Category Archives: General Rambling

For posts that just go on and on and on and on and ……

Perfect Yorkshire Pudding

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OK.  This recipe has failed me only once.  Prior to using this recipe I used to hit good Yorkshires about 50% of the time – after using it I hit 100%.  The only reason it failed once was that it was my old cooker in the new flat which did not have settings for the oven (other than High, Low and Off).  This recipe makes about 12 – 15 small cake-sized puddings.

Ingredients:

2 Eggs……………………….2 uova

3 oz Plain Flour………………85 g farina (tipo 00)

1/4 pint of Milk………………0.14 l latte

Salt and Pepper……………….sale e peppe

Some oil/lard…………………olio/strucco

Method:

Sieve flour into a bowl and add the salt and pepper (a bit of each to taste).  Break two eggs into the flour and mix well.  It is better using a mixer (like a Kenwood Chef).  Now add the milk, drizzling it in very slowly and making sure it mixes well to give a batter without any lumps.  Put into the fridge for at least 20 minutes.  (I have made it the day before and left it in the fridge until needed – but it needs a good whisk if you do that as it does separate).

Use a patty tin (like the cake tin to make small cakes – preferably with rounded bottoms to the individual cake parts).  Brush a little oil or melted lard over the tin and place in oven (the oven should be the hottest you can get – max, max, max!).  At this point anyway, you can take the meat out to rest – so it’s all perfect timing.

Once the oil/lard is hot (and smoking slightly is good – no, not you, the oil/lard!), take out of the oven and pour some of the batter in each one.  Put back into the oven for about 15 minutes until well risen and brown.  Try not to open the oven door too much or too early but they shouldn’t really deflate anyway.  Serve immediately with the meat and good gravy.  They are to-die-for!

Save any left over (if there are any) and you can have them with a spoonful of sugar when they are cold!

In which my brain decides it wants to emigrate

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I have no problem when I wake up with one of those headaches after a night spent sharing a bottle of that terrible poison (Sambucca) with someone.  You know?  The one where there’s that pain in the side of your head where your brain is trying to emigrate to somewhere with better climes; where your brain seems to have decided it has outgrown your head; where, in addition to the pain, it seems that everything is ever-so-slightly fuzzy, unfocused and unreal.

Now, I’m not one for illnesses, in any form.  Not mine nor anyone else’s (although I can immediately think of some very noteworthy exceptions to this general rule).  Certainly, if someone has a headache, please don’t tell me about it.  If I have one, it is either because of the poison or it just annoys me and I force it to go away.

But, these last couple of weeks, nearly every morning, I have woken with this headache, this poison-inspired-like headache.  And it is very annoying.

I really wouldn’t mind if I had had a ‘good’ night the night before – but, as an example, the only drink I had yesterday was coffee until about 4 p.m. and then several mugs of tea – as normal.  I didn’t get to bed early – but neither was it later than normal.  I slept fairly well – neither particularly good, nor particularly bad.  Obviously, it wasn’t long enough but ……. on waking this morning I was disappointed that I hadn’t been drinking last night.  At least, then, I could have said, “Ah well but it was worth it!”

Another half-written post….(subtitle: annoyed by being annoyed by something that I really shouldn’t be annoyed about)

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I promised, a couple of weeks ago, as I was deleting the many, many ‘draft’ (for ‘draft’ read unfinished, ill-thought-out, forgotten posts that never made it to the post button) that I would be better in future.  I would NOT keep starting to write about something that I had a feeling about, was angry about, was confused about or just thought was funny ………………….. and then just stop.

But it doesn’t work, really.

And, so, already, the unfinished draft posts are back and they are annoying me.

If you think this has no relevance to this post, think again.

This is another of these posts and the bit of rubbish above is just by way of explanation as to why this post will, in all probability, stay as another draft post.  Waiting to be finished until, one day, whilst doing a ‘clean up’ of the blog, I will carefully cut this paragraph and paste it into a rambling post full of bits that have never been published – because I think this bit is really good and explains why the whole post is full of disconnected single paragraphs.

So, I digress.

I wonder, in fact, if it’s supposed to be like this.  V is annoying me.  He’s annoying me by not having got in touch with me nor wanting anything.  He’s annoying me in my head.  and it’s even more annoying that I’m even thinking about him!

I keep saying ‘I’m not bothered’, to myself.  And that is true but it’s the truth of it that is annoying.  I really am not bothered.  But I do wish that he hadn’t originally treated it like he was bothered when, quite clearly, he isn’t.

I had hopes, at the beginning.  I hoped that we were old enough and grown-up enough that we could transcend the hurt feelings and the crapness of it all to make it through to another place that meant we could be friends.

But it just ain’t happening.

And, that annoys me.  But the problem is that, after so many broken promises (the ones after we split, I mean), I just gave up trying.  And, it seems, that’s OK by him.  And that pisses me off.  I know that there are other people who, over the last couple of years or so, have been caught up by him and then discarded, seemingly for no reason (although, trust me, there’s always a reason) and I wonder, sometimes, if I should get in touch with them.  Except, what would be the point, what good purpose could it possibly serve?

So, I won’t.  Probably.  They will find me if they want.

It annoys me that he’s not in touch with me.  It annoys me more that he has, in all probability, sold many of the things that we bought ‘together’ – though, in actual fact, we didn’t buy them together.  And, if he did buy any of them it was only because I bought almost everything else at the time – like food, fuel, paid the bills, etc.  Really, of course, I should never have just him get away with it – when we split – but it seemed like a good idea at the time and, in particular, as I was thinking of our long-term friendship, which has, obviously now, gone to pot.

I have conversations with him (in my head, as usual) except that nowadays, they’re not really full conversations – more like thoughts of conversations.  I don’t actually have sentences that go with the thoughts.  Either from him nor me.  And now, anyway, I know enough that the conversations will just never happen and, so, I stop them early.  And I find that annoying too.

We are, very nearly, at the end of it all – with no need for any ties.  Providing, of course, that I ignore the completion of the Final Question, the sofa cushions, his family and, generally ignore most people that he has any dealings with (which, with a few small exceptions, is not at all difficult).

Here I am, mentally, if not physically, slapping my hands together in the ‘all over and done with’ manner.

“The cushions are here for you to pick up”, she wrote.  My response was “I had given up on them, to be honest”.  Which is true.  I suggested that I might go over to get them in the next couple of weeks.  Which I might do.  And then she said that she got home about 9.30 and I thought that at that time I’m not sure I want to be schlepping half way over town to get them.  But that’s just stupid, I guess.  I should go and get them.  Probably.  But 9.30 is such a pain-in-the-arse time.  Maybe it would be better on a Saturday or Sunday.  Yes.  Probably.  Maybe this weekend.  Or next.  Or sometime later.  If I go and get them at least there would be even less reason to be in contact.  Which will be better.  Probably.

And, so, in summary, I am annoyed by being annoyed by something that I really shouldn’t be annoyed about.

And, yes, I will bloody well post it after all ……….

And, in the meantime ……..

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……. I heard this on the radio for the first time, last night, driving home and I LOVE IT!  So I thought you might enjoy it too :-)

And, I love the lyrics too, especially this bit –

‘Cause I would walk a million miles for you, just to visit you, baby
And I’ll show you a trillion stars, the Moon is ours

Darlin’, I, I’m everlasting
I’m a sure thing
I’m the master
Giving you real, real, real love
And it’s yours for the asking
I put everything after
Giving you real, real, real love

I guess I’m a bit of a softy, really :-)

Progress. It has some advantages but not for everything.

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For those of you who follow my blog, you may remember how pleased I was to find this flat.

It was on the street that I loved from the first time I saw it.  It was, in fact, the perfect street.  The flat was just right for me.  It was, in fact, the perfect flat.  And, so, this was the-perfect-flat-on-the-perfect-street – as far as I was concerned.

The street has many beautiful buildings.  It is a joy to walk down (as I do every morning when I take the dogs out) and there are many small shops and restaurants.  It gives a ‘village’ feel, even though we are no more than 10 minutes from one of the busiest and main shopping streets in Milan.  It is a haven from the normal hustle and bustle of the city.

We have everything we need here and I would hardly need to go anywhere else.  Our favourite pizza restaurant is just on the corner up the street.  There’s an Indian too, although I haven’t been there for ages.  There’s a small version of one of the supermarket chains, some cafés, a chemist, the place where I just had some pictures repaired, the vets are just off the street.  Yes.  All-in-all, it is the perfect street.

And the flat is wonderful.  It is old (1920s or 30s) – a little Art Nouveau with very high ceilings (that I cannot reach, even with my step ladders), there are nooks and crannies, a built-in cupboard in the kitchen (that was, probably, an old larder) – the flat has been divided up from a bigger flat, making it more interesting.  The rooms are large (for the city of Milan) and, even with my large English furniture, it is not too claustrophobic.

It took me a while to learn how to shut the windows properly.  They have an ornate handle.

To close them properly, you must first pull the handle away from the door.  It has a strange joint inside.

Then you close the door with the handle still out towards you.  Then push the handle closed but at 90° to the down-frame.

Then you bring the handle down to make it flush with the frame.

At this point the window is secure.

The one problem with these windows are that, because they are old, they are a bit draughty.  They are not really secure, either, to be honest.  It wouldn’t really take much to break in.

Also, the front door is not one door but two.  The left side (as you look at the picture) opens normally.  The right side has a bar keeping it firm and closed and you take the bar out to open both of them (when you are taking stuff out or having stuff delivered).

But, soon, all this is to change.  Some guys came in to measure all the windows and doors.  Apparently, the building administrators (landlords) are replacing all of them.

I know what this means.  We shall have modern double (or triple?) glazed windows.  Probably ones that open outwards from the top as well as open fully as normal.  They will be wonderfully good at keeping the noise out (when closed) and there won’t be any more draughts.  They will be much more secure.

In addition, the front door is to be replaced.  It will be replaced by a single door.  This door will be much more secure and will probably have a spy hole to see people when they come before you have to open the door.  The lock will be on of those that is securing not only the opening but also the top and bottom making it almost impossible to break in.  And, again, there will be no draughts.

This is great, except for one thing.  It will take a little away from the flat.  It won’t really be ‘in keeping’ with the style.  I am a little sad that they will be going even if I know that the result will be a warmer (and you know how I like it hot) and certainly more secure.

Hence the fact that I have taken photographs.  I love the handles and the way that they work and for all that the new ones will be easier and more efficient, it seems a shame that these ingenious pieces of engineering and aesthetically attractive handles will be replaced by fairly boring white plastic handles.

Ah, well, it is progress, I suppose.

Oh, yes, and the shutters are being replaced too.  You can see the style of shutters in the flats opposite mine in the following picture.  Maybe we shall get ones that close from the top – a single shutter – rather than these that close together.  Again, more secure – but it’s still a shame, in a way.

A quotation that I like

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Things are not going well, it would seem.  There’s the to-do about the illegal immigrant who was released from jail (but she WAS pretty and young), there’s the homophobic comment from the other day making headline news and then some prostitute has suggested that Mr B (Buzz Lightyear) paid her for sex which, I learnt, yesterday, is actually an illegal act (the paying for sex, that is).

The other problem is that Gianfranco Fini, one-time best mate of Buzz and, until recently, by his side in almost everything, a reformed neo-fascist, so it is said, keeps sniping at Buzz.  He’s formed another group (soon to be party?) but they aren’t quite ready for an election yet.  Instead of bringing the current government down, he is suggesting that Buzz should resign.  Buzz, on the other hand is suggesting that if Fini is any sort of ‘man’ he would force a new election (Buzz isn’t actually stupid, I guess, in spite of his antics and outpourings that point to the contrary).

But, what of the current global financial crisis and Italy, I hear you ask ………..

……………wait………….

WHAT CRISIS?

the government of pretending everything is going well

I just LOVE this quote from Fini, talking (yesterday or the day before) about the current government in Italy (ignoring the fact that, until very recently, he was actually part of it).  I only hope it is a faithful translation!

As I said to my colleague yesterday, the real problem here is who is to replace him?  There’s simply no one strong enough to do that, at least, not from my outside view.  Names are mentioned but it has to be someone who can bring a number of parties together and, unfortunately, there don’t seem many people able to do that here.

Sorry, can you say that again, please?

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These spam comments just get funnier and more weird!  I am posting the whole comment each time and exactly as it appears (without any links, of course):

i choked on amarble when i was like 4 on my bed while lying down. it was not a normal sized marble. it was big.

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im not sure what the exact average shoulder with is but it varies depending on your body frame. Im not sure the names I know there are 3 types of body frames and yes all 3 frames that everyone has 1 of will let your shoulder width get wider if you build muscle.

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Do not delete, please: (link removed, obviously)

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The best way that worked for me was to do chair push ups for the upper body. And the way chair push ups work is you get three chairs, then you make it where the two of them are the ones your going to put each hand on one. Then the last one is going to be the one you put your feet on. and if you want to make your waste get a work out too, then when you do the chair push ups, put one foot over the other and balance your wait on that. by doing that you will balance your wait and have to keep your waist up and work those muscles. Be sure to breath in and out when your doing the chair push ups! And drink lots of water. :)

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Calf Brains – yuck!!

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All you need to know is that the poor could only afford bread. All the other foods are all wonderful things that only the rich could afford. Oh, and crepes are not french, they are Canadian.

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Ain’t the 1st commenter speaking the real truth or what??

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Red and green, take a very small amount of the frosting in a bowl and experiment.

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You’ve gotten a lot of good answers about the sugar/water mix, but I thought that I’d add that I have several pots of nasturtiums near my hummingbird feeder, and the nasturtiums get visited just about as often as the feeder does! Nasturtiums are super easy to grow from seed (you pretty much just poke them into the dirt, water, and watch!) and will generally self-seed, meaning you won’t have to plant them again next year. And they’re edible! Amazing things. Anyway, good luck!

Please note that, although many of them seem to be about food, they are being ‘posted’ as comments to old posts and, so, have no relevance to that post.  Just plain weird!

This is NOT a food blog ……… I promise!

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The men arrived at 5.  By 5.30 they had already left!  I was expecting it to take longer.

It’s brand, spanking new!  It shines.  All stainless steel and glass.  Out of place, in a way but that’s not why I bought it anyway.  It won’t last (the super shiny bit) – or maybe I’ll try to keep it like that.  Well, I will try.

I thought, for a horrible moment, after the man had gone (of course) that there had been some mistake.  The numbers I was expecting were from 1 to 6 – not 150 to 275.  But, no, it’s OK after all.

It’s a little wider than the last one.  But that’s all to the good.  More room and I like room, especially for cooking.  See this is turning into a food blog or cooking blog or something similar.  For I am talking about my brand new cooker.

So, let’s see what makes it better.

I now have proper temperature control on the oven.  I have missed that so much.  Now I can cook things at the correct temperature instead of guessing.

It is both bigger on the hob and in the oven.  A baking tray I had bought some time ago but would never fit in the last oven fits easily in this.  Now I can use all four burners on the hob without having to have half the pans halfway off the cooker.

I do not have to use one of those hand-held electronic ignition lighters.  It lights automatically. The oven also has a light.

It has a grill (as an integral part of the oven), something I kept missing with the old one.

It has some special ventilation fan that keeps the outside much cooler than the inside and, so, won’t ruin everything next to it.  However, it is still gas, which I love and, for me, is the only way to cook both on the hob and in the oven.

It is beautiful.  It makes me want to do things.  But that is for tomorrow.

It also happens to be a Smeg – which, of course, is the last name in kitchen appliances.

Now, all I need is a decent fridge and a proper fitted kitchen and I will be done.  But those things can wait and are not so important as the oven.

I am a very, very happy person.

I expect to have fun with this object.

Rude comments …. but, maybe, a hidden agenda?

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Why have you taken out my post? It was very useful information and i promise atleast one person found it helpful unlike the rest of the comments on this web site. I’ll post it again.

Whoops, it seems like someone isn’t happy with me treating their comment as spam.  But, really, there’s no need to be rude about my other commentators, is there?

However, the clue, I think comes in the next bit:

Fed up with getting low amounts of useless visitors to your website? Well i wish to tell you about a new underground tactic which makes me personally $900 each day on 100% AUTOPILOT. I really could be here all day and going into detail but why dont you just check their site out? There is really a excellent video that explains everything. So if your serious about making effortless cash this is the website for you.

I have removed the link, obviously.

But it seems it must be a very powerful person after all! The comment being made by one Shawna Ellenbogen. Not a name you instantly recognise? Me neither. However, their own blog is given as yahoo.com! So, Shawna owns Yahoo! Wow! Don’t know why she would be needing to make $900 dollars a day as I’m sure, as the owner of Yahoo, she should be making that in a single minute!

Ah, well, I wouldn’t care if she was the Queen of England (sorry Your Majesty *doffs cap and bows*), there’s simply no need to be rude to my other commentators – so into spam it goes ………..

Noble souls and function challenging

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I don’t really understand why it is that a lot of spam comments are posted against the post Ristorante Leon D’Oro but here is one that came this morning and made me smile:

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

And another one, for a different post. I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to mean but I like it anyway:

Formula for achievement: Rise early, function challenging, strike oil.