The Year Round Nigel Slater Discussion thread

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello, all.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here between November and February each year (the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes) It's been running for a few years, and the contributors have collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair, grab a cuppa and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

@Bimblesalong loving those extra toesies! Also, there was an article online yesterday about someone spotting a Hoopoe in Bournemouth. I used to think of them as almost mythical creatures as a kid as I felt like they were so mysterious and special.

I am totally in love with the candle I got yesterday. The smell is just amazing and the throw is like nothing I've ever experienced with any other candle. It's from the Shetland Soap Company, and upon looking at their website, I see they work with people with Autism and learning disabilities. I'm so impressed with the candle and their social purpose that I've asked my Mum to order me gifts from there for my birthday (in 50 days - I like to get ahead of the game 😁) plus it will avoid her buying me something random from QVC

Here's the link if anyone is interested.

shetlandsoap.co.uk/pages/social-purpose

My granny used to make the most amazing lardy cake (Wiltshire - where are you, @EarlierDistraction ?) but then everybody got cholesterol and I haven't had one for decades. I have her old hand-written recipe book so perhaps I will see if it's in there. My dad is 79 so probably can stop thinking about dietary fat for once, I might make it next time they visit. It would be wasted on my dried-fruit-hating offspring.
She was the most amazing cook - I know this makes it sound like it is from hundreds of years ago but she left school at 14 and went into service at the big house! (She was baffled by my never-ending years of education). Even in the 40s she was making delicious curries (I suppose left over from the empire) Even her ham sandwiches - literally sliced bread, flora, ham, mustard - were better than anybody else's.
Big merlin/bird fans in this house too @Confusedmeanderings . We often pop it on the outside table while we are gardening. It always without fail picks up a greenfinch, which irritates me because I have never seen one in this garden - they must hide next door and shout through the hedge, I think. Last year it heard a bittern! They were super rare for years apart from in East Anglia but are coming back to the wetlands up the wirral (we are just outside chester) - it must have been passing over or confused by last summer's very soggy fields around the village.
Very quiet mother's day here with 2/3 children away. DD3 cooked dinner though so that was a real treat, and when DD2 got home at 11pm (thank goodness for clock changes) - she'd been to stay with DD1 at uni for the weekend, for DD1's 21st birthday - she had travelled all the way from Bath, encountering the inevitable delays and cancellations, carrying a bunch of flowers for me! Bless her. I did say they sell flowers here. I spent most of the day in the garden, cutting back ready for spring, then watched Gardeners World (I find Monty very soothing and quite Nigelesque, and I like to watch on a Sunday so when he dishes out his jobs for the weekend I can feel smug because I've already done them!), then had a glass of wine and a snooze in the summerhouse. Perfect.

We're Hampshire @SheherazadesSeasonalNonsense and I think we are probably on the edge of lardy cake territory as you don't see them that often here (east side of the county), used to see them more when I was more south central.

Nigel Slater MONTH - what thrills!!

I need to catch up on Gardener’s World. It’s so soothing isn’t it.

first day in my new to me office today. I’ve scrubbed it and moved it about. It’s mine u til July 9th so I’m going to go all out and make it lovely for me and kids for now. I could be all temporary about it but I’m not that person so here goes. Today I brought in a plant and some cushions for the armchair. There is also a reading nook (WTF) that needs some TLC.

Everyone’s weekends sound lovely. Ours was slow and calm. Just what we all needed. I hosted a v random Sunday lunch yesterday for friends who are all a bit displaced ATM. It was a really lovely afternoon. It sounds weird to say I relaxed by batch cooking and serving up a roast for 10 but it was great.

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

I find Monty very soothing and quite Nigelesque - I think Monty is the Nigel of gardening and it's not a coincidence he used to have a dog of that name!

I found it, look!

I don’t imagine either of them is very easy to live with

Completely appreciate this is deeply sad of me, but I like to know these things.

So it looks like Food Network are showing 2 episodes of Simple Suppers each morning then repeating them each tea time / evening. The following day will be a repeat (repeat) of this. Then another two episodes on days 3 and 4 etc. The schedule only takes me up to 14 April, but episodes 1 & 2 are on next Monday and Tuesday, with Episodes 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday etc. This will likely take them two weeks as there are two series, so probably simple cooking after that. I hope they show his middle east programmes as I love those.

As you were.

Totally agree with this and I have to say that Monty would completely do my head in. My best friend loves him and goes to see his live shows all the time. I do share his hatred of begonias, mind.

Thanks so much everyone for the Merlin App tip - I was literally up at dawn with my phone at the window checking out who wakes us up each morning (a blackbird and a great tit - and interestingly both have several different songs). We don't really see any birds - apart from pigeons - but there are a sprinkling of courtyards and gardens in neighbouring buildings so there's actually quite a lot of birdsong and because we are a couple of buildings back from the road we can actually hear it.

April 1

A fragrant chicken supper

A sky as clear and bright as iced water; plum and pear blossom breaking out in the garden; the hot scent of grated ginger coming from the kitchen. If only all days could prick the senses like this one. I fancy a curry. One to stimulate rather than numb our palates, who's point is to be fresh, uplifting and fragrant rather than dark and mysterious.

(Recipe: Chicken with mustard seed and coconut milk on page 110 of Kitchen Diaries)

My neighbour who’s a real birder (note: not a twitcher!) says that the great tit has more different songs than anything else

A love the great tit song @LillianGish such a cheeky little chap. The blackbird seems to have a multitude of songs. They go nuts with a warning cheep if a cat or magpie happens to be bear their nest. My mother calls this "The blackbird doing it's dinger" The one I had in my garden as a child would sing back to me as I learned to imitate one of his songs. It would go on for quite some time with each of us 'replying' to one another.

It's such a beautiful day and I'm desperate to get out in the garden, but I'm having a quiet cuppa at my desk for now. DD is in bed shattered as I had to pick her up from school early yesterday as she was sick. It's a good job I had a sturdy bag for life in the car for the ride home. I won't say any more.

I've just noticed that Nigel has a Spring Eats section in his KD3 book between March and April. Salmon Macaroni cheese it is for me tonight as I've some leftover cooked salmon from last night. I've also earmarked a carrot, cashew and rice dish for tomorrow. I'd put cashews in everything given half a chance!

Hope everyone is well and the sun shines for you all today 🌞

Oh MY goodness. I've been sitting outside for 25 minutes and kept hearing what I thought was a woodpecker and it was a Green Woodpecker which are rare. A proper moment of joy there. Aren't birds amazing?

Gosh that’s quite the list RZW! My new longterm drugs are making me more wakeful but one nice thing is that I hear the dawn chorus before dropping off again. I hope dd is soon better and well for the Easter break.

DH and I are off on a date tonight for the first time in months. Well I say that, but I made him buy livestream opera tickets at one of the local cinemas 😂. We’re watching Turandot, which is the last opera I saw live before any of this nonsense kicked off (at opera Bastille in Paris no less, @LillianGish and it was amazing). I will take tissues.

Hoping that dh and ds2 can finish my raised bed in the next few days so I can get the lettuces in under the cold frame. Ds1 has ordered a russet apple teee for the garden at his “new” house. They were dad’s favourite apples and everyone in the immediate family has a tree at their house.

Enjoy the opera @Bimblesalong - what a lovely treat. We went to see Rambert Dance performing Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at the Seine Musicale on Friday courtesy of a friend's nephew who is the company. I'm not a massive fan of the TV series, but this production blew my socks off. Even more thrillingly, the nephew met us in the cocktail bar afterwards for a full debrief - an assignation with an actual Peaky Blinder! Coincidentally, it was the Ballet Rambert (as it was then) who my aunt danced with in the 1950s and 60s so I was able to have a very interesting conversation with the nephew who, like her, had moved to London at 17 to train at the Rambert school and then joined the company.

Thanks @LillianGish I love Ballet Rambert - that sounds like a great experience. My aunt was offered a place in Ballet Rambert in the 60s but took the offer from Miss Bluebell instead, starting in Rome, then Paris Lido, then Vegas in the late 60s / early 70s. What a time to be in those cities!
Your aunt and nephew must have quite some stories to tell.

Hello all. Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather.

It's honey labelling day today for me, but I've managed to poke my head in at the nature reserve. The dartmoor ponies that we have there seemed happy to see me and this one poked his head back through the hide hole amd tried to eat my binoculars!

Oh, Rambert! I was lucky enough to work with them in my teens a few times (mostly via their workshops) as I was kne of the first people to take GCSE Dance when it came out in 1987. Loved it!

If Monty & Nigel lived together they’d get nothing done but they would eat delicious, home cooked meals fresh from the garden lit only by the light of the candles from their bees. 😅

Girls I’ve been poorly and after a weekend of in and out of ED & ambulances I’m going for surgery on Friday and I cannot wait. I want to be well again. See you on the other side! Xx

@AgathaMysteryoh gosh you poor thing. Hope all goes well on Friday and you make a speedy recovery 💐

That’s rotten @AgathaMystery I hope surgery goes smoothly and you’re soon on the mend. You’ve left us with a lovely image of Nigel and Monty. I’d like to see them in some Nigelesque version of Eric and Ernie’s sketches.

The sky is amazing tonight. I’m hoping for aurorae over the weekend.

Aurora kicking off massively here in the North. Watch on the Shetland cams if you can't see locally

https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/burrafirth-unst/

Sorry to hear that @AgathaMystery hope it goes smoothly on Friday

Very best wishes for Friday @AgathaMystery , and for a speedy recovery. ❤️

Hope all goes well Friday @AgathaMystery