The Cloven Hoof
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7 August 2015 at 17:59 #41627
@pedant The Guardian shop is offering a T shirt printed with a summary of the innings somewhat similar to that tweet. I also enjoyed the series of tweets yesterday which showed shocked looking vegetables and fruits, plus an onion – English, obviously – the cut face of which had a positively evil grin 🙂
8 August 2015 at 01:05 #41634Anonymous @
8 August 2015 at 11:55 #41648Boy Ilion thought Clarke stopped playing well when Hughes died. That’s probably true actually. I think it rocked Clarke’s confidence and ability in himself.
So, who could be capt? Steve Smith says Warny. No, both too young and inexperienced. I don’t really see a good contender.
8 August 2015 at 12:22 #41649@purofilion If it is any consolation at all, Clarke has just received a huge ovation from the Trent Bridge crowd, no doubt in honour of his past record and his graciousness in defeat. Not a dry eye in the house!
8 August 2015 at 12:34 #41650I feel sorry for ppl I really do. A friend of mine, in England, took her children to see the Ashes and forked out at least 200 pounds. But for what?
It’s rather embarrassing but beyond that it suggests that perhaps Australia can’t play anything other than the shorter versions of the game: the 50/50 ODIs and the 20/20 quick games.
I know they’re saying the English team also lose in Australia but I remember not so long ago watching Eng win valiantly on the SCG whilst the English crowd caused Johnson to completely lose his bottle. It was a staggering loss at the time. I think Eng players are much more able to play on other ‘pitches’ than, say, us Ozzies.
It’s great that the English public were so gracious in their victory and so kind and understanding of Clarke -and thanks for letting me know because we just had to turn it off & watch Jonathan Creek!
The ozzie contingent of commentators like Warne, for instance, become rather fawning in their appreciation of Clarke and I don’t think he would want that: he’s not an arrogant young man at all but just wasn’t the best choice for capt: this suggests there really wasn’t anyone suitable after Ponting.
Well, it will be front page news on every tabloid tomorrow when really, what annoys me a little, is that Clarke could have waited until the English and the ex-Pats here could properly celebrate their win. Instead, the papers will report what “Clarke’s next move is” and that means the English lose something. I hope the Fin. Review will at least show the English in “we are thrilled” mode and not just a series of Clarke’s baby pictures….
Well, it can only get better I suppose! Onwards…
8 August 2015 at 15:04 #41654@purofilion
whilst the English crowd caused Johnson to completely lose his bottle.
He bowls to the left;
He bowls to the right;
Oh Mitchell Johnson;
Your bowling is is shite.
(To be fair, he was about the only Aussie to show any real fight this series)
, is that Clarke could have waited until the English and the ex-Pats here could properly celebrate their win. Instead, the papers will report what “Clarke’s next move is”
Not over here they won’t!
At least it wasn’t done in two days, which looked a distinct possibility at tea yesterday.
8 August 2015 at 18:22 #41655@purofilion, @pedant, @mudlark
Oh, dear, cricket…
I cannot but think of the brilliant sequence in the Woody Allen-scripted “What’s New, Pussycat” (not a great film, but a pretty great script) where Peter O’Toole is talking to the crazy European psychoanalyst played by Peter Sellers:
O’Toole: “In Britain, we have a national therapy, we call it cricket. Unlike other sports, it doesn’t involve anxieties or pressures. It’s the song of willow on leather.”
Sellers: “Is there any sex in it?”
O’Toole: “Oh no. This is a game for gentlemen, played by gentlemen.”
Sellers: “It’s sick! Sick!”
8 August 2015 at 18:56 #41656My favourite is still the remark of an American guest. Having been ‘treated’ to an incredibly slow moving Test at Old Trafford, they politely remarked:
This is some kind of English Zen, right?
8 August 2015 at 21:50 #41657@bluesqueakpip Oh, that’s lovely! Featuring a perceptive American — how delightful!
9 August 2015 at 00:09 #41661@pedant @blenkinsopthebrave @bluesqueakpip @ichabod
After being roundly sung at by the drunk English (I’m using Johnson’s own words) he proceeded to sit thru a full length arm tattoo “which would frighten them”.
And at the SCG I recall the song -it wasn’t actually the one you’ve written out.
It was far scarier! I’m not surprised he lost his bottle. And yes Mitchell did a pretty good job -for awhile -but it was only a matter of time.
I’ll check your papers: I expect to see lots of grinning Englishmen jumping up and down
9 August 2015 at 00:19 #41663@all
Oh my dear God; Karl does a nudie run (I hadn’t seen that) and it’s obituaries and a misery in every paper west of Gundagai.
Broad 8 for 15? 8 for 15. Is this some joke??
The Crushes.
Thanks to Antony Green’s tweet we’re the laughing stock.
OK. I’m using my other passport now.
9 August 2015 at 00:27 #41664@purofilion
I won’t particularly pretend to understand Cricket in any meaningful way, but I used to be entertained by cricket coverage in the 80s and 90s by the presence of Richie Benaud as a commentator in the UK. It was hilarious because there was no pretence of being an impartial voice in these matters – Australia all the way.
The thing was though that even during the period when “England Cricket disaster” was a regular feature of sports headlines he could be immensely caustic about Australia’s performance when they were winning! A couple of favourites include:
“Captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent skill, But don’t try it without that 10 per cent”
“And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just ninety-eight runs short of his century!”
It’s probably for the best he passed away earlier this year because, if he’d witnessed last week the venom from him would have melted every radio in the nation!
9 August 2015 at 00:50 #41666Exactly what Boy Ilion said last night as he inflicted his own brand of venom at the telly:
“you flat-footed bunch of blind moron wankers.”
No doubt Benaud would have been all class: I loved the McGrath quote and I recall it. McGrath was always so dinky at the pitch with the bat a matchstick in his huge mits.
I don’t think it’s easy to understand cricket: I came to the game pretty late in life having to score at the Under 8s etc…
9 August 2015 at 03:27 #41678Sigh. Found it @purofilion
*points to self* rreeeeaaaallly not as dumb as it seems ….
9 August 2015 at 03:38 #41679@Rose2112
halloo?
OK. I’m in Brisbane (where apparently we “all boo the English” cricket players according to Stuart Broad).
Westfield like Maccas has migrated here.
We also have a JB Hi-Fi which isn’t American (at least I think).
I also put my mug into the dishwasher. This was a small one (smallish) but I did make the mistake of having the machine on the really hot cycle -so silly me. I have this thing now where no crockery is bought unless I can dishwasher it! The Royal Doulton and even the Wedgewood (a recent purchase) has no problems in the ‘washer although my brother insists his “doesn’t see a dishwasher and nor do the pots, pans and silver”
Personally? Mad. Life’s too short.
But then, like him, I own few appliances: no kettle, toaster or blender. Just a food processor which is (at last count) 21 years old. Also an old fry pan which I use as a mini BBQ hooked up to an outside outlet on which I cook my one minute Angus steaks! I must be the only Ozzie who doesn’t own a BBQ on a “deck.” (I have a porch because I’m from Adelaide 😉
But then I have a dishwasher….obviously and a microwave, which due to a food malfunction is now a hood ornament.
9 August 2015 at 10:36 #41685@purofilion
A little gem from Jim Maxwell on Test Match Special.
“And to our listeners in Australia just waking up – got back to bed”.
(Glen McGrath was the one of the side men on TMS – I think it may be impossible for him to come over as anything other than a really nice chap)
9 August 2015 at 17:23 #41690@purofilion
um ok wow Well I’m in a place called Pasadena Maryland which is close to Baltimore and about 1.5 hours from Washington, D.C. East coast represent 🙂
had NO idea what “maccas” was and had to google …. No idea why it has a different name down under but yes its EVERYWHERE. and sadly my 8 year olds favorite place. I can’t touch the stuff. Ewwww French fries maybe but that’s all I’ll touch there (I think you lot call them chips) 🙂 as opposed to crisps which we call potato chips? If there wasn’t enough already to soak up on this site here I am needing a translator…
Westfield: I know as I work for a retailer that has about 100 stores and some in Westfield malls. (You’ve never heard of it) lol. You can google it though it’s DTLR.com I don’t look or dress like all that … That’s way too cool for a half Jewish accounting geek like me. I do have tattoos though. My co workers tolerate me though (they call me “money”) and there is only one guy who watches who (although I’m not really sure he does) but there are a few trek nerds to get my Kirk on with …. It’s a nice place to work and the girls keep me young by making sure I’m using expressions like “ain’t nobody got time for that!!” Then they laugh at me sometimes I drop some rhyme at lunch just to make them spit food out of their mouths laughing … You know … “G’s up Ho’s down” all Snoop dog style They say I am so prissy and nerdy they just don’t expect it which is why it’s even more funny. Word.
Appliances: Um I have everything? No royal anything but some Wedgwood my dad brought me back when I was a teenager. You don’t eat out of it though it’s little stuff the light blue trinkets. I don’t have a food processor though so when I bake it’s all from scratch and all by hand. Which is why my peanut butter frosting comes out funny but it tastes good. And I need a Dutch oven which sounds like some weird sexual thing but it’s actually a ceramic pot with a lid for soups and such. I have a crock pot though. And Ill never understand why everyone there and in the UK has electric kettles. I have a tea kettle on the stove (me caveman heat with fire) and if I didn’t have a kettle I’d boil the water in a pot on the stove. It’s NOT the same when heated otherwise … my tea tastes funny :).
Ooookkkk now realizing you likely didn’t care about any of this. And not sure if this is heavy pub talk. but now you know a bit about me and so does everyone else (hello everyone!!) I am a huge rush fan so any more out there please write 🙂 ok. Time to bake. Lemon squares today. Yesterday was choc cupcakes half with choc frosting half with peanut butter frosting and yes all scratch no box mixes up in here!
Hopefully there were a few laughs in there for all…. R
10 August 2015 at 00:22 #41693@rose2112
Yes, Maryland, I know it and Baltimore too.
Sorry about the Maccas ref. We have the big arches but for some reason Ozzies say Maccas a lot instead of the full name: McDonalds.
I also boil water on the stove in a pot -it means all the gunk eventually caught in a kettle doesn’t appear in the first place.
I use the food processor mainly for making pesto or soups like leek and potato or pumpkin or my favourite, of late, which is roasted capsicum with pine nuts and the liqueur, Galliano. You can use it to make short crust pastry too which is a bonus but all cakes are usually simply made in a bowl with a whisk: packet mixes also seem to be a thing here but they taste rather odd so I steer clear. Baking and cooking in general can be therapeutic particularly in Brisbane’s winter which is hardly winter at all.
Yes, the Wedgwood has expanded beyond the pale blue trinket type (although it was only in trinket form in certain stores because the entire setting or large pieces were too expensive) to quite smart and ‘trendy’ dinner services which aren’t prohibitively expensive these days. Certainly when I buy a bowl or plate I have certain ‘qualities’ that I look out for: the bowl has to be a certain shape and size for example and the plate can’t be too large (often the case) or too small. It needs a small rim, as well….etc etc….
Sounds like you enjoy baking on weekends and then you can take some samples to work for colleagues? Do you do that or is it strictly for “the lunchbox” for your 8 year old?
Kindest,
puro.
10 August 2015 at 01:02 #41694@Rose2112 and @purofilion
And Ill never understand why everyone there and in the UK has electric kettles.
Because when you drink 165 million cups of tea per day, boiling the water in a pan on the stove takes too bloody long. 😉 That’s about three cups of tea per day for every man, woman and child in the country, and contrary to popular belief, we do not actually feed the stuff to babies in their bottles.
We are moving slowly towards coffee (blame Starbucks – though I’m not really sure that is coffee)- but there’s some suspicion that we’re simply transferring our love affair for strong Assam style tea towards slightly less cups of more expensive specialist teas, like Earl Grey or Chai. Certainly we still need dedicated power stations to cope with the extra demand when there’s a programme break and we all switch our kettles on. 😀
10 August 2015 at 01:32 #41695@bluesqueakpip @rose2112
I love tea -and coffee, but ever since having the Boy, I’ve found drinking the large quantities I used to rather upsetting for the heart!
When my last kettle gave out (it must have been $250 and only for two years), I copied my brother and bought a tiny saucepan for 5 bucks. After a year, it too gave out and recently I bought another one for $3 which takes about …ooh, 2 mins to boil for one cup. Awesome.
Still, the other problem is the heat. So I frequently make my own ice coffee which, contrary to some people’s beliefs about iced coffee, is really just iced water, ice and coffee -with no milk at all and it’s brilliant. Or should I say “fantastic.”
Oh Starbucks. Horrible isn’t it? We have a few coffee merchants here but in Bris they’re few and far between. In the past I used to go to “coffee shops” but found the $5 for a cup of weak, tepid coffee with a cute picture on top ridiculous so I bought a simple percolator for my short blacks, but lately….the heart….so it’s back to flavourless instant or, where possible, tea which I prefer: the iced version with a touch of sugar and lemon is also fantastic in the endless heat (I’m speaking of Winter, where, last Monday, it was 27 degrees Celsius and dreadful!)
To tea! A wonderful drink – -jasmine tea is nice though it’s still caffeinated and I like an occasional herbal to settle me 🙂
<<*\*>> Puro.
10 August 2015 at 02:05 #41696@purofilion @bluesqueakpip @rose2112
I always liked Costa for coffee on the high street — when I’m next over in England
I will definitely be popping into one of those.
I have really gotten into Japanese green tea with a little raw honey and cinnamon or
lemon and its very yum! I use my coffee maker to brew it too. I’m not sure if that’s
considered ‘inappropriate’ brewing but there it is. It seems that besides coffee
it’s all I ever drink anymore. Although hard cider season is upon us soon and
my area is know for that (not just about wine) and I’ve always been a big fan of
anything apple! Where did the year go that its almost apple picking time??10 August 2015 at 03:18 #41697@purofilion
whew! Okay … You can really see my OCD shine when I start replying in list format which is what my brain is trying to do right now … Haha Ozzie? Nothing to do with Osbourne right ? We say “aussie” here …. And then something stupid like “shrimps on the Barbie” or what have you …
Id always ask my dad to bring home Wedgwood. I had four or five pieces and then my interests switched to Westminster abbey since there’s dead writers under there! (Book need here!)So I got stuff from the gift shops with the Westminster abbey theme 🙂
I’ve always liked to cook … Then i dated a chef for 1.5 years and found out I was doing it all wrong. Except my pesto. That’s perfection. I’m not kidding. Haha. Although he did suggest a touch of lemon juice and I was like BLASPHEMY But then I tried it and he was right. Dammit. We broke up but are friends and at least I got some crazy cooking skills now. The whole baking thing started a few months ago with a new chap OMG A WHOVIAN. (Ikr????) with a massive sweet tooth. It didn’t last but the baking stuck and so now without him to eat most of it (and his flat mate) my best friend and her husband get most of it some goes to work and then my son eats some But only the chocolate stuff. He’s very fussy. And a vegetarian who won’t eat veggies. Life is good 🙂
btw so I met the chap online and get this (it’s so cute) there was a pic of him in a bow tie and I sent a one line email (three guesses folks) that’s right I did …. “Bow ties are cool”. He replies “yes they are. WHOVIAN by any chance?” (Fell off my chair convulsing and drooling at this point) oh well. Turns out (and I was surprised) you can be into the doctor and still a jerk. Sigh. I should have known when he thought Clara and Danny was a great love story. I’m all TEN AND ROSE???? I’m not even sure he watched the show that much lol. But it was fun while it lasted!!
haha blue 165 million ay?? No I’ve never hear anyone say babies get it! 🙂 we don’t give our babies coca cola either. Actually Britney Spears did but …. Yeah. I drink a pot of tea every night. Peppermint. It’s all I’m allowed now since regular tea contributes to kidney stones. Herbal only. One cup of coffee in the am and then a METRIC CRAP TON of water. Pot of tea at night with honey. I was confused too about how on Who it seems it’s always “coffee?” ” Has anyone offered you a coffee?” ( and I’m like NO BECAUSE ITS ENGLAND!!!) 🙂 Back in the day though I was straight up English or Irish breakfast ( or Earl Gray) all the way, milk and sugar 🙂 oh and scones? Those Brits rock the baked goods for sure. Starbucks is pretty evil but I love the peppermint mocha thing at christmastime. Oh 27celcius? Yikes we had like 37 Celsius for days and days it was awful!!!! Now it’s 27 and everyone is like whew it’s so nice out. Lol. Gimme fall anyday. Leaves. Jumpers. Pumpkins. Yesssss. And YAY Lisa apple picking!!!! My favorite is the honey crisp apple it is like dropped straight from heaven !!
This is way long. And I’ve not addresses everything. High AGAIN from too much sugar. Oh btw the lemon brownies aren’t brownies it’s more like a suuuuper moist lemon shortbread or butter cake with a lemon glaze. Not sure where they got the name brownie. Pinterest. Lol. I think you are all up now? What does everybody do for work (or school?) I have no idea how old anyone is lol. It’s 2215 I’m about to go to sleep …. Night!!
10 August 2015 at 03:27 #41698@rose2112
is green tea strong?
I’ve never actually had it but ppl here rave about it. Also something called soy chai?
Now, in Czech ‘chai’ is tea -generally it refers to any hot soothing drink. I know what soy is (because I cook with it) so is it soya tea? I suppose I could google it!
I love apple cider too. Back in the day when my parents thought I was ill with some kind of food allergy I was put on a ‘no sugar, no processed food’ diet. This was the late ’70s and it was nigh impossible to buy anything that wasn’t processed unless you made everything from scratch and as Mum pretty much did the only problem was finding the occasional sweet or chocolate which wasn’t on the no-no list.
So, having bought a health food shop earlier she really went to town, bringing home vile things to eat and drink like soybean milk, goats milk (the latter not that bad), aloe-vera drink (dear Gawd, explodingly awful, back then), carob sweets and molasses lollies (again the latter not so bad).
The one thing I could drink (other than filtered water) was the occasional glass of barely sweetened apple cider which I adored: so much so that I’d creep down in the evening when Mum and Dad were watching Lateline to take extra sips of this non-alcoholic balm from the Gods.
In our huge shopping marts -like Coles and Woolworths- we don’t stock alcoholic drinks, so discovering that European and English stores did stock such things was amazing! One could buy eggs and milk in the same store as a 1984 red wine! Of course most of our independent grog shops have been bought out by Coles which have their own stores right next door to the exit of the shopping mart so you can purchase everything at once: even the cardboard boxes of white wine my parents used to chuff and which are, without a doubt, the worst thing since white bread and are possibly up there with bucket-buys of certain instant coffee brands!
So Lisa, do you go apple picking as a Saturday afternoon ‘venture or is that down to the teens and wandering tourists who are paid some minimum wage? I recall not apple picking so much as cherry picking one Summer and it wasn’t romantic at all! Hard yakka and dreadful pay but all the cherries you could eat so pie was on my paltry menu back in the early ’80s.
10 August 2015 at 04:16 #41700@purofilion There are so many kinds of green tea that you really need to google to get
a good idea but I like the Japanese Sencha. They all come from different varieties
of the Camellia bush. They all have health benefits that come from polyphenols and flavonoids
and all that. One reason I prefer the green tea is because the typical western tea consumed
is a black tea. It has to do with the processing. The black teas are basically put through
more and harsher processing so tend to be far more acidic inside your guts which is to say that
green teas are milder and gentler and wont cause irritation or digestive issues and they taste
really nice.Personally I will not eat or drink anything Soy. Its pretty much all GMO (or roundup ready)
plus it has something called photoestrogen and some other pretty toxic stuff too. In Asia
they consume it mostly either as soy sauce which is basically for flavoring or tofu and miso
which are fermented things which still aren’t really health foods in spite of the big hype.We used to take the kid when she was little to the apple hills in the fall and they had the
apple picking and the pumpkin patch and the corn maze and the hay ride and the petting zoo 🙂
Now I just go the local organic farmers markets and buy it by the gallon.10 August 2015 at 07:06 #41702I’ve been preoccupied for a few days, dealing with Life (I don’t say Real Life, as I like to think that all of you here are part of my Real Life!), and I come back to find I’ve been missing all kinds of interesting conversation… you are talking about food!
@Rose2112 Welcome to the Forum! Yes, I am fond of Rush, although I wouldn’t call myself a massive fan. But they were omnipresent during my teenage years, and being Canadian, I like that I can be prouder of them than, say, Nickelback or Justin Bieber! 🙂 And I really do think that Geddy Lee is fantastic.
@purofilion So sorry about the cricket! It’s always tough to see the home team go down in such an unfortunate manner. Been there, done that, too many times to count, especially with our local hockey team! I loved Boy Illion’s comment about wankers. That is a term that Arbutus Jr. learned recently from a British youtuber (along with nob, which he really likes!).
We have a concrete slab out back at our place, but as I’ve surrounded it with Mediterranean plants and put a fountain on it, I like to think of it as a terrazza! I bought my very first dishwasher only last year, and as it is somewhat small, I always have to choose which things to put in it and which to handwash, so there is never a problem keeping potentially touchy things out of it. I’m lucky to get all the plates and mugs into it, and even the cheap wine glasses are too tall. But after many years without one, I love it nonetheless.
I confess to many small appliances, including the espresso machine (Mr. Arbutus’s baby) and the Kitchen Aid (mine). I make bread and cookie dough in it, so much easier than doing it by hand, and I have a pasta attachment now that I am learning to use as well. Rose, I’m sure the lemon squares were delicious… as some people around here already know, I am a fiend for anything lemon!
As to tea, I have a stove top kettle with a really loud whistle (it sounds like a steam engine, and almost as loud). This is because I have a nasty habit of putting the kettle on and then leaving the room, and ending up poking around in closets or out in the garden. I drink loads of tea, all kinds. I like a bit of espresso but can’t really drink too much coffee, so I have adopted tea as both my wake up and settle down. But I drink black tea weak compared to the British style, and without anything in it. Love green tea, red bush tea, and flavoured teas of all kinds!
Puro, chai is also the name for a lovely Indian tea, brewed in a saucepan with milk and spices, and sweetened. It’s quite lovely in its proper form, but it has also been adopted as “chai latte” by coffee shops in North America as an alternative to coffee. I get that when I need a hot drink at a rainy soccer game. Soy milk is almost always offered as a dairy alternative in any kind of latte-type drink around here, although I don’t drink it myself.
Yes, honeycrisp! I love those.
10 August 2015 at 10:14 #41705So sorry about the cricket! It’s always tough to see the home team go down in such an unfortunate manner.
The home team won!
10 August 2015 at 12:16 #41708Like @arbutus I have been busy or rather distracted by “other life”. Often think it would be easier to be re-doing yr 12 myself than having sons doing it. Still only about ten weeks to go. A lot of deadlines in that time however..
All this talk of food reminds me that with only 40 days till the next series airs I had better start planning our annual “Who” party. The only addition from last series was Coffee, for which I am most grateful. I am a sad sorry coffee addict. I don’t remember when I started to drink coffee but I do recall going home at lunchtimes while in primary school to listen to “Blue Hills” on the radio and drink coffee with Mum. She was a classic 50s Australian cook, in other words she didn’t cook food, she boiled it to death but she did love baking and coffee was always accompanied by an array of home baked cakes, biscuits and slices. I dodged the baking gene but I do make cake or muffins every weekend for the lunchboxes.
@lisa you have convinced me to try green tea. I have started drinking herb tea again. I generally find real tea too acidic though I tolerate it when the occasion, such as a Dr Who party, demands. I enjoyed the Chai I had in Nepal but it did tend to be quite sweet.
@Purofilion. I half lived on iced black coffee while in Vietnam though I learned after a few days to ask for it without sugar as they serve their coffee very sweet. My other staple was fresh young coconut. I am now grateful to whatever over paid, over hyped celebrity it was that popularised coconut water as it is now available in supermarkets here and, though it its cure all properties may be much exaggerated it is, I believe mostly harmless. Yummy and harmless is not something one often finds.
Cider is one of my favourite drinks too. Our “local” serves some rather nice boutique ciders. I tend to drink it in summer though but summer is coming. Winter here ended two days ago in typical South Australian fashion. One day it is freezing and the next the air is mellow, the birds begin chirping, the clouds roll away. I expect that within a week or so our living room will be evenly coated with husky fur.
Cheers
Janette
10 August 2015 at 13:52 #41709FAVORITE part of Fall!! There’s a fall fest just like the one your described about an hour and a half from where live now. It’s where wee used to live but we go back in the fall just for the fest every year. I’ve even convinced some of my sons friends parents to make the trek and they love. SOO much to do for the kids and a huge patch to pick a pumpkin plus a store to buy veggies and honey and such …. And …. This is odd but they make their own doughnuts right there they are like an apple cider doughnut … If they are hot I can eat like a half dozen and not even notice. They melt in your mouth.
I also love green tea and in fact used to brew it with my peppermint at night (decaf) but again now I am restricted to herbal …
hello! Huzzah on the stove top kettle (everything else is wrong!) lol but there you go I’m just another American thinking they know what’s best for the rest of the world 🙂 aren’t honey crisp the BEST? They have an apple juice in the stores now that is made from just those …
Haha because of you (I read your post first thing this AM I had nickelback stuck in my head for my entire shower and couldn’t make it stop until I made myself start singing Subdivisions lol I’ve only seen Rush twice live And Justin? Ugh don’t even go there!!
hitting send now as I’ve got to go …. More later!
10 August 2015 at 16:30 #4171310 August 2015 at 16:41 #41714@Rose2112 @lisa
Yes, we have those pumpkin patch things as well. I remember my son having a great time when he was small, and I remember being equally relieved when he was old enough not to want to go anymore! They were always awfully mucky in this part of the world.
Rose, green tea with mint, like the Moroccans drink it, is a favourite in our house. Mr. Arbutus especially loves it.
@janetteb Wow, year 12 (or 12th grade as we would call it here). I hope it all goes smoothly! I agree that high school seems to be much more stressful the second time through, or maybe it’s just that my son prioritizes his life much differently than I did. He will be starting Grade 11 in a few weeks and I think graduation is already starting to loom ahead of him in a rather frightening way, a sort of large wall that he can’t see past. But it’s amazing how much emotional energy his education takes out of me! I don’t think it was that way for my mom, but times have changed and so have we, I guess.
10 August 2015 at 19:18 #41716@purofilion @janetteb Ah, cider! that takes me back to the 1960s and the summers I spent working as a supervisor on an excavation in southern England, on the borders of the cider heartland. The excavations were on a huge scale, employing around 150 volunteer workers at any one time, including people from many countries. The largest overseas contingent comprised students from universities in the USA, and it seems that many of them only knew of ‘cider’ as a non-alcoholic drink. ‘No’, we told them. ‘In this country cider is an alcoholic drink; if it isn’t alcoholic it’s just apple juice’. Many of them were persuaded to try it but, despite warnings that some ciders were stronger than beer, many glugged it as if it were, indeed, just carbonated apple juice. More than once, as a consequence, someone rendered themselves legless and had to be carried back to base.
As for tea and other beverages, I’m sorry to disagree @Rose2112 (welcome, by the way), there are many things which can affect the taste of tea – the origin and quality of the leaf, whether the water is hard or soft, the amount of leaf used, whether or not it is in a teabag, and the temperature at which it is infused, (and the water should be at or near boiling point if the tea is to infuse properly) – but I cannot imagine how the receptacle in which the water is boiled could make a difference, and certainly I have never noticed any. As @bluesqueakpip says, if you drink a lot of the stuff, an electric kettle is far more efficient – mine will boil enough to fill a teapot in two minutes, whereas a kettle or pan on the hob takes four to five times as long. But you mentioned that you now drink only herbal teas and I am talking about tea derived from camellia sinensis , so what do I know? The ‘gunk’ which @purofilion mentioned as accumulating in the kettle can be avoided if you if you use a water filter which removes the calcium carbonate in ‘hard’ water. My water goes through a water softener unit and a filter; the kettle remains free of ‘fur’, and the tea brews amber-clear, without any of the scum which can stain teapots and cups.
In fact I drink a good deal more than three cups of tea a day – anything up to two whole pots – or more than 3 litres – in fact, and I am a bit fussy about it. I have given up using tea bags and buy single estate, whole leaf Indian tea – usually Assam or Ceylon, from a specialist shop which stocks a huge range of almost every kind of tea from every tea-producing country. I also brew it relatively weak, so the flavour is delicate and it does not strip the lining from my stomach.
Coffee, for me, is for weekends, high days and holidays, and I get it from the same shop as the tea. I make it by the jug method, with Colombian beans, freshly ground as needed. It makes for a well flavoured but mellow brew, which is just as well, because when I do drink it, it is in the same quantities I drink tea, so anything stronger would result in me gibbering from the chandeliers (the chandeliers being metaphorical, in case you should get the impression I live in a palace).
Having written all that, I realise that it probably makes me sound like the kind of pretentious poser that puro described a couple of weeks ago. I must even confess to keeping spices in glass jars, although that is because I buy them loose from a stall on the market, and I do at least store them out of sight in a dark cupboard. I like Indian food, and I buy the spices whole, to be ground as needed, because ready-ground spices go stale very quickly. I used to bake quite a lot, but not any more. I do not have much of sweet tooth and, nowadays, alas, if I even look at a cake I can feel my waistline expanding.
And now it is time to go and make myself something to eat 🙂
10 August 2015 at 21:01 #41717ah – the subject of “tea”.
I grew up on tea. 5-6 mugs a day (which must have all been in the evening so god knows what it did to my sleeping patterns – I now never drink it after 5pm).
When I was growing up it was mainly drank with cake (though also handfuls of biscuits).
My mum made one type of cake and it was the kind that was heavy, full of raisins, sultanas and currants and went stale quickly. Hence the tea to soften it (especially if it had had a bit too much heat).I swear the roads of England were built on Tea and cake.
As nothing got wasted when I was growing up (“eat that or tomorrow it’ll either get custard or gravy put on it”) and me being the youngest, I ate the most cake – and hence drank most tea.
Tea (and I believe myself to be a connoisseur) is ‘Builder’s tea’ made the way my Dad described –
“make it so you can rest a spoon on it”.
10 August 2015 at 21:53 #41719make it so you can rest a spoon on it
Rest? Rest?
With proper builder’s tea, the spoon should start to gently dissolve. 😉
In support of @mudlark‘s point about the sheer speed of UK kettles, I have now done a short experiment: discovering that one mug of room temperature water takes 56.98 seconds to boil in my elderly and not-very-expensive electric kettle.
Obviously, I will need to repeat the experiment at regular intervals. 🙂
10 August 2015 at 22:19 #41720@whisht Ha. Builder’s tea is definitely the opposite of how I drink my tea. I’m more in line with @mudlark’s approach. I also confess to a liking for loose leaf tea (of many kinds), spices in jars (because I buy them in little bags), and locally roasted whole espresso beans (from the excellent coffee house down the street). But it’s really because I like the taste, honest! We buy wine with screwcaps! And cider in cans!
I have to admit that when I have had reason to make tea in a pot, it never seems to taste right to me. But I think that the real reason is not the pot, but the water, because I never do it at home. Here, our tap water is so soft (mainly rainwater) that tea made from any other water just doesn’t taste the same. I’m not sure that I could get the tea strong enough to dissolve a wooden stir stick with the water we have!
10 August 2015 at 22:43 #41722@whisht @bluesqueakpip @arbutus @mudlark @lisa @rose2112
Whoa, ‘lark that is an awesome story regarding the “legless cider drinkers”!
I have to admit to filling the ‘home’ kettle with only filtered water -problem arrives at work where people almost never replace the kettle, never clean it (so much so that it fills with ants) and the idea of filtered water? They would say “bosh” (or worse). And then the topic of the work fridge. I always end up cleaning it (they think I have comparatively less to do) and it is VILE!!
Pip I would think the kettle is hellishly more efficient than my mini saucepan would ever be but the problem is the fur: because I found the filter, when it died, very expensive to replace. I then used to purchase demineralised water…again, hard to find, odd taste (I grew up in the ’60s in metropolitan Adelaide where we used to ‘taste’ the brown water) and so I bought a saucepan. Once, I forgot about it (@arbutus I know what you mean about “poking in cupboards” or sitting in the terrace!) and then came that familiar awful smell of ‘dead saucepans’ and the possibility of blowing up the house as well so I never, ever leave the kitchen when the pan is on the boil. God knows why I’d choose that particular moment, anyway, to go and do something? Surely I could wait 1-2 mins, but not me!
Thank you Lisa and Arbut for the info about tea and chai -I didn’t know about the problem with soy -I do know that it causes huge problems/arguments amongst the fly-over states in America?
On coconut oil there are a lot of problems with the oil in the coconut? Two yrs ago it was a huge ‘trend’ here and now is roundly detested by local doctors who claim it increases cholesterol and leads to the use of other, equally, nasty additives in food -breakfast food in particular. On my last trip to the UK (2010-2011) I was stunned by the amount of pastries, cereals, yoghurt with chocolate, croissants with white chocolate (croissants a la Mars bar!) in the breakfast ‘aisles’. Being a sweet tooth I totally binged-and then got sick. Typical.
I now stick to vegemite which most ppl outside of Oz detest. Or it sticks to me.
Rose: yes, the ABC shops (I forgot to answer your question) are like the BBC shops in England, selling merchandise (DVDS/audio stories, T-shirts) from various popularised telly shows. Ours are closing due to profit troubles. Our taxes pay for this wonderful station (ABC1) which also has a dedicated news station and two children’s telly channels. There’s also radio -classic, pop, rock, easy listening and various talk-back and interview programmes as well. Listening to Grandstand when the cricket’s on is much better than listening to Shane Warne on Channel 9 “doing the cricket” -along with “doing” everybody else. But you have to know Warney to know what I mean. It’s MA rated!
@pedant yeah, rub it in!! Looks like Stephen Smith will be the new captain. Brilliant. No wins in the foreseeable future.
@whisht “standing up the spoon.” Yes! My dad used to do this with coffee. I remember his Turkish brand which involved a long handled saucepan on high heat for several minutes into which the pure coffee was poured together with dark brown, thick sugar and eventually, thickened cream. Awesome taste but it played havoc with sleeping patterns, that’s for sure. Not that Czechs sleep much anyway, or if they do, it’s due to large amounts of plum slivovitz!
10 August 2015 at 22:44 #41723ah @bluesqueakpip – my spoons aren’t hard enough to dissolve.
They’re too scared of my tea.
10 August 2015 at 22:52 #41724I’m up comparatively early and am watching some horrific morning telly.
I see tornadoes -some incredibly good photography by the Smart Brothers.
Feline youboobers, (an “internet sensation”) and an awful song that is apparently very trendy called “be Stupid.” Kind of sums up morning telly, anyway.
There’s a three year old mayor in some back county in the States: Christ! OK, it’s Minneapolis. Three year old Mayors –both sons apparently. WTF?
Someone has just asked what the Brazilian currency is! On Australian TV. Cripes, these people are paid millions a year -and it’s not as if they’re eye candy, either, so exactly what are they paid to do? Deliver “the news”?? Bah!!
A local female pollie has demanded that children (who are 17 or 18) and are “drugged up by ice” need to be “forcefully placed in rehab” against their wishes thus ensuring important democratic rights are ignored. Way to go, Austraya.
Puropissed.
10 August 2015 at 22:53 #41725@whisht @bluesqueakpip If I made a habit of drinking builder’s tea I suspect I would be permanently insomniac and would have no stomach left. If the tea is strong enough to dissolve a spoon – and that is the definition of builder’s tea which I, also, recognize -, just what do you think it does to your innards?
@arbutus You are probably right in thinking that it is the water that makes the difference. I am the opposite to you, in that tea never tastes right to me unless it is made in a pot. Made in a cup or a mug it tends to be insufficiently infused, in which case it tastes thin and acrid, or else it is too strong- not so much builder’s tea as pure tannin.
As for cake, rich fruit cake was for birthdays, weddings and Christmas. Otherwise it was usually Victoria sponge of one sort or another, and if that went stale before it was all eaten (a very rare event), one made sherry trifle. I pride myself on my trifle, made with proper egg custard thickened with a little cornflour and flavoured with lemon zest, and with the very best raspberry conserve or raspberry puree. No jelly (or Jell-O for those you from across the pond), which is just for children’s parties. Sponge cake soaked in sherry, a generous layer of raspberry conserve, custard and whipped cream, topped with toasted almonds and glace cherries, or other garnishes to taste. My youngest brother has been known to consume half of one at a sitting.
10 August 2015 at 23:03 #41726@mudlark I’ve just read your trifle recipe to The Husband who is in awe and envious! Trifle (which I cannot make properly) is his favourite of all desserts. Also, once a tea drinker (now no longer) his only method was a pot with “proper tea”. Tea bags not being at all appropriate.
Once a copper with the London Met, it was his duty (at age 19) on a Monday (there was an actual rota) to make the tea and it was always in a pot: a perfect tea with one in the pot, one spoon per person, together with milk poured first into the cup (no mugs) and then sugar added before the tea was poured. A total ritual, never varying. On recent trips back, he’s haunted by “new tea rituals” which involve boxes of bags of tea (5 pounds per box of 100!) and sweetener with a kind of fake, liquid milk you find in hotel fridges in Oz, occasionally.
He isn’t dead, but the phrase ‘turning in your grave’ would be appropriate. In fact, he himself said this, so I’m not jinxing anything. Although there’s something to be said by my own coffee this morning which is incredibly strong and leading me to tell loads of irrelevant stories.
Ah, another telly update: the local footballers (Essendon: rugby players) have been taking cocaine laced with performance enhancing drugs. Poor dears. Another fine. Another suspension…..
10 August 2015 at 23:14 #41727@mudlark “half of one at a sitting”.
You haven’t met me! I’d eat the whole thing. Though I am perplexed. No jelly? Really? I always thought a trifle had to have jelly to be a trifle…? No?
Still, the almonds, the conserve, as well as the glace cherries sound delightful. And proper whipped cream rather than what Aussie wives buy these days which is a type of cream in a hair spray can which you keep in the fridge, shake and “spray” all over the dessert and is positively foul.
I showed Boy Ilion how to whip cream the other day so it can be done in next to no time (he begins a home science unit shortly and is worried he’ll know little compared to his female classmates -but I’m not at all concerned. If the child can mash spuds and grill sausages at 13 this means he can find his way around utensils in a kitchen. I’m more concerned about the manual arts unit -“hitting and banging,” I call it, which requires limited ‘ability’ to wield a hammer and use a saw. Mmm)
I’m eating donuts for breakfast. Warm, cinnamony and perfect with coffee. Strong, strong coffee. Can you tell?
~<<*\*>>~
10 August 2015 at 23:19 #41728@purofilion Vegemite? Vegemite? Phooey! just a poor imitation of Marmite, the food of champions – not surprising, since it is a by-product of the brewing industry. An acquired taste, certainly, but not so much if you were introduced to it in infancy. I have an American friend who loves it., and I used to take large jars of it over when I visited, but I dread to think what would happen if I tried to do so now. I would probably find myself detained indefinitely, given the third degree by airport security, and find myself on the ‘no fly’ list from then on.
10 August 2015 at 23:31 #41729@purofilion mmmm…donuts. I don’t eat them these days, but once, for a bet, I ate 12 large cream donuts (i.e. large donuts, split and filled with whipped cream) at a sitting. The bet was for a bottle of Irish Whiskey, and I won, but for some reason I have never felt quite the same about donuts since then 😕
Maybe you could eat a whole trifle, but the ancestral cut glass bowl in which the trifle is made is quite large, containing enough for a family of five. If you are ever over here again you must look me up and I will make it for you. Then we will see 🙂
11 August 2015 at 02:17 #41730@mudlark I think you misunderstood. I used “pot” in the North American sense of “saucepan”, which I don’t like to use for tea. I definitely use a teapot, because I never stop at just one cup! 🙂 The trifle sounds fabulous! You rarely get really good trifle here. I rarely make my own sweets, except for pie and cookies. Not counting Christmas time.
@purofilion We have that cream in a can here as well. I never touch the stuff! My son did his home ec course two years ago, and struggled mightily with an insanely perfectionist and contradictory teacher. The only bit that he absolutely aced was the unit on pizza, because we cook pizza all the time, and he knew absolutely how it ought to look when it was done, and stared her down when she tried to make him take it out too soon. Apparently everyone else lost marks for lack of “doneness”, but she never admitted that he was right!
Oh, Puro, the shop where I get my coffee beans does in-house donuts, and they are fantastic! Everything fresh, never too sweet, filled with flavoured cream or seasonal fruits. The lemon old fashioned is my favourite, very lemony icing, and they also have a blueberry filled one right now that is great. Mr. Arbutus and I go every Sunday morning for breakfast and coffee. I will no longer touch any other donuts, not even the ultra-Canadian Tim Hortons (which aren’t actually bad, but pale in comparison).
11 August 2015 at 02:59 #41731Oh, those donuts sound like perfection. I used to go out for breakfast too….once…..Before The Boy had morning soccer -or cricket which I fear he may drop due to flat footed teamsters and a mean coach who slaps the Boy upside the head for something called a “chicken leg” hand. Perhaps cricketers would enlighten me on that term and how it’s associated with holding a cricket bat incorrectly?? @pedant @mudlark?
Oh yes, the high school teacher “who knows everything.” Grr. Boy Arbutus has my sympathy and no doubt his pizza was the best in the year. I’ve always found the Home Economics and Manual Arts teachers to be terrifying as all hell. Even as a teacher I find them intimidating. Loud shouty voices which need to be heard above mixmasters and drills.
@mudlark I shall hold you to that bet! Or is this expression best written as “will?” As in, “I will hold you to that.”
Sounds delicious either way. I have never tried Marmite and for some reason have thought it’s pretty much the same in taste -clearly not. I know a phrase we used to hear in the children’s hospital a lot and that was. “If you don’t eat your dinner you’ll get a bowl of Bovril instead.” All us kiddies would slurp up the grey peas and equally grey meat although none of us knew Bovril and just assumed it had to be sufficiently worse than the slop already served! Is Bovril a type of beef stock? Broth? Because if so, it sounds fine! I don’t know what all the fuss is about 😉
And I know about those awful Atlantic/Pacific flights. Even on domestic flights they’re pretty suspicious of any container they can’t see inside of. Last year I had to give up a nice pair of nail scissors I’d forgotten were in my hand bag from a car trip. And yet Ozzies are still detained in strange airports loaded up with cocaine in the strangest of places…. Kind of spoils it for the rest of us….(not cocaine….travel!). The devil in the pronoun….
Kindest, puro
11 August 2015 at 03:53 #41732haha I love going!! Ours is in a beautiful part of Maryland. Those crisp colorful fall days are such a blessing. I feel completely at ease in the Fall. Winter…not so much…and I used to love my green tea…sigh…there is wild spearmint in my garden that goes very nicely too. It’s everywhere and surprisingly difficult to get rid of! Takes over everything…
thank you for the welcome! and I am sort of being sarcastic with my pot on the stove bit…what I really like is that the water is boiling and pouring it over the tea; I guess it’s ritual? Honestly though for an American I do love some British ‘high tea’…I had a tea party for my bridal shower and also for my baby shower and the *best* part of London visits (one of the best…) is fancy tea in a nice hotel….ahhhh…also the Doc Martens store was a huge hit when I was 22 😉 SO MANY COLORS!!! And Glitter? And of course please disagree with me at will that is part of the fun here yes? Speaking of glass jars I have recently (OCD MUCH?) put all my baking supplies into Mason Jars. I am Mason Jar cuckoo as of late. The jars seal and look neat and clean instead of half exploding bags of stuff everywhere. Must. Have. Clean. 🙂
Oh and I have not eaten Jello since the hospital maternity ward … ewww.
And BTW do not forget strip searched – TSA loves that crap. Welcome to America.
Your experiment has prompted me to record the number of minutes it takes the kettle to boil on the stove *face palm* and am now considering the purchase of an electric kettle…less than a minute?? Impressive. I may give it a whirl. I’ll report in after! It’s better than the microwave. That is my least favorite cup of tea!
@purofilion
so funny “the boy” whenever I call mine that I get the strangest looks – and never met anyone else who did except on TV like…the Waltons (but never the Waltons themselves, only some back woods/Appalachian neighbors) Which I might add are my people … Scotch Irish on my Mothers side and they came here in the 1600’s. Dad? Jews from the Ukraine. YEAH that marriage lasted a long time…not. In any case my ex and I used to call my son ‘kleeklog’ when he was in my belly as we refused (much to the shock and horror of…well everyone) to identify the gender prior the birth. People were losing their minds OMG HOW WILL YOU KNOW HOW TO DECORATE??? Um, green and purple??? It was amusing to see the befuddled faces. And now that he is 8 he enlightens me with all sorts of information. Like tonight when he said that moms are different from dads because they have “lady bits” instead of – well you get the picture. Ah, Motherhood.
Oh and you’ll like this…From a school poster so I am told:
“I like cooking my family and pets” (Use commas. Don’t be a psycho)
I feel like I am awake alone and everyone is asleep so odd with the time difference although I do think there are some more yanks in here.I see the emails all day when I am work and want to run out to my car and sit and gab. Alas. that pesky career thing.And speaking of which – why does it say “Howdy Rose2112” up in the right hand corner of my screen? Because I’m American oh I must be a cowboy? Does it says “allo sweetie” for the Brits??
*so teasing just in case the sarcasm is not apparent…*
Oh – and for all as coffee is on the topic as well – I like mike dark and strong like a french roast and use some silly flavor creamer – used to drink about 5 cups per day now only one. It’s an adjustment to say the least. But when my boss takes me to lunch we always get a double espresso afterwards I take that straight. (Mostly because he does and I don’t want to be a lightweight!) It’s an odd taste but I like it.
Night ya’all!
smooches!
11 August 2015 at 05:19 #41733@rose2112
erm, no, I don’t call the son “The Boy” in public or at home or anywhere, really, except on a Forum, where for personal reasons, I don’t mention his actual name. It’s a privacy thing. People here may write SO for Significant Other in order to protect their relationship and also their gender. People may assume particular qualities about a person referring to a ‘he’ or ‘she’ rather than a ‘they’ which, again, protects the member who’s posting. And that’s great.
I take it you’ve been to London quite a bit? High Teas etc?
Yes, the ‘Howdy Rose’ is a great addition as it allows you to change your profile, add a picture (I changed mine from a fiery pyre to a fiery picture from my garden -sadly, that part has since been dug up and re-concreted similar to @arbutus ‘terrace’ which she mentioned) and fiddle with your personal account in Word Press etc.
“I used to call my son ‘kleeklog’ when he was in my belly as we refused (much to the shock and horror of…well everyone) to identify the gender prior the birth. People were losing their minds OMG HOW WILL YOU KNOW HOW TO DECORATE??? Um, green and purple??? “
I had the same experience! People wanted to know so they could sew quilts. I was adamant about the ‘secret’ -it wasn’t for me but I thought other people ought to be surprised. Also, I wanted to be annoying. So, I received one quilt in emerald green and another with a backing of black and white which was stunning. At the baby shower (I generally don’t ‘do’ parties) I received a lot of ‘equipment’ in purple and green, which being favourite colours of mine, wasn’t a problem.
Actually, now that I think about it, why do people ‘decorate’ nurseries? They’re in them so rarely! By the time the kid is four or five, if you’ve some ‘cute’ motif on the ceiling or the architrave, you have to remove it!! I don’t think we had anything except a model hanging from the ceiling (which was 2nd hand anyway) and a Czech print which my mother sewed. I did make the mistake of ‘gluing’ those little stars to the ceiling?
Bad idea. Before the painter came, I had to take down all 136 of them. Note to self: don’t do this for any grand children :+}
11 August 2015 at 09:15 #41735so many things to comment on. I need a list. Before I start on tea/coffee related anecdotes though here goes,
@mudlark that trifle sounds nice!! I have never had trifle without the jelly which i detest jelly having been a staple childhood desert. My relationship with trifle, never good, was considerably soured after a bout of trifle related food poisoning in the U.K. but I think your kind of trifle might change my mind on the matter.
@Purofilion. The Home Ec’ teacher at the boys’ school is also a terror by all accounts so may be you have a point. Our neighbour is also a home ec teacher and she is lovely so maybe an exception. (And yes I have seen her in the class room not just over the dining table imbibing wine and “nibbles”. A few years ago a friend and I did a “Teenage Masterchef” competition at the school. It was a lot of fun and I learnt a few useful skills too. We brought in professional chefs each week to run a class then at the end the students competed for the title.
I recently bought a shiny cherry red retro electric kettle. We had been looking at it for over two years but when our last kettle died it was on the too expensive right now list. We were boiling water for a while but I didn’t trust the boys to be doing that while I was away. I wanted a home to return to not to mention two working hot plates. (Only two work. Had the second two repaired while under warranty but they died again within a few months so I gave up on the luxury of having four hotplates. Ah the wonders of modern appliances..)
On onto tea anecdotes. My father drank tea so week that in his brother in laws words “it needed crutches”. When I started work at a pub in Surrey I was asked to make the boss tea and so sent in something resembling the tepid greyish liquid my father favoured. He sent it back with the words, “Please send me an English cup of tea.” Lessons in English tea making followed.
Many years ago when I was a student I helped a friend of a friend set up a cafe down in the city. She had bought tins of tea, Lapsang souchong, Queen Mary, English breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Darjeeling, and of course a selection of herbals. Through her contacts a manufacturers’ union exec starting holding their meetings in the back room. They were fairly stereotypical Aussie workers, and Mary’s fancy teas did not appeal to them any more than her “fancy foods”. “Just plain tea and toast. None of that French pastry stuff.” Amusingly after a few months they grew to expand their tastes and found that the fancy teas were rather good after all. By the end one of them began to order, “that Queen Mary and one of them Croissants please.” (As an irrelevant aside their legal adviser, a smart keen young man with strong, left political leanings is now our Premier and a thorn in the side of the moron P.M)
@Rose2112 Unfortunately we all get that annoying “howdy”. It is part of the software. The spelling is also set to U.S. which occasionally throws me but that is the internet in general..
Cheers
Janette
11 August 2015 at 09:59 #41736@Purofilion We had fun pre-birth names for our boys, Strangely James, Pugsley and Uncle Fester. We chose not to know the gender of “Strangely” but as it took us two weeks to agree upon a name for him we decided to find out in future so we had more time to decide upon names. It didn’t help. It still took us even longer to chose names for Pugsley and Uncle Fester. Now I think they should be referred to as “recalcitrant teenager one, two and three.” We still refer to them collectively as “the boys” though R.C2 (now 17 yrs old) did object a week or so ago.
I was still painting their room when they started school. They had outgrown the room before I finished it.
Cheers
Janette
11 August 2015 at 10:54 #41738@arbutus teapot/pot/saucepan Ah yes! the pitfalls of the ‘common language’. Once, when an American to whom I had just been introduced was, for my benefit, explaining something she had just said, I made her laugh inordinately by assuring her that it was OK, I was pretty much bilingual. But not entirely so, it seems 🙂
@Rose2112 @Purofilion On the question of High Tea, I suspect that there may be some confusion here between that and afternoon tea. Afternoon tea is the light snack meal taken around 4pm and comprising tea (of course) accompanied by small, dainty sandwiches or other savoury morsels, and cakes or pastries. If it is accompanied by scones with jam and clotted cream, then it is a ‘cream tea’ . High tea is a more substantial meal, eaten around 6pm by those who have had their main meal (dinner) in the middle of the day. It may consist of cold meats and salad with bread, possibly followed by cake, or a relatively light cooked dish. Some friends of my family who had a small hill farm in West Yorkshire used, in addition, to have supper at around 10pm, consisting of a hot drink accompanied by home-made scones, biscuits (i.e.cookies) or more cake. But then working farmers need a lot of calories.
@Rose2112 @purofilion @janetteb I was told at a very tender age that my parents’ name for me prior to my birth was ‘Stinky’. It is a wonder that my psyche wasn’t scarred for life 😉
11 August 2015 at 11:18 #41739@purofilion I have just realised that I meant to answer your query concerning Bovril, It is essentially a very concentrated beef extract and looks much like Marmite; even the jars in which it comes are of similar shape and size. Used sparingly it could be spread on toast or bread, but I remember it chiefly as a drink – a teaspoonful in a mug of hot water. When, as a child, I was feeling out of sorts and without much appetite, a drink of Bovril and a buttered cream cracker were very comforting. It could also be used to add flavour and oomph to an anaemic beef casserole (not that my mother’s casseroles were ever anaemic).
Marmite versus Vegemite. There is a difference, and it will be forever a subject of (mainly) good humoured contention between the British and their Antipodean cousins.
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