Chitchat thread #24

[greenishfing]

Good morning all. It looks like a nice day here. Cold, 6°C, but sunny so far.

An overdue haircut for us both this morning. We missed our last appointment as Mr GF was not feeling well. Amazingly I have resisted hacking at my fringe.

One of my sisters is flying off to Australia today with her family to spend three weeks with our brother who has lived there for about thirty years. She is taking our other brother's ashes with her. This is an ongoing family saga. I just hope she manages to get them through aussie customs. She insists she has checked it all out and got all the necessary paperwork.......

Ground almonds Mothawk, I am not really a fan generally but used to love almond and cherry loaves that my mother used to make. In fact I think I'll annoy my other sister for the recipe.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Grory hop this morning, dehydrating apples and maybe jam making not to sure about anything else yet.

Enjoy your day.

[greenishfing]

Back again. Something jogged my memory that I'd asked my sister for this recipe before (cherry and almond loaf). This sister has got all the old family recipe books... and she couldn't find it among my mother's recipes but found one among my grandma's (mother's mother). She sent me this 3 years ago. When she sent it to me I realised which side of the family I got my disorganization from. No instructions..... okay....creaming method (predictive text keeps on insisting it's screaming method) I assume but I then realised that it didn't actually have any cherries listed among the ingredients!


Oh dear, my hairdresser has just texted to rearrange our appointment...she's poorly. I'll have to hide the scissors for another week now.

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Bright and sunny here and I've woken up in a much better mood than yesterday.

Mr Snoop has gone into the village on my behalf to pick up my deliveries. I made the bounty bar biscuits in the end. I got 75 fair sized biscuits out of a recipe that said for 48. They'd have to be huge to only get 48. Anyway, lots for assorted gifts and loads for the freezer. If you keep your hands off your scissors, GF, I'll try and do the same with the biscuits...

I use loads of ground almonds in assorted cakes. Tarta de Santiago is a good way to use them up. Separate four eggs and beat the whites to firm peaks. Gently fold in the yolks followed by 180 g of granulated sugar, 240 g ground almonds, zest of one lemon and 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon (latter is optional, I don't bother as I find it overwhelms the flavour a bit). Spread into a buttered and floured 22-24 cm round tin and bake 25-30 mins at 160 ºC/ mark 3. Dust with icing sugar if you want when cool, but I don't bother just for us. Served here as a dessert with a tiny glass of sweet wine on the side. I might have to make one this weekend now. Oops...

So, the day ahead here involves walking the dogs for starters. Then billing. Friend up the valley arriving this evening, so I have to come up with something for supper. Other friends say they'll drop in at some point today too. Already got biscuits and bread for them. So, a nice leisurely, sociable day.

Some of the smiles decided to stay put, but the others all shot off, full of the joys of autumn.

Have a great day, everyone.

Edited to add: Happy birthday to Mr Nicos.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

OH says ‘ta muchly’ Snoop Much appreciated.

We had intended on going out in the camper today but as yet we have no fixed plans. I’ve just finished preparing supper, so if we do end up going out, it will be easy enough to get supper on the go when we get back.

It rained here too overnight and has drizzled on and off since. More of an indoor sort of day tbh.

I decided in the end to get him a couple of home brew kits, but seeing as I had no idea what to get , I’ve left him goooogling for the past hour!. I’m guessing that’s part of the pleasure of that particular kind of gift.
He’s a happy bunny and that’s what counts eh?

Those cake recipes look very yummy- I’ve saved them! Thanks.

Best go and get the kettle on again. Do help yourselves….

[Bren In Pots]

Evening

Had a change of plan today no jam or dehydrating instead we went over to Hardwick Hall after the Grory hop.
It made a nice change, their kitchen garden had been hit badly frosted courgettes and squashes hit hard.
So back home I decided to cut my courgettes even though they were a bit small.

enjoy your evening.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

I've got my apples in the dehydrator next is my hair cut then I'll be in the garden because it looks like being fine all day.

enjoy your day.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Tis a dark and sploshy start to the day here.
Not quite sure what I’ll do today. Probably a bit of a potter. I like to potter. It means that lots of little jobs get struck off the list
Cant believe it’s almost weekend again - not that it makes any difference to me tbh.

My courgettes are still outside Bren and although we’ve had about 6 nights of frost so far they haven’t been hit. Probably because they are slightly protected . My crop this year has been utterly appalling - so I’m prepared to risk what is there with baited breath and crossed fingers that they’ll swell.( 6 picked courgettes from 4 plants so far is utter rubbish isn’t it?)

Hope everyone with painful arms are on the mend…..I guess so, as those smiles were whizzing by earlier on!
See ya later peeps….enjoy your day.

[greenishfing]

Good morning all. I feel awful this morning and hardly slept last night. Not a good start to the day.

Belated Happy Birthday to Mr Nicos. The home brew kits sound like a good idea and I'm sure he'll enjoy choosing his own.

I spent an hour or so yesterday on google looking for berbere spice mix. It's not available around here in any physical shops and I refuse to pay absolutely ridiculous postage for it to be delivered. While browsing herb and spice websites what amazed me was the price asked for Bay leaves compared to the size of the pack. I've just packed a jam jar tight with some of mine I've dried and there must be ten times the amount that they sell in a jar. I think all my friends/relatives that cook from scratch will get some as an extra present at Christmas. My tree is bigger than me and won't even notice. But after searching for the berbere spice mix I searched for recipes to make my own. Amazingly the only spice I haven't got in my drawer is fenugreek which is readily available at the supermarkets.

I was going to go care home visiting today but on second thoughts I'll wait until I feel more like a human again.

[lottie dolly]

Good morning all,nice and bright outside,oohh happy birthday MR Nicos,have fun with your pressi,thats new spice to me GF,will have to google,i could not settle in bed last night either,was up at silly hour then tried again gone 3.30 am,still took a while must have had aprox 4 hours all tolled,so today will be about what i feel like doing,so is a good job i have been good with the domestics this week,just a quick one round with the duster and vacume,looking forwards to some news by end of the day,ho hum,have a good day everyone

[greenishfing]

Good morning all,nice and bright outside,oohh happy birthday MR Nicos,have fun with your pressi,thats new spice to me GF,will have to google,

LD I wanted this spice mix to make the Doro Wat recipe that Snoop posted yesterday in the "cooking tonight" thread. I really fancy it although I can imagine Mr GF's eyes watering a bit.

[lottie dolly]

had quick google,and by what you just said,it sounds very hot and spicy,so a deffinate no no for me,thank you GF,

[greenishfing]

had quick google,and by what you just said,it sounds very hot and spicy,so a deffinate no no for me,thank you GF,

I think it will depend how much spice mix I use and how hot I make it. I always tend to err on the side of caution at first.

[Snoop Puss]

Evening all.

What a palaverful day! Sorry for turning up so late.

The original doro wat said 6 tsp of the spice mixture, but that is way, way too much. 3-4 is more than plenty. Don't ask me why, but it doro wat seems quite hot then everyone says 'yum' and tucks in. It's flavoursome rather than just hot. And you're right about the price ready-made, GF. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, last night and today have been a bit too eventful. Having lost his phone a couple of weeks back, Mr Snoop proceeded to lose mine yesterday evening. Either that or it was stolen. And it was switched on. All day trying to cancel the sim, order a new one, talk to my online bank in a bid to get them to freeze the account... Anyway, all sorted at last. A duplicate sim on the way. Mr Snoop says I can put it in his new dual-sim phone, save me the expense of buying another one...

So I'm not surprised you saw the smiles whizzing by, Nicos. They were keeping out the way. However, there are two good things to have come out of this. The company supplying my mobile phone service is miles better than Mr Snoop's old one and the new one he's signed up with. So, that in itself is worth knowing. Plus, I have an excuse to buy a new phone. My last one didn't have a compass sensor, so meant that I couldn't easily use sky map apps to identify constellations. I don't care about the camera and all that guff, what I want is a phone with a magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope. Already sounds like I know what I'm talking about, but I don't find apps easy to grasp. So fingers crossed it's all worth it. Otherwise I'll just be cursing and Mr Snoop will be keeping his head down...

Right, on with the rest of the evening. Have a good one, everyone.

[greenishfing]

^^^Snoop, a magnetoneter, accelerometer and gyroscope???? At first I thought dowsing maybe? Then accelerated dowsing and then drunken dowsing. Please tell us more.

I can understand why the smiles are in hiding though.....avoiding flak.

P.S. I am definitely NOT a scientist!!!