Thread 15 - Corona Cohort Year 12, 2021 Lateral Flow & Driving Tests

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Ah, OK. I wondered if anti biotics were maybe a thing of the past. I'll see if the new spot stuff I bought is better and go from there.

DS's birthday yesterday, he was very lucky that he was able to meet 6 friends for a picnic, school holidays had started and weather was good. We went retro in the evening with a meat fondue, a huge success as it enabled him to have the "blue" steak he loves, my fondue set had been in a cupboard for at least 20 years.

@Piggywaspushed well done to DS1, great to hear he is feeling more motivated. Most University degrees are based on final 2 years old results, 1st year is just pass/fail but, if it counts, it won't be for much of the mark. Has DS2 considered Scotland? I think you went to Glasgow, so probably know better than me how flexible they are. At St Andrews, you can start of with one subject and end up with a different degree as the first 2 years are so broad and flexible.

Do fragrances have waves? I remember Old Spice and Brut from the 70's - do they still exist? I expect Africa is coming to the end of its dominance!

And @Piggywaspushed a friend of DS's has found that wearing a mask all day makes his acne terrible. I have no advice, but hope that a couple of weeks without masks at home may help.

I don't think this is masks : it pre dates them and covers a wider area than chin/nose.

@Piggy 3 of mine have been treated for Acne. Ds2 is currently on Roaccutane, dd1 was on it in the past & ds1 has just started antibiotics. DH got severe acne in his late teens and had really bad scarring so I'm very conscious of the need to treat before this happens.

It takes so long to get a Derm. Referral now in most areas I just go privately. You can self-refer for Acne.

Fondue! How retro fabulous!

I went to York but am from Glasgow. He is quite drawn to a course which combines economic and social history with social and public policy. It is a hell of a long way from where we live though. My DF now lives in Scottish Borders and is generally pretty gently feckless anyway, so not to be relied on in emergency!

The worst fragrance 'wave' for me was the LouLou phase but, God, as a tecaher when the girls discover Body Shop in Year 10!!

The scarring is a point fferny. I will look into private locally.

We have a fondue set, we only tend to use it for cheese (about once every 5 years) but growing up in the 70s/80s a steak fondue with stock in the pot was a regular birthday treat. Dad would freeze the steak and then cut incredibly thin slivers for us to cook.

We don't do Fondue we do Chinese Steamboat on a burner at the table. DH sometimes gets fed up of English roasts & does this as a treat. We lived in H.K. for 7 years so the kids grew up on Asian food.

We're not big on roasts either, DS hates them, DH isn't bothered and DD and I like them but CBA very often. In normal times DD and I treat ourselves to a carvery every now and then. Today's will be our first since Christmas but we need to think what DS will have. He has pasta or pizza for Christmas dinner.

One of our best lockdown buys has been a portable woodburning pizza oven, we have been using it every weekend and I had friends over to huddle round it on Friday.

I might privately refer Ds1. He has tablets from GP, but his is bad and it breaks my heart. I've very greasy skin but never had spots ever, nor Dh.

Love the fondue! Just a normal roast lamb here.

Which pizza oven do you have @Eventually? Kids love pizza here.

It's an Ooni, there have been a few threads about them. A wood-fired pizza van has been visiting our neighbourhood weekly for the last couple of years and the pizzas are great but £10 a pizza makes it expensive with four adult appetites. The oven cost £300 plus a few accessories probably towards £350 but the pizzas themselves only cost maybe £1 each now if that so we justified it that way (it was DH's Christmas present). I had 5 friends round on Friday evening and it was very sociable, I also made them for the family who had to stay inside to keep things legal.

Back on educational stuff, DS has decided to start an EPQ (they are very flexible on timings in his school), he has found a topic he's keen on (and a backup one if that doesn't meet with approval).

I had MIL over yesterday, Pimms in our new summerhouse and Roast Chicken. It was a basic Tesco roast in the bag job with Aunt Bessie's roast pots which weren't great tbh. I couldn't face making them though such a faff!
Dd doesn't do roast chicken so she had a steak pie. All quiet here today as Dd at work might have a curry and film tonight

@Piggywaspushed DS has recently started a course of antibiotics (lymecycline) and some topical cream from the GP. He’s around 3 weeks in and it seems to be working really well. Will have to see if they have long term effects once the course has finished.

I am 37 and my acne has never gone away, I was put on the pill at 16 for it and have been on and off ever since. Sometimes no amount of cleaning products or diet changes will do it and it really does need medication.

@Fferny1 do I mind if I ask the approximate costs of going privately for roaccutane? I’ve been trying to get it for myself but my GP isn’t keen on referring me yet and as you say the waiting lists are crazy long at the moment anyway

@Fiddlers the initial consultation was £180. The cost of Roaccutane varies depending on whether you have the generic or not. So from between 30 - 120 depending on the prescription strength. Ds2 is on on 60mg daily - the maximum dose and a 6 weeks supply of a generic is around £55. You will also need monthly blood tests, but our surgery is happy to do those. Depending on your doctor they may insist on seeing you every month to review the bloods & check your dosage so that's another £100 a time. Most individuals are on medication for around 6 months so that adds up to ~ £700 for fees, plus the cost of the medication. So possibly ~£1200 or more.

You can order Duac online though while you wait for referrals from one of the many express med sites, I used to have a lot of it for a while but my spots are a lot better as I'm middle aged but I ordered some for DS without prescription and it makes a difference if they use it correctly and you wash towels, bedding etc appropriately.

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone!

Just caught up, a fondue is a definite treat in this family. It probably comes out twice a year and everyone loves it!

@Fferny1 thank you, that’s really helpful :)

I can also recommend indoor pizza oven - you don't get the wood fired flavour, but it is so easy to plug in and as long as you get one which goes to 500°C, you get pizzas as good as pizza express and indoors is convenient in winter. I have a Giles and Posner one, but there seem to be supply issues on that one as a friend has been trying to get one. It is a great quick, flexible meal.

If anyone has a foolproof pizza base recipe please link for me ?

I'm generally rubbish with anything dough related so tend to avoid.

I do 500g flour (I use 00 grade pizza/pasta flour)
300g water (weighed not measured)
4g fast action dry yeast
8g salt

Mix and knead for 10 mins or so till smooth and stretchy (I use a stand mixer). Cover in a damp teatowel and leave somewhere warm till doubled - at least a couple of hours. Knock back (mini-knead) and cut into 4, make into balls and put on a baking tray on baking parchment / bacoglide or similar or oil the tray. Cover with a damp teatowel again and leave for a few more hours at room temp. Stretch and shape to use. This is why we only do it weekends and bank hols. It's not hard but does take time - I make bread a couple of times a week and enjoy the process. There are lots of other pizza base recipes out there though.

My recipe is easy, but you are supposed to make it at least 24 hours in advance, ideally 48 hours. I make batches using:

325g strong flour
165ml water
25ml milk
15ml olive oil
1tsp yeast
1tsp salt

Put it all in good processor with the plastic dough blade to combine. I usually make 3 batches as each batch makes 2.5 200g pizzas.

Combine the batches into 1 ball, rub olive oil round the ball and put it in a plastic tub with space to double for at all least 24 hours in the fridge. Makes a nice stretchy, manageable dough.

One of the important things we learnt by experience was to scatter a generous amount of cornmeal/semolina over the peel before putting rolled out base on and don't leave it on the peel too long with the sauce on as it sticks when the sauce soaks in. Best place to buy semolina is an Indian shop if you have any.

I have not managed to get the stretching technique, so I use a rolling pin.

Have fun perfecting it!

Yes, we use fine polenta under ours, got it from a farm shop deli. Not too much or it burns in the oven. I stretch and top mine on a chopping board dusted with the polenta then dust the peel with flour before sliding it under the pizza. I use either plain tomato puree or a sauce simmered till it's thick but spread thinly so the pizzas aren't too wet. It does all need a bit of practice.