Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear doesn't "do" Fish - I don't like the taste (though smoked haddock is ok occasionally) and what with all the cr@p we dump in the sea I'm none to keen on scoffin' anything that's come out of it.

So that means a Jumbo Snagger (usually with a chip roll) or a Saveloy.  Change out of a fiver - just.

The local chippie is "ok" - and only a five minute walk from Bear Towers; however it's not that often I visit it anymore as I usually knock up something far more creative in the kitchen of Bear Towers instead.

 

 

 

Do yous have Halal Snack Packs there?  a viable fish and chip alternative for fishphobics.

 

Chips, topped with  optional cheese  melted under the grill,  then  Kebab meat on top (any combo of lamb, beef and chicken),  then artistically  covered in the  the trinity of BBQ, chilli and garlic sauce.

 

Mainstay of Australian Kebab shops. 

 

 

5 stars!

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well the wind has eased and the rain has stopped and today looks like it could be a nice day, albeit a bit grey. This morning I’m going to complete the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, as I should have done this last night but I CBA going out after tea. This afternoon Sheila has an appointment at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, so that’s the whole day sorted, which is another reason why I deferred the shopping. 
 

Bestgetamoveon, back later n

 

Brian

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Tassie also has the delightfully-named Eggs & Bacon Bay 

 

 

 

And the towns of Snug, and Penguin, Promised Land, Nook, Flowerpot  and Paradise.

 

 

Also a town called Bagdad, whos local butcher got a lot of media attention prior to the Gulf War. 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m currently reading Defeat Into Victory by Field Marshall Viscount Slim (or General Slim as he was at the start of the Burma Campaign) and how this important theatre of war was neglected by British High Command is pretty shocking.

 

Burma was the cause of a falling out between Churchill and Oz PM John Curtin and ultimately led to Australia's decision to move from Britain to the US in regards to defence policy.

 

In early 1942 The 6th and 7th Australian divisions were returning home from the middle east campaign  in order  to defend Australia from imminent Japanese invasion when Churchill had their  convoy redirected to Rangoon without  consultation with the Australian Government.

That resulted in a narked Telegram:

 

 

Had Churchill not relented and re-directed them back to Australia  the Australian troops would have arrived in Rangoon on 26 February 1942, by which time the Japanese were already in position to take the city.

Rangoon fell on 7 March, the same day Japanese forces invaded Lae and Salamaua and initiated the New Guinea campaign to the immediate north of Australia.

 

Soldiers from the 7th Division were essential in turning the tide against the Japanese advance, fighting in the first battles that halted the Japanese progress in the Pacific at Milne Bay and on the protracted and bloody Kokoda Track campaign.

Curtin’s insistence on returning troops to Australia rather than fighting in a distant part of the British Empire combined with his New Year’s speech in December 1941 in which he said

 

 ‘Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.'

 

 and then his address to the American people in March 1942 where he stated   that if Australia fell the US would be wide open to Japanese attack, were instrumental in moving Australia’s primary foreign policy allegiances from Britain to the United States.

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Like the Bear I don't do fishy things, forced school dinners of a mouth full of bones, very badly cooked,  put me off that.

 

I'm the same about shrimps (which I used to love) and other shellfish, after an anecdote by a teacher at primary school concerning finding a body washed up on the shore, crawling with shrimp...

 

In other food news.

 

I see that Aldi are offering Brussels Sprouts for "only" 69p for half a kilo, presumably for those who have left it a bit late to put them on to boil for Christmas...

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Do yous have Halal Snack Packs there? 

I haven't seen the creativity here that you illustrate.  Neither have I seen it in Australia.  

 

"Meat and chips" is a staple offering of UK kebab shops some of which are also fish & chip shops when there's enough space and trade.  You get a tray with chips and (usually doner) meat of your choice topped with sauce if you wish.  They probably add cheese if you want it.  

 

Around us when we lived Downunder the "meat and chips" was presented in much the same way without the artistic flourish but you could - should you so wish - have any or all of green / red sriracha and sriracha mayonnaise in addition to the usual chilli and or garlic sauces, red sauce (ketchup), bbq sauce or regular mayo.  

 

All meat served in kebab shops should be Halal and there is usually a small notice to that effect at the shop and on their take-away menus.  

 

We "enjoyed" the delights of the German Doner Kebab Shop in Twickenham.  Their advertising strap-line was "Kebabs - done right".  Having confirmed with my German friend on Sunday that it is acceptable to say so I will place on record here that this is misleading.  Because Germans are never right.  Germans are correct.  Except when their interpretation doesn't meet expectations.  The "right" doner kebab as they serve it is a toasted flat bread (not a pitta), topped with shaved crisped pieces of doner meat and sauce.  We didn't like the taste, the style nor the sudden discovery of slightly soggy toasted flat-bread beneath everything else.  

 

I hear one version of history has it that the kebab as we know it today originated in Germany but was adopted by the Turkish community there.  In reality I suspect that as Germany has a very large population of migrant Turks that they brought their tradition with them.  

Edited November 14, 2023 by Gwiwer
Auto-corrupt strikes again

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

A tad warmer today, 10.3C, and some blue sky and notalota wind.

 

21 hours ago, southern42 said:

Some more sorting of stuff in the pipeline ahead of bin collection day, tomorrow, though I want to get a fruit crumble made as well, then I can do a chicken pie as well - Trying to keep oven (electricity) use down - so it is two for one, these days.

 

Yesterday was one of those afternoons spent on the phone trying to sort out a problem that has transpired involving several agencies so, after the bins had been sorted, I only had time to do the chicken pie. However, I did make a pastry top instead of mashed potato and stuck jacket potatoes in the oven instead. The advantage of adding pastry is we get a second helping tonight.* 😋

 

Some more mags were sorted into wanted, or not wanted and put aside for sale in the museum shop. The wanted ones remain to have the required articles removed and the rest put in the recycle bin. Hopefully, I will have time to do that today.

 

Other than that, there are just the routine jobbies and some toot on the flute with the concentration going into getting the first part of the new song into some sort of respectability before tackling the next part. This may take some time as I keep finding bits for improvement - reminds me of the school report: "she needs to improve..."  How things come back and haunt us....!

 

Time for a mugadecaf before I die of thirst.

Take care. Be good.

* Be clever.

 

Polly

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by southern42
get rid of one word, add another!

[monkeysarefun]

26 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Neither have I seen it in Australia.  

 

 

 

Mate, its everywhere - even  wikipedia has heard of it.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal_snack_pack

 

 

As a bonus it was "People's Choice Word of the Year" for 2016, and annoys the xenophobes:

 

(From wiki:)

 

 

 

In July 2016, then Labor Senator Sam Dastyari invited the One Nation party leader , former fish and chip shop owner [and  petty racist]  Pauline Hanson  out for a halal snack pack after she won a Senate seat in the 2016 Australian federal election.

She rejected his proposal, saying, “It’s not happening, not interested in halal, thank you”.

 

Hanson then elaborated, stating, “I’m not interested in it. I don’t believe in halal certification,” and went on to claim that “98 percent of Australians” opposed it.

 

In response, several Australian restaurants created a Pauline Hanson-inspired halal snack pack.

 

 There has also been a GoFundMe campaign to turn Hanson's former fish and chip shop into a pop-up halal snack pack stand.

 

Fully hectic! as they say.

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[iL Dottore]

For those who think that £15 is a lot for fish and chips…. (From yesterday’s The Times)

 

No one who has eaten out recently needs telling that restaurants are getting more expensive, but before you grumble at the price of your burger and chips, think yourself lucky you don’t move in London’s more rarefied echelons. According to research by the restaurant guide Hardens, the number of establishments charging more than £200 a head has grown by over 50 per cent to 46 this year, up from 30 in 2022. It’s enough to drive you to drink, except that that, plus service, will be charged on top.

 

Before the obligatory chorus of disapproval consider this: a ticket for the upcoming Manchester City vs Liverpool match are starting at £168, Centre Court Tickets at Wimbledon cost as much as £275, if you’re into photography and have a Nikon, a NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 200-500 mm f/5.6E ED VR Telephoto Zoom Lens will set you back £1,239 whilst the 2024 spring residential modelling course at Missenden will set you back £345.

 

It’s all about enjoying the best in your chosen hobby or interest that you can treat yourself to. Whilst buying a ticket to a Premier League game goes unremarked, doing the equivalent for dining out is regarded as “pretentious”, “self indulgent” and the like. Definitely inverse snobbery and something you’d not see in Italy, France or Spain…

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A little late this morning as a great big pile of post arrived through the post this morning and after sorting out and discarding the bumph for recycling there was a comic (about what is forbidden on this thread) to which I subscribe so I spent some time perusing said comic. I can't fault the Royal Mail locally but as some ER's have mentioned in some areas the performance is dire. In one such area they shut the local sorting office as an 'economy' measure, though I don't think the savings came anywhere near the £5.6million they've been fined for poor service.

[jjb1970]

Donner kebab meat is basically the same as gyros, the same thing in Greece. In many countries you would get a blank look if you asked for donner kebab but if you asked for gyros you'd be fine.

[monkeysarefun]

22 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

No one who has eaten out recently needs telling that restaurants are getting more expensive, but before you grumble at the price of your burger and chips, think yourself lucky you don’t move in London’s more rarefied echelons. According to research by the restaurant guide Hardens, the number of establishments charging more than £200 a head has grown by over 50 per cent to 46 this year, up from 30 in 2022.

 

 

[Barry O]

so.. BT strike again. Our new fibre optic link was installed last week.. no phone calls can be made.. do contact BT... "arr.. you didn't ask for a phone line"  . erm so Openreach said it should work next day as its on the contract... after a bit of conversation an "Engineer" will fix the problem .. except BT logged the contract incorrectly - now modified to give a faster service for the same price.. BUT no phone still - well no Voip until 2024.. yes but you token the wire land line out.. "no its is still there." oh no it isn't...this could be interesting!

 

Then onto British Gas.. new contract sorted out.. fixed until November 2024. They thin we will use £900 of electricity and Gas in the next 6 weeks.. Really? Based on .. what? last two year figures show we don't use huge amounts of either due to out well insulated house..

 

Kebabs/Gyros are not good or you.. as in you tend to eat too much...

 

and you lips go all "rubbery" due tot he chile sauce...

 

Baz

[Barry O]

3 decent pizzas at Rudy's in Didsbury (including soft drinks) cost.. £58.26. Well worth it .. proper thin based pizzas..yummy!

Baz

Edited November 14, 2023 by Barry O

[roundhouse]

I am gobsmacked that a Mc Donalds Big Mac meal is now well over a fiver🙃

[iL Dottore]

24 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

I am gobsmacked that a Mc Donalds Big Mac meal is now well over a fiver🙃

And not one single unprocessed ingredient...

[monkeysarefun]

I'm going to say location of where you are doing the eating is worth at least 50% of the dining experience to me, if you know what I mean.

 

For instance, I'd rather have an over-priced  hamburger sitting in a pub beer garden in the evening overlooking the pacific ocean, than paying less  for something  more  fancy in a restaurant somewhere with no view or atmosphere..

 

My best eating out experiences ever would be 1) in the Cook Islands, sitting out the back of a rundown bar that was  owned by an  expat American ex-Vietnam vet. He cooked a brilliant steak and just being in a bar run by an ex-Vietnam Vet in the Cook Islands, overlooking the water and watching the locals fishing on the reef in the twilight with long poles  cannot be replicated elsewhere even by Heston Bluementhal.  Unless he actually opens a steak restaurant in the Cook Islands I guess..

 

.Bonus points were rewarded because being Australian he shouted us free drinks all night because Australia had  been  in Nam too.

 

2) Outback Queensland, after two weeks in the middle of red-dust and nothing else,  as part of an oil exploration seismic survey gang , I got to go into the mighty metropolis of Surat on Saturday night. I had steak and chips because I figured fish would probably be a little bit dodgy 500km inland. After eating two weeks of bodge stew and salad  it was the second best meal I've ever had - 4 stars.   ( Those fancypants  Michelin ones!)

 

Similarly when I read here posts of English pub food in English pubs I assume similar bonus points  for atmosphere applies. 

Edited November 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[iL Dottore]

for @polybear I came across this in The Times food section where they tested a whole variety of tinned beans. The following was the winner:

 

Interestingly NO tinned beans got a 5 star rating

[Hroth]

52 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A little late this morning as a great big pile of post arrived through the post this morning and after sorting out and discarding the bumph for recycling there was a comic (about what is forbidden on this thread) to which I subscribe so I spent some time perusing said comic. I can't fault the Royal Mail locally but as some ER's have mentioned in some areas the performance is dire. In one such area they shut the local sorting office as an 'economy' measure, though I don't think the savings came anywhere near the £5.6million they've been fined for poor service.

 

But the plonker who made the business case for shutting the sorting office has now moved on to bigger, better and more highly paid things on the back of their "analysis" and couldn't give a flying f*ck about the poor service.

 

[jjb1970]

32 minutes ago, Barry O said:

3 decent pizzas at Rudy's in Didsbury (including soft drinks) cost.. £58.26. Well worth it .. proper thin based pizzas..yummy!

Baz

 

The pizza craze here is Korean pizza, no I can't figure out why you'd go to a Korean restaurant to order pizza or look for a Korean place if you have pizza cravings either......

 

Especially when Korean food is so good and to me pizza is best when kept simple in the Italian style. That said, when I used to visit Trieste a lot the chap I dealt with at the engine works loved taking g me to a Neopolitan restaurant, he saw that similar to how I'd look at a Mongolian restaurant, different and exotic.

 

I miss  Trieste, had some happy times there, also nearby Monfalcone.

[tigerburnie]

I don't post much any more and only the NHS send me letters, I get a paper monthly bank statement and a credit card statement(even if I haven't used it??)the rest is mostly junk mail for recycling, our postie is a nice chap though and if anything is too large for our post box, he leaves a note and hides it somewhere dry. I tend to use email for most of my written communiques or phone

[tigerburnie]

Since covid and then my illnesses, we haven't eaten out as often as we used to, now it's the odd fish supper by the local harbour, though sadly the fish isn't landed locally, it comes from Fraserburgh or Peterhead, around a 100 miles north of here. The shellfish is local, so I get the odd live lobster, cooked and eaten fresh with a salad and some bread, no sauces or herbs or anything else added. Same with the local fresh crab. The Venison is shot locally, as are the grouse and pheasants, all eaten as they come, though a gravy is added along with fresh veggies. We still have the occasional Indian/Pakistani takeaway and have a very good Indian restaurant nearby.

[The Lurker]

13 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Same thing with the Dartford river crossing, they changed their system about the same time. I have an account on the old system which I haven't updated as I don't drive very far now and I am unlikely to use the crossing in future.

and at first when they did update it I could not get it to work for love nor money. It's OK now though

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

it's happened before...

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I'm the same about shrimps (which I used to love) and other shellfish, after an anecdote by a teacher at primary school concerning finding a body washed up on the shore, crawling with shrimp...

I hope that you haven't eaten eel then....