The Bluestocking is reopening

[ErrolTheDragon]

It's time we reopened the Bluestocking, I think.

This is the FWR pub, situated in the charming village of Badley Fuckitt near the Shady Pines rest home. It has a cannon (for reasons lost in the mists of time), goats in the paddock next to the beer garden and a menu including many soups and cakes. It's open all hours, serving breakfast and tea to all weary women, in addition to being the ideal location to metaphorically drown your sorrows.

Naice coffee ...

it's that thesis / academic publication training - always always acknowledge your sources.

Kids often seem to like me. But Lord above, do they pong!

You remind me of a gloomy museum attendant who confided to me long ago, after ushering yet another school group into the audiovisial room 'all children smell, but wet children smell worse . . '

The fresher it is, the less.'goat' character it contains - so it's much milder in something like milk or ice cream than cheese, and milder in a fresh cream cheese than an aged one. Straight from.the milking bucket it's only the faintest hint. Unless the goat has stuck a foot in the bucket, which they usually do.

Absolute buggers to milk, goats. At least sheep only try to run away. Goats are outright obstructive. And devious.

Tis the capric (C10:0), caprylic (C8:0) and caproic (C6:0) acids. Guess how they got named.

😂

I made bread yesterday with yeast, whilst waiting for my sourdough starter to get going again after being in the fridge nearly 2 weeks and lo and behold it already tripled in size.

500g bread flour
One pack or 7g yeast
7g salt
350 g water.

Tis the easiest thing to do. Mix and jnead and leave to double in size. Then put onto a floured board, knead a bit more and shape into a ball and then pop it, top up, into an oiled casserole dish or pound bread tin.

Put in a cold oven for about 45 mins to an hour (in hot weather. Longer if cold), until it has doubled in size then set the oven to around 200°c and turn on. You can take the bread out and slash it and put it back in when then oven is hot but I just put it on for 40 mins, and leave it in there to slowly expand as the oven heats up.

Guess how they got named.

Capriciously.

😁

Kneading bread is a good workout for arms.

I use a no-knead method and have done for years as I can't be arsed kneading.

I mix all the ingredients together until a ball of dough is formed, cover and leave for an hour then stretch and fold the dough and put it back in the bowl. I'll do another two or three stretch and folds before baking. It works well for days I'm at home and pottering about with other things.

This method is good too -

Where else on the Interwebz could one find French grammar, bread recipes, goat handling tips, quokkas and people who sing puns on random bits of musicals? Nowhere - that's where.

I can be of little assistance with French, but long, long ago, I did memorise which prefixes take the dative case - aus, ausser, zeit, von, mit, zu, nach and gegenuber. As you will imagine, this has proved useful on an almost daily basis.

I am doing several languages with Duolingo, and they use some very random phrases - for example, the other day, I learned how to say, in Dutch, "Excuse me, I am an apple" - "Pardon, ik ben een appel'. I wonder how often one has to say that, in the Netherlands.

"Pardon, ik ben een appel'

That reminds of when I lived in Amsterdam for a year and was asked to look after two Dutch dogs while their humans went on holiday. After a couple of days I realised that the dogs weren't their usual perky selves and wondered what was going on. I tried using my very broken Dutch on them, saying things like 'Wat is er te eten? Hmmm, lekker!' and, lo and behold, they both cheered up straight away.

I make bread with spelt flour - its gluten is more delicate that bread wheat gluten (which is probably why it doesn't trigger my asthma and inflammation in the same way) and it doesn't need much kneading - too much would kill its elasticity.

I've also recently been lucky / unlucky enough to discover it makes delicious pikelet /crumpetish drop scones - flour, yeast, baking powder, water, pinch of salt. Make a stiff batter, leave for a couple of hours, cook on the pan, anoint with butter and whatever you fancy, eat, gain weight, repeat.

Today I am in the mood for soda bread. No knead for any faff!

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/irish-soda-bread/

Keep meaning to have a crack at making potato farls, (lovely for breakfast).

@DeanElderberry I use spelt too, it makes delicious bread.

Spelt flour, especially white spelt flour, makes excellent short crust pastry. Also good for scones.

As part of my UK stash of goodies, I bought a huge bag of gram flour which I use for making quick cheesy turmeric pancakes. I started eating it when I was trying to work out whether gluten was causing my pain, and we ended up having to buy some for £10 a bag on amazon during covid. £3 last week for a huge bag that will last me years. It would be about 10 times that here in France.

My cat won't let me out of his sight, apart from when he knows we are in the house. The moment we set foot outside he is following me like a little lamb. He slept on the bed next to me and it was so good to hear his little snores all night.

I'm not going to lie, the constant sport on the TV in the hotels whilst we were away [I hate sport, the OH loves it all] has driven me to the edge. I also took the best beds each time which meant the TV was right in front of me. I've missed all the 'belief in reality' threads apart from the boxing, obviously. I'm catching up on all the sanity from my usual suspects piece by piece whilst trying to work out how to eat all the courgettes and cucumbers.

On the topic of Bonkers, both times he had some of the catnip treats, he fell fast asleep.

I used to know someone who would happily accept the regular pint of goat's milk left on her windowsill by her goat-owning neighbour.

She would then use it in tea.
🤮🤮🤮

That's a handy tip, ta.

trying to work out how to eat all the courgettes and cucumbers.

Dump them on neighbouring doorsteps?

Cucumber raita would go nicely with onion bhajis made with some of that gram flour

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/onion-bhajis-raita

http://dinnerdujour.org/2010/08/17/zucchini-fritters-with-feta-and-dill-and-tomato-salad/

For anyone with a courgette problem.

Use one of the cucumbers to make some homemade tzatziki, amazing if you are used to the plastic packs of very sub par stuff you get in the supermarket.

I do have shedloads of onions as well so this might well be tomorrow's main meal. And some sour cream. Top idea.

I usually collapse and give them to neighbours but I already left a fridge load in my neighbour's fridge before we went away (I was feeding her cats) but over here, most gardens have a potager and those that don't are usually high meat low veg eaters.

And the local give away station will already be heaving with them.

I quartered, fried and then froze a load last year so might do the same again later today. I might use the Welsh Cake griddle and do strips of them. And do them outside as it is steaming here.

Lunch today is an all in the Remoska veg medley. Yesterday it was courgette chilli.

And anything left by the weekend will be pickled. And then it will all start again next week.