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!

What an uplifting selection of posts! Beautiful pendant @RainbowZebraWarrior, lovely vases and venue @petitpasta, Messiah sounds fabulous @Bimblesalong (and your hair is gorgeous - you looked so stylish and Parisian when we met), bravo for persisting with orchestra @martha79. I have nothing to offer but my little Paris kitchen - it’s the photo I took for my kids before I went on holiday to remind them what it needed to look like on my return. It could not be less Nigel, though its bijou proportions mean you don’t need to exert any excess energy as you can pretty well stand on one spot and pivot!

Well done @martha79I hope you are not suffering for it too much this morning.

And lots of lovely Sundays were had by the sounds.
We ended up not going to the sea as DSS’s football was later than we thought so plumped for a walk around Rutland water and a toastie at the cafe there instead which as nice but not the waves I needed-that will have to wait until next weekend now.
Nigel would have a coronary in my kitchen I think. It’s also our main living room and there is colour and dogs and plants everywhere. Calm it is not. Maybe one day I will have the serene kitchen of dreams like his, but today is not that day.
Sun is shining and I’m off to work. I’ve got the kids from the pupil referral unit today which tends to be a more stressful day, so wish me luck!
Hoping for a gentle and sunny spring week for us all :)

It’s a lovely sunny morning here! Hoping this lasts 😄

After ordering CC last night, I spent the evening in a little winter/festive bubble…an amazing way to best off the Sunday scaries!

Just enjoying a cup of tea whilst going through my work desktop before a morning of visits.

I hope everyone has a nice day.

Busy at work so neglecting the thread but went for a glorious bluebell walk on Saturday and choral society starts again tonight (sounds very like yours @Bimblesalong, with identical audition process) so good things are happening. Also I am now an official parish councillor (twirls), lots of dull committee meetings in my future, what a treat 🤣.

And chaotic kitchen solidarity @piscofrisco!

Leporello for the cabinet I say! First the parish, next the country!! I will happily be your SPAD for farm things, social care and all things Nigel.

Catching up whilst having a cup of tea in the garden. DD at preschool this morning. I extended my walk home after dropping her off, doing a big detour round the outskirts of the village, taking in bluebells, hawthorn blossom and all the lovely morning sunshine. Just pottering this morning, catching up on jobs round the house. Busy week ahead with full days of training for work for the next couple of days, then a night shift later in the week.
It's lovely to hear of all the choir talk. I used to sing in several choirs but it has fallen by the wayside with life, parenthood etc. I would love to take it up again at some point. Someone up thread said they had sung I Was Glad the other day - what a joyful piece, I used to love singing that. Must add to my long to do list - find a choir...
First need to finish my tea, hoover the stairs, make a curry and go and pick up DD! Plumber coming this afternoon to service our water softener so like many of you with workmen in the house I will be hovering about awkwardly not knowing what to do with myself in my own home!
Have a good week all x

I want to know what the sensitive content is in your third picture @leporello - I'm speculating it's something so un-Nigel it has been vetoed by the thread police: One of those 'Yule scented' candles, usually red, that smell of cinnamon and orange, or plug-in room fragrances that smell like cheap air-freshener. Hideous. Or possibly evidence that a biro has been used instead of a fountain pen for the writing of Christmas cards?

I'm in a choir too, but it's a community choir, you don't have to audition or be able to read music (although I can in a limited fashion having had piano lessons as a child and find it helps, we have scores and/or song sheets). Love it.

Lovely day here too, warm, blue skies, fluffy bits of cloud, just right.

Sorry, I've just clicked on it and see that it is in fact cow! Not sure why it is flagged as sensitive content! How disappointing.

Yes! Also really enjoy my choir / singing group

I did the same and was simultaneously relieved and disappointed to see it was a cow. Loved your previous musings about what it could have been, though. I had visions of some sort of pot noodle or kitchen atrocity 😆

Speaking of kitchen atrocities, Nigel would have a meltdown if he saw mine. It is, shall we say, errr, 'busy'

Whilst your kitchen doesn't remind me of it, it did bring to mind how refreshing it was to watch Rachel Khoo in her early days when she cooked with almost no room at all and only a couple of cooking rings.

Meant to say earlier that this is a stunning photo! ❤️

Quick shout out to @EphemeraleEudemonia

Hope all ok with you my lovely. Don't think we've seen you on the new thread.

Also @thebabessavedme Hope all ok with you, too.

I have likely forgotten a few regulars, but just doing a quick shout out whilst certain posters spring to mind x

I had visions of some sort of pot noodle or kitchen atrocity 😂My kitchen is positively spacious in comparison with Rachel Khoo's @RainbowZebraWarrior - in fact ours is a pretty standard size for a Haussmannien apartment. In fact having a smaller space stops it getting cluttered up with other stuff because I only go in there to cook or clear up (the washing machine is in a cupboard in the bathroom). I'm in awe of the fact that Nigel has two kitchens and there never appears to be much out in either. DH reminds me that Nigel only has himself to worry about, he doesn't have other people going in there, creating elaborate meals and then leaving every pot and saucepan on the side or in the sink (DS I'm looking at you). I mean Nigel literally has an Edmund de Waal art installation in one of his - we can only dream!

I braved some chard tonight! I followed @EphemeraleEudemonia 's recommendation to soak in a bit of bicarbonate, then riffed off @martha79 's sweet and sour recipe (I didn't have a red pepper; my onion was the wrong colour; I used a mix of chilli jam and maple syrup following your recommendations because who in this country has grape jelly) and ... I can't put my hand on my heart and say it was delicious but it didn't taste muddy, which is a triumph, and it was perfectly palatable as a side to risotto, to 2/3 family members who tried it. DD3 is 16 and was not having any of it😂. So that's great, because I still have rather a lot in the garden and am almost certain to want to grow it again, too, because it looks so pretty and stands so nicely over the winter.
I'm going to try this later this week: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/mar/02/quick-easy-chard-borani-soup-yoghurt-crispy-garlic-beans-recipe-rukmini-iyer. I will report back.

Ohh have I missed a sweet and sour recipe? Is there any chance of a repost? I’ve been after one for ages that replicates something my mum used to make and I’ve never yet found one.
A joyful day on the farm today. We bottle fed lambs, and then did some seed planting. On the way back we noticed the dew pond was drying up (much earlier than it usually does) leaving the tadpoles in peril, so we ran and grabbed our old butterfly nets and some buckets and fished thousands of them out and took them to the other deeper pond that stays all year. Then we went on a bluebell safari sort of across country and it was so lovely watching all the co farmers supporting each other to get over obstacles like cattle grids and pulling each other up the hills and such. I felt quite tearful by the end of it all as it was just so lovely! A not very good pic of some of the tadpoles just after we started-we ended up with 3 buckets absolutely full!

Oh no I’m sorry I can see how that was misleading - it was a recipe for chard which disguises its inadequacies as a vegetable by a sort of sweet and sour sauce made of grape jelly (or random replacement) and vinegar. I’m happy to re-share but I don’t think it is the delicious sweet and sour you are looking for.
Lambs and tadpoles! What a great day

I too wondered about the hidden photo - nice cow though!

Glad you had passable chard @Celiathebanshee. I remembered the other thing I did with it a few years ago was a fermented thing, a bit like sauerkraut, that was quite nice.

I'm also missing singing in choirs, would like to go back to the weekly one I was in that did more pop/ musicals, but that's a bit of a trek by public transport so need to work up to that.

Well done on your tadpole rescue @piscofrisco

Busy day of work here, but did have lunch in the garden even if it was a bit chilly.

I can't really get a recent photo of my kitchen, but here's the view I would get while washing up if I didn't use the dishwasher!

Great work Pisco! I feel rather tearful myself after reading this. Absolutely wonderful ❤️

I also clicked carefully on @leporello ’s sensitive photo. What fun, @LillianGish ! Nice tadpole work @piscofrisco

@martha79 lovely sky and colour coming through in the bushes.

Where has today gone?! It’s been lovely out there, fingers crossed it keeps for a bit.

Oh yes please share @Celiathebansheeim trying to up my veg intake and I need something to add interest. Thankyou!

I had no idea that cute brown cow was so sensitive 🤣, laughed out loud at the NVN picture theory. A pot noodle 🤣.

I wish I could get a picture of the lambs I see on someone's smallholding from the train - they are the cutest ever with brown patches all over their fleeces. Some kind of rare breed I suppose.

We sang a beautiful new song at choir last night - Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre. I can't stop listening to the version by my favourite choral group, Voces 8. Going to see them on Sunday and Very Excited.

Enjoy the sun but don't be deceived; I almost froze to death on the seafront just now...

That is glorious @leporello ! I’m having a listen over a cuppa.

About to lower the tone (sorry Nigel). I think it was @RainbowZebraWarrior who mentioned Monty Don being on HIGNFY the other week, I did go back and watch it and enjoyed seeing him in "less serious" mode. I used to love HIGNFY back in the day but got out of the habit of watching it, but I watched it again last week - did anyone see it? They had a (NVN) survey of how many GenZ people had heard of various dated euphemisms for sex which had me in fits of laughter, and again when I re-told it at work yesterday and all the GenZers were falling about at "rumpy-pumpy" and "how's your father". Going to try and remember to watch again, there isn't much genuinely funny on telly any more.