Visiting family came for lunch today.
I was still pretty achy from yesterday's Farm Visit, which was unfortunate as having visitors for lunch involves much shifting of furniture and digging out of extra crockery etc.
I sent Mr RoS off to church, as everything takes twice as long to do if he is helping. He gets a shed-load of washing up to deal with once the visitors are gone, though, and I collapse into an armchair.
The visitors did take over tea-making duties for themselves and for us, and carrying dishes between kitchen & table. Even the littlest boy helped with table-clearing.
There was an unusual after-lunch activity on this visit. There was to be a baptism in the sea just a short walk from where we live, and we suggested that it might be interesting for our non-church-going family members to witness, specially the little boys, and they were quite enthusiastic.
I didn't have the energy for the walk, but the rest of them went and as I hoped the boys, being of primary school age and interested in everything, had questions and opinions on the proceedings. I hope they will retain these for future reference.
I don't think I've ever heard of an open-air baptism in Our Town, despite the proximity of rivers and sea...though there is a summer-only open-air swimming facility, which AIUI contains good quality sea-water. They run it through some cleaning plant, I think.
ION, a grey and cloudy day in Arkland the Mournful, though still mild and dry. Tess Coe has been visited (because Monday), but it was quite an effort to get round the store. I have at least one Bad Day each week, when more Aches and Pains than usual beset my feeble Frame, and today seems to be this week's visitation. Pilates tomorrow (because Tuesday), but I shall probably be OK for that (said he, hopefully).
Anyway, all Essentials were bought, including a few Tins for the Cupboard of Doom™ - more Mushy Peas, and O glory! a large Tin of PILCHARDS! These noble Fishes have made a comeback, but I note from the label that they are from the South Atlantic, rather than from UK waters. Mind you, I suppose that, if they come from the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, that would qualify them as Happy British Fishes...
BANGERS n'MASH in Onion Gravy again, owing to having bought two ready-meals without checking the use-by date. Today's is the Co-Op version, just as tasty as Tess Coe's, but a little more pricey...
Sorry you are having a bad day @Bishops Finger . I hope tomorrow is better and that you enjoy your BANGERS 'n' MASH. Delighted to hear about the PILCHARDS!
We had a very nice evening last night with our roast chicken, raising our glasses to anything we could think of and for the first time in a while we downed the whole bottle of White between us.
Today started Very Foggy and it took a while to clear; fortunately Mr Sainz Breeze still managed to find his way here so we are stocked up with Necessities for the week.
We are nursing our solar panels system through the next few days. Mr Nen would find it Immensely Pleasing to be able to say that it got us through to the end of September without us needing to pull power from the grid and as we are so near that now I am willing to play the game. To that end I did loads of washing on Saturday (very sunny) and can manage without doing any more for the next couple of (not very sunny) days; and I needed to do some baking today so delayed that until after lunch to give the battery time to recharge a bit. Tea is Quick'n'Easy Pasta. We are out all day tomorrow. Then we just need to get through Wednesday.
Still pondering the Air Fryer Question. I think you have a Remoska, @Bishops Finger ? How do you find that for cooking and economy?
The Remoska is ideal for me, but there's only room in it for one ready-meal, or a Fish Cake and Chips, or whatever. I find I can also cook Bacon in it, and Melted CHEESE on Bread. It takes as long as it says on the label IYSWIM, and, although I don't know for certain, I suspect it is very economical on electricity - no need to pre-heat.
Once the Dragon is alight, the Remoska retires to a cupboard for the winter! The popty-ping remains available for use, however, as I sometimes buy ready Stuff which can only be microwaved.
Mr Nen would find it Immensely Pleasing to be able to say that it got us through to the end of September without us needing to pull power from the grid .
You must have taken a little, simply to balance the system. I have had to use gas for heating on cool mornings and cooking on the stove, also on a couple of mornings to heat water when the battery has been low due to a dull previous day. Still, we've only used 8 units since mid-August and gas consumption has dropped significantly. But, as you say, that has required a certain amount of game-playing!
I have a small air fryer and I use it a lot for making lunches. Baked potato - 5mins microwave and then 5mins air fryer - perfect. Brill for chips too. And sausages.
It rained this morning! First time in an age. I spent the morning doing the Clean Ing, but couldn't resist going out on the balcony for a while to observe this curious phenomenon.
Rain here in South Wales three days running, which is the rule but since April the exception.
We may get away with not watering the garden one day soon.
We use a remoska a lot - last week we used it for roasting root veg before making soup, and then another day a mish-mash of potato chunks, carrot, shallots and chicken thighs. I've used the same medley with sausages. It's no good for green veg but excellent for jacket potatoes. My husband is confident with it so that's an added bonus! Horses for Courses I suppose. Same with the air fryer and the slow cooker. They were less useful when we had a houseful of sons who could eat for England but now there are just two of us most of the time the regular oven is very under-used.
I have made it to a very beautiful part of Italy I haven’t been to before. A bit of a trek to get here but everything went really smoothly.
I’m now considering going to bed as I’ve been up since two this morning.
My cold is still being annoying, but my hip is ok ish. Let’s see how walking 14k tomorrow feels.
Mr Nen would find it Immensely Pleasing to be able to say that it got us through to the end of September without us needing to pull power from the grid .
You must have taken a little, simply to balance the system. I have had to use gas for heating on cool mornings and cooking on the stove, also on a couple of mornings to heat water when the battery has been low due to a dull previous day. Still, we've only used 8 units since mid-August and gas consumption has dropped significantly. But, as you say, that has required a certain amount of game-playing!
What is "balancing" the system? Our batteries have enough capacity to enable us, so far at least (and with a bit of game-playing), to last through the nights and through dull periods of weather until the brightness is sufficient (full sun doesn't seem to be required) to top them up. We don't have gas (most people in the village are on oil), our water is heated by an air-sourced heat pump which comes on for around an hour every day and we haven't needed heating. The house is built to retain heat; it cooked us during the heatwaves but it's coming into its own now. All we seem to need is some sun on our large south-facing windows and it stays warm all day. We currently have all the bedroom windows open to cool the upstairs down.
It remains to be seen what it's like in January .
Hope your cold gets better very soon @Sarasa and your hip holds up for the walking.
We use a remoska a lot - last week we used it for roasting root veg before making soup, and then another day a mish-mash of potato chunks, carrot, shallots and chicken thighs. I've used the same medley with sausages. It's no good for green veg but excellent for jacket potatoes. My husband is confident with it so that's an added bonus! Horses for Courses I suppose. Same with the air fryer and the slow cooker. They were less useful when we had a houseful of sons who could eat for England but now there are just two of us most of the time the regular oven is very under-used.
Interesting. I've always used my slow cooker a lot, I would always use that for cooking a whole chicken for example, and for casseroles. For the mish-mash of meat and vegetables you describe I would currently need to turn my whole oven on which does seem a bit wasteful when there are only two of us and other appliances might do the same job but using less power.
How do you define "small" re your air-fryer, @Boogie? Just one drawer? And does it give a nice crispy skin on the baked spud?
Glad to hear you got to Italy safely, @Sarasa - good luck with the tramping about!
Slightly cooler but bonny day here; work v. quiet (not expecting that to last).
Although I had no serious ill effects from the jag yesterday, I couldn't get heat into me at work today, even with the heater on in my office, which is Not Like Me, as you all know.
Fishcakes and veggies for supper, because easy; I really must try and get an early night.
There appear to be two sizes of Remoska (2 litre and 4 litre). Currently one supplier is selling the larger one for just over half the price of the smaller one.
I'm not quite sure what a Remoska is - is it just a brand of halogen oven?
@Diomedes have you tried roasting green veg alongside the root veg? Roasted cabbage wedges, broccoli, cauliflower etc are lovely.
Had a very strange experience here - someone had passed on a note to the staff here purporting to be the resident of my flat, wishing to complain about one of my neighbours (who I get along with very well) and saying I no longer wish to live here. It wasn't even a proper letter, just scribbled on the back of an old envelope, and weirdly didn't mention me or my neighbour by name at all - just our flat numbers. It seems as if someone wants to cause trouble for me and/or my neighbour, which feels horrible - there are only 10 flats here so not a long list of suspects. I don't have any issues with neighbours here so it's rather upsetting that someone is trying to cause trouble in this way. I haven't seen the neighbour in question yet (she is often out) but I'm anxious to clear up any suggestion that I have a problem with her ASAP. She's a very considerate neighbour and always wants to check that she isn't playing music too loud etc, so I would hate for her to think that she's done anything to bother me.
@Firenze I wonder if you would be interested in the Salter Flexifry - just using the B&M link as I had their website handy, it is sold elsewhere - which seems to be a cheaper version of the Ninja Crispi. It's an air fryer/halogen oven (they are essentially the same thing) that you can use for both batch cooking and single portions, and also swap the cooking bit for a lid so that you can store the part the food has cooked in within the fridge and then reheat it in the same container.
@Firenze I wonder if you would be interested in the Salter Flexifry - just using the B&M link as I had their website handy, it is sold elsewhere - which seems to be a cheaper version of the Ninja Crispi. It's an air fryer/halogen oven (they are essentially the same thing) that you can use for both batch cooking and single portions, and also swap the cooking bit for a lid so that you can store the part the food has cooked in within the fridge and then reheat it in the same container.
Apologies - I meant to tag @Piglet (but by all means take a look @Firenze 😂)
Just looking at it on the Lakeland website - so you can use it as a saucepan as well as an oven? The initial expense is more than an air-fryer but it does look very handy - I may have to save up for one. Being in a studio flat with a kitchenette means no oven, and that counter space is at a premium.
@Firenze I wonder if you would be interested in the Salter Flexifry - just using the B&M link as I had their website handy, it is sold elsewhere - which seems to be a cheaper version of the Ninja Crispi. It's an air fryer/halogen oven (they are essentially the same thing) that you can use for both batch cooking and single portions, and also swap the cooking bit for a lid so that you can store the part the food has cooked in within the fridge and then reheat it in the same container.
Apologies - I meant to tag @Piglet (but by all means take a look @Firenze 😂)
I wondered! I did have an air-fryer for a time, but that was when I had a cooker with that irritating feature, an oven with an integral grill. Now I have one with a fan oven and separate grill (which can also serve as an oven). That, plus 4 ring stovetop and a microwave, can handle anything I might want to cook.
I do look at various appliances (because kitchen porn) but a) I don't have the worktop space and b) they fail the Sharp Knife Test - this is question I put regarding any kitchen gadget - could you do X just as well with a sharp knife (=something you already have).
I don't really know - but I was told that a small amount of input from the mains (around 10w but it varies) was needed to keep the system running properly. FWIW we don't have the facility whereby the battery would cut in if there was a power cut; that may be relevant to know.
Today is dark and grey and we're using more than we're charging.
I don't really know - but I was told that a small amount of input from the mains (around 10w but it varies) was needed to keep the system running properly. FWIW we don't have the facility whereby the battery would cut in if there was a power cut; that may be relevant to know.
Today is dark and grey and we're using more than we're charging.
Very few systems are completely "off grid" capable - they need to use the grid as a valve. When the system is generating less power than needed, obviously it needs to be able to suck power in from the grid. When it's overgenerating (and the battery is full) it needs to be able to push back into the grid - whether you're getting paid for it or not. This maintains a balance of sort.
That might be what they're referring to. Certainly when you're exporting you're not also drawing power in - that doesn't happen.
Quite. At the moment I'm generating 1.91kW, most of which is charging the battery although some is powering the house (fridge etc). However I am also drawing 4w from the mains.
What most systems (including mine) won't do is give me battery power during a power cut. Apparently it isn't a good thing for PV systems to feed back into a "dead" grid. Special wiring is required.
Our MOT is due tomorrow but when we phoned to book it in over a fortnight ago, the earliest available MOT was Tues 6th. So we can't drive it from tomorrow until we drive it to its MOT.
This seemed to me to be a Minor Inconvenience, and I had given no thought to the logistics of being carless.
The NE Man has just returned from the supermarket in Nearest Town, with enough food to withstand a lengthy siege. Apparently this will "tide us over" until Tuesday.
We have a village Co-op and an excellent butcher within walking distance, get our milk delivered to the door, and have a well-stocked freezer, but the NE Man seems to have thought starvation a very real possibility.
I am hovering between being impressed by his forethought and astonished by the amount he thinks we need.
Our MOT is due tomorrow but when we phoned to book it in over a fortnight ago, the earliest available MOT was Tues 6th. So we can't drive it from tomorrow until we drive it to its MOT.
This seemed to me to be a Minor Inconvenience, and I had given no thought to the logistics of being carless.
The NE Man has just returned from the supermarket in Nearest Town, with enough food to withstand a lengthy siege. Apparently this will "tide us over" until Tuesday.
We have a village Co-op and an excellent butcher within walking distance, get our milk delivered to the door, and have a well-stocked freezer, but the NE Man seems to have thought starvation a very real possibility.
I am hovering between being impressed by his forethought and astonished by the amount he thinks we need.
Does a supermarket in the town deliver? We get most of our groceries delivered about fortnightly. There is a charge but with the convenience, time saved and fuel saved we think it’s worthwhile. We don’t use it for the butcher and rarely for fresh fruit and veg though.
A hot and humid day in Arkland the Sultry (76F! ), which will last (They say) over the weekend.
Paint has been delivered, but will have to wait a few days before being applied to the Deck, as I'm still suffering the reaction to last Thursday's Tess Coe Tumble.
Pilates has been endured and survived, though, and Lunch is cooking in the Remoska (mine is the small 2-litre version). FISH CAKE, with CRISPY POTATO FLAKES (for a change) and MUSHY PEAS (as usual).
Quite. At the moment I'm generating 1.91kW, most of which is charging the battery although some is powering the house (fridge etc). However I am also drawing 4w from the mains.
What most systems (including mine) won't do is give me battery power during a power cut. Apparently it isn't a good thing for PV systems to feed back into a "dead" grid. Special wiring is required.
Coming back late to this discussion, my understanding of the "balancing" is that the home system and the grid need to stay in sync, and that when nothing is otherwise needed from the grid or being exported, then every so often the home will recieve a couple of seconds worth of power. Our battery app shows this as it happens.
After having kept my husband awake with my coughing last night we managed to stagger off to do a 15k walk today. It was a lovely walk and my hip held out. The hotel we’re at tonight didn’t seem that promising, but we’ve just had what is probably the best meal of the year. A lazy day is in order tomorrow, specially as my husband appear to have caught my cold.
I'm having difficulty translating Pomona's 4-litre air fryer into actual area occupied on the counter: no matter how hard I look, the product description doesn't seem to have dimensions (preferably in inches, but will take cm at a push ). I'm not sure I could justify the space occupied by the big compartment: how often would I cook a whole chicken? 🤔
As all the solicitors are going to be out of the office tomorrow for a jolly professional development day, one of my colleagues very sensibly suggested I take the day off. I have plenty of days to use, and as my mobile is in urgent need of TLC* and the geek shop isn't open when I want it to be, I'm taking her advice.
* It may only need a new battery, but I think if they can sell me a new/reconditioned phone, I might just do that. It's six years old, and doesn't really owe me anything.
It's been a nice day here, and is forecast to be another one tomorrow.
I'm having difficulty translating Pomona's 4-litre air fryer into actual area occupied on the counter: no matter how hard I look, the product description doesn't seem to have dimensions (preferably in inches, but will take cm at a push ). I'm not sure I could justify the space occupied by the big compartment: how often would I cook a whole chicken? 🤔
As all the solicitors are going to be out of the office tomorrow for a jolly professional development day, one of my colleagues very sensibly suggested I take the day off. I have plenty of days to use, and as my mobile is in urgent need of TLC* and the geek shop isn't open when I want it to be, I'm taking her advice.
* It may only need a new battery, but I think if they can sell me a new/reconditioned phone, I might just do that. It's six years old, and doesn't really owe me anything.
It's been a nice day here, and is forecast to be another one tomorrow.
Supper was risi e bisi.
I think this is the same thing with a different name. There are dimensions under the "specifications" tab.
Choir committee meeting tonight was on Teams. (Unfortunately) the Chair could not manage to join in fully. She could see and hear but could not be seen or heard. The Vice Chair chaired and the Chair contributed via Whatsapp, though some of her comments were ignored. At least she could not speak over people whose views she did not agree with.
The proposal to change the Constitution so that an Officer’s term is limited was considered favourably, though some tweaks to the detail are needed before it is put to the membership.
So overall a very useful meeting.
I think this is the same thing with a different name. There are dimensions under the "specifications" tab.
Thanks Pomona - it would fit on the over-microwave shelf thingie, but I think I'd have trouble reaching it or lifting it down. I'm still tending towards a single-drawer one, which would be smaller and more easily moved.
It's a glorious day here: after a rainy morning, the sun is now splitting the trees and it's 19°.
I ambled along to the geek shop and will shortly amble back to pick up my new-to-me mobile, to which I hope the nice bloke in the shop will have successfully transferred all my bits and pieces.
Sadly, I suspect my current Wordle streak of nearly 300 won't have made the journey ...
In between, I had a nice lunch in a wee café and a stroll beside the loch.
We’re having a lazy day. We’ve been exploring Arquà Petrarca which was Petrach’s last home and where most of him is buried. Walking again tomorrow so good not to do much. The weather is more or less ideal, warm and sunny but not too hot.
Coming back late to this discussion, my understanding of the "balancing" is that the home system and the grid need to stay in sync, and that when nothing is otherwise needed from the grid or being exported, then every so often the home will recieve a couple of seconds worth of power. Our battery app shows this as it happens.
Yes. I have consulted The Oracle (aka Mr Nen) and he confirmed that there's a regular little "zing" of power between the grid and the system; he showed me the graph of it happening on the app - fascinating . I now think of it as grid and system checking in with each other - "All right, mate?" "Yup, great thanks."
After a mostly sunny day we are confident of reaching the "no pull on the grid until after the end of September" marker; we even ran the washing machine today .
In other news, we had a lovely day yesterday meeting up with a number of friends we haven't seen for years. At one point I was sitting with two friends with whom I spent a lot of time when we all had small children and, several decades later, as we sat talking about children and grandchildren the years seemed to roll away and I had a bit of a moment . We have all moved away from Town Where We Used To Live now.
A domestic morning and then into Fairly Nearby Town to purchase card, presents and wrapping paper for the GrandNenling's forthcoming birthday .
Spaghetti bolognese for tea and a small glass of RED WINE will of course be required. The oven will have to go on for warming up the garlic bread and it is for just such an occasion I think an air fryer... or a Remoska... would be ideal. There's a Lakeland store in Nearest City so I think I'll have to go there and take a look at a Remoska in the metal, as it were, and hopefully talk to some Helpful Sales Assistant. Decisions, decisions...
So far it's given extra steps: because I'm a complete moron when it comes to anything technical, I had to pootle back to the shop to get the Nice Bloke to get my email, Farcebark and What's App to all talk to each other.
I'll also need to go to the Banking Hub tomorrow to see if they can get the bank app to work, as the Nice Bloke said he couldn't do anything with bank stuff. I suspect they'll say they can't help either, and I'll have to go to bloody Falkirk again ... 🙄
As expected, my Wordle streak has gone, as have the stats from the assorted games of patience I play when I have leisure to rest.
Tonight's PIZZA turned out more stressful than I expected. I made the dough last night, and left it to rise in the fridge, thinking how organised I'd been. This morning I realised I'd forgotten to put any salt in
Husband en rouge was coming home lateish, but about 45 minutes before he was supposed to arrive I got the dough out of the fridge to come up to temperature. His bus got then stuck in a massive traffic diversion, and arrived rather a long time after he was meant to. By this point the dough was starting to resemble soup (apparently it also spreads more when there's no salt). I have a pizza stone, but completely abandoned the idea of using it, because after salting the dough and doing something approaching rolling it out I couldn't possibly have transferred it onto said pizza stone without much weeping and gnashing of teeth. It came out OK all things considered.
I like PIZZA, and sometimes buy one in winter to put in the Dragon to cook - the Remoska is too small!
A mostly dull day in Arkland the Mild, with some 'soft, refreshing Rain' (as it says in the hymn) during the small hours. Still feeling flaky after last week's Tumble and yesterday's Pilates, I've been rather lazy and torpid, gathering strength for the regular Thursday Expotition to Tess Coe tomorrow.
A few more Tins for the Cupboard Of Doom™ are called for - some PIES and IRISH STEW, I think.
What I still think of as my 'Brexit Stash' needed a bit of a sort out as I have been a bit idle this year, and have found it easier to add items to my Sains order than to hunt for them through the various containers in the garage. Also, with it having been salad season from May to October this year, many of the 2025 cans and jars remain unused.
Today I put the garage goods in date order, and updated my list of what is in each box, so that I can stop buying more cans of beans that we already have. There are too many items in the kitchen cupboard that are dated years hence, so I must be a bit more disciplined about swapping them for the older ones in the garage.
I was pleased to find two tins of pilchards as I sorted through the stash
University term starts this weekend and work is piling up in preparation. I’ve also got a student mental health research project on the go which needed some work this week.
But I managed to get my studies done on Tuesday and am about a week ahead of schedule. Last week was a fabulous study of disability in the ancient world and it was an amazing experience to study a subject which I am an expert in from a modern perspective being applied to the classical period which I am very much not an expert in. It meant I could critique the study from a much deeper perspective and the experience has suggested to me that I may end up doing a final dissertation on ancient ideas about mental health (this happened with my history masters, I went in with the idea of doing a dissertation on death in the family and ended up doing eighteenth century mental health).
This week’s study was slightly more pedestrian, being on methodology and theoretical approaches which are already familiar to me as a historian, though some of the examples were novel, such as examining the use of automata and artificial intelligence in Homer’s epics.
Then it was venison meatballs for tea, served with leftover lemony orzo and courgette, and a trip to Waitrose to stock up on essentials that we can’t get with the weekly delivery. I have just had a lemon beer.
Tomorrow morning is yoga, which my arthritic hips are not currently enjoying.
Our MOT is due tomorrow but when we phoned to book it in over a fortnight ago, the earliest available MOT was Tues 6th. So we can't drive it from tomorrow until we drive it to its MOT.
This seemed to me to be a Minor Inconvenience, and I had given no thought to the logistics of being carless.
The NE Man has just returned from the supermarket in Nearest Town, with enough food to withstand a lengthy siege. Apparently this will "tide us over" until Tuesday.
We have a village Co-op and an excellent butcher within walking distance, get our milk delivered to the door, and have a well-stocked freezer, but the NE Man seems to have thought starvation a very real possibility.
I am hovering between being impressed by his forethought and astonished by the amount he thinks we need.
Does a supermarket in the town deliver? We get most of our groceries delivered about fortnightly. There is a charge but with the convenience, time saved and fuel saved we think it’s worthwhile. We don’t use it for the butcher and rarely for fresh fruit and veg though.
Yes, Tesco delivers. We have a voucher for a free lunch at a cafe in the village which I thought we could use this week as we can't go further afield till the car is MOT'd. But we have so much food in the fridge we can't justify going out for lunch this week.
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I was still pretty achy from yesterday's Farm Visit, which was unfortunate as having visitors for lunch involves much shifting of furniture and digging out of extra crockery etc.
I sent Mr RoS off to church, as everything takes twice as long to do if he is helping. He gets a shed-load of washing up to deal with once the visitors are gone, though, and I collapse into an armchair.
The visitors did take over tea-making duties for themselves and for us, and carrying dishes between kitchen & table. Even the littlest boy helped with table-clearing.
There was an unusual after-lunch activity on this visit. There was to be a baptism in the sea just a short walk from where we live, and we suggested that it might be interesting for our non-church-going family members to witness, specially the little boys, and they were quite enthusiastic.
I didn't have the energy for the walk, but the rest of them went and as I hoped the boys, being of primary school age and interested in everything, had questions and opinions on the proceedings. I hope they will retain these for future reference.
ION, a grey and cloudy day in Arkland the Mournful, though still mild and dry. Tess Coe has been visited (because Monday), but it was quite an effort to get round the store. I have at least one Bad Day each week, when more Aches and Pains than usual beset my feeble Frame, and today seems to be this week's visitation. Pilates tomorrow (because Tuesday), but I shall probably be OK for that (said he, hopefully).
Anyway, all Essentials were bought, including a few Tins for the Cupboard of Doom™ - more Mushy Peas, and O glory! a large Tin of PILCHARDS! These noble Fishes have made a comeback, but I note from the label that they are from the South Atlantic, rather than from UK waters. Mind you, I suppose that, if they come from the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, that would qualify them as Happy British Fishes...
BANGERS n'MASH in Onion Gravy again, owing to having bought two ready-meals without checking the use-by date. Today's is the Co-Op version, just as tasty as Tess Coe's, but a little more pricey...
We had a very nice evening last night with our roast chicken, raising our glasses to anything we could think of and for the first time in a while we downed the whole bottle of White between us.
Today started Very Foggy and it took a while to clear; fortunately Mr Sainz Breeze still managed to find his way here so we are stocked up with Necessities for the week.
We are nursing our solar panels system through the next few days. Mr Nen would find it Immensely Pleasing to be able to say that it got us through to the end of September without us needing to pull power from the grid and as we are so near that now I am willing to play the game. To that end I did loads of washing on Saturday (very sunny) and can manage without doing any more for the next couple of (not very sunny) days; and I needed to do some baking today so delayed that until after lunch to give the battery time to recharge a bit. Tea is Quick'n'Easy Pasta. We are out all day tomorrow. Then we just need to get through Wednesday.
Still pondering the Air Fryer Question. I think you have a Remoska, @Bishops Finger ? How do you find that for cooking and economy?
Once the Dragon is alight, the Remoska retires to a cupboard for the winter! The popty-ping remains available for use, however, as I sometimes buy ready Stuff which can only be microwaved.
Anything you would normally grill or roast.
We may get away with not watering the garden one day soon.
I’m now considering going to bed as I’ve been up since two this morning.
My cold is still being annoying, but my hip is ok ish. Let’s see how walking 14k tomorrow feels.
It remains to be seen what it's like in January
Hope your cold gets better very soon @Sarasa and your hip holds up for the walking.
Interesting. I've always used my slow cooker a lot, I would always use that for cooking a whole chicken for example, and for casseroles. For the mish-mash of meat and vegetables you describe I would currently need to turn my whole oven on which does seem a bit wasteful when there are only two of us and other appliances might do the same job but using less power.
Glad to hear you got to Italy safely, @Sarasa - good luck with the tramping about!
Slightly cooler but bonny day here; work v. quiet (not expecting that to last).
Although I had no serious ill effects from the jag yesterday, I couldn't get heat into me at work today, even with the heater on in my office, which is Not Like Me, as you all know.
Fishcakes and veggies for supper, because easy; I really must try and get an early night.
Yes and yes 🙂
@Diomedes have you tried roasting green veg alongside the root veg? Roasted cabbage wedges, broccoli, cauliflower etc are lovely.
Had a very strange experience here - someone had passed on a note to the staff here purporting to be the resident of my flat, wishing to complain about one of my neighbours (who I get along with very well) and saying I no longer wish to live here. It wasn't even a proper letter, just scribbled on the back of an old envelope, and weirdly didn't mention me or my neighbour by name at all - just our flat numbers. It seems as if someone wants to cause trouble for me and/or my neighbour, which feels horrible - there are only 10 flats here so not a long list of suspects. I don't have any issues with neighbours here so it's rather upsetting that someone is trying to cause trouble in this way. I haven't seen the neighbour in question yet (she is often out) but I'm anxious to clear up any suggestion that I have a problem with her ASAP. She's a very considerate neighbour and always wants to check that she isn't playing music too loud etc, so I would hate for her to think that she's done anything to bother me.
Mine is a 2L Salter and cost £30.
Apologies - I meant to tag @Piglet (but by all means take a look @Firenze 😂)
I wondered! I did have an air-fryer for a time, but that was when I had a cooker with that irritating feature, an oven with an integral grill. Now I have one with a fan oven and separate grill (which can also serve as an oven). That, plus 4 ring stovetop and a microwave, can handle anything I might want to cook.
I do look at various appliances (because kitchen porn) but a) I don't have the worktop space and b) they fail the Sharp Knife Test - this is question I put regarding any kitchen gadget - could you do X just as well with a sharp knife (=something you already have).
Today is dark and grey and we're using more than we're charging.
Very few systems are completely "off grid" capable - they need to use the grid as a valve. When the system is generating less power than needed, obviously it needs to be able to suck power in from the grid. When it's overgenerating (and the battery is full) it needs to be able to push back into the grid - whether you're getting paid for it or not. This maintains a balance of sort.
That might be what they're referring to. Certainly when you're exporting you're not also drawing power in - that doesn't happen.
What most systems (including mine) won't do is give me battery power during a power cut. Apparently it isn't a good thing for PV systems to feed back into a "dead" grid. Special wiring is required.
This seemed to me to be a Minor Inconvenience, and I had given no thought to the logistics of being carless.
The NE Man has just returned from the supermarket in Nearest Town, with enough food to withstand a lengthy siege. Apparently this will "tide us over" until Tuesday.
We have a village Co-op and an excellent butcher within walking distance, get our milk delivered to the door, and have a well-stocked freezer, but the NE Man seems to have thought starvation a very real possibility.
I am hovering between being impressed by his forethought and astonished by the amount he thinks we need.
My brother will be doing the work, he's a certified aircon engineer. He has recently fitted it in his own house.
Does a supermarket in the town deliver? We get most of our groceries delivered about fortnightly. There is a charge but with the convenience, time saved and fuel saved we think it’s worthwhile. We don’t use it for the butcher and rarely for fresh fruit and veg though.
Paint has been delivered, but will have to wait a few days before being applied to the Deck, as I'm still suffering the reaction to last Thursday's Tess Coe Tumble.
Pilates has been endured and survived, though, and Lunch is cooking in the Remoska (mine is the small 2-litre version). FISH CAKE, with CRISPY POTATO FLAKES (for a change) and MUSHY PEAS (as usual).
Coming back late to this discussion, my understanding of the "balancing" is that the home system and the grid need to stay in sync, and that when nothing is otherwise needed from the grid or being exported, then every so often the home will recieve a couple of seconds worth of power. Our battery app shows this as it happens.
As all the solicitors are going to be out of the office tomorrow for a jolly professional development day, one of my colleagues very sensibly suggested I take the day off. I have plenty of days to use, and as my mobile is in urgent need of TLC* and the geek shop isn't open when I want it to be, I'm taking her advice.
* It may only need a new battery, but I think if they can sell me a new/reconditioned phone, I might just do that. It's six years old, and doesn't really owe me anything.
It's been a nice day here, and is forecast to be another one tomorrow.
Supper was risi e bisi.
I think this is the same thing with a different name. There are dimensions under the "specifications" tab.
The proposal to change the Constitution so that an Officer’s term is limited was considered favourably, though some tweaks to the detail are needed before it is put to the membership.
So overall a very useful meeting.
Thanks Pomona - it would fit on the over-microwave shelf thingie, but I think I'd have trouble reaching it or lifting it down. I'm still tending towards a single-drawer one, which would be smaller and more easily moved.
It's a glorious day here: after a rainy morning, the sun is now splitting the trees and it's 19°.
I ambled along to the geek shop and will shortly amble back to pick up my new-to-me mobile, to which I hope the nice bloke in the shop will have successfully transferred all my bits and pieces.
Sadly, I suspect my current Wordle streak of nearly 300 won't have made the journey ...
In between, I had a nice lunch in a wee café and a stroll beside the loch.
After a mostly sunny day we are confident of reaching the "no pull on the grid until after the end of September" marker; we even ran the washing machine today
In other news, we had a lovely day yesterday meeting up with a number of friends we haven't seen for years. At one point I was sitting with two friends with whom I spent a lot of time when we all had small children and, several decades later, as we sat talking about children and grandchildren the years seemed to roll away and I had a bit of a moment
A domestic morning and then into Fairly Nearby Town to purchase card, presents and wrapping paper for the GrandNenling's forthcoming birthday
Spaghetti bolognese for tea and a small glass of RED WINE will of course be required. The oven will have to go on for warming up the garlic bread and it is for just such an occasion I think an air fryer... or a Remoska... would be ideal. There's a Lakeland store in Nearest City so I think I'll have to go there and take a look at a Remoska in the metal, as it were, and hopefully talk to some Helpful Sales Assistant. Decisions, decisions...
Glad your time away is going well @Sarasa .
I hope your new-to-you phone gives satisfaction @Piglet .
I'll also need to go to the Banking Hub tomorrow to see if they can get the bank app to work, as the Nice Bloke said he couldn't do anything with bank stuff. I suspect they'll say they can't help either, and I'll have to go to bloody Falkirk again ... 🙄
As expected, my Wordle streak has gone, as have the stats from the assorted games of patience I play when I have leisure to rest.
Ho hum. 🙃
Husband en rouge was coming home lateish, but about 45 minutes before he was supposed to arrive I got the dough out of the fridge to come up to temperature. His bus got then stuck in a massive traffic diversion, and arrived rather a long time after he was meant to. By this point the dough was starting to resemble soup (apparently it also spreads more when there's no salt). I have a pizza stone, but completely abandoned the idea of using it, because after salting the dough and doing something approaching rolling it out I couldn't possibly have transferred it onto said pizza stone without much weeping and gnashing of teeth. It came out OK all things considered.
A mostly dull day in Arkland the Mild, with some 'soft, refreshing Rain' (as it says in the hymn) during the small hours. Still feeling flaky after last week's Tumble and yesterday's Pilates, I've been rather lazy and torpid, gathering strength for the regular Thursday Expotition to Tess Coe tomorrow.
A few more Tins for the Cupboard Of Doom™ are called for - some PIES and IRISH STEW, I think.
Today I put the garage goods in date order, and updated my list of what is in each box, so that I can stop buying more cans of beans that we already have. There are too many items in the kitchen cupboard that are dated years hence, so I must be a bit more disciplined about swapping them for the older ones in the garage.
I was pleased to find two tins of pilchards as I sorted through the stash
But I managed to get my studies done on Tuesday and am about a week ahead of schedule. Last week was a fabulous study of disability in the ancient world and it was an amazing experience to study a subject which I am an expert in from a modern perspective being applied to the classical period which I am very much not an expert in. It meant I could critique the study from a much deeper perspective and the experience has suggested to me that I may end up doing a final dissertation on ancient ideas about mental health (this happened with my history masters, I went in with the idea of doing a dissertation on death in the family and ended up doing eighteenth century mental health).
This week’s study was slightly more pedestrian, being on methodology and theoretical approaches which are already familiar to me as a historian, though some of the examples were novel, such as examining the use of automata and artificial intelligence in Homer’s epics.
Then it was venison meatballs for tea, served with leftover lemony orzo and courgette, and a trip to Waitrose to stock up on essentials that we can’t get with the weekly delivery. I have just had a lemon beer.
Tomorrow morning is yoga, which my arthritic hips are not currently enjoying.
Yes, Tesco delivers. We have a voucher for a free lunch at a cafe in the village which I thought we could use this week as we can't go further afield till the car is MOT'd. But we have so much food in the fridge we can't justify going out for lunch this week.