Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread - Part 4

[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 has been running for a few years, and the contributors 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, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

The holiday home we are staying in has this utterly perfect reading nook. I think I have found my space for the week...🤣. Just had a lovely walk along the beach and I am just about to get my watercolours out for the first time. And I found rum and raisin ice cream on the sea front! This is just the tonic I need.

That looks perfect @petitpasta enjoy your reading / watercolours and some time out.

It is flipping freezing here. I had to buy a padded gilet from one of the charity shops as I was so cold. Mind, I have been after a new one anyway, and at £4 for a lovely Per Una number it was a steal and I'll get some wear out of it down the beach. I've also just realised that it's reversible.

Lovely gilet @RainbowZebraWarrior!

@CrushingOnRubies
Flora Day sounds fantastic. How lovely that everyone comes together to celebrate. I’m an ex-Primary school teacher so I love the sound of the children dancing!

@RainbowZebraWarrior
@martha79
Yep, my name is an allusion to the Best Chocolate Bar in the World. Always dunked in tea…obviously.

@petitpasta
That reading nook looks very inviting with the great views. Book, Ripple and tea, I’m there.
Have a wonderful holiday!

<adds Ripple bars to next online food order> ❤️

Oh yes, I do like a Ripple. But have to confess I'm not a fan of dunking anything in tea 🫣

There's been a few interesting archive photos of Flora Day at https://www.instagram.com/thefolkarchive

@petitpasta that looks wonderful.

First attempt at watercolouring. Followed a YouTube tutorial. Lovely way to wind down for an hour

@petitpastathat’s an amazing first attempt. Give me 10000 attempts and I couldn’t do anything near that good

been for a meal at the local fishing village for mums birthday. For mums birthday. Had a lovely bowl of mussels for dinner

Oohh I’m going to try and have a look at those later @martha79
”Try” because I’ve only recently got an Instagram account and it’s all very new!
I got it purely to follow (spy on) DS1 and his girlfriend. They live away and DS1 isn’t communicative so I can get to see what they’re up to.
Is this normal/healthy?

DD15 informed me yesterday that said GF knows when I’m looking at her account….

DH is giving DD a lift to the local (huge) boot fair and then we’re taking RippleDog out. Our beaches are now closed to dogs between 10 and 6 till October (nuts) so there won’t be any dogfish feasting for him until the autumn.

Enjoy your Sundays all. Overcast here.

cor now I want a Ripple!
Lovely Gilet RZW.
Excited for Peony season. Love em.
Bally freezing here too. Yesterday was Beautiful. We decided last minute to go to the coast and had a lovely walk along the beach at Brancaster, and a crab salad at Blakeney harbour. Here is middle dog pottering about on the dunes.
up and out early to Pilates this morning, and walked back via a pant sale on the town meadows where I got some almost black purple petunias, at the bargain price of 5 quid for 4. The town meadows are a literal field of cow parsley. Looked and smelled lovely despite the biting wind.
A lovely, hopefully cosy, Sunday to all

Perfectly normal to stalk the child’s insta @RipplePleaseits how I know DD2 is alive at times!

Nice and sunny here today, but the wind remains fresh. I've just moved some cucumber plants outside the cold frame (putting off doing some work. See also: mumsnet) to start hardening off but I don't know what they will think of the wind.
DH is away so I have to do the bins. Must Not Forget.
LOL @ the pant sale typo @piscofrisco . The church at the bottom of our village has plant sale this weekend and you have just reminded me I intended to go but not sure what will be left by now, Sunday afternoon. Probably I have enough plants really.
DD3 and I went to see Operation Mincemeat last night - the musical, not the film. The film is not funny at all (not intended to be) but somehow they have made a most excellent musical comedy from the slightly grim true story - it is fast-moving and witty and we had a brilliant evening. So I strongly recommend that if anybody lives near the remaining UK tour venues.
It's going to be a quiet week here, just me and DD3 at home. Her GCSEs start properly tomorrow so if anybody has any spare fingers to cross please do so.

Flora day pictures from the local news paper are up!

YouTube for actual footage of the dance “Flora Day 2026”
Hal-an -Tow ancient street play. Very different vibe than the rest of the day

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/26092954.helston-flora-day-2026-hal-an-tow-packet-picture-gallery/
morning dance- haven’t watched this in forever as busy getting ready myself.
https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/26092279.helston-flora-day-2026-morning-dance-packet-photo-gallery/
children’s dance. Those red headdresses run if it rains… looks like a blood bath

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/26092622.helston-flora-day-2026-childrens-dance-packet-photos-part-2/
midday dance - some fabulous dresses

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/26092792.helston-flora-day-2026-packet-pictures-midday-dance/

Lovely walk today especially seeing these flowers.

@Celiathebansheefingers crossed for your DD’s English exam tomorrow.

Afternoon all,

@piscofriscosenior cat is slowly putting weight on, which is what is needed! It’s just a slow process.

Me and DP went for a walk around the nature reserve yesterday. It was a lovely day and we followed a path close to the river, had to haul over fallen trees etc made it all the more exciting.

Im off to a baby shower / meal now, which will be nice!

@Celiathebansheegood luck for your DD with their exams, and to any one else with DCs sitting exams.

@CrushingOnRubieslovely pictures, I always enjoy looking at the flora day pics!

That's an absolutely lovely painting @petitpasta I could see a Christmas version of that being a rather Poncetastic Project in the winter months.

Pleased you finally got down to the beach @piscofrisco Loving the town meadow pic, and middle dog too. I also now need some dark petunias. I think it's the only thing I am 'missing' this year. I have talked myself out of most other things!

Amazing flora day pics @CrushingOnRubiesfand thanks for unknowingly reminding me that I need to buy mussells for Mum.

Fingers crossed for your DD in her GCSEs @Celiathebanshee I have pretty much hardened off all my plants now. I was so sick of them being in the conservatory and the beans already had beans on them! (I sowed early this year) They will be covered by fleece if need be over the next couple of weeks, and some can stay in the coldframe a bit longer.

I love nature reserve walk @MrsJLevinson it's one of my favourite things to do.

Busy but lovely day, here. Went to market as usual and DD did some excellent trading. Drove to the new car boot sale but gave it a swerve as it looked pants (a dozen miserable looking folk in the local football club car park) So we meandered down to the farm to say hello to our bees and pick the dog up. All the cows are out in yon fields now, so we just said hello to the bulls - one is shy, the other is a show off - DD wants to live there. (The farmer does have some beautiful 5* holiday cottages). Took our Belle to the beach whereby she made herself very useful as a Seaglass Sniffer Dog! Here she is looking very proud of herself.

Have finally just made the cheese scones and American biscuits that I didnt get round to yesterday. Made some wee ones for the little Mammy so off to whip round there now with some for them while my chicken cooks in the oven. I think that's it for me for the day!

@CrushingOnRubies
Those photos of Flora Day are so vibrant and full of joy! The dresses on the ladies and the children all in white, quite a sight to behold!

@Celiathebanshee
Good luck to your DD, DD here has 2 more exams to go for her IB and then a veeeery long summer ahead whilst she works to save for her gap year.

@RainbowZebraWarrior
Your pooch is gorgeous…a golden retriever or labradoodle?
We met the strangest of dogs today, a daschador.
Yep, a Labrador/sausage dog cross. He was called Nigel, after Benn not Farage.
I’m hoping there’ll be a photo below of RippleDog but as tech isn’t my forte, it’s unlikely.

Fingers crossed….

He's gorgeous! (Or she? I'm not sure if you said) and looks very happy 😊

Belle is an Orange Roan Show Cocker Spaniel. She's a love, but Dad originally thought he could train her as a gun dog (You cannot make a show cocker into a gun dog)

Crikey. A Daschador sounds bizzare and a bit wrong (as in the size difference between the parent dogs)

Sun is out here and the birds are singing madly, so I am just having a potter in the garden. I read somewhere - the gardening TV show thread I think - about lining the bottom of pots with nets from Lemons etc, so I am now saving them. Seems like a really good idea. I also read about Bob Flowerdew using molehill earth mixed with leaf mould for compost. Think I might start saving that. Wonder if the local National Trust garden would mind if I rock up weekly with my spade and a bucket (I reckon they would be more than happy with this)

@RipplePleaseRipple Dog is gorgeous. Yes Flora Day is a sight to behold and such a special day. And unless you’re there it can be quite hard to explain it and how much of a spectacle it is.

Great painting @petitpasta. I was given some watercolours as a Christmas present, perhaps I should give it a go.

Looks like a fabulous day @CrushingOnRubies, great photos.

Good luck to the DCs with exams!

Very much enjoying all the doggy photos.

I'm out of sorts this evening, had a very quiet weekend saving my energy to go to orchestra rehearsal this afternoon then felt really ill within half an hour of getting there. It's just usual Long COVID stuff, but took me by surprise as I felt pretty ok beforehand. Ho hum.

I would very much like to see a dashador! What a strange idea (nb I don’t want to see one enough to google it! Happy with my imagination)
I got halfway through packing away the real
wintery clothes and getting out some summery things this afternoon, but I’m lacking in oomph as it is still very cold here! That wind is very bitey indeed. I just decided it was a good weekend to do it as DH is away but now my bed is under mounds of clothes (that have all inexplicably shrunk over the winter! For which I am at least partly blaming Mr Slater 🤣🤣). Anyway, when I should have been finishing it off this evening I found myself taking all my cookbooks off their shelf so I could turn it 90 degrees, which should have been done months ago when DH’s new speakers arrived. Chaos ensued but they are all back now, photos attached including the Nigel shelf. Don’t they look nice all together? (CC on the shelf below with the other Christmas things)
Take it easy @martha79

@Celiathebanshee
You are absolutely right not to google a daschador. When I was telling DS2 on the phone about meeting Nigel, he googled it and remarked that it was “not right”!
I have far too many Nigella books and only 1 Nigel book! Maybe after this Christmas and my first CC Readalong, things will be different!