The Bluestocking Women’s Pub - Where Everybody Knows Your Username

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome to the Bluestocking Arms, the home of good company, excellent drinks and delicious cakes which magically have no irksome contents like gluten or sugar or calories or the kind of alcohol that causes problems - but you wouldn't know

Food and drink are served by a keen staff of gerbils, and other animals such as capybaras, quokkas, etc., also fulfil vital roles, while looking cute AF.

New Bluestockingers always welcome.

Wouldn't it be a coincidence if they turned out to be related!

Although I'm sure I read somewhere that all domesticated golden hamsters are descended from one mother hamster and her young that were collected from the Syrian desert (briefly considers that hamsters might be Muslim, decides don't want to go there). So perhaps they do all have the same surname.

I agree about the emojis. We could actually use more of them. The loss of the laugh one is indeed a blow.

I hate the notion that we (splendid grown ups) cannot be trusted with an emoji, so we lose it.

Or is it " Unless the person who misused this emoji owns up straightaway, we shall take it away from the whole of MN"?

@DeanElderberry How about a passion fruit pavlova - a seasonally appropriate Antipodean dessert? (Very useful for using up all the surplus egg whites generated by making mayonnaise.)

I really don't think we should be delving into monotreme anatomy though. Biology is definitely weird as well as wonderful and I wouldn't like to call the gerbils’ reaction to discovering the reproductive arrangements of the Echidna.

Making mayonnaise????? What is this? Mayonnaise comes in a jar.

And when it does, it doesn’t contain eggs.

I can explain this mayonnaise ingredient.

I can only eat egg yolks occasionally, unless I’m in The Bluestocking. So, the thoughtful cooks here add it often to mayonnaise if I’m eating in.

I think it’s an option for everyone here, jar or Bluestocking made mayo. Oh, dear, I hope that wasn’t a secret. It’s not a good idea to have tiers of membership.

Well, according to mumsnet "we can't have nice things" because some people are mean.

No smiling or 😆 for us!

😬

I missed the post about wombat anatomy. I initially thought it was about the rearward facing opening to the pouch (so it won't fill with dirt when digging). Took a second. If it wasn't for the Lamington picture the penny might never have dropped.

The down-under arrangements of down-under creatures are all a bit startling for those of us accustomed to only having one of certain bits and pieces.

Pavlova would be delicious and naturally gluten-free and would make an excellent focal point for the tea, but a few Lamingtons in tribute to Wombats' other brown cuboid offerings is a must.

I asked Ms Nibbles...she didn't know (as I say, they're solitary creatures and leave their mother's when young if not eaten by them). She looked it up and apparently it's like the surnames Singh and Kaur. Male hamsters have the surname Fluffy and females have the surname Nibbles. Evidently we could have worked out her sex with a quick Google of hamster naming conventions. Very unfortunate that she didn't look it up sooner and save me the vets fee!

@MarieDeGournay Hypatia is an excellent suggestion!

That stuff in jars is not mayonnaise, no matter what it says on the label. In my book ‘oil emulsified with egg yolk’ is core to any definition of what constitutes mayonnaise, but as the fake stuff isn't called fauxayonnaise the law must say otherwise.

If you haven't had the genuine article you’re seriously missing out. It's one of my favourite things to make by hand,* just because it's such a good demonstration of the chemical process of emulsification. I make it a lot in winter for dressing coleslaw (mixed half and half with yoghurt). In summer I make very garlicky, lemony aioli as a dip.

*Typical instructions greatly exaggerate the risk of splitting and need to add the oil in minuscule aliquots at the start. Making mayo is fairly quick and easy without any gadgets and I recommend it to anyone who takes a childlike delight in transformation.

Very easy with a stick blender that fits into a jar which has a screw cap. Keeps for weeks in the fridge. I must make some now that salad season is truly upon us.

Kudos on using the word aliquot, @Turbochook - and your aioli sounds delicious.

I didn't know what 'aliquot' means. I do now
I'm an enthusiastic logophile with a wide collection of words, so a new acquisition is a real treat, thank you

I too appreciate 'aliquot'.

And I keep meaning to make mayonnaise (I last made some about 40 years ago under the eye of a friend's mother), but I have made elderflower cordial.

Brains would like me to make mayonnaise, because she knows I'd never make enough meringue to use up the egg whites and would end up pouring them over the dogs' dinners as a kind of sauce.. She is very keen all parts of the egg, including the shell, and has been known to nick an entire full box, sneak off with it, and consume the lot, leaving the discarded box and perhaps half an eggshell as the only clues.

The weather here is foul today. 16C, blowing an absolute gale, and throwing useless but irritating amounts of rain around at intervals.

I’m pretty sure I learned the word ‘aliquot’ in chemistry lessons at school. It’s rather more precise than is ever likely to be needed in cookery IMO.

We have got simultaneous sunshine and rain right now, @EdithStourton. But no hint of a rainbow.

My favourite word from the last week or so is scoffslaw used by the wonderful Helen Joyce in a recent article hence the name change in tribute😃

Checking for exactly what it means finds ‘scofflaw’ as a habitual lawbreaker. I think yours denotes excessive fondness for shredded veg in mayo.

😂😅

Making mayonnaise. Can't be arsed.

To be fair, I don't eat it either.

Very good - I did realise after making a new user name that I had added an extra s but quite liked it that way. Sort of word salad?

😁

I am eating a salted caramel ( no walnut) whip from M & S. It is yummy. We need these in the food repertoire of the Bluestocking.

Yeah, but who are you?