General Chat

Mel, I just checked the booklet and I wonder if you picked up frozen fries on the left hand page which says 200 for 25 minutes. But Home made chips on the right hand page says 180 for 25-30 minutes. Have you checked the questions on page 21 as well. Maybe the chips were a bit too thick. But you could always do it for a few more minutes. The important thing is to shake them. so don't forget that next time. As you say it is trial and error.

I have been trying to perfect a small container of frozen cauliflower cheese and, although it has always been ok it is not quite right. I have one portion left in the freezer so will try that tonight.

Morning all,

Very grey here today and not so mild ,yesterday was a lovely sunny day and I decided I would hang dome washing out ,pulled the line out as I have one of those lines that retracts back so it's out if the way ,anyway got about three quarters of the washing pegged out when down went the line the hook snapped that holds the line so the washing ended up all laying on the ground :-( gave up on that and hung them on the clothes airer.

Anng weren't those snowdrops with the green stripe on the outside of the petals pretty ,I wonder if people try and pull a few up on the sly .
When I went to get eggs from the farm there was a picture of a woman who had taken all the money from the egg tin ,they had a picture of her car number plate and it said the police had been informed good job they have the camera in the hut .

Mel do you use the spray oil ,I've seen people use it for things in the airfryer .

Vera it sounds as if you have a nice group of ladies there and how kind of your friend to pay for most of your meal , I bet you were worried you'd be left with puds that you'd be eating for the rest of the week but it sounds as if they all couldn't resist and tucked in lol

Anyone doing pancakes today , we love them but by the time we've had our meal we're to full to enjoy them.

good morning Mel and all. overslept this morning but wished I had not gone back to sleep at 5am as I had a horrible dream (well I think I did as I can't remember much of it) Good job I am not going anywhere today or I would have a late start,

Mel I will have a look and see if I can sort it. I assume you were going ny the auto symbols and did it on fry?? I usually set my own temperature and timing. But chips must be spread out and must be checked and shaken halfway At that temperature and timing though I can't think why they were not crispy. I am only learning with this frier but it does say there must not be too much oil as it could be a fire risk. I wonder if island has any ideas?

M<orning all,

Nice dull and cloudy and cold day again here this morning so no change there then!

I don't know what day this man is coming to take the mower away and the shopping comes today.

Pc is saying 7 degrees and cloudy but I can see that.

They were fresh chips and I washed them and dried them on a t towel before putitng the oil on. It came up for 25 mins on 200 degrees. I left it a bit late to give them a shake and I shoudl have done them in the bigger drawer I think. On utube the hairy bykers said to soak them in salt water but I did'nt do that. I don't like frozen chips only mcanes french fries.

Logging out now as I have an early start tomorrow to get a parcel done up and up the post van.

What temp and for how long were they cooked. You don’t say if fresh or frozen.

Thats what I did but they cooked ok but soon went soft. I htink next time I will put a little more oil in and soak the chips in salt water first. Its all trail and error at the mo but I ate them all with two small eggs.

Frozen chips don’t need any oil.
Home made, rinse and Pat dry then toss in a very small amount of oil., not too much. I think it might tell you in the booklet.

Are they chips you have made or frozen chips?

We had a little sun this morning but it clouded over this afternoon and has been all dull and grey.

I am going to try my air fryer with some chips but wanted to ask you Anng if I have to dry the chips before I put the oil on them or do I have to bring them up to the boil first and then dry them and add the oil?

fingers crossed it is not your turn for anything then Vera

I am just back from a trip to Dobbies (the new one near Tewkesbury With Cynth. Sun has shone all day here but windy. Not pleasant for drivers though as the sun is very low.

I have bought a potato fold away bag and five seed potatoes. Just as a trial

Couldn't believe they have their basket plants on sale when we have been forecast a cold spell. I hope the people buying them have a heated greenhouse.
They did have some gorgeous Helebores but I was not tempted.

Good afternoon

It is a beautiful day here, sunny and bright and not too cold though it is very windy. I’ve been able to hang the washing out for the first time in weeks. A combination of sun and wind should dry it nicely.

All this talk of snowdrops is making me feel sad that we don’t have any in the garden here. We had planted a few in grass under trees at our old house and they were spreading well when we moved. A mile or so down the road from the old house we had a lady who had quite a big place with a large garden running straight down to the river. She was quite well known as a plants woman. She had masses of snowdrops and a couple of new varieties discovered in her garden were named for her: “Jenny’s Pearl” and “Chequers” (name of her house). She also bred a new muscari which she named “Baby’s Breath” but it is sometimes catalogued as “Jenny Robinson”. She invited OH and I and one other person to supper one evening. I can’t for the life of me remember what we had to eat but I do remember some VERY large gins being poured for us and Jenny downing hers at a rate of knots.

We have a club meeting tonight and I believe the speaker is talking about India. For some reason we don’t seem to have this year’s programme, which would have been issued in December, so I hope we aren’t supposed to be doing teas or bringing raffle prizes tonight. I think we’ll have to get down there early so I can whizz back home for a couple of bits if it is our turn. As far as the teas are concerned we only have to take some fresh milk and as we live very close to the meeting place I can run back home for some if it’s needed.

Time is getting on so I had better get the washing in and sorted. Hope the weather is good where you are. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Just got my ebay item sorted as it came up with free postage and the heading was £3.30 postage and packing.

Those stripy green snowdrops would be expensive to buy. In their for sale place there was a smaller one with the same green markings, Just one bulb/plant in a small pot and it was £80. Imagine if a bird dug it up and flew off with it. Actually those types are really for collectors I'm sure.

Morning all,

Its taken me about half an hour to read through the posts as I did'nt get back yesterday as I was busy with my minitures.

Ann the pics were really lovely and I liked te snowdrops with the green lines down the outer petals and the greener inside ones. I have some different kinds but nothing like those lovely stripped ones.

Vera you had a wonderful day with friends and your desserts did'nt go to waste after all which was good having put all the work in making them and enough over for oh and yourself too. When I started reading it was 8 degrees but it seems to have gone up 1 degree as its now 9 degrees but it cloudy out there again and theres mizzle inthe air thank goodness it was a nice day on my birthday so I got the roof done.

good morning all 8 degrees but quite bright here. yesterday was a lovely sunny day again I did get one small tidying job done as some Helebores were being choked by a rampant grass. I did also sit in the conservatory for a while reading and talking to skinny the cat. And I put together a Peacock that I ordered from Amazon with a voucher I had from daughter and SiL for Christmas. he is rather lovely. He was kept in the conservatory instead of being located outside as I needed to check he lit up as he should. (He did).

Hi Vera, that is fine, I only sent out three as I had a warning that the file was too big, however reading further on the warning it was just Ann's email that had a problem.
That sounded like a really lovely afternoon that you had with your friends and, even though they thought they wouldn't, they managed to eat almost all of your lovely sweets and cheese. What a lovely group you have there.

Thank you AnnG, I got 3 photos; 2 of snowdrops and 1 of a hellebore. You mention crocuses but I couldn't see any? They are lovely photos. I expect the snowdrops were a picture. Skinny must think he is in cat heaven with two homes to go to. He's got his head screwed on right and finds the people who will spoil him a bit. We have 2 cats who live over the back of us. One is a bit timid but the other spends a lot of time in our garden. He is a feisty little devil and would be in like a shot if any doors were open so I have to keep my eye on him. I would love another cat but OH doesn't want any more pets now. I've told him to make sure he behaves or I'll trade him in for a couple of moggies.

Mandy, I meant to mention your Animals pictures a couple of days ago and completely forgot. My brain isn't so much a sieve these days but a colander; the holes in it are so large. The animals are so cute. I love their little clothes. Noah the Horse looks very workmanlike in his dungarees. You are so good at making these craft items.

I sat in the conservatory for a little while after lunch and the sun shining through the windows made it so warm that I got tempted outside. I just cleaned the 2 birdbaths and cut back some rosemary that was trailing through one of them. While I was outside doing that OH went for a walk so we’ve both managed to get a little bit of fresh air today.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. Our friend J, the birthday girl, picked me and another friend up at noon and we arrived at the restaurant at about 12.30. A couple of people were there alraedy and the rest arrived over the next 15 minutes or so and we were shown to a lovely square table set out beautifully, 3 to a side. J, the organiser was given some lovely place cards, beautifully printed with our names and what we had ordered, to put where she would like us to sit. The food was fantastic, perfectly cooked and presented. I had chicken liver parfait with toasted crostini, followed by herb crusted salmon with crushed new potatoes and green beans. It was all the extra touches that made it so lovely; the linen napkins and quality cutlery and glassware and the man playing a piano in the background – such a change from loud pop music. One of the party had given both J and I some tulips which we had laid on the table. Suddenly a waitress appeared with a silver ice bucket and put our tulips in that for us. It kept the bunches safe and made a nice table decoration in the middle. While doing that the waitress asked if it was somebody’s birthday so we indicated J and she wished her a happy birthday.

Two of our party hadn’t realised, for some reason, that I was doing desserts so had each ordered a sweet of crème brulee. These came in shallow dishes and they were alight with flames like a Christmas pudding which gave us all a smile. Then another waitress appeared and unexpetedly put a plate in front of J on which was piped Happy Birthday in icing and on it was a large round scoop of ice cream with a lit candle in the top. More smiles all round.

This place isn’t a cheap café but the prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food and level of service. Our very generous friend J insisted on paying a large part of the bill as she said it was in lieu of the housewarming she couldn’t have when she moved because of Covid rules. She had arranged it all in advance with the restaurant. We each paid £15 and she paid all the rest of the bill. Wasn’t that kind of her?

Then it was all back to our house. Everyone was saying they didn’t think they could manage to eat anything else and I was concerned that I would be left with a lot of stuff but I had made a big effort to make it all look attractive and suddenly they found their appetites again. I didn’t even see the going of the Mandarin Cream. One minute there was a large bowlful on the table and the next the bowl was empty. There were only a couple of helpings of trifle left so OH and I had them at lunchtime and there are about 2 helpings of chocolate mousse which we will probably have tonight. There were good inroads made into the cheese and biscuits and cakes as well.

People went early evening and I just collapsed exhausted and thought how different it all was 2 years ago when we barely stepped outside the front door and certainly didn’t gather in large groups. Things are never going to be quite the same as before Covid and lockdown but I do feel I’ve got a life back again.

Have you all fallen asleep yet? I do go on a bit, don’t I? I was going to tell you what we’ve arranged for our Diamond Wedding Anniversary but I think I had better leave that for another time.

Thank you for sharing the flower photos Ann. They are beautiful and some of the snowdrops look as if they have long stems.
What a lovely sight they must have been.

Lovely sunshine today, so we've had the windows open to get a change of air in the house. Once the sun goes down it gets chilly, but generally we've had it quite mild for February.

I have sent a few photos out but the ones to AnnX have been denied as too large. Did everyone else get them OK. Pity you are not on FB as I have put the whole lot on there.

thanks Mel it was good to have a chat although it was shorter than usual as she was going out afterwards to have lunch with a friend.
I then had lunch before prepping veg for tonight. Then came and did some admin jobs on the PC. went down and Skinny was in the lounge, I had left the inner door open and he doesn't miss a trick. He was just sitting by the door waiting. so gave him some bits of ham. Yesterday he actually went and saw his 'mum', so she checked him over a said he looked fine. she gave him a meal and a drink then he went off again. Last seen he was asleep in the conservatory, I sat down out there so he came over to me for a stroke and a fuss.

another job I did was to wash off the tops of the wheely bins (two of them) Unfortunately where they stand is under a TV aerial which is where the birds sit. I will leave that to your imagination. :-(