Chatback number 20

[Nicos]

French gas cylinder ovens are utter rubbish. Burn the bottom and the top is raw.

Makes for interesting roast potatoes!!!!
Flipping expensive too...there must be a technique!
We had one left in the house which was 20 years old but we quickly replaced it with a new one which was actually worse!!!!
we now have a second hand Smeg 5 burner with electric oven. Perfect!!!!!

Having said that...having easy access to our gites we actually have 4 cookers!!!...plus the bbqs
no excuse ever not to be able to produce a yummy meal eh?

[burnie]

Evening all, all this talk of cake means a raid on the kitchen is imminent , I can't cook for toffee but I'm a world specialist on eating them and find a fine Malt Whisky goes well with a cake.........................of any sort or flavour(about to try some chocolate chip rock cakes with a dram of Old Pultney). I may be gone for some time lol.

[Nicos]

We used to have a chunk of Cheshire, Lancashire or ( my personal favourite) Wensleydale cheese on our piece of Xmas cake. For those of you who have never done it , give it a go, yummy yum! It sort of balances the sweetness.
The French say the English love their "˜sweet and sour"™ mixing of flavours -I"™d never realised how true that actually is.

[Snoop Puss]

Mr Snoop loves cheese with cake, mince tarts and apple tart. As decent UK cheese isn't easy to get here, he has to make do with cream or Greek yogurt.

Anyway, morning all.

Bright blue out there today. Proper mizzle in the night but all gone now. The weeds are already growing back with all this damp.

Got a busy day ahead, with work and baking to make bribes for neighbours. So better get a shufty on.

Have a good one, everyone.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Very cloudy here. Pan's on now and purple cake for Prem Day next week later. Have a lovely Sunday

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

ts wet and windy here so i wont be going far today only to the GH for some lettuce.

Snoop i'm a fan of cheese and apple they sort of go together well, out of all the cheeses Stilton is my favourite it can be used in flans, bakes, soups and best of all toasted.

Enjoy your Sunday.

[greenishfing]

Another cheese lover here. Stilton, Wensleydale or Cheshire to go with fruitcake. Mature cheddar for everyday use. Mozzarella always in the fridge for topping pasta or pizza. Parmesan too. But my favourite cheeses are blue and particularly soft blue cheese like cambrozola.

The weather here today is awful again. Bucketing with rain.

[Nicos]

Mornin n"™alln"™all
hosepipe weather here...so heavy that the rain is leaking in through the new window

Gawd...what else can go wrong?

Apart from that, it"™s going to be a Xmas cake day , lit wood fire and jigsaw type of day. I need a bit of me time tbh.
Family WhatsApp later on and besties phone calls later too.

The locals here tend to eat their cheese with lettuce sploshed with vinegrette dressing. That works well with French cheeses.

[greenishfing]

While on the subject of cheese my sister got me a present earlier this year of a 3 month subscription to the "cheese geek". Once a month I got a cheese box delivered with about 5 different cheeses. It was brilliant particularly as this was during lockdown. I tried lots of new (to me) cheeses. I am still re-using the packaging when I deliver goodies to relatives (ice packs and insulation and the boxes).

[Nicos]

Gawd...what else can go wrong?

.

well...OH has just found our male quail dead

Maybe I should just play safe and clamber back into bed?????

[Snoop Puss]

Sounds like Friday the 13th is catching up with you, Nicos. But things have got to improve. Here, they'd tell you to go and buy a lottery ticket because you're due some good luck now.

As for cheese and salad, one my favourite dishes is lettuce, crumbled blue cheese - works well with an acidic one like Roquefort or similar - and chopped walnuts. Walnut season now too...

[lottie dolly]

Morning all,i like cheese,another thing is cellary with peanut butter,MMMMMMMM,i am not bothering with a christmas cake this year,any cake will do,after all,we only end up eating because it is there,and there is nothing wrong with a chocolate log,yum yum,come to my tum,got to whip a cake up shortly,is Mr birthday,the carer sang to him earlier on,next year is a big one and i so hope we have moved and not the covid problems,we also had our first proper viewing on friday,now awaiting feed back,am not getting exited this time,have a good afternoon,look in laters

[Nicos]

Happy Burpday Mr D!
give him a big hug from meeee!

Fingers crossed for Friday too lottie - wouldn"™t that be a wonderful early Xmas pressie!


And as for me....."™they"™ say,,.things happen in 3s....well the third thing to happen is that OH has used up all the plain flour and hadn"™t realised....so I "˜ve measured out all the Xmas cake ingredients and decided to soak the sultanas and apricots in Calvados.
I really don"™t want to go to the shops tomorrow but found a recipe just using SR flour....can anyone advise me please if there is anything I should do to compensate for the extra rising?
Its going to be a tomorrow job now ....just cos..

[greenishfing]

^^ I 'd just put in a bit bigger tin allowing for a bit more rise.

[rary]

Good afternoon, very wet but mild weather today haven't done much watched the church service than fried some ham for lunch then an afternoon reading, now starting to get dark but the rain is off so might go for a wee walk before I start making the tea, enjoy your evening'