Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, simontaylor484 said:

I wore a dinner suit to get married in the Dominican republic and had a similar experience. 

The reverse can happen. We attended a wedding in the Lake District in December 2019. It was snowing. The bride is from Singapore and some of her best friends had flown here to be bridesmaids. Some of the photos were taken outside the wedding venue with lovely snowy backgrounds. The bridesmaids didn’t hang around outside for very long. One of them had travelled in Canada and the USA but the others had never been anywhere so cold. They didn’t complain but certainly commented. 

[jjb1970]

4 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The reverse can happen. We attended a wedding in the Lake District in December 2019. It was snowing. The bride is from Singapore and some of her best friends had flown here to be bridesmaids. Some of the photos were taken outside the wedding venue with lovely snowy backgrounds. The bridesmaids didn’t hang around outside for very long. One of them had travelled in Canada and the USA but the others had never been anywhere so cold. They didn’t complain but certainly commented. 

 

I remember going out in Carlisle in a polo shirt enjoying pleasantly mild weather and my wife and her relatives would be wearing anoraks and shivering. In Singapore mid 20's is cool and high 20's - low 30's is the norm. The temperature here isn't the issue, it's seldom that hot (warm yes, but not hot like the Gulf states) but it is also very humid.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, from a very wet rock.  Fridgy behaved, so hopefully it was just a glitch.

 

 

Door not shut properly maybe?  The Beary fridge door open alarm only goes off if the light is on and the door is open for too long; it's possible for the light to be off but the door still slightly open.  Designed by an Ar5ebadger, obviously.

 

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

 Just a thought about disposing of them, once used they will be soaked in cooking oil so if you have a log burner they would make great firelighters.

 

I wonder if the room would smell like a chip shop afterwards?  We need a report.....

 

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Good morning all,

Another dull start here but there may be some sunny spells later.

No firm plans made for today but another visit to The Shed is on the cards.

 

@polybear PB may I suggest you buy some air fryer liners for your new toy.  They fit in the outer basket and catch any stuff dripping through the inner basket and make cleaning soooo much easier.  I found some 9" square ones similar to these for mine which are a perfect fit but currently they don't seem to be available.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disposable-Parchment-Oil-Proof-Water-Proof-Microwave/dp/B0B5N4N7B7/ref=sr_1_13

If you do use the parchment type I've seen suggestions online  that you don't put them in while preheating.  Apparently they can catch fire, it didn't happen to me but I now take that advice.   You can also line them with ordinary kitchen foil.  HTH.

 

Time for more tea and then breakfast.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

 

 

Thanks GDB - there are also Silicon Liners that are washable.  I'll investigate - it's due tomorrow.....

[tetsudofan]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I have a tip, avoid lined trousers in tropical climes. Today I had to don a suit (shudder), normal business attire here is smart casual trousers and a polo shirt or similar but every now and then more formal attire is required. My suit trousers are all lined and in the tropics it's a nightmare as the lining just sticks to the skin.

 

Having spent nearly 30 years of my working life in Asia (Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan and Korea) I ended up having three sets of business attire - for the winter (certainly needed in Japan and Korea), one for the summer and the other for Spring and Autumn.

 

Keith

[DaveF]

Monday started with the usual housework and washing, I puut the washing out to dry but there was a shower after lunch so it ended up in the tumble drier.  After the washing was out I had a walk along the beach, having got there just after high tide.  The sand was nice and firm and it was very quiet with hardly anyone about.  The waders have now arived for the winter, they are very cunning as they let you get nearly close enough to identify them before flying off and landing further along.  I must remember to take the binoculars.

 

I had a phone conversation with the firm who run courses for people with raised HbA1c levels.  We decided I didn't need it as it so little over normal and I am already doing the "right" things.  In the post I received leaflets from the surgery about diet and exercise, they didn't teach me anything new.  I will just keep on doing what I do now - I eat very little fat and no oils for other reasons, eat as much fruit and veg as my gut tolerates and so on.

 

The EVRI courier came on time with a parcel and was very cheerful, I was his last call (at 3.10p.m.), he had delivered 84 parcels in the day.  Perhaps the reason why they are generally cheerful is that usually round here parking is very easy and there are almost always neighbours about to take parecls in.  The parcel was just a new sweater and some trainers along with free mugs.

 

The in the evening I watched the usual quizzes - I wish I knew more of the answers especially on Only Connect - and then a CD of Stephanie Hertel, a German singer of mainly volkstümliche musik.

 

David

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

wonder if the room would smell like a chip shop afterwards? 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

there are also Silicon Liners that are washable.

I suspect silicone. Or perhaps it really is a piece of Pyrex!

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, tetsudofan said:

 

Having spent nearly 30 years of my working life in Asia (Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan and Korea) I ended up having three sets of business attire - for the winter (certainly needed in Japan and Korea), one for the summer and the other for Spring and Autumn.

 

Keith

 

Asia is such a large place, and incredibly diverse. For European people their frame of reference for scale is (entirely understandably) Europe, for Western Europe it is essentially Western Europe, so Asia and other large continents like North and South America are hard for us to comprehend. If you go from the Bosporus to Japan you take in the Middle East (itself large and diverse), South Asia, SE Asia, Asiatic Russia, Central Asia and East Asia. Each of those areas is huge and diverse, with some of the worlds most influential cultures (the home of the Abrahamic religions, Persia, India and it's rich variety of cultures, China, Buddhism and more). Japan, Korea and China can be brutal in the winter and have very distinct seasons, the Northern part of Vietnam can be quite cold in the North (it's another big country). SE Asia isn't really seasonal, there are wet and dry seasons but it is not a night/day difference. In the dry season there is still a lot of rain and in the wet season still a lot of nice, sunny weather. South Asia and the Middle East can be brutally hot. 

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

I will just keep on doing what I do now - I eat very little fat and no oils for other reasons, eat as much fruit and veg as my gut tolerates and so on.

 

I recommend doing a bit of research on T2 diabetes, Dave - fruit isn't so good, it is full of sugars (fructose) as I am sure you know, and fat isn't the enemy of diabetes, or many other things it was once blamed for.  Carbs are the real enemy (and biccies of course, and the dreaded LDC), pasta, rice, some cereals etc are where the sugars come from.  In my case, rice is a killer, followed by wheat.  I bought a meter to learn what increases my blood sugars although the NHS don't like T2's to have them - daft, as the small cost of them saves so much later in life - and it was incredibly shocking what some foods did to me.  My HbA1c was in the mid 50's so I was T2 confirmed, it is now 37 due to dietary modifications, no drugs.  I appreciate you're not in T2 level yet, but it's a warning!

 

iD (where is he at the moment - concerning absence) will confirm the above re fats and carbs BTW!

 

diabetes.co.uk is highly recommended, there's a T2 section, some good reading in there.  

Edited October 4, 2022 by New Haven Neil
speelink as usual

[DaveF]

NHN, 

Thanks for the information - as much fruit as I can eat is not more than 1 apple/satsuma a day or it upsets my gut.

 

As for the lack of fat and oils in my diet that is because I am well on the way to having IBS, but am currently controlling it simply by what I eat - it has run in the family for several generations - in Mum's case it developed into IBD and Crohn's, so I have to watch my diet very carefully, most "roughage" is a disaster.  If I have any oil it very often goes through me in about 30 minutes!  

 

To be honest my bigger risk is probably having "proper" IBS, but the surgery want me to continue as I am unless I become ill - if I remain healthy and do not get bleeding or bad pain they would rather not intervene.  

 

I just accept the risk from my choloesterol ratio but avoiding fats probably helps - I am not having statins again after last time.

 

Life is always a delicate blancing act.  

 

Funnily enough though ever since I was a small child I have avoided fatty things as they always made me feel ill or even be sick and I have never liked sugar in or on most foods.  If you asked me where the sugar is in a supermarket I wouldn't have a clue as I only buy a bag about every 3 years - and that's for visitors to put in tea/coffee.

 

David

Edited October 4, 2022 by DaveF

[New Haven Neil]

iD's busy BTW - he's fine.

[iL Dottore]

Greetings Sensation Seekers,

 

Just a flying visit before another series of calls with clients

 

I have been absent due to unavoidable levels of villainy work that I had to see to up at the Holiday Hovel (basically taking the Wolfpack on long walks 3 x day and fitting in "work" work whilst Mrs iD was off on a business jolly).

 

I am really saddened to learn of AndrewC's unexpected and untimely death - he was an enjoyable companion in villainy at the Brains Trust meetups. I can think of quite a few* tw@waffles, Cockwombles, Ar5ebadgers and c**tpuffins I would rather see pushing up the daisies than AndrewC.

 

He will be sorely missed and there will be an unfillable hole at the next Brains Trust meet up. The Boring Borough of Bexley will forever be even more boring without him.

 

My deepest condolences to his family.

 

* a lot, actually

[Danemouth]

I am sure we have all heard tall stories about the Military even painting the coal white, well yesterday I saw coal painted black😀

 

We have coal effect gasfires in both the living rooms which SWMBO decreed should be serviced. I will admit that the ceramic coals have become somewhat grey in the last couple of years but there was obvious dust etc beneath the fires.

 

So the chap comes yesterday takes them to pieces and "Henry"s everything in sight. He puts the coals back in place and proceeds to spray them and the back behind them with a special black paint. We then had to run the fires at full heat for a little while during which time there was a smell.

 

I am sure you have all been enthralled and thrilled by this drivel but it does show that there are times, other than on model railways, when coal is painted.

 

Dave

Edited October 4, 2022 by Danemouth
Spelling!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Not all posts read and rated, as we have been busy, and today had a visit from the plumber - not the one who moved the boiler, as he has not responded to phone calls or emails since he let us down - shame as he was good, but hey ho, that's life.  We now have a dual fuel towel rail in the bathroom, worked off the central heating, and by electric - no idea why it wasn't done when the towel rail was installed, as it was sited above the radiator.  He said he'd be here about noon. but was running early as his last job got cancelled - and luckily we were home from the fodder run.  He was finished by about half past twelve.

 

Possibly not be here for a few days, for personal reasons.

 

Greetings are, of course, on offer.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday...

 

Extremely busy weekend only describable by saying it was the autumn equivalent of spring cleaning! The entire basement family room/bar and guest bedroom required an overhaul in preparation for our local friends staying overnight Sunday, and also as the temperatures drop, our need to actually USE the family room for evening viewing etc.

Huge amounts of cleaning, re-arranging and OF COURSE, we had to go shop for new linens for the guest bedroom!

 

That took ALL of the weekend, and we were both exhausted after it all.

Sunday evening friends arrived, and we had a great meal courtesy the Mrs who prepared her grandmothers famed Hungarian goulash.

Yesterday Bob had a vet appointment and with or friends here also I took the day off - why not - managed to relax some.

 

Working today...

 

Weather 13C and sunny, expected high of 23C.

 

Carry on.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

n Mum's case it developed into IBD and Crohn's

I was the other way round. I had very active ulcerative colitis and later developed other symptoms of IBS. The local hospital said I couldn't have both and said I must be stressed. My GP referred me to a more specialist hospital and their consultant said the waiting room was full of people with multiple bowel complaints. Sorting out the IBS really helped coping with the IBD. I am on immunosuppressive medication now and can eat most things. Diabetes is well controlled (without Metformin which wasn't intestinally gentle)  .

 

[polybear]

55 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

I am sure we have all heard tall stories about the Military even painting the coal white, well yesterday I saw coal painted black😀

 

We have coal effect gasfires in both the living rooms which SWMBO decreed should be serviced. I will admit that the ceramic coals have become somewhat grey in the last couple of years but there was obvious dust etc beneath the fires.

 

So the chap comes yesterday takes them to pieces and "Henry"s everything in sight. He puts the coals back in place and proceeds to spray them and the back behind them with a special black paint. We then had to run the fires at full heat for a little while during which time there was a smell.

 

I am sure you have all been enthralled and thrilled by this drivel but it does show that there are times, other than on model railways, when coal is painted.

 

Dave

 

ISTR coal being painted white also happened at some locations on the Railway, as it easily showed if anyone had been pinching coal.

 

Bear's Boss got a call one day from his Mum & Dad's home help - his presence was needed, though both parents were fine; not a straightforward exercise as they lived 200 miles away.

Anyway, he arrives at their house to discover that EVERYTHING in the lounge was coated in a layer of black - including both parents (both of whom were in the earlyish stages of "losing it".  It seems that his dad had swapped the old coal effect leccy fire for a living flame gas fire - complete with coals.

Anyway, his Dad decided that the gas fire would look even better with a few more "coals" on it - and the old leccy fire in the garage had plenty going spare.  He overlooked the fact that those coals were made of plastic......

The Boss said that they were both sitting there, coated in "black".  And when you took their glasses off it was like looking at a pair of Pandas.

 

 

 

 

[zarniwhoop]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

In my case, rice is a killer, followed by wheat.

As a T1 since my mid 30s, I suspect there is individual variation of how different grains affect each of us in terms of glycaemic index (GI), and of course GI also depends on what else you are eating in the meal.

 

Replying because I preferred wholegrains for years, and my rice is almost always brown - sometimes my blood sugars drop after a meal of brown rice, i.e. my normal ratio of insulin (ml per 10gm carbohydrate) is too much. I have read that wholegrain rye (e.g. german-style pumpernickel, not to be confused with american pumpernickel with molasses!) has less effect but that doesn't seem to be true for me. I've also been told that granary bread has a slower rise in GI because of the seeds (in mostly white flour) - again, not always true.

 

A big item in slowing the rise is insoluble fibre (e.g. from beans and the skin of sweet potatoes). And fructose is regarded as less bad than glucose (i.e. you don't treat low blood sugar with fructose if glucose is available).

 

Maybe best to stick to carrots and parsnips 😀

Edited October 4, 2022 by zarniwhoop
spelling

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

He overlooked the fact that those coals were made of plastic......

Our dog Robbie (see avatar image, often soggy) used to love curling up or stretching out near our flame effect electric fire even though the heater was never switched on, just the flame effect. 

[polybear]

Bear here.....

A BIG Lidl shop done - in the doors at 8am, finally home and unloaded/stored by 10-55.  That was a £ton I'll never see again ☹️

Time for tea and a quick Google before disappearing out for the C-19 Jab (I was early and walked straight in - the last time I was in the same shop [a chemist] there was at least a dozen waiting).  After that it was a meet-up with a M.E. Group buddy for a scoff in our "usual" local Cafe just a few doors away from the Chemist; any suggestion that a certain Bear may just have planned it that way are scurrilous rumours....🤣

Oh yes, and nearly new neighbours took delivery of Bear's new Loft Ladder whilst I was at Lidl, which was rather handy.

[PhilJ W]

 

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I have a tip, avoid lined trousers in tropical climes. Today I had to don a suit (shudder), normal business attire here is smart casual trousers and a polo shirt or similar but every now and then more formal attire is required. My suit trousers are all lined and in the tropics it's a nightmare as the lining just sticks to the skin.

Ever thought of wearing a kilt?

[iL Dottore]

20 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear has picked an Air Fryer - only it's out of stock at JL.  Turdycurses.  I can get it for the same price from Currys but with only 1 year warranty (JL give 2 years).  Double Turdycurses.  Now do I wait or do I jump?  Decisions, decisions.....

Now you are devoting your affections elsewhere, whatever will become of "Minnie The Microwave"? Will The Bear callously abandon her in favour of his new toy? Will she be pensioned off and eke out the rest of her days, hidden from all and sundry in a dusty cupboard?

 

Or will she be savagely dismembered for parts, her remnants consigned to an unmarked grave?

On 03/10/2022 at 16:41, grandadbob said:

A'noon,

@polybear I waited until The Boss started packing up then went out to "help!"

@PhilJ W & PB I was going to buy a Ninja air fryer but the one I wanted was out of stock everywhere so i bought a Cosori which seems to have had very good reviews. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/COSORI-Electric-Temperature-Reminder-Function/dp/B07N8QY3YH?th=1

 

Very pleased with it so far and I got mine for £99.99

I'm wondering how well an air fryer will cope with "wet batters" - like a beer batter for fish (as in "fish and chips") or a tempura batter? Items that are "wet battered" require being immersed in a hot liquid (oil or lard or dripping) to immediately create a solid crust as the food inside the batter cooks.

 

I have a suspicion that an air fryer wouldn't cope very well with tempura shrimp, freshly battered cod, onion bhajis or the like - basically, anything "wet". It could probably do a credible job with Arancini, paniertes schnitzel or Tonkatsu - (there are recipes online for air-fried versions of these, so it can be done - although I wonder how the air fryer versions compare with "traditional" versions).

 

Mrs iD is already grumbling about the amount of equipment I have. I'm not sure she'd approve of me buying one just to "try out" / "play with"

19 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... I just wish sometime that I could catch the poached eggs in that millisecond between totally runny and totally solid ...

 

Technically (and to be super correct) for "proper" poached eggs the raw eggs should be dropped into simmering water that has been acidulated with some vinegar - this link shows you how (has some good tips - like using a deep pan of water) https://downshiftology.com/recipes/poached-eggs/

 

However, most of the time I can't be faffed to do it properly and one of these (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eggssentials-Poached-Egg-Maker-Stainless/dp/B078GXJQNN/ref=sr_1_13?crid=YHAG02GC9U6C&keywords=poached+egg+pan&qid=1664898969&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjk5IiwicXNhIjoiMy40OCIsInFzcCI6IjMuMzMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=poached+egg+pan%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-13) gives me pretty much the same results (certainly in terms of taste and texture) as the traditional method.

 

Mrs iD enjoys her Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine (but not too heavy on the Hollandaise).

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I recommend doing a bit of research on T2 diabetes, Dave - fruit isn't so good, it is full of sugars (fructose) as I am sure you know, and fat isn't the enemy of diabetes, or many other things it was once blamed for.  Carbs are the real enemy (and biccies of course, and the dreaded LDC), pasta, rice, some cereals etc are where the sugars come from.  In my case, rice is a killer, followed by wheat.  I bought a meter to learn what increases my blood sugars although the NHS don't like T2's to have them - daft, as the small cost of them saves so much later in life - and it was incredibly shocking what some foods did to me.  My HbA1c was in the mid 50's so I was T2 confirmed, it is now 37 due to dietary modifications, no drugs.  I appreciate you're not in T2 level yet, but it's a warning!

 

iD (where is he at the moment - concerning absence) will confirm the above re fats and carbs BTW!

 

diabetes.co.uk is highly recommended, there's a T2 section, some good reading in there.  

NHN is quite right. Carbohydrates (especially "simple" carbohydrates - as found in white bread, rice, pasta, etc.) need to be approached with caution and certain "simple" carbohydrates (such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup) should be avoided altogether. Complex carbohydrates are much better - but again need careful monitoring.

 

Fat is much maligned - obviously a very high fat diet isn't good for you (but neither is a diet high in processed carbohydrates [LDC, oven chips,etc.] andd certain treats like chocolate bars - sadly]), but having said that, fat satiates you much better than carbohydrates. although this is anecdotal (and personal) 150gm of slow roast pork belly (a fatty cut) will leave me feeling fuller (and more quickly) than 150gm cooked white pasta.

 

Basically, eat sensibly, be careful about the carbs you eat and enjoy butter, eggs and meats.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not long back from the opticians and my annual eye test. Very little change from last year so no new specs required. When I was looking at dry fryers there was one with a self cleaning facility. You filled a special compartment with water and another small compartment with washing up liquid, press a button and hey presto in cleans, rinses and dries itself in about ten minutes and all that is required is emptying the waste container. Mind you its a huge machine about twice the size of a normal dry fryer and about five times the price.

[polybear]

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Now you are devoting your affections elsewhere, whatever will become of "Minnie The Microwave"? Will The Bear callously abandon her in favour of his new toy? Will she be pensioned off and eke out the rest of her days, hidden from all and sundry in a dusty cupboard?

 

Or will she be savagely dismembered for parts, her remnants consigned to an unmarked grave?

 

 

Highly unlikely, unless I suddenly discover how to easily, cheaply (and very quickly) cook baked beans, frozen peas, Ready Brek, Treacle Sponge etc. in an Air Fryer...... 😃

 

[iL Dottore]

Something for ERs wanting to see what the French Swiss can get up to: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/oct/04/rail-route-of-the-month-jura-mountains-switzerland-trains

 

Mind you, Delémont (about a 30 minute drive from where I live) isn't (IMHO) the best advertisement for the Jura - but you can get a damn good fondue with wild mushrooms and garlic there.

 

For further Swiss adventures:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/04/alps-by-train-switzerland-austria-lake-geneva-tirol

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/feb/24/swiss-time-travel-aboard-glacier-express-st-moritz-switzerland (it also passes through the village where we have the Holiday Hovel)

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/may/04/rail-route-of-the-month-basel-to-locarno-the-slow-swiss-alps-classic