vital functions
Dec. 17th, 2023 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettReading. One finish, lots of bits! Illumination, Ursula Vernon. One of her kids' books and Mostly Very Charming. (I was sad that the Scarling didn't get rehabilitated.)
Heston's Fantastical Feasts, Heston Blumenthal. Look. Look. I was genuinely really sold on the intro conceit of "when you are designing meals to be served in a restaurant, there are limits on the degree of spectacle that's in scope because you really don't want to distract people at other tables from their food and have them put out they're not getting whatever That is" leading into "so when Channel 4 gave me the opportunity to do Spectacle..." but. BUT. There is just enough that is grating (the self-satisfied assertion that it is comical that vegetarians, especially those who are vegetarian for ethical reasons, want to eat things that look like meat! the confusion of "mortar" and "pestle"!) that I am really going off the guy. It doesn't help that -- did I say this already? -- conversations that were clearly had on screen are recorded verbatim, presented as Natural and Spontaneous as opposed to Carefully Scripted And Briefed In Advance. And I'm a bit sad that there isn't better photography of the set pieces. So: appreciate having read this, but I think it can then go back to the BHF and get them another fiver.
Picked the social history of migraine back up (I am going to finish it by the end of the calendar year, I am so): lots of interesting bits (migraine treatment in the 1820s versus the 2020s: plus ça change) but it's still the case that I'm finding the writing somewhat difficult to follow, and also that I am not convinced that some of the things she says are supported by the excerpts she quotes. Mildly disappointing given how much I enjoyed her talk.
Cooking. Medlar jelly (plain and spiced). Remarkably plausible "pumpkin" soup (also contained significant caramelised onion, leek, carrot; plus token parsnip). Big ol' root veg stew.
Eating. We have established that actually we do both think that "post-jelly medlar pulp + dairy of some form" is Food, so that's something we've been nibbling...
Exploring. Poked around Forty Hall on A Bit Of A Walk. Rather perplexed by an area of stream that looked a lot like a maintained beaver dam -- because beavers have been reintroduced around there, but my understanding was (and the internet claims) that they've got a special enclosure that isn't accessible to the public. "Looks like a beaver dam... very much accessible to the general public" doesn't really seem to fit the information publicly available, so a mystery it shall remain.
Farm shop was open; we acquired LEMONS (for medlar jelly) and a PUMPKIN (see above re soup, I knocked over a display pumpkin and knocked its stem off) and some Interesting Apples (that we have not yet consumed).
Making & mending. Patching cherry stockings continues (slowly).
Growing. Er. Fed the bin? Harvested the yacon and a very small quantity of oca.
Observing. Pigeons and doves various have been being extremely inelegant in the hedge along the boundary between this building's garden and next door's, which has been delightful. Pigeons (and a masquerading seagull) and seagulls (and masquerading pigeon) and Various Ducks and also The Geese at Forty Hall did a hilarious amount of going "... people. PEOPLE. we know what PEOPLE are for." and Pointedly moving themselves from the opposite side of the pond to heckle us. Alas for them we had nothing to offer as tribute.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-17 11:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-18 12:29 am (UTC)My money would be on some of them have done a runner from the official enclosure - it wouldn't be the first time.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-18 07:59 am (UTC)That is plausible except/but there's only two of them plus a baby, and I think their location is still theoretically known!