Magpies have built a fine nest next to our house (apparently magpies nest next to humans to keep away their crow kin) and today Admin1 sent up the drone to look for blue eggs or fluffy chicks, but they had built a roof and the tree was in leaf so no luck.
Meanwhile Admin1 had his first stab at making a Battenburg cake which turned out extremely well. A lovely meal was had by all and we scored 11 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading The Stone Chamber by Kate Ellis and Admin2 is reading Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard, which was extremely implausible.
Category: food
Grape Segmentations
An outstanding member of the bunch.
Admin2 is reading Paperboy by Christopher Fowler.
Trifling Matters
Another yummy post-cake trifle which we sadly had to share at a distance because unlucky Gez had sprained [update: broken] her ankle. We did the quiz on zoom and scored 9.5.
Admin1 is rereading Breathe by Dominic Donald. Admin2 is reading What You Pay For by Claire Askew.
Happy Birthday Gez
It rained and snowed and hailed and sleeted today, with sunshine in between, and stayed freezing cold throughout. It might as well be spring.
Admin1 is reading A Matter of Time by Claire Askew. Admin2 is reading The Soul Breaker by Sebastian Fitzek, a weird book about an amnesiac encountering an outbreak of unconsciousness in a psychiatric clinic.
Pie Day
Actually Pi Day was yesterday but we were unable to entertain the family due to fears of exposure to covid. Today, though, covid was confirmed so all those lovely pies were bisected and transported. We had our family meal on Zoom and scored 10 on the quiz with points for vague answers in the right ballpark.
Admin1 is reading Right to Kill by John Barlow. Admin2 is rereading A Maze of Death by Philip K Dick.
Food of the Day: Veggie Pasta
An extra family meal unaccompanied by quiz but including some strong brandy in honour of of the father-in-law, father, grandfather and great grandfather of those present.
Admin1 is reading The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier, in which a plane and all its passengers are duplicated. Being French, the novel uses philosophers and logicians to try to solve the puzzle — there’s much theorising about the simulation hypothesis, and the consequences of the passengers meeting identical copies of themselves. Sounds, er, high-flown 😉 , but it’s also full of jokes, and is a terrific read. Shame about the US-centric translation, though.
Admin2 is reading Cabin Fever by Alex Dahl, the antithesis of a Girl book but just as rubbish.
Storm Franklin
Oh no, not another one!
It was a dark and stormy night and the morning saw broken branches everywhere and two trees up the road felled. Our sheltered weather station recorded a gust of 34 mph (there might have been worse ones — it is only working intermittently) and we are well on track for our rainiest month ever.
The wind died away and Orion shone down on us. Our family meal was a magnificent cheese pithivier and we scored a sad 8.5 on the GSQ.
Admin2 is reading Snap by Belinda Bauer, a light read about a thieving orphan searching for his mother’s murderer.
Reconsidered Trifles
We enjoyed our chocolate cake, blood orange and black grape trifle so much that we made another one.
Admin1 is rereading The Tommyknockers by Stephen King. Admin2 is reading Run by Ann Patchett, a so-so sort-of family saga.
Rainy Days and Sundays
Admin1 is reading Desperation by Stephen King. Admin2 is reading The Anomaly by Herve le Tellier which was wonderful and full of wonders.
We had a delicious family dinner of roast lamb and a weird dark trifle made from blood oranges, black grapes and chocolate cake and scored 10 and lots of near misses on the GSQ.
Congratulations and Celebrations
Happy New Job, Gez, and a late Happy New Year and quiz at which we scored 10.
Admin1 is rereading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and Admin2 is reading Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
Happy Birthday Audrey
Boom boom shake the room! Here’s a close-up of the cake.
She’s The One! She’s Every One!
Admin2 is reading Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
We scored 10.5 on the GSQ; thanks to the self-isolating Dave on Zoom.
Last of the Christmas Pork
We have been eating the remains of our Christmas pork roast on every day since Christmas. Reheated, meatballs, sandwiches, rice and finally the last few scraps with some noodles, Phew!
Admin2 is reading Murder at the Grand Raj Palace by Vaseem Khan.
When Life Gives You Lemons
Pose them in a lovely dish bought for the purpose of displaying lemons and as a New Year gift to our house.
And when supermarket special offers give you a superfluity of carrots, make carrot cake (thx Admin1).
Happy New Year everybody.
Admin2 is reading (well rereading as it turns out) Summer by Ali Smith (thx again Admin1); the finale of four seasons running from brexit to covid.
Unboxing Day
A get-together after all passing the lateral flow tests:
Opening the presents…
…before a fabulous fun-filled feast. Roast pork, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, sausage rolls, stuffing, sprouts, peas, carrots, gravy, beer, gin, fizzy pop. a stuffed pepper for the veggie and a so-called Sky at Night pudding which collapsed the universe when we stuck a spoon in. Thank you everybody.
Admin2 is rereading Autumn by Ali Smith (thx Admin1). We are watching Spiral Series 8.
Prickly Pear
Last of the garden cucumbers; tiny and a funny shape but fabulously tasty.
Admin1 is reading The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth. Admin2 is reading The Girls Beneath by Ross Armstrong
We scored 10 on the GSQ; reverted to Zoom thanks to the Worst Ever Cold.
A Tomato that Looks a Bit like Ernie from Sesame Street
But not a lot.
Admin2 is reading Mr Cadmus by Peter Ackroyd.
Dish of the Day: Apricot Tart
Yums!
Admin1 is reading The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas and Admin2 is reading The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry.
We scored oh dear 8 on the GWQ.
Sunday Tea
A (mostly) cold meal this evening: salad, cold meats, pigs in blankets, jacket potatoes, tuna, boiled eggs, freshly baked rolls and fruit salad with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from our garden. We scored 10 on the GWQ thanks to Dave and thanks also for his heroic gardening efforts.
July gifted us 126mm of rain but was otherwise a pretty average month all things considered.
Admin1 is reading The Waiter by Ajay Chowdhury. Admin2 is rereading One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.
Disenchanted Onion
Admin1 is reading An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas. Admin2 is reading The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor.
Nice Melon
This pretty fruit is called Matisse.
We’ve had more rain in the last two days than in the whole of June.
Admin1 is reading The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox. Admin2 is reading The Hidden Man by Charles Cumming. He ain’t no Mick Herron or even John le Carre.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Saturday Lager
Beers and a delicious veggie supper at a new pub table in the evning sunshine. Thx Gez and Dave, and props for scoring 13 on the GWQ.
Admin1 is reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman — readable, but amusing rather than funny and somewhat twee. Admin2 is reading This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas, which was marvellously convoluted.
Flute/Cake
Sunshine at last! We had a family afternoon tea (salad, sandwich fillings, cake, trifle, lemonade, beer, gin and tonic) in the garden with a wonderful musical accompaniment. And we scored 13 on the GWQ!
Admin1 is reading Ruin Beach by Kate Rhodes and Admin2 is reading Let the Dead Speak by Jane Casey.
The Cat’s Dinner
The cat serves itself a meal to its liking. We had a tasty meal too; chicken pie followed by the first home-grown rhubarb crumble of 2021.
Admin1 is reading Silent as the Grave by Paul Gitsham, which was readable but humdrum.
We are rewatching Line of Duty starting with series 1.
We scored 11 on the GWQ.
Patio Supper
Another family gathering for Greek lamb and macaroni bake and zombie brains with boils. It was so cold that Admin2’s fingers turned white and her feet turned blue, but apart from that it was a lovely occasion. We scored 12 on the GWQ and booked a weekend in Scarborough (thx Gez).
Admin2 is rereading The Tottenham Outrage by MH Baylis.
Tuna Pasta
‘I have avoided the dreaded tuna pasta bake, because we are not all students and we can aim a little higher than that,’ says The Guardian, just as we are tucking in to this tasty and educational dish. Well, tough!
Admin2 enjoyed the Ishiguro novel about the naive robot so much that she is rereading an even better unreliable robot novel: Roderick by John Sladek.