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.

We make cauliflower cheese instead of mashed potato for shepherd's/cottage pie. It's yummy.

😡I'm not on FB and although it usually lets non-believers read a page, at a certain point it block you and puts up the log in screen.
Unfortunately, it did that at about the 3rd post grrrr.

I like cauliflower cheese but can no longer eat cheese - I haven't revealed that before, I didn't want to be an outcast from the cheesy love-in, and of course I
can eat Bluestocking cheese - Bleu de la Chausette - with no repercussions😁so you and I could be like Jack and Mrs Sprat😁

I think this is the second time I've had to take care not to say 'I'm following RandomHypatia to bed', I wrote that before and then thought ooo-er better make that entendre single😆

I'm following RandomHypatia's example, and going to bed too.
G'night all may the Sleep and Dream Genders work in tandem to counteract all that late-night cheese consumptions🌖🧀
This GIF is a bit late, but I couldn't resist!

Sorry @MarieDeGournay . I think there might be a way of linking to a single post, but I don't know how to do it.

ETA Accidentally quoted entire post.

Good grief! I turn my back & we're 5 pages into a new thread.

I've retrieved my little mistake. It's not so much an experiement, more the result of Gordonbennett picking up my M&S sale turkey &, unable to see where she was going, wandering into the transporter with it - which then combined the two of them. I tried reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, but nothing doing.

I imagine that will take you in a completely different and exciting research path.

I. Must. Go. To. Bed.

I'm not sleeping as it is, but being up past midnight is not helping.

Wow - those look delicious I think I will have one for breakfast - thank you Kitty. Does your sourdough have a 'mother'?

I nearly got left behind on the last thread but managed to bring some smoked Lincolnshire Poacher cheese with me.

It does. Her name is Honoria.

I’ve just got back from the gym & I’m eating one of my rolls, sliced, covered in almond butter & sliced cheddar & grilled for a couple of minutes. Pure joy.

Although maybe I should be branching into other cheeses.

What else can the gerbils provide? Is it food & drink specifically or do they stretch into other areas?

Another one saying "I turn my back for ten minutes and we're five pages in!"

Anyway, I've just noticed that my phone says "Aeroplane mode" not "Airplane mode" and I'm inordinately pleased.

I should note that I have had the thing since September and have flown since then.

Edit splung - no coffee yet.

The gerbils can provide massages, nursing services, entertainment…. Almost anything although some of the other creatures offer the more specialised services.

I had a lovely sourdough starter which I established during Covid. At the end of the lockdowns I got rid of it, blithely assuming I'd be able to get another one going no bother, but the next was a disaster. In retrospect I should have frozen some.

I just use dried yeast now, it's quicker, and I make a lot of bread.

I have contemplated making my own cheese, but then I eat something like a chunk of Baron Bigod and decide not to bother. Also a fan of all that French loveliness. And a good cheddar. And... cheese.

I need to be mindful of my lipids and not overindulge on cheese, unfortunately. It’s a shame as there are so many delicious ones - just this county could provide a lovely cheeseboard (Blacksticks Blue, Parlick Fell sheep, Ribblesdale goat, Lancashire bomb ….I could go on…).

The gerbils can turn their er... paws to anything!
They do these wonderful synchronised massages on creatures many times their size, e.g. when our Myrtle was recuperating from surgery, and she's a lioness!
They also do cheerleading and have put on musicals.

Sticky toffee pudding, fruit crumble or something really chocolatey. I like lemons, but lemon drizzle cake is a rubbish pudding.

They make a mean fancy dress costume as well.

I'm watching Tron and they have made me an outfit to watch it in

My images of multitasking gerbils have been 'under review' since 09.44.
There were two of them, both recycled from previous use on Bluey threads.

Deano, should cribs stay up till 2nd Feb=Candlemas?
I can see that it gives the Three Wise Men a fair crack of the whip since they only arrive on 6th Jan and decos usually get taken down by then.. but that's a long Christmas 'tail'..
Are the cribs left up in churches till Candlemas?

[Just refreshed the page but still no images of multitasking gerbils😠]

I agree @ErrolTheDragon about Lancashire (and just across the border in N Yorks) having some great cheeses these days. I've just discovered Sykes Fell ewe's milk cheese. Mild and similar to Pecorino, very good in salads. The Booths supermarkets in the NW are great champions of local cheeses.

Honoria! What a marvellous name for a sourdough starter! She sounds very elegant, efficient and definitely upper crust. 😁

I need to overcome my laziness and get plugged into wahatever networks exist to allow NI exiles in England to get food from back home. After catching up on the thread, I have a sudden craving for Veda bread and cheese.

I had no idea gerbils were so resourceful.

I think leaving anything Christmassy up until Candlemas is risky since you never know if it might turn into a goblin.

Cheerleading a speciality for interview support.

Cocktails and piano playing when ill in bed.

And the vipers make exceptional nursery nurses

Capybaras do the maintenance, badgers are doctors, and beetles hoard steal take care of the Tunnocks.

Anything you want really.

Depends on the church - at the very least they should stay up for the Octave of the Epiphany, though for my pal the 80 y o sacristan from two parishes over seems to treat access to the services of Big Strong Men as the starting point for her timetabling of statue removal.

New name for the gerbils - Génesis - a young woman killed by Maduro's forces a decade ago. One of the people I follow on Twitter is Venezuelan. Their ecstasy and hope is a bit daunting; I fear things might not work out the way they wish. But maybe.

I have cheese envy. Kerrygold cheddar is one of the better ones here, and miles better than awful American cheese or provolone. Some locally made goat cheese is good, and we can sometimes get blue Stilton (but not white), and we can get some Spanish or Italian cheeses, but not the lovely variety of British or French cheeses. DH was blown away by the food we had in France last summer.

I wonder could you take Harriet till Candlemas, Deano?

I tried telling her that Christmas was over and she shouldn't wear her Santa hat any more - but she got so upset - just look at that disappointed little face🙁

Maybe she could join your crib for now, and we could gently talk her down from the Santa-hat-wearing before February 2nd?

I can’t think of any good reason why a little husky rat shouldn’t wear a red hat with white trim at any time when her head is cold.

That's exactly what Harriet said, but her lower lip was all trembly..

So is it agreed then: Harriet can wear her Santa red hat with white trim all year round if she wants to?

That's a relief, and you may stand down as 'husky rat whisperer', Deano😁