I had a look at some plants online yesterday; I’m itching for brighter days.
My son is about to leave for uni - he will be tested when he gets there but is in a private house anyway and we haven’t socialised outside with anyone here anyway.
Off a potter in the garden and then some study.
What you have to remember about the Greek delivery god is, that while one of the few in that Pantheon who was well disposed to humankind (got involved with Prometheus in the fire-theft I seem to recall), he was, as a Trickster, as well as travellers, florists and other messengers, also the god of merchants and thieves. He definitely seems to have involvement with the company dedicated to him.
I have been my own messenger (tescavi - I have done the grocery shopping): a not unpleasant amble there, but a rather less pleasant one back, as it came on to hail.
Hailstones descending on your head while swimming in the Blue Lagoon = bliss
Hailstones descending on your head while carrying the groceries home = not bliss
Is it the very worst sort of snobbery to go to Tesco's armed with a bag-for-life from Waitrose*?
I'm cheering myself up by turning the stock from the ham joint (somewhat watered down in case it's too salty) into SOUP, and while it's cooking I'm curled up on the sofa with a cup of coffee and a biscuit.
* Not that I'm going to fool anybody - the nearest Waitrose is seven miles away in Livingston.
Sorry to hear about the hail, @Piglet but glad you are cosily tucked up now. I don't even know where our nearest Waitrose is - we're that downmarket around here.
We're working on a Return to Normal Routine, to begin in earnest tomorrow, and to that end it behoves us to finish up the remains of the Christmas food today. I have one more slice of Christmas cake left, to have with my afternoon tea, and we have around 4 nice chocolates to be eaten after our usual Sunday supper of CHEESE and crackers or Something On Toast. As we finished the open bottle of red wine with lunch, and there is no port, I think it will be the latter. There's some cream liqueur left which will do nicely as a nightcap.
I had plans to get the decorations down this afternoon but we've been Zooming all morning and have another one at 5pm so we've booked time in to do it tomorrow. It's a miserable job at the best of times; I took them down on my own one year and that really was grim.
Thanks Nen - it was nothing that a quick blast with the hairdryer wouldn't put right.
The walkway outside the flat was bloody treacherous (despite my efforts yesterday with the road-salt), and conveying the washing to and from the laundry to get dried was, shall we say, hazardous. I managed to stay vertical, but it wasn't easy.
I'm not looking forward to undecorating either - not least because I'm not quite sure where I'll store the tree. I've been lucky in the past to be able to store my trees intact, but I think it'll have to be at least partially dismantled and put in a box under the bed.
It'll come down on Wednesday, but the candle-bridges and Nativity set can stay up until Candlemas.
... going into Happy Shopper with a bag from Fortnum & Mason ...
I actually saw a lady with one of those little hessian shopping bags with "F&M" written on it as I was coming home, and wondered if she was on her way to Tesco's.
I was in a school production of an opera written for us by Peter Maxwell Davies and the material for my costume (to be made by my mum) arrived in a Harrods bag; I confess I used the bag until it fell to bits.
And lo, at the age of 40mumble I did lose my last baby tooth. Gah. It's excellent timing really because my gappy smile (it was near the front) will mostly be covered by a mask.
We’ve still got our tree and cards up, although we’re just about the last in our street to still have a lit Christmas tree in our front window. We finished off the last of the Christmas cheese (from the nice cheesemongers in Hereford) yesterday.
We’ve still got some mince pies, and rather a lot of chocolate from Hotel Chocolat
which we’re going through slowly. Oh, and some brandy butter, which I suggested Darllenwr use in a bread and butter pudding.
Just about the only Christmas food left in Sainsbury’s yesterday was mince pies, which were being sold off.
Yes to tree, cards and Advent ring (other candles have gone); no mince pies, but we have an unopened Stollen and Nuremberg chocolate marzipan; Portuguese Bolo Rei finished today; still plenty of cheese left (some has been put into freezer).
And lo, at the age of 40mumble I did lose my last baby tooth. Gah. It's excellent timing really because my gappy smile (it was near the front) will mostly be covered by a mask.
I still have one, at the age of 51. It is a third upper tooth along and the adult tooth was impacted above it and removed when I was 15. I suspect this is a common location for such teeth in adulthood.
Husband has just returned from driving my son back to York 😢 and we will shortly be eating Shepherd’s pie.
No, it had been patiently waiting in the oven for husband’s return. He had, as usual, entirely failed to message me on his arrival there or when he left.
We are about the have roadkill supper*, accompanied by a bottle of Beaune, followed by cheese (Rocquefort/ Shropshire Blue/ Double Gloucester) and elderflower schnapps - purely to keep out the cold.
* deer that kamikazed the 4x4 in early December and came out the loser - the butcher had the carcass and gave us a bag of venison steaks 🙂
We had some mushroom parfait for supper, sourced in M&S at 38p not the £5 ish it should have been - with bread and crudités. Some of the Plant Kitchen range is not just vegan but wheat free too. We were playing brinkmanship because we knew they had a lot left going out of date today, wanted to try it, but not at full price.
@Curiosity killed - there were mushrooms reduced in Tesco's that were on today's date, and much as I like a bargain (and a mushroom), I didn't go for them, as I didn't think I'd use them in time. I can be a bit liberal with sell-by dates (unlike my sister, who's positively OCD about them), but not too liberal!
I watered down the liquid the gammon was cooked in on New Year's Day and turned it into a rather decent SOUP (see recipe upstairs), some of which I've just had for supper with homemade bread and indecent amounts of butter. I'm now contemplating the reduction of the Christmas pudding mountain. I suppose I could freeze some of it, but would I really want to be eating Christmas pudding in February without the company of a lit, decorated tree? I rather doubt it.
I like the idea of kippers, but in a small flat I think it would take too long to eliminate the aroma ...
And I really can't be bothered with the bones.
Boil in the bag. Especially if you have charcoal filters (to absorb odours) in your cooker hood (though I don't suppose it sorts the bone issue). My Dad used to like kippers, my Mum hated the smell. He was allowed boil in the bag once in a blue moon if she was out, on the grounds that the smell shouldn't linger. I remember wondering what all the fuss was about, so I tried them as a student (I was in lodgings: as I recall the landlady didn't complain). I still wondered what all the fuss was about.... I wasn't sufficiently bothered to want to be bothered again.
After a substantial Sunday lunch (steak, cheese and berry-pistachio tart) and snacking on Brazilian pão de queijo, I wasn't really hungry tonight and thought a cup of hot chocolate would be enough. Only trouble is that the milk had been next to the truffle in the fridge. Truffled hot chocolate is... interesting.
And lo, at the age of 40mumble I did lose my last baby tooth. Gah. It's excellent timing really because my gappy smile (it was near the front) will mostly be covered by a mask.
I still have one, at the age of 51. It is a third upper tooth along and the adult tooth was impacted above it and removed when I was 15. I suspect this is a common location for such teeth in adulthood.
...
Yep, that's the spot. Apparently I had 2 removed as a child when they weren't budging for my adult teeth. Clearly stubborn buggers. If it wasn't for cosmetic considerations it's better out. I hadn't realised how much I was favouring it when eating.
ION, tea was smoked sausage toad-in-the-hole, roast celeriac, and onion gravy. A successful Yorkshire pud.
I didn't have great expectations of dinner - swordfish steaks 'n' chips. Briefly marinaded in lime juice and chimichurri seasoning they were delicious (blest in having a regular fish van)
I'm sort of assuming the truffle in the fridge wasn't a chocolate truffle ...
ION I've ordered a dining table and 4 chairs from Am*z*n - at under £300 all in I hope I'm getting a bargain. Whether I'll be in to receive them may be a different matter; it said that "scheduled delivery" wasn't an option. Oh well - if I have to take a day off w*rk then so be it.
I used kippers to make kedgeree last time I bought them. I'd rather use smoked mackerel but there's something in the packs that my daughter's system has taken agin. I do use smoked haddock if I score some with yellow stickers, but that doesn't happen often.
My dining table and chairs came from one of the local charity shops at £120 iirc - round pine table with central legs, four matching chairs and delivery for an extra not that huge big charge. Nice guys who rebuilt the table for me too. This was partly wanting to recycle, reuse and reduction of consumption, partly wanting something more solid than I could afford new.
I'm going to have to find a way of disposing of the set that came with the flat - it's a small table with quadrant-shaped chairs that slot in under the rounded corners - anyone know of charities that'll come and collect?
Or should I just leave it outside with a note saying "free to a good home"?
Depends on what's in your local area - we have two charities that supply furniture, one is the local hospice and the other is a local reuse charity supported by the district council. But national charities that deal in furniture include the British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Sue Ryder. Looks as if you have a DEBRA charity shop taking furniture
Since Amazon are not manufacturers of the products they sell, I assume the suppliers have failed for some reason. As I learnt when ordering a shed/summerhouse online, what a firm promises on its website and what it can deliver are two very different things.
You’ve probably already done this, but it’s worth logging in to your account directly (i.e. not via any links in the email) to check the situation. Once you’re back onto Amazon, are the chairs still showing as available? Can you use the facility to ask the seller a question to find out why your order might have been cancelled?
I've tried reordering them - as the original order was no longer appearing in my order history I assume it really had been cancelled.
I'll wait and see what happens now - I'll be really pissed off if I can't get them, as they were just what I wanted, and the order for the table seems to be going ahead.
I did wonder if DT's theory about the EU might be right, in which case thanks for nothing, Brexit. 😡
@Piglet has it right that I don't mean a chocolate truffle, but the tuberous delicacy dug up by a pig. The milk hadn't picked up so much of the flavour that the hot chocolate was ruined, but it had a definite earthy smell about it.
Annoying, though, especially if the chairs and table are supposed to match!
A dreadful day here, with much Weather occurring, in the form of R*in and a strong North-easterly Wind.
Comfort food is called for - I have just devoured a BACON sandwich (I fried the BACON on the stove! Shock! Horror! ), having earlier devoured two delicious croissants filled with CHEESE. These are sometimes (if you're lucky) to be found at the larger of our two local Co-Ops. Today was my lucky day...
We in Kent anxiously await news of our probable promotion to Covid Tier 5 (aka lockdown). It won't make a lot of difference to me personally, I guess, but FatherInCharge won't be too happy if churches have to close yet again. Still, needs must...
I managed to miss the hairdressing window before Christmas, and as we're going into proper lockdown from tonight, I suspect it may be some time before the porcine locks get any professional attention.
I took a trip out to Sainsbury's as I wanted one or two heavier things like milk, flour* and WINE, and had some more of the SOUP when I got back. I'm now contemplating making a chilli, and deciding whether to do it in the slow-cooker or on top of the stove.
Just as well I got milk, because when I went to make a cup of tea with what was in the fridge, it had Gawn Orf.
* I confess I'm sort of hoarding bread flour, but only because I now have a proper flour-bin, which will hold several bags' worth, and it might as well be well filled.
I'm not sure what to 'ave for me Tea, but there is some Macaroni CHEESE whose use-by date is today, so I suppose that'd better be put in a safe place...
I may eat it before The Nation Is Addressed, by our beloved PM, at 8pm this very evening. Looks like lockdown 3 (or is it 4?) is imminent, if he can bring himself to make a decision.
In answer to BF's question about the chairs and table, they weren't all part of a set, but it would be nice to get them all together. I haven't heard back since placing the second order, so we'll see.
However, with full lockdown being imminent, I've no idea when I'd be able to get help with assembling them!
I'd say BF's right about Boris - he'll probably hum and haw and waffle on about how it's all everyone's fault but his and then announce a lockdown starting at the beginning of February.
Hmm, my regular early morning trip to the Co-op is due on Wednesday - I haven't been shopping since before Christmas, but if Boris announces lockdown 3 this evening I suspect that the ravening hordes will have cleared the shelves by the time I get there.
In fact I expect they're in there now, getting ahead of the announcement.
We all woke feeling rather the worse for wear (!) so brunch was a bottom-of-the-fridge fry-up: bacon, the last of some sausagemeat stuffing sliced and fried, mushrooms, egg and fried bread (eaten separately spread with marmalade), coffee. Feeling a bit better.
Memo to self: Elderflower Schnapps is not a drink to be trifled with.
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My son is about to leave for uni - he will be tested when he gets there but is in a private house anyway and we haven’t socialised outside with anyone here anyway.
Off a potter in the garden and then some study.
Hailstones descending on your head while swimming in the Blue Lagoon = bliss
Hailstones descending on your head while carrying the groceries home = not bliss
Is it the very worst sort of snobbery to go to Tesco's armed with a bag-for-life from Waitrose*?
I'm cheering myself up by turning the stock from the ham joint (somewhat watered down in case it's too salty) into SOUP, and while it's cooking I'm curled up on the sofa with a cup of coffee and a biscuit.
* Not that I'm going to fool anybody - the nearest Waitrose is seven miles away in Livingston.
Sorry to hear about the hail, @Piglet but glad you are cosily tucked up now. I don't even know where our nearest Waitrose is - we're that downmarket around here.
We're working on a Return to Normal Routine, to begin in earnest tomorrow, and to that end it behoves us to finish up the remains of the Christmas food today. I have one more slice of Christmas cake left, to have with my afternoon tea, and we have around 4 nice chocolates to be eaten after our usual Sunday supper of CHEESE and crackers or Something On Toast. As we finished the open bottle of red wine with lunch, and there is no port, I think it will be the latter. There's some cream liqueur left which will do nicely as a nightcap.
I had plans to get the decorations down this afternoon but we've been Zooming all morning and have another one at 5pm so we've booked time in to do it tomorrow. It's a miserable job at the best of times; I took them down on my own one year and that really was grim.
The walkway outside the flat was bloody treacherous (despite my efforts yesterday with the road-salt), and conveying the washing to and from the laundry to get dried was, shall we say, hazardous. I managed to stay vertical, but it wasn't easy.
I'm not looking forward to undecorating either - not least because I'm not quite sure where I'll store the tree. I've been lucky in the past to be able to store my trees intact, but I think it'll have to be at least partially dismantled and put in a box under the bed.
It'll come down on Wednesday, but the candle-bridges and Nativity set can stay up until Candlemas.
I was in a school production of an opera written for us by Peter Maxwell Davies and the material for my costume (to be made by my mum) arrived in a Harrods bag; I confess I used the bag until it fell to bits.
We’ve still got some mince pies, and rather a lot of chocolate from Hotel Chocolat
which we’re going through slowly. Oh, and some brandy butter, which I suggested Darllenwr use in a bread and butter pudding.
Just about the only Christmas food left in Sainsbury’s yesterday was mince pies, which were being sold off.
Husband has just returned from driving my son back to York 😢 and we will shortly be eating Shepherd’s pie.
We are having DSalmon en Croute, from Waitrose "reduced" shelf
* deer that kamikazed the 4x4 in early December and came out the loser - the butcher had the carcass and gave us a bag of venison steaks 🙂
@Curiosity killed - there were mushrooms reduced in Tesco's that were on today's date, and much as I like a bargain (and a mushroom), I didn't go for them, as I didn't think I'd use them in time. I can be a bit liberal with sell-by dates (unlike my sister, who's positively OCD about them), but not too liberal!
I watered down the liquid the gammon was cooked in on New Year's Day and turned it into a rather decent SOUP (see recipe upstairs), some of which I've just had for supper with homemade bread and indecent amounts of butter. I'm now contemplating the reduction of the Christmas pudding mountain. I suppose I could freeze some of it, but would I really want to be eating Christmas pudding in February without the company of a lit, decorated tree? I rather doubt it.
Got some CHEESE and oatcakes for later.
Nassty cold grey night it iss...we hates it, Preciouss, yess, we does...
And I really can't be bothered with the bones.
I clean out the microwave asap, and dispose of the bag likewise, so there really isn't any lingering smell (I hope...).
Boil in the bag. Especially if you have charcoal filters (to absorb odours) in your cooker hood (though I don't suppose it sorts the bone issue). My Dad used to like kippers, my Mum hated the smell. He was allowed boil in the bag once in a blue moon if she was out, on the grounds that the smell shouldn't linger. I remember wondering what all the fuss was about, so I tried them as a student (I was in lodgings: as I recall the landlady didn't complain). I still wondered what all the fuss was about.... I wasn't sufficiently bothered to want to be bothered again.
Yep, that's the spot. Apparently I had 2 removed as a child when they weren't budging for my adult teeth. Clearly stubborn buggers. If it wasn't for cosmetic considerations it's better out. I hadn't realised how much I was favouring it when eating.
ION, tea was smoked sausage toad-in-the-hole, roast celeriac, and onion gravy. A successful Yorkshire pud.
I'm sort of assuming the truffle in the fridge wasn't a chocolate truffle ...
ION I've ordered a dining table and 4 chairs from Am*z*n - at under £300 all in I hope I'm getting a bargain. Whether I'll be in to receive them may be a different matter; it said that "scheduled delivery" wasn't an option. Oh well - if I have to take a day off w*rk then so be it.
My dining table and chairs came from one of the local charity shops at £120 iirc - round pine table with central legs, four matching chairs and delivery for an extra not that huge big charge. Nice guys who rebuilt the table for me too. This was partly wanting to recycle, reuse and reduction of consumption, partly wanting something more solid than I could afford new.
Or should I just leave it outside with a note saying "free to a good home"?
I've a feeling we may regret it in the morning.
Is there anything I can do about this - should I re-order them?
I'll wait and see what happens now - I'll be really pissed off if I can't get them, as they were just what I wanted, and the order for the table seems to be going ahead.
I did wonder if DT's theory about the EU might be right, in which case thanks for nothing, Brexit. 😡
@Piglet has it right that I don't mean a chocolate truffle, but the tuberous delicacy dug up by a pig. The milk hadn't picked up so much of the flavour that the hot chocolate was ruined, but it had a definite earthy smell about it.
More likely from China or the Far East, I would think.
A dreadful day here, with much Weather occurring, in the form of R*in and a strong North-easterly Wind.
Comfort food is called for - I have just devoured a BACON sandwich (I fried the BACON on the stove! Shock! Horror! ), having earlier devoured two delicious croissants filled with CHEESE. These are sometimes (if you're lucky) to be found at the larger of our two local Co-Ops. Today was my lucky day...
We in Kent anxiously await news of our probable promotion to Covid Tier 5 (aka lockdown). It won't make a lot of difference to me personally, I guess, but FatherInCharge won't be too happy if churches have to close yet again. Still, needs must...
I took a trip out to Sainsbury's as I wanted one or two heavier things like milk, flour* and WINE, and had some more of the SOUP when I got back. I'm now contemplating making a chilli, and deciding whether to do it in the slow-cooker or on top of the stove.
Just as well I got milk, because when I went to make a cup of tea with what was in the fridge, it had Gawn Orf.
* I confess I'm sort of hoarding bread flour, but only because I now have a proper flour-bin, which will hold several bags' worth, and it might as well be well filled.
I may eat it before The Nation Is Addressed, by our beloved PM, at 8pm this very evening. Looks like lockdown 3 (or is it 4?) is imminent, if he can bring himself to make a decision.
Methinks Our Beloved Leader will put on his faux-Churchillian voice - it doesn't work.
If you're the PM, then yes...his conscious prevarication is world-beating.
However, if he says *Alas!* once more, I shall thcweam and thcweam and thcweam until I'm THICK!
However, with full lockdown being imminent, I've no idea when I'd be able to get help with assembling them!
I'd say BF's right about Boris - he'll probably hum and haw and waffle on about how it's all everyone's fault but his and then announce a lockdown starting at the beginning of February.
In fact I expect they're in there now, getting ahead of the announcement.
Why, then, the inevitable panic? Am I missing something here?
Memo to self: Elderflower Schnapps is not a drink to be trifled with.