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AS: Sturgeon and Chips: the Scottish thread 2020

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  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    And mine. I danced too. As did many gardeners.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

    Weirdos. Now if you were talking bananas fried in bacon fat, that's different.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    Cathscats wrote: »
    And mine. I danced too. As did many gardeners.
    I don't have a garden but it's saved me watering the pots on the balcony. And, more significantly the box outside the bedroom window which is a right pain as the window opens inwards and then gets tangled with the blinds and curtains.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

    Weirdos. Now if you were talking bananas fried in bacon fat, that's different.

    You can make almost anything tasty by frying it in bacon fat. I've heard claims even sprouts.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I understand that bacon and chestnuts can render sprouts very nearly edible. :mrgreen:
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    Sounds like a way to ruin a good sprout
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Perhaps we'll have to agree to differ - would you like my share of the sprouts? :smiley:
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Banana fried in bacon fat ..... is a thing?

    (Apologies for any unwanted rain!)
  • From the Land Of The Deep-Fried Mars Bar? I wouldn't be surprised...
    :wink:
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Ethne Alba wrote: »
    Banana fried in bacon fat ..... is a thing?

    Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Slice the bananas lengthwise and fry until beginning to caramelise. Pile bacon and banana between two slices of toast. Crunch! Salt! Sweet!

  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    You know what I ll be trying tomorrow ..........!
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

    Weirdos. Now if you were talking bananas fried in bacon fat, that's different.

    You can make almost anything tasty by frying it in bacon fat.
    Indeed, though I have my doubts about bananas. (They’re barely okay raw. Cooked—blech!)

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

    Weirdos. Now if you were talking bananas fried in bacon fat, that's different.

    You can make almost anything tasty by frying it in bacon fat.
    Indeed, though I have my doubts about bananas. (They’re barely okay raw. Cooked—blech!)

    They're like onions: cooked, they soften and sweeten.

  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    I've had a version of pigs in blankets which was done with Bananas instead of sausages. am sure some maple syrup or golden syrup was used as well.
    I remember being skeptical, but trying it, and enjoying it.
  • I've not tried banana in bacon fat (though, tbh, it sounds delicious!), but I have had lightly-curried banana (or it might have been plantain), cooked in its skin - which does indeed become soft, edible, and tasty!
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, but with cream (and a grind or two of pepper to bring out the sweetness) they can be rather nice.
    A little drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction can also be quite tasty.

    Weirdos. Now if you were talking bananas fried in bacon fat, that's different.

    You can make almost anything tasty by frying it in bacon fat.
    Indeed, though I have my doubts about bananas. (They’re barely okay raw. Cooked—blech!)

    They're like onions: cooked, they soften and sweeten.
    Except onions taste better when cooked. Cooked bananas, I’m afraid, do not taste at all good to me.

  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    OK back on track and away from exotic fruits.....
    Breaking news is lockdown will have slight lift up from May 28th.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    What do they mean by "slight"?

    There's part of me that really wants to go into town to the bank, to sort out my application for an account (I've been going round in circles trying to do it online or by post), but my sister's still very much "distancing" and probably wouldn't be too happy about my toddling off on a bus ...
  • Here's a link to the First Minister's briefing today:
    https://news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/coronavirus-covid-19-update-first-ministers-speech-18-may-2020

    It seems as though you'll have to wait until at least Thursday for further details, but, given Ms Sturgeon's cautious approach so far, I doubt if the easing will amount to a great deal - yet!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Thanks, BF - I think that's more-or-less what I'd have expected. I'm just as keen as the next person for all this to ease off, but I think she's doing the right thing in being cautious - better that than to rush things and give the virus a second bite at the cherry.
  • Quite - which is why not a few of us Sad Southlanders wouldn't mind if she led her armies across the border, and completed the job King Alexander II left unfinished in 1216...

    BTW, he (Alexander II) was born on 24th August - same day as me, but several hundred years earlier...
    :wink:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm not quite sure that's the answer ... :mrgreen:
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    @Piglet Not sure the bank branches are open. They are so few and far between this part of the world that I wouldn't know, but I don't think the mobile bank has been calling.
  • It's worth checking online. My 'local' branch (NatWest) is only open 10am - 1pm, according to the NatWest website.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    Our nearest bank (RBS) is open with very restricted hours, and a dispenser of hand sanitiser to be used when you enter. (I haven't been in, but the North East Man has)
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Today was for the weird and wonderful. I went along the village late afternoon to deliver a card to a couple who are celebrating their 71st wedding anniversary. Yes, 71. As I approached I could see that there were people in the street, and discovered that the wife had got out the neighbours with an offer of champagne and cake, and there was a 2m apart street party going on.
    Just then the polis drove up. Very polite, was everything all right here? The wife, who was wearing a t shirt with a picture of their wedding day on it and the words “Alistair and Beryl, 71 years” bustled up to the car and offered cake. All well and polis happy.

    I couldn’t help but think the ,igniting not have been so easily appeased if we had been teenagers.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well done, Alistair and Beryl - that's amazing!

    Thanks for the bank advice, folks - I'd be checking up before embarking on any Expotitions* anyway!

    * as enjoyed by Winnie-the-Pooh and, of course, Piglet :)
  • ForthviewForthview Shipmate
    Even if the banks are open with very restricted hours they are less than welcoming to anyone who tries to come in. Is it absolutely necessary ?they'll ask.
  • A good point - and I've noticed some quite long queues (20+ people) outside those which are open...

    ...but not everyone is keen on banking online, despite all the safeguards.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    My bank is open only to drive-thorough customers. Unfortunately my arms are too short to use the drive-through. I plan to phone them and ask for help.
  • Are there drive-through banks in Scotland, or anywhere else in that loose federation formerly known as the 'United Kingdom'?

    ISTM that it would be a way of re-using the derelict McDonalds fast-food joints...
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Are there drive-through banks in Scotland, or anywhere else in that loose federation formerly known as the 'United Kingdom'?

    ISTM that it would be a way of re-using the derelict McDonalds fast-food joints...

    I think not in the sense that you mean it. I suspect that outside of the cities and maybe the central belt more generally, it's more likely that the Bank itself drives through.....
    Though RBS mobile branch is grounded at present.
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    Drive-By banking, as opposed to Drive-Through
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Once, twenty years ago when interviewing for a church I did not in the end go to in Orkney, I met a man who had spent his working life, or the latter part of it, in a floating bank, traversing the seas between the Orkney isles. @Piglet might have come across him in her youth.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Indeed - the banks there had boats and used the inter-island plane services to bring the bank to the outer islands.

    As I recall, there was a drive-in ATM machine (operated, I think, by Nat West) in Colchester; it was under a canopy like the pumps at a petrol station.
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    helpmaboab, it's roasting outside !
    #Scorchio
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    A tad warm......
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    It is indeed - off out for an amble now! :)
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    I see from the news that President First Minister Sturgeon is still being very cautious about easing lockdown restrictions, and that (for example) Scottish schools may not re-open until 11th August - somewhat later than the 1st June target the Little England Gove-rnment is looking at...

  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Scottish schools may not re-open until 11th August - somewhat later than the 1st June target the Little England Gove-rnment is looking at...

    Bear in mind the Scottish school holidays are different to those in England: they finish school towards the end of June & go back mid-Aug... It's not like there'd be much term left if they did return - Glasgow schools were scheduled to finish on Weds 24th June. From what I've seen up here, there never has been much expectation that they would go back until after the summer break.
  • O - I didn't realise that the hols were so different. Your explanation makes sense - thx.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    The present plan would be for a partial return to school conditional upon the pandemic being sufficiently under control. So, that's not certain.

    The same stage in the return to normal that includes a partial school reopening would also include the first steps towards restarting public worship - with several restrictions (social distancing, no hymn books, probably no singing). Though whether that's early August or later is still to be seen.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    My sister, who teaches part-time, said they're being expected to go back in June, presumably to do a bit of brainstorming about how they're going to operate when the kids come back in August.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    It's going to take a good few weeks, at least, to get things organised for a different way of teaching. The sooner you start doing that the better you'll be able to offer the best possible education for children when the new year starts. Even if it was actually safe to partially reopen schools, it doesn't appear that there was enough time between Mr Johnsons announcement that schools in England would partially re-open and the date he gave for that happening.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Yes, they have to work out what to do and then set up the school rooms in line with what they decide. I wonder how the teachers will manage this while still teaching online. Never think they have it easy.

    P.S. I wonder if the smallest of my primary schools, with 7 kids, one teacher, one nursery teacher (and one nursery child) and three rooms from when it was much bigger, will be allowed to go back full time, since they have so much space?
  • Cathscats wrote: »
    Yes, they have to work out what to do and then set up the school rooms in line with what they decide. I wonder how the teachers will manage this while still teaching online. Never think they have it easy.

    P.S. I wonder if the smallest of my primary schools, with 7 kids, one teacher, one nursery teacher (and one nursery child) and three rooms from when it was much bigger, will be allowed to go back full time, since they have so much space?

    I'm wondering about the latter with regard to our secondary students. With one exception all our classes are below half the notional capacity of the rooms (and the exception is only because 2 year groups have been mashed together).
  • The problem for the local primary school here is 62% of the parents would like their children in school, and they can only just get the three years (Reception, year 1 and year 6) in with appropriate social distancing if they use every classroom, leaving no capacity for any more pupils to join them in school. Any additional children will mean part days in school - group in the morning, disinfect, group in the afternoon.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    The problem for the local primary school here is 62% of the parents would like their children in school, and they can only just get the three years (Reception, year 1 and year 6) in with appropriate social distancing if they use every classroom, leaving no capacity for any more pupils to join them in school. Any additional children will mean part days in school - group in the morning, disinfect, group in the afternoon.

    Yes, same here, just no more room for other classes.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Oh, forgot to say that we’ll also be using the village hall next door. Rural schools ain’t blessed with space!
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