The Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread part 6

[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

N.B. The Christmas Chronicles thread proper will start in late October, ready for the book beginning on 1st November (seems a long way off, but will be here before we know it!)

Ah @LillianGish my socials have been serving me the most wonderful videos of the ballet gala at Palais Garnier. Last one until it reopens. We hope to be there for a ballet this winter. We’ve attended the ballet gala twice now, both incredible experiences. I’m missing Paris! I can’t share photos of the grand staircase dressed in flowers and peacocks, as I’m in it! Not giving up on the hope of attending once more.

Stunning photos @Bimblesalong - I can’t believe yet another iconic venue is closing for five years (I don’t want to think about how old I will be when it reopens!) DD was commenting last time we walked past about the giant advertising hoardings covering the front of the building where work has already started. It is a ridiculously beautiful space - though the you are guaranteed a better view however cheap your seat at Opera Bastille, What an unimaginable treat to go to a Gala though - just heaven.

I’m just back from seeing Reece Shearsmith on his book tour - about the weird and macabre objects he has collected over the years. When he read out the recipe for making a ‘hand of glory’ he described it as sounding like Nigel Slater 🤣🤣 (hand of glory = dried/pickled hand cut from a hanged man that has magical
powers)

@LillianGish
Your fairy cakes look glorious and VN.
Yes, I can remember feeling a sense of satisfaction during the lockdowns when everyone was around for mealtimes. Although the “What’s for dinner?” chants would begin early every day…there wasn’t much else to think about I suppose!

Ohh, the Opera Garnier is my favourite building in Paris, just fairyland 🧚.

A poor night's sleep as we have a poorly fitting kitchen door and DH bought and fitted some hinges to keep it shut to save heat in winter - but they creak horrendously and wake me up whenever one of the various household night owls enters the kitchen (usually the cat - despite the hinges the door still won't click properly shut). So my family are my bad neighbours, @martha79, I hope you got a decent night's sleep.

Well, I guess a trip to the newly restored Garnier might be my retirement present to myself, if I make that far. (Probably not if this creaky hinge situation persists...).

Without wanting to be disrespectful to people that had a terrible time during lockdown I actually enjoyed some aspects of it (when I wasn’t at work which wasn’t that often). I loved the extra family time with no pressure to be anywhere and I liked the challenge of the meal planning and food getting in a weird sort of way.

Lovelu Parisian pics as always @liliangish.I haven’t been in so long. I wonder if I can tag along on one of DH’s work trips to their HQ when he goes.

Sorry about your creaky hinge @leporello. I’ve actually just accepted that I won’t sleep past 3am
now and I will permanently exist in a state of zombiefication.

today is eyebrow day for me…quite scared. NVN but then I dare say he didn’t overpluck his eyebrows in the 90’s and so need not resort to such measures.

Covid was neither terrible or enjoyable for me, no one we know had a bad case of it, but I did not like my social life being so severely curtailed and I HATED WFH. Fortunately DH was still working on site throughout as usual and I was able to go back on site after a few weeks, we don't have space for two people WFH (we don't really have space for one luckily neither of us has any desire to do it). And I was glad of the company of the teens - DD was schooling but DS was in his GCSE year so everything was canned. We did a lot of baking but there is literally no advantage to us all being around at a mealtime as everyone prefers to eat separately (ND) and there are very few meals we all like (about 2).

I had a very mixed Covid. I loved the family all being around and some aspects of it were lovely - we used to stop at 330 every day when online school stopped and all meet for drinks (strong ones for myself and DH!) and nibbles. And we got really close with some neighbours who will be lifelong friends now. But we were in Shanghai and when they locked us down, they really locked us down. Some days I was literally not allowed out of my front door to go to the bin (policed by guards in hazmat suits stationed outside the houses). And the food situation was difficult, and we didn’t manage to leave China for 3 years - which I appreciate is a first-world problem, many people don’t leave the country they live in for much longer than that! - but it was too long not to see our aging parents, and in fact DH’s dad died and he couldn’t come home to say goodbye or for the funeral. Mixed indeed.

I sort of enjoyed Covid. 1st lock down especially. 2nd lockdown not so much. I think partly because I didn’t have a great work environment at the time so the 5.5 months of not having to work in a toxic environment was nice. I think the nice weather and living in the middle of nowhere at the time also helped.

been off work today with that cold I was avoiding last week, finally caught me. Feel very washed out and sniffly. DDog is starting to learn how to be a good nurse.

ugh sorry to hear it @CrushingOnRubiesbut well done that Dog…
I hadn’t realised you lived in Singapore @Celiathebansheewhat was it like? I’ve always wanted to go.

my eyebrows look better than I thought though they seem quite big to me, probably because I had barely any before. Pain free pretty much too. They will now look varying degrees of horrible for ten days whilst they heal up .

Shanghai, not Singapore! Although I have visited Singapore and found it really interesting. I couldn’t live there though, the humidity would kill me, and I’d hate to be somewhere without seasons.

i also fancy going to Shanghai! Do you speak Mandarin?

Eurgh. I tried. 18 months of lessons, 5 years living there, and I never got better than directions for a taxi and ordering a drink. It’s just really hard! My children got quite good.
We lived in Tokyo for 3 years in the early 2000s and my Japanese remains better than my Chinese. Partly I think because there was no GPS/Google Translate then, so we really had to do it. Partly because I was younger. Partly because I didn’t have any children then! (I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I am any sort of Japanese whizz; I spoke like a 3 year old. Not elegant. But I could make myself understood, at least)

It is a great city though @piscofrisco and I strongly recommend you go!

Oh that’s all so Interesting. We nearly went to Japan after we were in Canada with ex h’s work. But the marriage wasn’t doing great and I just wanted to come home at that point. I regret missing the chance (but we would have killed each other so it was probably a wise choice!) maybe one day.DD2 is fascinated by Japan. And she went on a summer school to Taiwan to learn Mandarin this year. She learned a fair bit in a month (although still of course very basic) I hope she will go back next year.

Lots of horrible plastic tat round here for Halloween, but I rather like these two, although in very different ways!

I love that curtain of skeletons @noodlezoodle

my eye brows look scary this morning-they go very dark days 1 and 2. I might have to wear a hat to work to try to cover them up a bit lest I scare the Co farmers. Or the Goats.

In slightly mad news I’m in advanced negotiations to adopt an ex race horse from Malta. If it goes through he arrives on….Saturday. DH is the last stumbling block to this plan… he is not *quite on the same page….yet.

I love these! A friend of mine from Scotland now lives in California and she's properly embraced American Halloween - she has a collection of life-size skeletons who come out every year with a different set of hand-made costumes (last year they were bagpipers, this year they're in Victorian blouses and skirts but in Halloween-print fabric 😁).

I've arranged a pumpkin carving day with a friend for next weekend - we're going to make a few different pumpkins/ squashes and then put the flesh in the pressure cooker to make soup for lunch.

Entirely normal statement there @piscofrisco, suddenly having a horse due to arrive at the weekend 😂I hope it all works out!

It's been a pretty uneventful week here. I've got a massage booked tomorrow and am meant to be going out for the first time with the local slow walking group on Sunday (although numbers have very much diminished from the initial interest so will wait and see whether it actually goes ahead).

Oh wow, loving the concept of a racehorse suddenly arriving @piscofrisco- how exciting!

I'm considering visiting a local pumpkin patch with dd if we find the time - I mean, she's 23 but still loves this kind of thing and we have a lovely one locally that makes a lot of effort. Last year we went to a new 'scare park' - it was brilliantly done but just too scary. I don't want to be chased by a hooded man with a chainsaw ever again...For one thing, it's just so un-Nigel.

Feeling snazzy today wearing my new and excellent charity shop find - a fitted teal knee length dress. A bit like something candidates on The Apprentice would wear but I don't care - it makes me feel like my late 20s self on my way to work on the Thameslink with after-work fun on the horizon. Sigh.

Make sure you buy eating pumpkins then, martha79.
Apparently the ones sold for carving have very stringy, insipid flesh.

Yes I've been caught out by that before. We thought we'd better get some bought in case they run out so I've just acquired a 'cooking pumpkin', a lovely lumpy green squash and a ghosty white one!

Your dress sounds wonderful @leporello

Out for a stroll and a sniff in the Marais. It’s a balmy 24 degrees here today. Looking forward to a race horse update - good luck with getting DH on the same page @piscofrisco (I thought I’d done well getting cat-averse DH on side with our feline interloper!). Loving all the pumpkin pics - I can feel a soup coming on…

Lovely pics and memories there @LillianGish

Im also looking forward to horse updates @piscofrisco Dear departed FIL had a racehorse with Jenny Pitman for training. Gave him a lot of fun in his last years. The family horse was a lovely palomino, bought for DH’s sister, who died young and who loved horses.

I’ve been trying on my outfit for a family friend’s wedding on Saturday. We all need to be there on time so that we don’t miss the ceremonial sword arch by the friend’s squadron mates. I found a great bnwt Barbour velvet jacket on Vinted, which is perfect over my long dress. My friend has just been round to help me tack the chesticle area of the dress, to ensure any surgery issues are discreetly managed. I haven’t dressed up for years, so it should be a treat.

Hello all. Sorry I haven't had a chance to catch up with the thread properly for the past couple of days as I have been left with awful parosmia since covid last week. Literally cannot stand the smell or taste of anything, including all my candles and have lost over 2 kilos in a week.

@piscofrisco that sounds very exciting about the horse, although seems a little out of the blue (although I know you have been riding lately and have a farming and riding background) If it's from the second chance racehorse charity in Malta, please be careful as I have heard some dodgy things about the outfit from my horsey friends. No doubt you have done all due diligence, I am just a bit of a worrier, and an ex racehorse being delivered within 48 hours of now that you have presumably not seen raises my spidey senses somewhat. I just don't like to think that you could end up with something that may cost you.

Sending hugs to all.