The Year Round Nigel Slater Discussion Thread - Part 5

[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 on Mumsnet 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!

Gah! I sat up in bed to type that past post and now I can't lie back down again! Ah well, I was being lazy. I'll go and make a cuppa tea instead.

I hope you have heard something reassuring back from the police @LatteLady x

Just listened to your podcast @RainbowZebraWarrior - so interesting, and amazing that you could do such a brilliant interview without any warning!

One slice of ham 😂 Will you be sharing it out?

I can't decide if I prefer the idea of a driverless car or the risk of the dodgy taxi driver. I've been pretty lucky with taxis lately but did have one a few years ago at 5am on the way to an early train who was very insistent about wanting my phone number (he was placated when I took his and promised to text him, which I obviously didn't).

Continuing to do bits of packing interspersed with lying on the sofa here. Got a friend coming round later to help me squish things into vacuum bags.

Someone heard we were talking about ham...

I think that's why folk love that podcast is general. They know that its totally impromptu natural conversation - done in 'one take' if you like - with strangers and there's nowt else really like that. I think Tom says about 60% of people tend to say No Thanks when asked. I try hard not to say no to what seem like interesting opportunities - feel the fear and all - plus I was intrigued (and I happened to have the time when he approached me) I do think you need to be a natural -gobshite chatterbox, though, or, as I like to call it, a shy showoff! 😆

Loving the "Who said Ham?" photo @martha79

One slice of ham reminds me of my great uncle. He used to be dispatched by my great aunt on the bus into the city centre early each morning when they retired. He would be given a list of what was required for lunch that day. Usually 6 small potatoes from the greengrocer and 2 slices of ham from Fenwick deli. He would then usually go back the next day for exactly the same lunch ingredients. They were horrified at the suggestion of buying more than six salad potatoes at a time ("but we can only manage 3 each!") If uncle got back from the city centre at 9.30am and one of the utility bills had arrived in the post while he had been gone, my aunt would meet him at the door and he would be dispatched back into the city centre on the next bus to pay said bill immediately at the big post office. They said they were getting their money's worth out of the free bus pass.

Finished Ann Droid and loved it. Just started Hairdresser Mysteries and not feeling sure, despite loving Sally Phillips. I think it's the OTT Yorkshire accents (where they actually pronounce the 't' as opposed to leaving it implied as it's meant to be) Will persevere as I am loving the decor / fashion / music.

Hoping you’re ok and the police have offered something helpful @LatteLady

@martha79 looks like there will be no problem packing the ham!

We’ve been over to a splinter folk festival - brilliant! It overtook the whole of central Warwick and is additional to the main festival in a field just outside of Warwick. Absolutely epic Morris dancing and a great cream tea with mum. I’m not sure if Nige would approve, although he would probably enjoy the architecture without the crowds!

We’ve found a space for ds 2’s French garlic - in the outhouse on the shelves my dad built 50-odd years ago.

Thanks for all the good wishes, nothing from the Police as yet, but I do have the email for the original Police Officer who spoke to me, so will be sending a note to him in the morning.

Spent the morning with my knit group, so lovely knitting out in the open with old friends and catching up on the news. The group have been going for about 20 years and is lovely, it is a mix of women and men, international and a broad skill mix, so there is always something interesting to see being created. I took a sock with me, as I needed something mindless... we tend to bring two pieces with us, one which is basic so we can knit and chat, and the at home piece that we can chant patterns out loud and increase our swearing knowledge! I was continuing the knitting on the train and a chap sitting opposite, said, "Is that a cuff for a sleeve?" He looked very proud and explained his partner was a knitter and he recognised me knitting in the round... I showed him the finished sock and we then had a conversation about how knitters always seemed to have several projects on the go at the same time, it was lovely.

I managed to get a new cafetiere on the way home, so life is already improving!

Loving the pics @Bimblesalong as I used to live in Leigh-on-Sea and the Folk Festival there, always had a parade of the dancers on a sunday morning in the old town, every thing from Morris to Clog and occasionally some rather lithe belly dancers...

Sorry to hear you haven't had any response from the police @LatteLady Pretty shoddy, but unfortunately, in my previous professional and personal experience, they only respond immediately to direct threats to life these days and everything else is just logged. Fingers crossed your lurker / stalker buggers off very soon.

We have rain! Hopefully some others here may also be witnessing this natural phenomenon. It's cool, refreshing, and conveniently waters the garden. Quite amazing!

Happy Sunday all (I think it's Sunday anyway)

I would have happily gifted the ham to your lovely cat @martha79but I made Mother a sort of weird ploughman’s for her tea, featuring the ham and a sort of mango salsa because I was not going to bring one slice of ham and an overripe mango to Cornwall on principle!

We arrived yesterday after what was eventually 10 hours -including a stop to pick up DD2 in Bristol and see her new uni house, an hour to charge up the car, 2 hours in halted traffic, and another stop to charge up the car due to the fact that DD2’s suitcase was so heavy that it actually drained the battery 🫣

Naturally it was raining on arrival and is now blowing what sounds like a small gale outside. A huge change from the weeks of being ruddy boiling and not entirely unwelcome. Every else went to the pub/ice cream shop last night and I stayed in with the Dogs, as I didn’t want to leave them in an unfamiliar holiday house alone until they have acclimatised and the oldest Dogs legs are still at the back end of healing up and it a big hill on the way back.Mum hasn’t seen the sea for 3 years snd she was, quite sweetly really, delighted.

what a thing to be able to knit! I don’t have the dexterity or the patience needed.

DH and I are escaping this evening to have a fancy dinner at Paul Ainsworths restaurant (DH is obsessed with Paul Ainsworth). We have bought Mum a chicken she can cook for everyone else 😂

A lovely Sunday to all :)

10 hours in a car. Oh lordy! I know people do this, but I don't know how. Fair play to your mother on that score Pisco! Enjoy Paul Ainsworth's restaurant. He always comes across as a lovely chap on TV. Worked for Gary Rhodes (and Gordon R) early on in his career is all I know about him.

I have just had a protein bagel with Peanut Butter for breakfast. Nowt like a bagel, really. On the food front, can I just say to anyone thinking of trying the Marry Me Chicken pizza from Pizza express, Don't! Like all their pizzas, it's like cardboard, with very little topping and no flavour. Why do people like this company? Also Ditto to Heinz' new Marry Me pasta sauce. Watery and bland. Serves me right for not making it myself. I will next time.

We continue our summer holidays at 'Wor Gate' (this may just be a geordie thing, I don't know) DD is excited about going out in the rain. She loves rain. Plus, she's hoping that the market might be quieter with less what she calls "coffee clutchers" (folk moving very slowly clutching takeaway coffees, getting in her way when she is on a mission doncha know!)

We are making oreo cookies when we get home, and also continuing our tick list of new walks. We are currently exploring all the old waggonways. This is an old 19th century network used to haul coal to to the banks of the Tyne from various points in North Tyneside. We found loads of cob nut trees on the stretch we explored yesterday. Added to the foraging map.

I go into a sort of trance by about hour 5 I think and am just driving not thinking about anything else! I would have made a great long distance lorry driver.

We went to Ainsworths pub in Rock (which we can see out of the window here way across the estuary) on our honeymoon and it was the best roast dinner I’ve ever had by a long way. We are going to his middle range place tonight (not the Michelin star one, save that for the lotto win). He’s doing a sort of Rick Stein I think and opening things all over the place. We might also try and go one of Nathan Outlaws ventures in Port Isaac. When we came on our honeymoon it was closed (Because the second week in January and most things were-and it was none the worse for it as we seemed to have Port Isaac to ourselves).

My DD2 loves the rain too @RainbowZebraWarrior-she is delighted with the weather this morning-me not so much. Coffee clutchers is a great term and I’m stealing it!

Morning, pleased to have had a bit of rain - and a rainbow!

@piscofrisco I like your inventive Ploughmans and glad your mum has got a chicken 😂

Lovely to hear about your knitting conversations @LatteLady and very much hoping the police give you some useful help.

I've done the last bit of clearing out in the attic this morning, just trying to figure out how to get a final box of stuff down - I'm sure I used to be able to negotiate the ladder/steps with my hands full but my strength/ agility is not what it was. Plan for today is to get the rest of my clothes packed, interspersed with some lying on the sofa.

You definitely would have made a great long distance lorry driver @piscofrisco Ooh the best roast dinner sounds fab. I love a roast dinner, and the Trattoria up the road does a good one, but it's cheek-by-jowl on a Sunday (the only day they do it) so I am going to ask next week when we go for the midweek lunch special, what time is best to go. I have chanced it before late-afternoon and there's been nowt left.

I have made a spicy Lentil and courgette Casserole with dumplings as it seemed that sort of rainy day, plus roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, a chicken joint and the most delicious oreo cookies which DD helped with. We made a double batch and have kept two cookie dough logs in the freezer. Up there for thinking and down there for dancing as they say.

I seem to have too much cheese (is that even a thing?) so I am looking for something else to make. Probably cheese scones, but tomorrow, as the kitchen already looks like Christmas day, and it's awfully warm having had the oven on for nearly 3 hours. I did think about putting cheese on the dumplings, but I couldn't see my Dad being happy with cheesy dumplings somehow.

Lofts are a nightmare for us single folk with health issues eh @martha79 I haven't even taken my Christmas stuff out of mine for the past three years as I can't do it and I hate asking. Well, actually there isn't really anyone to ask. Gawd knows what it looks like up there. Hope someone can help you with the last bits.

Hi @RainbowZebraWarrior I think dumplings are an underated food source... when I have my slow cooker going, I split up my mix and have herb dumplings, Caraway Seed dumplings and yes, cheese(often with a shot of Cayenne) dumplings... I bet your dad would soon be a convert!

Sadly the pile of doom toppled earlier this afternoon, so I have had to implement the five a day rule... five items a day to be ironed or I cannot have gin or cheese... works for me.

Now the flat was a crime scene at approximately 6:00am, not the stalker but a murder! I found a decapitated four legged creature in my bedroom by the door, I have a prime suspect but sadly there was no one to do a PM before the body was disposed of... I think we all know it was the small stripey cat from next door, who compromised the scene by sneaking into my bed in the early hours. Obviously, this now means I cannot investigate... but I think you will all agree that it was Little Stripey from No 56. And I refuse to go looking for the head...

I am currently working my way through some hand sewing, whilst drinking a glass of Vino Verde, which is a delight and my stitches are still straight(ish).

Oh Lordy @LatteLady there's nowt worse. We have a local cat who spends more time chomping on stuff in our houses than he does his own. Thankfully, he has never brought gifts, but I often find him in my garden with things dangling from his mouth! I was watering last night and looking up at my roses thinking they needed dead heading, then ai came nose to nose with the fluffy blighter! Loving the dumpling ideas. Herby ones are a definite, and Dad is a real foodie, however, he has a bit of a thing about old fashioned dumplings (think broth made religiously on NYE with what he calls 'sloppy dumplings' which are ones that just sit in the soup, rather than being browned on top) I am just trying to make him lovely food atm, to negate the crappy medical stuff. A shot of cayenne would definitely be up his street, mind! A vino verde and some hand sewing sounds lovely. I have managed to procure the last of these cross stitch kits on sale in Hobbycraft. Something to while away the Aurumn evenings. I currently have a candle on the go as it's so dark here.

We went to local woodland for a walk earlier this afternoon and got delightfully soaked. It has absolutely poured down all day. Great for the gardens and parched grass everywhere. Also saw a squirrel and a vole (separately) running across our path. I always imagine deer and hares behind me on the pathway dancing about laughing that I can't see them. DD asks why I always stop and check behind me haha.

We are going to see the Kevin Keegan tributes outside St James' Park tomorrow morning, before they remove them. Sad that all of the shirts and flowers will be sodden after today's rain. I think the club are going to have all the shirts made into a big banner. I also hope they rename one of our stands after him.

Oh my word @LatteLady - reminds me of the time my previous cat left a dead mouse IN MY SHOE. It did at least have a head. She used to bring them in from the garden - we once spent a large part of Christmas Eve shut in the living room trying to corner one that was dashing about. Current cats have never encountered anything bigger than a spider, as far as I know.

I like the sound of your exotic Ploughmans @piscofrisco and am glad your mum has a chicken!

I managed to get the box down using a sideways one-hand-on-the-ladder, box-under-one-arm manoeuvre, which probably wasn't wise but it worked. It's an attic room with a single bed in it, but the couple of times I tried sleeping up there it was either far too hot or too cold.

Dumplings sound excellent @RainbowZebraWarrior

Ha, dumplings. It took me over 20 years after I left school to eat a dumpling and that was only because I was presented with them at a relative’s house. I was AMAZED when they were all light and fluffy and delicious. Because I had spent that 20 years thinking they were all solid, tasteless, slimy, rubbery things due to my school dinner experiences.

We had rain too, we were away in the Cotswolds this weekend, It was wet when I got up but had more or less stopped, we went to a coffee shop late morning and a woman at the next table said it had been hammering it down at 5am. It soon turned warm and dry. DFIL has had an upsetting experience this weekend, a neighbours shed caught fire and there was a huge blaze. No one hurt and his property was not touched but the smoke was horrendous apparently. Really the whole country feels like a tinderbox at the moment.

Good Evening Nigelistas Please have patience with my 'me me me' post!

Got back from Crete at 4 this morning after 10 days of blissful relaxation and peace. A truly beautiful place! We stayed in a very small family run hotel in Agios Nicolious (read quaint, a bit run down, rather eccentric) with the most wonderful views, superb food and drink (gin😁) a perfect tiny beach and early nights with a good book.

I have come home with a cache of Olives, Olive Oli, various packets of herbs, a few pieces of lovely clothing and pottery and some lovely Olive wood kitchen utensils. Plus some very recommended Olive shampoo to combat hair loss.

So far so good, have come to some conclusions about my overall health and will be insisting on a drs appointment later this week.

I will make the time to catch up on the thread properly this week.

Wishing all Nigelistas, their DHs, DCs, Elderly Dps and various cats and dogs much love X

Ah that all sounds just the ticket @thebabesavedme.You deffo deserved a lovely bit of time away and I’m so pleased you enjoyed it.

You are doing so well @martha79. Lofts are indeed tricky. We left loads of stuff in the loft at our house and just told the tenants they were free to use the loft but it has stuff in it that they can feel free to Ignore (old books mainly that we don’t have space for and don’t miss really but that will be nice to have if we ever get a house that I have room for book cases in). I just couldn’t face the faff of getting in the loft!

Your lentil and courgette thing sounds lovely @RainbowZebraWarrior. I like lentils but we don’t often have them as mine are often too mushy or too grainy.

your five a day rule is inspired @lattelady.I might implement it when we get home. We desperately need to declutter.

Cafe Rojano was lovely.Everything was delicious. I could eat the smoked mackerel tartare every day for the rest of my life and I also had some
Hispi cabbage that was phenomenal. But it was all spectacular really… well done Paul Ainsworth.

off to take the boys to surf school now at Harlyn bay. I volunteered hoping that they have the same surf dude teaching them as last year as he was erm, quite easy on the eye 😂 . But I will also take the two healthy legged dogs for a good two
hours walk along the coast path whilst the boys have their lesson. It’s very beautiful around there.

A lovely Monday to all

Oh that sounds like my idea of a perfect place @thebabessavedme and the sort of place I used to go with Mum and Dad. Your stash also sounds tremendous. Pleased you had a lovely time and best of luck with dr appt.

Hope the hunky surf school dude is the same one @piscofrisco and enjoy doggy walk. Do update later.

I need to go back and look at the five day rule thing that I skipped over yesterday. Any household tips welcome here.

My Lentil dumpling thing was ok, but by time I came to eat it, I was a bit 'meh' tbh. I often find this is the case when I have spent a good chunk of time cooking.

We had a bit of an environmental disaster here last week when a vessel collided with a container ship in the port of Tyne. 25 tonnes of sodding plastic nurdles spilled out (a billion in total!) and are now all over our beaches. I last went to Whitley on Friday and I just can't bear to see it so haven't been back since. My Dad's fishing boat is at the marina around the corner from the port of tyne, and of course the tiny nurdles are collecting there in their thousands. Dad says they will get into the water pumps and bugger everything up. Folk have been told not to walk their dogs on the beaches for now, but of course the general public largely take very little notice of the dog ban / tides or anything else for that matter.

Gosh that sounds lovely @thebabessavedme - very olivey!

Your meal sounds wonderful @piscofrisco

That's awful @RainbowZebraWarrior - do you know of the 'Lego Lost at Sea' social media accounts who keep track of findings of bits of Lego from a load that fell into the sea off Cornwall in the 1990s? It's quite quirky but also a reminder that these things last a long time.

I'm at the new flat as my bed delivery came at 7:30am (still blocked the street with the van but at least it was quiet then) and I'm expecting the mattress around midday. Doing a bit of unpacking and about to attempt to slowly build a couple of clothes storage things (they're like chests of drawers with hanging rails attached).

Just caught up. Jealous of the holidays and the rain...less so the cat gifts🤣.

Saturday was stressful. I went to help DS move out of his uni house. His housemates had rather landed him in it and left the house in a state so he spent over 30 hours cleaning it and £50 on cleaning products. The guy who came to do the check out was an absolute knob tbh. I am very fussy and I thought the house was in a brilliant state but he picked them up on so much. I went into full work mode and countered everything. He told them that there was dust inside the plug sockets and they should have hoovered them (my jaw dropped at this and I referred to health and safety), he said they should have taken the fridge drawers apart to clean them, he quibble about the tiniest speck of grime on the oven (which is many years old). I was gutted for DS. Let's see what the landlord says though. I made it clear we would be contesting everything. DS said I was quite terrifying and he wouldn't like to cross me at work !

Yesterday was better. We got tickets to the recording of Radio 4's Brain of Britain. We hadn't realised that we would get to hear the actual final being recorded. It was all rather low tech but great to watch. We came home via a cafe where I had a very disappointing scone. I should learn my lesson. They're only good if very fresh and still warm! Mine are wonderful (if I can brag a little) and others usually disappoint.

Today is a trip to IKEA to look for a new bed for DS' room as he is living at home for uni next year as it will enable him to run a car which helps with some of the sound tech work he is getting where he often starts work at 10pm and works through the night setting up and setting down sound and lighting rigs. At least I will get plenty of steps in navigating Ikea's showroom!

Book club later - discussing the Colour of Bee Larkham's murder which I really enjoyed. Should be a good evening, especially as there will be tapas!

Go @petitpasta An absolute force to be reckoned with you are (I've gone a bit Yoda there!) The check out guy does sound like a total arse. Likely employed to put the pressure on in the hope that most folk cave and just expect to lose the deposit. I am also the same with shop / café bought scones. They are largely crap and I prefer mine.

We are on the metro going to see KK's tributes before they are removed this evening. I have already been in tears telling DD how special he was. She just said "then we need to go" Bless her.