Chitchat thread #24

[greenishfing]

Thank you for the good wishes for Mr GF. We've been to see his brother and called at the chemist's.

Here is Colin the Caterpillar before his demise!



He has now been chopped up slightly.

[mothhawk]

Happy Birthday to Mr GF! Any cake left? I'd settle for a foot even.

[mothhawk]

While I was out for a walk today, I spotted a fleet of UFOs low in the distance ...

[Snoop Puss]

Best looking caterpillar I've ever seen! I'm clearly in the wrong household tonight.

Love your UFOs, MH. We sometimes get an armada of galleons sailing by. I shall try and take a photo next time.

[Armorel]

Hi all, just a quick pop in before going to bed

I made a green soup with green lentils and celery this morning, so after a night in the fridge to let the flavours develop, I'l blitz it tomorrow with the stick blender. I also made an All Bran loaf which is incredibly simple and delicious, hubby loves it with a slather of butter. My Mum used to make it in the 1970s and I searched for the recipe online. It was OK but a few tweaks (dark brown soft sugar instead of caster, flame raisins instead of ordinary raisins) made it so much better. I think I've got the recipe just about right now. Since I started making it again, I make one every Monday which keeps hubby happy for a week. The funniest thing is that he fasts from Sunday dinner until Monday dinner so the tempting smell of baking All Bran loaf permeates the house. He swears off all sweet stuff and sticks to savoury. How he withstands it, I don't know. But he says he will enjoy a slice tomorrow

It was sunny here in Cornwall until mid afternoon and the solar gain from our patio windows took the temperature indoors up to a balmy 22 degrees Celsius - very nice

Had a stroll early evening and saw lots of sycamore seeds and acorns on the roads and pavements around the area. I think Storm Amy was responsible for most of that. Our back garden seems to be accumulating them and lots of leaves too so we'll have to deploy the broom to sweep them up.

My nerine 'Lipstick' is just opening its first flower - so pretty in pink and white. There are buds on my Christmas cactus too

Happy birthday Mr GF! Hope everyone is well and enjoying this calmer milder autumn weather.

[Nicos]

Great piccie MH!
We get a lot of ‘The Simpsons’ clouds…..white and fluffy with a flat bottom.

GF….yummy yumm…I’ve not had one for years!

Talking of flowers- we drove through a forest today and spotted a horse chestnut tree with most of its leaves gone….but covered in many candle flowers. I wish I’d taken a photo of it now

For all the other insomniacs on here…just thought I’d mention I’m pretty sure that it’s a full moon tonight!

Time for the land of nod…hopefully
sleep tight…bedbugs bite n’alln’all ….

[greenishfing]

Good evening all.

Loads of cake left, particularly all the white chocolate bits. Help yourselves, but I'm saving a bit to take round for my brother in law. My sister, who bought the cake, says it's always been her favourite birthday cake, even though she's a great cook and baker. She even gets one to celebrate her dog's birthday, although the dog gets dog treats and the humans eat the cake. I sent her a picture of Mr GF blowing out his candles.

When we went out earlier there was a definite chill in the air, but the car, which had been sitting in the sunshine was a hotbox.

A full moon tonight, Nicos. I wonder if it does make a difference. Werewolves and lunatics?

I like your UFOs, mothhawk. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was my favourite film when it first came to the cinemas.

Mr GF thanks everyone for wishing him Happy Birthday.

Bedtime shortly, I've just checked my online shopping list that's coming in the morning. When I book my slot I make a basic list, and then over the next few days I tend to add lots of other bits, and then the night before delivery I actually check what I've got left in the fridge and freezer and do a final edit.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Just let Hibou out …and in…and out….and in… and then fed her.
Anyway , she’s tucked up on the sofa so I might actually be able to grab another hours sleep once I’ve had my brew.

I’ve got water filtering so I can make more apple cider vinegar today. The last batch is delicious …it’s actually for the hens but I’m going to start drinking some in water everyday, so I’ll probably make at least a couple more batches.

Yesterday there were hunters nearby which prompted us to think about going mushroom picking on Friday if the weather is still ok. There are designated hunting days here and one of them isn’t a Friday . Walking through woods and forests isn’t allowed on those days for obvious reasons. Weekend is never a good day for mushrooming as there are so many people hunting for them…so Friday is our designated day unless we get rained off. Pity we can’t go before then but we’ve got a lot of other things on this week.

We cancelled the heating engineer for today…we do have heat and hot water but the timer/ thermostat isn’t talking to the boiler. Still…it can wait , and the receptionist was really chuffed/ grateful and thanked us as their engineers are worked off their feet with people with no heating at all. We’ll call back in a few weeks unless it actually completely stops working!

Today we have to take the car in for a puncture repair- it has a big nail sticking out of it…..and I’m finally getting around to applying for a new passport. All done online apart from sending in those last few bits of info and, of course my old passport.

We did a very quick grory hop yesterday - well OH did- so we have no need to go out today apart from sorting the puncture and recorded delivery. We’ve no rain forecast so I’m going to focus on gardening and vinegar making.

Is it too early to have a nibble of your white chocolate GF…maybe even a tiny piece of the cake? ( wouldn't want to be too greedy)

Enjoy your day peeps- let’s share our smiles

[Snoop Puss]

Morning Nicos, morning all.

I wondered if it was a full moon last night but think it's actually tonight. Chilly last night. Two cats on the bed and one of them insisting on a cuddle right now. I do love the sound of a happy cat.

I do need to try and get through more work today. But on a positive note the firewood delivery man should be arriving today. My impression is he won't be bringing us a full delivery but enough to see us right for a bit. So I suspect the smiles will be hot-footing it back home early this evening. I shooed them out a while ago to make sure they do their full rounds. So I hope you get a good dose of them.

Have a great day, everyone.

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

Not the best night's sleep, but certainly not the worst either, full moon or not.

Nicos, help yourself to cake, including chocolate. I've just looked at the weather forecast. No rain forecast for the next week!

I've just checked my emails. Everything I ordered in my grory hop will be arriving between 10am and 11am. No substitutions or short dates. I'm going to try and sneak another hour of sleep now.
See you all later.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

After reading BBC news It seems we won't be having our Covid jab today its for those over 75 unless you have certain health conditions. I didn't spot that info when booking and it looks like a lot of others didn't either.
Here's a quote and a link to the article, hopefully things will go smoothly at our pharmacy.

'In response to the problems, NHS England said the wording on the website had been changed to make it clearer the eligibility criteria had been tightened'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm28q5gqvppo

I made a green soup with green lentils and celery this morning, so after a night in the fridge to let the flavours develop, I'l blitz it tomorrow with the stick blender. .

I'm another soup fan, today its a Jerusalem artichoke soup using some hiding in the freezer from last year. I've not tried blitzing lentils i usually add them to stews but will give it a go.

enjoy your day

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Very cloudy here so hoping it brightens up later. Have a good day

[Nicos]

Bren…I’ve just had my RSV injection. Not free here as it’s only for babies apparently.
Anyway…special order and it cost us just under 200€ for us both.

I did check to see if we could have it at Boots when we were over ( no prescription needed) and it would have cost more than that for a private injection ( being non residents)….but worth knowing anyway.

[Nicos]

Snoop Puss …or anyone else please!

We have finally got around to replacing the seal on our pressure cooker ( after 15 years !)
Anyway…I thought I’d give it a try for a steamed apple sponge pudding. I’d normally steam it in a pan with a lid for about 3 hrs…how long do you reckon for a pressure cooker? 25/30 mins ?…or might it come out like rubber?
Its a 1995 Fissler with a built in pressure valve and I’ve only used it about 10 times …so absolutely no idea what to do with it!


My previous one had a wobbly pressure thing in the middle with an escape valve thingy so I knew to reduce the heat with that or wobble the weight if it hissed too vigorously.
I’m a bit scared of it in all honesty…but it does still look pristine and so stupid not to have braved using it after all these years

Any advice would really be appreciated xx

[Snoop Puss]

That is a beauty of a pressure cooker. But sadly, I don't think you would get very good results from it if you're cooking a sponge pudding. There's info in the link below, but in short you'd need to steam it traditionally for some of the time before steaming it under pressure. A built-in valve means you can't steam it traditionally, as the valve will pop up. I suppose you could steam it separately first. Timings and info here:

https://www.nigella.com/ask/steamed-...ressure-cooker

My pressure cookers are in the same style, but a different brand. Don't be scared of it. They're supremely safe.The only thing will be make sure you don't overfill it. Check the instructions or look online for your model.