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

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

We've got some friends coming over in a few weeks for dinner and I promised them a proper English meal.

I'm going to do roast beef with yorkies, roast spuds etc for mains and bread and butter pudding/spotted !!!!!! for puds. Ideas for a starter please...?

I'd do a trifle instead of a B/B pudding - for three reasons:
[a] a lot of people find the texture of B/B offputting and slimey
that's two heavy puds
[c] a good old fashioned English trifle can be made the day before

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

It's a horrible place. If you want to live there thn be my guest but I wouldn't. I used to live just up the road from there in Weat Norwood and it's a deeply unpleasant area: crime ridden and violent. Someone got beaten to death with a hammer while I lived there. Awful.

I was more remarking that people say London's expensive - but outside of the Golden Roads it's often cheaper than many other areas around the country.... without the access to free events/things to do, high wages and good transport.

PasturesNew

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Nah - haven't been to view anything this year. Asking prices are getting a bit silly at the moment so anything new that does come on the market seems to be priced about 25% above what houses were selling for in the autumn.

Exactly what I am finding!

chewmylegoff wrote: »

There is a house which sold for £690k last April which is on the market for £850k now-

I drove past one on Saturday that's on at £175k that was only bought last year for £150k and has had nothing done to it. And another that was sold at £165k that's now for sale at £200k.

PasturesNew

LydiaJ wrote: »

How about pate?

I was going to say that. As it's Aus - and water-bound, you could find a quality crab pate.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

LOL .... hilarious



I've never found out how much accountants charge, but I know they couldn't make enough savings to save me more than they cost, so I've never used one.

DH just doesn't have time to do it ATM. I do but cannot be trusted .

Imagine if I told the tax office we needed to claim for screwing tori Amos. :rotfl: I am also handily inverting numbers ATM .


What we do is I prep it all and put the receipts and stuff in the right order for the business and then accountant fills it in and tells me if I've missed anything for next time.

Dh's is actually quite simple but a big cheque has to go with it extra to paye.



Accountant gives us a big letter in a bout two weeks about what we COULD have offset were we better little tax avoiders and that would make her seem like excellent value. :rot

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

Aussies basically eat prime cuts. It's amazing how rich Aussies are actually. They're like Germans but with crap cars.

One of the things they compare on the telly Wanted Down Under is the weekly grocery bill - and they're staggered at the increased cost of some things, but then I think "Yeah, but that's what you eat here because that's what's in the shops - I bet Aussies don't eat that stuff and you'll find new things ... and/or maybe the list isn't a like for like comparison and you can find it cheaper". One thing one couple remarked on as much more expensive last week was yoghurts... well, nobody needs yoghurts (horrible things! Never actually had one, I hate the name of "live culture", grosses me out)

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

We can get Stilton but not good Stilton. Actually a Waldorfy-stilton, pear and walnut salad might be good. Possibly it's a bit challenging for the kids at the table but if they don't like it then they don't have to eat it.

Rick Stein, from Padstow, has a deli - and he's also got a wine business.... I wonder if they sell proper cheeses at the Aussie place, if it has a shop and online shopping (just for reference, not specifically for this meal).

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

Incidentally, PN, when MIL comes, hopefully only for a few weeks, to join us today after discharge from hospital, there'll be eight of us in the house. 5 GDB-ers, plus MIL, plus my cousin's daughter and her boyfriend are staying temporarily. Plus we have one away at Uni.

You'd never fit that lot in, standing, in the houses I grew up in

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

Some of the best house ideas I've seen are more modest. One was a pair of bunk beds separated by a wall so they became built-in cabin beds in different rooms.

I've seen that..... nifty - but you still need a sizeable room to achieve it - looking at windows/doors and room sizes, it'd be a rare house where that's achievable these days. All these ideas are based on old/large rooms, not modern pokey rabbit hutches.

zagubov wrote: »

Or having separate toilet and bathroom which is part of building regulations in Japan I think.

I never understand why on the property programmes where there's a separate loo/bathroom they say "take this wall out and make a family sized bathroom" - I think "NO - now nobody can go to the loo if another's having a bath!"

Same with built in cupboards "Rip them out to make more room" - when a built in cupboard actually provides MORE storage space than a wardrobe would do!

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've seen that..... nifty - but you still need a sizeable room to achieve it - looking at windows/doors and room sizes, it'd be a rare house where that's achievable these days. All these ideas are based on old/large rooms, not modern pokey rabbit hutches.


I never understand why on the property programmes where there's a separate loo/bathroom they say "take this wall out and make a family sized bathroom" - I think "NO - now nobody can go to the loo if another's having a bath!"

Same with built in cupboards "Rip them out to make more room" - when a built in cupboard actually provides MORE storage space than a wardrobe would do!

Quite. Plus the craze decades ago for knocking down a wall and joining front and back reception rooms into one big open-plan area. Craze is just about the right word. These people's heads must have been emptier than a hermit's address book.