An occasional journal
Here are the younger generations enjoying their meal of roast beef, potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli, Yorkshire puddings and gravy without posing, smirking or gurning. And here is the festive cheesecake and their Easter gifts of fake bakes.
Sadly we only scored 7 on the GSQ. Worst this year.
Faye’s boyfriend Ivy joined us for Gez’s pre-birthday dinner of stroggers (unfortunately Ivy doesn’t eat beef; sorry Ivy) and A1’s sumptuous carrot cake at which we scored 10 for the third week in a row on the GSQ.
A2 is reading Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks.
Here’s a delicious cherry bakewell cake to celebrate, after the main dish of pork in cider and before we scored 12 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading Quantum of Menace* by Vaseem Khan, who should stick with Indian detectives rather than pseudo-American thrillers and (as here) feeble James Bond tie-ins.
A2 is reading The Bells of Westminster* by Leonora Nattrass.
So much to celebrate! We had more food than you can shake a chopstick at, followed by A1’s sublime chocolate cake with 10 candles and 10 Lego minifigures sunk knee-deep in ganache.
A1 is reading HHhH by Laurent Binet. A2 is rereading Valis by Philip K Dick. We scored a most excellent 11 on the GSQ.
followed by Nordic Blood Orange & Almond Cake.
after which we scored 12, 13 or 13.5 (mileage varied) on the GSQ before the family went off to source indigestion tablets.
A1 is rereading The Last Voice You Hear by Mick Herron.
A reprise of 2024’s Christmas Pudding Bombe with added stollen, pannettone, brandy butter and more brandy plus loads of chocolate, cherries and a candle. Which followed A1’s succulent pork in cider and preceded the GSQ at which we scored an inauspicious 9, but could be worse.
A1 is rereading Dead Lions by Mick Herron.
For our family meal tonight we had tomato chicken, baked potatoes and creamy cheesy leeks, followed by A1’s magnificent marble cake with cream, custard and chocolate sauce, and generously scored ourselves 9.5 on the GSQ.
A2 is reading We Solve Murders by Richard Osman,in which a different bunch of (mostly) agreeable (mostly) old buffers turn their backs on village life to form an international crime-fighting syndicate. Thanks Gemma’s!
Roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, sprouts, broccoli, stuffing balls, gravy … but A1 forgot to serve the carrots. But never mind, Gez scoffed the lot anyway. Plus A2’s delicious afters of Squidgy Chocolate Pear Pudding and cream, after which we scored 13 on the GSQ with Bob as quizmaster.
A1 is rereading The Stand by Stephen King. A2 is reading Desolation Road by Ian McDonald.
A cold-weather cake after our warming lunch of pasta bakes at which we scored another substandard 9 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths, featuring a time-travelling detective. EG has no idea how to write skiffy (which she sort of admits), so she keeps the science and wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff off-page, sensibly. A more worrying feature is the similarity of her protagonists — here Ali is indistinguishable from her previous archaeologist protagonist Ruth Galloway, and is pretty unbelievable in her reactions for a DS. Still, readable and entertaining enough.
A2 is rereading Buried by Jussi Adler Olsen.
Yesterday was one of our rainiest days of all time: 39.3mm, making this month our wettest this year and our rainiest September ever. Today was bright and sunny, the washed-clean solar panels served up 6kWh and the family came round for lunch. We had roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, cabbage, cauliflower cheese and Yorkshire puddings, followed by Swedish applekaka, and scored a miserable 9 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. A2 is reading The Art of a Lie, also by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, which was very entertaining. Thank you A1.
Feeding time again. Today we had pork in cider and chocolate ginger beer cake which was tasty but filling, and scored an above-par 11 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Predicament by William Boyd. A2 is reading Clown Town by Mick Herron.
Transit of Bob. It was A2’s birthday yesterday so she got a lot of lovely presents of things to drink, read and wear to the gym. Our family dinner was chicken, bacon and broccoli with A1’s cherry cake and perfect garden apple charlotte for afters. We scored 9 on the GSQ. Could have been worse. And we could have seen the lunar eclipse if it hadn’t been cloudy, and then raining. But it was clear in Lusaka (see right) — thanks, Guida!
A1 is reading The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith, the latest biceps-straining volume in the Strike/Ellacott saga. Expensive, too — probably the first £30 mass-market novel (although it’s been heavily discounted).
It’s nominally a fiendishly complicated crime novel (and it is complicated — you may want to take notes), but RG is having great fun with the on-off relationship between the protagonists, which fortunately errs on the right side of soapiness; you can imagine her smirking at the readers’ reactions. The targets this time include Freemasonry and another stab at an evil Boris Johnson analogue, who really seems to appeal to writers (cf Mick Herron, MW Craven etc). Can’t imagine why… Criticism? There’s a bit too much phonetic transcription of accents, and the subplot about human trafficking gets somewhat lost in all the fol-de-rol. But a thoroughly enjoyable read nonetheless.
A2 is reading The Predicament by William Boyd, which was absolutely delightful. Thank you A1.
A side-on view of Vanessa atalanta sipping nectar from the buddleia.
We didn’t have a family dinner this week but we did have lots of carrots so we made a cake anyway.
A2 is rereading The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick.
A1 cooked succulent burgers, chips and salad for our family dinner and A2 made courgette, halloumi and chickpea fritters for the veggies. We had a chocolate, cherry and cream cake from yesterday’s paper for afters…
…and managed to score 12 on yesterday’s paper’s quiz. We’re on a roll!
A1 is rereading Bryant & May: The Running Man by Christopher Fowler. A2 is reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki, which was tasty and fattening.
The finish for our family meal of Leeds Fried Chicken Legs with chips, onion rings and salad at which we scored an improved 10.5 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Teacher* by Tim Sullivan. A2 is reading The Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry.
It’s A1&2’s wedding anniversary and a delicious cherry cake was baked to celebrate.
A1 gave A2 a bunch of flowers and our number 6 coffee maker; a handy little gadget for making one cup of espresso, and A2 gave A1 The Red Shore by William Shaw in advance of publication.
It was our opal wedding so A2 got a packet of [redacted], previously known as Opal Fruits, and A1 got an opal (see below).
A2 is rereading Disgrace by Jussi Adler Olsen.
The good times keep on rolling! Here’s the birthday boy’s boozy coffee walnut cake looking like Pacman going after our cherries.
A1 is rereading A House Full of Knives by William Shaw. A2, inspired by watching Dept Q, is rereading Mercy, aka The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Our family dinner this week was chicken bacon broccoli plus vegetarian alternatives, followed by a fruity trifle, at which we scored 9.5 on the GSQ, bringing our average to a sub par 9.9. Come on guys!
A2 is reading Son* by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger.
Dave cuts himself a slice of delicious parkin cake after his post-birthday dinner of stroggers and pizza. And we scored a respectable 12 on the GSQ at last.
Another family meal, another creamy pudding. Since the Co-op shop was hacked there have been shortages on many shelves but a vast oversupply of sell-by-date cream. A1 served up a delicious beef stew and A2 concocted a creamy courgette gratin for the vegetarians. We enjoyed it all and scored our usual substandard 9 on the GSQ.
A1 started The Girl in the Woods* and The Cuckoo*, both by Camilla Lackberg, but couldn’t get into either of them.
A2 is reading The Last Weekend by Blake Morrison; a miserable book about horrible people with a specially ghastly protagonist.
We had chicken and/or vegetable creamy pasta for lunch, followed by this strawberry sponge cake which was snapped up before it could be snapped, and scored an improved 10 on the GSQ.
A2 is reading The Cuckoo* by Camilla Lackberg.
We had chicken bacon broccoli and cheesecake for our family meal and did the last two weeks’ quizzes, scoring 13 on one and 10 on the other. Here’s the cake:
A1 is reading The Alaska Sanders Affair* by Joel Dicker. A2 is reading Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard. Another book about a Writer.
Our pudding after our family meal of roast pork, stuffing, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, broccoli, sprouts, carrots and gravy, after which we generously allowed ourselves to score 10 on the GSQ.
A2 is rereading Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre.
It’s Eid-al-Fitr, Mother’s Day and Gez birthday eve and A1 has made a delicious strawberry sponge to round off our meal of stroggers and pasta, after which we scored 11.5 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Trap* by Ava Glass (don’t mind if I do), which was a tediously cliched spy thriller — ChatGPT could do better. A2 is rereading Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre.
Another day, another circular object. Today it’s the trifle completing our family meal of spaghetti and sauce, surrounded by tabletop clutter. We scored 10 on the GSQ, better than the last few.
A1 is rereading The Cut and A2 is rereading Not the End of the World, both by Chris aka Christopher Brookmyre.