Thread 14 - TalkLair: “What The Hell Are We Supposed To Use, Man? Harsh Language?”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 13).

Summer should be well under way, but the chilly wind, grey clouds and pouring rain beg to differ. Looks like 2024 continues to be a washout - on the bright side, the Tories got washed out too! In the TalkLair, we remain hunkered down keeping cosy and warm. The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, 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…

@DeanElderberry the ongoing prayers and candles are much appreciated!

Yes, certainly all in favour of candles being used for their correct purpose! 🙂

It's a shame I'm on a ship and nowhere near you, Mouse I make good chicken broth and mutton broth.

Delighted with your progress @MouseMinge! I shall wish you all manner of broths, jellies and sorbets 🍧 this weekend.

Here is Mochi, fluffy-bellied destroyer of sleep and deaf mice.

Mochi has a lovely belly! Hoping to move to soup and jelly over the weekend but they are taking it very slowly. Today it's apple juice and squash which is still a feast for the taste buds. I'm keeping everything crossed on my infection markers because if they go up I'm back on water. I'm going to be as optimistic as possible though and enjoy the poor quality apple juice and a bed neighbour's much nicer looking squash today!

Glad you're being well looked after, Mouse.

I'm another fan of chicken broth for those who are unwell, it's wonderful stuff.

My lovely neighbour brought over a huge pot of chicken soup when I was laid up with covid. She's from an Italian family and is a superb cook so it was delicious, and saved me from some of DH's culinary efforts.

What a brave warrior Mochi is, protecting you from all those pesky squeaky mice 😻

@MouseMinge keeping every crossed for you. The apple juice must taste wonderful.

Gosh, there’s going to be another Alien film. Alien: Romulus

Set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens(1986),[3] the story concerns a group of young space colonists who, while scavenging a derelict space station, come face to face with the most terrifying life form in space.[4]

Jelly for breakfast today because clear soup and jelly is now on the menu because the infection markers are static. Yay! I'll be staying put on this for a while apparently but it is progress.

Excellent news MouseM

I bet that clear soup and jelly is absolutely delicious, Mouse.

Yes, it must taste heavenly after all your time on short commons, Mouse.

Brilliant news @MouseMinge even though clear soup and jelly are very far from my favourite things. But still, flavour!

Definitely flavour! The clear soup was better than expected and my first savoury food in quite a while. I'm definitely happier 🙂

Well, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the clear soup. Was it chicken? It's very difficult to spoil clear soup, except by over salting, or burning.

At least, that what I've heard...

I don't think it was chicken, probably vegetable? It had flavour but I couldn't place it and there was no chickeny type thing to it.

I'm definitely going for beef and chicken consomme when I get home! And a bit of Miso.

Chicken, beef or miso clear soup should give you a real hit of energy, Mouse. Any idea when you'll be able to go home?

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast not sure but I'm hoping next week. They're going to do another endoscopy and all things being equal etc. My fingers are crossed.

Today has been a tale of walking a "long" way, to the lift, from the lift, outdoors, to a shaded area that Snoop and I like. Same on the way back. We brought a wheelchair from the entrance which meant my boney arse could sit in comfort. Approximate length of long walk? About 600-700 metres each way? So proud of my lungs for managing it. Also a tale of Seamus coming to visit. It was so good to see him and he was pleased to see me, stayed near me, allowed me to stroke his head a lot and kiss it. He's the least affectionate dog ever.

It was also a tale of two soups. Lunch soup a mistake was made. Soup looked thicker. I had a spoonful. It was cream of mushroom soup! It wasn't super thick and creamy because hospital food and it was the tastiest thing I've had in a long time. I decided that I would have the illegal soup and I did have most of it. It was good! Supper back to thin soup but this evening it had no flavour and was basically a bowl of hot water. I didn't eat/drink it. Soup karma caught up with me quickly. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for further mistakes!

I Am Not A Dietician but surely there are all sorts of delicious soups that they could dilute and puree to within a millimetre of their lives so as to make them liquid, if not actually "clear"? I'm not <had to edit to add this crucial word!> thinking of anything creamy, more stuff like onion soup.

In local dog news, we had a visit yesterday from a friend with her new puppy, who is only just out of vaccine quarantine. She (the puppy, not the friend) is a Brussels Griffon and I was expecting to have to make polite noises, but bloody hell she is gorgeous: jet black with a proper coat, rather than one of the grumpy-looking baldy ones. She hurled her tiny self at me and made a huge fuss of me until MrG appeared, at which point I was obviously of no further interest. The man is a dog-magnet. 😄

Many soups are only really thick because something like potato has been added to bulk them up without adding flavour so tasty thin soup is perfectly possible. Properly clear soup is trickier though (at least, consommé always looks hard on Masterchef).

I’ve never enjoyed thick soups but enjoy clear soups, particularly noodle soups, miso and ramen broth. I don’t actually really care about the noodles, I just can’t get enough umami.

I think with things like consommé you have to spend time skimming off the fat and then straining it, possibly at least twice twice. I had a tin of it once and didn’t enjoy it much but I reckon I would if I had it Proper

We went out for a posh dinner this evening, it being our 22nd wedding anniversary today, so we went to the restaurant at the hotel where we got married overlooking the sea in Cape Elizabeth. I am properly stuffed now. However, on the menu was something called tomato consommé. I didn't have it but I wonder how you'd make it so it wasn't just tomato juice. I don't think it can be beef consommé with added tomato because it was served with crab and that seems like a bizarre combo if so.

Ooh, tomato consommé! I saw it (or something similar) being prepared on a TV cookery show a few years ago. Involved many tomatoes being grated, followed by a lot of sieving and straining, IIRC. I think the idea is you end up with an intensely tomato-flavoured, yet clear, liquid.

Happy anniversary!

I saw the same cookery programme, I suspect. I think it was Raymand Blanc. And yes, lots of tomatoes and lots of seiving and straining. Whereas Heston Blumanthal would probably use a still.

Happy anniversary @Britinme !

Tomato consommé sounds like a right faff. I think I’d quite like to try it though.