Chitchat thread #24

[bramble]

Good night all.
It was very busy in town today and I really should have known better than going on a bank holiday weekend.
Our city is absolutely packed with holidaymakers.
I browsed the bookshop and bought Dr Suas The Cat in the Hat to start reading to my grandson.

Spent an hour in the garden deadheading and watering.

Bren, so pleased to her you and Mr are feeling better.

Lottie if you need Stronge painkillers, even for a short time ask your doctor. Dont suffering in silence.

Snoop, good luck with your new mixer.
Have a good night all.

[Nicos]

Hi there everyone - sorry I’ve not been around for a couple of days but we decided to head off in the campervan between changeovers.
Frustratingly it had near enough as no internet
Just wanted to say hi to everyone and I’ll catch up tomorrow.
Our bit of fantastic news is that it rained at home whilst we were away. Darn…we missed it, but the garden certainly didnt!

Sleep well - see you tomorrow

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
Well back to the dentist on Mon 01/08 looks like that third probable is a definite as a chunk decided to depart while I was attempting a chew on the last work I had done Ah! Well......

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend.....

Geoff.

[greenishfing]

Morning all. I went to bed early last night and slept, but I've been awake since 4 am, tossing and turning. Mr GF has just made me coffee though so the world is a happy place. Weather wise, however, what a grey day. 16°C and drizzling. I'd rather have this though than the 39°C of a couple of weeks ago.

Lottie, I hope you get your pain under control.

Bren, I hope you get back to normal soon.

Snoop, let us know how the dough turned out.

See you later.

[mothhawk]

Morning all.

The washing machine is earning its keep, the vaccuum cleaner is back in the cupboard having a well-earned sleep again, and I'm having a brew before embarking on the ironing.

I watered one of my thymes this morning, it's quite a big plant in a very dry spot and looks as if it might have died off. It's gone very brown, so I hope it will recover.

Hope everyone's enjoying this cooler weather as much as I am

[bramble]

Good morning olly its rining and dull here.
No plans for the day, it depends on the weather,
It's a bank holiday weekend here so family will probably visit.

GF, theres nothing worse than tossing and turning in bed when you are unable to sleep,
I usually make a cup of tea and read,

Have a good day all.

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

So, the dough. Well, the focaccia was not a success. It came out quite dense but I could tell very early on there was a problem with the yeast. Well in date and in its own little sachet but next to no rise. Leaving it to prove longer made no difference.And we haven't tried the pizza dough, but it seems too firm to me. The pizza dough recipe came highly rated from a Spanish friend. A new recipe to me with four kneads with rests in between, salt added in the last one. But when I came to do the last knead, I could see the dough was ready and didn't need any more kneading, but it had no salt. So I had to work that in, meaning too much gluten development. It's sitting in the fridge.and I'll leave it for another day or so in the hope that it'll relax a bit. In the meantime, I'll make a quick pizza dough for tonight instead, as I've invited our Italian friend round. So pizza it must be!

The machine's kneading action is different to the Kenwood and I knew there would be a learning curve. Shame about the yeast though, because otherwise I think the focaccia would have been really good. I'm going to make a recipe I'm familiar with this afternoon and cut down on the flour a bit and also less kneading.

What has been a total success is the coconut and chocolate cookies I made this morning... They've come out tasting like Bounty bars and all for three small chocolate drops apiece. Now comes the hard part - not eating them too quickly. The smiles left very late as they were waiting for them to emerge from the oven. Hope they left in good enough time to do the full round, even Nicos if they can find you!

Right, better get the rest of the day on the road. Hope you're all doing well and having fun.

[lottie dolly]

Afternoon all,you sure got the bread knowledge Snoop,thats one thing i cannot make,well done you,i rather like the sound of them cookies,pain is a bit more releived but far from right with the traped nervers,have made myself do a bit more in the garden,still very floaty headed,i still waiting for results of he water test,i hate being like this,it realy does go against the grain,see what happens after the weekend,i seem to be sleeping rather a lot again,anyhow,only 1 way to go and itsupwards ,been sitting doing some more work with yarn for my up comming project,when someone is free to help me sort out issues i have with uploading pics,from my phone and finding them to use from the computor i will show you what i am up tpp,the fault is mine not this site hahaha,stay safe all and look after yourselves

[bramble]

Oh Lottie, you really are a trooper.
Dont overdo it though it will only come back to bitec you on the bum.
I think you andd me are about the same age and I know I pay dearly if I overdo it.

Snoop, I love the sound oftheunxyou made, wish I lived closer.

Have a good evening sll, its lashing rain here.

[Nicos]

Pre mornin n’alln’all

Another non sleeper here at the moment

I spotted the smiles yesterday Snoop - they were playing with the leaves dropping off the cherry tree!
The cherry leaves seem to be turning yellow/red earlier this year, but nothing surprises me much in the garden at the moment given the weather we’ve had!
The campsite was covered with loads of dead sweet chestnut leaves too.
Yesterday I was sweeping up fallen desiccated cherries off the lawn and spotted some fox scat full of cherry stones. Good to know the wildlife is benefitting from them. I left them to one side so it could still feast on them - although the wasps are enjoying them too by day!

Positive thoughts to all of you struggling with your health at the moment - speedy recovery x

Send some of your rain this way please peeps, our soil is rock solid even after the quick downpour of the other day.

Not sure yet what tomorrow will bring apart from a quick grory hop at the local store.
Oh, and by the way….whoever that is who is snoring, could someone kindly either roll them over or give them a quick dig in their ribs
please? Ta muchly!

[greenishfing]

Another here who has struggled to stay asleep. I kept wondering if a smile might float past and lob a coconut and chocolate cookie my way in passing. They sound amazing I'd hate poor old Snoop to have to struggle to eat them all.

It's quite Autumnal here.....grey and wet. Unbelievably I've stopped moaning about rain....for now.

[Nicos]

Te he gf…..I kept thinking about those cookies myself! I do love a Bounty bar.
Funnily enough they remind me of my granny. Nope - she didn’t eat them but could make a Brazil nut last all day sucking the bits out of her teeth. I’m much the same with coconut!

Tis grey here too but bone dry and warm.
OH is thinking about doing a bbq so no doubt that will be his equivalent of a rain dance?

[Snoop Puss]

Right, I'll share the cookie recipe but it's not a diet recipe. Where should it go? Over on the what's for supper thread? Or a blog post, as Bren has been saving those somewhere, I believe?

Anyway, in the end, the pizza dough that I thought was going to be a failure was a huge success. So that's good news. Just need to be more confident, I guess. My first go with Manitoba flour. Tremendous flavour. There's still more dough in the fridge and I've portioned up and frozen the second lot of dough I made just in case the first lot was a disaster.

A bit hot here today and I still haven't watered. But I had difficulty sleeping after all the cheese on the pizzas last night so slept late this morning. Was a really good do, though. So not sorry. Don't think it would have been me snoring at that time, Nicos, but definitely me later on.

I have no idea what time the smiles left as I was still in the land of nod. Hope they find you all jolly. Sorry they can't carry cookies. They'd be doing me a favour if they could. I'll be taking a bag full down to the neighbours to reduce temptation. The husband has an amazing metabolism. He can eat a whole Delia carrot cake on his own in two days and not put on even a gram of weight. He is as thin as a rake. Our Italian friend is the same.

Some people have the gift of the carbs. Not me. Back on the weekday diet tomorrow in theory. Better be a small pizza for lunch, then... Mr Snoop is made up, all this bread and pizza about the house.

On the cards for today here is watering first off. Some paid work after that. And then an eyelid inspection, as Rary would put it.

Have a great day, everyone.

[bramble]

Good morning all.
We had a good amount of rainfall overnight.
It has stopped now but it's still fairly dull and overcast,
No plans for the day so far, but that may change.
Of tithe church shortly and then No 1 grandson is coming for lunch.
Have a good day all.

[greenishfing]

Nicos, I know what you mean about coconut sticking in your teeth......that is my excuse for eating vast amounts at once instead of bit at a time. I was given a box of celebrations at Christmas and I had to hide all the mini bounty wrappers from Mr GF out of embarassment.