While squeezing some Seville oranges at the weekend (for duck a l'orange, as you do), I realised that what Seville orange juice really, really needs is tequila. I therefore present the following:

Marmalagarita

40ml tequila
20ml Cointreau
Juice of a Seville orange
Dash of orange bitters (Fee Bros. preferred)


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Back from the monster tour of England and Scotland (Southampton to Windermere and back, via Dunblane), and it turns out that we had monster produce waiting for us (alisdairo - did I forget to tell you to help yourself?):


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The agriculturalist and not the prog rock band, that is.

We have an allotment, the one in the NW corner of this map.

Many things about it are good, principally the price (£3.58 per annum) and the location (our house is four houses away due west). What's less good was the state when we assumed the lease: thigh-deep in brambles. We've been gradually ( Read more... )

...cats, bears, wolves and monkeys playing Uno.


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Last Friday, ias reminded me that a) it had been a very long time since I'd made bread and that b) the nursery's attempt to get the kids to make bread last week had ended in abject failure, so I might as well enlist the garklet's help when I made bread at the weekend.

I like making bread, but it is time-consuming. Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast ( Read more... )

Bumped into hobbitdave while waiting for the bus with ias and the garklet after work today. Cue the following conversation after Dave left:
garkletWhy that hobbitdave? nmgWell, that's his name. garkletWhere is hobbitdave going? nmgHe's on his way home to see gnommi. garkletWhy? nmgBecause he's gnommi's boyfriend! garkletWhy he gnommi's boyfriend? nmgBecause they like each other a lot. That's why they live together. garklet*nods sagely* garkletI think they ( Read more... )

An account of a conversation while waiting at bus stop with ias and the garklet:
garklet My1 like coiley-wotey. ias What's coiley-wotey? garklet Coiley-wotey! nmg Colley Wotty? garklet Coiley-wotey! nmg What sort of a thing is coiley-wotey! garklet *pause* Coiley-wotey! ias He's making this word up. nmg Are you making this word up? Is this another silly word? garklet No, coiley-wotey! ias How big is coiley- ( Read more... )

Soon after the garklet was born, a little over three years ago, ias sent me out with a shopping list, as follows:

• Lansinoh
• Cotton wool

I decided to get these from the big John Lewis in town, on the ostensible grounds that it was marginally closer to the car park than Boots. This also meant that I could browse the AV department. One thing lead to another, and I ( Read more... )

Very clear sky tonight, so have actually managed to see the Geminids despite the skyglow and the floodlights in one of our neighbour's gardens. A couple of very bright meteors and about another four or five lesser ones, all in ten minutes or so. If you have a clear sky where you are, now would be a good time to step outside for a quarter of an hour ( Read more... )

Young ias has used up about two minutes of her fifteen minutes of fame, talking about laundry (and being tumble dryer-free) on today's Women's Hour. You can heard her here (for the next seven days). The laundry segment starts at 31:00, and she's on first (and third).