Sunday, January 27, 2008
Still hard at it
Second Soduku attempted a couple of days ago. Done it again. So, having done them for a while after retirement gave them up last year some time. Will I get hooked again? Maybe the trick is to stick to what the DT calls moderate (so as not to hurt our feelings) but which, I suspect, are fairly easy in the Soduku order of things.
The DT continues to print very lurid headlines. One last week about panic measures to save banking as we know it. The general tone was that the measures were going to fail. Almost that the DT wanted them too. And they are supposed to be - like every other national newspaper - on the side of the angels. Then there was one about some terrible security breach at HMCR. On closer reading it turns out that special people have special arrangements with HMCR and these special arrangements are not compatible with use of the online filing system. Now while this might be a pity, even poor design, it does not amount to a security breach. Perhaps the DT has hired the headline writer from the Sun. I have also heard it suggested that they were very loud about the health of the economy and about the consequent merits of buying lots of shares just before the last crash. So they preach gloom and doom so as not to be caught out in the next crash.
Feeding back in normal channels after festivities. First cod from the man from Hastings at Cheam. First lentil stew with spicy sausage - livened up a bit by the use of brown lentils rather than the usual red ones. Change of colour changed the whole stew experience. Kidneys - mixed light brown and dark brown - but otherwise according to the regular recipe. The amount of these last that we consume at a sitting seems to be rising. In this case we did something over two pounds of kidneys at a sitting, barring a very modest portion to have on bread for breakfast. Today we tried very slow roast in foil with a shoulder of lamb. Came out rather like the duck you have on pancakes in Chinese restaurants. Good texture with most of the fat drained off - just leaving the skin with a (n unhealthy) fatty crunchiness - but maybe we will do it for a bit less than 4 hours at 160C next time. Followed by apple amber - which was not in the least diminished by being made with an orange rather than a lemon and being a little overcooked (according to our usual practise).
The men from the council are up and running too. The lock on the allotment was being troublesome at my last visit. I did nothing but someone did and today we have a shiny new lock which works. The council must have some special deal whereby they can buy a lock which fits the keys which we all hold. And having got in, actually finished the third (short) potato trench and even got some leaf mould onto the rhubard beds. Just got the bean trench to go and then I can move onto planting the all important broad beans.
And nearer home some of the snowdrops are in flower and the celandines are pushing up strongly. Unlike the snowdrops which look a bit lack-lustre. No idea what is the matter with them. Maybe they don't like being in the shade for most of the year. Daffodills at the bottom of the garden not looking too clever either. Maybe they are not keen on the shade either. Or perhaps they like to be fed - something I never do. Nor do I deadhead them which is supposed to preserve their strength. Same principle as porkers I suppose.
The DT continues to print very lurid headlines. One last week about panic measures to save banking as we know it. The general tone was that the measures were going to fail. Almost that the DT wanted them too. And they are supposed to be - like every other national newspaper - on the side of the angels. Then there was one about some terrible security breach at HMCR. On closer reading it turns out that special people have special arrangements with HMCR and these special arrangements are not compatible with use of the online filing system. Now while this might be a pity, even poor design, it does not amount to a security breach. Perhaps the DT has hired the headline writer from the Sun. I have also heard it suggested that they were very loud about the health of the economy and about the consequent merits of buying lots of shares just before the last crash. So they preach gloom and doom so as not to be caught out in the next crash.
Feeding back in normal channels after festivities. First cod from the man from Hastings at Cheam. First lentil stew with spicy sausage - livened up a bit by the use of brown lentils rather than the usual red ones. Change of colour changed the whole stew experience. Kidneys - mixed light brown and dark brown - but otherwise according to the regular recipe. The amount of these last that we consume at a sitting seems to be rising. In this case we did something over two pounds of kidneys at a sitting, barring a very modest portion to have on bread for breakfast. Today we tried very slow roast in foil with a shoulder of lamb. Came out rather like the duck you have on pancakes in Chinese restaurants. Good texture with most of the fat drained off - just leaving the skin with a (n unhealthy) fatty crunchiness - but maybe we will do it for a bit less than 4 hours at 160C next time. Followed by apple amber - which was not in the least diminished by being made with an orange rather than a lemon and being a little overcooked (according to our usual practise).
The men from the council are up and running too. The lock on the allotment was being troublesome at my last visit. I did nothing but someone did and today we have a shiny new lock which works. The council must have some special deal whereby they can buy a lock which fits the keys which we all hold. And having got in, actually finished the third (short) potato trench and even got some leaf mould onto the rhubard beds. Just got the bean trench to go and then I can move onto planting the all important broad beans.
And nearer home some of the snowdrops are in flower and the celandines are pushing up strongly. Unlike the snowdrops which look a bit lack-lustre. No idea what is the matter with them. Maybe they don't like being in the shade for most of the year. Daffodills at the bottom of the garden not looking too clever either. Maybe they are not keen on the shade either. Or perhaps they like to be fed - something I never do. Nor do I deadhead them which is supposed to preserve their strength. Same principle as porkers I suppose.
# posted by Jim @ 12:12 PM 
