The Bluestocking, where the cheese is plentiful and the Champagne is on Boiledbeetle

[Magpiecomplex]

Welcome one and all. Quick précis - women's pub, rodent staff, apparently we're sane.

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Bed socks are an absolute must from November till about late March/April.

Boily, I have had the joy of eczema cream in my time.

And while we're talking about desserts, can I recommend chocolate orange trifle? I burned a chocolate-orange cake a while ago so it wasn't fit to be a cake, but I cut the burned bits off and froze the rest. Then when all the DC were due home, I soaked the cake in Cointreau (and probably sherry, as it's cheaper than Cointreau), added orange jelly with tinned citrus of some kind (clems? Tangerines?), and topped it off with custard and cream as normal. Massive hit.

Will add Cointreau to the cream next time. Have to make and burn a chocolate-orange cake first.

Genius. I have a family member with eczema who would love that time-saving method

Is that your New Year Resolution, Cake? 'To remember to put cream cheese under the pastry lid of the mince pies next Christmas'😄

Your description of the emergency services all over the place was very striking - it must have been unsettling, it could have been anything happening 😕
Hope the accident victim is OK.

Kitty, your Empress Kitty-Bella-Caramella is so regal she could give lessons in looking regal to royalty! Do you not feel very intimidated sharing the same living space with her? I'm not sure I could withstand that look..

I'm wearing my trusty bed socks currently. They've been to many Guide camps in my youth and are still going strong. Pale green, hand made and clashing horribly with my purple slippers, but the important thing is that my feet are toasty warm.

Flipping eck just showed up and the thread had ran away !!!!

I know what you mean! I spent some time tidying away the Christmas decos [and then tipping the box over so they all scattered over the floor, and then tidied them away again🙄] and when I came back here it was all, as I said upthread, cheese, what to eat it on, what to wear in bed, and norks!

You just never know what you'll hear when you open the door to the Bluey😀

I paused to serve and eat dinner and came back to find I was 50+ posts behind.

Busy at the bar tonight.

Glenda, put down the Gin!

I'm very fond of my slipper socks that keep my feet nice and toasty in the winter.

But I'm slightly worried that I have too much grapefruit and don't know what to do with it. I don't mind a bit of grapefruit by itself, but I don't know many recipes that can use it, and the cocktails I know with grapefruit juice are all tiki bar stuff that doesn't really appeal. So I may just have to experiment.

But there are worse things than experimenting. Any time I read about Jewish-American food there's always a dish with some completely random ingredient, justified on the basis that "grandma always made this with cornflakes and cranberry juice, so that's just how we do it". Mormon food is like that too. I suspect it comes from survival food during the Depression.

Bravissimo used to have pepperberry clothing and sold things like pyjamas for big norks (although I still had to sometimes go up a size on top). They ditched the clothing line and last time I checked that didn't even have pyjamas any more. All my work shirts came from them so I'm screwed when my current ones get holes in. I bought lots of nightwear last time they had a big sale a few years ago so should be all right for them for many years to come.

I just ate some cheddar on tuc biscuits as all the cheese talk gave me a craving. I wasn't even hungry.

Is the cake-burning an important part of the process, @EdithStourton? Or should we call you Alfred?

Girlcat says hello....and goodnight.

'there's always a dish with some completely random ingredient, justified on the basis that "grandma always made this with cornflakes and cranberry juice, so that's just how we do it".'

That reminds me -
I read a book - somebody may recognise it from this - which started off with a woman saying that when her mother cooked a ham, she always cut off a small portion and cooked it separately. She asked her mother why, she said, that's what your grandmother always did, so...
She asked her grandmother who said, well that's the way my mother always cooked it back in Italy, it's the tradition.

It so happened that great-grandmother was still alive and on a trip to Italy she asked her
'What is the reason for cutting off a piece of the ham and cooking it separately?'

'Because I never had a pot big enough to cook a whole ham!'

I have a few Pepperberry things in my wardrobe still. They briefly flirted with a fourth curviness rating, which fitted me nicely, but it didn't hang around for long, and the next one down just didn't work as well.

I don't even have any cheese, and this whole thread has given me a craving.

Isle of Man Creamery do a mature Cheddar with black peppercorns. I haven't had it in years, but I remember it being beezer on toast. I wouldn't mind some now.

What a beautiful cat, Fuzzy!

Thank you. Shes my little shadow and in cold weather likes to sleep under the duvet right next to me. Who needs pyjamas! 😄

An unburned cake will get eaten as cake.

I can't imagine putting a perfect cake into the freezer...

She's beautiful.

Having seen yours I'm tempted to go and tippex the whiskers on mine in the hope she's easier to spot in the dark!

Mine has decided that now she's discovered an under the duvet option that nothing else will do. I'm quite happy with her being a purring heat pad to be honest.

Tinned caramel?

Usually eaten with a spoon directly from the tin?

@SionnachRuadh But I'm slightly worried that I have too much grapefruit and don't know what to do with it.

My SiL once made us what she called a "gin & tonic tart", which was like a lemon meringue tart, but made with grapefruit and juniper berries. She was an excellent cook and it was unusual, but delicious.

New year resolution is to learn how to crochet. Mince pie hack is a hope I remember, I'd like to try it.

The most upsetting thing about the Emergency services is the bloke may have been lying in the road for a relatively long time and we had no idea. Ridiculous but i feel guilty. If it's true, he was very unfortunate. We don't live in the middle of nowhere. There's usually people coming and going.

The Walrus got me navy piped pyjamas for Christmas 2024, but they were in a heavy jersey. Very hot for menopause and the ankles rode up and were tight on my calves.

This Christmas he gave me pink pyjamas in a lighter cotton. I just have to find six white horses and a mountain to ride them round.

I have been known to wear scrubs in bed because they're very good for hot flushes.

I couldn't get on with Pepperberry pyjamas. The internal soft bra made me feel uncomfortable. I have loads of their dresses though. But I've lost so much weight they probably won't fit.

Not this time!

Hello dear Boily!

At about a quarter past seven there was a message from you suggesting ... perhaps I .... could get rid of .... so my initial response was fainting, obviously.

But then when you gave me a hug all seemed well! and I did not care anymore about those precious items I have had in that old cupboard and haven't looked at for about eight or nine years. Pfff to them, I say - Moose gel no more!

It has taken me nearly 4 hours to come round to the idea but I think that is okay.

p.s. My nose seems to have grown in the intervening time! and thanks for the loan of the slippers.