Year round Nigel Slater discussion thread - Part 3

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello, all and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:
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, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair to the fireplace, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

Ooh I got some of those too as there was an offer for two packs - will look forward to trying them next.

Would love to see some Japan photos from Nigel right now. It is yet again grey, cold and almost-sleety here. On the plus side had some nice toast and orange & ginger marmalade for breakfast and am about to run an event at work that I've been planning for a while with a lovely workshop facilitator.

I have resisted Hot Cross Buns so far this year as I am on the lowcarb bootcamp, but when I am eating them I like the apple and cinnamon. Worst were the cheese and marmite a couple of years ago, M&S have a huge range of Marmite flavoured things, some like the cheese, are very good indeed, but some are definitely not (marmite flavoured salted caramel sauce no thanks). So I have just had some little home made egg, cheese and leek muffins for breakfast. Not actually raining here today but very grey. The icy wind has gone thankfully and I am sitting in the kitchen with the back doors open listening to the birds chirp.

Very amused (easily!) by the tales of little robot vacuums running around your houses. Made me wonder if I could get one to do under the sofas and such? Where do they go after work? Do they have little robot shacks to retire to?!
Spending the day (and maybe tomorrow) waiting for our new kitchen being delivered. It's got to go into the garage as our fitters 'pushed us back' a couple of weeks. Fortunately there's not too large an amount to fit in, I hope. Soon I have to make my mind up about kitchen appliances, an induction hob for the first time. So many choices and a big price range, what do the expensive ones do that the cheaper ones don't? Cook for you!? :)

I also regularly consider a robot vacuum. Can't quite justify any non-essential spending at the moment but I can definitely see how this would enhance my life! Although, if I'm honest, the only part of vacuuming which I really hate is the stairs, and I'd still have to do those manually. The hose on our vacuum cleaner ripped recently so is now held together with tape - it still works brilliantly but can't be stretched so I have to humph the cleaner up every couple of steps whereas I used to be able to do them all from either the top or the bottom.

Enough vacuum talk! I'm envious of the warm rain, although in fairness the weather here has been lovely the last few days - really really cold but bright, crisp and sunny. It rained heavily overnight though, so the dampness has set in again. My bus didn't turn up this morning so I had to wait an hour for the next one. There was no explanation and the tracker just kept updating saying that it was due to two minutes so I didn't dare go home again in-between. By the time I got on the later bus, the cold and damp had really set into my body, and of course, I'm now feeling all at sea by being an hour late for work.

Speaking of crisp cold vs dry cold, the book I mentioned in my previous post is The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus. It appealed to me because I loved the title and have a thing for cephalopods but also because it is sent mainly in Edinburgh but also Aberdeenshire and the protagonist is Canadian - those are parts of the country I know well, and I've also spent some time in Canada. I don't know if I'd recommend the book though - a few pithy observations aside, there's not much going on and no connection with octopuses so far (not even metaphorical). Also I cannot get over one glaring inaccuracy and misrepresentation about the local area. That said I'm not very far in - and it might turn out to be an incredible read. I'm hoping so.

@sbplanet here is Robert back at base (I have since tidied the cables up). He can find his way home when he's finished cleaning, then it sucks the fluff out of him into a storage tank and charges him up.

@ExquisiteDresses I love Marmite but agree some of the combinations are not right - did you ever try the Marmite cereal bars? Eurgh!

@sbplanet they take themselves back home when they are getting low on charge. Except poor Maureen is getting a bit elderly and often doesn't make it so we find her lost and confused e.g. under the hall table

New kitchen is exciting! I had a new dishwasher installed yesterday which is less so although I am delighted after 2 weeks of washing up by hand - the novelty wore off very quickly. I have an induction hob and really like it - the only issue for us is extremely minor, that my BIL (who visits not more than twice a year) has a pacemaker so can't come too close to it. Something to be aware of I suppose. We no longer have gas to our kitchen (we moved the location of the kitchen in our house) so if either I or DH ever need a pacemaker then it will become a problem.

Morning all
new kitchens and robot vacs all sound very exciting! Nigel had a lovely recipe for some fancy pancakes on his insta but not much else so I think he must be on one of his lovely trips…or holed up writing us something new I hope.
The candles look beaut RZW!

it ended up being very hot but quite windy yesterday so I have of course managed to sun burn my back quite spectacularly whilst out kayaking. Off to English Harbour today (via water taxi which I love!) to go and see Nelson’s boatyard and have a look around. Lots of rum cocktails being had! There are lots of Americans staying in our resort and it’s been interesting chatting to them. So many different perspectives on Trump and some of their perceptions of the uk are wild. Plus they are all drinking like it’s going out of fashion which surprised me.
A lovely Thursday to all :)

Gosh, I wish I was kayaking around the Caribbean, @piscofrisco ! Very little chance of sunburn here 😂
I'm feeling a bit wobbly as I just said goodbye to DD2 who is heading out on her first gap year trip and won't be back for 6 weeks. On the bright side, we are going to visit DD1 at uni tomorrow until Sunday (with a sulky DD3 in tow - she's 16 and thinks she should be left here to 'do her homework')
We were expats in Asia for 8 years and my experience is that the Americans who drink, really drink!

I feel a bit sad for Maureen, I mean really what am I like!
Also looking for a dishwasher - only ever used them on our hols - and am bemused by all the potential settings and added wi-fi! We don't really get lots of greasy burnt dishes, so I wonder what an ordinary wash is like, and why an eco wash might take over 4 hours! Anyway I am undecided again about what to look for but really how much to spend to get 'value'.
I think with the induction hob I'd like one with a slider touch control, as constant tapping of a 'spot' seems a bit tedious and often my fingertips don't seem to be recognised...
I will probably procrastinate as long as possible and then buy the ones I 'first saw'! Lol.
The new kitchen is both exciting and stressful, I'm keen on functionality and a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to 'finish'. Must learn to be less bovvered! :D

Hello all! It's still bitterly cold here and we have huge seas at the moment. I went down to the beach earlier, knowing it was a big spring tide, but not quite expecting the tide to be fully in over two hours before it should be. No sea glass for me today.

My new dishwasher also has the crazy 3 hour plus 'economy wash' We have to have one, due to the hundreds of honey jars we sterlise, but I mourn the passing of my old one which had a swift and effective 70 degree 58 minute wash.

I remember when I got married in Jamaica, having all the interesting political discussions with the American tourists (during the Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky scandal). My Dad became firm friends with one particular guy, and on the eve of my wedding, they had a wild night with way too much goat curry and tequila shots. The wedding photo's depict my father looking very green around the gills - we got married at 10am before it got too hot - Dad managed the ceremony and a few photos, then spent the next two days in bed. My Dad's pal back home tried to airbrush my photos to make Dad look less ill, but just succeeded in making him look orange instead.

I also slightly regret staying at the Moon Palace in Cancun for my 30th birthday. Beautiful resort and hotel, but it was Spring Break and swarming with rich American teens drinking champers from breakfast time then being sick in the foyer plant pots!

@sbplanetyes my new dishwasher has a WiFi connection and I am utterly at a loss as to when I might ever need or even just want it. Apparently I can connect it to Alexa but given she lives on the kitchen windowsill I would literally stand next to the dishwasher and say Alexa run the dishwasher instead of pushing the button. I’m hoping somebody will enlighten me and I will realise why this is an essential feature
i think being bovvered is good if you are like me and tend to do it once then live with it forever. It would make me cry to replace things more than once every couple of decades!

Our washing machine is WiFi connected. It’s normally pretty pointless but is handy to see how long is left on the wash without actually looking at the machine. Also it means you can turn it on when you’re out of the house. So if I’m staying overnight somwhere or at work means I can turn it on a couple of hours before I get home so it’s not damp and starting to fester.

maybe something like that ???

would love a robot hoover. However the dog occasionally has accidents during the night, and I have seen the videos on Facebook. instead got a lovely vax cordless from my parents for Christmas. How you realise you’re not a kid anymore, when mum and dad gift you hoovers

Nice catch ups everyone great photos

Does anyone want two lovely, fun, clever, but expensive, hungry and need lifts everywhere teenage boys? Happy to separate!

Oops @CrushingOnRubies , your mention of washing starting to fester suddenly reminded me that I put one of the sofa throws (known in our house as a blankie) on to wash last night and i had forgotten all about it.

On the subject of kitchen appliances, I highly recommend a pyrolytic cleaning oven. It really does the job, all I have to do is wipe it out with a damp cloth when the cleaning cycle has run and it looks like new.

@SheherazadesSeasonalNonsense I think you can use the Alexa app on your phone to switch it on if you're NOT right next to it - but I agree it's not that useful!

We finally have some sunshine here but it's blowing a hoolie straight off the sea so it's still bloody freezing.

So it's 2.30 am and I'm struggling to sleep. I'm not the only one though - somewhere nearby a robin is singing it's heart out!

Oh gosh. Bless you. Maybe the Robin was singing to keep you company.

Im off to stand in a dreary, damp car park for an hour; it's Pokemon drop day and we need to queue an hour before Smyths open to be in with a chance of securing the latest trainer box.

I am also supposed to be at a stargazing event this evening, but I can't see it happening looking at the weather forecast. Shame, as it would have been the first thing I've actually done outside of the house in an evening for donkeys years. Sad but true.

Crikey. I just looked at your forecast and couldn't believe how low some of the evening temperatures have been. Thankfully, it looks like things should pick up a bit next week for you.

Completely understand about dogs and robot vacs @CrushingOnRubies
Our two have had upset tummies the past two nights so DH has been up and down with them and mostly managed to open the back door but there have been a couple of small accidents. The thought of that in conjunction with a robot vac 😱
(They have had upset tummies because the beastly little madams have been eating cat poo 👿)

Another Caribbean bride here. We booked a holiday and then discovered we could have a ‘free’ wedding while we were there so figured ‘why not’? Romantic, we are 😁
We had a brilliant time (the wedding was taken very seriously by all involved and was perfect; we nabbed a couple of hotel guests from Ohio as our witnesses and kept in touch with them for years).

The other hotel guests were of course mainly from the USA and there was frequent changeover as many of them seemed to ‘pop down’ from the states for 2 or 3 nights, but they were mostly our age so not too rowdy.

One couple stick in our minds; he was a Danny de Vito lookalike who wore a tuxedo (with shorts) to dinner every night, whilst she was a redheaded Vegas showgirl lookalike (she looked like she would be called ‘Ginger’) and a good 18" taller than him in her heels.
‘Danny' would arrive in the bar every night, light a cigar, and say “the drinks are on me” (it was of course all-inclusive). Ginger’s bosom would appear around corners a good second before the rest of her did; she must have had some spectacular corsetry.

It was all very very very NVN but we had a wonderful time 💞

Still fighting the gloom here and mostly winning. Met a friend for tea yesterday afternoon and she had the most interesting stories about her late husband and his 'pedigree' - from Norman conquest stock it seems - and all the stately and stately-ish homes that had passed through the family hands. My favourite, though, was a mossy stone circle, once a fortress, concealed in woodland on Bodmin Moor. Talk about food for the imagination! Fascinating stuff.

Dd1 has finished a tricky essay for her OU course so we are celebrating today by watching Wuthering Heights (slightly apprehensive about this as there has been so much noise online about it) then getting cocktails at our favourite local hotel.

Shame about your stargazing @RainbowZebraWarrior and I'm interested to hear about all the kitchen and domestic gizmos - I'm terribly retro and just use my old seventies hoovers etc. until they fall to pieces.

I definitely understand your hoover/ poo concerns - one of my cats sometimes has a dodgy stomach (usually when she's been eating spiders), and Robert will never be set off on his travels without me checking the carpets first in the morning!

It doesn't look much like stargazing weather, what a shame. Cold and wet here - I've been out to retrieve the wheelie bin and that's probably it for today. Got my landlord coming for a visit in a bit and then I plan to do very little.

That's another reason I don't allow the robovac to operate unattended, I found cat sick under the dining table this morning. The joys.

@piscofrisco what a marvellous day, I’d also love to kayak in the sun. We are, however, slowly moving through a rainy spaghetti junction on the way to see mum for her birthday.

I love the description of Maureen. Since our dear boy died we haven’t needed to vacuum as much, so I couldn’t justify the spend.

New kitchen. Ahhh! Loving ours, tiles are on the wall and I’m now looking at blinds from Vanessa Arbuthnot (who designs with potato prints). It’s a tiny window so should break the bank.

@leporello what an interesting time you are having. Congrats to dd on finishing her essay.

Sending supportive wishes to @SheherazadesSeasonalNonsense These big kids of ours. My ds1 has his last day at his current job today and starts his new one on Monday. I’ve asked his girlfriend to get a last day of school photo of him today and a first day at big school in his new uniform on Monday.

Yeah, the Stargazing event has been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. It's going to be rearranged in the autumn. Something to look forward to in November then, probably.

Sun on and off today with 2 x Pokemon trainer boxes secured after an hour of queuing in outside smyths. As I was freezing anyway, I dropped DD back home and had a couple of hours at the beach seaglass hunting. My word that big sea last night had delivered. It was like someone had thrown down hundreds of sparkling gems. Difficult going, as the sea has also chucked a load of rocks and boulders, but I managed with my walking poles. I only cover around 100 metres tops, but I can feel myself getting stronger for it. And over a kilo of beautiful seaglass is a brilliant reward!

Enjoy wuthering heights @leporello we were supposed to have gone by now, but have had such a busy half term. There's also the issue that if DD is asked for ID then we are screwed as she's only just turned 14.

Laughing my socks of at this:

"Ginger’s bosom would appear around corners a good second before the rest of her did; she must have had some spectacular corsetry."

I used to work with such a lady. I used to describe the phenomenon as 'here's me tits, me arse is coming'

Sorry, Nigel, if you're reading for being uncouth 😁

Right. Cat litter tray needs doing then mum's shopping needs putting away. We get lots of treats on a Friday from her online shop. Not sure what do do this evening now. Might watch Avengers with DD as she has only just discovered the beauty of Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

The men of the street have begun the seasonal lawn mowing and jet washing. Must be spring, then!

"I used to work with such a lady. I used to describe the phenomenon as 'here's me tits, me arse is coming'
Sorry, Nigel, if you're reading for being uncouth 😁"

Coffee down my nose at that @RainbowZebraWarrior 😂

Agree on Chris Hemsworth, gosh he is a beautiful man. Here’s an interesting interview with him from the weekend:

https://www.thetimes.com/article/2a9245cd-e05e-44bd-996e-417840323f5c?shareToken=1901404e8cbbae7d56ff8dcf9f6864d4