Thread 7 - TalkLair: “In fact it’s an oblate spheroid”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 6).
The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Two soups to try! 😁Just been out on the bike for the first time in ages. Fuel warning light sender seems to be on the fritz, but otherwise it's running just fine for an old 'un.

The Thai soup sounds excellent! I wonder if it will work with tom yum paste, that being a thing I usually have in the fridge.

Another soup I can recommend from the same book is courgette and mint, utilising the two most prolific things in my summer garden. I will post the recipe for that later if anyone is interested, but am currently incapussitated.

(Side note: DD1 is allergic to cashew nuts, but I just replace them with almonds in most recipes and this seems to work fine).

Add me to the list of people very glad that @MavisMcMinty didn’t die and that @MouseMinge didn’t die. I remember the latter close encounter from the time and remember being really shocked by it.

I went to the theatre at the weekend and, for the first time since the before times, I didn’t wear a mask. So this week I have Covid and, unsurprisingly as I look after her, now my 97 year old mother has it too. Lovely.

And my 10m soup is pea and mint, from frozen peas. I boil a kettle for speed and just cover birds eyes with enough to cook them (can add water later, obvs). I put one veggy stock cube in, and a squeeze of roasted garlic from a tube. Oh the guilt.

When they're ready, and just a few mins, I add a few tsps of Colman's mint sauce mix and whizz the lot.

It shouldn't be nice - it's phony frozzies, and tube garlic and someone else's stock and flippi' Colman's - but it really is.

Following @Kucinghitam, I'm thinking something v similar might be good without peas but with courgettes. I was thinking to (a) use a lot, and (b) roast them in the oven first. Then whizz, mint etc. And I think has to be fresh mint cos of the vinegar in the sauce mix. Thoughts from real cooks?

So this week I have Covid and, unsurprisingly as I look after her, now my 97 year old mother has it too. Lovely.

Oh no arty! First time I’ve heard anything about Covid for AGES, one could be forgiven for thinking it really was all over. Are you ill with it? Is your Mum ill?

Sorry you've been Covided, Artant. I hope it's mild for you both.

Oh noe re Covid.

Glad people didn't die, sorry (going back more than a week) about death of friend. I've had laptop problems, but a patch is working and tomorrow I'm getting a new (secondhand) machine set up.

Why do cats fight each other when they should be (and often are) loving and cuddlesome? I had to get out of my bed a 4.00 am and deploy a flashlamp and loud disapproval to disperse them. One of them had been sleeping beside me until the other one turned up to shout abuse, but being asleep up till then I'm not quite sure which was which. Most distressing, and I didn't get back to sleep and am feeling it now.

LOVELY soup recipes, thanks.

Lovely soup recipes! No courgettes in the shops here yet, but there will be in a month or so.

I think we’re probably both on the mend.

Mostly now it’s a cough, a sore throat and a headache for me. Mum has the same but her temperature is still high.

She had a shower yesterday morning before we knew she had it and more or less collapsed at the end of it. We got her back to bed and called 111 who sent paramedics and she spent the day getting checked out in hospital but we got her back in the evening. My brother had come to stay to look after her so I could try and stay out of her way but she’d probably caught it before I knew I had it. And he’ll probably be next.

Gosh hope she gets better soon.

My favourite quick soup, is puy lentil and sorrel - stick some puy lentils, a bay leaf, a finely chopped onion and water in a pan and cook for about 20 minutes. While that's cooking pick a good handful of sorrel, destalk and wash it, chop fairly finely and add to the pan when the lentils are soft, along with salt and pepper and cook for a minute. Take out the bayleaf (and throw away) and half the soup, and purée one lot of the soup. Mix in the other half and serve, with cream if you like (I don't ). Very tasty, and sorrel is dead easy to grow in shade, and comes back from being cut very quickly. Here are the quantities - I don't think using stock adds anything, surprisingly.

edibleaustin.com/recipes/sorrel-lentil-soup/

@MavisMcMinty I still have issues with words but not as much although when I'm tired all bets are off.

I'm with Seamus and have my trusty walking stick with me so all is well here, mostly because I have strong painkillers but you make the best of what you've got.

Covid sympathies to @artant and your mum! I do hope you're both feeling better. FWIW my grandmother (96) caught Covid in her care home and recovered fine.

I am loving the soup recipes. Also wondering about planting sorrel around my back garden.

This is a delightful thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/to-tell-you-about-the-merlin-app-shazam-for-birds

It’s 42 years since I left home and my Mum’s chip pan, and the chips I made last night were the best I’ve eaten since then. Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and delicious ‘cos of the beef dripping. Thanks, @CyanCrystalViolet - won’t be buying frozen oven chips ever again!

I’ll still buy frozen roasties and Yorkshires though, as my Aga loses temperature during the course of roasting meat, and you need a good hot oven for proper home-made roasties and Yorkshires. I know you can make your own and freeze them, of course.

One for Mavis, here. Well, for all of us but especially Mavis.

https://twitter.com/marieannuk/status/1659819998276120576?s=61&t=Q6bG6UpgNNK6wBpPUj7sDg

So glad they turned out well @MavisMcMinty!

My team on the telly, narrow the gap after a dismal first half...

How people can prefer rugby union to this is one of life's great mysteries to me.

Ha ha! Cats and horses get on really well together, every yard I’ve been at has had cats, hunting cats mainly. One of them gave birth to 3 kittens on the deep straw banks of one horse’s bed. It was winter, and the kittens soon learnt to scramble up the horse’s stable rug to perch on top - all very well until the rug came off in warmer weather and the tiny featherweight kittens were hefty nearly full-grown cats…

Love the cat vid, that cat was really stepping out!

I’ve seen that video of that cat before, but in a different video… it actually has cerebellar hypoplasia https://www.handicappedpets.com/blog/cerebellar-hypoplasia-in-cats/

Oh no! Awww, poor thing.

This morning I made some toast and now the lid to the butter dish has disappeared. I've looked Everywhere but can't find it and don't understand where it could be. Only me here for most of the day, haven't been out and have spent most of the day at the potting bench.

Where's the fucking lid to the butter dish?