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!

Oh @martha79 you are having such a tough time. I too echo @LillianGish 's wise advice.

@piscofrisco I would love a camper van! I'm having serious thoughts about car camping at the moment. We have just replaced my car that DP wrote off a couple of months ago. The new one has a whopping great big boot. With seats down there's acres of space. Which is actually why we chose it, we wanted something with plenty of room to ferry stock to antique fairs. Anyway, I reckon there would be plenty of room to sleep in it!

Morning all.

I am in my usual June routine of up at 4am every day. Yesterday it was because I'd smelled damp in one of my kitchen cupboards and it was bothering me. Found the culprit. Stick blender had some water sitting in it after washing it a week ago. Yuck.

Today is honey jars sterilising, so the dishwasher has been on since 5am. We have a stall at our Together Festival at the end of the month, and also a get together at one of our farms, so it's a busy old time. Thankfully Dad is feeling lots better, so is back to 'Beeing' as he calls it. 12 steroids a day has made him hyper!

Those ID Buzz things are popping up all over the place lately. The local dog walker has one and I was like "does dog walking really pay that much?" I suppose leasing makes it somewhat affordable. Mad prices, still, though. I've always wanted a camper van, but a vintage one. Having said that, I used to own a 1971 Beetle and it was a massive money pit!

Beautiful foxy @Bimblesalong and also gorgrous roses. They look similar to my New Dawn. Which reminds me, they need some sort of trelliis arrangement fixing in place as they are growing like billio!

@Confusedmeanderings I used to sleep in the back of our old Ford Cortina estate as a kid when we went camping. With the seats down, it was like a big double bed. Happy days!

@CrushingOnRubies sorry to hear the county show was cancelled. I always feel for the folk who have baked dozens of goodies when that happens. Ours was during the heatwave, but I didn't go this year. It's just another thing that DD doesn't want to shlep to.

I'm pleased to hear you've had lots of offers of help @martha79 Still a stressful time, though.

I can hear my noisy starlings rearranging their nest in the eaves. Obviously going for brood # 2! Mr Darcy is not happy that Birdies are in His House!! It's even worse than when they are in His Garden.

Right. Best get DD up. Market time.

Also @Bimblesalong well done on motivating DH. Was that six and a half pairs of shoes? 😆 Eeh gosh, reminds me of my Dad's boot and wellie collection (he has multiple pairs that sit all about the dining room floor and he changes his boots at least three times a day!) I am bad for my collecting, but I try and keep it tidy. Dad is a lost cause (I dread clearing their house when it comes) and I spend half my life begging DD to clear a tiny space, here and there. She's not slept in her own room for over two years. I have spent all that time asking repeatedly is she could just clear the crap off her (barely used) cabin bed so I can get rid and buy her a sofabed instead. Such fun.

one of the best things about this campsite is that we take the dogs town to do their evening ablutions on a beach and this is the sunset.

@RainbowZebraWarrior yes we felt sorry for all the traders and all the farmers who had been getting their prized sheep looking their best for days.

@Bimblesalongyes have had some wine in the wind.

Gosh that looks so beautiful!

Haven't been to a beach today and I hate it. I just can't usually make it work on a Sunday due to squeezing in too many other things. Dogs are banned on my beach and a lot of others here until October. It's a major bone of contention among residents and visitors every year.

Macaroni cheese 'crumble' anyone? I had a rock hard 5 day old cheese scone, so got DD to bash it up into crumble crumbs with a rolling pin and we sprinkled it on the top of the mac in cheese sauce with extra mozarella, cheddar and pecorino. DD added cayenne and paprika and it's come out cheese-scone-tastic!

@RainbowZebraWarriorthe macaroni cheese bake looks delicious. Dogs on beaches is a bone of contention around here too. Although the council recently made it so dogs are banned for July and August on many beaches. We move this area of Cornwall as there’s 5 big beaches in walking of where we are which allow dogs all year round.

That looks tasty @RainbowZebraWarrior

Loving the beach pictures and campervan plans.

Feel a bit better today having actually slept. Looked at some houses online this morning, and now property sites are infiltrating all my ads, e.g. on here, which is annoying when I want to try to set aside blocks of time for it (like job hunting, I have a tendency to go into full-time problem-solving mode and try to do it 24/7).

Got a friend popping round for a cuppa later who says they may have some house ideas but not sure if that's a concrete thing or more general suggestions. Other than that, I'm not doing very much at all.

Oh, good news today that the person I did the proofreading/ editing suggestions for last month has passed their qualification - it's something you just submit to the exam board when ready and it's either pass or fail so I'm really pleased both for then and my judgement (always a little nerve-wracking when you say "I think this is good to go subject to some suggested tweaks")!

@martha79glad that you are feeling more positive about things. And that is good news about your friend.

Another wet and windy walk today around the peninsula we are on. The brown house next to the w white house is where Rick Stein grew up. Or at least spent his summer holidays

Yes @Confusedmeanderingsyou could get one of those car boot tent thingies and stick your air mattress over the back seats when they are down. That’s my other (and probably more likely) idea.

lovely beach pics. I’m highly envious.

also of the Mac cheese creation!

glad you are feeling better @martha79

Lovely stormy seaside @CrushingOnRubies

I am on with the house-hunting and have just enquired about one where they've made a point of saying they want someone who will look after the garden. Trying not to get my hopes up about anything because from past experience it can be a long and frustrating process - although I am in a better position now with a permanent job, whereas in the past I've been self-employed.

Rainy day here and I have no real plans other than a counselling appointment and plodding on with work.

Hope your friend came up with something plausible house-hunt wise @martha79 I also get what you mean about hyper focusing on one thing. Fingers crossed for you. Like your therapist said, a firm home base is a big comfort. So sorry to hear how much you have had to move around.

Those beaches are amazing @CrushingOnRubies Thanks for feeding my sea / beach passion, and for the interesting info about Rick.

So cold here. Need more layers.

They were very helpful for talking things through @RainbowZebraWarrior and gave me some ideas to follow up.

I've joined the sea glass gang with this little pendant I spotted online the other day. The leaf ties in with something around a happy childhood memory.

All my good thoughts to you in your housing crisis @martha79, I think your therapist has a point about constant moving - as a forces child I moved house every couple of years and it made me chronically unable to settle for years as permanence seemed so alien to me.

As for me, I am now minus one gallbladder. Apparently it was so infected I should have been barely functional but I felt fine 🤔. Op went smoothly but I had a horrible reaction to the GA and was sick as a dog afterwards. Comic (in retrospect!) scenes of the nurses desperately forcing ice cream and peppermint tea down my throat, only for it to come back up seconds later 🤢. Not nice!

At least now I only have the post op pain to worry about - the after effects of being pumped full of gas are actually worse than the incision sites so I hope they sort themselves out soon. Managed to totter down the road to pick up a prescription with aid of dd2, who is just back from uni for a wee while. This is doing a lot for my mood and recuperation prospects!

That's lovely! I have been collecting those charms and the additional findings in order to start making similar items to sell. I just need to invest in the specialist glass drill now.

I am just on my way back from Seaham as I can't really make it work for the next couple of weeks tide and time wise. I found this lovely chunky multi which I am well pleased with. Haven't been through all my other finds yet, so may get a nice surprise this evening when it all gets washed in a sieve!

Also saw those spiky flowers someone posted a while back

Ouch @leporello sending gentle hugs and healing vibes your way x A nice tonic having your DD home at least.

The sun has also come out (Hurrah!) so I snapped this happy bee on some cow parsley. The intention is to use it as imspiration for a painting at some point this week.

I ran out a couple of weeks ago to see about some possible work, (non existent I suspect) and just going to say things went wrong in several directions.
Am back, and going to go back to where I had caught to, and try and catch up the thread, before I fall behind on the next one!

@leporelloWelcome to the No Gallbladder Club… wishing you a speedy recovery.

These Lilies opened over the weekend. Their perfume is gorgeous.

Beautiful lillies @CrushingOnRubies

Good to hear from you @EphemeraleEudemonia but sorry to hear that job leads have not come to fruition. Fingers crossed for better things to come.

I am going to use this thread up now and have the last post direct anyone to the new thread.

Some garden photo's from me, this sunny June eve.

Campanula. One of my all time favourites.

Chives, with fuschia in the background.

A part of my absolutely wild front garden. Designed for nature, and laziness chock full of red valerian which the butterflies are currently loving ❤️

Lime and Bergamot home made candle on the go under the candle lamp in the conservatory. Vessel courtesy of my favourite charity shop (50p)

Come and find us on the new thread here, folks:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5539211-the-year-round-nigel-slater-discussion-thread-part-5?reply=152800970