A Very Crepey New Year

[Cremolafoam]

Will this do ??

Oh Gawd Hatty, that sounds ominous!?

Poor dh Crem - lucky he has you to help him.

Cold and miserable here - felt like it never really stopped being dark today... before it got properly dark again.

Sympathy CV and Rudy - I had some horrible procedure done a while ago - camera in your bladder anyone? - and a few weeks ago went to a lunch party - to find host's wife was the woman what had done it - we both pretended not to recognise each other at all - VERY British

Bloody brilliant - my son's brevet (end of middle school exam) is spectacularly late this year and clashes with DD1's graduation. We are now in a pickle!

at having to face GP/nurse after baring privates But it's probably only you (ie not the health professional) who is embarassed. Small comfort!

Oh dear Hatty. Is there any way round things?

Day went fine at work - what a relief to be doing something reasonably successful! Looking forward to tomorrow, but then I will need to be a carer again

Cremo, you poor thing. You sound like you need a few months off to get back on top of your health. And sorry that you are in limbo-time.

MrsS, I am guessing that it was the higher paper? But still surprisingly low scores for top set. And mocks a month before the real thing? Not terribly well planned out, or maybe it's different for the IB?

Hatty - I think they gave them the paper from last year that was judged by many to be way too hard and virtually impossible. Poo re your clash. Can someone stay with your DS while you dash across the channel for the graduation?

GGG - unfortunately forriners are not so discreet. I was introduced to a doctor at a cocktail party who remembered me because he had done my trans vaginal scan in early pregnancy - he reminded me, and the rest of the room of this fact...

AAaaaaaargh Hatty What rotten luck. Any possible solutions?

Crem and MrsS this is going from bad to worse...bed rest...both of you!
How is Auriga...and what about NU...is the pain abating?

Glad today worked out Tilly

Gobsmacked at the intimate examinations by school gate regulars! CV you are a bigger person than I....I'd have refused point blank. GGG I have had 2 cystoscopies and thank god, so far have not crossed paths with the operators across the dinner table.... eek indeed.

Actually GGG can you advise me (by PM is you prefer) of decent cafes with a lot of space to work in, near the station in your neck of the woods? I have to meet a colleague there regularly this term, (mid point for travelling) and we need space for paperwork and laptops on the tables. The one we went to last time (on the roundabout near the station...won't name ) was amazing but way too small to work in...

DH is battling home through the troubled TFL chaos...with a blocked ear and feeling rather awful. I have taken pity and made leek and potato soup, to be followed by hot dogs.

Mrs S, I'm sorry about your friend. Such early deaths when you are in the prime of your retirement....

Here my cold, now to be known as the Queens Cold, has finally regressed to mild headache and snot....

We're having chilli tonight to blast the cold away.

BTM - glad you had a good day - sometimes having something to focus on keeps us anchored.

Rose and other Londoners have watched travel chaos in London - hope your DH makes it back OK. Soup and hot dogs sounds a great idea - may do that tomorrow.

I think because DS is in an international school he could go onto Lycee without his brevet but I'm not entirely happy about it. It had been pretty irrelevant for uni applications for the girls. I will check with the school. DH will not be happy though. It was going to be so lovely at Cambs, as it was DS's birthday on 29th and 30th was graduation!

Thanksgiving Service done. Am dog tired.
I'll be back soon. Time for huge gin and my pyjamas.

Coca - rest, gin and sleep.

Well survived Cocoa - hope you can have a restorative drink and a quiet evening.

Dh has just arrived home after walking from work - an hour and a quarter.

Have made a v easy and rather tasty celeriac and mushroom stew thing from a new (Christas present) cookbook. Will report back when the troops have properly sampled. I do like making new things - when they turn out well!

Glad you had a good day BTM. Sorry to all continuing to be poorly and facing exams in one form or another.

Rose - will have a think for you...

Interested in the mushroom and celeriac thingmy GGG. Always useful to have a new vegetarian dish for dh up sleeve.Impressed by dh's striding home in spite of the strikes.

Hatty That's so annoying about the brevet timing.I'm annoyed for you.

Continued thanks to all for sympathy. Mrs S, what the hell is this tummy bug thing? I hate being off my food. How on earth are you supposed to get better if you cannae eat.I am v sorry to hear about your friend btw. It is clearly much too soon.

it was definitely something I'd make again - and very easy.

Celeriac / Mushroom / Bay Ragu (Anna Jones)
Serves 4.

Chop neatly / quite small 1 red onion / 2 sticks celery / 2 large carrots and soften in olive oil. As they cook add 4 cloves garlic sliced thinly.

In a separate pan cook on a high heat around 250g chestnut mushrooms quartered in some olive oil until browned and dry.

Chop into smallish cubes around 800 / 1kg celeriac (1 big root) and boil for around 5 minutes. Drain.

Add mushrooms and celeriac to other veg together with 333ml good cider, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and a tablespoon of low salt vegetable stock powder, 20 black peppercorns, a few sprigs of thyme and 2 bay leaves.

Bring to boil then simmer c 20 / 30 mins until sauce thickened and celeriac soft.

Serve with soft polenta / mash (I cba so served with... bread) and something green (Kale). Was yum. Consider a dollop of mustard / horseradish to further enhance.

Sounds yum, will copy that one.

I have created a variation on the dark and stormy, specifically for sick people:

Half an orange chopped up
Slug of dark rum
Spoonful of honey
Some ginger cordial, www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/our-drinks/type/cordials/ginger-cordial/
Hot water

Vitamins for colds, ginger for bad tums, run and hotness for blocked noses....Stir, drink, sleep. Warning: do not overdo the ginger cordial. It is punchy stuff!

Yes, it was a trifle awkward with the smear test nurse. I saw her name come up on the appointment screen, and thought "oh no." I contemplated cancelling, but then figured she's probably seen half the fannies in town, and I needed to be grown up about it. Luckily she was briskly efficient - she didn't beat about the bush, so to speak.

Have just found out that the prep school whose playing field our garden backs onto is closing. Off to the Village Forum tomorrow to see if the local NIMBYs can keep the developers from our door. Irritatingly, we tried to buy the land immediately behind our garden about six years ago (the school didn't own it all at the time), but delays by our solicitor meant that the school were able to snap it up instead. And what we feared would happen has of course come to pass.

CV - I reckon these people just reckon it's their job and are beyond embarrassment. Nightmare about the land though and waiting to see what may happen to it.

GGG - the celeriac stew sounds delicious but sounds the sort of thing my lot would spurn. Do report back on the family reception.

Beachy - I thought you were going to say do not overdo the rum, never mind the ginger cordial. Sounds yummy though.

GGG, that would be a nightmare meal for my lot. They all loathe celery and celeriac and one gags at mushrooms. I would shovel it in with gusto.

Would you all like my very unorthodox recipe for artisan bread? It is bonkers - I adapted it from something I saw on the telly, zero effort, and is the best bread I have ever made (and I make a lot of bread).

Yes please Mrs S!

Stew went down very well - but results skewed by ds2 - the pickiest child on the planet being out...

OK here goes:

600g strong plain flour
A good shake of salt (don't stint - you need about a dessert spoonful)
1 dessert spoonful of dried yeast
300ml tepid water.

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, and bring together loosely with your hands until it is combined and it looks "shaggy" (this should take no more than a few seconds). If it feels a bit dry, add a little water. If it seems a bit wet, leave as is.

Cover mixing bowl with cling film. Leave to rise for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, knock the bread back.

Grease a casserole dish (mine is round, narrow and deep - it shouldn't be too wide in comparison to the amount of dough, otherwise the bread will be flattish). Put the knocked back dough in the casserole dish. Put lid on casserole dish. Leave for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 200c. When it has reached temperature, put casserole dish, with dough inside and lid on top, into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove lid and bake for another 20 minutes.

Take bread out of the oven and remove from casserole dish (this may be easier if you leave it to cool for about 5-10 minutes. Burn fingers. Swear a lot. Return bread, without its pot, to the hot oven for 20 minutes (but keep an eye on it, it may need less time than this. It will have an excellent crust and a good, chewy texture, and is comparable to something you might buy from a good bakery.

NB You MUST use strong or extra strong flour otherwise it won't work properly. Will experiment in due course with different flours (inc GF) in due course and report back.

Oh thanks ggg, dh will love that. Sadly I am allergic to shrooms, so will adapt accordingly. ( cooking is a minefield in this house )
Beachy, that sounds divine dahling! 2 of those and I might be an improved specimen. Dh could use a few too, as he has now succumbed to the lurgy.
I am just marking a plague cross on the door

Well I think you could easily lose the mushrooms - but would substitute something meaty - fried pancetta cubes / cubes of beef browned then added (chose the veggie stew as ds1 doesn't eat meat).

'Beat about the bush'. That made me do an actual real life LOL.

Or to keep it veggie, I might add some red peppers and walnuts... Would that work for you, Crem?

Me too Herbs

Stew sounds like something I'd love but no-one else would! Bread sounds worth a try though inevitaby I would gobble it all up before anyone else got a look in.

CocktaI recipe looks good too - just need to get a cold to try it

I think it's meant to be sort of Autumnal / bosky iykwim...

Careful what you wish for BTM!