Tony_S

It did but if it didn’t the ferocious wildlife would have dragged the rubbish away.

I think our bin collection changes this week are probably the most exciting thing happening locally. I am not complaining, it is quite nice living somewhere where little happens apart from the unpleasant incidents in the 9th and 17th centuries.

I think one of my earlier cooking experiences was similar. I used to go home for lunch as we lived next door to the junior school I attended. If my mother had to go to her mothers when she was unwell she would leave something for me. I was entrusted with cook in the bag meals and recall squeezing sauces out.

We don’t have a tagine either. We have a 30cm sauté pan with a lid. I just looked it up on John Lewis’ website and asked Aditi if it really had been as expensive as it stated. She said it wasn’t “quite” that much when she bought it. I will happily consume anything with chicken and chickpeas but I like any lemon flavour to be more subtle than Aditi likes.

It is getting quite exciting now. There are people pointing in various directions.

I used to spray with Halfords grey primer and then Halfords matt black. I have just looked and can see they now make a black spray primer. Perhaps they always did but I never noticed it.

Or leave it on the existing number but don’t tell him what it is. That would be an equally interesting way to find out about programming.

The broadband in Norfolk must be slow, the webcam thinks it is 1970. Tony.

We did watch a film this afternoon. An old version of “Death on the Nile” was on BBC this afternoon but we watched the newish (2022) version. We were going to watch Doctor Who but will watch it on iPlayer later sometime. The film took longer to view as there were pauses for family phone calls. Some near neighbours hope to pop in tomorrow. Beer and snacks have been purchased. Even though the house seems clean, I expect to be asked to tidy up a bit more. Other than walks we aren’t really going out socialising until next weekend when we go to see Aditi’s family in Enfield. Though there may be an excursion for the purchase of vegetarian suet. Aditi was convinced we had a jar of mincemeat she had made some time ago. None of the jars inspected had mincemeat. A tiny tub was found in the freezer (not sure how it got there) so yesterday we had one freshly baked mince pie to share. Aditi now wants more! I know we could probably buy some at reduced price tomorrow but the commercial ones are a bit sweet for us. Tony

We went for a short pre-lunch walk. It wasn’t at all cold.

One Christmas, Aditi’s parents were staying with us but didn’t want to come with us to one of Matthew’s friends house on Christmas Eve. We had dinner at home and then set off so the boys could play games for an hour. When I got up at six, the next morning to start cooking, the oven was turned off at the wall. When I turned it back on all I got were error codes. There were loads of people arriving for lunch. I asked Aditi’s Dad and Mum why they had turned the oven off at the mains and her Dad informed me that he thought we had gone out and left the oven fan running so he had turned it off to save electricity. Well as I knew it actually stayed on to cool the system down, protecting the electronics, I guessed where the problem lay. So at about 7am on Christmas morning I was dismantling the oven. Instead of venting it appeared that grease had condensed on the PCB. I cleaned everything, reassembled it and it all worked. Apparently I was a tad terse , when I was later asked if I required any help and said something like “ I think you have done enough already”.

We were going to have a walk at a convenient time during the cooking procedures this morning but a series of multi time zone WhatsApp and phone calls happened. It was fine as the people who called from India and the US were from the jolly end of the mood spectrum unlike MiL who was determined to be a misery this morning. Apparently all the places she had been to over the past couple of days don’t count as “going out” and all the visitors are “I haven’t seen anyone for days”. Apparently lunch today at Aditi’s sister’s will be “nothing special”.We had a quick walk the end of the road and back. Lunch has been consumed. Tony

Our turkey seems to cooking. The instructions suggest letting it rest for an hour after the desired temperature, as measured by probe thingy, has been achieved. All the other stuff can go in the oven then. We seem to have a choice of wines, screwtop or cork seems to be an option.

Afternoon all. I did get up early but only to make a cup of tea and remove the turkey crown from the refrigerator. The instructions said to leave it for 2 hours at room temperature. As that would be slightly rare, I continued to the other page. This is the third time we have had this sort of turkey and I was very doubtful about the cooking instructions the first time but I have lost my fear of meat thermometers now. The final instruction is “rest for an hour” but apparently that is something to do with the turkey not the cook.

Is that some sort of pastry fork?

I would be perfectly happy with egg and chips on Christmas Day but Aditi does like the turkey based meal with as many accompaniments both pork product and vegetable that will sit on the plate. We will vacuum pack and freeze any surplus. You could also do that, and MrsID could enjoy turkey at other times of the year too.

I think it is more likely to be Bambi than Rudolf.

The model railroad (it really was railroad not railway ) club I was in had very detailed standard for module construction. Not just dimensions and wiring but for basic scenery. There was a very large container of matt vinyl (that was allegedly called Bamboo) that was to be applied to baseboards before static grass (colour specified) was applied. Those of you who remember Andrew C’s descriptions of people he encountered should know he could have had another career as a paint hue namer. His description of the club paint was baby squits brown.

Our sprouts have arrived. They are still attached to a big stalk but that can go in the compost! I think Aditi feels we should be prepared for unexpected visitors as has happened in the past, but I think her relatives are too old now to inform us shortly before Christmas as they used to that they are coming to stay. Aditi’s uncle from California arrived once on Christmas Eve. Matthew was little and had told us we had to leave some whisky and a mince pie for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We heard a loud voice from the lounge as Matthew announced that Uncle Vinay had just eaten Santa’s mince pie and had his drink too. More had to be left out.

Considering how detailed some of the nature documentaries are, I don’t recall any mention of it. I can just imagine the Sir David Attenborough commentary though.

Some are allegedly arriving today. However a portion of sprouts purchased much earlier this year exist in a frozen state, just in case. I think I will be preparing and cooking the sprouts. It doesn’t take long.

We aren’t have any visitors over Christmas and I checked the delivery email just to see what will be missing.The order was somewhat larger than usual. Even with all this delivery we are going to visit Waitrose this afternoon. Aditi had ordered some presents from M&S for friends and the order has just been “ready for despatch” for days. So she re ordered from John Lewis for collection from Waitrose today. I think I had better drive, so Aditi can go in the store while I search Leigh on Sea for somewhere to park! Tony

I was a bit worried for a moment that the ones I had recently were like “The Emperors New Clothes” .

https://www.craghoppers.com/mens-kiwi-winter-lined-trousers-black-1/ Wouid these do?

It is much breezier here today in south Essex but the wind can’t be blamed on Poland, it is coming from the west.