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

SingleSue

Anyway, brilliant news Viva! Perfect way to start the new year with good news.

Had a great night last night, didn't get drunk which was amazing bearing in mind how little I drink normally (just a few units per year) and I didn't hold back in my consumption of alcohol whilst out either. Very late night and I have spent most of today flat on my back as I made the rather silly mistake of getting carried away and thinking I was 18 again and able to dance to the band...I just can't resist trying to dance, it's in my bones to dance and unless I am listening to music in the car or on my pc, I think I would need to be tied down to stop me dancing...it was afterall, going to be my career before I beggered my back up.

It was only for a couple of songs, no more but it did the damage and when I first woke this morning, it was not to a hangover but to a body that was refusing to move without a lot of pain. I did finally get it to move (blooming good thing too as I was desperate for the loo) but it would have made a very funny thing for someone to watch, it was more ministry of funny walks/drags than anything else!

So, as nothing else was on for today and the boys were settled, I took the chance and rested my overused joints.

Happy New Year everyone!

zagubov

Got a 400+ mile drive south tomorrow. Any tips for a good cheap supermarket petrol station off the M6/M1 between say Coventry and London?;)

John_Pierpoint

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Went to the supermarket this afternoon. Parked in a pretty empty part of the car park.

Came back to find a socking great dent in one of the car doors where, clearly, someone had decided to park right next to me and fail to control their door when it opened.

I have used a suction puller with success in a similar situation - as long as the metal has not been creased - play with an empty drinks can and you will see what I mean,; You might be able to take off the inner panel and push with a rounded piece of wood, using a stroking levering motion. Hit it and stretch the metal and you will be in trouble. You might be able to make it look a whole lot better though still not perfect.

michaels wrote: »

Our vinegar comes from Morrisons, it costs 21p for 500ml (750?). WE used to get it in sains when their cheapo vinegar cost 18p for 500ml but they have put it up to 35p. We are gradually getting priced out of Sains, I can see why they are making more margin than other supermarkets.

Back in the autumn, I made chutney with Lidl malt vinegar in pints at a litre price of £0.40. [thinks: Are all brands of acetic acid sold at a standard concentration? ] Most of it has been eaten now and it was of a quality that I was proud to give away.

zagubov wrote: »

Got a 400+ mile drive south tomorrow. Any tips for a good cheap supermarket petrol station off the M6/M1 between say Coventry and London?;)

When I was an M1 commuter in another life, I would top up at the Luton turn off.
Current prices from "petrolprices"
Esso
Dunstable Rd
Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 8DL

Open 24 hours
@ 127.9 for petrol
That is Exxon (Esso) just past the first roundabout at the end of the dual carriageway on the left at lights going East towards Luton

Alternatively turn West at junction 11 and find yourself at the first roundabout in Dunstable.The site on the left turning has been bagged by Tesco, if you need a break to stock up on everything available in a 24 hour Tesco (and get points)..

John_Pierpoint

There is a very interesting unusual edition of Radio 4 "Today" being allowed to sneak out of the BBC while the board of governance (trustees) are off skiing or chasing [STRIKE]foxes[/STRIKE] hounds?

P J Harvey[STRIKE] MSE [/STRIKE] MBE is running the show.
Before you assume she went to the same school as Billy Bragg, it seems she was raised on a family farm in Dorset in a village where farms cost millions. [A village in dire poverty 150 years ago, but that played its little part in creating Harvard university].

Expect questions about misuse of the licence fee from free market commentators, hedge funds and arms manufactures.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100252488/choosing-julian-assange-to-read-thought-for-the-day-is-like-picking-bryan-adams-and-celine-dion-as-your-desert-island-discs/

Personal life

Harvey describes herself as "an extremely quiet person, who doesn't go out much, doesn't talk to people" and has also acquired a reputation for eccentricity to match her music; for example, Steve Albini claimed she ate nothing but potatoes while making Rid of Me.[109] She also rejects the notion that her song lyrics are autobiographical. In 1998, she told The Times: "the tortured artist myth is rampant. People paint me as some kind of black witchcraft-practising devil from hell, that I have to be twisted and dark to do what I am doing. It's a load of rubbish" and later told Spin: "some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they'll listen to 'Down by the Water' and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her."[110]
In the early 1990s, Harvey was romantically involved with drummer and photographer Joe Dilworth.[111] From 1996 to 1997, following their musical collaborations, Harvey had a relationship with Nick Cave. Their subsequent break-up influenced Cave's follow-up studio album, The Boatman's Call (1997),[112][113] with songs such as "Into My Arms," "West Country Girl" and "Black Hair" being written specifically about her. She was also rumoured to be romantically involved with musician and actor Vincent Gallo, though both denied the claims.[112]
Harvey has one older brother, Saul, and four nieces and nephews through him. She has in 1995 said she would like to have children stating: "I wouldn't consider it unless I was married. I would have to meet someone that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. That's the only person who I would want to be the father of my children. Maybe that will never happen. I obviously see it in a very rational way but I'd love to have children."[114]
Harvey has encountered widespread opposition to one pro fox-hunting comment made in a 1998 NME magazine feature, which reported Harvey saying she was not opposed to fox-hunting and that: "Seeing the hunt out on the fields is just so natural to me." Since then, 'scores of letters poured in from readers shocked at her support for the highly controversial...' practice. [115]
Harvey was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to music.[116]
In August 2013 she released a track "Shaker Aamer" in support of Shaker Aamer and other prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay.[117]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJ_Harvey

Generali

So ovens.

The reason that commercial kitchens have large ovens is because they have a large thermal mass: when you put cold food in them the temperature doesn't drop as much as it would in a small oven. That isn't really a consideration in household cookery so, IMHO, if you buy a range you're getting something inflexible and that takes a long time to get hot.

As a reasonably serious home cook, I'd rather have 2 full but normal sized fan ovens, a microwave and a large gas BBQ. The Barbie can double as an oven for roasting a particularly large piece of meat and with the 2 normal ovens I'd have the ability, for example, to cook Yorkshire puds and roast spuds in a very hot oven and do a lemon tart in a moderate oven simulataneously.

I quite regularly (perhaps once a year on average) cook for 50+ in a domestic kitchen so I'm used to this stuff and have given it a lot of thought.

tomterm8

I don't drink much any more and I never drink spirits so if I really want to make a recipe with a spirit I go to the local pub. I buy a shot of whatever spirit and ask the nice man to put it into a clean bottle I bring with me. Job done.

Edit: Brandy cream and butter is often quite cheap to try out, because if you go to a carol service they often provide you with mince pies and brandy cream / butter after the service!

A secret use for it is with a desert pancake, combine the desert pancake with vanilla ice cream and a little brandy cream and you make something that is out of this world.

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

So ovens.

The reason that commercial kitchens have large ovens is because they have a large thermal mass: when you put cold food in them the temperature doesn't drop as much as it would in a small oven. That isn't really a consideration in household cookery so, IMHO, if you buy a range you're getting something inflexible and that takes a long time to get hot.

As a reasonably serious home cook, I'd rather have 2 full but normal sized fan ovens, a microwave and a large gas BBQ. The Barbie can double as an oven for roasting a particularly large piece of meat and with the 2 normal ovens I'd have the ability, for example, to cook Yorkshire puds and roast spuds in a very hot oven and do a lemon tart in a moderate oven simulataneously.

I quite regularly (perhaps once a year on average) cook for 50+ in a domestic kitchen so I'm used to this stuff and have given it a lot of thought.

I really like a big oven. I don't mind a smaller second one. ( And yeah, i need two. Maybe even though I don't like real ranges its a legacy of the 'shove it in the range ' sort of cooking? Also lots of the food we cook its bitty stuff I suppose.

DH is the barbecuer. No gas considered! I'll be honest , i actually don't enjoy it a all. When we traditional roast large joints I really would rather put them in the oven. Familiarity? Control? Ease?

My main jostling for space problem is hob. Current oven has sort of six rings. Its almost enough. I'd quite like more flexibility there tbh. One of those grill top adapters rather than a pan, perhaps, for more space and thus more speed when trying to do lots of things.


Btw, not all the range ovens are huge, my second oven is 'normal sized' and as I say, the main oven is too small for my taste, too small for my roasting tin to go in the right way round certainly. I'd have struggled if I were trying to roast two birds this Christmas I think with everything else well timed, rather than juggled..



Edit: Also the deluxe cookers don't seem to have grills in them......I'm obviously missing sipomethong obvious but where does one grill / broil? Really, you have to use a BBQ or just the grill top? Suppose you want to gelden the top of something more deeply tha......a topping of a dish cooked on a bottom shelf of a big oven for example? Pain to get out the blow torch.

And toast?

PasturesNew

tomterm8 wrote: »

Edit: Brandy cream and butter is often quite cheap to try out, because if you go to a carol service they often provide you with mince pies and brandy cream / butter after the service!

That might just be your church .... maybe I've discovered a new posh alert.

lostinrates

tomterm8 wrote: »

I don't drink much any more and I never drink spirits so if I really want to make a recipe with a spirit I go to the local pub. I buy a shot of whatever spirit and ask the nice man to put it into a clean bottle I bring with me. Job done.

Edit: Brandy cream and butter is often quite cheap to try out, because if you go to a carol service they often provide you with mince pies and brandy cream / butter after the service!

A secret use for it is with a desert pancake, combine the desert pancake with vanilla ice cream and a little brandy cream and you make something that is out of this world.

Does that work out much more expensive than have bottles you don't drink from?

silvercar

Kind bin men, who have not yet been tipped, walked 3m down my driveway to retrieve the brown bin that had not been put out; emptied it then put it back in its place! :j

Either they anticipate a tip or they have me on the list of people who have tipped.