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!

Happy Anniversary @leporello

Also has green bits but a bit more Nigelesque...

Looks delish @martha79 Salmon, Prawn and fennel spaghetti?

DD has been trying this ditaloni pasta and lentils recipe from River Café cook book. It should also have some Green in it - as it should be finished with chopped fresh sage - but she doesn't like sage. She is also refusing to try the veggie parmesan, but I'll still take this as a hopeful new recipe in her repertoire. It is chock full of garlic and many spices.

Now, what to have myself this evening? I have some cooked chicken and some prawns, so it may be a spaghetti special for me, too.

Anyone else had mad crazy intermittent thunderstorms this afternoon? A lovely lady who lives two villages away has just called for four jars of honey. She insists on walking and carrying it back in her backpack (I am always happy to deliver) but she had been soaked by a mad thunderstorm and hail downpour.

@RainbowZebraWarrior it's salmon, avocado, capers, basil, dill, lemon and olive oil. I'm sure I've made that River Cafe pasta a long time ago, it looks excellent anyway!

There's been a few sudden downpours here but not thundery.

Glad doggie is home and resting. Go with what he needs. Snacking is an important dognurse job.

Happy anniversary @leporello I hope you can carve out some time after such a busy day.

Thanks to everyone for the anniversary wishes, it was quite Romantical in the end (and not even tragically so 😄) with a glass of champagne to finish the day and a lovely gift of jewellery from the man who never, repeat never, buys jewellery.

The dissertation is in, @EasterlyDirection, phew! Dd is now acquainted with the cloud! Can't believe it took all this stress but we move forward..

Your noodle dish looks very similar to what I have planned for tonight @martha79, hope it was delicious.

Oh lovely @Leporello!Can we see?!

Chilly here. And Rainy. Another peaceful night with Doggle. About to get up and lug him down the stairs to go outside. He is quite heavy for a Jack Russell.

Pasta pics have me really craving a bowl of pasta now. Wednesday is usually spice club in our house due to DSS1 who likes all things hot, but I might change it up a bit today. Or make spicy pasta I suppose to cover all bases.

Nail appointment at 11, (can’t decide what to have as it’s very dependent on what accessories I’m wearing to my niece’s wedding on Saturday, which I also can’t decide on). I’ve either a bit of leopard going on or a light pink, with my green frock.
Then cooking, cleaning and dog nursing (I’ve made him a little den in the utility room which I’m hoping he takes to, otherwise I’m sunk. He has pillows, treats, blankets and a radio-I might get in it myself it looks so cosy).

Have a lovely Wednesday all :)

piscofrisco; Pasta arrabiata?

That was my first thought @sueellekeror a sort of chilli seafood linguine affair.

Phew @leporello . It was my 25th anniversary last year and I asked for an eternity ring but I did choose and order it myself, to make sure it went well with my other rings.

Nice to hear you got a lovely present @leporello

Spicy pasta sounds good @piscofrisco. Hope the nails turn out well!

Having all the possible weather in one day here - it's been very dark and rainy but sun is out for now. I've got my dad visiting for a long weekend from tomorrow so have just had a big Waitrose delivery. Got some easy things to cook - a ready made prawns with garlic butter thing to go with fresh pasta, sausages to stick in the oven with peppers, courgettes and red onion marmalade, salmon to bake with fennel.

Also got some Citizens of Soil olive oil to try, thanks @Bimblesalong - it's very nice!

That’s lovely to hear @leporello I’m sure you’ll enjoy wearing it. I went shopping with DH on Saturday as he is very generously gifting me a watch for my 60th later this year. The brand we’ve chosen is about to have a price increase, so we’ve bought ahead of time I don’t think he’s ever been so well prepared! Sadly for me, it’ll have to sit in the safe for a few months but it’s exciting to anticipate it.

Glad to hear you’re enjoying the oil, @martha79 I’m glugging it on everything right now - it’s helped me to cut right back on butter (sadface).

It is so wet and cold this week. According to some weather expert I’ve seen online, this week is usually cold and wet - hopefully summer will be truly on the way soon.

I’m gradually pinching out the dahlias this year. I forgot last year and they were not as abundant as I would have wished. One hasn’t grown, so I must email Farmer Gracey. I’m pretty sure another has some kind of of fungal thing going on, which I’ll also mention. We washed and jeyes fluided all of the pots and used fresh soil to get them started.

It’s actually flipping snowing a bit here! And yet an hour ago it was warmish sun. I’ve got DSS’s oodie on we are so cold!

It was beautiful sunshine here this morning, we've then had big heavy hailstones and back to sunshine.

Well, we've got hail here. Which I suppose is moisture thus good for the garden (those poor cucumber plants are still outside, I forgot about them! They will be well hardened off now. Or dead.) but not really on my wish list for the week. I also had to wash the rug from my summerhouse (because some horrible cat pooed on it. Probably mine I expect but possibly a random as I left it open overnight by mistake) and that has been wet then dry then wet then dry then wet again on the line. It can just stay there until it hits dry when I am around to grab it!
Lots of forgetfulness this week it seems. Don't know why - just my age? I even managed to send a vinted parcel to the wrong person - fortunately both buyers have been very understanding so I think it will be ok. I've done really well getting rid of excess (too small) clothes as I've sorted my wardrobe this week. Need to do a charity-shop drop tomorrow.
DD3 is well into GCSEs now - she's had three this week I think which have been described as 'ok', 'over' and 'hard', respectively. She is not a verbose child. And DD1 has had two proper big university exams but she likes to ring and debrief afterwards 🤣
Lovely glass RZW and hooray for a fun project @martha79 . I don't fancy the green chips, I have to say.

It is sunny but really windy in my part of
Cornwall today. It should be warmer than it is but the wind chill factor is really biting

Lovely to hear about the birthday jewellery ❤️

I have just taken delivery of a professional rock tumbler. Early birthday gift from my Mum. I chose something that we (me and DD) would enjoy and get use out of together.

Weather today was atrocious. Had my roots done first thing, then nipped down the beach (even though I knew I was chasing the last hour of the tide) Turned around and came home. 20mph winds with hail is good for nowt. Even my All Weather Dad stayed home most of the day. I see some of you have also had the same.

Decided to follow Pisco's idea of a a spicy pasta dish tonight. I'm just fanning myself now after I added so much fresh chilli and cayenne. Delicious!

Bloody sun just decides to come out now when I am totally out of spoons.

Today's excitement: Walked out of school reception this evening and a Typhoon jet whizzed over super low. Naturally I whipped open Flight Radar and saw there were 3 more just off the coast. Love seeing and hearing rhem on training missions.

DD has also gotten into the habit of scanning my beach finds with a UV torch. She spotted this uranium sea glass straight away

Wow that’s quite a glow @RainbowZebraWarrior . I bought a UV torch a few years ago for much less appealing reasons (NVN) - spotting where the cats had wee’d, they went through a patch of weeing outside their trays, or at least one of them did and I thought it might help spot any dry patches but it wasn’t much good.

Chilly wind, dramatic downpours, hail, we’ve had it all today.

I meant to say, remember I was starting Peter Kay’s Diary a few weeks ago and said it seemed a bit juvenile and toiletty. Well, I did finish it and it got better after the first chapter or two, it was still written in quite a child like way but gentle and observant, quite nostalgic, so I’m glad I finished it and it wasn’t a Do Not Recommend after all. I’d say don’t buy it full price but if you see a copy in a charity shop maybe give it a go.

I’ve just found you all. Hurrah! I failed to keep up with you all over Christmas but that didn’t stop me savouring Nigel’s CC slowly and slightly ad hoc over the whole winter period. Looking forward to starting again in your lovely company later in the year.

In the meantime, I’ve been pottering in the kitchen and garden whenever I can snatch a few minutes (work has been super busy!). Somehow we have nearly run out of 2023 and 2024 chutney, which seems bonkers considering how much I made both years. I don’t think the 25 batch will be ready for another few months. Ah well, a good excuse to make even more this autumn. Making chutney really is one of my very favourite things. And incredibly, the first, early figs are nearly ready…so it must be summer!

Arrived at my mum’s and have been tackling the garden. Wisteria is in full bloom having been expertly pruned by the gardener and smells heavenly so I’m very much encouraged to be outside. As an aside, has anyone had any dealings with the NHS AI bot Dora? My 89-year-old mum is absolutely baffled by it and yet this is apparently the method by which appointments are allocated for cataract operations. I’ve just had to spend half an hour on the phone to Specsavers trying to understand what has been agreed to. How could anyone think this is a good way to communicate with elderly patients - I feel like my mum is being gaslit into thinking she is confused when in fact it’s just a very confusing process. Sorry, rant over - I just needed to get that off my chest!

Ah thinking of anyone with kiddos doing exams. Dd2 has her one and only exam on Friday. Feels a bit of a relief to be far away from it in a way, and an age ago I was nagging her to revise for her A levels-can’t believe it was only last year.

My GP uses AI for appointments and it’s terrible @leporello. I can barely use it, never mind elderly people. It’s infuriating actually. It boils me that even when I’m standing in the drs surgery (to pick something up for example) I can’t actually just make a Dr’s appointment in person. It has to be done online. It started in Covid and IMO it should have ended there as well.
Beautiful Wisteria.

off again today with Doggle as he got himself in a right state yesterday when I left him for an hour. Back to the vet today for his three day check and I am going to have to ask for some sort of sedation for him as I can’t stay off work forever.

Sunny here for now but the forecast is again for literally everything. I hope the plumber will show up today to fix the boiler as it’s genuinely cold in our house and the kids are all moaning. My poor niece has a forecast of 13 degrees and drizzle for her wedding which is not what she ordered for May at all.

We live near lots of RAF bases @RainbowZebraWarriorbut we don’t hear that many planes. And if we hear them we actually don’t often see them-which I suppose is the point if they are training to be stealthy.

A lovely Thursday to all

Automated systems for contacting GP surgeries are the devil, ours even shuts down outside surgery hours, so useless to me as I'm generally busy at those times. I need to discuss whether to stay on bp meds but who knows when that will happen...

Freezing here and I'm due to spend my morning in the coldest part of the building so yay for that. Come back, spring, we miss you 😢

@martha79
Thank you for your kind wishes for my friend. She remains positive but her life is very different now. Despite being only 62, she has to have a 2 hour afternoon nap and be extremely mindful of any physical exertion as it results in more pain.

Weather here was mad as a box of frogs yesterday and think we’ve all got more of the same today. DH is going to Portugal on Monday where it’s 26C….

RippleDog has an ear infection and is currently on steroids to help reduce the inflammation. Vet returning on Monday to administer the antibiotics.
Swimming in the sea causes his yearly ear infections (we think!) so his seafaring days may be over.
Although the vet suggested a swim cap…

Not sure what if will do for his street cred.

Morning all.

Lovely wisteria. I drive past a house on the way to the beach that is absolutely covered. Keep meaning to take a picture!

Nice to hear from you @Fillybuster and yes, you can never have enough chutney. I still have a bottle left over from the very last batch I made before I sold my café almost 15 years ago!

I have dressed exactly as I was dressing in January (four layers including thermals, plus dry robe) this morning. Thoroughly bloody sick of it now. My hair stylist was chatting about flip flops yeaterday. I genuinely cannot imagine it ever being warm enough for them as I have forgotten what heat feels like

(Just wait for me whinging when I can't sleep on a warm night)

Nightmare for those of you with AI style and online only appointment booking GP surgeries. We continue to have an excellent service here thankfully. I've just been asked for feedback from both mine and DDs appointments on Tuesday for the nurses appraisal, so I am now going to do that as I realise how flipping lucky we are!