Merry Christmas and what does Santa have for you

[Athy]

5 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I'm stressed, maybe I should ask the misses if I'm hot or not

[Phoenix_V]

14 hours ago, peterboat said:

 

You have to stress chilies otherwise they are flavourless, ie miss watering out to make them droop a bit before watering.

We always do well with chillies but little else,  now I know why

[Naughty Cal]

5 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

We always do well with chillies but little else,  now I know why

Carrots and beetroot must like being stressed as well 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Carrots and beetroot must like being stressed as well 

We were discussing this at the allotment yesterday, we have limited water and arnt allowed hosepipes so the water we have is for the greenhouse and when planting out, most never water in the season because with a watering can its a waste of time. The crops still grow sometimes they wilt a bit but mostly they survive. A few things do need constant watering so they are rotated near to the water to make it easier, but its not a daily thing as a little bit of stress helps the flavour

[Athy]

8 minutes ago, peterboat said:

 most never water in the season because with a watering can its a waste of time. 

Why? This is surely a normal and long-established method of watering the garden.

[Naughty Cal]

28 minutes ago, peterboat said:

We were discussing this at the allotment yesterday, we have limited water and arnt allowed hosepipes so the water we have is for the greenhouse and when planting out, most never water in the season because with a watering can its a waste of time. The crops still grow sometimes they wilt a bit but mostly they survive. A few things do need constant watering so they are rotated near to the water to make it easier, but its not a daily thing as a little bit of stress helps the flavour

We grow in containers so we do have to water them on a semi regular basis when we are home to do it.

[tree monkey]

20 minutes ago, Athy said:

Why? This is surely a normal and long-established method of watering the garden.

I'm with you here, Dad watered 2 allotment plots entirely with a watering can, with my enthusiastic but erratic help as a small child

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Athy said:

Why? This is surely a normal and long-established method of watering the garden.

Certain crops have to be watered you see farmers doing it others just take their chances

1 minute ago, tree monkey said:

I'm with you here, Dad watered 2 allotment plots entirely with a watering can, with my enthusiastic but erratic help as a small child

We dont do it except for salad stuff which is all water

[Guest]

My dad had a very large garden he watered it every evening with the hose pipe, in summer they used to go to the caravan for weeks on end leaving strict instructions for us to water every evening, we watered the night before they came home..........................the veg was always ok apart for the green beans and cabbages which I had weed killered for the most

[Athy]

22 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

I'm with you here, Dad watered 2 allotment plots entirely with a watering can, 

The clue's in the name!

[Stilllearning]

Santa has given us the pleasure of the reruns of all the Jonathan Creek programmes, with the added fun of seeing who appears in each episode. Last night Mrs S turned to me and said ‘is that who I think it is, in that music studio?’ Hank Wangford/Sam Hutt vastly enjoying himself playing an ageing rock star.

 

[BlueStringPudding]

4 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

Santa has given us the pleasure of the reruns of all the Jonathan Creek programmes, with the added fun of seeing who appears in each episode. Last night Mrs S turned to me and said ‘is that who I think it is, in that music studio?’ Hank Wangford/Sam Hutt vastly enjoying himself playing an ageing rock star.

 

I watched that. First episode I've ever seen all the way through! It was alright, I could tolerate another. It's no Columbo, mind 😉

 

Not being a particular fan of Caroline Quentin, I didn't watch Jonathan Creek when they were first on the tele. The show seems to revolve around her character rather than the title character. It was kinda quirky though. 

[Machpoint005]

It's on now. I don't remember the incidental music being quite so intrusive, and it's surprising how dated it seems.

 

[Stilllearning]

20 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

It's on now. I don't remember the incidental music being quite so intrusive, and it's surprising how dated it seems.

 

One of the interesting things is the lack of Chekhov’s guns. 

Hank Wangford was one of the most surprising gigs I ever saw at Glastonbury.

[Ex Brummie]

Having watched and enjoyed 3 episodes, it is not something you would see today with all the breast fondling and the like. And tonight, the animal content would bring howls of disapproval.

[JJPHG]

On 12/12/2021 at 00:37, Stilllearning said:

You could make it yourself?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

Sadly the 3 attempts over the Xmas break (all different recipes) failed to do much 🙁.  Didn't come out much different to how it started.  It's thick enough to keep its shape on a spoon (barely) but the stuff I remember from the farm round the corner from my Nan's was thick enough that you could put a spoon in it and the spoon would stay upright in the pot. 

[gatekrash]

1 hour ago, JJPHG said:

Sadly the 3 attempts over the Xmas break (all different recipes) failed to do much 🙁.  Didn't come out much different to how it started.  It's thick enough to keep its shape on a spoon (barely) but the stuff I remember from the farm round the corner from my Nan's was thick enough that you could put a spoon in it and the spoon would stay upright in the pot. 

 

You're probably using homogenised 'standard' full fat milk.

 

You need proper gold top channel island milk from Guernsey or jersey cows, preferably straight from the cow, unhomegenised. It's all about the fat content and how it's distributed in the milk.

 

My Mrs has been making it for years, but we have access to a farm which we can get the milk from direct. She just puts it in a pan on a very very low heat, warm not hot and never letting it boil. After a while it'll form a load of small bubbles, at that point turn off the warmth then let it cool, preferably overnight, it'll form a crust which you can then skim off.

 

Daft really, being a Devon lad we can buy it cheap locally but still make our own from time to time.

[JJPHG]

1 hour ago, gatekrash said:

 

You're probably using homogenised 'standard' full fat milk.

 

You need proper gold top channel island milk from Guernsey or jersey cows, preferably straight from the cow, unhomegenised. It's all about the fat content and how it's distributed in the milk.

 

I had heard that the fat content from the milk over here is a lot different due to the quality (or lack of) of the grass.  Whether this is true or not I have no idea.  Sourcing Jersey or Guernsey over here is quite difficult and certainly not widely available (or at all) in the shops.  Might be a different story down south where the dairy stock can be a bit more varied as the climate is a bit more forgiving.

 

Looks like it will restricted  to be treats for our visits home, now that we are allowed to leave the country.

[JJPHG]

Found some that worked 😀