Chitchat thread #24

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All and Happy Friday The paper is brilliant Bren, thank you. All the misshapen ones were eaten when the GGs came yesterday to collect Nicos, sorry! They're having the Baby Shower in a tea shop in Doncaster today, but weren't sure whether there would be a Vegan option. I hope it's not a taking coal to Newcastle occasion Have a good day All

[greenishfing]

Good morning all.

A very grey and chilly morning, but no frost for a change. I had a lousy night's sleep. I awoke at 2am and could not drop back off for hours. I ended up just laying there listening to "Jamaica Inn" on BBC sounds. Consequently I was in no hurry to surface this morning.

It's the 97th birthday of an old friend of Mr GF's tomorrow. He only lives about half a mile away. An independent old man who lives on his own, (his daughter and son in law only live up the road) and still cuts his own grass with a ride on mower. I know his favourite foods so I think I'll make him a fruitcake that he can share with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren when they visit......they won't get much...... as he gets very possessive over cake.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to "God's own country", Nicos. Did you find any exciting "goodies" to take back?

I think for elevenses I'll cut the date and walnut loaf I made yesterday.....just to make sure it's edible.😉🙂

[bramble]

Good morning all,
Not a lot on the cards today.
Laundry is out and quite breezy so should be dry shortly.
Off out for a walk to the post office.
Have a good day all.

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

No frost, Nicos? The ground is rock hard here. Sunny, at least. But so very, very cold. The solar panels are still covered in snow, so fingers crossed the sun sorts that out soon. The smiles had great fun this morning. I reckon icy patches are treacherous but the smiles think they make a great slide.

The usual on the cards today. With any luck I'll clear a couple of items.

Catch you all later. Have a great day.

[mothhawk]

Morning all.

I'm just back form a walk and the air certainly felt raw, as my mum would say, and to my annoyance, as I sit here with a warming cuppa, the sun has come out to warm up the day. Nothing on the cards to do today, my bro visited yesterday so caught up with all his news, and then my sis called from Florida, so got all her news too.

I'll do a bit of knitting later. I'm trying a vintage cardigan pattern that is knitted all in one rather than back and two fronts, so a lot of stitches all at once, and I'm using a circular needle, which I've never been keen on. I'm quite itching to try a jumper knitted in the round, to have a go with double pointed needles, which I've never done, but I haven't found a pattern I like yet. Modern patterns are so shapeless, no tailoring at all, looking at some pictures, the garments just hang off the models like blankets.

[Florence Fennel]

There's a coincidence MH. We watched an American film last week (Chestnut - don't bother it's aimed at children, but Himself loved it), and the foster mother was knitting a jumper on two needles, in one. I said it was artistic licence as it couldn't be done - I stand corrected!

[greenishfing]

Mothawk, I've knitted both on circular needles and in the round on double pointed needles in the distant past. I only did it once for each because I find I am more comfortable using extra long needles and tucking the right hand needle under my arm. Having said this I am an unconventional (a.k.a. weird) knitter as I sort of mostly knit right handed but according to the ancient relatives, when I was a child, not properly. The trials of being a "leftie" with all right handed relatives. The double ended needle sweater was knitted up to the arm holes in seperate parts on ordinary needles and then all joined together into a massive yolk. I never make things easy ...it was also Fair Isle. My only real memory of it was....never again.

I have found lots of wonderful vintage knitting patterns on Ebay in the past. My mother, supposedly by accident, threw away all my old patterns when helping me sort out some things I'd stored away once.

[Nicos]

Gf…it was lovely having access to typical uk foods!…We brought back certain flour which we can’t get here….quite a few groceries which we can’t get or if we can are about 6x the price ( eg baked beans!) Persil washing powder….can’t find anything here I like…
Quite a few bits and bobs ( lined paper !!! - it’s squared or plain here bizzarly) but there are a lot of restrictions these days so no meat/ dairy at all which something I miss.
Funnily enough I’ve brought back some Guinness it’s unusual in that it’s Coffee Guinness. Never seen it before so we bought some for the family to try and they loved it. I’m having a dry February so I brought some back for me to try next month! I love Guinness, including the alcohol free one so thus should be interesting.

Flo…your vegan cakes reminded me of the time I made a pile of chocolate muffins for the guests in the gites. Took me all morning decorating them etc …only to be told by one of the families that they were vegan ….well, I could hardly take them away as if nothing had happened…so I started again with a vegan recipe. All flippin morning during a heatwave on a quick impulse bake….
That’ll teach me not to presume again!
We seem to be having many more vegans as guests, so much so that we’re going to need to buy a spare bbq grill as many won’t use one used for meat even though it’s scrubbed clean. Also I hadn’t realised honey isn’t vegan…so have to hunt for honey free breakfast mueslis etc…Its a massive learning curve for me as a meat eater! Also… No jam cooked with a splodge of butter to reduce scum….so many things to be aware of!

[Florence Fennel]

Interesting - bee farming is exploitation of bees? Maple syrup seems to be the popular replacement. I even had to buy a different cocoa powder.

[greenishfing]

Nicos, you got me thinking about catering for vegans. I never have although I have cooked a meal for a coeliac and for someone with an egg allergy.

We have two non meat eaters in our extended family, but they'll eat fish and seafood, and I've a sister who doesn't eat prawns or strawberries as they bring her out in a rash...I only discovered this by accident when cooking beer battered prawns at our allotment one day as part of a big buffet and she said the batter looked so good would I throw her handful of onion rings in that she'd grabbed off one of the salads as she couldn't eat prawns. Our family have always cooked buffet or carvery type meals where everyone helps themselves so generally everybody ends up happy and we all cook from scratch so we know what ingredients we've used. But vegans would struggle with our food and I do think that needing seperate cooking equipment is a step too far. I think if I wanted to eat with a strict vegan I'd suggest a meal at a restaurant of their choice instead.

I may be wrong, and it isn't forecast at all but l'm sure I saw/felt the odd snowflake when I was feeding the birds earlier.

[rary]

Good afternoon, another dry but dull day today,I have Solar panels as well Snoop, I have had the panels for more than ten years and I have just received the lowest payment in all that time from them, as there have been very few days with sunshine, in the past three months.
Was getting ready to go out this morning as OH has decided she wants a new ottoman, when daughter dropped by, as the schools are on holiday she was out walking the dogs, which saved me having to do it later, so made a cup of coffee then found out she wanted some sandpaper, she is now away with what I had left, I have told her that B&Q have so much that they are selling it, but I think she's a wee bit like her mother and didn't listen to what I said😒, once she went back out so went out we headed out and as it was almost midday I decided to let her buy me lunch, once finished I went to pay (OH gave me the money) there was a near neighbour in the queue so was talking to her when someone touched my side, I went to pieces with that, the person who had touched me thought I had a sore side and was so busy apologising till I told him I was fine it just that I am very tickely, he said he just wanted to know if I was in the queue for the till but was quite happy to wait just incase someone else touched and he could enjoy the reaction Finaly we got out went shopping but found nothing suitable so guess who might be out shopping again tomorrow well enjoy the rest of the day and remember to pass on some smiles

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Brrr…we have frost again. That was unexpected!
Good news is that no rain is forecast all week so I can hopefully get a lawn cut in at some point soon.

Anyone fancy a brew?….I’m just about to make one….
I spotted the smiles overhead at dawn!…I thought they were shooting stars as they were in such a hurry!…Clearly got lots to do today.

Anyone up to no good this weekend?
Try not to spend too much Rary…it’s not good for you .

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

I think those smiles were in a hurry to try and stay warm, Nicos. It is perishing cold here. Coldest night for years. Minus 6.1 in our sheltered corral. We're off out shopping, but going to be ages before the frost on the car thaws in the sun. Not doing it by hand, that's for sure.

The temperatures were due to rise, so I didn't cover the caulis in the end. Fingers crossed they're OK...

Shopping, bit of paid work and then cooking on the cards for today. Italian friend coming for lunch tomorrow, so will do a bit of cooking in preparation for that today.

Hope you're all doing well. Have a great day.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Snoop we've not had temperatures that low for years here, hope your car soon thaws out.

No plans here Nicos just some house and garden tidying to do then a out for a stroll later. No baking oday just making a batch of soup for lunchtimes.

Enjoy your day.

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

9°C here with sunshine and cloud forecast. No sign of any sun yet but maybe later.

I made a fruitcake last night for the old guy who's 97 today. It smelled delicious while it was cooking. We'll call round and see him when we go get a newspaper shortly.

Rary, you have my sympathy....shopping on a Saturday. I hate shopping of any kind at the weekend, too busy and too many children around. We've got the ottoman style bed base which I think is a brilliant idea. The amount of "stuff" that fits in there is amazing. One side for spare bedding and the other for Christmas decorations. It always amazes me how it lifts so easily, even with the weight of the mattress on it which I would never be able to lift.

Mr GF is drooling over James Martin's food at the moment. I'm sure he'll have some new requests by the end of the programme.

Off to make more coffee.