Rowling Makes a Stand

[JadeLeader]

Ok, so I know the educated classes hate us and our Dear Leader, but she's really not doing herself any favours here...

Is your mum Northern Irish by any chance? We're shocking for putting random fruit in savoury recipes!

I'm just disappointed no one has raised the subject of possets yet.
Surely it's the best thing you can do with a gooseberry?
Or any other fruit, for that matter.

That is a great coincidence!
The Anglicisation of the saint's name as 'Cooey' is unfortunate - the original name was Cú Maige, the Hound of the Plain, a bit more elegant than Cooo-eeee

I'd be inclined to unleash Ethel Rudkin and a mahoosive hermaphrodite farm wagon* on the lot of them. But one advantage of the flatlands is that you can see people coming from miles away and you always have to find a bridge over some river or drain or delph, or lawks a mercy, dyke, so one can probably easily avoid tedious nonsense.

Jelly is not allowed in trifle, Black Shuck will bite your feet off.

*that's what the wagons that convert into 2 wheeled carts are called, that'll make a few heads fall off.

If she is it would have been a big surprise for my Grandad.

I’ve never made - or indeed tried - a posset. Might give it a go, along with the bara brith recipe above!

I referred to an elderly cookbook, had no gelatine, whipped the stewed and strained fruit into the cream.

Oh my goodness me. A lemon posset in particular, is ambrosia itself.
Particularly when paired with another tart fruit.
Divine! 😍

We called...you know when babies spit up some of their milk?...we called that possetting. Put me right off posset.

There's a holy well, Fynnon Gwenfaen, on the cliffs on Holy Island (off Anglesey) near Rhoscolyn. Apparently if you drop two white stones into the well, something happens. Healing iirc.

We called...you know when babies spit up some of their milk?...we called that possetting. Put me right off posset.

Doesn't everyone? Or is the term not used any more? I thought it was universal usage when DS was a baby, but that was a long time ago.

First of all what is a witch ball that was mentioned earlier in a post? What does it do? Is it pretty like a disco ball?

Secondly. I've had coleslaw with raisins in it. I do like both but not together! Peanuts in salad cream though, that doesn't seem too bad... 🤔

A witch ball is an ornament like a large Christmas tree bauble - of coloured glass, sometimes with a mirror surface, sometimes with things inside like salt or tangled threads.

It was hung in house windows, allegedly with the purpose of keeping witches and evil spirits at bay. There are different theories of how they originated.
Nowadays it has had something of a revival in the Pagan community and there are different kinds available, some more traditional than others.

If I remember rightly, there's a witch ball in the children's book An Enemy at Green Knowe, by Lucy Boston.

From what I remember (possibly from An Enemy at Green Knowe, excellent book) the theory is that witches avoid anything that shows their reflection, and since a witch ball reflects everything in its surroundings, they will not voluntary enter a space guarded by one.

I didn't read that BBC link about holy wells until just now, and a glad to see that it references Dr Celeste Ray, who I met at a holy well Mass a couple of years ago.

This has turned out to be a much more enjoyable thread than its OP would have led me to expect.

I cheat with syllabub and whisk cream, lemon curd and Pedro Ximénez sherry together until thick. Best consumed in small quantities with a very small spoon.

Je vous presente cranachan.

Scottish proto-trifle.

Toasted oats (jumbo are best), raspberries (or any soft fruit really), whipped cream, honey (or maple syrup), and whisky.

Just put it all in a bowl or glasses.

Fucking delightful.

And traditionally just bowls on the table so you could help yourself to the bits you wanted and the kids got without the booze.

I have made something called old English syllabub, which iirc had things like allspice in it. It was very nice.

Must make it again.

Emily, you have no understanding of biology, or medical research. It is impossible to change sex. Body modification (and the destruction of its function) does not change sex.

A pity the Nazis destroyed all this 'research'. We could have learned from it and avoided the current mess by refusing to accept any idea that someone can be born in the wrong body. Because they cannot. And sexology, that posited the idea (from Ellis) that women had to be forced to sex as this was the only way they could respond, is to blame for the hateful progression of sex stereotypes and comments such as 'fucked is what a woman is', and the total misogyny of trans ideology (not to mention its homophobia).

The patient case histories were the important bit that the rest of the destruction was piled around. Society was changing and prominent Nazi clients of the Institute could not afford their own records being seen.

Thanks for reminding me, the elderflower is in full bloom and we usually make cordial. That's if I can persuade DD to lend a hand, as a couple of months ago, someone flipped her teenager switch.

Everything is boring, I've stopped being cool (? wasn't aware i was....) and she can't be arsed. I'm also SOOOO embarrassing.

Couldn't even get her to go PYO 30 miles away, in case someone saw us together!

I do gooseberry and fennel seed jam. Makes an intriguing jam tart.

"Found under a gooseberry bush" used to be a way of explaining new babies to small children. Perhaps this is the kind of medical evidence WPATH will be presenting to the court in their forthcoming case?

Confound you, @Grammarnut , you've put a 50 pence piece in the eejit and he'll start all over again.

Gooseberry fool is lovely, but rhubarb fool is even nicer. And you're less at risk of injury picking rhubarb. Goosegog thorns are bastards.

I wasn't sure if it was widespread. Never heard it outside my immediate family but I didn't spend much time round babies prior to having my own. Seemed a very apt word. Reminded me of the way calf stomach is used to make cheese.

There's a call for JKR to be given the iron cross Order of Merit

https://archive.ph/00qPj

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/22/jk-rowling-deserves-to-be-given-the-ultimate-british-honour/

Although I wasn't previously au fait with this honour, I now want her to have this shiny.

Woohoo! I want this to happen so bad, just to see some people's head exploding 😈

She's turned down honours before.

Yes she's been offered whatever it is that gets you into the House of Lords