Thread 8 - TalkLair: “Brewing Russell's teapot”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 7).

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…

As long as you held back on the sugar, that pudding sounds glorious!

An exquisite pudding

Awwww

It’s a definite yes to baked bananas from me. I like bananas but not when they’re over-ripe (unless baked/grilled with brown sugar).

I like beetroot but I’m not keen on it pickled (or pickled things in general really). Beetroot risotto is good, or roast beetroot either hot with a roast dinner or cold in salad (ideally with toasted hazelnuts and feta cheese). I occasionally make beet bourguinon which works very well.

It’s a no to blue cheese from me. And I also find coriander leaf soapy.

Yes to marmite and to coffee (preferably with oat milk but cow will do; unsweetened unless it’s Green or Turkish in which case a tiny bit of sugar is good).

I have never tried sea urchin. I’ve been vegetarian for several decades so I’m unlikely to try it now. I rather love its status as the one food @lucicle won’t eat though!

Oh! Lovely cat @CyanCrystalViolet - just look at that face!

Oat milk is another texture I struggle with. It feels oily and like it leaves a film on the tongue shudder

I took time to come round to oat milk as it seemed greasy at first but now I prefer it to cow and it’s much nicer then soy milk.

I only liked hazelnut vegetable based milk substitute and only on its own. I can't abide any of them in tea.

I love Mary Berry’s Boozy Bananas - make a caramel with soft brown sugar in a frying pan, add rum to the caramel, then “fry” your bananas - firm and fresh are best - sliced longways for a couple of minutes each side. Serve immediately with cream and/or ice cream, and they are also excellent mashed and rolled up in pancakes.

Oh, butter in the caramel too, melt butter and sugar in the pan.

If you're lazy and want to avoid washing up you can do them in the microwave. I used the regular oven last night because it was on anyway - but ate them out of the dish I baked them in.

Or of course, if you want to show off, you can flambe them.

I know rum is more correct, but I rather like them with whiskey.

Gorgeous Kaspar!

I love baked/grilled/fried bananas and other fruit, but I would probably leave off the sugar. Having said that, I love the complex flavours in brown sugar, treacle, palm sugar etc. So I'd have to consider the balance there.

(I struggle, for example, with sticky toffee pudding, love the flavours but really can't stand the sweetness).

Can people who can’t smell asparagus pee smell asparagus itself?

I can’t smell raw or griddled asparagus much, but steamed sends a very distinctive whiff around the house.

I can smell asparagus but not asparagus pee. Beetroot doesn't seem to send my pee pink though. I imagine my kidneys soaking up all that beetroot over the years instead of sending it through and can only conclude that when I eventually shuffle off this mortal coil anybody who has to do an autopsy on my will encounter them bright purple.

Lucicle and I have had the sea urchin discussion before - I love them.

Oh, the terrible wrongness!

I've never had sea urchin, but suspect I would like them. I still remember the disappointment of not trying sea-slug soup (which may well have been sea urchin soup) in Singapore, when I was 9 or 10 and they brought us the wrong dish. My dad and I agreed afterwards that if my mother (drama queen extraordinaire) had been less hysterical, we'd have given it a go!

Coriander seeds are grand because they don't taste of soap.

Today was a great day for hanging out washing but it was too great as the duvet cover and sheet went for a trip around the garden. I'm off home tomorrow and I can't wait. I love Seamus but going back and forth from here to my boys has been a bit of a pain in the bottom. I just want to sit and cuddle them!

How has your oesophagus been lately, Mousey?

Ha! Saturday night I was peckish so decided to have a satsuma. Four fucking hours of a bit of satsuma lodged in my stupidly inefficient oesophagus. That said when it eventually dislodged I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to go to A&E because I had no idea what I'd do with Seamus. I'm now avoiding satsumas which is a shame as I love them and they're a great way for me to up my five a day. I have an appointment on 17th which is good. Maybe I should keep a diary of lodging and discomfort to give them an insight into where I'm currently at.

Oh! I remembered something that I wanted to tell you last night, Mavis. For my birthday last year, Snoop bought me a riding for beginners thing. I last rode a horse when I was 19 so it's been decades. I was so bloody happy on the horse and remembered how to trot. Haven't been since but I will do it again.

How lovely! I haven’t ridden since November 2010, the week before my horse died. Now my back is fucked, and riding horses is very bad for backs, according to my physio. But on lovely days I often wish I was riding in the woods, watching deer and badgers and foxes who don’t recognise you as a dangerous human to hide from, because you’re on a horse, one of them.

Yay for the lovely horse riding @MouseMinge and boo for the inefficient oesophagus!

I like horses but haven't spent much time around them, they were a rarity in Malaysia except for the very wealthy. When I moved to the UK I tried a bit of riding in my 20s, enjoyed it very much, but didn't have time (or funds) to really get into it.

@Gonners was it sea cucumber soup? They don't really taste of much in themselves, it's more of a texture thing (see also: dried jellyfish, birds nests, etc). My grandmother once bought a dried sea cucumber to make soup, brought it home unannounced to my mum's house, and rehydrated it in a bowl of water in the fridge... whereupon it swelled back up to its original size which was so large that it pushed the lid off the bowl and loomed startlingly (and wobblily) at mum when she opened the fridge. The resulting shrieks went down in family legend.

MmePoppySeedDefage · Yesterday 19:58

Lucicle and I have had the sea urchin discussion before - I love them.

I suspect I'd probably throw up, I can't stand roe, or caviar and I gagged when trying a raw oyster. I had sea cucumber (possibly sea slug) and it was absolutely the vilest thing ever. It tasted revolting - like burned rubber, sulphur and shit, all at once. The vile tasting heartburn stayed with me for two days.

Apparently, it's a delicacy in Indonesia...

Many people loved it, but I could never get past the smell of fermented tofu. Our flat was on the 5th floor and once a week, in the early evening, we'd hear a repeated chant of 'Zhou tofu!' being sung out in a neighbouring street and knew it was time to close the windows. The tofu woman would park up on the street below our flat and start deep frying smelly tofu and she'd be there for about half an hour. If we were out and missed closing the windows the flat would be filled with a miasma reminiscent of dirty socks and rotting onions.