Chitchat thread #24

[rary]

Good afternoon dull and overcast today, just home from church and about to have a bowl of carrot and leek soup, OH had a look at it and reckons its too thin after me blitzing it with a hand blender, so thinking of boiling up more carrot in a small portion of the soup then mashing it rather then blending, will think on that, while out at church I was talking to a friend about how. cold it was last week, he told me that he had an appointment at hospital through the week and to get there he had to catch a train to the next town and change trains which involved a twenty minute wait in the cold then when he reached Ayr he had anothe cold wait for half an hour waiting for a bus to take him to hospital, in the hospital for three hours then a return journey though fortunatly with slightly less waiting time, he is 93years of age still mobile and very independent, he has been told in the past and again today to phone me if he is going anywhere, his answer, I dont like disturbing folk, to which I pointed out its even more of a disturbance if I have to go to a funeral, as I might be asked to,say something nice about you, soups ready need to go🙂🙂🙂

[Nicos]

Rary- I tend to add tiny pasta to any soup that’s come out too liquid. Only takes a couple of minutes when it’s the tiny pasta

[Bren In Pots]

Rary there’s a few ways to thicken soup, potatoes, white beans, pasta, bread or cornstarch/flour.
I’ve tried all of them at some point and they seem to work fine.

[rary]

Would porridge oats do for thickening soup, though i like the idea of,using bread that way OH wouldn't know and keep telling me to cut down the bread😏😀😀

[mothhawk]

Morning all.

Am I first up, or is everyone busy this morning? Teapot's full and there's French bread rolls and H/M marmalade if anyone cares to join me.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Quick cook oats or oat flour ( normal oats ground up) might work Rary?
I sometimes do something similar to a French ‘thing’….dry bread with a melty cheese on top floating on top of a dish of soup then heated in the oven or microwave giving time for the dry bread to soak up some of the excess liquid.
I do have a few sachets of instant mash ( thinking of the advert of the Aliens laughing at earthlings peeling and smashing potatoes) and I have been known to sprinkle a bit of that in watery soup as an emergency measure.

This morning our home smells of bread …OH has been up for over three hours making a couple of sourdough loaves and a couple of Irish Soda bread. Just waiting for them to cool down…mmmmm…..

Our friend is coming over again…hopefully for two days …to help crack on with reducing the thickness of the doorframes for our new doors.
We’ve got to clear the fallen tree in the garden too whilst he’s doing that. Suddenly so much to do whilst it’s not raining/ snowing/ blowing a hooley…..Well, it’s not going anywhere soon on its own I suppose
I guess you know the feeling Snoop!

Apart from that, the day is my own

Anyone got their Xmas things out yet?….I’m hoping to by the end of the week.

So…who fancies a brew…..

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all, morning mothhawk.

Are those the rolls you were baking yesterday, mothhawk? I'll definitely have one if I may.

Cloudy today but distinctly warmer. Only a touch of frost down in the fields this morning. Wild weather coming by the look of it, though. I'll just turn a blind eye to it for the moment in the hope that it'll change its mind.

Got a really busy day today. I have all these plans about what I'm going to do but never get to the end of the list. Anyway, I'll just turn a blind eye to that too and just do what I can. With any luck, there's always tomorrow.

Have a great day, everyone.

[Nicos]

Homemade marmalade MH???….yummy! ( sorry- didn’t see your post there)

Looks like we’re all getting into the baking mode

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

I do love the smell of fresh baked bread. Toast and peanut butter here for breakfast, but I wouldn't say no to another mug of tea.

Enjoy your day

[greenishfing]

Good morning all.

It's 8°C and miserable with it. It's supposed to start raining in a couple of hours but it's already been raining for a couple of hours.

Snoop, you really ought to visit the optician to sort out your blind eyes ...... or maybe not. I'm sure they'll resolve themselves.

I never got around to making more Christmas puddings yesterday as I forgot to put some butter to freeze. Now I've found out that it's a lot easier to use after only 2 hours freezing it's remembering 2 hours in advance. My brother in Australia should be getting his this week.

I was watching a TV program about Christmas, 1981, last night. I'd forgotten all about the snowy weather that year. The memories flooded back. I was in my twenties, living in Bradford, and about 6 of us, all young, single and child free workmates, ended up living communally for about a week, even going to see Les Dawson in pantomime together .... and taking sleeping bags to keep warm. Such fun times.

Back to reality now....now. Time to make more coffee.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Raining here. Dentist for me later, but nothing major! Have a good day

[Nicos]

If I recall correctly, I was living in central Cardiff that winter gf…the snow had drifted right up to the top of the front door
Cars parked in the street were small mounds with wing mirrors sticking out the side.
I had to walk ( more like trudge) to the nearest major hospital as I was the only senior member of staff in my department who made it in to work- certainly until lunchtime.
They had official ‘snow days’ back then so it was ok if you couldn’t make it in to work.
Local charities came and gave the workers milk , bread and eggs for their efforts. Can’t imagine that happening nowadays!

[Snoop Puss]

I've got nicer memories of that winter. Walks along the canal and in the hills and forest around the town where Mr Snoop lived. We had friends from London on a flying visit. Not the kind of weather they'd ever seen in London. Lovely photos of us all grinning our chops off. Don't think we'd do that today. Don't think even the dog would enjoy it. Although we might be able to give it a try next week if the forecasts prove right...

[Snoop Puss]

Good luck at the dentist, by the way, Flo. Sorry. Only just spotted your message.

[Florence Fennel]

Thanks Snoop, back and sorted for now. More work needed, but not today Not sure what I'll do with the rest of today, but first thing will be treating the Ginger visitor.