Chitchat thread #24

[Snoop Puss]

I shall have to satisfy my curiosity now and make breakfast custard, maybe not at breakfast but for supper with some salad. I'll let you all know. It does sound very odd, though, with baking powder, although maybe that makes it a bit less risky than a soufflé.

[Jay22]

Afternoon all, beautiful warm day here.
Breakfast custard made me think of soufflé Snoop so maybe that’s what it is?
Glad to hear you’re feeling better GF, nothing worse than a hangover!!!
Hooe you are all having a lovely day!! x

[Nicos]

Evenin n’alln’all

We ended up having a really hot day!. Fortunately we’d decided to take out the camper once the hospital appt was over. Being very naughty we accidentally bought croissants,pain au raisin and apricot custard tart for brunch! Someone we won’t mention only nipped into the patisserie for a seeded baguette
We found a large parking area next to a fishing lake, had a picnic brunch, then a gentle walk around the lake in the sunshine. It was lovely.

Breakfast custard?…never heard of it either!…I love custard!…I’d be interested to hear about it more.

Speaking of food - I best get something together for supper. Just need to move the big bag of pine cones I picked up yesterday. They’ll make good fire lighters….

[Jay22]

Meant to say, thanks everyone for the apple advice!

Sounds like a great day Nicos!

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Am I really first up?
Well ..the kettles just boiled - so help yourselves

Tis another Mrs Mop day today.Both gites. I gave the washing machine a loving hug …can you imagine having to do it all by hand????

The weather is looking great again so , as we have no one arriving today once we’re done I’m going to sprawl out in the garden and read. Well- that’s the plan!…no doubt I’ll end up weeding or something!

Enjoy your day peeps. Nice thought yesterday Snoop about Snadge, Rary and Flo….Janie too….they are still very much part of the Vine and we’ll be thrilled to hear from them. I say hi too if they are popping in but not posting.

Right…best get that tea downed and crack on….
see ya later peeps!

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

I've been in the garden picking apples todays plan is to get the dehydrator going, freezing the smaller slices then puree the bits.

Enjoy your afternoon reading Nicos and don't let those weeds distract you

[greenishfing]

Good morning all. I never went food shopping yesterday as when I checked on Google it appeared the supermarket was very busy. I'll go either today or tomorrow. We've got plenty milk and lots of food in the freezers to use.

Today though I really hope the hearing aid clinic is going to clear out Mr GF's ears so that I can stop having to shout at him. It will be interesting to find out what is in there as the nurse in the doctor's surgery said not a lot and the hearing aid clinic said they were full of wax. There must be something there ..... I can't see all the way through.....and he's deaf as a post.

Another pleasant but dry day forecast with a possibility of rain showers tonight.

I must also brace myself for the price shock and fill the car with petrol this week.😱

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Good luck at the hearing aid clinic, GF. I was once told I had a stone in one of my ears. The examining doctor couldn't believe it, but nor did he do anything about it. Next time someone looked in my ears, they thought I was bonkers when I asked if the stone was still there. It had gone - presumably dropped out when I was lying on my side one night - and they didn't believe me that it had ever been there.

On the cards for today: phone the dentist. No excuse not to today...

A few more smiles turned up late last night. They were a bit sheepish. No idea where they've been and they wouldn't say. Gone again this morning, so I hope they're back to doing the usual rounds.

Have a great day, everyone.

[bramble]

Good mor ing all.
The tomatoes in the greenhouse are watered.
I am off out with my friends to do some line dancing.

Nicos, dont let the weeds distract you, they will still be there tomorrow, just a bit bigger.

Snoop, make that call, the dentists are so great now at what they do.

Good look at the hearing aid centre, my mother was deaf and we used have to shout at her, so wearing.

Have a good day all.

[greenishfing]

Oh Joy!!!! I'm not sure who is happier, me or Mr GF. He can hear again and I don't have to shout any more....or be deafened by music or the TV. 😊😊😊😊😊

[Nicos]

Fantastic news gf!
No doubt Mr gf is equally as happy as you are. It must be so frustrating for him missing out on things he actually wants to hear.

So Snoop…did you make that call? If not, give me the number and I’ll make that appointment for you! It’s too stressful putting it off. A burden in reality. You’ll be glad once it’s all behind you.
How strange about having a stone in your ear. Very unusual. I have heard that ears are ‘self cleaning’ so I imagine that’s why the dr did nothing about it…but you’d think they’d be excited to have something different to poke around with

Bramble and Bren…guess who did no weeding today! Yippee!
Thanks for giving me permission if you know what I mean, I sometimes don’t allow myself any me time especially when there is so much needing doing.

Looks like the bbq is ready….enjoy your evening peeps - I know I will.

[Bren In Pots]

Evening

Congrats Nicos isn't it difficult to ignore the garden and just sit back and enjoying it.

I've finished dehydrating the apples just waiting for them to cool before storing, puree's been frozen and i've cooked apples and blackberries I'll turn those into jam once they've cooled enough to go through the sieve. I hate seeds
Its odd to think last year we only had 5 apples between two trees this year theres plenty to share with family and friends.

Enjoy your evening and did you get your appointment Snoop.

[Snoop Puss]

No on booking the appointment. It occurred to me this morning that I'm waiting for a delivery of stuff from the UK and it should be here any day. So I'll wait till then. I'm not in any pain, by the way.

Did someone mention straining blackberries for use in crumble the other day? I've discovered a bramble patch near our well where the blackberries are smallish and very pippy, but quite tasty. Quite like the idea of straining them for crumbles, if that's worth doing, and perhaps even crème de mûre (blackberry liqueur).

[bramble]

It's been a beautiful sunny day here
.
Gathered another lot of blackberries.

Snoop, yes, I was putting a lot of blackberries through the sieve.
Ended up with 10 pots of bramble jelly,

Bren, I boiled my windfall apples this afternoon and will be making apple and strawberry jam.

Glad to hear Mr GF has his hearing aids sorted, my mother used to have the TV turned up to a very high volumn.

Nicos, my OH is always telling me to sit, rather than work in the garden.
Old habits die hard I guess.

[Nicos]

Bramble - do you cook your blackberries first to help release their juices before pushing them into the sieve?

On bumper crop years I’ve frozen some of the juice into ice cubes .
Very handy to defrost and add when making any fruit dessert or even adding to a different fruit jam to subtly change the flavour.
I’ve even added the cubes into water instead of an ice cube when I fancy a cold drink.
Nice too in a shot of gin or vodka with or without tonic in place of ice.

Tomorrow is my day for freezing down a large batch of windfalls. Doesn’t the house smell wonderful when you’re doing it?
That’ll be after bagging up several trays of lamb meat for the freezer.

Last day of August tomorrow - wow, that happened suddenly.

Sleep well peeps - see you in the morning