Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Crepes in this petty pace from day to day

[CointreauVersial]

Anything but the C-word!

Ugh, Hatty, no! Either bog standard or the healthy one from Naturalia!

Straight from Pilates( she nearly broke us all tonight) and thinking I must try this recipe Mrs S. There is nothing I like better than a very hot Satay so I reckon this recipe is going to be a winner. I am actually thinking of making it for annual family Halloween Gathering alongside my faithful Moroccan sauce and meatballs with salted almonds. I've lost the ruddy recipe though I used to make it all the time, but the finer points have been rubbed from my brain. It was at one time published in the Observer weekend colour section. Grr.
Btw has anyone got a copy of Merry I White's "Cooking for crowds". It's a classic of the early 70s and has within it a recipe I'm desperate to see again.

Hatty I went to a central London university and didn't really appreciate it at the time,because I was so epically broke all the time. Also, most of my friends pissed off home at the weekend because it was a train ride away. Not for me. In the days before cheap airlines it would have cost £450 return to home with British Midland. Very lonely.

I must make this groundnut stew. I have a big jar of 'natural' peanut butter just waiting to be applied directly to my arse.

Have been driven to apoplectic rage by watching Question Time. Again. When will I learn. This time it was a combination of Priti Patel (vacuous queen of the party line soundbite) and Melanie Phillips (scourge of the liberal thinker). I did find myself rather liking Tim Faron, though...

Priti Patel defines vacuous. I saw her get ripped apart on QT a while back - am amazed she has the guts to go again.

I'm afraid even the name "Priti Patel" is vaguely irritating. As I've mentioned before Tim Farron went to the same uni as me so am already favourably disposed.

By the way I'm reading Robertson Davies, Cornish Trilogy at the moment and absolutely loving it. I can't believe I've only just discovered him.

Crem - good point about people going home at the weekend. Haven't even thought about that.

Must try this groundnut stew (has It been added to the crepey cookbook?)
Dinner with colleague last night - bittersweet and she is still a trooper - intending to go for an interview at three today and then come back and check we are all good to go for Monday.....

hatty, I didn't know anyone who went home at the weekend when I was in Sheffield! I only went home for a few days in the main holidays Cremo, that sounds like it must have been tough. But at least you had no distractions and could study all weekend

TFIF - it has been a long week at work and home. But now only 2 more to go!

Cornish Trilogy is fab, I liked the Salterton one too (years ago, hope it hasn't gone off).

Groundnut stew is indeed in the crepey cookbook.

Them students seem to whizz about a lot now - coaches are very cheap, comfortable, aircon, loos etc. And I think social media means they can make a better hash of keeping relationships, or friendships, going at a distance.

Actually Lalsy, that reminds me that my 2 besties and I used to whizz between Mancs, Leeds and Sheff often when we were at uni to spend time together

Oh gosh yes , it wouldn't be like that now. And tbh I worked at the Victoria Palace ( Starlight Express!) at the weekend and towards the end of my degree I had a year of living with my late brother, which given that he is no longer here, was priceless.
Social media and cheap travel will make all the difference. Coming form here in the 198os was being like an alien from outer space. I felt I constantly had to define myself, explain myself and apologise for my accent. There is still a bit of that about, but I just don't care any more.

Hattie, wherever dd2 ends up she will have support, as I find the pastoral care at modern universities to be extraordinarily good. Iirc on the ucas form we had
1 definitively where I want to go ( perfect course)

1. Somewhere that's equally good that I can still see self at ( different city, good course)
2. Somewhere with a slightly lower offer but still like and same degree
3. Somewhere with a much lower offer with really interesting courses ( slightly more practical degree)

5 somewhere with a good reputation but offering low but still a great city and fab student reviews

Do look at the actual courses Hattie. It can make all the difference to the student experience.

Forgot to say dd was given unconditional offers from the bottom 3, which was a relief ., dd was refused by her number 1 and got into number 2 even though she didn't get the grades. She needed ABB and she had A*BC but was offered a place anyway.( they looked at her cv I think)

Last full day and it's glorious again. Am feeling quite pleased with myself as I swam out (and back of course) to one of the buoys at the limit of the swimming area. It's the second time I have done it (had to do it again to prove it wasn't a fluke) and this time I didn't keep on looking out for sharks. It's been a good holiday- I think we need to plan something else, may be a weekend away, so we have something to look forward to.

Crem, BD, I hope you can cope with today; only a few more hours to go.

Thanks for that Crem - I'll pass those points on to her. She has looked at the courses in great detail (which is more than I can say for DD1). We both think the two London Uni's have the best courses but she has a bad group science project mark(thanks to bastard lazy boys) and this has to go on her UCAS. This isn't representative of her level but I think it will compromise her chances of an offer. After these two, Exeter is definitely the preference and they are building a massive new Biological Science building so things are looking pretty good there. As we come from France we don't have any AS marks to give the Uni's an idea.

On a lighter note, the girl in Benefit has sold me her eyebrow kit, having made my eyebrows look more fabulous than I have ever been able to. I doubt if I will be able to replicate it as it involves mixing powder and wax with a little brush and er stippling.

Good luck with today Crem and BD.

Envious of your holiday NU.

Hatty, very excited to hear about the Benefit eyebrow kit. Can you link please? My brows are very pale and quite sparse so anything which can help with that is a bonus.

Unis - not much experience of that alas, except where I work lots of the students live at home (which might be a long way from London) and commute on the days they need to be in to save money. When I was at university, like BTM I was a great user of coaches to whizz round the country to see people. Exeter would be a great place to go.

BD - hang on in there. Weekend is beckoning [sleep]

Have spent from 5am at home with Brian, alas. Don't quite know what has happened but I've had some sleep and some hula hoops now for the salt and feel a bit better. Please let it pass off quickly. Please let noone else get it.

I want to go to Uni again....

I want to have not screwed my life up quite so badly.

BD - I'd like to do Uni again as well.

Monty - they are called Brow Zings - There are threads here on them which I've just discovered. The thing is I don't know if I will be able to get the same effect. Maybe I should report back tomorrow.

Hope you're feeling a little better.

Montserrat, please see sick list memo below & get well soon

BD, I want to go back to Uni again too, but not because I feel I need to start afresh (not that you do - you're just in a shitty job situation atm - it's not you personally), but because I had such a fantastic 4 years with great friends. But I would need to be 18 again, with a new liver

BTM, your stories of uni are very heartening. I think/hope that dd will travel around visiting her mates at other unis and vice versa.

Meanwhile I am desperately not getting sick, for fear of attracting Sister's attention. Hope all those sick Crepeys get better soon.

Molly, if we both manage to stay well (unlikely though that seems at the moment) do you fancy Liars' League on Tuesday?

Yes! A Halloween event. It looks absurdly easy to get to (Oxford Circus). I've put it in the diary already. Any other Crepeys (if in good health)?

Oh I've just discovered you can download the podcasts of the previous Liars League nights. Result!

Was that the pan you cooked it in Rudy?!