Category: Food

Bored to abstraction – 21 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Full on dull dreary day. Needed some sunshine. Made my own.

Out early, well, early for me and out to Muirhead to get some meat for my Christmas Day dinner. Scamp was still in bed nursing her cold that doesn’t seem to have gotten any better overnight. An extra hour or so in bed wouldn’t do any harm.

Got to the butchers just after 10am and the queue was already the full length of the shop and it’s a fairly big shop. Lots of women serving and lots of butchers butchering and lugging great bags of different meats around. Not a place for vegans I fear. Despite the length of the queue, I was served quickly and soon I was out the door with my carnivore’s delights.

Drove home by the scenic route, but the low cloud, the poor light and the heavy rain put paid to any chance of a quick photo. So be it, maybe there would be a break in the clouds later. By the time I was home, Scamp was up and ready to go and buy what was left in Tesco. I had a coffee and started to work on using my old Samsung tablet as a screen for the Pi. Finally got it working, but it’s not the swiftest of cobbled together technology. It will do for now because it means I’m not hogging the TV.

I’d just finished squeezing my steaks and sausages into the freezer when Scamp returned with Tesco in two or three carrier bags. Lunch was a roll ’n’ sausage for me and a roll ’n’ egg for Scamp. We do eat well! Messed around with the new Toy in the afternoon because there wasn’t a hope of getting an outdoors photo.

Spoke to JIC who was on his way with Sim to Toronto hopefully if the drone that’s buzzing Gatwick runs out of battery power for an hour or so.

Tonight I cut a tangerine in half, then made another cut across the base. Sat the whole thing on a wee LED lamp and photographed it. That’s today’s PoD. Of course there’s a lot more to it than that. There’s at least two hours of post-processing and a fair bit of swearing too. However, it did bring a bit of artificial sunshine into the day, the shortest day.  From now on the light will be returning to our dark and gloomy land.

Scamp’s sister got out of hospital tonight and is back in the caring arms of her family. I thInk Scamp may go and visit with the mandatory black grapes tomorrow. Otherwise, we have no plans for tomorrow.

A ‘lovely’ day – 20 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Woke to rain, and that set the theme for the day.

Scamp was still suffering from a heavy cold, but was determined to meet Nancy at The Fort (our second home this week, it seems). I stayed in to wait for a parcel for the new Toy Off The Rack. It didn’t come. However I did get some other things parcelled up, things that had been lingering in the back bedroom for weeks. Hope they haven’t gone mouldy in that time. Anyway, they’re under the tree now, under the watchful eyes of Fairy and Fairy Nuff.

With a bit of peace and quiet to myself, I set to and made a couple of videos on One Point and Two Point Perspective for Margie, one of Scamp’s Gems singers who does a lot of sketching and painting, but has never mastered perspective. Hopefully they should help. Links at the bottom of the page in case you’re interested. I say I made a couple of videos. In actual fact I made about half a dozen, but most of them showed the bald patch on the top of my head, rather than any drawing. I just couldn’t get the camera in the right position, even when I was using the big Manfrotto tripod behind me in its most inelegant yoga position with one leg pressed horizontally against the wall while resting on the chest of drawers and the other two legs at various angles and extensions on the floor. I eventually gave up and used a neat little iPhone holder that Hazy gave me years ago and fixed it on the small Manfrotto tripod, sitting on the tabletop and filmed the whole thing on the iPhone. That worked perfectly. Simplest is sometimes best.

When Scamp returned I went out to get stuff for dinner and to take some photos. Today’s PoD is of part of the Antonine Wall at the east of Cumbersheugh. It was taken in the last of the afternoon light and in what turned out to be a fifteen minute window in the rain that persisted the rest of the day. Tried processing it in Lightroom and On1 and the latter won hands down. Ok, it’s not perfect, but neither was the weather. Dinner was chicken curry made with the excellent Patak’s Paste Pots.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to go to the butchers to get my Christmas steak.

Link 1: One Point Perspective

Link 2: Two Point Perspective

Divide and Conquer – 14 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

I was first out this morning which makes a pleasant change!

I went for a walk over to St Mo’s hoping to catch some low morning light, and almost succeeded. I should have been maybe half an hour earlier then I’d have got some better angled light, but the trees with the light behind them proved useful, and made PoD. By the time I got back, Scamp was already out and on the bus to Glasgow. I just had time to dump my photos and then head off for coffee with Colin.

The great thing about having three friends with totally different, but in some ways similar interests is that when we’re all together as a group of four, nobody really has a chance to dominate the conversation with their personal stories and it’s easy for everyone to chip in. The good thing about meeting one-to-one is that you get a more in-depth talk and sometimes a chance to air your opinion or grievance without interruption. Both setups have their advantages and disadvantages and are not mutually exclusive. Some days like yesterday when talking with Val, I pick up loads of information and also enthusiasm. Today with Colin where we share a history but not any mutual interest, it’s a totally different conversation that materialises. We talked about people we’d taught and met along the way. Colin is perhaps the most forgiving and also the least acerbic of the group. Me? I just try to stir things up until an argument ensues, then walk away with a smile. Usually I get caught, but sometimes I can still play ‘devil’s advocate’ and get away with it. Not today though, Colin’s too long in the tooth for that. Parted after an hour and a half and I drove in to Glasgow to meet Scamp for lunch while Colin drove home.

Met Scamp and walked down to Paesano for lunch. The place was jumping, but since we only needed a table for two, we easily found a space at a bench. Bloke next to us just had his pizza delivered and was about to start in on it when it was just as quickly whisked away. It wasn’t his. We began talking and when ours were delivered I was about to offer him a slice when his own came. He made a very strange comment that I wouldn’t have considered making to a stranger. He turned to me and said “You don’t wonder why our generation is totally screwed when you listen to the two on my right.” The two in question were two obviously gay men and although I couldn’t hear their conversation, he obviously could. I gave a rather noncommittal reply and he continued with his lunch. I don’t know what his agenda was, but as far as I’m concerned, they can live their life as they please. “They’re not asking me for the money” as my mum would say. Live and let live has become my motto.

After lunch Scamp and I split up and went our own mysterious ways and met up again at the car.  You see, you can spend even more money if there’s two of you doing it.  That’s what Xmas is all about.  Nothing at all to do with Christmas.

Drove home in the gathering gloom and the lowering temperature. Weather tomorrow looks grim with rain, sleet, snow and freezing rain forecast. All blown in on a strengthening wind. We had planned on going to Embra, but that has now been shelved for a better day.

Talking Technology

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out early to meet Isobel, I was out later to meet Val. All of us risking a dose of the cold sitting in the freezing draft in Costa Cumbernauld.

I wanted to pick Val’s brains about the new Raspberry Pi which has come a long way since the last time I played around with one back in 2014.
<Technospeak Warning>
Then it was simply a tiny bare bones computer on a PCB. Now it holds much more memory and has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth and the Italian hardware genius has already played around a lot with it. I wanted it as a monitor for my bird table, and just to play around with if I’m being honest (which I sometimes am.). A “toy off the rack if you like” off the Technology Rack, that is. The idea of building and having a small, portable computer that can be run from a battery pack is very 21st century. Because it runs Linux or a compact subset of it, its OS is free, all you’re paying for is the components. With the basic model you even have to solder in some of those components! Maybe I should order some Elastoplast as a preventative measure. I’m sure there will be a lot of swearing, cursing my stupidity and also fun in this project, but at present, my imagination is doing overtime thinking about what I can do with it.
<Technospeak Complete>

Walked with Val to Tesco to get some cod for our dinner. We parted, hoping to meet again before Christmas. We did meet again because we both came out of Tesco at the same time a half hour or so later! As a result I gave Val a run home then carried on up to the back of Fannyside Moor and got today’s PoD there. Well, I got the makings of the PoD. It took a fair bit of post processing to get from what I took to what you see here. However, what you see here is what I wanted to see through the viewfinder.

Tonight’s dinner was Cod and Sweetcorn Chowder but as usual I forgot to add the sweetcorn, so a spoonful of it was stirred into the thick soupy broth and it did no harm that it was just a wee bit cold. It’s a firm favourite now this chowder.

Tomorrow I’m meeting Colin for coffee in the same cold Costa. This time we’re meeting a bit earlier so perhaps, just perhaps we’ll get a warmer seat, or maybe we’ll abandon the cold Costa to the duller, but much warmer one at the other end of the boggin’ Antonine Centre. We’ll see.  Maybe snow tomorrow.  We’ve done not too bad getting to December before we got the white stuff.

Dancing, dancing all the day … again – 12 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

We went in to Glasgow a bit earlier today, so that we could, or should I say I could do some Christmas shopping, closely monitored by Scamp.

It took us most of our time to find a place to park in Buchanan Galleries car park. We were up in level 6 for the first time in ages, that’s nosebleed territory. Even then, it was my eagle eye that spotted a hidden space. After that we walked down through George Square and down Queen Street, then on to Argyle Street. Coffee in Nero with a toastie for me and a slice of Cappuccino cake for Scamp. From there it was a short walk to Blackfriars.

Jive was good. We were the experts today. It’s always good to be the experts for a day, but you have to realise that there’s only one way to go after that, and it’s down. However we basked in the glow of Michael’s praise for an hour and it was good to see the jealousy of the other dancers. Waltz, it was even better. Finally, we had a quick introduction to the ‘Running Step’ in Quickstep. Good fun. It’s a great feeling when a plan comes together as Hannibal used to say.

On the way back I managed to grab a couple of shots of a Royal Mail Festive Post Box. I hadn’t noticed it on the way down to dancing, but Scamp had. It’s a great idea. I applaud the RM for brightening up the place. The festive post box got PoD.

Tonight after one of Scamp’s best ’Stir Fries’ we left for Salsa and had an enjoyable hour and a half of jigging. No new moves, but we did get a chance to reprise Prado.

Tomorrow it’s coffee with Val in the afternoon. Don’t know what’s happening for the rest of the day.

Fit (fat?) as a butcher’s dog – 11 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Broke the bonds of sleep to switch off my alarm and fell asleep again this morning. Finally got up and brought the breakfast. Just finishing it and getting started again in my book when the sound of ladders hitting the wall announced the arrival of the window cleaners. Quickly (very quickly) got dressed and found enough money to pay them. After that we could relax and have a coffee before heading to the butcher’s to buy lots and lots of lovely meat, and fish too, because our butcher is not stuck to only red meat. Finally I got a chicken breast to make tonight’s chicken curry.

With a ton of meat in the boot of the Juke (honestly JIC, this butcher is almost as good as Chapman’s), we headed to Robroyston for coffee and to buy Asda. After coffee I had a walk round Homebase which closes in 4 days according to the hand printed notice on the door. I’ve never been in a shop that is being actively disassembled while I was in it. Got a few ‘bargains’, but as one old guy said, “It’s only a bargain if you’re going to use it.” Very true.

On to Asda where Scamp was very careful and didn’t spend as much as I thought she would, but she was working in a very targeted way buying only the essentials. Maybe to offset my extravagance in the butcher’s.

Drove home with the headlights on at about 2.30pm. That’s par for the course in Scotland at this time of the year.  Yesterday was the exception we always look forward to. Struggled for a picture today, so one of my ‘bankers’ was to photograph the little fairy bear know as Fairy Nuff. I got it totally wrong the other day when I named her ‘Fairy’. That name should have gone to the fairy on the top of the tree. The one with the battered silver wings, the paper underskirt and the gauze dress. She must be over 40 by now, but doesn’t look it, well not to me at least. No, this grumpy looking wee bear has been gracing our tree every year for about ten years or more and goes under the name of ‘Fairy Nuff’. It’s become a bit of a Christmas tradition to give her a chance to be POD, after all, she doesn’t get out much for the rest of the year.

Tomorrow is a dancing day. Hope my knee hold out against Michael’s stressful waltz.

The wanderer returns – 10 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was on the road this morning on the return journey from Blackpool.

I was on the road even earlier, but I was walking. Just a gentle stroll around St Mo’s ponds then a walk through the trees. I’d been up earlier to check the traps and found I’d got one rodent. I thought at first it was a mouse, but later realised it was probably a small rat. Either way, it wasn’t going anywhere so I left it to go and get some photos in the hoar frost that lay over everything. Some beautiful lighting at that time in the morning. It was one of those shots that made PoD.

Finished my walk by going in to Condorrat to get bread and a couple of rolls. One of the latter would be eaten with butter and jam, washed down with a cup of my new blend 2 parts Cuban and 1 part Kenyan beans. Count the air miles and therefore the amount of CO2 that has been spread across the world all because of my desire to drink coffee. It’s worth it.
The other roll would hold a medium-rare square sausage. So called because it’s square and it’s made of sausage meat. Clever use of language there.

After my coffee and the roll ’n’ jam, I disposed of the rodent in the trap and nearly lost a finger resetting the trap. Checked the other traps, but they were empty. Next I set to work on cutting and laying the new carpet tiles in the downstairs toilet. As usual with these things, I started out very slowly and deliberately, and finished by cutting corners, literally. You’d never tell. Strangely only one of the six tiles had its nap running the wrong way. It looks good, so good that Scamp didn’t even notice that it had been done. Not surprising as the colour of the tiles is remarkably close to the original. It’s only when you walk on the new tiles you realise the quality is much better than the thin tiles that are now in the boot of the car, ready to be taken to the dump. I think I earned that medium-rare square sausage on a well-fired roll.

Scamp eventually returned about 4pm and after dinner we went out to Salsa where we learned or for us, re-learned an old move: Setenta Batman. One of the moves which look impossible until you actually try it. Jamie G described part of it as a “Matrix style turn”. I agree, but I can do it.

Tomorrow, a lazy day, maybe a bit less cold than today, but today was much less cold than a year ago. Go look here!

A day of two halves

Posted on by Zogman

Still taking the tablets and in the morning they appeared to be working well, very well in fact. However as the day progressed, although there were still improvements, they weren’t as great as the morning’s.

Right, enough of the moaning. I did very little else today. I went as far as the back fence and took a photo of the rose “Remember Me”.  I wanted a shot of it before it got battered by today’s gale force winds and heavy rain.  Amazingly resilient flowers, roses.

I spent the rest of the day updating Flickr and the blog. Scamp drove to Tesco and bought what we’d need for the next few days. She made an excellent Chilli for dinner.

Tomorrow is tomorrow. We’ll see what transpires.

Avoiding the Christmas party – 3 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Today, being Scamp’s Gems Christmas party, I had already made plans to avoid it.

The day began around 8.30 when worries started demolishing next door’s bathroom. By the noise, I thought there was a whole squad of them with sledgehammers and maybe a small JCB, but there were only two and they must have been working on piecework by the look of things. Toilet, wash hand basin and loads of pipe work littered the garden. I’d say it was the noise that got us up, but we too had work to do. The preparations for the party wouldn’t fix themselves.

Most of the work was down to Scamp, but I did help with the tidying up, even to the extent of Dysonning the living room and the downstairs hall. Between us we increased the size of the table by inserting an additional leaf. I carried the iMac upstairs and cleared away more of the clutter. Finally, when Scamp went to collect Margie, I made myself scarce and drove in to Glasgow.

My first stop was Tiso to see what they had in the way of waterproof boots. My two or three year old Clarks Goretex boots simply aren’t doing the job any more. Last week I returned home with two wet feet after a less than demanding walk across some boggy fields. I think I need to put the old boots out to pasture and buy a new pair of good walking boots. In Tiso I spoke to a really helpful Latvian sales girl (I couldn’t place her accent, so I had to ask her) who explained the difference between fabric boots and leather ones. Yes, I know it’s obvious, but she explained the science part. That the water in boggy areas is acid and it rots the fabric, but more importantly the thread that holds the boots together. Leather boots have less parts, so less thread. It may be nonsense, but it sounded logical. Once I’ve looked around and seen what’s on offer elsewhere I’ll start trying some on.

Next I wandered round Glasgow’s Winter Wonderland. Well, it was Winter and I was Wondering where all these people were going. The town was mobbed and it was a Monday and just at the start of December too. Gave up eventually and drove home, but not before I got today’s PoD which is almost a panorama of the Glasgow skyline.

Salsa tonight was interesting, but the 7.30 class is getting smaller, much smaller. I fear for its survival. We danced one new one without a name and one called Pan Cortado which sounds like a mixture of a dessert and a coffee drink. Not sure if he’s got it quite right.

Tomorrow we are waiting for the ‘Rat Man’ to come, although with all the banging and drilling with next door’s new bathroom, I think the rodent will have packed its bags and gone somewhere quiet.

Stirling – 1 December 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were going shopping for food. I like food, I just don’t like shopping.

We drove to Stirling and parked in the ridiculously inexpensive council carpark. A whole day’s parking for £1.40. Where can you get value like that today? The answer, of course, is Stirling. From there we walked in to the town. Yes, I know I’ve said it before, Stirling is a city, but it’s not really a city is it? Cities are big sprawling places with high flats and brash city centres. Stirling is not like that. It doesn’t sprawl. It sits up straight in an uncomfortable dining room chair and listens to you as you walk its streets. Its cobbled streets in places. You don’t get cobbled streets in a city. Stirling is your posh auntie. Slightly disapproving, but still family and will protect you whatever happens. I like Stirling. We wandered round the Thistle shopping centre that’s constantly re-inventing itself, then had our usual coffee in Nero. Real coffee that tastes like coffee. No fancy stuff like Special Christmas Blend that tastes just the same as the normal stuff that Costa sells. We’d already decided that we’d have a panini for lunch and dinner from Golden Bowl in Condorrat later. GB is probably the best Chinese take-away in the world, if not the universe.

After we’d had lunch we walked back to Waitrose and bought most of the shop, including two Pig Cheeks and two pieces of Pork Osso Bucco. Haven’t had either for a long time. Carpark was rammed full, but the Juke managed to squeeze into a space just big enough to allow us to pack the bags and make an older couple smile as they took our space when we left!

Back home via Lidl at Kilsyth for cheap, good beer for me and cakes and finger food for Scamp’s Gems Christmas Party on Monday. I have plans in place to avoid it.

I’d taken a few shots of an underpass in Stirling for an ON1 project, but it just wasn’t working, so when we ordered our Chinese I took the Teazer with me. Plugged myself into A Momentary Lapse of Reason and Pink Floyd accompanied me on my walk over to Golden Bowl. Halfway there I got today’d PoD which is headlights and tail lights on the M80. Isn’t it amazing the distance a car can travel in four seconds at 70mph!

Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice x 2 was delicious, we both agreed. Watched Strictly and then listened to a few hours of music on Spotify. Lovely Saturday night.

Tomorrow I intend baking a couple of loaves for Monday and not much more. Big day for someone special tomorrow!! YKWIM!