Chitchat thread #24

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Sunny here but very cold. We got a beautiful home made written invitation to Christmas Dinner from our eldest GG yesterday. She arrived straight after having surgery to drain an abscess! It was an emergency, but she didn't tell us as she didn't want us worried
I'm going to sweep up the leaves and Have a tidy up outside today. Have a good day

[bramble]

Good morning all, a lovely bright sunny start to the day.
Having a day out with my sisters today asshe goes back to London o Friday.
Snoop,glad to hear your feeling more upbeat today, a good night's sleep works wonders.
Have a good day all.

[greenishfing]

Snoop Puss, I can imagine it would taste wonderful with rabbit. I have made it with home roast ham, using mustard sauce instead of gravy. I have never used chicken. I do make chicken liver pâté however, Delia's recipe.

The sun is now shining brightly although there is still frost loitering everywhere.

A nurse has already been and given Mr GF his flu jab. He was just going to start being a drama queen when she told him she'd done it.

I've also just had an Amazon delivery, only boring stuff.

[Nicos]

We have one particular nurse at the clinic who - for some unknown reason- you just can’t feel her injecting vaccines. With all the other nurses can feel at least something. No idea how she does it but I can tell ya…it’s very uplifting when you walk in and see it’s her going to do it.

I’ve had to have 10 days of anticoagulant injections recently - and she was the giving the last one. Two raised eyebrows at the bruising over both thighs sort of said it all. Hers was the only one I couldn’t feel. By the time I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in…then had the quick obligatory peep….she was already turning away having already administered it!
Some people just have a magic touch don’t they?

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, greenishfing. I came across this on my travels today and thought the second recipe might be of interest to you: https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/food-wine/foraged-heart

[greenishfing]

Nicos, to my shame, I have to admit that I still haven't made the Christmas puddings for my brother in Australia.

I've just checked, last recommended posting date is Friday I've now put butter in the freezer ready for grating and added unwaxed lemons to tomorrow's food delivery. If they're not fresh the peel doesn't grate well. Thanks for the "nudge".

[Nicos]

Happy to help!…nothing worse than feeling disappointed in yourself - even if it can’t be helped
You've had a lot on your plate recently, so it’s no wonder it wasn’t a priority!

[greenishfing]

Happy to help!…nothing worse than feeling disappointed in yourself - even if it can’t be helped
You've had a lot on your plate recently, so it’s no wonder it wasn’t a priority!

Dried fruit, sugar, and spice are now in the Kenwood bowl, and the pudding basins are washed out ready for use. All the other bits can be added tomorrow.

[Bren In Pots]

Nicos, my beef paste is hardly famous! After I have made stew I take some of the beef and enough gravy to make it easy to blitz with the stick blender, it doesn't matter if some veg ends up in there too. I add about a quarter of the amount of melted butter and some ground nutmeg and blitz. Adjust the amount of gravy remembering that it will be more solid when the butter resolidifies. I put it into small pots and either fridge or freeze.

greenishfing is it Ok for me to add your Beef paste to my vine blog.

[greenishfing]

^^Of course, Bren In Pots.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Lots of windy sploshy stuff going on this morning. We need to nip out this morning so I’ll do a quick grory hop whilst we are there. And….the supermarket sells fantastic Xmas trees at really good prices so I can just imagine a couple will accidentally fall onto our trolley We get them from there every year - so it’s perfect timing.
Three jobs in one

Whats everyone else up to? I hope you are all fast asleep and cosy in your beds- otherwise all this tiptoeing around of mine is rather pointless
Well…the kettle has boiled so do help yourselves.
Have a great day - and share those lovely smiles of yours!

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Not as chilly here today, warm enough even for a drop or two of rain.

Off out too today, with a mini shop on the way back. And then M up the valley is arriving today and has volunteered to cook supper. So no clacking at the keyboard for me today.

Have a great day, everyone.

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

I did wake up around 3am, but got back to sleep again quite quickly.

It's grey and murky with lots of rain forecast. I don't think we'll even get a glimpse of the sun today

I've just turned the thermostat up but am not brave enough to go make coffee until the temperature has risen significantly. I would if I had to, but why be uncomfortable?

My grory hop is not arriving until between 11 am and noon, and no other appointments that I know of, so I might yet attempt another hour of sleep.

I'll make my first lot of Christmas puddings then and get them into the electric steamer. It's a two layer steamer, and 4 pudding basins just fit.

I hope that you find suitable Christmas trees on your travels, Nicos.

I got an email yesterday from the gardening wedsite that I ordered one of my brother in law's birthday presents from a couple of months ago. 10% off and one single price of £6.99 for delivery regardless of how many gifts I ordered and how many addresses they were sent to. The prices were very good (cheaper than Amazon). I have now painlessly ordered what I think are interesting presents for four different couples. When I say interesting, I mean that I would be happy to receive them

Christmas is stealthily sneaking up on me. Somehow an extra £15 worth of festive...ish items sneaked into my trolley when I amended my online supermarket order to include extra lemons yesterday.

Although Mr GF is asleep he seems intent on trying to push me out of bed I'll go and make coffee before I'm tempted to retaliate.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Very gloomy this morning. Grory Hop delivery on the way. Hope your wishes are granted while making those puddings GF. Nicos don't 're-enact TBBT episode with the Christmas trees Have a good day.
Hope all is well with Containergardener

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Grory hop today just need to finalise the list, luckily I don't need lemons so there shouldn't be items sneaking in.

^^Of course, Bren In Pots.

Thanks GF I've added your paste recipe to my vine blog.

Enjoy your day