Thread 16 - TalkLair: "Well, I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish-yet-affordable boots, but there's definitely something unnatural going on here."

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 15).

Another year over, a new one just begun...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls festooned with tinsel, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors, the tree is twinkling with fairy lights (and possibly being clambered on by cats). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

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

This is exactly why I always argue, once they start talking to you, that's the first step on a bad path.

This is a lovely thread. So many hilarious things that people misunderstood when they were children.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5259406-what-do-you-remember-from-your-childhood-that-you-now-realise-you-really-misunderstood?page=1

Electricity is back! and running water and internet and other lovely things. I have not yet gone and looked at the west end of the house, but south is fine and no major damage to trees etc. Power went just after 4:00, so it was miserable day and a half, but worse things happen and good for both the weather forecasters and the ESB repair crews.

Glad you're still in one piece, and powered up, Elderberry.

I love that thread about childhood misunderstandings, and suffered from some of them myself!

Hooray for restored power, Elderberry.

There's nothing like having no power to make you appreciate it even more when it comes back on. I'm glad you have it back, Elderberry!

When I turned my laptop back on all the whole "VIRUS!" stuff was gone and hasn't come back, so that's good.

Welcome back to the 21st century @DeanElderberry!

I hope your computer virus scare was just a temporary thing @FagsMagsandBags. My laptop is also bloody ancient, the battery is utterly banjaxed and sometimes just shuts down at random. But I can't afford a new one for now, hey ho.

First batch of baking for CNY done yesterday evening. Cutting it a bit fine this year!

FagsMagsandBags · Yesterday 23:31

When I turned my laptop back on all the whole "VIRUS!" stuff was gone and hasn't come back, so that's good.

Oh, good news! I keep getting messages about dumping my old computer and laptop to change over to Windows 11. The PC is a bit slow, but it has loads of passwords on it, most of them set by my wife, who doesn't remember any of them!

I was out in Newcastle with my daughter yesterday, on a futile clothes shopping trip, she's too fussy. There was an anti abortion protest, they had a huge banner with graphic photos, which upset her.

Going up the escalator to TK Max were two girls of a similar age, crying. The mothers were furious about the banner, which had upset them.

Those look amazing Kuc!

Do any of you have a reliable computer repair man? Fantastic local guy will fix anything fixable and if all is lost is very good at sourcing reliable reconditioned second hand ones, He got me a nice whizzy one-year-old laptop for €200 in 2023 which was much more affordable than a new machine. And transferred all my stuff onto it.

bloody anti abortion protesters and their beastly posters. I wonder was it the decapitated baby? Upsetting for teenagers, ghastly for women who have lost babies, upsetting for pregnant women. Smug righteousness has no place in something so nuanced and personal and biological.

Heck @SinnerBoy I'd be bloody furious!

Here's a surprisingly interesting thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5260828-my-life-in-houses

DeanElderberry · Today 09:39

bloody anti abortion protesters and their beastly posters. I wonder was it the decapitated baby?

No, it was a 10 week live foetus and a 10 week dead one, both looked completely faked and far too well developed for 10 weeks. Also, American spellings, so probably lifted directly from there.

Kucinghitam · Today 11:11

Heck I'd be bloody furious!

I was inside, but just kept my tone neutral when I was explaining that it was untrue.

Anyway, our (Hong Kong) Chinese neighbour brought us some food yesterday. We often take her son in after school, as she has erratic hours. I can't remember what they're called...

Trump and the Republicans are making anti-abortion noises at the federal level - not sure they'd be able to get legislation pushed through on that though as their majority is very thin in the House and I think there would be a row about states' rights as so many blue states have codified abortion protections into their state constitutions.

Those look exquisite, Kuc, what are they?

They're called kuih bangkit. Tiny biscuits, only about the size of my thumb joint, made of tapioca flour and coconut cream, flavoured with pandan. They're very specific to SE Asia, particularly to the Straits Chinese people and our CNY celebrations. I've asked friends from China/Taiwan/HK and they have never ever encountered them; I've never seen them in Asian shops in the UK and so (between YouTube, my mum and my grandma before she lost her marbles) I taught myself to make them.

The dough is pressed into these hand-carved wooden moulds, then the little shapes released by tapping (violently) on the table. The red dot is added after baking - optional but considered auspicious. ChezKuc we all sit at the kitchen table doing them together, else it would take one person a ludicrous amount of time.

Ha! Tapioca, coconut and pandan again - a sort of solid version of Sago Gula Melaka! They do look very tempting.

Yum - email me some of those Kuc :-)

I was quite excited because it's the Year of the Snake and I was born in the Year of the Snake and then I found out that it's actually unlucky which was not what I wanted to hear. Then I figured that I probably had a lot of the bad luck last year (along with a lot of good luck given I'm alive and typing and stuff) so maybe I'll be let off this year.

@SinnerBoy I hate that you and your daughter and all the other young and older women had to see that sort of hate banner. I wish there was a way of making it illegal because it is just hate and fear and lies and it shouldn't be allowed.

@Kucinghitam your kuih bangkit are exquisite. Because CNY is coming up I've been seeing lots of recipes for Chinese dishes which has got me having a bit of a desire for Chinese food. I say Chinese food and mean Chinese takeaway which I haven't had in quite a few years. I decided to look up nearby restaurants and there were a few and one of them had Thai food as well but only different red and green curries. I decided to have a look on Just Eat to see if there were Thai food restuarants. When I lived in the village there were very few restaurants I could use on Just Eat, now I'm in a town there are SO many and last night felt like a glimpse into heaven. Thai, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, I'm looking to see if there is other Asian food which I'm sure there will be. I'm so happy. I won't be ordering anything until the first week of February but I'm so excited to have my first takeaway in years. And it will almost certainly be Chinese. Or maybe Thai. Or maybe I'll be an absolute glutton and have two takeaways in a fortnight or something.

I can't afford to get a new laptop at the moment but I will have to before too long. @DeanElderberry I don't know of a good local computer person but have in the past and they're always good to know about/have around. To be fair my current laptop was a free hand me down so I can't complain that it's coming toward the end of its natural life. As is my phone. Whatever they're replaced with will be reconditioned or whatever the word is and I'll be fine with that. I was thinking of going for a Chromebook because they're so much cheaper but apparently they don't offer as much in the way of, service I guess is close to the word, as a normal windows laptop.

Sorry everyone, that was a bit long and dull. In other dull news I had lunch at Snoop's today and we made broccoli and stilton soup which was lush. Luckily she poured herself a big bowl of just the broccoli soup before we added the stilton because she doesn't like stilton. I thought she'd be fine with it in the soup because it's quite subtle but she didn't like it at all even thoug hthe soup was her idea (using up left over Christmas present stilton). Anyway, her chap will definitely eat it and I brought some home so there's utterly dull and uninteresting.

The life in houses thread is interesting. It's making me think of all the places that I've lived. A lot.

The kuih bangkit production line chez Kuc sounds like a lovely way to prepare for new year. The wooden moulds look fantastic: such detail for such tiny biscuits is really impressive.

Hah @FagsMagsandBags, I have a real soft spot for Chinese takeaway - to me its resemblance to the Chinese food of my youth is best described by Douglas Adams: "He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea" and yet it's so very enjoyable. Damn, I fancy some for dinner now

Broccoli and stilton soup was my gateway drug to being able to appreciate blue cheese!

If anyone feels like an hour's thoroughly harrowing radio, Radio 4 broadcast Albert Camus' The Plague on Saturday afternoon. It was recorded remotely during the first covid lockdown and broadcast in July 2020 - I'm sort of glad I missed it then! It's very well done, though.

@Kucinghitam I used to go to a wonderful - and now sadly closed - Chinese restaurant in Brighton where the food was so far above the general takeaway with the most divine dim sum, and, when I lived in London I ate in Chinatown a lot and still do if I'm up there visiting because there is some good food to be found (as well as some really bad food too, I love the luck of the draw!) but there is something to be said for takeaway and I love that Douglas Adams quote because it's absolutely spot on!