AS: Tea and biscuits and GIN, the British thread

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  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Do any of you remember the Tamworth Two? We visited the rare breeds centre where they ended their days, and we reckoned they may have had a touch of wild boar in their ancestry - they were huuuuge!

    Very handsome, but huge. 🐖🐷

    I'm just back from a very pleasant amble - it was 23° with a wee breeze, and the sun setting behind the Cathedral spire and the tree was Something Else.

    I really live in a very pretty place. :smile:
  • After a day of rain and drizzle, we, too, had a lovely sunset (some time ago now, of course - Somnus refuses to claim me tonight).
    :weary:

    I have to peer through a substantial motorway bridge in order to see it, though. The Cathedral spire (and adjacent trees) are in the opposite direction, but with the wind in the north-east, I can faintly hear the Cathedral bells.
    :grimace:

    IJ
  • The feral wild boar population in the Forest of Dean has been there a while, apparently escapees in from a farm the 1990s, with an illegal dump from a farm in 2004 and have been very happy to find a suitable habitat. Even with culling that group continues to grow - one document from 2016 suggested 1500 animals now there.

    Some of the other sightings on that website I linked to earlier I suspect might be muntjac deer, but the Kent/Sussex group was the largest when the DEFRA plan for management of feral wild boar was produced in 2008, the Forest of Dean population was the second largest and there was a third population in Dorset. Link: Feral Wild Boar in England: An Action Plan (pdf 57 pages)
  • There are wild boar in the forests near where my son lives (Heidelberg). I have had lots of walks in the forest, we’ve seen their dung but never the animals, I think they are very shy.
  • I'm sure they would be shy - especially if they are made into sausages!
  • The wild boar in France that I mentioned earlier are rarely seen in public, but it is a very sparsely-populated area.

    They not only convert nicely into sausages, but also into steaks and chops. Thomasina is right to suggest that this may be the reason for their shyness....
    :flushed:

    IJ
  • Lothlorien wrote: »

    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.

    My first encounter with wild boar was on a French campsite where a very young one ran through at great speed - they really can shift! All the children were ushered inside, pretty quickly for fear that mummy would show up because wild boar must run bears and honey badgers close when it comes to maternal ferocity. I saw a few fully grown a couple of days later and was grateful for the fences, not that they would make much difference to a determined wild boar.

    For what it's worth the wild boar in France tastes better than it does in Britain, probably because it really is wild and spends (very nearly) all its life in piggy heaven.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Shy perhaps, but if you run into one, you'll know about it. They're fierce beasties.

    In his youth husband en rouge used to go on hunts. The women and children beat out the game and the men follow on with the guns.
  • LVER - well done to the little chap on getting to 5 kilos. He's what. 26 weeks or so? and he was very premature so I'd call that a more than respectable weight. Ours were less then 3 weeks premature and at that age barely scraped 5½ kilos. Besides, its a lot easier on the wrists having a lighter child(ren) - a friend of the other half had enormous babies and has permanently knackered wrists from hefting the monsters around :grin:

    Get the boar casserole on the hob and the little chap will thrive on it.
  • Wild Boar is a distinct breed, so it is possible (indeed, highly likely) that what is in the markets is farmed (possibly as a rare breed). Although certainly in the Forest of Dean (and probably other locations) there is wild Wild Boar which is thought to be the result of escapees, and which do get culled and the meat sold.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    All this talk about BOAR is making me peckish. Time to see if any virtual BOAR has arrived via cyberspace, and, if it has, to fire up the Palace grill (usually employed on various parts of Hereticks).

    ...........................................................................................................................................

    No BOAR yet - ah well, back to the tomato SOUP for tea...
    :confounded:

    IJ
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I am snacking on Iberico ham flavoured crisps. I suppose they must be distantly related to wild boar.
  • I'm afraid it's probably a very distant connection. BOAR (properly cooked) is extremely tasty.....
    :sunglasses:

    IJ
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    fineline wrote: »
    I am snacking on Iberico ham flavoured crisps ...
    That sounds like a very posh sort of snack. I hope you're accompanying them with a nice glass of WINE. :)

    It's still v. hot and sticky here: 27° but feeling like 33, although forecast to cool down to the high teens/low 20s this evening, and stay like that for the next few days. (phew!)

    Have you noticed that I really prefer cooler weather? :wink:

  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    Yes, posh from Marks & Spencer - they have deals on lots of their crisps lately, so I indulged. They were very tasty. I am not drinking wine, though I am quite partial to wine and crisps, but am drinking a posh tea.

    Weather was rainy here today - just drizzly rather than heavy rain. It was quite refreshing.
  • I am drinking wine, having had a lovely tea of mackerel with a vegetable curry sauce, and I’m sat reading a module on death, dying and bereavement which I will be teaching for the first time in October. It’s a wonderful module and it’s going to be the highlight of my year.

    Congrats on the baby weight, lver.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    fineline wrote: »
    I am snacking on Iberico ham flavoured crisps ...
    That sounds like a very posh sort of snack. I hope you're accompanying them with a nice glass of WINE. :)

    Stoppit. It’s my WINE day tomorrow and I’d like it to be today!

    Mr. Boogs continues to flop and mope around the place with his man flu. I hope it improves soon, we are due to go to Lindisfarne on holiday next week.

    My friend is a sound technician and has been on Lindisfarne this week doing the sound for a big Gathering Of Bishops. Thank goodness we didn’t book for this week! :dizzy:

  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    You have a wine day, Boogie? I guess because I live alone, if I open a bottle of wine, I then have four wine days in a row. Though I know some people who can drink a bottle all to themselves in an evening, I can only drink a quarter of a bottle.
  • fineline wrote: »
    Though I know some people who can drink a bottle all to themselves in an evening...

    :blush:

    But only if it's a fairly light WINE.

    And there is some CHEESE to hand.

    Which this evening there is. Yay.

    IJ

  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    fineline wrote: »
    You have a wine day, Boogie? I guess because I live alone, if I open a bottle of wine, I then have four wine days in a row. Though I know some people who can drink a bottle all to themselves in an evening, I can only drink a quarter of a bottle.

    I have two wine days - half a bottle on Friday and half a bottle on Saturday.

    No alcohol at all the rest of the week.

    🙂

  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I do like wine and cheese. :smile:

    I sometimes go to a specialty cheese shop and ask to try various cheeses and then buy a slither of each! I eat it with grapes, and sometimes a glass of wine.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    It has never occurred to me to have a wine day. I will open a bottle of wine if I feel like celebrating - though what I decide to celebrate can be quite random, and sometimes I invent something to celebrate because I fancy a glass of wine!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    We usually have a bottle of white in the fridge and a bottle of red on the counter, and as they're almost always screw-tops, I just use them as and when I feel like it. When I was making the Sausage Thing yesterday I opened the red, and put a wee splash into the casserole, knowing that I'd have a glass with it. I know you're not supposed to keep wine for too long after it's been opened, but I usually find that it's still quite potable even after a week.

    Maybe I'm just not quite fussy enough ... :blush:
  • All this talk about BOAR is making me peckish. Time to see if any virtual BOAR has arrived via cyberspace, and, if it has, to fire up the Palace grill (usually employed on various parts of Hereticks).

    ...........................................................................................................................................

    No BOAR yet - ah well, back to the tomato SOUP for tea...
    :confounded:

    IJ

    I hope the SOUP was fortified with noodles and had excellent CHEESE grated onto it?
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I know you're not supposed to keep wine for too long after it's been opened, but I usually find that it's still quite potable even after a week.

    You have wine left in a bottle a week after opening it?

    Deep respect. :notworthy:
  • All this talk about BOAR is making me peckish. Time to see if any virtual BOAR has arrived via cyberspace, and, if it has, to fire up the Palace grill (usually employed on various parts of Hereticks).

    ...........................................................................................................................................

    No BOAR yet - ah well, back to the tomato SOUP for tea...
    :confounded:

    IJ

    I hope the SOUP was fortified with noodles and had excellent CHEESE grated onto it?

    It was fortified with BREAD, and grated Parmesan CHEESE, as is my custom with Tomato SOUP.
    :smile:

    IJ

  • why is everyone capitalising ALL the types of FOOD getting mentioned ?
  • They are just showing off, Wet Kipper! ;) I had a slice of marmite toast for my supper as I had been to a small party lunch time and didn't feel like anything else! My other menus are in no way remarkable, being mostly cheese- and wine-free! :(
  • But Marmite - being a brand name - should at least have its first letter capitalised.

    I love the stuff.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I have also wondered about the capitalisation of foods and gin! I imagined some in joke from years ago that I missed!
  • I blame the title :)
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    We usually have a bottle of white in the fridge and a bottle of red on the counter, and as they're almost always screw-tops, I just use them as and when I feel like it. When I was making the Sausage Thing yesterday I opened the red, and put a wee splash into the casserole, knowing that I'd have a glass with it. I know you're not supposed to keep wine for too long after it's been opened, but I usually find that it's still quite potable even after a week.

    Maybe I'm just not quite fussy enough ... :blush:

    Husband en rouge is quite the amateur wine expert. He says the really excellent bottles need to be finished the same day or they're not the same any more. Take that Meursault 2008 (one of the finest items in our cellar) that we had the other day. It would have been a crime not to finish it :grin:

    My in-laws OTOH are teetotal although they don't mind serving wine to other people. Previously when they opened a bottle for guests they developed an unfortunate habit of sealing it up and waiting to have more wine-drinking guests before they brought it out again. I can confirm that wine ISN'T potable after being open for four months :open_mouth:

    These days they've learned better and guests take unfinished bottles away with them when they leave.
  • We're in the Friday and Saturday nights are wine nights category too, Piglet (though it does sometimes extend to Sunday night too). We have one of those bottle stops where you pump the air out, and that works if we are saving some wine for the next day. I'm afraid it never hangs around long enough to tell if that system would work for a longer period of time.
    Well done on Baby en Rouge's weight gain, that is impressive. Are you having to buy lots more adorable outfits?
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    We keep left-over wine and use it for cooking.

    I realise that, for some readers, the words "wine" and "left-over" are not natural companions.
  • fineline wrote: »
    I have also wondered about the capitalisation of foods and gin! I imagined some in joke from years ago that I missed!

    Yes, it is, but I can't remember why or how it started.

    Some of us (myself in particular) tend to capitalise foods or drinks of which we are inordinately fond, but, if it's annoying, I'll desist.

    I think it should, however, continue to be a Ship custom to capitalise GIN, that panacea for many (if not all) ills....
    :wink:

    IJ

  • LRPLRP Shipmate Posts: 5
    Well after being unable to get onto the Ship for months l now have thanks to Eutychus.Started to read All Saints then realised l had been frozen in time. Had been left on page 7 then realised the most recent post' s were on page 29.
    I had given up on getting back in as it was very frustrating.
  • I’ve just finished my online German lesson (I have them every Friday evening, pre-wine!) I’m beginning to enjoy them now that my vocabulary is growing a little.

    :mrgreen:
  • Ein Glas Rotwein, bitte! Ich habe es verdient! - (A glass of red wine, please! I deserve it!) - Something along that line, Boogie? :smiley:
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    fineline wrote: »
    I have also wondered about the capitalisation of foods and gin! I imagined some in joke from years ago that I missed!

    Yes, it is, but I can't remember why or how it started.

    Some of us (myself in particular) tend to capitalise foods or drinks of which we are inordinately fond, but, if it's annoying, I'll desist.

    I think it should, however, continue to be a Ship custom to capitalise GIN, that panacea for many (if not all) ills....
    :wink:

    IJ

    No, not annoying at all - I was just curious. I was actually thinking about these capitalised GIN chats today when I picked some more blackberries in the woods. I seem to remember someone suggested making blackberry gin, and the idea is starting to appeal to me. Has anyone done this and has any tips on how to do it?
  • The capitalised GIN was a Ship tradition when I joined in 2006. I suspect it started following a H&A day.

    I have made gin with cranberries and sloes. The traditional recipe is to start with a full bottle of gin and a spare empty bottle. Half fill the bottle with pricked/crushed cranberries or sloes and some sugar, add the gin. Repeat for the other bottle. Leave under your bed for three months, rolling it from one side to the other night and morning.
  • I’ve raided my cellar kitchen cupboard for a bottle of courgette & ginger wine for the local country show tomorrow, and realise I’ve still got a selection to sample - gooseberry, blackberry as well as the c&g and gin & vodka of a wide range of flavours. Hic. (The c&g isn’t being judged, it’s on t’allotment association stand - hopefully we’ll get the usual gold medal)
  • fineline wrote: »
    I seem to remember someone suggested making blackberry gin, and the idea is starting to appeal to me. Has anyone done this and has any tips on how to do it?
    As ck said, although I make mine in a large jar which, for the first couple of weeks I shake up daily, then about once a month. The longer you can leave the fruit in the more flavour you’ll get. I’ve used cherry, rhubarb (very popular), gooseberry, raspberry, strawberry as well as blackberry, sloe. When you strain it keep the fruit (except the sloe and rhubarb) as it is rather yummy.

  • LRPLRP Shipmate Posts: 5
    Hmm enjoyed a glass of wine this evening.
    Just had another look at this thread and totally missed the point of it. Gin' s more Baalams tipple.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    Thanks, CK and daisydaisy. I wasn't expecting it to take months, but I guess that makes sense. I will try it. I just need to buy some gin and find a spare bottle. I wonder if dark brown sugar is okay (as I think that's all I have in my cupboards) or if I need white sugar. I need to google to find out the specifics. I have only ever had gin and tonic. I can't imagine what blackberry gin would taste like, but I like gin and I like blackberries, so I'm imagining it will be nice.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Capitalising GIN was certainly an Old Ship™ thing; I have a feeling I may have been to blame for adding CHOCOLATE and CAKE to the list, and it kind of grew ... :blush:

    My recipe for damson GIN was a dead simple one: fill a large bottle or Mason jar 5/6 full of pricked damsons, add 6 tablespoons of ordinary white sugar and top up with the cheapest GIN you can find. Store in a cool dark place for about 6 weeks, giving it a shoogle every so often, then strain it through a cheesecloth or jelly strainer and bottle it.

    It works out very well: damsons are in season in mid-October, which means the GIN is ready to be appreciated as a post-prandial after Christmas lunch (or given as presents to people that you really like). :smile:
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    edited September 2018
    I make fruit gin in a kilner jar using similar methods discussed. Different fruits might require different amounts of sugar and there are lots of ‘recipes’ on the web. I often use frozen fruit as it is always available and very clean.
    Off to a tutor briefing day for my new module today. I seldom meet fellow tutors so it should be fun.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    I've been finding a few recipes online. Some are saying to heat up the blackberries and sugar first and others aren't. I suppose heating would cause any hidden caterpillars to come to the surface!
  • Heating would start breaking the blackberries down and dissolving the sugar, which will change the taste as cooked blackberries have a slightly different flavour. The sugar will dissolve if you shake the mix enough, so that isn't necessary, and you can break the blackberries down physically with a potato masher without changing the taste.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host, 8th Day Host
    Yes, I was thinking it would taste nicer without heating. I won't heat then. Now I just need to get some gin!
  • I made rhubarb GIN recently. It’s got a great flavour but ...

    I used green rhubarb so it was an odd colour. I decided to put a tiny bit of colouring in it to make it pink. My hand slipped and we now have bright red rhubarb GIN :lol:
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