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!

Yes, that's literally right next door to the gallery I was at today. An old watchtower. There are so many amazing old buildings that were left to rot / overlooked for years here which are now being given a new lease of life. It's wonderful to see.

Pleased to hear you have a week off coming up and hope you can get a good balance between doing some nice bits and having some treats 😊

Yes. That was the interview I listened to after dropping DD at school. He sounded like an utterly fascinating (and really down to earth) chap. Loved his story about being left with cinema staff whilst his mum was studying. Certainly didn't do him any harm, and obviously fed his love for his art. Cannot wait to see Mando and Grogu!

I do love Pedro Pascal….
Those buildings are amazing @RZW.Especially the windscreen one. So glad you had a lovely day.

What a nice little reading nook @LillianGish. I had a similar chair which I bought with the small amount of inheritance I got from my Granpa when he died. Unfortunately middle dog ate it (literally-I can home to find she has gnawed through all the leather and ripped the stuffing out) during her chewy puppy phase. It was insane actually. She was this minute dog and she destroyed a whole armchair in the space of about 2 hours!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mulberry either in the wild or in a shop @Bimblesalong. Can you eat them raw? What do they taste like?

I Do love a corporate jolly-for two reasons-copious free refreshments and the chance to observe corporate types schmoozing about. Totally the opposite to my sort of work and whilst some of them are so lovely, some of them could actually be on The Office so it can be very amusing. I will be like @Celiathebansheeon the free Pimms but without the baby to keep the brakes on! (I think I also thought Pimms was a sort of vaguely alcoholic squash when I was younger until I had a gallon of it at a wedding and was promptly very unwell! )
Whoo hats are expensivo aren’t they? Even to hire. I think I will scour the charity shops and see if any have been donated that I could maybe pimp up a bit. If not it will be a hatinator I would think, probably from Etsy. Though if money were no object I would love a HUGE hat. And I would like to bring short cotton or lace day gloves back-though DH would take the piss royally.

Up and off to work. Taking my shorts today in case of the promised 23 degrees! But starting in my jeans as it’s more like 12 and grey at the minute
Have a lovely Thursday all

Thank you so much for the Chelsea FS link @RainbowZebraWarrior, glad you had a great day of it yesterday.

Like a few here I am champing at the bit for my week off next week, and dare we trust the weather forecast? It's unusually good...

@piscofrisco I got a very reasonable mahoosive monochrome hat from M&S the last time I went to the races. Might be worth a punt. Worn with white cotton lace gloves would actually be vair vair stylish in a classic vintage way. I have some gorgeous antique grey lace gloves that I adore, but don't go anywhere to wear them!

Very grey and wet here too. Will be interested to also see if this forecasted heatwave appears from nowhere tomorrow @leporello Wish I could go to the cinema today instead of tomorrow. Might have a look see what's on.

Also wondering if the heatwave is going to appear - I've just hung some washing out because it's meant to be dry and up to 21C today but it's really not feeling like it right now.

The garden is all about the purples this morning...

Ooh how lovely, @martha79 . I love a scabious. There were loads growing wild yesterday on our walk in the nature park.

How is doggy doing today @piscofrisco ? Re the mulberry, it was a lot sweeter than I expected. I thought it would be bitter, like wild blackberries but it was soft, sweet, a bit like a cross between a raspberry and a plum in flavour. Yummy.
Nigel is serving us some lovely garden stuff online. For a moment, I thought he had whizzed out to Japan.
@Celiathebanshee I think Tatton RHS show now does not exist. I used to love going with DS and DH for a visit and to trial all the food stalls. I think it’s moved up to one of the RHS gardens now, which is frustrating distance-wise for travelling.
I’m hoping the forecast warmth happens to coincide with my return to DH and home. Last year I wondered about buying a small portable air conditioning unit to switch between bedroom and office. Maybe this year will be the year!

Beautiful weather here, warm and sunny. Might have to get my toes out, eek!
Belated birthday wishes @RainbowZebraWarrior

Meeting a friend for coffee soon then work then waving DD off as she goes to get ready with her friends for her Prom. Hoping for lots of photos and no dramas of the alcoholic variety.

Scabious are one of my favourites too. Lovely little things. Remind me a bit of candytuft which was a childhood favourite. I saw a lady cutting some cow parsley by the side of the road yesterday. If I had been walking rather than driving I'd have asked if she was putting together a tasteful posy to go on a zinc table for an al fresco supper. (I've been on Instagram too much i think)

Hope your DDs prom goes well @RipplePlease and there are indeed no dramas of the alcoholic variety.

Its very stuffy here. Thankfully I am somewhere with air con; I am at the cinema about to watch The Christopher's and I have fizzy sweets! I also have a birthday reward of a free large Popcorn, but I am saving that to share with DD when we see Mando.

@Bimblesalong I believe it is moving about - so not at tatton this year but planned to return again in the future. To be honest the last couple of years at tatton it was much smaller and a bit tired so hopefully a trip round the north of England will refresh it a bit!

Summer dress and sandals here today! I don't know whether to laugh or cry at your dog eating the armchair @piscofrisco. Slightly off topic, but I wondered if you were a fan of The Archers, as there's a story on there at the moment about the possibility of setting up a scheme whereby people with mental health issues could go to work on a regular farm to heal through nature. There's a big debate on The Archers thread about how feasible this would be - ie from a health and safety point of view you can't just have random people wandering about unsupervised and it seemed to me you might be just the person to answer this question!

Also wondering were this heatwave is? It was sunny at lunch time then a sea fret moved in and it was misty driving home from work.

it’s almost half term here. On a course tomorrow so was saying have a good week to everyone and it felt Fridayish.

Ha! I absolutely would! It’s not without risk obviously but the risk does not outweigh the advantage. I may need to tap you for Menton recommendations as I have just booked my night there whilst dh and I are in his work thing in Cannes in June!

I'm another who doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at the dog eating the chair story! That's some feat for a pup for sure. Mind, I used to work with someone who's puppy chewed through her dining table legs until the whole thing collapsed!

When is your actual birthday @LillianGish ? You absolutely must have a week of treats! We will keep you company while your DH is away. I'm also rather in awe of your DH's job as I am a big football fan.

Enjoyed the film The Christophers today and can highly recommend. It's an excellent cast and James Corden managed to come across as Not Annoying for once. It's always nice to be able to fit in a midday film, and there are loads of other films coming out in the next few months that I'd like to see.

Some great news here regarding my Dad (although also slightly perplexing). He was diagnosed with a terminal lung condition two years ago and given a prognosis of 3 to 5 years life expectancy maximum. He had his usual 3 monthly appointment today with the lung specialists and saw a new consultant. She doesn't believe he has this condition and is going to monitor him for six months then discharge him. Shame that he has had to live with that worry for the past couple of years.

I will look at M and S for hats RZW. good shout.
I hope you enjoy the cinema.

Dog is healing well said the vet , Thankyou for thinking of him all, but still confined to crate for another month. He is not impressed. I like the sound of the Mulberry’s @Bimblesalong

hope your dd enjoys prom @RipplePleasei think the getting ready is the best bit!

I’ve been trying to find a picture of tiny dog and chair @leporello.It was very funny once I’d got over the loss of the chair!

lovely flowers @martha79

a day of two halves for us weather wise today. Chilly until noon when the clouds broke suddenly and it was very quickly roasting hot! I’m doing a bee keeping course on Saturday in Cambridge and it’s set to be 29 degrees!

Oh jsut seen about your Dad RZW! This is EXCELLENT news!

Amazing news about your dad @RainbowZebraWarrior - that's quite a thing to get your head round, and then to get a different diagnosis.

It's got increasingly warm and humid here as the day's gone on, but still pretty grey, not the nicest.

I'm on leave now, hooray!

Oohh I’ve not heard of The Christophers, an intriguing film title.
It’s 22C here now and apparently going to be 28 on Monday!!
DH comes home on Saturday night and will no doubt want to do a bbq, something I’ve never been able to get excited about. It’s a couple of sausages and a burger for goodness sake's.
Settling down on the sofa now to watch Traitors India. RippleDog is asleep on the downstairs loo floor where it’s tiled and cool.
As someone commented upthread, today definitely feels like a Friday.

I’m with you on that Ripple. I actually loathe BBQ’s in all their forms. Why? The food tastes so much better cooked inside without making everyone smell of smoke and risking food poisoning.

That’s really good news @RainbowZebraWarrior ! Fingers crossed for him.

Watching @piscofrisco and @LillianGish ’s Menton ideas with interest - we have a couple of nights there in July before we go on to Liguria to eat pesto.

It has been very nice here up the mountain today, although I’ve had to shelter from the heat quite a lot! I’m nicely dotted with mosquito bites although was prepared ahead with the usual antihistamine tablets and cream. Any suggestions for a stronger anti-mosquito repellent/ antihistamine ? I’ve booked a couple of operas at the Puccini festival in the summer, which is held in his home town in a performance area next to a lake …

Part of the day has been spent considering a small air conditioning unit - does anyone have one? Last summer got a bit warm overnight and I pondered buying one then too.

@RainbowZebraWarriorthat’s great news about your dad.

Amazing news about your dad, @RainbowZebraWarrior You must all be feeling a bit discombobulated

Regarding antihistamines, Cetirizine is the gold standard for me. I was put on a lesser antihistamine when I was pregnant with DD and it just didn't work (Loratadine; utter rubbish)

Do Not Take My Advice as obviously I am not a doctor, however, both Cetirizine and Loratadine are available to buy in supermarkets. When I started struggling a lot, 30 years ago, my GP said that I could safely take two a day. It is licenced for up to eight a day. As I say, I am not a doctor, but I have tried everything in 45 years of severe allergies. Cetirizine is the only thing that has ever worked for me barring biologicals.

No advice regarding air con, sadly. Not worth it here for the handful of days we get that are too warm, but I have used oscilating fans with ice in front of them in higher temps in the past. Fill yoghurt pots with water and put in the freezer. The fans blow the icy air around.

We had air con in our old house. It had a pitched roof to the upstairs bedrooms and was like an oven. It was a godsend last summer. I hate air con generally, but we would never have slept in that house without it. Ours could also be reversed and used as heating which was handy to heat individual rooms when we needed to without turning on the heating.
Ours was not too loud either inside or the outside unit bit but the outside bit did chuck out some heat.

I use Fexofenadine for hayfever. Up until a few years ago it was available on prescription only, I understand it's a newer generation (so better?!) of loratadine / ceterizine, but now you can buy it over the counter and in supermarkets.

I use Treathay brand but there's other brands and all really cheap.
So good to find a treatment that actually works!