Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 7: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

HOLD THE PRESS!

I’d forgotten that we have one of these!

Nydj
I have full set of 6 different sizes of pyrex dishes - an important part of DM's and DMIL 's kitchen ware. They are great.

And I've seen this tin in a UK catalogue I was sent once, but I couldn't get it, it was out of stock.

@Prokupatuscrakedatus, amazon still seem to sell them in the UK www.amazon.co.uk/adjustable-cake-tin/s?k=adjustable+cake+tin&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

We are havings mussels in white wine sauce and baguette and butter for lunch. Asked DS if he wanted fish fingers in a baguette and he said that would be disgusting and he wants fish fingers and baked beans with baguette and butter on the side which is fine

Good news about your Mum MissC

@Nydj

*HOLD THE PRESS!*

I’d forgotten that we have one of these!

You beat me to it! I have one of these too. It is the business. It is highly conductive too, so if you make 4 small cakes they all bake properly. I baulked at the price when I bought it 16 years ago, but it was to make a wedding cake so I pushed the boat out. It has repaid my investment many times over.

If you know any Indians, ask them about the significance of Corning ware - it is central in all our kitchens. I must try it first in a Corning ware thingy (made by Pyrex)

I had no idea! The glass bowls in my picture last night are both Pyrex. I have a deep connection to Corning because their headquarters and main plant are just two hours away and for three years I chaperoned school trips to the utterly fabulous

Corning Museum of Glass

It's huge and covers the whole history of glassmaking worldwide, with special exhibits on glassmaking chemistry and industrial production. We've also done two family trips there with the kids. They get visitors from all over the world. Did you know that Corning invented the fiberoptic cables that made the modern internet possible?

They're also a crucial part of the medical supply chain for vaccination

U.S. Departments of Defense, Health & Human Services select Corning Valor® Glass packaging to accelerate delivery of COVID-19 vaccines

They've developed an exceptionally strong medical grade glass for vaccine vial production based on their Gorilla Glass technology that the iPhone uses. One problem with traditional medical glass vials is that the glass is fairly fragile, so it often cracks or breaks during filling, packaging or transportation, wasting precious vaccine doses. American ingenuity has solved the problem.

Pyrex is simply one of the many brand names Corning markets their products under. How did it come to be so popular in India?

Had a duvet morning: duvet, pillow, sofa, dog, child, flannel jammies, biscuits, telly. Fab!

@Nydj

Thank you for that link - I clicked around, found the word I was looking for is 'verstellbarer Backrahmen' and I've put it on my list.

I like your nickname Batley.

I’ve had a semi productive morning, running errands. I bought tarka dhal, chapattis, samosas and bhajis from a local store that sells heat at home curries and Indian sweets. I only wish they sold meat curries, though we might never cook at home again if they did. I have a homemade beef tikka masala bubbling away on the hob and we will be sitting down to our feast shortly.

I discovered this morning that somewhere local to me is doing a 'hire your own Christmas tree' event. You pay a deposit. Get a potted tree, which you return after Christmas for it to be replanted and get your deposit back. I don't have a great track record of keeping plants alive, but they do usually last longer than a month, so think I'll get ours this way this year.

[quote HelenaJustina]@sueelleker indeed it is, a fantastic but under-read series! I’ve just started it from the beginning for the first time in years. Also a fan of Cadfael for more gentle but beautiful writing. And of Georgette Heyer and Terry Pratchett and Jodi Taylor and Robert Galbraith and and and... I really love books, reading and literature.[/quote]
I really enjoyed the Falcon books, also Georgette Meyer and Mr Pratchett.
Have you ever tried any of Laurie Kings 'Mary Russell' books? They really are very good.

Falco, not falcon. B*##:% autocorrect!

And Heyer ... which it has just corrected to 'never' ggrrrrrrhhhhh

I once texted DD to go to the bakery and get some bread -
autocorrect decided to turn bakery (Bäckerei) into Bolivia (Bolivien) - no idea why.

We are having potatoes with mint sauce and chili sauces for our midday meal.

@Therainisback

I miss having pets. I make do with dog-sitting DDS' dogs. DH & I are both still working through lockdown. Neither of us do anything vitally important, just boringly necessary. He said the phrase "key worker" should be changed to "unlucky fucker".

I miss pets too. A friend WFH during lockdown is getting thoroughly fed up with it as well.

I have just walked over to relative's with their washing (I act as part time carer and sometimes do their shopping/bins/cooking/cleaning/paperwork/laundry, had to drop off clean laundry today) and saw someone I know at a distance and he shouted "hello sweetheart" to me and nearby bloke shouted "hello my darling!" back. It made me laugh.

Have to go to post office soon to send something off to Canada, then buy wrapping paper and Xmas cards.

Liked the leaky shower update :)

@soddingkitten, I’m glad I’m not the only one to have paid stupid money for that baking tin and @Prokupatuscrakedatus, I hope you find one locally.

@EggyPegg - what a great idea to hire a xmas tree!

@MissConductUS, that is fascinating about the museum, thank you! I like to think that my community is responsible for funding part of that research/innovation as we certainly spent a lot of money with, first Pyrex and then Corelle and Corning ware.

I can’t speak for all Indians and perhaps shouldn’t have tried to in my earlier post. All I know is that every single Indian person I know who went to the USA from the UK in the 1990s, came back with suitcases stuffed with Corelle crockery and other Corning ware items. I expect it is because a lot of us were vegetarians (fewer now but many of us still are) so bone china was not something we were comfortable to eat off. Secondly, we tend to entertain a lot and in large numbers so the nice thin corelle crockery took up less place and while it’s predecessor of melamine was also light and difficult to break (with lots of people, the chances of breakages also increase). We went for Corelle and Corning ware in a big way because it was prettier/more elegant than melamine, lighter and less space consuming than ceramic and the final clincher - you got a lot for your money especially if you visited the USA to visit family. I can’t really think of any Indians here in the UK who don’t have at least one member of the (extended) family or friend in the USA.

Sorry that was long winded but, I hope suitably dull for this thread?

I used to make a version of chai by simmering lemongrass sticks, mixed spice, cardamom, fresh ginger, cinnamon, sugar then putting in a black tea bag at the end with milk when it was off the hob. Not authentic at all but I liked it.

@Nydj not dull enough, sorry :)

It was interesting to read.

DS has made a batch of breakfast bars - a double batch actually. It will be used for breakfast, school break snacks and after school snacks.

prokrapatus unfortunately I have no idea

eggy we have done this a few years ago. We even had a little name tag put on our tree so we could have him back the next year

In exasperating news, DH has thrown away the primary filter for the robovac. If it were easy to replace, or indeed cheap to do so I wouldn't mind. Our options extend to replacements of Chinese origin that will arrive in January, replacements that fit every model except ours and replacement units that cost in the region of £100. I've settled for an Amazon recommendation which will be here on Monday (so that I don't murder utterly unrepentant DH) which is undoubtedly snidey, but will at least mean our floors don't turn into a swamp.

Over the past 7 months I have in the main remained chipper and upbeat, but the loss of the filter seems to be the straw that has broken my normally broad back

[quote MissConductUS]@slartbartfast Do you have an American parent and a British one? Did you grow up in NH?[/quote]
I'm a naturalised American but I've been here for a long time so I feel more British than American now. I know a surprising number of other immigrants to New England from the UK. There are lots of us about. We have a Facebook group and get together for lunch periodically.

I just bought some Corningware dishes a few weeks ago from an outlet. I now can't work out how I lived without them.

@Frownette, that’s pretty close to how a lot of Indians make it. Well, it was made that way traditionally but in the UK we all got too busy and make it with water from into mug with teabag, pinch of chai masala and sugar and milk to taste. Your way is for weekends, special occasions etc in India, they probably make it your way most of the time.

@SlartBartFast, haha see? It’s amazing stuff isn’t it?

DH has just burned all our cashew nuts. We are eating them anyway, despite them being black underneath, as there’s nothing else to snack on in the house due to healthy eating programme. I would love some chocolate cake with whipped cream, but shall stoically crunch my way through the carbonised cashews

@Nydj - That all makes perfect sense. I have lots of Corningware baking pieces. CMOG has a gift shop

shops.cmog.org

I've spent a lot of money in this gift shop. They ship internationally and have some Black Friday promotions going on now.

If you ever come to New York you'll have to visit CMOG.

@SlartBartFast There are quite a few MN'ers who were born in Britain but live in the US now. One named Holdmylobster is from Oxfordshire and lives on an island off the coast of Maine. She married a Yank. Thanks for joining our thread.

@Champagneforeveryone - Why on earth did he bin the filter?

Remember the spirit of Thanksgiving if you're feeling cross about it.