Amazon exiles discussion
Don't Kill Snails with Salt ... Creme Eggs & Toasted Teacakes ... Biscuits & Bench Stories, Life, the Universe, & Everything!
Anyone fancy a freshly baked fairy cake? (Sultana and spice). I'd miss the Snails thread, Suzy, though comments would be posted on another thread? Depends how much people want to separate out the discussions, I suppose.
I'd like to think that everyone who has posted on here will miss it too - but it is rarely used by anyone, including me, these days, Isabella - and so rather than just carrying on with ignoring the obvious I thought that I'd just put it out there that maybe it's become time to let it go now?I go around all of the Threads every now and then and sometimes it has been not just a few days but several weeks since they were last posted on. I was wondering, if the Forum was radically pared right back to maybe just having the Music Threads plus just a few of the other still popular non-Music ones as well, whether it would make any difference to helping to keep the Forum going?
Sultana & Spice? ... sounds rather nice! ... ;o>I'll just go and put the Kettle on for a round of Drinks to go with them.
My hand is up here Isabella. If you give it a good lob I'll get a lacrosse stick out and try to catch it.I'm also an infrequent poster - on many threads - but I'd be sad to see Snails go. It's just a way of chatting whenever the mood takes one. We are probably all guilty of thinking 'my life is so boring, no one would be interested in what I'm doing' and also, we're of an age when we (well most of us) aren't comfortable talking about ourselves. "Look at me, look at me!!!" Suzy, I don't think you should feel responsible for keeping the thread going, just let it roll along as it is. And, by the way, I love hearing all your news (even if some of them are woes) about your Mum & Dad, Mitz, your adventures with online shopping and deliveries. You inspire me!
suzysunshine7 wrote: "I'd like to think that everyone who has posted on here will miss it too - but it is rarely used by anyone, including me, these days, Isabella - and so rather than just carrying on with ignoring the..."Maybe a single discussion thread for anything that takes our fancy? Snag is, it might get confusing with people wanting to comment on various posts so there could be bits of this and that with even less continuity than there is at the moment.
I know I'm guilty of popping in late with a comment if I haven't been on the forum for a bit. Tricky ...
Awww, thanks for all of the really useful and very kind feedback, Girls ;o>Yes, we could just let the Snails Thread stay as somewhere that anyone can just come and simply hang out on from time to time. And I'll keep on with tracking it so that I don't miss anyone posting and maybe not getting any kind of a response back.
Personally I'd much rather that it stayed as being somewhere friendly and welcoming for everyone who wants to still know that it's always here - even if they don't use it much and it doesn't get to be posted on all that often from time to time ;o>
Val's comment: "We are probably all guilty of thinking 'my life is so boring, no one would be interested in what I'm doing' and also, we're of an age when we (well most of us) aren't comfortable talking about ourselves." definitely resonates with me. Must own up, on occasion I've typed a comment on here and then not posted it for those very reasons. Who's going to be interested? Makes no sense, really, because I do enjoy the little snippets of what's happening to other people even if I don't always respond. It's not nosiness (honest). Especially when we're all so cut off at the moment, it's a connection ...
yeah, save the snails! i'm a supportive girl who likes to say yes!
Awww I really love that picture of the lovely Lady Lux ;o>And that ... "what?!!" ... look in her Eyes as she stands there with her stolen Carrot!!!
sultana and spice cakes do sound nice.What spice are you putting in?Just mixed spice?We do a lot of cooking at work.Chrustmas cookies last week and these would be good for this week.I. sure Thomas would enjoy licking the spoon with these.They finished all their cards last week ,Annabel wanted to stick the envelopes down .She told me she's a much better licker sticker than Thomas.
Anita wrote: "sultana and spice cakes do sound nice.What spice are you putting in?Just mixed spice?We do a lot of cooking at work.Chrustmas cookies last week and these would be good for this week.I. sure Thomas ..."Yes, it's the standard spice that you buy ready mixed but I always use dark Muscavado sugar and block butter for cakes, unless I'm making a Victoria sponge which really looks better with white sugar. Unless I'm in a hurry, the sultanas get a bit of a soak in Earl Grey tea.
I've just worked out how to buy a Postage Label for Val's Christmas Card online! ;o>To be honest, I really don't know why it had never occurred to me before now that I might be able to do this online? - but hey, you live and learn, and I've just learnt how to do it! - YAYYY!!! ;o>
Mum says that she will be up to posting all of our Cards into the nearest Post Box tomorrow when she takes Mitz out for a walk - so you all might just get them before Easter time after all! - LOL!!!
She is still hacking away from time to time but at least she isn't as breathless with it as she was and coughing so much during night that she ends up in making herself sick anymore.
And, with a printed out Label already stuck on the Envelope, she won't need to have to mask up and risk going into the Post Office for me, to get an International Stamp for Australia, as the Card can apparently now just go straight into the Post Box with all of the others ;o>
Laptops and the Internet really are truly wonderful inventions!
thanks Isabella.We use butter too.I'll pick up some dark sugar because we are making gingerbread on Friday.
Suzy I'm glad your mum is fit enough to go out.I hadn't realised that you can post overseas post in the box.We went down to our little village shop and post office lady week but it was a long wait as only two people allowed in at a time,after ten minutes queuing Thomas said he needed the toilet ,anyway I did decide to gamble that he could wait ,which he did.luckily.
Isabella wrote: "Unless I'm in a hurry, the sultanas get a bit of a soak in Earl Grey tea."Oooh? - they sound SO good! ;o>
Heston Bloominwotsit created some really fabulous Hot Cross Buns a good few years ago now for the range of his Bakery Items that Waitrose sells. Lightly spiced and packed with lots of Dried Fruit soaked in Earl Grey Tea they were also flavoured with Mandarin Zest and pieces as well - and were simply THE best Buns to be found - even though they cost around £2.50 for each Bun!
I bought loads of packets of them when they were reduced after Easter down to just 20p for a pack of two and then froze them all so I could eek them out throughout the rest of the year ;o>
A year on and they were back in Waitrose again so I eagerly bought a couple of packets ... only to discover that they had tweaked the Recipe and they now had much less Fruit in them, virtually no Mandarin at all and, if it hadn't said the Fruit was soaked in Earl Grey Tea on the Ingredients Listing, then I'd have never had guessed that it still was either ... (*sigh*) ... ;o<
I really hate it when Shops do this ... reinvent something that was quite unique and special into being something so basic and bland and uninteresting that it's not worth buying any more ever again.
Anita wrote: "Suzy I'm glad your mum is fit enough to go out.I hadn't realised that you can post overseas post in the box.We went down to our little village shop and post office lady week but it was a long wait ..."Oooh that was a close call! Well done to Thomas, for holding on! ;o>
Yeah, I was wondering if I could use several of our First Class Postage Stamps on a Card for Australia? So I Googled it but found there were equal numbers of both 'Yes, you can' and 'No, you can't' answers so I still don't know if you actually can or not?
But while I was looking I was thinking that I know you can print off Postage Labels for Parcels online because that's what quite a lot of eBay Sellers do - and so I went on the Royal Mail Website to take a look and discovered that I could do this without needing to set up an Account with them.
I've already written out the Envelope, and despite stating and buying a Letter Stamp, it turned out that the Stamp puts the Address on it and it takes up a lot of space plus there's also a Customs Stamp that needs to go somewhere on the Envelope as well. I weighed the Card as directed and put the Addresses in, paid, and got the Stamp all ready to Print off at Home.
I've put the already addressed Envelope inside another, blank, one and sellotaped the two Labels on to that.
I still doubt that it will arrive in time now as it never has before (even when it was posted by the equivalent of First Class in late November) but ... (*Fingers crossed*) ... we'll see?
The Page to do all of this is here ...
https://www.royalmail.com/sending/int...
... you just click on 'more information' next to the Service that you want, then on 'buy online' and it takes you to where you can buy and Print out the Stamp. I used PayPal to pay and it only took a couple of minutes to do. It says that you can just put it into a Post Box ;o>
I'm not a massive fan of Earl grey tea.I once went babysitting and that was all they had..One of my friends was babysitting nearby and had to cbring the boys round with some PG tips.
I really don't like it as a Drink - as to me it's like I would imagine drinking Perfume would be - but I really do like that little extra special something that it adds to Dried Fruit that has been soaked in it.
Is this just me? ... I am not a nosey person (I know that I would say that but I'm really not) however ... when I was a Community Nurse with a Care Agency I used to love getting to look around inside other people's Kitchen Cupboards when I was there providing total care including the making of Meals as well.I used to be fascinated by all of the different and more unusual kinds of Food Items and Brand names I would find to those that we always used to buy for ourselves. I've looked after quite a few Jewish people which meant that I had to learn how to use their Kitchens to prep and cook in a Kosher way for them - to remember which Sink to use and which Fridge and which Cupboard I got everything out of so I could put it all back in the right place again.
I would often find tinned or packaged Food Items that were covered in Labels with all kinds of various Languages on them, but no English, and have to guess as to what they might be. It always used to absolutely fascinate me in being able to get to have this really interesting and quite unique kind of experience in each House that I would visit ;o>
Does anyone here make their own mince pies? I used to do it regularly (making pastry is one of the few things I'm quite good at) but never seem to find time these days. I find most shop-bought ones disappointing - mostly too sweet and with soggy pastry - but there's no denying they look much nicer than mine.
I always used to every year for around 30 years, Gordon ;o> O.M.G.! - doesn't that make me sound SO incredibly old for a born again 21 year old?!! ;oO
I've always loved Mince Pies but I've never been a fan of boxed bought ones as I always hated the taste and texture of the Pastry and, like you, always found them to be far too sweet for my taste. There have certainly been great improvements in their taste, texture and quality over recent years but I'm still not all that fond of them.
Then I discovered Greggs, loved them, realised that I couldn't make my homemade ones to be any nicer or any cheaper than they were, and stopped baking any more of my own after that.
I'm really missing my Greggs Mince Pies this year as sadly they don't do Deliveries in our area and so, for the first time in over a decade, we aren't going to be having them this year ;o<
They do say that one of the secrets to being a really good Pastry-maker is in always having a light touch and cold Hands, Gordon ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "They do say that one of the secrets to being a really good Pastry-maker is in always having a light touch and cold Hands, Gordon ;o> ..."This was actually commented on by my cookery teacher at high school, as I have warm hands and shouldn't - in theory - be able to make pastry. My mum, on the other hand (see what I did there?), has very cold hands but has never been able to make good pastry.
I might try some from Greggs if the queue isn't too long next time I'm in town. If I had any reason to go near Stockport in the next week or so I'd offer to drop some off. However, I'm very much a stay-at-home hobo at present. My annual pre-Christmas trip to Liverpool has been cancelled because the event I participate in can't run this year owing to Covid restrictions.
We make our own mincemeat and mince pies. It's Helen's quick and easy mix. Dried fruit, including cherries, (not glacé), grated apple, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon stick, and star anise, finely grated orange zest, mixed with brandy and/or orange juice and left overnight. No sugar or candied peel for us but it's a mix you can tweak to your own taste. (Apple juice makes it sweeter, for instance, as does using dessert apples instead of Bramleys). Take out the cinnamon and star anise before using, for the sake of your teeth! Keep it in the fridge once it's made as it doesn't have any heat treatment or extra sugar like the commercial sort. Always supposing there's any left ;o)
Awww bless you for even thinking of it, Gordon, but it's okay ;o>I've put together a List over this year of several very interesting looking local Businesses who have had to adapt themselves now to mostly doing Deliveries as they can't survive being open with first our Tier 2 and now our Tier 3 Restrictions in place - and I've tried out a few during our endless National & Local Lock-downs here and I'm currently thinking of trying out a couple more over Christmas time and New Year. I like to keep on with surprising and treating and keeping M&D happy - because it always makes me happy when they are ;o>
We also missed out on having our traditional Parkin on Bonfire Night as well this year - so I've already decided I'm going to order in some Panettone and Stollen from one of them, a small family-run Artisan Bakery, just as soon as I can manage to make just enough room in our Freezers to store them.
I also have bought a couple of boxes of cheapo Iceland Mince Pies in the meantime. I saw that Iceland actually sold boxes of Greggs Mince Pies through their Website a few years ago but sadly they haven't since then ... however? ... have you ever noticed a Supermarket will sell a popular Brand for a little while, then stop, and suddenly start promoting their own 'new & improved' Range once again? ... and when you try theirs you realise just how very similar they are to the other Brand that they used to sell?
Well, they are obviously a lot smaller than Greggs, and the Pastry is quite different too although it is still rather nice ... however the Filling (although a bit too sweet) is surprisingly and remarkably almost identical to Greggs! ... so I reckon they stocked them just so they could nick the Greggs Recipe, tweak it, and then try to pass it off as their own - LOL!!! So we won't be left feeling too deprived of our all-time favourite Mince Pies this Christmas.
And next year I reckon we'll be enjoying our Greggs Mince Pies all the more for not having them this year ;o>
I know that I've mentioned them loads of time before but they really are good and well worth trying out by anyone into Mince Pies. Just check the Boxes before buying - make sure the Pies aren't too brown because they do occasionally overcook and even burn them from time to time - and make sure that Filling doesn't look like it has leaked out everywhere in the Box as well. I usually box or bag them up and freeze them as they last for months then and they don't freeze rock hard either so they can even be eaten almost straightaway when taken out of the Freezer ... apparently! ... ;o>
It's obviously understandable but nevertheless still a very great shame to not be having your annual pre-Christmas trip to Liverpool this year. We have a local Christmas Tree Festival and two Carols By Candlelight Concerts that we always attend every year and I was just sat in tears the other day over them not happening because they really do mean SO much to us to be there.
But there is always next year - and next year is only just another 12 months away, Gordon ... x
Isabella wrote: "We make our own mincemeat and mince pies. It's Helen's quick and easy mix. Dried fruit, including cherries, (not glacé), grated apple, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon stick, and star anise, finely grate..."I'm guessing that the smell and the taste of them also brings so many wonderful and incredibly precious memories to Mind as well, Isabella ... x x x
It's years since I made mince pies and I doubt I ever will again. I'm afraid I don't have Gordon's and Suzy's expertise with pastry. Mine tends to be of the concrete variety. I used to buy them from an artisan bakery but of late have settled for Mr Kipling. I'm the only one in the family who loves mince pies and Christmas cake - more for me!!! I do make a very good Christmas cake but it's hard to make a bad fruit cake unless you don't prepare the tin right and let it dry out.
Anita & Suzy, your Christmas cards will be most welcome regardless of when they arrive. I did get a card from the UK in today's mail. It was posted on Dec 1 so 13 days isn't too bad given the state of postal services these days. We no longer receive our mail daily. It's Monday, Wednesday, Friday one week and Tuesday, Thursday the next.
Your Card was finally posted just over an hour ago, Val ... x ... YAYYY!!! ;o>I wish that I'd thought to check out whether I could buy International Stamps online earlier - but at least I've got to know now and to learn something new and useful ;o>
Mum seems to be doing SO much better at the moment - she is hardly coughing much at all now - and is back to taking Mitz out for short walks again. She found it to be an easy enough walk to the nearest Post Box - but found it completely jammed packed full when she got there!
There was even a couple of pieces of Mail spilling out onto the Pavement which she picked up and wiped clean and dry and was wondering what to do with them, and with our Cards as well when, as luck would have it, a Postman suddenly turned up in his Van to empty the Box.
She handed over all of our Christmas Cards to him and they will hopefully have already arrived at Stockport's Central Postal Depot by now ;o>
I had to re-envelope and then un-envelope your Card though, Val, because when I first weighed it for the Stamp I hadn't given much thought as to just how big the Stamp might be. I put it into another Envelope and sealed it - but then discovered that that made it weigh 5 grams more?! - LOL!!! - so I gave up on that idea and just taped it sideways onto the original Envelope so that it wouldn't cover up the Address that was already written on it!
I'd have preferred it to be double-enveloped but hopefully it will arrive dry and still intact! When Mum gave it to the Postman and asked him if he thought it was okay? - he quipped that it should be alright stuck on sideways even though it was actually going Down Under!!! ... HA HA HA HA HA!!! ;o>
By the way, Val, I never said I was any good at making Pastry - LOL!!! To be honest, I wasn't at all bad at it but I still wouldn't ever use the word 'expertise' to describe my Pastry-making skills ;o>I always put it down to having hot Hands ... well, that's my excuse anyway for not having my Nan's seemingly effortless ability to knock up the most incredible Pies out of what always looked to be next to nothing in the Fridge or the Cupboards.
No, I used to make my Mince Pies up with a softer Patisserie-style Shortbread Pastry (made with an Egg) rather than with a much firmer Shortcrust Pastry - and I would make half of the Pastry up with some Orange Zest and the other half with some Ground Almonds.
If you tried using that kind of Pastry instead, Val, then I can promise you that you would never end up with anything even vaguely resembling Concrete ;o>
Well done to you and Mum for getting my card in the mail - great team effort!I'll bear your pastry tip in mind Suzy. I do like suet pastry and have had much better luck with that. And I've made a cheese pie over many years using flour, porridge oats, baking powder, egg and butter/margarine for the crust. That's always worked well.
Howzat for really great timing, Val? ...Little Snugglepot and Cuddlepie just arrived! ;o> ... thank you! ... x x x
And I love the Christmas Pudding Stamp as well ;o>
Mmmmmmmm ... Cheese Pie! ... one of my most favourite Pies ;o>
We haven't made mince pies this year,not sure if there will be time on Friday ,Playball onthe morning and a Christmas film and popcorn after A gets home from school.I don't make my own mincemeat,but make mince pies at home.We made shortbread stars on Monday using their great grandmothers recipe which used icing sugar ,cornflour and plain flour .I told Thomas that if he put the spoon In the melted chocolate and gently waved to over the biscuits ....I found chocolate on the window,floor and Scampi...The cat!!Very nice shortbread though.😀
Chocolate coated Scampi?!! ... well, I never!!! ... ;o> ... ;o> ... ;o>
I was just thinking what are the odds that Heston Bloominwotsit will be adding Chocolate coated Scampi to his range at Waitrose next year?! - LOL!!! ;o>I think Thomas had better get his unique Recipe copyrighted ASAP!
suzysunshine7 wrote: "By the way, Val, I never said I was any good at making Pastry - LOL!!! To be honest, I wasn't at all bad at it but I still wouldn't ever use the word 'expertise' to describe my Pastry-making skills..."I don't like that crumbly shortcrust pastry that's commonplace these days with premade mince pies (or any dessert pies for that matter), instead i prefer the filo pastry ones that Tesco does, much nicer. Mum intends to make a few herself though...as she can make proper shortcrust pastry.
Laughing at Heston's chocolate Scampi.we use shortcrust for ours.
A talking about making mince pies ,they're inside the Mr Kipling factory making mince pies on BBC2,and tinsel.
Dad is recording it for me downstairs while I chill out upstairs watching old episodes of MASH on the Sony Channel ;o>I've often wondered how they make Tinsel.
I'm allergic to tinsel. I once got talked into helping to decorate the tree at work but came out in a horrendous itchy rash so I was excused duties.
Yeah, it sometimes brings me out in the same kind of Rash as well so I don't tend to use it on our Christmas Tree - but I still love the way that it looks whenever I see it ;o>
Lez wrote: "I'm allergic to tinsel. I once got talked into helping to decorate the tree at work but came out in a horrendous itchy rash so I was excused duties."Must've been dusty tinsel, Lez.
Gordon wrote: "Must've been dusty tinsel, Lez."Actually, did Dusty Tinsel win Eurovision in 1965?
Lez wrote: "I'm allergic to tinsel. I once got talked into helping to decorate the tree at work but came out in a horrendous itchy rash so I was excused duties."That was War Department issue, it's all hypo-allergenic now! How do you manage with all those sequined outfits?
Gordon wrote: "Gordon wrote: "Must've been dusty tinsel, Lez."Actually, did Dusty Tinsel win Eurovision in 1965?"
No, it came third at Newmarket.
I backed it each way too, Lez :-)
Brass Neck wrote: "That was War Department issue, it's all hypo-allergenic now!"Is it? ... brilliant! I might just put an Order in for some then ... YAYYY!!! ;o>
I don't know why I have such incredibly Reactive Skin these days? I definitely don't remember it being such an issue when I was younger? - but nowadays it has got so bad that I actually have to warn anyone who handles me that my Skin will very likely flare up or else they will start panicking and asking me if I have got an Allergy to their Latex Gloves or to the Bandages or the Adhesive Tape that they are using.
I even have to deal with it every time I go to the Dentists and the Orthodontists as well - because they always make a point of explaining/warning their Assistant Nurses that I will often react quite dramatically to any Treatment and I then have to reassure them that any massive Reaction will soon fade and often be almost as good as gone by the time that I have got back Home again.
Guess who was obviously so bone-weary and befuddled that they screwed up by accidentally confusing the way that you order on Iceland with the way that you order on Sainsburys ... and instead of ordering a five pack of Bananas managed to order us FIVE PACKS of Bananas instead?!! DOH!!! ;oO
Ahhh well, it could-of always been worse and been far more expensive a mistake ... and the Banana Fairy is now going to be off out around the Road gifting them onto a few Neighbours! - LOL!!! ;o>
It's even clearly listed there on my last Update Email ... 5 x 5 pack at £5 and so I really should-of seen it and corrected it last night but I not only did it but also missed seeing it repeatedly all of yesterday as I went on to do several Updates.
(*Note to self*) ... Don't just double-check? ... double-check AND then treble-check the quantity AND the price! And always remember that it's at Sainsburys that you have to click to Order in either quantities or Kilos ... and at Iceland you just click once to order either a 5 pack or a 9 pack! ;o>
And there was I thinking it was going to be yummy banana bread for all of us!I'm a belt and braces type and when I do an online supermarket order, I cut and paste each item into a Word document as I go. Then I can double check that my total agrees with their total and I don't get tripped up like you were Suzy. It also has the benefit of reminding me what I've bought before and what I paid for the item 6 months ago.
Amazon exiles
Books mentioned in this topic
Ten Poems about Snow (other topics)And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems (other topics)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (other topics)
The Quangle Wangle's Hat (other topics)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Christina Rossetti (other topics)John Keats (other topics)
Joan Aiken (other topics)
Poor little Mitz gets so very confused and cries whenever we puts our Masks on. I can well imagine just how incredibly weird the whole World must look to a Child that is still very young yet is just old enough to remember the World and life before all of this began whenever I see just how much it can upset a little hairy woofer like this.
I'm very glad to hear that they still get to make things and play with Glitter and that they got to have their special Dinner too ;o>