Nice People Thread Number 10 -the official residence of Nice People

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

Sigh......

I want to cook so that angels dance on someone's tongue.


Tbh, I'd settle for slightly malevolent pixies. :T:rotfl::T


I have started checking ebay for my dream cooker. There is one on there ATM that is GORGEOUS but ....shhh...too big for my kitchen. :rotfl::rotfl:

The other on there is ok, but just not quite right configuration. I actually think only the budget version come with two electric ovens rather than one electric and one gas as a possibility.


I'd happily knock through for a gas hob to a bottle, but prefer electric ovens. Why would I want a gas oven gen, over an electig one?

Gas hob & electric oven is the dream team.

Gas ovens create a lot of soot and also, even with a fan, get hotter at the back of the oven than the front IME.

The best kitchen implement I have is a potato ricer. It makes the best mashed spuds ever. 100% lumpless while retaining enough vegetable fibre to give the mash some substance.

It looks a bit like a giant garlic press.

My thought also is that the current vogue for a 'range cooker' is silly too. You almost never need a 3 ft wide oven and the damn things take an age to heat up.

lostinrates

michaels wrote: »

Unreliable power supply?

An, good point. I can have a geny for that I guess.

Its more why the company don my give the option, that suggests gas is better, whereas that's never been my experience, hob yes, gas is more responsive....oven.....nope.

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

Gas hob & electric oven is the dream team.

Gas ovens create a lot of soot and also, even with a fan, get hotter at the back of the oven than the front IME.

The best kitchen implement I have is a potato ricer. It makes the best mashed spuds ever. 100% lumpless while retaining enough vegetable fibre to give the mash some substance.

It looks a bit like a giant garlic press.

My thought also is that the current vogue for a 'range cooker' is silly too. You almost never need a 3 ft wide oven and the damn things take an age to heat up.

Yeah, that's what I always gas / electric....may be I will PM you on cookers sometime.

I have a range cooker, and the thing is TOO SMALL. My roasting dish doesn't fit in it. :rotfl: Was silly not to pay more attention.

We did used to have big parties, I hope to again. Sooner rather than later.


I'll be keeping it unless my dream cooker in a good configuration for me. comes up on ebay until we do the kitchen. When I'll probably still keep it and leave a gap big enough for a better oven

I bought a cheap cooker. It was a false economy. It turns out I'm right to be fussy usually. But I was trying to be less so, and I have cooked on some really funky old cookers.

LydiaJ

Generali wrote: »

On a sadder note it looks like Mrs Generali's depression is back in a nasty way. It means I get to be a 'carer' only without any recognition or money or support or help. Oh and I'll have to do more with the kids. And when she's sick she can't bear to live in a tidy house so even if I do manage to get the place sorted she'll trash it within 12 hours. Joy.

That may come across as selfish and I do feel for her but f it. I'm in for a horrible 2014 I suspect.

Gen, I am so sorry to hear this. As you can see from all the responses you've got so far, none of us NP think you come across as selfish - just real. If we can do anything for you, be here for you, make you feel somebody gets at least a little of what you are going through... you know we are all behind you, and her, and the Generalissimos. Oh, and when you need to vent about her, we'll understand that it's the illness's fault, and an expression of your frustration, not a disloyalty to her.

Generali wrote: »

She used to. She decided a couple of years back to stop taking it as it was messing with other parts of her life. I can see that as the pills are a little zombifying.

Experience tells me this will last 1-2 years. Perhaps it's different this time as the kids are a bit older and she has more experience dealing with it.

I feel for her about the pill thing - I know what feeling zombified is like, and it sucks. Still, sometimes it's less awful and damaging than the alternative. Can you persuade her that it would be better for the kids to have a zombified mother rather than a depressed one? She might be more willing to do take the pills for them than for herself. (Please ignore this if it wouldn't work or isn't relevant. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I just know that the effect on my kids is the thing I find most motivating about sorting my own mental health out, and I thought that idea might be worth sharing.)

lostinrates wrote: »

Her family are, with respect, a dream. Her lovely husband loves her and her children are healthy and from the little we hear of them, all respects ok.

The others are just the hangover family we don't get any say in. The impact they have on us is not inconsiderable, but mrs gen has obviously made very sensible choices since.

What lir said.

How much can you limit her contact with her family of origin?

silvercar

Gas hob & electric oven is the dream team.

Even the right tools can be lethal in the wrong hands. Ask my family.

We have a range cooker, I think it is the cheaper end of the market. 6 gas rings and a split oven. 2/3rds is a decent size electric fan oven and 1/3 is an electric oven with grill element. It would work well in the right hands. I think it is badly insulated because the oven stays hotter on the internal side.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

I try. It's a really interesting comment that "it's catching". I agree: it's easy to get dragged down by it. Friends have previously suggested that I leave her to it but I couldn't do that.



Stress and worry are the main triggers I think but sometimes it just happens.

Sorry to hear the news Gen. Look after yourself.

As tom says (and as you know) it's not the kind of thing people can "snap out of".

poet123

lostinrates wrote: »

Food we ate the other day,,,mainly for gen.....

Gen , can you work out a recipe for this? It was coda uova affumicate

The roe was so smooth.....I described to a friend as tasting like the beautiful end to a storm at sea, or a kiss with a mermaid who you know couldn't leave the sea to live with you. It wasn't light.



This was the prettiest dish though



And yes, I know, I know......but I was quick, and discrete, and passed macputer round the table quickly, and wasn't that salad to pretty not to photograph? And the cod roe was quite one of the nicest things I have ever tasted.

Lovely presentation LIR, a feast for the eyes before the palate.:D

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

Sorry to hear the news Gen. Look after yourself.

As tom says (and as you know) it's not the kind of thing people can "snap out of".

Lots of interesting points for me to reply to in my morning as well as some stern words which are clearly required vis-a-vis cookers & ovens.

Your 'snap out of it' comment is on the nose TBH. When dealing with someone with depression you end up wanting to shake them by the lapels and shout, "just pull yourself together, this is pathetic".

The problem is that someone with depression isn't pathetic they're bathetic. It's very hard to have sympathy from outside.

PS Did you know that the English language used to have 28 letters. The normal ones plus the German double S thing that looks a bit like a capital B and the &?

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

Lots of interesting points for me to reply to in my morning as well as some stern words which are clearly required vis-a-vis cookers & ovens.

Your 'snap out of it' comment is on the nose TBH. When dealing with someone with depression you end up wanting to shake them by the lapels and shout, "just pull yourself together, this is pathetic".

The problem is that someone with depression isn't pathetic they're bathetic. It's very hard to have sympathy from outside.

PS Did you know that the English language used to have 28 letters. The normal ones plus the German double S thing that looks a bit like a capital B and the &?

At least you can (from your skill set and without drawing attention to it) tackle somethings well. Eating for depression, getting exercise are key. If angels danced on my tongue as part of medicine I'd be grateful.


Edit: also, I'd want to remind gen that the depression sometimes means those peoe forget to show those they love how much they love them. But Gen, I am sure she does.

lostinrates

poet123 wrote: »

Lovely presentation LIR, a feast for the eyes before the palate.:D

It was really beautiful. Place was pretty too, and the service was exemplary......polite, gently humorous and attentive but not cloying. Funniest Monet was when DH stamp led over the Italian cod roe name and the waitress charmingly said it for him, and his sister sniggered 'we're Italian and the waitress laughed and asked if SHE were saying it ok. It was charming, and because her help had been help and not patronising it was all not awkward.

Absolutely lovely. I would love to go again. Of course I ate things I am not meant to but I'd have liked to do so with less guilt.

We were the first seated (i think ) and the last to leave bar one table.


You know those rare meals where everything comes to get her and you don't think 'if only that had been less, or this had been more, or the waiter had brought water quickly, or we hadn't been in the corner'? Well it was one of those, we had a superb table, the service was outstanding.....among the nicest...my favourite sort, the food was truly gorgeous (ok, if I had to be REALLY picky, some mushrooms were a little over seasoned for my taste, but I think they'd suit most palates) and the surroundings nice.

We read reviews afterwards and all I can say is there are some really picky beggars who think they know more about things than I think they do.