BS: Good stuff

Subject: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 07:58 AM

As a break from the usual negativity how about a positive thread on all the good things that are going on?

I'll start. Only one more day in work and then I am on leave for 2 weeks and 2 days which we will be spending at home with good friends from the USA. We have a couple of nights in Edinburgh planned but in the main it will be visits around the north of England, good food and plenty to drink :-) I am also going top read 'The Shepherds Crown' while I am off and possibly, as a group, we may well catch up on some films courtesy of XBMC on the Raspberry Pi. No plans set in concrete. All relaxed. I am unwinding already :-)

How about you?

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 08:19 AM

Just about to have a shower before I amble into town to meet up with my old sparing partner to chew the fat and enjoy a few pints in hostelries we don't usually frequent. I've got a few ounces of Serrano Ham to take down for him carved from the whole leg I purchased two weeks ago at a ridiculously low price from the local Lidl supermarket. A 6.5kilo Serrano Ham was just £29.99 and it's rather nice. Should last me until at least Christmas, plus the quantity I will freeze.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 08:38 AM

"sparing partner"
Does this mean you punch each other up the point where one of you is beaten - then you let him off?
The strange things men do!!!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 08:52 AM

Enjoy, Raggy. If we find ourselves over in Whitby, which we did last time they were here, I will get in touch.

Jim, we do it all the time here :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 08:56 AM

Next week will be fine after that I will be incommunicado for some time.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 09:13 AM

"Jim, we do it all the time here"
Sounds a bit like the kicking matches (I assume you know about these?)
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 09:16 AM

If it doesn't get too cold tomorrow, or Saturday, I will head off to Fleetwood to see what I can find in the way of sessions at the resurrected festival.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 09:34 AM

Ooooh - Forgot about that, Stanron, and got all excited at the prospect of a visit to the seaside. But then remembered I am on call and need to stay near home until Monday. Ah well, can't have everything.

Our visitors do not arrive until Monday this time but last time they came must have been same time of year. We took them to Fleetwood on the Sunday of the Festival and had a lovely time watching the Morris Dancers outside the Marine Hall in the glorious sunshine! About 10 years ago I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 10:31 AM

My neighbours a few doors down, were just married a few months ago. It's nice to see young loving couples prepare for a life together. They are really nice folks, get along with everyonr,and have hada couple of neighbourhood get togethers ,attended by all. BTW,they are gay- not that that makes a difference to positive thinking people.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 10:48 AM

"...get the beer aficionados to stick to their own thread .."

We just try to 'beer up under the strain' of some topics. ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 11:03 AM

Going kayak camping on a barrier island and fishing Pine Island Sound this weekend where the Redfish are supposed to be abundant right now.
We're bringing along our instruments for some campfire picking with plenty cold beer at day's end.
Good thread, Dave, in spite of the "unbeerable" observations of a certain grump.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 11:26 AM

"Good thread, Dave"
I'll drink to that - bottoms up - or maybe not, considering!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 11:47 AM

That reminds me, anyone know what beer to expect in Fleetwood? Any recommendations?

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: akenaton
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 11:58 AM

"We just try to 'beer up under the strain' of some topics. ;>) "


Just "got it" Bill.....isn't old age terrible....nice one! :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 12:40 PM

I well remember friend, now sadly departed, and I quaffing a few pits of Moorhouses 'Pendle Witch' at the Marine Hall prior to a third friend joining us and being unable to understand a word we were saying until he had caught up :-) Plenty good beer at Fleetwood, Stanron. The Steamer used to have a good range of well kept ales. Plenty of others but I can't recall the details. Too many brain cells lost :-)

Gillymor - Whatever you do, don't light a fire in your kayak to keep warm. Remember that you can't have your kayak and heat it...

Keep it up everyone. We may yet keep a happy thread going!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 01:09 PM

My old mate of 40+ years' friendship, Rob, is coming over from Shropshire for the weekend. On Sunday it's the annual, invitation-only, back garden festival in a local Sussex village - we call it "Ditchfest" - and I'll be setting up the PA and mixing desk in the morning, mixing for local musicians from 2pm to around 10pm, and drinking beer, chatting and even playing myself throughout the day.

The rule is: Get your name and a time on the blackboard, you play for 15 minutes oe 3 tunes - whichever is the shorter - and then you're off. But of course you can always team up with some of the other musicians there, call yourselves something different - and away you go again!

It's a great day. People bring food and drink, there's a huge paella served at 8pm, and the various musical groups range from little children to grandparents making music of all sorts and kinds. At 10pm the PA is switched off, the camp fire coals are burning brightly and people sit round the fire and sing and play acoustically until it's bedtime.

That's what I call "Good Stuff"!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 03:19 PM

Right now I'm listening to Andras Schiff play Bach's Goldberg Variations on BBC 4. Very good stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 03:51 PM

Sounds brilliant, Will. And playing yourself is better than getting some famous actor to do it :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 04:47 PM

Oh God yes - think of the royalties! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 04:51 PM

Just had a wonderful Polish-themed vegetarian meal at my daughters. Got back and realised I had eaten far too much so I had 30 minutes on the exercise bike listening to The Small Faces. All definitely good stuff :-)

The universal is a very odd song but I love the line

"Working doesn't seem to be
the perfect thing for me,
So I continue to play
And if I'm so bad,
Why don't they take me away"

Original Brit Pop genius!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 06:06 PM

It's not often that the words "wonderful" and "vegetarian" can appear in the same sentence, I was thinking to myself. Then I remembered that I cooked up a gloriously simple tomato sauce for tonight, with fresh cherry tomatoes, olive oil, tons of basil and the obligatory lashings of garlic and chilli. Lovely with spaghetti and freshly-grated Parmesan, washed down with a sunny bottle of Negroamaro from Puglia. As I'd made the sauce on Tuesday, the whole thing was rustled up in ten minutes!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 06:32 PM

"Remember that you can't have your kayak and heat it...", lol, Dave, I'm definitely stealing that one.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 08:03 AM

Posted similar before but the thread goblin seems to have eaten it!

Go for a long drawn out story of an Eskimo (or Inuit to be correct I suppose) out on a hunting trip, Gillymor. It is the way I heard it and has a great groan factor :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 10:05 AM

"Go for a long drawn out story"
Like the one one about the tribal chief who built himself a two
storey grass hut in order to keep his throne in a safe place when it wasn't being used - and it collapsed, crushing him to death.
Moral - people who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 10:43 AM

Very similar, Jim. Or the squaw on the hippopotamus :-)

Chip shop chips tonight, possibly with curry sauce and definitely with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. It gets better by the minute :-D

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Raggytash
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 11:09 AM

Just come down to the club for a pint. The GOOD STUFF is it's only a pound a pint for Guinness today. Apparently it's 40 years since the club opened.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 02:24 PM

That is good stuff, Raggy! Swinton Catholic Mens Club (Misnomer on so many counts) used to have a week of getting rid of the profits and almost giving its beer away. Many a night lost on that...

I had curry sauce but couldn't eat all the chips BTW. The Sav. Blanc was Con Sur from Chile. very nice as well :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 05:51 PM

I can't match the exotic libations - mine will be a simple Cab sauvignon with dinner- but I do have a happy time coming up.

Tomorrow night will be the 11th annual concert in the theater of one of our local mountains, accessible by tram or by foot only. There will be 10 20-minute sets of performers- our lovely KT will be the stage manager and she sees to it that the finishing performers whisk off as the new set comes on. Since she is on board, I don't have a care in the world- I get to sit there and watch the whole show.

Fun night.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: gnu
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 06:20 PM

Smoked picnic pork shoulder at $1.29/#, 2#s of fresh local greenie beanies and fresh local carrots and spuds and cabbage. When I say I used the big pot, I mean I used the BIG pot. 10C overnight and all my windows are open.

Don't get no better than this eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 04:15 AM

Sun has come out after being hidden most of the week. Bit of outside Tai Chi this morning I think. Mow the lawn and wash the car ready for our visitors. Last couple of days of on call so, come Monday, anything goes!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 05:46 AM

That's a shame. Things were going so well for you until it was spoilt by having to wash a car.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 05:58 AM

I get an old woman to wash my car, she does it regularly. A good lass is ..











old mother nature

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 06:28 AM

I do it myself once about every two years, Doug, when I can no longer see through the windscreen :-) I do enjoy it in a perverse sort of way!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 06:37 AM

"Don't get better than this, eh?"

Hmm. By sheer coincidence, tonight we're having roast shoulder of pork with masses of crackling, roast spuds, carrots and French beans from the veg plot. Mrs Steve will have her apple sauce with it, but that devil's vomit will come nowhere near my plate. Time to tun the oven on. Could it be better? Well, it could be a big free-range chicken with Steve's stuffing and Cumberland chipolatas, or a massive shoulder of lamb on the bone, I suppose...

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Lobster is good stuff
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 11:07 AM

Brunch today: fresh Atlantic lobsters fried in butter, cream and black oepoer added (nithing more) and put over freshly baked crusty bread. Now that's good stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Ed T
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 11:08 AM

Last post was lobster boy, Ed T.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 11:12 AM

Have you room for one more at your table, I'll bring the beer!!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 11:54 AM

Funnily enough I nearly bought a lobster at the beach fish shop half an hour ago, but refrained only because the pork is in the oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 01:46 PM

Good things from our garden and tonight we will have what Nova Scotians call hodge podge, baby potatoes, carrots, green beans, fresh peas and corn in a cream and butter broth, fresh parsley and loads of garlic and black pepper, Oh, and speaking of Lobster, if you want the best, simply steamed and served with butter, Nova Scotia is the place to go..no where else comes close.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 02:41 PM

I tried cooking lobster but no matter how long I boiled it it got no softer. In fact, I broke a fork prodding it...

:D tG

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Raedwulf
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 03:11 PM

Could have been worse, Dave. You know you've over-cooked lobster if you break a hammer prodding it! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 03:33 PM

I had the same problem with eggs. No matter how long I boiled them, they never got any softer.

Getting back to the thread - I think this may be Good Snuff.

:D

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 03:39 PM

Well our roast pork was the greatest ever. I did all the cooking but Mrs Steve excelled herself with the gravy (none of yer bloody Bisto muck in our house).

Now you're going to laugh when I tell you this, but more fool you if you do. I bought the piece of pork, boned and rolled shoulder, at Gloucester Services on the M5. Shut up now. Gloucester Services is a world apart from any other service area. It serves super food, has a farmers' market selling mostly local produce, a brilliant cheese counter, the best pork pies you can get your hands on and, above all, a brilliant butchers' counter. The piece of pork was only 3lb in weight and I was worried about how to cook it, as I usually only roast big hunks of meat, preferably on the bone. I blasted it in a very hot oven for 20 minutes to crackle the crackling, then whacked the oven down to 110 degrees for about five hours. Right at the end, another ten-minute blast. Then a half-hour rest. It was superb. No need for a carving knife. Plenty of cold meat left for tomorrow too. I might even have to investigate this bloody pulled pork phenomenon wot I don't yet get. Life is good!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 03:52 PM

I am not disputing the quality of Gloucester Services, Steve, but 'all other services' is, I think, somewhat harsh!

Ever been to Tebay on the M6? Very good indeed and, I suspect, equal to anything that Gloucester has to offer. And has a name that is pronounced as it is spelled as well :-P

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 04:06 PM

Ah yes, sorry about that! I haven't been to Tebay services but I understand that Gloucester set out to emulate its quality and demolish once and for all the grisly reputation that these places suffer. I fully intend to pay the place a visit. Mebbe I'll take me mum next time I'm oop north (which will be soon!)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Sep 15 - 02:46 AM

Just noticed that there is a link to Gloucester on the Tebay web site. Wonder if they are affiliated?

It is definitely getting better - Won £25 on the lottery :-) String of 0's after that and I would be on a real roll!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 10 Sep 15 - 03:28 PM

It's a week since I was listening to Andras Schiff play Bach's Goldberg Variations on BBC 4. Tonight is Yo Yo Ma playing Bach's cello suites. I know it's not folk but it is is 'Good Stuff'.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Sep 15 - 07:03 PM

Andras Schiff is superb. I heard a bit of his Proms Goldbergs but got interrupted, so when I find a quiet hour...! You should listen to his amazing project explaining all Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, freely available online. I've had his Goldberg CD for a good few years and it's my go-to, far better than that self-regarding and pretentious Canadian fellow's two attempts. I'll catch Yo Yo Ma on iPlayer when I can muster the energy to listen to all six at one go!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 10 Sep 15 - 07:19 PM

It was 2 1/2 hours long and I admit that I had a little snooze towards the end but it was wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Sep 15 - 07:25 PM

The curmudgeonly Guardian gave it five stars so it must've been good!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Janie
Date: 10 Sep 15 - 09:36 PM

Simple pleasures for me make up the good stuff. Late summer Saturday afternoons on the porch right now; watching immature bluebirds in large numbers jockey for space in the birdbath while this year's hatch of blue-tailed skinks dodge among the low rocks below them - glass of cheap Pinot Grigio in hand, rocking to the sound and harmonies of a group such as Mandolin Orange.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 06:20 AM

Well yesterday we had what could turn out to be the last nice day of the summer :-( After a so-so butterfly summer we had hundreds yesterday. The most numerous were small tortoiseshells and red admirals (which love rotting windfall apples) but we also had loads of meadow browns and one comma and one brimstone. If you like butterflies try to get hold of a plant called Sedum "Brilliant" which is the best butterfly attractor I've ever come across (it looks similar to Sedum "Autumn Joy" but that one, though great for bees, isn't much good at attracting butterflies). There were lots of a hawk-moth which I'm just about to look up! My tipple was a glass of Prosecco, but only later on I hasten to add!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 06:27 AM

In a little over 24 hours I shall be in a pub that boasts 115 different whiskeys and whiskys on their shelves. Now that's what I call good stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 06:56 AM

Dammit, it wasn't a hawk moth, it was a Silver Y moth. Get a grip, Shaw!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 07:31 AM

I read an article this morning (can't find the bloody thing now) that said if you dip rope into red wine and hang it up it attracts a certain butterfly.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 08:10 AM

If it wasn't awful wine and an amazing butterfly I suspect I would stick with the wine.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 08:10 AM

If you paint a mixture of beer and sugar on a post, you might just attract the huge convolvulus hawk moth. Bloody good excuse for opening a bottle of beer, I'd say.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Stanron
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 08:53 AM

Beer and sugar on a post? That could be invaluable information. Should I ever actually need an excuse.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 09:17 AM

Yebbut don't expect to get away with it outside of convolvulus hawk moth season. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Janie
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 06:32 PM

Listening to good stuff. Carl Jones and Beverly Smith Going to the West

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 07:15 PM

Well I've just been listening to Beethoven's piano sonata no 24 in F sharp, Op 78. Tough guy, old Beethoven, but this piece is so beautiful, so lyrical, so tender. If you listen on YouTube I recommend the version by Wilhelm Kempff.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST,CupOfTea, no cookies
Date: 14 Sep 15 - 05:32 PM

Lots of musical good stuff recently, but what stands out for me as REALLY good stuff was

Peaches

Red Haven peaches from Catawba Island, Bergman Orchards. The peach engineered for the Great Lakes area - tender and doesn't travel well, so they don't get the mealy refrigerated texture, you get 'em fresh and sigh with pleasure. (and eat 'em over a sink or with a good supply of paper towel under your chin)

I've been buying from this place for four decades, and this year's peaches were larger, jucier, tastier than anything they've grown for almost that long. Last year's fruit crop was all wiped out by the spring freeze, so that this year's was superb just intensified how wonderful it was to have such a great crop. Over a week, I got two pecks of peaches up to 4.5 inches wide, hard to get 'em to balance in the basket... I'd intended to put some up, but over two weeks I managed to eat or share them all.   

And then they were gone - stopped on my way to Chicagoland the next weekend and I had to grin and bear it now being that two week window of concord grape season.

Fresh fruit and veggies... ahhhhhh, VERY good stuff!

Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Sep 15 - 06:49 PM

Ye gods, peaches! It's very hard to get a decent peach this end. If you find really good tasty peaches, eat most of them until indigestion threatens, then purée the flesh of the rest, freeze the juice in ice cube trays and use them, two or three chunks at a time, to make Bellinis with cheap Prosecco (thaw the cubes first!)

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Sep 15 - 09:11 AM

Sitttin' in the sun with me cup of tea and cheese 'n' biscuits. Been watching a chiffchaff five yards away (it didn't know I was there) catching bugs, and them silver Y moths feeding on me geranium flowers. We had gales all day yesterday and an inch and a half of rain but the butterflies are unfazed. Got a boy and a girl brimstone flittering around just now. A peregrine just flew right over the house then did a dramatic stoop. Dunno whether it was a success!

We're off to the dentist in a few minutes and Mrs Steve, as ever, is a nervous wreck. Not me. I never give it a thought until I'm in that chair chatting to the lovely Hannah, here from Prague, best dentist I've ever had!

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 15 - 09:42 PM

"Every day above ground is a good day." --Harris Yulin as Mel Bernstein, Scarface

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Sep 15 - 08:17 AM

Not if you happen to be the root of a tomato plant.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Joe_F
Date: 16 Sep 15 - 08:42 PM

Saw a chipmunk today. And someone on the Mudcat was kind to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Sep 15 - 06:55 PM

Went for a walk on the sea cliffs this afternoon. Huge great thunder-clouds as big as Everest all around us, but over us the sun stayed out and we didn't have a drop.

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Sep 15 - 08:33 PM

""Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake?"" 
― Wallace Stevens

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Sep 15 - 08:38 PM

""Don't wait. Start stuff.""
― Richie Norton

Subject: RE: BS: Good stuff
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 15 - 03:07 PM

Bude food fair today. Brilliant weather, loads of stalls selling goodies (bought a king-size steak and Stilton pie for Monday, some little pancetta, sausage and chorizo tartlets, two pots of sweet but very hot chilli sauce and a whole shoulder of Devon lamb, all exclusively local stuff), then pigged out on a huge bowl of slow-cooked chilli beef nachos each. We can hardly move! And it's on again tomorrow!