The Bluestocking: the one where AI finally learns what a blackbird is (we hope)

[Magpiecomplex]

Welcome all, New Year (nearly), new thread!

It was me! I changed my name so that I am ready for the next iteration of the Bluestocking!

I'm glad the legs got sorted out, I was a bit worried that the surgery team had made a booboo.

Unfortunately the drugs I've been given here, with which they are fairly free, have sent my blood pressure a bit low, so I'm feeling dizzy and a bit nauseous.

I'm sure I'll get better gradually. And at least the physios are pleased with my physical progress.

Hello Cher, I intended posting to ask '..and how are you this morning?' but missed 'morning' by 2 minutes* and missed your post by ..let's see, 60 minus 23 plus 2 equals - 39 minutes?

The day after an op is always dodgy, the adrenaline you built up to be big and bwave (and find all those things you had tidied away so efficiently) has dissipated, the major drugs are wearing off, and the less major ongoing drugs have side effects... so hunker down with all the creature comforts you can muster and hopefully you'll start feeling stronger soon.

In the meantime we're here, with our unique combination of the silly and the erudite to keep your mind off things..

*I started this post at 12.02, it's now 12.14 - that's how nothing gets down around the house when the Bluestocking beckons

I had a sudden mad moment the other day, and bought myself a Lego kit, to make two sprigs of flowering cherry - I was inspired by posts on here. I have opened the box, and looked at the first page of the instructions, but will save the actual making until I have a bit less fuzzy-brain going on.

I am also being tempted by the KitchenAid stick blender, I’ve just seen Nigella using on the telly, but I don’t actually need it…..

I’m glad the surgery went well, @Chersfrozenface, and I hope that you feel better soon. Sending you gentle hugs.

I hope the worst of the recovery will soon be over @ChersFrozenFace I hate feeling nauseous, you really have my sympathy.

I've got a stick blender, a cheapo Morphy Richards, that my sister gave me because it scared her. It's very good for blending. No need to fill, empty and clean like a goblet blender and far easier to store and wash. Used it for making breadcrumbs, chopping nuts, processing veg. for recipes like jollof rice. If I were you I'd buy one of the cheap ones to try out. I mostly use mine to blend tomato sauces for pasta and pizza topping or all the stuff that goes in the curry sauce for katsu chicken. It's very handy and doesn't splatter as much as you might think.

What cake says about blenders. I've got a cheapy one, mostly used for blending soups, and it is very useful. Would I spend a fortune on a posh one? No, no and no again.

.

Would I spend a fortune on a posh blender? No, no and no...
well if Nigella recommends it, the lovely irresistibly clever Nigella, who once described Parma ham as being 'pink as a kitten's tongue' , I might succumb..😍

I am ashamed to say I do have a cheapy stick blender, @lcakethereforeIam - but Nigella had a pink KitchenAid one, and I am a sucker for pink. But I will not be giving in to temptation - it is a want not a need, and I am trying to declutter my life, rather than decluttering it - though I am much better at cluttering than decluttering.

Random ads on MN:
I've just been offered a
Bentley Mulsanne Air Suspension Compressor with Bracket!
Is it because I've referred here and elsewhere to having had a techie job?

Would I buy a Bentley Mulsanne Air Suspension Compressor with Bracket?
No no and no again... unless Nigella 😍recommended it, of course - maybe they are good for making mousses or something...😄

Even more reason not to buy one. Bloody Nigella and her fictitious friends. Grrr.
(Can you tell she annoys me!)

Yes, that dutifully diverse mixture of friends from Central Casting annoys me too, Fuzzy - but not Nigella herself... as you may have gathered😍

I suppose someone has to be a fan...! 😀

I admit to half hoping that my cheapo stick blender will break so I can justify getting a posh one with different attachments. Much like my Kenwood chefette that I inherited from my mum and is possibly older than I am. I'd love to have dough hooks but it was my mum's, how could I get rid when it still works?

Regarding Nigella. I have a cookbook of hers that we get out every single Christmas. It's just the right thickness to put under the tree so it isn't wonky.

Woley, how was Parsley the Lion received?

I fourth or fifth stick blenders being great - I use mine for making soups & it's a game changer compared with the complete blender thingy it came in the box with. I didn't realise you could just blend soup in the pan instead of scalding yourself & bespattering the kitchen - someone on MN put me right & so I started looking online at stick blenders & then thought, 'Hang on, that looks familiar' &
found I'd already got one sitting unused in the cupboard!

Cher, take it easy & I hope things go well.

Boily, what the heck is going on with you today?

Marie, maybe it's all the train talk.

I have been using the same Robot Chef to make soup for over well over 30 years. Boil the ingredients in a pan, let them cool for a while. Laboriously ladle some of the stuff into the Robot Chef, whizz, pour the resulting liquid into containers - and repeat several times.

Then a couple of years ago I happened to see a stick blender being used on TV. Why had I not heard about them before? They are so easy to use and so cheap. All that time wasted.

(I don’t generally watch TV cooking programmes as I’m a vegetarian who is intolerant to several things which are in most savoury vegetarian recipes.)

I'd buy the Bentley, less fussed by just the air compressor!

I find Nigella irritatingly twee, personally. And her recipes don't work unless you use exactly the specified ingredients - no swapping butter with Stork for her.

For @Boiledbeetle, who seems to be having a funny turn today...

I'm still getting ads asking me if I want to learn more about Scientology. I don't.

Oh well, I mean, if you watch her for her recipes, I'm sure you're right
OK OK, I'll stop fan-girling about Nigella now

Boily! Boily! Boily! Boily! Boil-yyyyyy wake up!

[Aside, for the earnest pedants gathered in the Corner: Threepenny bit is not spelt "thrupenny". That's just the way it sounds. Also, twopence, which is sometimes spelt "tuppence" when you're thinking of a twee, cutesy name for your chihuahua] [is Mooseish self-righteousness grumpiness due to Boily deprivation?]

Boiiiiilyyyyyy!! Here is a cup of hot chocolate and a Tunnocks Teacake. Will you come out of that lily pond now?

Wtf is that?! Doesn't look much like a water lily, that's for sure! Bloody AI...

@inkymoose Ahem... Although I'll grant you, I don't rate Collins much.

Fivepenny piece