LadyinRetirement wrote:

melodious birdsong

Not as melodious as the song birds of spring are the calls of migrating birds in autumn. The 2 main culprits for us would be starlings and brent geese. Both species are actually arriving in the British Isles from further north in order to over-winter here, rather than heading south as our popular conception of what migration is might have us believe. I've never been able to work out how they manage to fly directly over our house at precisely the crack of dawn each year. It must be a co-incidence surely. As if to make up for their rudeness, however, the starlings do put on a spectacular murmuration about a couple of miles away in the evenings which we're sometimes privileged to watch if out for a walk at that time. I don't know what the geese' excuse is though.

About to start my morning tea and porridge.  Have awoken to snow which seemed to be turning to sleet but on the computer I am being promised 'rain and snow'.  I might see if I can get a slot with Tesco.  I'm rather low on provisions as have not been all that wonderful the last three weeks - I started feeling off colour the Monday after my flu jab.  I should be able to manage an outing to the local co-op though.  I hope fellow Res Historians are bearing up because I think other parts of the country have cold weather.  Then again, some folk like to get out with a sled.

Blues sky - here no snow and just wintery as to be expected. If you depend on an occasional Tesco/Other food delivery you have to book slots well in advance............ my booked ones go well into January now. But do not assume that what you order for them now will be around at delivery time - you have to keep a check on that, Thus speaks the idle mind who has not much else better to do by the sound of it. Good grief, I'm definitely on the downward path to oblivion.

I didn't explain very well.  I have had deliveries from Tesco before though not for quite some time.   I managed to get a slot late on Monday.  There was a time they were short of an item and had changed it but the delivery person told me.

Further to Max Miller's 'Tasting History' pumpkin cheesecake to the 1570 recipe by the Bartolomeo Scappi ...

Vizzer wrote:

I ... decided to make the pumpkin cheesecake from the Tasting History video linked to by Meles upthread...

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. In the video Max describes its texture as being like a pudding. And its consistency is indeed identical to, say, a bread and butter pudding. It’s very moist. It’s not really a cake at all but is probably better described as being a pudding or a flan or indeed a torte. The taste is divine. I can’t say that I got much flavour of pumpkin as such but if you’ve got cream, cheese, eggs, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger in something then you know that it’s going to be good. Scappi says serve it hot but it can be eaten cold too. It was exquisite last nite served warm but it was equally good cold this morning as a delightful breakfast. Mrs V gives it 8 out of 10 which from her is praise indeed. I might try it again sometime perhaps swapping out the cinnamon and ginger for, say, nutmeg and cardamom or some such and see how that works. But Scappi’s cheesecake recipe is just brilliant.

I tried it myself last night and concur with everything you say. I too only used six eggs and was a bit short on the quantity of marscapone but it seems to be a very forgiving recipe. The thing I did deliberately change was that I put the buttered pan into a very hot oven at 220°C until the butter was starting to smoke (I borrowed the dog's metal food bowl as I didn't want to risk cracking a ceramic or pyrex bowl) then quickly poured in the mixture and returned to the oven for 15mins, before turning the temperature down to 175°C to cook for 75mins, and then finally a further 45mins slowly cooling in the oven with the heat turned off. Despite the initial high temperature it still didn't really develop much of outer crust/skin but never mind (next time I might try longer at the initial high temperature). The result once cooled, was firm enough to eat with a fork, with a soft, very moist, puddingy texture. I agree it was not particularly pumpkiny in flavour but was very yummy, both when still warm and then cold the following morning for elevenses with a cup of coffee.

     

So an interesting addition to my dessert repertoire and as you say ripe for further modification and improvisation. I've still got quite a few pumpkins to experiment with and I've also just made a dozen jars of preserved persimmon purée - I don't much like the taste and texture of fresh persimmons nor persimmon jam, but the purée makes a good base for cakes - so I might try Scappi's recipe with some of that too.

Well, I had an email from Tesco saying that they can't do the delivery today (driver shortage).  I've rescheduled a delivery tomorrow so I hope they aren't short of drivers again then. I did an outing to a local shop on Saturday, slipped on some ice and sat down heavily so I'm achy in an awkward place but nothing broken.

I'm not a fan of pumpkins but the pie MM shows does look tempting.

You should give it a go LiR - it's well worth the effort. I suspect, though, that the search for a crust is probably in vain. I had thought that Meles was going to come up trumps when he followed Scappi's original recipe regarding the amount and the temperature of butter used in the pan. But unlike a Yorkshire pudding, the pumpkin cheesecake has no wheatflour and that's likely to be where the problem is.

As today is that last day of the calendar Autumn, I was wondering if anyone else had noticed a dearth of spiders this year. There were a few garden spiders (Araneus diadematus) back in September and October but not as many a usual. But with regard to house spiders (Tegenaria domestica) then there have been virtually none. And I mean none - and it's been the same whether in the house or an outbuilding. All slightly disconcerting.

Snow looks pretty when it makes my garden look as nice as my neighbours, but with 30 cm fallen and being blown all over the place is somewhat irritating. 
Fortunately I'm not dependent on public transport, but my little powered wheelchair can't go through it and permit me access to the car, so in fact I'm homebound.

Well, such is life.

Well the snow went but came again yesterday (fairly thin) and has gone again today. I'm still a bit sore from my fall but trying to keep mobile.

The next door (attached) house (I'm in a semi) has been auctioned off and I was quite wrong when I doubted they'd make the reserve (£99,000) because it went for £148,000.  I was looking for local news online and the sale popped into my recommenations.  It will need a lot of work.

Had to post this for Trike:

T. Rex Gets A Christmas Jumper At the Natural History Museum

Only the Brits could be this daft, but it does suit him. He looks rather fetching in it, I think!

PS Actually this should be on the Christmas Fare and Flummery thread - were the Boss around, I would ask him to transfer it. Can't be bothered to type it all out again, or try to cut and paste it. But Christmas jumpers could still be mentioned on Priscilla's jolly thread, I suppose. Are these jumpers another utterly ridiculous British thing, or do other nations insist on festive knitwear at this time of the year? I've never seen a religious-inspired one, thank God - the mind boggles.

Temperance wrote:

Had to post this for Trike:

T. Rex Gets A Christmas Jumper At the Natural History Museum

A genuine OMG moment there, Temp.

Then again, T Rexes always were a bit strange.

Led by Donkeys latest video. Great take on Line of Duty

It must be almost exactly ten years since the BBC History Boards closed. 

I joined Historum in early December and there was a space to give us time to find somewhere else. Nords started Res in the last week of December 2011, by which time ExBeeb on Historum was up and running.

Historum was re-organised a few years ago and the Community Groups, including ExBeeb, have disappeared.

Can anyone remember the date that the BBC Board closed??

Thanks, Vizzer.

Vizzer wrote:

Triceratops wrote:

Can anyone remember the date that the BBC Board closed??

Thursday 22 December 2011

A date that will live in infamy.

Couldn't resist;

I mentioned that the house which is the other half of the 'semi' to the semi-detached where I live has been sold at auction.  The electric supplier for that house (if the utilities there were connected which they aren't) is the same as for mine and a couple of times a bill has been put through my letter box by mistake and I opened them erroneously.  I have returned them to sender marked unoccupied - occupier deceased some years ago.  Today though I emailed the electricity supply question explaining the position and asking for mail for the nextdoor house not to be sent to me.  I also sent them a link to the auction site (so they could see how derelict the house was).  I had also explained I didn't know the whereabouts of the deceased occupier's adult children and that the house had been unoccupied for about 13 years (former occupier spent some time in a care home before he died) and that the former occupier died around 8 years ago.

I had an email back from the electricity company asking if I owned the house next door. I felt a tad irritated by that question but replied in the negative.  As that company supplies the property where I DO live I thought I'd better reply calmly and not be snarky.

I did feel for a moment as if the cyberspace gremlins had it in for me (okay I know cyberpace gremlins aren't real).

Well spotted, Vizzer.

In this historic watering hole, let me propose a toast, '2022, may the new year be a better one than the last.'


PS - may the toast not crunch ...

Well I don't think anyone is going to argue with that, Per, and so from me: "very best wishes to all at Res His and let's hope for a better year ahead".

And now I'll also very happily join you in a slightly belated New Year drink. So what's on offer at the bar tonight? ... Champagne, Chablis, Charente and other wines; sherry, port, madeira, muscat; brandy, marc, eau de vie or vodka; beers, ales and lagers; whiskies whether pure malt, blends or bourbons; cider, perry and mead; absinthe, ouzo, sake, kumiss, zeganje, slivolic ... and the rest? Hey, I'll try them all. I might even sample the pickled gannets and thousand-year-old eggs that have been sat behind the bar since the very start of the holocene. Bonne Année.

Let me have a malt whisky, preferably one where the smokey taste desn't overwhelm the rest, please.

Re ouzo, there was a period back in 1975 when I had too much of the Cypriotic versions of this, from Cyprus I find the wines from the Comanderías nicer.

And who was it that said that 'absinthe make the heart grow fonder'?

Also my good wishes to all members of this forum, regulars as well as irregulars.

Thank you , Per - and LIR , too, for greetings and best wishes. Being an irregular member - having a problem with declining among several others, I also admit to being hard put to actually put a name to a regular member; we're all a bit irregular by nature........on second thoughts, perhaps   more fibre or bran might resolve that. ........ And I think that  ought be all for now... but as Nancy of Peanuts bawls in anger, 'It can't be New Year yet because I have not  quite done with the old one.' Regards to all, P.

My usual drink is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a Pinot Noir if it is colder. Otherwise I am partial to Kahlua. We still have the bottle of Creme de Menthe we had at our wedding nearly 50 years ago. None of us like it but the other day one of my sons got it out and we had a wee taste, and it was fine. Still don't like the taste though.
Happy New Year to you all. I said to someone the other day that it can't be worse than this year, but I was meaning generally. My year was fine, and certainly next year could get worse personally: I could die or have another stroke or worse still my husband could.

Hello Caro -  and everyone else,
 Sorry I've been absent for a while but I like to keep my seasons greetings till everyone has ceased greetin
 Anyway Caro, Billy Connolly had something to say about Creme de Menthe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKMQKgSnGy8

Bren

Well, never mind, just do a bit of shopping;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrwQ-guwvfs

Well I hope that everyone has had a good New Year.

You mean this was it,GG? The New Year has been and gorn in 2 days? And I reckoned it went on till about June 21 - being new, that is. And I have not done with the old year by half, anyway - it still needs another slap round the chops - or two. Or is that me being unwoke?

Well, parts of Scotland (and many orthodox Christians) still celebrate the Old New Year on Jan 14th. From there it's scarcely worth getting sober (let alone knurd) before Burns Night on the 25th.

Up Helly Aa was scheduled to take place on the 25th January, but has been cancelled due to Covid;



The Chinese New Year is on Tuesday, 1st of February and begins the Year of the Water Tiger.

Check this for a drink;

What is that drink, Trike?  I'm drinking the last knockings of some some Earl Gray tea at present.  The new box of tea is plain stuff as we are coming to the end of the festive season.

While I'm here I'll mention a lady we were reading about in the U3A meeting yesterday, Emilie du Chatelet (1706-1749). She was married to the Marquis de Chatelet but had a romantic attachment to Voltaire.  She read Newton (she had a good command of Latin, Greek, English and German) and studied mathematics.  That's just the bare bones though I'll provide a link to an online article I found about her https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/emilie-du-chatelet/  I looked to see if there was a more scientifically focused thread to post about her and had no luck but if anyone has any suggestions in that regard I'm open to hearing them.  EDC died from complications after childbirth which I suppose was not altogether rare in the eighteenth century.

LiR, it's a South Australian wine;

Lazarus Ripasso

As a blended red wine that Lazarus Ripasso seems ideal for Twelfth Night. Not having a bottle, however, I'll have to content myself with a brandy or a rum. Mrs V says that she'd like a hot whisky - I hope she's not coming down with something.

I treated myself to some sachets of cafe latte.  Not like you would get in a cafe but not unpleasant either.

The man who bought the nextdoor house at auction has been doing work with some helpers on that house since after the Xmas break.  They cut down some conifers which to be honest had grown too big. Of course some of the local birds have flown seeking pastures new.  I put food out for the birds in winter but it usually goes in a day but is lasting much longer now.  I'd forgotten how thin the party wall between the two houses is because there is some machinery being used (drill) and it sounds as if it could be being used in my house.

Does anyone remember Keeping Up Appearances?  Some of the old white goods from nextdoor have been moved out and have temporarily spilled on to my garden (the chap did ask with promises it will be taken away). One corner of my front garden looks a bit like Onslow's (Hyacinth's brother-in-law that had the really untidy garden).

Don't you bad mouth Onslow Lady, 
Back when I did a bit of gardening his was, by comparison, one of the few gardens that made mine look well-kept. Perhaps it helped that I kept it as a garden and not a junkyard.
And that adorable dog whose bark would send Hyacinth into the hedge every time.

If you say so, Nielsen.

From the rubble in nextdoor house's front garden it looks as if they are taking the plaster off the walls - which is probably the original plaster from the 1930s.  Small wonder it's so noisy.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I put food out for the birds in winter but it usually goes in a day but is lasting much longer now.

Yes. December and January have been very mild and quite dry too. We've only had about 2 (separated) days when I've had to scrape ice off the car windows in the morning. It's around this time, the Quickening (i.e. about 3-5 weeks after Christmas), that along with the lengthening days, there is also often a Fool's Spring. As the name suggests, however, it soon passes and the last week in January, along with most of February remind us that Winter is so-called for reason. But I do feel uneasy if a winter passes without at least 1 consecutive week of frosty weather. I don't know what Jack Frost's favourite tipple is - vodka I'd guess - so I'll raise a glass to him in the hope that he'll stop by soon (but only for a short while).




Postscript - it seems Frosty has developed a taste for ouzo:



(Snow falls in Mykonos for the first time in decades.)

Since New Year it's been dry and sunny but cold here. It's been pleasant enough during the day with sun, clear blue skies and no wind, but correspondingly it's been very cold at night. The surrounding mountains are all snow covered (above about 1000m altitude) and the water in the dog's bowl, in watering cans and plant saucers, and in the swimming pool, has all remained solidly frozen for over two weeks now. The stream next to the house is still flowing but two nights ago the main water pipe supplying the house from the spring up in the forest froze overnight and only started flowing again around midday.

Last year was a bit of a disaster, business-wise, and I've had absolutely no income since the end of October. I've been surviving mostly on dried beans, dried lentils, dried chickpeas, home-baked bread, the contents of the freezer, and the produce from the garden - which over winter is just sprouts, swedes, cabbage, sprout-tops, swede-tops, more cabbage etc. I basically cancelled Christmas and spent the festive period in a sort of hibernation, particularly as both the central- and domestic water-heating systems had also given up for the year and gone "en panne", just when I had absolutely no money to get anything fixed. In December I had arranged to transfer quite a bit of money from Britain, but these things always take more time than you expect, so up until just a week ago I was still ignoring most bills and increasingly urgent phone messages from the bank, while carefully rationing my remaining food stocks.

But then last Sunday the hunter boys from the village shot two wild boar on my land. I'd already received a generous donation of meat in November and so couldn't really ask for more, but I did cadge the offal. I got all the offal from those three boars, plus while I was there at the Maison de Chasse, the necks of two roe deer also shot that morning. Venison is of course choice game-meat and is usually taken by the hunters themselves, but the necks are a lesser portion and were going spare; the only problem being that they were still fully-furred and attached to the heads. Anyway I took them all. The neck fillets (once I'd skinned and boned them) plus the cheeks and tongues etc,  I made into venison pâté, while the rest of the heads I made into doggy food. The offal from the three boar - the heart, liver, lungs - I made into haggises although of necessity stuffed into plastic 'roasting bags' rather than actual stomachs.

Then just two days ago my money finally arrived from the UK. So, finally with quite a bit of cash in my account and all bills now paid, I can spend a little. Accordingly tonight, 25th January, Burns' Night -  and only a month late - will be my Winter Celebration. I haven't yet managed to get the heating fixed but I've got a log fire going; I've got my haggis; I've neeps and sprouts from the garden; and I've Bruch's violin concerto and his 'Scottish Fantasy' playing fortissimo; meanwhile my pudden is a-seething. Then maybe later it'll be 'Mary Queen of Scots' on DVD (the Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson version). Sláinte Mhath.

And so tomorrow is my Boxing Day. I've got smoked salmon, blinis, cream cheese, and (cheap) Crémant d'Alsace sparkling wine. Frankly you can stuff your 'Dry January' and 'Fasting February'. I've been dry - but not willingly so, and often cold and hungry too - since November.

As Viz says, things are already starting to quicken in the surrounding forest chez moi. Spring isn't here yet, but it's definitely on it's way.

Have a good Burns' Supper, Meles; music a little bit more contemporary (still almost 40 years ago)

Can only make one reply, MM. Slàinte Mhor.

MM, I had no idea you were in such dire straits. It's not a time to be in the hospitality business, even here in NZ/Aotearoa where we have not been struck so much by Covid, but now omicron is here (though so far contained) it might be a different story. We are going out this week to make use of the cafes while they are still operating. We usually go out for coffee or lunch once a week. My husband likes to go to one called the Craik for an early dinner, since it has the range of dark beer he likes.

Like Caro, I'm sorry to hear it's been so rough for you in the B&B business of late, MM.  It's a good thing you are so adept at fending for yourself.  My supply of home typing has waned during the pandemic* but I get my retirement pension so I have that income.  Weather permitting (snow is forecast for the beginning of February) I'm supposed to be going for a lunch at a local(ish) hostelry with a group from the U3A on Sunday.

* Speech to text software has improved over the last few years of course so people can dictate their work directly to the software if they wish and then tidy up any few errors there may be.

A very lean time, MM but you are seeing it through and so well done, you - not really the Good Life is it? Being totally dependent on your own and foraged produce? But in truth there is much to be said for the offal parts you got hold of - and heads too. I recall a gran making brawn from pig's head and then there were chitlins and odd things that I am not sure what they were in truth but they all tasted good. Eastern meat markets were not for the faint hearted - there are probably many still like those 'in yer face' ones I recall from yonks ago. (Literally in your face because gruesome bits hung all around from racks.)A war time rural childhood, however, had prepared me well - and I could still prepare a fresh rabbit - or even bone a side of pork into joints if pushed. Hope - as must all the Res His regulars do likewise - that your trade picks up soon - you might however start writing some cookery books laced with history. The culinary stuff you post here is always so engaging.

Thankyou all for your concern and kind words. Of course I was never in really dire straits - at least not compared to a great many in the world - I knew monies were coming and in the meantime I had a roof over my head and stores in cupboards and freezers. It's always a quiet time of year and so is the time for maintenance and works, hence I usually close the rest of the house off and just live on the ground floor, and I rarely put the central heating on as with 4m high ceilings and huge old single-glazed, fin de siècle windows, it's a nightmare to heat. At the end of the day it's my choice to live in a draughty rambling old house out in the wilds with no mains water and poor phone coverage. At least I have electricity. The two houses just 500m further up the valley have no electricity, other than what they can generate themselves from solar panels etc. That is a bit too rustic even for me.

Anyway the crisis is over for now, it's warm outside now that the sun is up, it didn't freeze last night, the thaw is well underway, and I can hear tentative chirps and tweets from the trees. Although of course it might still prove to be a false spring; we'll have to see what the village bear does when he comes out of hibernation for the Fête de l'Ours next weekend.

Only read about your experiences last night, MM. I'm glad you have posted above message this morning, but I still am lost in admiration at your ability to cope. The last few months (including the whole horrible Schadenfreudefest nightmare) have been grim for many of us - people who have had it so easy compared with you. I've not had to worry about regular income, heating or food, but I've still felt pretty wretched at times - goodness knows how you must have felt during the recent dark, cold, miserable winter days (and nights). I would have gone under in your situation - absolutely no doubt about that. I do hope your bookings go up as we progress into Spring, and that you resolutely KBO, as Winston Churchill put it. I also hope all bears come out of hibernation soon, and start doing whatever happy bears do as the weather warms up and the sun returns.

Thank you for posting Larry's statement on the Moggy Thread - it did make me laugh to read that he had been locked in a cupboard with a tin of tuna during the Lockdown Parties at Downing St. Has Lazza been interviewed by Sue Gray, one wonders, and will Scotland Yard question him during their investigations? And was it really a Colin the Caterpillar cake that "ambushed" the UK Prime Minister at his Birthday Work Event? Will WWIII break out without us in the UK being told? I sometimes feel I am going mad here, as do the rest of my fellow Brits.

You and nordmann (remember him?), were right all along about it all, weren't you? There, I've admitted it.

Oh well, chin up, Old Bean, and, as above, KBO.

PS Love to Doggy-Dog et tous les moggies.

Temperance wrote:

I also hope all bears come out of hibernation soon, and start doing whatever happy bears do as the weather warms up and the sun returns.

There are no longer any real bears here but next weekend (covid restrictions permitting) the village one, complete with papier-maché head and furry suit, will be chasing the girls through the streets to try and steal kisses, until he's caught by the villagers, shaved with an axe, and so transformed into a man. Candlemass/Chandeleur isn't an easy time to be a bear.

Quote :

And was it really a Colin the Caterpillar cake that "ambushed" the UK Prime Minister at his Birthday Work Event?

According to one report in that oh-so-reliable organ, the Daily Mail, it was a Union Jack cake with 56 candles on it. I hate to think of the covid implications of Boris trying to boozily blow out all those candles before handing everyone a slice, but no doubt all that will be added to the ever-lengthening charge sheet against the Porky-Pie-Man-in-Chief.

Quote :

nordmann (remember him?)

Yes, but where is he? Priscilla says not to worry but he's not been seen here for over six months now. Should we be concerned and is there anything we can do?

Quote :

PS Love to Doggy-Dog et tous les moggies.

Dogglet is fine despite deafness and arthritic knees. However Posca and Tostig died within about six weeks of each other back in the Autumn, so I'm currently pussless. It's the first time in at least forty years that there haven't been cats in residence here - the last of the previous owner's moggies, Zwartje, died three years ago at the ripe age of about 26 years old.

But as you say, chin up and KBO.