General Chat

Good evening

I'm a bit late on parade. I don't seem to have had any spare time today and yet I don't seem to have done much!

Did you get to the coast Gwyn?

I think I must be about the only person I know who doesn't have an air fryer now. I have considered getting one but it's yet something else to go on the work surface and I seem to be managing reasonably economically with the slow cooker and microwave and only using the oven when I can cook everything in it. I used the oven today but our complete dinner went in it. We had beef pot-roasted in a red wine gravy, yorkshire pudding, potatoes, parsnips, carrots and cabbage and very tasty it was too :-) I've roasted most veg but it's the first time I have done cabbage in the oven. I'll be doing it again as we both liked it.

As well as sorting out our dinner I had a nice shower and hair wash and spent half an hour on the phone with our daughter. I've also stopped trying to find the manual for my radio and have downloaded one from the internet. I should have done that in the first place as it barely took me a minute. I've just had a quick glance at it and it looks as though I have to do a complete system reset so it will have to wait till I have an hour free and am in the mood to sort it out.

We have our diamond wedding anniversary coming up and have been trying to decide what to do. I am well aware of how very fortunate we are to be reaching this milestone when several of you have lost your partners so I hope it isn't upsetting for anyone if I mention it. Please tell me if you would prefer not to hear any more about it and I will not mention it again.

Island, in answer to a query you had yesterday Those racks are extremely tight fitting aren't they, hopefully they will ease up a bit with use. but I think you just have to press them into place.

I wanted to move mine to the other side of my kitchen. This involved moving out the slow cooker, the tray holding all the oils and vinegars and the bread bin. Once they were moved I realised it was a good opportunity to wipe down the worktop where they have stood for quite a while. Then I moved the frier over. Only to find the lead is so short it wouldn't go where I wanted it to. why does the slow cooker have a nice length lead but the frier has a relatively short one. so it is back where the old one was. No problem I just though it looked better on the other side. Now my late electrically trained OH would have solved that problem.

Forgot to say Ann. ...Your visit to Tetbury sounds very interesting. I would have enjoyed that.
I have only been to the town once, when we went to Westonbirt. We had picked up a leaflet about the arboretum, which said there was reduced entry price if one arrived by public transport, so we parked up and looked at some of the town... and some pricy shops, I recall.
Our short visit obviously missed some other 'gems'.

Good morning all,
Really bright sunshine in this south east corner.
It makes me want to get down to the coast. I've seen the sea in recent times on various car journeys, but haven't actually walked nearby for a while. I'll have a look at the tide times, because some stretches of coast are more picturesque at certain stages of the tides.

Thank you for sharing the photos Mel. I wouldn't be at all happy having the horses and hounds trampling through the garden. Good job they were soon gone.You must have a huge plot to care for and don't need any unwelcome damage. I think I saw snowdrops featured in the photos. My friend and I are planning to go to a country park later this week to see the snowdrops which have naturalised there, especially round the valley sides and around the lake. The following week will be half term locally, so we thought we'd go before it gets too busy.

Ah when I looked out as it got lighter I can see we had quite a hard frost.
Good morning Mel

Morning Anng and all,

Bright here this morning so far and pc says 4 degrees but it feels more like your -1.
the skys blue without a cloud in it today...yet. Did the washing overnight so that can go out in a min.

Nothing else planned today but I may change the bed if I feel like the fight.

Good morning all, Just getting light outside and only 1 degree this morning so a lot colder than the last few days which is a shame. PC is saying -2 but that is probably up in the Cotswolds a few miles away.
Nothing planned at the moment only a Tesco delivery 11-12 and sort out the new air frier.
Actually should do some HW, changed the bed and washed bedding yesterday so no washing to do.
Slept really well, asleep before 11pm and woke a few minutes before 6am. Didn't even get up for the loo. :-) :-)

It feels nice and solid and the fact there are two drawers means you can cook two different foods at different heats at the same time. Daughter cooks fruit crumbles in here which is not a Lakeland but is very similar.

Thanks for mentioning Lakeland Ann, Argos have been out of stock in my area for weeks. You might just have saved my mediocre appetite. I'm looking forward to some crispy food again. :-D

Mel, same here - the price. I hadn't looked at Lakeland until Ann mentioned them as I thought they would be too pricey. Still not cheap but I don't think 40/50 quid ones would last.

I was going to buy one when I bought the slow cooker and had a word with BIL and his wife had bought one and said it was good so whenn I saw the price on Lakeland I thought I would give it a try.

I am going to watch Hotel whatsit soon cos I am watching All Creatures at the mo from the begining again. Theres nothing else I want to watch and I can't watch TV as the ariel moved in those winds we had a week or so ago and BIL will take a look when he comes over next. He is back from Iceland tomorrow.

I have recorded it Mel. I think Lakeland ought to pay me commission as that is two they wouldn't have sold if it wasn't for me saying about them.

Island that is the best way to do it, learn as you go along. I had planned bacon and eggs tonight so stuck to the frying pan (not literally I add.

I think you can cook a small chicken Mel, I have actually cooked chicken thigh fillets.

Did anyone watch Hotel Portabilo on friday night ITV. I think it is going to be good.

First go with mine this evening Mel :-D Not very adventurous - why burn cordon bleu when you can burn something out the freezer LOL I haven't really :-D but baby steps.
Didn't bother much with the instruction book - too long winded, just dived in.
There's some nice tempting recipes online.
It's not as big as I thought it would be and the worktop needed a cull anyway :-D

Iv'e ordered one!! Something else to get in the way on the worktop!!! but it should save me money if I want to do some chips or cook a small joint etc.

Thanks Anng. Could you cook a small chicken in it?

Yes it is Mel the one with £20 off

Is it the Lakeland air fryer with the two drawers you have Anng and Island?

I bet it is hiding in plain sight Vera. Maybe tucked inside one of the others.

Island Mine was so jammed in that I couldn’t have got the inner box open without splitting the outer box from a protection point of view it was really well packed. I won’t be going anywhere with it now until tomorrow. I haven’t turned it on yet. Daughter says she was confused when she first got her ninja but it was easier than the instructionsinferred.
I will check the plates tomorrow.

Well, I have hunted high and low and I can’t find my instruction book. I’m quite well organised with things like that and have packs with labels like Garden Equipment and Tools, Kitchen and Cleaning etc and including one marked Hi-Fi, Radios and Clock Radios. I’ve even got instructions for equipment we don’t have anymore. They are kept on the top shelf of a cupboard in the uti and I’ve climbed on the steps to see if the booklet was just shoved up there loose and got pushed to the back of the shelf. Nope! So I’ve been online and found a 24 page manual I can download. I’m too tired and cross to do it now but I might try and sort it out tomorrow.

The neighbours next door have had a tree company in to cut back 2 huge trees in their garden which is a bit bigger than ours. I’m pleased as one of the trees was right in the corner where our gardens meet and made that area so shaded. Plus we were left with piles of leaves to clear up. They have had that one cut back to 9 or 10 feet. It was a beautiful tree, a variegated maple, but far too big for where it was. It will probably recover but might take a year or two to look good again.

We’ve been puzzling over a plant in a pot outside the conservatory. It’s ridiculous but neither of us can think what on earth it is though one of us must have potted it up. At the moment it’s just several brown sticks about 18 ins tall so it’s either a shrub or a bushy perennial. It’s quite exciting waiting to see what it is. I’m assuming it’s going to produce new growth in the spring.

I stopped at this point to make a coffee and then got sidetracked so I’d better post this before I get diverted again.

No Island the workmen would of been using a digger so it wouldn't of taken them that long which is why I was so shocked at the 7k quote. I couldn't afford that price anyway with everything else that needs doing, so like I said earlier we'll level it ourselves even if it does take quite a bit longer.