Thread 17 - TalkLair: "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

[RasaSayangEh]

(Previous thread 16).

Spring is springing, daffodils blooming all over our LairGarden, which have not all been picked by a neighbour's kid...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, cosy rugs are down on the floors looking a bit stained by cat hairball regurgitation. 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 over there in the corner of the cave…

The pears here are at the 'white bud' stage but we're a lot further south than you, SinnerBoy. Apples are a bit further behind.

Looking a bit Ingrid Bergman has made my day! She's too marvellous for words!

We've got patches of magnolia around here and some blossoms. There's something so life affirming about spring 🌼 🌱 🌼

Yesterday was lovely, and I got the bike out to do a few trips, but this morning it's a real chilly wind here, and I've just put it away again! My current beef, tree-wise, is that the council have chopped down, completely, the copse (I suppose you'd call it) at the end of my cul-de-sac, to build more bloody houses! 🙁This has not only affected the view, but also it's now a lot windier, as the trees provided shelter.

Sympathies to the pollen-afflicted. That must be miserable.

That's so annoying about those trees being cut down!

At my main work place there's a spinney of mature trees between the garden and the fields and for some reason the farmer has cut down a lot of the trees, which has opened up parts of the garden to the prevailing winds. It was fairly sheltered before that.

As for being pollen-afflicted, it started ten years ago but never bothered me before that. I'm guessing it's an 'it's your age, love' thing. Vexing what ever it is.

Great picture @FagsMagsandBags! And very stylish hair

For me that kind of pollen assault at this time of year would be either hazel or a willow of some sort. I can see the pollen on the willows atm. I've just come back from a shopping trip and made a detour to top up my Piriton supplies even before I read the last couple of hours of this thread.

Yep, hazel followed by willow and birch, really do a number on me at this time of year.

I was taking allacan, cetirizine hydrochloride, without issue for ages but then started to feel like shit a couple of hours after I had one. Looked at the advice leaflet and was horrified by the list of side-effects, which included memory impairment, depression, headaches, joint pain and suicidal ideation, so much so that I stopped taking them straight away. I now feel a whole lot better just using the sinus rinse and Olbas Oil. Oddly enough, I've pretty much stopped sneezing and my nose isn't running as much as it was when I was taking the allacan.

My book has arrived. It's as marvellous as Part "A".

Looks fascinating! I've remarked before about the vagaries of American recipes. I fancied making some oat bread, and came across this:

https://www.runningtothekitchen.com/easy-homemade-oat-bread/

When I grease a pan, I put a bit of butter about the size of a pea on the tip of my finger, and rub it in. I do not use two bloody tablespoons! Also, "no knead", to me explains the large amount of liquid. And the fact the 'loaf' hasn't risen in the photos. I shan't be doing that. or putting any honey in (Americans sweeten everything). I just wanted an idea about the ratio of flour to oats to water, but thi sisn't much of a guide. I'm going with a lot less water, hoping for a more conventional dough.

If you want to try a soda bread, this is good
https://www.flahavans.ie/recipe/mary-flahavans-porridge-bread/
and at this stage I don't weigh anything, just put 500 g of yogurt in a mixing bowl, add a little black treacle and an egg and mix them round a bit, then pour in enough porridge oats to give me a fairly soft mix, then put in the bicarbonate of soda and any seeds (pumpkin are good, so are poppy). Very reliable and can be sliced very thinly when cold.

That looks interesting, Dean. My prob with many recipes is that I want to make much smaller quantities. With bread, I want to make a small, 'cob' loaf, not a 2 lb tin size. So I think I'd maybe try two-thirds quantities or something like that. I searched and searched for a small loaf tin, and cannot find anything to my requirements! IMO loaf tins these days are too shallow. My old, large loaf tin is deep, but I cannot find a smaller one in the same proportions. Loaf tins nowadays seem to be more the shape for banana bread, rather than a proper tin loaf.

That bread sounds yum. Is bread soda the same as baking soda? (I.e. bicarbonate?)

Yes, it gets called bread soda in Ireland because so many people (still) make soda bread.

@moto748e I don't know how much storage space you have, but I sometimes freeze slices of the porridge bread if I've made a loaf and don't want to eat the whole thing. It makes nice toast even straight from the freezer - firmer textured that white bread toast, but very tasty.

There 'tis. It's a lot darker than it shows there.

Whisper it low, but I actively dislike soda bread. I don't know if it's the taste or the texture - possibly both? Potato farls, though, are the Food of the Gods!

I'm the same Gonners - most unnatural of me. I like scones in moderation(1), but even there I like teacakes and yeast-risen buns more.

(1) I admit there was very little moderation involved in my enjoyment of this week's cheese scones.

I've never tasted soda bread. I do fancy a hot cross bun now though.

I finally stopped sneezing about an hour ago. I have a very red nose. My hay fever has never been this bad, I wonder if it's the combination of mild, dry and windy weather we've had here? I'm a bit scared about leaving the flat again in case it sets off another 24 hours of this.

Have you tried wheaten, Gonners? It's a coarse-ground wholemeal version of soda bread, with a lot of buttermilk and slightly sweetened. Moister than three ordinary white version and doesn't have the 'soda' taste.

I think Northern 'wheaten' is rest-of-Ireland 'soda'_ though I do remember that years ago when working on an excavation in co Westmeath the local bakery produced a slightly sweet white soda bread with raisins in it - that was nice after a day's digging.

@DeanElderberry ... I always think I'm pretty indifferent to scones - a mere vehicle for a scraping of jam and a ginormous heap of cream, surely? And then I remember cheese scones, absolutely dripping with unsalted butter!

@NoBinturongsHereMate ... you lost me at the buttermilk and slightly sweetened!

Potato bread, however, is wondrous!

Wheaten is a lot browner than soda and has treacle in, and sometimes egg.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286022672461?

https://theunicook.com/traditional-irish-wheaten-bread/

I’m not sure I’ve ever actually tried soda bread.

Love the look of the Dictionary of Unusual Words!

There's a rather wonderful website called "the dictionary of untranslatable words" which includes a Japanese word for the act of buying a book but leaving it unread in a pile of other unread books. I have no idea if this is true, but who cares ... it's amusing.