Early Risers.

[zarniwhoop]

Those of on carb-limited or calorie-limited diets, coeliacs, and those who dislike alcohol should omit this post or continue at their own risk.

 

One of the things I really miss from going to the Valtellina (Livigno, in my case) is Pizzocherri. (pasta noodles made from buckwheat and wheat flours, with (waxy) potatoes, onion, the local greens and (for those like me who splash out on holiday) porcini. Served with the local Chiavennasca (nebbiolo) wine.

 

On my last two holidays in the Engadine (11 and 17 years ago) I also had their variant of  this dish (finished under a grill) and brought back a couple of bottles of the wine and a pack of dried pizzocherri from the big (Co-op?) supermarket in St. Moritz (I got hotel deals in St. Moritz Bad, which is *considerably* cheaper than the main resort). But I miss this, and from time to time I've tried home-made fresh pizzocherri, with poor results.

 

Last week I thought about this dish.  Looked at suppliers of dried pasta, but with carriage it ain't cheap and I'm reluctant to order things which might get left outside if they don't fit through my letterbox. I also looked for the wine - there seems to be a place in (I think it was) Winchester which might have one of the variants at about £20 each for a box of six (maybe plus delivery). Again, reluctant to fix up the delivery unless I think I'm going to be awake.

 

Anyway, at the back end of last week I was looking for some wine in the local Sainsbury's  and looked for one of the low-end Piemontese nebbiolos - nothing, but one bottle of Barolo was left at at £20. Bought it, starting to think about trying Pizzocheri again. On Saturday I read Ottolenghi in Grauniad Feast https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/05/pizzoccheri-pasta-recipes-buckwheat-cabbage-spring-onions-cheese-butter-lemon-sage-yotam-ottolenghi - with some major reduction in the quantity (to leave room for the potatoes and bread) and cooking with onion, refreshed dried porcini, garlic, charlotte potatoes, chopped kale, and adding some butter (essential) and in this case gorgonzola (two pans - start by frying some of the onion, add the porcini and garlic, move to simmering ring, add kale, top up with soaking water, boil greens and onions, move to simmering pan, add more soaking water as necessary, boil the pasta for somewhat longer than in his recipes, transfer to simmering pan, add cheese and garlic) I got there.

 

To my surprise, the pasta worked fairly well (I used wholemeal flour instead of 00, but I think the important things were kneading it (without getting too wet a dough), and rolling it out on a little buckwheat flour.

 

The barolo was only "adequate", but they went together very well.

 

If anyone is tempted to try something like this, I should mention that making tiny amounts of bread, or pasta, dough is hard - very easy to add more water than necessary if it isn't holding together. Of course, for those who don't care about the amount of carbohydrate, just add more flour.

[pH]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Pictures are of Heidelberger Platz  station in Berlin.

 I used to travel on that line, so I must have, at least, passed through that station - but I don’t remember it. 
 

What I do remember - it was in 1971/2 - were the stations in the East on U-bahn lines that ran from the West through the East and back to the West. Deserted platforms, dim lights and VoPos with machine guns standing around as the train passed through non-stop.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

it was South Vietnamese aircraft that went into the drink first especially because their pilots were flying out their families to the US fleet

Yes, the "famous footage" was during the evacuation of Saigon. 

 

Footage (with context) from the USS Kirk* (then DE-1087) here. You can see the Republic of [South] Vietnam roundel (red/yellow stripes either side the US star) on the side of one of the Hueys.

 

* Knox Class destroyer escort with one helideck. There was only room for one helicopter at a time.

 

Of course it wasn't just the Kirk. There's photographs from the USS Midway (CV-41) and USS Okinawa (LPH-3) during Operation Frequent Wind.

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Fixed link

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

... at the end of WW2 Lend/Lease equipment was supposed to be returned to the USA but it wasn’t really want ‘back home’ so was just dumped.

Like those ex-WWI era 'four piper' destroyers? 😉 Most of them were actually broken up in 1945 - 1947. There's a list here.

 

"Tons" (literally) of materiel was dumped at sea. There's probably a bunch of videos like this newsreel clip out there.

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

(Livigno, in my case) is Pizzocherri.

Forty years since I've been to Livigno, and agree about the Pizzocherri

[pH]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"Tons" (literally) of materiel was dumped at sea. There's probably a bunch of videos like this newsreel clip out there.

The more than one million tons of munitions (including poison gas) that were dumped in Beaufort’s Dyke in the North Channel were discussed recently in connection with the proposal for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Edited November 9, 2022 by pH

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a dark rock where the rain has finally ceased.

 

Day 3 of kitchen rebuild, will be mostly done by the end of the day thank crunchie, fed up of stuff being everywhere but cupboards will be getting loaded by the end of the day.

 

Decoder may arrive for the black industrial thing too, then a decision as to dress it as NCB or one of the Swansea BR livery locos (shhh) to be made. or.....heathen.....different on each side?

[TheQ]

I suspect BoD might be near,

Though the nearest I've been to there is Oban, or driving past Loch Lomond on the way south from Oban.

 

Mooring Awl,

6.5 hours sleep, followed by another hours sleep.. An unusually good sleep why? because I took pink pills.. The reason for pink pills? As I got up from the sofa , my left knee went ouch , very ouch, it's still throbbing now.

 

Full moon, gentle breeze, wet grass, heavy dew and or the remains of yesterdays heavy rain, So Ben the happy Collie had a very good snuffle around the garden this morning.

While out there an unsilenced motorbike could be heard in the distance travelling from north to south over the country lanes, could hear it for some time as it accelerated or slowed down on the way.

 

Talking of travelling, EO61UFD a silver car was in front of me from before Effing Clown Town to the NDR, I suspect the driver was under the influence... Generally 10 to 20 mph under the speed limits, the car wandered continually from side to side over the white line marking the verges, to over the central white lines. Every corner meant jerky steering and not staying in lane, a car coming the other way meant braking. I was very glad when it continued into Norwich, as I turned onto the NDR.

 

Still training my replacement, which is sometimes slow, as he keeps having to nip into his previous section to show them how to do something, as they haven't got a replacement for him yet.

 

Just at the moment though, I'm doing some remeasuring of a 10 M ohm Resistor, I suspect the reference hasn't drifted, but it's previous history showed it to have a drift, so the predicted value is wrong.

 

Time to, type in the first Measurement.

 

 

 

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

I love metro systems an got a couple of books on them. Some lovely stations in St.Petersburg (Russia) and this rather nice one in Berlin.

ARGH! 8loody Russian hackers, the images won’t load.!

Having seen pictures of the Moscow metro I’d have loved to go there but I’m not sure if/when that’s going to be possible. SWMBO never fancied Moscow even before the latest ‘special operation’ so can’t see her wanting to go ever now.

 

Bear would be interested to see the Moscow and North Korea Metro Stations - but the thought of putting money into those nations doesn't appeal somehow....

 

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Prior to opening, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was load tested with 96 obsolete D50, D53 and Z25 class locomotives, 7000 tons worth. Luckily it held up ok  or the harbour would still  be full of them now. 

 

 

I wonder if the Train Crews were paid extra....

"Oi, Bert, right then - get the rest of the lads and fill up the new Bridge with Locos just to see if it'll collapse or not.....!

 

7 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Last time we went to visit friends in San Diego they had organised a car for us on loan to be picked up at LAX. It turned out to be a Dodge Charger and pootling down I 5 at 60mph was something of a frustrating experience!

 

Dave 

 

Getting in and out thru' the window was a bit of a pain too.....

 

Bear here......

This morning's fun includes uncovering then scraping off (hopefully) all the paint from one of the stair stringers then washing it down; that'll be followed by splurging PS onto the other stringer.  Deep joy.

 

In other news....

I see yet another resignation in The Big House (bluddy good job too - anyone who [reportedly] keeps a F.Tarantula in his office must have a screw loose in this Bear's Book).

 

And finally.....

I see the Leopard hasn't changed his spots:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63563862

"He also threatened to release unflattering information about the 44-year-old, without providing details."

Meanwhile, it currently seems to be neck-and-neck in a certain two-horse race......

 

Bear gone

 

[polybear]

5 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Talking of travelling, EO61UFD a silver car was in front of me from before Effing Clown Town to the NDR, I suspect the driver was under the influence... Generally 10 to 20 mph under the speed limits, the car wandered continually from side to side over the white line marking the verges, to over the central white lines. Every corner meant jerky steering and not staying in lane, a car coming the other way meant braking. I was very glad when it continued into Norwich, as I turned onto the NDR.

 

 

Grey Skoda; do you have dash cam footage you can send to the Plod?  They won't get him/her this time, but they might just think it worthwhile to sit around the corner from their house one fine morning and do a spot-check.  Or maybe they're driving on a ban already?

 

32 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Day 3 of kitchen rebuild, will be mostly done by the end of the day thank crunchie, fed up of stuff being everywhere but cupboards will be getting loaded by the end of the day.

 

I know of a certain Bear that had a year of it.....but no SWMBO to give me lug 'ole ache because of it.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Busy day yesterday fettling things. Allseemed to workweek.

 

I then went to umpire (much against my better judgement as Ed Cold is still kicking lumps out of me.)

 

Then..batter pushes the ball hard towards me.. I move out of the water.. batter (a big lad) runs straight ar me.. bosh!

Baz hits the floor.. bottom first..then head bounces off floor. Players etc rush to check Iam OK.. my concern is .. lost a counter.. which was found OK.

 

This morning.. Ed Cold receeding, minor headache but.. painful to sit down.

 

Her indoors reckons that's fine as I stand up to wield the shark(!) PAH!

 

TTFN.

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[New Haven Neil]

40 minutes ago, polybear said:

"Oi, Bert, right then - get the rest of the lads and fill up the new Bridge with Locos just to see if it'll collapse or not.....!

 

I HOPE they were well within the designed limits, and were just measuring deflections to confirm calculations.  But then again, it is Australia, and 'she'll be right mate' could have been in operation.....LOL

 

34 minutes ago, polybear said:

I know of a certain Bear that had a year of it.....but no SWMBO to give me lug 'ole ache because of it

 

She's paying for it. 😉

[jamie92208]

12 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

On one of my Grandads final voyages on the Aircraft carrier it was used as an aircraft taxi. He told me that they ended up pushing crated up aircraft over the side as they were no longer required.

This was in the far East somewhere iirc

Yes definitely true about Lend Lease stuff.

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

The audible over speed warning isn’t something I have set on my car. I think it gets the information from GPS and scanning the road signs, but it can be set to silent. However, Aditi likes to tell me “don’t forget it is now 50 here”.  I think her speed awareness course made a lasting impression.  

I have one of those human sat nags as well.  "It's 50 through here, I don't want another point off my licence"  i keep schtum.  

 

Anyway good moaning from a grey and overcast Charente .  The fire has finally been lut and has been alight for 48 hours now.   The first complaint that it was too warm was uttered yesterday afternoon.  Today we are off to Niort for Beth to have 2 x rays i might just get the chance to watch some trains.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Blue sky and sunshine here after earlier rain.  Should be mainly dry, sunny and breezy today.  Currently 10°C and may reach 15°C.

Pandemonium outside as a neighbour is having work done on their house, (extension at rear) and a concrete pump lorry and an eight wheel "Mixamate" type lorry are parked on the corner blocking the road while they mix concrete.  (also blocking 5 neighbours driveways!)  Managed to upset neighbour next door who is a lady bouncer/security person who does shift work and got her out of bed to move her car.  I'm surprised she moved it as she doesn't like being disturbed early and doesn't normally take prisoners but presume she was worried about her car being damaged.  There was a lot of shouting!  😂

In other news my case of wine has reached the delivery depot in Mitcham so may possibly arrive today but is not yet out for delivery.

Old friend who lost her husband (my mate Black Cab Colin) a while ago is visiting along with her eldest daughter for tea and cake this afternoon.  I expect much reminiscing.

I have been tasked with some Shark wielding.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited November 9, 2022 by grandadbob

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

wonder if the Train Crews were paid extra....

"Oi, Bert, right then - get the rest of the lads and fill up the new Bridge with Locos just to see if it'll collapse or not...

Knowing my fellow countryfolk,  they'd have probably been jumping up and down on it. I would have.

Edited November 9, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Coombe Barton]

Well, that's settled what I'm doing after work today - the iPhone is giving up the ghost, so a new one, I hope, will be procured. It's not a long walk to the Apple Store.

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis woke me up at four this morning by doing a rain dance. I managed to get another couple of hours sleep though and once I started moving about he went. The rain has gone as well and now there's blue skies and a bit of high cloud.

4 hours ago, pH said:

The more than one million tons of munitions (including poison gas) that were dumped in Beaufort’s Dyke in the North Channel were discussed recently in connection with the proposal for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We've still got the SS Richard Montgomery to worry about.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Blue skies and sunshine here in England’s northwest corner, although it appears that we had some more overnight rain. I’m hoping to get a bit more work done in the garden today. If all goes to plan and I get the shrubs moved around then I can start to move the plants from the front garden to the back garden, meaning I can then plant the last 30 bulbs in the front garden. It won’t all be done today of course, but I’d like to get the work done in the back today if I can. 

 

Best get cracking then, back later. 

 

Brian

[southern42]

13 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What Texans would call a "frog choker".

 

They get rain that is at least the equal of what I have experienced in the subtropical antipodes. I remember crossing a quiet street (no waiting for traffic) in Austin from my hotel to a restaurant. Completely saturated in the space of perhaps 30m.

 

Going back 40 years or so, I walked a mere hundred yards to the bus stop. When the bus arrived, after a few minutes, I was so wet I turned back home, changed, and spent 20 minutes ironing my trousers dry. I caught the next bus in, and gave my reason for being late to work. "Pull the other one!" and a snigger was what I got. They had no such rain down at sea level!

 

' morning all from red dragon land.

After torrential rain, and very strong winds, yesterday, it is lovely and calm, this morning, with the sun trying to find its way through the clouds.

 

More wrapping of presents, today. I could not find the wrapping ribbons so ordered a roll of proper ribbon arriving today. Having searched all the likely places where the ribbons might be, the one I forgot about was the loft....! That lot will not come down until the end of year when the festive decorations go up, or I think of something else I will need that might have been put up there. I shall have to watch more closely what goes back up there this time!

 

Best get on.

Take care, be good and plan well.

Polly

 

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by southern42

[The White Rabbit]

12 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Given that Commodore and Falcon V8's are no longer available so the cops are forced to drive around in BMW 5 series diesels, thats probably the only place they could catch up to him.

 

Diesels.... Diesels!   Know which Highway Patrol officer would be spinning in his grave? This one! (if he was actually dead rather than "still out there ....somewhere"!)

 

Lucky they also run Chrysler 300C's SRT's with the 6.4L V8, or no one would join up. 

 

The police in mid Wales in the 90s used to run Maestro diesels. Strangely, they were a little sensitive about that.... 

 

 

2 hours ago, polybear said:

... I wonder if the Train Crews were paid extra....

"Oi, Bert, right then - get the rest of the lads and fill up the new Bridge with Locos just to see if it'll collapse or not.....!

 

Or when? https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/11/26 

 

 

Morning all. Grey and with rain rattling the windows at the moment. No G-word planned. Subject to telephone calls, another day of filing and little odd jobs beckons. 

 

[southern42]

Interesting. I am getting "Sorry, there was a problem reacting to this content." when trying to rate the posts. Will try again later.

 

[enz]

59 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Knowing my fellow countryfolk,  they'd have probably been jumping up and down on it. I would have.

I thought that Aussies jumping up and down on things was to try to deal with the spiders  (and possibly snakes, bit I suspect the snakes would get their revenge).

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Yes definitely true about Lend Lease stuff.

 

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

I'll bet we still had to pay the yanks for them...

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Then..batter pushes the ball hard towards me.. I move out of the water.. batter (a big lad) runs straight ar me.. bosh!

Baz hits the floor.. bottom first..then head bounces off floor. Players etc rush to check Iam OK.. my concern is .. lost a counter.. which was found OK.

 

 

I hope you awarded him a Red Card?

 

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Pandemonium outside as a neighbour is having work done on their house, (extension at rear) and a concrete pump lorry and an eight wheel "Mixamate" type lorry are parked on the corner blocking the road while they mix concrete.  (also blocking 5 neighbours driveways!) 

 

Bear's Crystal Ball predicts concrete residue all down the road.  Never seen those types clean up properly.

 

2 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Well, that's settled what I'm doing after work today - the iPhone is giving up the ghost, so a new one, I hope, will be procured. It's not a long walk to the Apple Store.

 

 

Battery?  Have a chat with @PupCam Puppers Telecommunications Enterprises Inc. - he just LOVES such things......🤣

 

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Or when? https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/11/26 

 

 

A personal favourite of Bear:

 

http://calvin-and-hobbes-comic-strips.blogspot.com/2011/11/calvin-asks-dad-about-old-black-and.html

 

1 hour ago, southern42 said:

Interesting. I am getting "Sorry, there was a problem reacting to this content." when trying to rate the posts. Will try again later.

 

 

Snap.

 

Bear here....

Stair stringer uncovered and wrinkly paint scraped off - it currently looks like a sick Zebra and another dose of PS has been applied.  Not altogether unexpected, but not quite what I had hoped (maybe unreasonably).  This next coat should do the job.  Hopefully.

[PeterBB]

21 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

As I am seeing the message "Sorry there was a problem reacting to this content" too often I have opened a topic in the Faults area.  If I can rate at all it is often only a "Like"; only very occasionally can I select anything else successfully.  

 

Likewise  but not as often as the 'pW oruser' does n ot fit.