The Retirement Thread

[Tenkaykev]

Exactly.......so that leaves chips

The paddle is removable. I noticed that the cooking pan sits above the base of the unit and allows the heated air to circulate above and below. Perhaps experiment to see how well it cooks fish fingers without the paddle?

 

[Paulus]

Nothing for me from Uncle Ernie this month.
£25 for MrsP though.

 

[Dirk]

Here's the photo of the site that I couldn't upload yesterday.

 

[PaulSB]

I (genuinely) don't understand gin.
With whisky you get bog standard stuff that I mix with lemonade/coke etc or a decent malt that requires just a drop of water.
Re' gin....on the few times I have tried it, it was with tonic as a pre-dinner drink.
So...... am I missing out ?

Yes, I think you are missing out as there are some very good gins to be had and I'm sure some pretty naff ones as well. It's like so many "craft" drinks, too many makers jump on the bandwagon.

With whisky and gin you're comparing chalk and cheese. Try viewing them separately. You'll know as well as I the variety of good whiskies is huge not so with gin. Personally I'd never drink whisky with anything other than water, bit of splash if it's everyday stuff and a tiny drop or nothing in a malt.

I can't drink gin by whacking it together with ice and tonic. Proportions are very important or the flavour gets masked. For me to make a good G&T it's firstly important to chose quality gin and tonic plus lime or lemon juice and ice. This is our bog standard Friday night G&T. Glass full of ice, 60ml Tanquery No.10, 150ml Schweppes or Fever Tree tonic, squeeze of half a fresh lime.

Once one starts drinking flavoured gins getting the balance right is more important to avoid losing the flavour. If you wanted to try one I recommend Ophir Spices of the Orient but change the proportions to 70ml and 140ml. You can get this in supermarkets for £16-25 a bottle.

Our local Cuckoo gin is fantastic but you're looking at £38-40. I once got a bottle of French gin for my birthday made by an Armagnac producer, all it needed was one ice cube and sipped neat. Nectar. £50 though!

@Tenkaykev is right about many. I make cracking gooseberry gin at home from my own fruit, sugar and £14 litre of Tesco gin.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Yes, I think you are missing out as there are some very good gins to be had and I'm sure some pretty naff ones as well. It's like so many "craft" drinks, too many makers jump on the bandwagon.

With whisky and gin you're comparing chalk and cheese. Try viewing them separately. You'll know as well as I the variety of good whiskies is huge not so with gin. Personally I'd never drink whisky with anything other than water, bit of splash if it's everyday stuff and a tiny drop or nothing in a malt.

I can't drink gin by whacking it together with ice and tonic. Proportions are very important or the flavour gets masked. For me to make a good G&T it's firstly important to chose quality gin and tonic plus lime or lemon juice and ice. This is our bog standard Friday night G&T. Glass full of ice, 60ml Tanquery No.10, 150ml Schweppes or Fever Tree tonic, squeeze of half a fresh lime.

Once one starts drinking flavoured gins getting the balance right is more important to avoid losing the flavour. If you wanted to try one I recommend Ophir Spices of the Orient but change the proportions to 70ml and 140ml. You can get this in supermarkets for £16-25 a bottle.

Our local Cuckoo gin is fantastic but you're looking at £38-40. I once got a bottle of French gin for my birthday made by an Armagnac producer, all it needed was one ice cube and sipped neat. Nectar. £50 though!

@Tenkaykev is right about many. I make cracking gooseberry gin at home from my own fruit, sugar and £14 litre of Tesco gin.

What I can't quite get my head around is the price of alcohol free gin. Firstly why? you can knock up a juniper based drink with your preferred botanicals for very little. The other thing I noticed was the various gin liqueurs which are only 20 proof.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Following a quick scan of the yesterday evening and early-bird posts here are my thoughts at the start of the day:

It looks cold out there and we are getting up at 9.30am - I am going to see if I can drive the car for the first time in two weeks since my op'. Hoping the stent doesn't feel uncomfortable when I use the clutch. Apparently, I must do an emergency stop before Mrs SD is happy I am good to go.

Wordle - second day of not doing it, I feel like I have my life back. 😁

Gin - lovely stuff but I haven't had a drop of alcohol since Jan 19 when I first got poorly and had Sepsis. And since then I haven't wanted to overload my poorly kidney. Tonight I am cooking a fancy meal for the two of us, I'm cheating on desert with Mrs SD's favourite ice cream (HD Praline & Cream at a ludicrous £4.80 a tub) and the girl has got some Merlot & Sauv B for her and some Schloer grape juice for me. Unfair world!

Industrial strength booze (previously mentioned). Reminds me of a little story - years back I had a job with one of the world's major booze manufacturers. Our small team were treated to a weekend away by a rival company who were investigating joint business opportunities - they manufacture some well known Bourbons.

We stayed in a very lovely hotel up in Pitlochry - and we had a whole suite just for the two of us.

The hosts rolled out a fantastic tasting session for us before a gorgeous meal and traditional Scottish entertainment. The tasting included some raw spirit (Moonshine) which everyone except Mrs SD thought was foul. She was gifted the remains of the bottle which was, amongst loads of other drink, consumed during the course of a long evening. Mrs SD was predictably very tipsy and somewhat 'lively'.

At some point the party transferred to the snooker room and Mrs SD spent some time playing and teasing the guys as she was wearing a short black dress and being a bit flirty. 👀 It was all a bit of fun, fortunately I am not the jealous type, but in the morning everyone had a hangover except her although she couldn't remember a thing bless her. ❤️❤️

At breakfast the main host said he would report back when he returned to the US that there may be a market for Moonshine in the UK. 😀 He gave her a whole bottle of Moonshine to take home as a present as she had been such 'good value' the night before!

Ironing (mentioned upthread) - thinking about this, we have virtually nothing that ever needs ironing. Rarer than hen's teeth is the day that the iron comes out for a piece of more formal wear.

Diaries (mentioned upthread) - has anyone else ditched traditional diaries and calendars altogether? We both use Google Calendar cross sync'd which works really well.

That's enough from me - gone on a bit there and I have used up my saved Wordle time. 😁

HAGD all!

 

[welsh dragon]

I don't do wordle or and other urdle. I can't be a***d

 

[PaulSB]

I've been meaning to share this for weeks as I know we have cooks in here. I like to ring the changes to our evening meal but find it difficult to get ideas which don't need a lot of prepping. Then #1 son's partner gave me a book at Christmas:

"The Roasting Tin Around The World" by Rukmini Iyer.

It's 75 dishes to prepare and cook in a single dish. Generally everyday ingredients and 10-15 minutes prep before whacking it in the oven. We've had one average meal and the rest have been very good. On the days when I just can't be arsed I grab it and bingo! Highly recommended. When we shared a house recently with four other couples I cooked two dishes from it - each of the wives wanted the recipes.

There's a vegan/vegetarian edition as well.

 

[Mo1959]

Lumpy 6.5 mile wander done. Cold but pleasant for walking.

Re fire alarms, not only do we not get them free but our lovely government expect us to now have 3 interlinked alarms fitted at our own expense. I haven't bothered so far. If I am awake I will notice a fire and I sleep so lightly my existing fire alarm will definitely wake me.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I've been meaning to share this for weeks as I know we have cooks in here. I like to ring the changes to our evening meal but find it difficult to get ideas which don't need a lot of prepping. Then #1 son's partner gave me a book at Christmas:

"The Roasting Tin Around The World" by Rukmini Iyer.

It's 75 dishes to prepare and cook in a single dish. Generally everyday ingredients and 10-15 minutes prep before whacking it in the oven. We've had one average meal and the rest have been very good. On the days when I just can't be arsed I grab it and bingo! Highly recommended. When we shared a house recently with four other couples I cooked two dishes from it - each of the wives wanted the recipes.

There's a vegan/vegetarian edition as well.

Thanks - will take a look at that. 👍

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lumpy 6.5 mile wander done. Cold but pleasant for walking.

Re fire alarms, not only do we not get them free but our lovely government expect us to now have 3 interlinked alarms fitted at our own expense. I haven't bothered so far. If I am awake I will notice a fire and I sleep so lightly my existing fire alarm will definitely wake me.

View attachment 638182

You do a lot of walking Mo!

How long do your boots/shoes last?

 

[Mo1959]

You do a lot of walking Mo!

How long do your boots/shoes last?

Never really noticed. I have a few! If it's at all decent underfoot I like running shoes. It has to be wet and mucky before I put boots on.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I've been meaning to share this for weeks as I know we have cooks in here. I like to ring the changes to our evening meal but find it difficult to get ideas which don't need a lot of prepping. Then #1 son's partner gave me a book at Christmas:

"The Roasting Tin Around The World" by Rukmini Iyer.

It's 75 dishes to prepare and cook in a single dish. Generally everyday ingredients and 10-15 minutes prep before whacking it in the oven. We've had one average meal and the rest have been very good. On the days when I just can't be arsed I grab it and bingo! Highly recommended. When we shared a house recently with four other couples I cooked two dishes from it - each of the wives wanted the recipes.

There's a vegan/vegetarian edition as well.

Found it on Amazon and have just downloaded the Kindle version @ £6.99.

 

[PaulSB]

What I can't quite get my head around is the price of alcohol free gin. Firstly why? you can knock up a juniper based drink with your preferred botanicals for very little. The other thing I noticed was the various gin liqueurs which are only 20 proof.

I've never noticed as I don't drink alcohol free but I get your point. When I'm on alcohol free I chose a drink that wouldn't normally have alcohol. One trick I like is just to have tonic but in a really nice balloon glass, lots of ice, lemon, lime, mint basically a faux G&T.

I think gin liqueurs are a bit of a con. 500g fresh gooseberries, 200g sugar, 1 litre cheapo gin. Chuck in to a Kilner jar, leave for three months, strain, store in fridge or freezer. Magic. Or substitute vodka.

I've tried many other fruits, most work but gooseberry is the one 👌

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Never really noticed. I have a few! If it's at all decent underfoot I like running shoes. It has to be wet and mucky before I put boots on.

My boots and walking shoes last around 2 years tops.

The price of the things though!

Have you tried Salomon's X Ultra 4 GTX?

We both have these - very grippy, light and supportive. Easily the best walking shoes we have ever had - and we've gone through a fair number over the years.