Today.

[noddy]

I am becoming fixated on big breakfast. Found some brand of thick-cut bacon here which is more like danish than the super-thin, very fatty stuff you usually see this side of the Atlantic.

Today, I was up very early as is increasingly becoming the norm, and chucked the laundry on. Then I realized that, whilst shopping yesterday, I'd forgotten to pick up any bread. There's a nice bakery on my route that sells a lovely sourdough, but I got waylaid by dropping into the honey shop that is sort of across the road. You'd think the two would go together in one's mind. But, no.

Anyway, to fill the requirement, I cooked bannock in the bacon fat. Phwoar! Put a bit of evap and oatmeal in the mix. Not very bushcrafty.

If you put baking soda in the mixture, technically, it is still bannock?

 

[MaC]

I'm a Scot. Bannock is any bread that I don't bake in the oven. Well, maybe not girdle scones, but you get my meaning.

Bannock in my house is usually rolled into a big round, put on the girdle or into a 'greased' frying pan (awfully good with a cheese and onion one ) and marked in farls. That's from the same root as farthings; quarter cut so that it breaks apart into four pieces when done.
Bannock bakes well on a hot stone beside a fire too though

Use whatever raising agent you like. Sour or soured milk and bicarb is common in recipes here.
My Dad liked to cook his in bacon fat too.

You've put me in the notion for bannock now, and I found the remains of the jar of Christmas mincemeat earlier this afternoon. That might work very well indeed

I used gluten free flour earlier to make Scandinavian type waffles, but the batter just sticks like glue to the iron shapes. I gave up, pulled out the girdle and just made pancakes. They polished them off over lunch/afternoon coffee with salted caramel syrup.

 

[noddy]

Idly searching around the internet about bannock, it obviously wasn't gong to be long before the word Bannockburn came up. Since I have been here, I have wondered why there's a bloody big statue of Robert the Bruce out side my building. We are on a hill with a commanding view, very like the one from, as it happens, Stirling Castle. Big bendy river, wide open valley etc. The statue is the same one from Stirling too; same sculptor, same people did the casting etc. Eric Harvie, one of many historical oil-types in Calgary and philanthropist, gave it as a gift to the city. Still not sure why exactly, or even why the city agreed ... though they may not have been in a position to decline. I suspect there's a clue somewhere in the surname.

 

[MaC]

I have no idea why the Bruce's statue is in Canada.
I know there are a heck of a lot of Scottish-Canadians though. I have family there myself.

He was a determined fellow was Bruce though; we're taught about Bruce and the cave and the spider that kept trying until it succeeded when we're in primary school.
Maybe it was considered an admirable example ? :dunno:

Bannockburn was a turning point in history, on many levels.

M

 

[noddy]

There is a long standing Albertan independence movement. In fact, the badly drawn cartoon who is currently Premier of Alberta and leader of the local, nutbar conservatives - Danielle Smith - is in the process of basing her re-election bid on it. Even putting policy in place. Most of the rest of Canada don't like the oil-business, and the independence rhetoric here, whilst figured in terms of the freedom to do whatever it is cowboys and cows like to do, is only a transparent veil over the fact that the right wing are pissed off that Canada's federal government keep legislating against the freedom of oil to fuck up the land here. They are a carefree bunch, the oil guys, but it can be great fun goading them about climate change. They kind of go red and their sentence structure becomes, you know, innovative.

Anywhat, I don't know much about Robert the Bruce's independence politics, but I imagine he could be possibly pretty insulted by the connection with a pill like Danielle Smith.

Also, why is he called The Bruce. Is it a title, like Lord or something. Or a family name? Or, the head of a family?

 

[MaC]

The Bruce was the one that became King.

That kind of title, using The, is given to the most prominent of that name.

I know I've posted the poem about the frog before, the puddock, and how in his overweaning pride he brags about himself and then declares,
"I’m nae gaun tae blaw, but th’ truth I maun tell-
I believe I’m the verra MacPuddock himsel"

It was in defence of Bruce's kingship, and their own right to choose, that the Declaration of Arbroath was written and sent to the pope.
Written in Latin, it's both an amazing piece of political statement as well as a incredibly well crafted document.
The bit that gets quoted most often is,
"As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself"

 

[noddy]

That kind of title, using The, is given to the most prominent of that name.

So, can it change? I mean, might it happen that a person had the honour and during their lifetime someone else became the The? Embarrassing

 

[Oldtimer]

I once had a secretary who filed everthing which was headed "The" something under T.

 

[Beachlover]

A pharmacist friend and I used to use the reference “TJF” followed by the date when communicating with our departments and seniors in the Home Office. It lasted for several years before someone asked us what it stood for and if it was Latin. It actually stood for “The Job’s Fucked”.

 

[MaC]

So, can it change? I mean, might it happen that a person had the honour and during their lifetime someone else became the The? Embarrassing

So, can it change? I mean, might it happen that a person had the honour and during their lifetime someone else became the The? Embarrassing

If a younger more vital character grew into it perhaps.....his father was also The Bruce in his time, but he became The Auld Bruce
Life goes on

 

[BorderReiver]

A pharmacist friend and I used to use the reference “TJF” followed by the date when communicating with our departments and seniors in the Home Office. It lasted for several years before someone asked us what it stood for and if it was Latin. It actually stood for “The Job’s Fucked”.

Similar to mine own lab notice board message IHTFP (I have today found paradise when asked, I hate this fucking place to everyone in the know).
I have no idea of the origin, someone here will no doubt know.

 

[BorderReiver]

My little sister (73) has just been diagnosed with early stage dementia and she announced it on the Family What's app thing. During the follow up chat my eldest daughter posted "We're coming up in June, we'll wear name badges."
Bless her, that lifted the mood immediately.
You can't beat black humour.

 

[Beachlover]

The probably false but present feeling that spring is almost here had me stop off and get my seed potatoes on the way home as well as some aubergine and tomato seed to go with chilli seeds. This afternoon is the annual clear out of shite that I’ve chucked in the garden shed through the winter months in an attempt to rediscover and find a place for my heated propagator. Where does all this crap come from FFS??

 

[MaC]

Dunno, but I can't get into my greenhouse without shifting an enormous stash of 'stuff'.
It's going to be a full day's work to clear it out back to usability.....and it's chucking it down outside today.

 

[bushwacker]

Where does all this crap come from FFS??

Mostly my workshop.

 

[Quarterstaff]

Due to the weather today I’ve been sorting out as well. It’s not easy in a confined space, the spare bedroom is rammed, loads of stuff to move before I get to what I’m trying to find, bit of a pain to say the least. Still, the only one responsible for it is me :sneaky:
I actually went past a skip the other day and didn’t take a look :oops::ROFLMAO:

 

[Woody Girl]

Due to the weather today I’ve been sorting out as well. It’s not easy in a confined space, the spare bedroom is rammed, loads of stuff to move before I get to what I’m trying to find, bit of a pain to say the least. Still, the only one responsible for it is me :sneaky:
I actually went past a skip the other day and didn’t take a look :oops::ROFLMAO:

I can't even get into my spare room!
It needs a bomb to sort it out!!!!
One day, when I can be bothered.....
Passing a skip without looking inside? How could you!?
My last skip yielded bricks for my garden pots to raise them off the ground and lots of firewood.
Sadly no skips around here presently, but my problem is the charity shops.
I came back with a large glazed pot today...for the ginger I'm hoping to grow, only a fiver. Saved many pounds there!
Ginger is planted, and sitting in the bath waiting on me clearing a hole on a window sill somewhere.

 

[MaC]

We have heavy rain and gale force gusts of winds, but tonight the rones are blocked and overflowing at the corner gable.
Himself, at an admittedly fit and healthy 78, says he's going to go and get the ladders and clear them. The wind would have him down the burn if he tried it just now. He's not doing it, even Son2 says he's not doing it. The rones can wait.
The siver at the end of the road is overflowing again too, so half the road's covered in an enormous puddle right across to the middle and about 40m long. It's supposed to drain into the burn, but they stopped that because the burn now flows into a cleaned up Clyde, eventually, so they try to limit the surface water from roadways. Fair enough, but they didn't fix the drains to carry the excess. So now the road's a mess.

I'm going to do a pre-emptive strike about puzzled complaints about my Scots.

https://stooryduster.co.uk/scottish-word/rones/

 

[Woody Girl]

Oh dear, more charity shop foraging to add to the clutter.
A brand new stainless steel jam making pan for £11 and some more knitting wool for £1.50,
I now have two stainless pans and an aluminium one. My friend keeps wanting to borrow my pan so I'm going to give her the aluminium one, and have the two stainless for myself.
Plus if I burn one like I did last year, I've got another to keep going with, rather than loose 10 days of production trying to de carbonised it!

 

[noddy]

Kids wanted a big fat beef stew for dinner. Happy to oblige, I also tried an experiment by putting the tiniest little bif of Laphroaigh in it. You will be surprised at the result. Lovely it was. But, the tiniest bit you can manage.

 

[CaptainBeaky]

Kids wanted a big fat beef stew for dinner. Happy to oblige, I also tried an experiment by putting the tiniest little bif of Laphroaigh in it. You will be surprised at the result. Lovely it was. But, the tiniest bit you can manage.

Ooh, now that's an interesting thought...
(Looks at the bottle of Ben Bracken that has unaccountably got much less full over the evening)

 

[MaC]

Ooh, now that's an interesting thought...
(Looks at the bottle of Ben Bracken that has unaccountably got much less full over the evening)

Friend who supplies us with viands turned up yesterday morning with a bag of venison loin for Himself.
I'll ask if he fancies a bit of whisky sauce to go with some of it
There's still two pheasants in the freezer too. We stripped off the breasts and pretty much just gave the rest to the foxes.

 

[Saint-Just]

That's all you can do with a pheasant, once you've had the first couple in the season that you lovingly cooked à la 3 star Michelin chef and realised that while a beautiful bird it doesn't taste half as good as a guinea fowl while being drier.

 

[MaC]

That's all you can do with a pheasant, once you've had the first couple in the season that you lovingly cooked à la 3 star Michelin chef and realised that while a beautiful bird it doesn't taste half as good as a guinea fowl while being drier.

This might be heresy, but if you put the breasts into a pyrex dish, add a little white wine, some seasoning herbs, put the lid on and put the whole thing into the microwave. Give it two minutes, then rest it. Turn the meat over and give it another two minutes. Rest it again, and see how done it is.

It's pretty much steam cooked doing it this way and it doesn't dry out anywhere near as much.

Himself doesn't like gravy or sauce, which I do think is heresy, but there's enough in doing it in the microwave to make a rich jus....and the meat's soft.

Pheasants here come as a kind of glut at times. H. had 20 brace of them.

 

[noddy]

I remember my mum once poached a turkey in a bottle of port. Turned out entirely edible.