... How I carried them on the Bus from place of purchase back to the office, I'll never know ...
Our set of saucepans (three saucepans in varying sizes, with lids, a frying pan, a small casserole and a wooden hanging rack) was bought in a sale in Debenhams in Belfast, which was about 5-10 minutes' walk from the Cathedral. I went to collect it (in weather that would have given Noah pause for thought) one Tuesday afternoon after w*rk, while D. was rehearsing the choristers, and immediately wished I hadn't.
It came in a box with a carrying-handle, which the lady in the shop had helpfully padded with some folded plastic carrier-bags, but even at that, I could only carry it a few steps without stopping to change hands. One of the choristers' fathers rescued me at the entrance to the Cathedral car-park, but by that time I was soaked to the skin, my hands were numb and I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it.
When we were home a few years ago, we saw similar casseroles to the new one in Sainsbury's, and D. contemplated buying one, but even if we'd put the pot in one suitcase and the lid in the other, we'd probably have had to pay excess baggage ...
* * * * *
ION, we 've had more sn"w. Only about 6", but still enough to need shovelling.
I've got a shallow le Creuset casserole dish but I hardly ever use it as things cook unexpectedly quickly in it. I did a casserole one Sunday and it had almost dried out by the time we got back from church. I'm a huge fan of the slow cooker and mine is on pretty much every day that I'm working as it's great to come back to a hot meal (Mr Nen, bless him, being culinarily challenged).
BF - custardy of the pans. I see what you did there.
In other news, I have lots I should be doing this afternoon so am spending time on the Ship, as you do.
I decided to make some quick desserts. I whipped a 600 ml tub of double cream and added a tin of condensed milk. I then divided the mix in half, adding 2 spoons of ground almonds and half a teaspoon of rose flavour to one half, and freezing in 4 ramekins to make kulfi. I then melted black currant jelly in the microwave with a spoonful of water and whipped that into the rest of the cream/condensed milk and poured this into sundae dishes as an easy mousse.
I have a new cake book on my dining table and am tempted to make a bundt cake in my new tin.
The first Mrs BF wanted some cast-iron Pans, so I bought her a set from a place in the City of London (I was working near Waterloo at the time). It was some sort of mail-order setup, but you could buy stuff from their HQ in person.
IIRC, Mrs BF had some rather elegant silk Blouses (Blice?) from them. She was rather a snappy dresser ...
I seem to recall that the Houndsditch Warehouse was a massive emporium that seemed to sell everything under the sun and did mail-order years ahead of its time.
Casserole now christened, and it really was rather nice to cook in. It's almost as deep as a wok, but with a flat base, which makes it easy to stir the contents, and because it weighs about the same as the Titanic, it doesn't go wandering off across the top of the stove*. D. has just done some quality control on the casserole, and pronounced it good.
* We bought a lightweight, non-stick Tefal casserole a few years ago, and it liked to go walkies off the radiant rings if you didn't hold it down.
At my big weekend shopping on Saturday, I found that one of the largish local supermarkets now sells the 50-pack of Twinings English Breakfast Tea bags, in addition to the 25-bag pack, the latter of which are the regular size here, as it's not really a land of tea drinkers. So that's pleasant news, and saves me the trip to the neighbouring townette. (I know there's better teas than Twinings, worse as well, but I'd rather leave leaf tea alone. It's too much effort. )
Sunny and warm again this Sunday, the local teenage or young adult louts are already out if not in their droves, so in their coats, loitering. The long winter kept them at bay, or wherever inside, for a while. I may have to chat to the local cops again, if noise, loitering and littering increase. They're quite efficient at it, disrupting.
Wishing everying a lovely, uplifting and relaxing Sunday.
Comments
(I am certain many of Yulade the table beautifully in said joyous season, about which I reminisce gladly, and which is now, alack and alas, a thing of the past, or a somewhat distant future. - By the way: Piglet can send me half of her snow, I think I'd enjoy that!
After a v. lazy morning (there really wasn't much point in hurrying to get up), D. made a shepherd's pie which we had for lunch (and another one to freeze), and then I decided the snow wasn't going to shift itself, so I went out and attacked the deck and the path. The way it had blown meant there was a drift almost obliterating the steps (which actually wasn't too hard to shift), although there was a clear bit on the deck and further along the path. The drive, though, has drifts up to my waist, and I was really struggling to shift them, so I gave up, as anything I could shift was just blowing back in my face.
Trouble is, if we leave it too long, the soft, fresh snow will freeze and be absolutely impossible to move.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow?
I go to small private Pilates classes on Friday mornings and love them. Today I’m off to a big class at the gym - I don’t expect it to be as good, but we’ll see.
All the people at my class are older than me and I imagine the teacher suits the class to our age. I hope they are not all whippersnappers at the new one!
Pilates is just the thing for keeping your balance in tip top form as you get older - I highly recommend it. 🙂
Then I’m meeting other half for lunch in the botanic gardens with our new membership. Alas, marking looms this afternoon.
I tried a Pilates class (it was a series of 10 - not just a case of "tried it once and didn't like it" *sniggers childishly at Carry On film innuendo *) and didn't get on with it at all. I think, as is often the case, it depends a lot on the teacher. I'd like to give it another go one day but can't fit it into my week at present, alongside working and other things.
I do four Zumba classes a week but am giving this morning's a miss in order to get some other jobs done. I'm out with some girlfriends this evening.
The cumulative age of the class must total several millennia.
You get to go slowly.
It does not require any apparatus or kit or even special clothing made of spandex or latex or lurex, just baggy joggers and T-shirt* and soft shoes.
There’s a tea break.
*so normal wear then.
The nice thing about my Thursday morning is that a few of us often get together in the Leisure Centre café for tea and a knit and natter.
Now I just need to find a motivating way to do weights to keep my muscles from waning.
There should be something productive and useful I can do round the house which involves weight bearing?
The Torturer says some progress is being made, despite the agony. I was OK last Friday (the session was on Thursday), but could barely move on Saturday. I was much more mobile on Sunday, though.
The Torturer, and her Osteopath colleague, diagnose this as 'DOMS', to wit, 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness', and say that it's OK, as it shows that the muscles are working and responding, if unwillingly.
Actually, I'm surprising myself at how well I appear to be doing with the exercises on the Reformer machine, given my advanced age, and the fact that the last real sporty/exercisey stuff I did was ski-ing in France exactly 30 years ago this week!
I go to Taoist T’ai Chi which has a fair few classes in the UK.
We didn't get much more snow after the drive was cleared last night, but I reckon it'll be fairly treacherous out there as what we have has probably frozen.
Roll on spring!
In other news, our bread-machine has snuffed it. I made a batch of dough for French sticks this morning and when I opened the machine one side hadn't been mixed - I think the paddle on that side has given up the ghost, so we'll be off tomorrow to the Home Depot to get a new machine. We've had it for probably about three years, during which time it's been used on average twice a week, and saved us a fortune over shop-bought bread, so it didn't owe us anything. At least it had the decency to wait until we could afford to replace it before it died.
I am aware that some people have had news of him being unwell and the house being damaged in the floods. The good news is that he is fine (apart from his sight and the usual annoyances of a body which is aging faster than the mind) and the house is on a hill so was untouched by the flood waters last year, the only difficulty being getting food in for a short while due to being on a temporary island.
MMM
Normally a group practises in unison, so if you knew which Form they were following you could join in.
There are a great many forms, though a good deal of overlap in the specific moves. I think I’ve been to classes in at least four over the years.
For a couple of years I went a local authority adult ed one in a particulary snappy 24-move sequence. But the tutor kept restarting each term to accommodate new entrants, so I knew the first 10 extremely well, but after that...
The Taoist is 108 moves, albeit with a lot of repetition - which is part of the problem I find in memorising it. I get to Single Whip (which happens a lot) and then think either I am going into Wave Hands in Clouds or Fair Lady Works Shuttle or something else entirely. This is why it is good to be in a group with someone at the front who does know what they’re doing.
* * * * *
A new bread-machine has been bought - a little smaller than the old one, but we were really having difficulty finding one. I'm hoping it'll be big enough to make the French stick dough recipe!
We decided to treat ourselves to one of those nice, shallow cast-iron casseroles that all the TV cooks seem to use, and as I'd got a birthday voucher from a chain of kitchen shops, we ordered this one and it arrived today.
I'm planning on christening it by braising some lamb in red wine in it for Sunday's lunch.
I like cast-iron cookware; we got a pair of Le Creuset casseroles and a roasting pan from my sister and b-i-l when we got married, and bought a set of saucepans a few years later, and we won't be throwing them out - although they're a bit stained and bashed, I still think they'll outlive me!
In other news, I was lucky enough to go to a splendid performance of "L'Enfance du Christ" last night. It's on "BBC Sounds" as it was the start of their special Berlioz weekend. I was rather shocked to work out that it was over 47 years ago that I sang in it!
Good to hear about WW.
No one else is up yet and I really must get dressed and go for a nice walk. I really appreciate the relaxation of weekends since increasing my work hours!
I go now to a big Asian hardware store that clearly supplies restaurants and the like and buy cheap but serviceable pots and pans. If they last two or three years I’ve got my 15.99’s worth.
What I got though quite a few years ago is a formidable Le Creuset kettle, stainless steel, similar to this one! Oooooh, shiny!
It's in daily use, but I guess it needs considerably more power (I used to have a gas cooker, now it's leccie and glass-ceramics) than a plug-in one. Ach well. It whistleth beautifully (and loudly), and is a joy to behold!
Weatherwise, another pleasant early spring day here, just like yesterday, no more snow on the ground, just some on the nearby hillocks, but probably melting fast
IIRC, Mrs BF had some rather elegant silk Blouses (Blice?) from them. She was rather a snappy dresser, unlike myself, alas. Shipmates of A Certain Age might recall the name of the company concerned, as this was back in the late 70s or early 80s, those Dear Dead Days Beyond Recall.
How I carried them on the Bus from place of purchase back to the office, I'll never know. They were taken home on the Train one at a time!
They lasted for years (longer than the marriage). I think she got Custardy of them when we parted company....
It came in a box with a carrying-handle, which the lady in the shop had helpfully padded with some folded plastic carrier-bags, but even at that, I could only carry it a few steps without stopping to change hands. One of the choristers' fathers rescued me at the entrance to the Cathedral car-park, but by that time I was soaked to the skin, my hands were numb and I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it.
When we were home a few years ago, we saw similar casseroles to the new one in Sainsbury's, and D. contemplated buying one, but even if we'd put the pot in one suitcase and the lid in the other, we'd probably have had to pay excess baggage ...
* * * * *
ION, we 've had more sn"w. Only about 6", but still enough to need shovelling.
BF - custardy of the pans. I see what you did there.
In other news, I have lots I should be doing this afternoon so am spending time on the Ship, as you do.
I have a new cake book on my dining table and am tempted to make a bundt cake in my new tin.
* We bought a lightweight, non-stick Tefal casserole a few years ago, and it liked to go walkies off the radiant rings if you didn't hold it down.
At my big weekend shopping on Saturday, I found that one of the largish local supermarkets now sells the 50-pack of Twinings English Breakfast Tea bags, in addition to the 25-bag pack, the latter of which are the regular size here, as it's not really a land of tea drinkers. So that's pleasant news, and saves me the trip to the neighbouring townette. (I know there's better teas than Twinings, worse as well, but I'd rather leave leaf tea alone. It's too much effort.
Sunny and warm again this Sunday, the local teenage or young adult louts are already out if not in their droves, so in their coats, loitering. The long winter kept them at bay, or wherever inside, for a while. I may have to chat to the local cops again, if noise, loitering and littering increase. They're quite efficient at it, disrupting.
Wishing everying a lovely, uplifting and relaxing Sunday.