Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Farway

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'm a Southerner Farway - but I've come to the conclusion that I don't think we're stand-offish. I think we're more "being polite and non-intrusive" imo.

Money, you have explained it far better than I did, my sentiments exactly

Up early, mid summer day but after sunrise, and it was a bit dull, now sunny

Partly up early because I'm dog sitting again, the big Labrador, he's no trouble at all, plus I was thinking about my gooseberry & how to solve it. The things that go through an idle mind:)

My runnier yoghurt sort of set overnight, I suspect I'm going to need a replacement starter next time

Breakfast, I remembered to get out & pick some raspberries, loads of them there, 130 grammes added to my nuked porridge, with honey & bit runny HM yoghurt

While out gathering the raspberries, spotted the first courgette, plus my red gooseberries are turning, as is my Merton Thornless blackberry, it's very early, the other blackberries are only just in flower

Lunch, planned is a humble but tasty Marmite & tomato sandwich

PS, now I fancy Kittie's breakfast

[Deleted User]

I am actually going to physically visit one of those small market towns with shops, might take a few postcodes with me and will certainly be talking to anyone friendly. I see that buses are going to be halved in number again, so living in walking/cycling distance makes sense. I just came back from the most local shop 2 miles away in my chosen area and really it is 3 shops in one, including the old fashioned hardware.



Anyway am back to find a parcel here from dolphin fitness, now at first sight it looks like fitness fanatic stuff but eg type in oat groats and see what comes up. My third order from them and this company is becoming a favourite, prices, choice, quality, free postage and very fast delivery


I am soaking some oat groats (the actual grains) and will be making oat milk this evening, a soya milk sub.

moneyistooshorttomention

bouicca21 wrote: »

Money, learn the Welsh for 'sadly I do not speak your lovely language' and smile sweetly.

It's a hard one. I do feel totally irritated by some people I met recently who had retired to France some 20 odd years ago but never learned french. Now as they hit serious age related problems, they can't explain their needs/aches and pains to the local medical staff. But French is a major world language, spoken universally in France, whereas Welsh just isn't. Plus it has dialects - you should have heard my (north) Welsh colleague on the subject of the dreadfulness of the Welsh spoken in other parts of the principality. And there are plenty of Welsh people who are proud of the heritage but don't speak a word of the language.

But the fact that it isn't a major world language contributes to the resentment of incomers and a justifiable fear that their culture will be overwhelmed.

If I'd ever moved to France I would have learnt the language - or indeed that of any foreign country.

But - still being in Britain - then I don't. My view is it's divisive.

I was gobsmacked at how many different versions of Welsh there are - and I don't think one realises when elsewhere in the country - and hence I can follow the logic of "It helps if everyone just speaks one language and we can all understand each other clearly". I admit to being thoroughly puzzled at the way there might as well be an invisible forcefield around the outskirts of the town I'm in - as it sort of feels like that and I don't understand that (as I'm looking to the whole country/ie whole of Britain as to what's going on/how to do things/etc/etc). I guess my "invisible force field" encircles the whole of Britain - and I'm pretty unaware of what's happening in other countries - but well aware of what's happening in Britain (very typical British person then LOL).

Now what would be really useful would be to just be able to "mentally beam" one's thoughts at other people - rather than having to find suitable words to put them in and then verbalise them to other people. Having to use words can be enough of a "struggle" in the first place rather than doing a quick "telepathic beam" and the person picks up exactly what you mean clearly. So - to me- it just complicates matters unduly further to have umpteen different languages/dialects/whatever that people are using as an added factor that makes it more difficult to communicate what one means.

True - French is one of the "international" languages (the same as English is) and so it's useful to know generally. Same as German, Italian or Spanish. In this day and age it would probably be rather useful to learn Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese and Russian as well - shudders at the thought of how difficult that would be...

PasturesNew

Languages are only useful if you can use them. Learning them for learning's sake doesn't achieve anything. I've never been abroad..... so have never had to use a language, meaning all the time/effort I've put into learning languages was all wasted time.



Breakfast today was the same as yesterday, just smaller.

Popped out and got bread rolls - just had a tomato & salad cream roll. I have one more tomato to use up .... 4ldi have packs of 6 salad tomatoes as this week's low priced items, at 39p.... so I'll no doubt get another pack at some point. They're pretty tasteless though, so not rushing to grab them.

caronc

Good afternoon everyone,
There's a fair bit of Gaelic spoken in the Highlands & Islands but it doesn't seem to be quite as divisive as it is in parts of Wales. I've never had a good ear for learning other languages, I scraped an O Grade in French learning enough to get by on holiday and be "just about" understood.

After a torrential rain storm late last night the weather has perked up a bit. My lurgy also seems to be on the wane too so I'm hoping to get some deadheading done later.
No breakfast so I had an early lunch of a cheese & roasted veg sarnie, very tasty but rather messy to eat just as well I was CFO.:)
I haven't decided what dinner will be yet.

bouicca21

There's a fair bit of Gaelic spoken in the Highlands & Islands but it doesn't seem to be quite as divisive as it is in parts of Wales.

That's really interesting - and fits with anecdotal evidence from two friends. One was bullied mercilessly throughout childhood for being English in Anglesey, t'other had parents, originally from the Indian sub continent, who retired to one of the Scots islands and were welcomed with open arms.

PasturesNew

Had a bit of a run out to L1dl as I fancied some sweeties....

Bit annoyed as I picked up two quiches which were marked down in price, with the price label being on the box as old price/new price, showing £1.03 and 77p, At the till they rang through at £1.01 each.... but I CBA to say anything as the chap (manager I think) was distracted, there was a tiny old lady of 92 behind me .. and the manager's English wasn't very good, so I didn't want to try to make myself understood (and look tight) in front of a queue I was holding up

To be fair, the price was "right" if you took 30% off the shelf price, but these boxes were marked "wrongly" .... but I still would've bought them if marked correctly (£1.45-£0.44) so I just shrugged, paid and left.

moneyistooshorttomention

bouicca21 wrote: »

That's really interesting - and fits with anecdotal evidence from two friends. One was bullied mercilessly throughout childhood for being English in Anglesey, t'other had parents, originally from the Indian sub continent, who retired to one of the Scots islands and were welcomed with open arms.

I think, as far as I can see, there can be an attitude of "My culture totally good and not to be impartially evaluated. Anyone else's culture = oh that's different".

I may be wrong on that - but I just know that, personally speaking, I'm used to being rather eclectic/bit of a "jackdaw" and will just go:
- I'll have that set of phrases from that culture (I'm rather prone to picking up American ones for instance)
- I'll have that food from this culture and that recipe from that culture (distinctly partial to Middle Eastern food for instance)
- "Ooh...I like that way of dressing and I'll do that sometimes"
- I can think of music from a noticeable number of different cultures that I like personally (anyone fancy the odd bit of Tibetan music LOL?)
- I like that way of thinking from that culture

....and so it goes on....

It's down to I have a "pick and mix" attitude - and I see no reason whatsoever not to pick the "best/most interesting" from any culture on the planet and reject the "worst" from my own.

That's just how it is, isn't it?:think::think::huh::huh:

Farway

caronc wrote: »

Good afternoon everyone,
There's a fair bit of Gaelic spoken in the Highlands & Islands but it doesn't seem to be quite as divisive as it is in parts of Wales.
.

That fits in with my experience, I may have mentioned previously, walked into pub on Skye, they were all speaking Gaelic, they immediately switched to English once I opened my mouth:)

In Wales, walked into a bakers, all speaking English, immediately switched to Welsh once I opened my mouth:mad:

The weather is excellent mid summer's day, hot sun

Spent some time watering my runners this morning, no rain forecast so thought I'd better get on with it before it is too late

And, Ta ra, my big bush gooseberry is now a 5 ft tall spindly standard. Got fed up with it, filled my wheelie bin with the prunings and I'll start making a mop head standard as the summer goes on

Change of lunch plan, had a bacon, lettuce, tomato with mayo sandwich instead of Marmite

Dinner will baked spud, with grated Cheddar filling + salad

PS, I found some goosegogs hidden away once I started pruning, only handful unripe ones, but I'll nuke them for a pud later

[Deleted User]

I like it farway, the goosegog bush. I picked all mine off today, another 8.5 lbs amd instead of doing the gentle summer prune, I did a drastic prune again. Some branches were far too long and heavy when they had fruit on, reverting back to bush shape, I pruned them off and the bushes are dainty again, just as many branches as last year and I certainly don`t want any more fruit than I have now


Anyone who wants goosegogs and hasn`t the bushes, they are often found on pyo. Top and tail is easy using fingers and mine are done, washed and rinsed and drying for tomorrow. Two days effort for a year of treats

I had my last snack just before 3 and my body has adjusted to the 16 hours without food. I am losing weight and that is for sure, slow and steady. Oat milk made, in minutes and will be having soaked oats tomorrow. I enjoyed my lunch no end today, a tart and salad, no idea for tomorrow