Category: Food

Hardly past the door – 27 June 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It started off a bit grey with a white sky and a temperature of just over 18ºc, and dry. From there it all went downhill.

The temperature was the first to drop down and it kept falling all day. The clouds got heavier and lower and around lunch time the rain started. It wasn’t looking like day for outside photography. I thought I might have to resort to a tabletop setup to get some images into Flickr and from there to a PoD.

However the rain wasn’t continuous and during one of the dry spells I managed to grab a few shots of one of our Triffids in the back garden. It’s actually a Teasel plant which is just opening up to reveal the teasel flower head. Presently it’s about two metres high and still growing. Also growing in strength was the wind today, which was not only strong, but also arriving in gusts which caused a fair bit of damage to Scamp’s roses. It also managed to behead one of her favourites. The teasel being made of sterner stuff just bounced around in the gusts and didn’t seem to come to any harm.

Scamp went out to the dentist’s for her check-up to make sure that everything was ok after her antibiotics had done their work and the dentist seemed happy with it for now. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Dinner was a Wednesday staple, Fish ’n’ Chips. Made by Scamp, of course and very nice it was too.

That was about it for today. As the title of the blog says, I was hardly past the door today. Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Really sorry to hear that you lost Penny today, Hazel. It must have been heartbreaking for both of you to take her to the vet for the last time, but it was the kindest thing to do.

No plans for tomorrow.

Out for a walk – 26 June 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today I was meeting Alex for a walk around Glasgow.

For once I was early at Buchanan Bus station, so early that I had a chance to go for a walk down Buchanan Street and grab some street shots there. When I returned to the bus station Alex was waiting for me and we went for a coffee as usual. He wanted to visit Princes Square to get some photos and I didn’t mind going there too. I chose different subjects though. He was interested in the criss crossing escalators at the far end. I was photographing the little coloured glass plates attached to the wrought iron railings. Each to his own.

From Princes Square we walked down Queen Street and turned left into Argyle Street, then Alex decided it was time for lunch so we went to Paesano for a very filling pizza each, ad as I had bussed it in to the town, I could have a glass or wine with my lunch. Alex is TT, so he had Coke. From there we went to the GOMA the second of Alex’s choice of places to go today. He wanted to go up to the gallery and take a shot looking down to the ground floor, taking in the elliptical handrails round the edge of the gallery … except, when we got there we found someone had hung a long banner from the middle of the roof light right down to the ground. There would be no photos of the elliptical galleries today. I felt sorry for him, because he’d brought a special fisheye lens for exactly that shot. As we were leaving the GOMA I got the PoD which was a line of folk sitting on the steps of the building with only the front two in sharp focus. Just one shot that worked really well.

I’d ordered a lens from WEX to check out on Sunday and it was due to arrive today, so we walked up to Blythswood Square and down to Bath Street, then left to take us to WEX and the lens. We both had a play with it with the bloke holding my 24-105mm as surety. Then we tried it’s new younger brother, the more expensive G2 model. Without any prompting, Alex said what I was thinking. “Wow! That’s solid as a rock.” What he meant was there was no shake in the lens the electronics in the camera and the lens were working together to hold the camera sensor steady on the target. We went back in and I told the salesman I’d take the G2 model. Unfortunately they didn’t have one in stock, but he’s ordered one to be sent up from Norwich and it should be with me by the weekend. It’s not been paid for, yet. Not even a deposit was asked for. Looking forward to trying it out properly.

We walked back through the barricades on Sauchiehall Street, had another coffee in Waterstones and a long natter about lenses and Buyers Remorse, then walked down to the bus station where I just missed the X3. It didn’t matter, I had my phone with Spotify and a pair of good earbuds. I listened to a varied and mostly interesting selection on the way home.

Scamp hadn’t had as successful day as far as food was concerned. Her lunch with the Witches wasn’t all that great. I get the feeling that Mac ’n’ Cheese in Brodens would have fitted the bill better. However, like me, she was there to exchange gossip, although, if asked, Alex and I would say we were sharing photographic information.

We watched the Sewing Bee and saw another contestant’s hopes of glory dashed on the cutting room floor.

Tomorrow Scamp has dentist in the afternoon, so I have to come up with something to keep her mind off it and she has to keep my mind of a Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 that just might arrive tomorrow.

A dull morning that became a dull day – 24 June 2024

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Another white sky day. I spent most of the morning writing the catch-up blog for yesterday. While I was doing that, Scamp drove to Tesco to get the messages and by the time she came back, I had almost finished yesterday’s story. I helped bring in the messages and then realised I’d forgotten to tell her to get porridge. Finished the blog and posted it, and then it was lunch time.

Lunch was a dodgy bake-at-home pizza from the Pizza Express range. This one was a BBQ Chicken flavour. If you ever see it, pretend you didn’t and walk on. Probably the worst pizza I’ve eaten for many a long year.

After I got the taste of it out of my mouth, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. The weather was really muggy and uncomfortably warm. As I was walking over I did feel a couple of spots of rain, but it didn’t come to anything so I just continued on. I was carrying the A7 with the heavy 105mm macro lens bolted to it. That meant the most comfortable way to carry it was in my rucksack. Having the rucksack meant I could carry my raincoat too, just in case. However, I didn’t really need it a few spots now and again was all that troubled me.

No wildlife around in St Mo’s not even a few damselflies. The nearest I got to something interesting was a black and white Pellucid Hoverfly. I don’t remember ever seeing one before and I only found out what it was, by copying one of my photos of it into Google Images and discovering it that way. The PoD went to a plant I see quite a lot of in St Mo’s in the boggy areas beside the boardwalk. Quite a pretty plant, but decidedly difficult today when a bit of a breeze got up.and the whole thing started to gyrate.

John, next door had watered the garden on Friday, or was it Saturday night. Anyway, it was our turn to return the compliment. I fitted the hose for the first time this year and doused both our front gardens, then finished off by watering the back garden, I think that’s one of the problems with plants in pots, as opposed to in the ground. It takes longer to get round all the different pots and check that you haven’t missed any.

After that, and with the hose and connector put away for another week or so it Monday and my turn to cook. I made White Pasta or Pasta Carbonara to give it its proper name. I thought the sauce was too watery, but Scamp said it was fine.

Wrote to Alex and arranged a photo walk for this coming week.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

Back in the old routine – 22 June 2024

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10:15am found us driving towards Glasgow and on to Brookfield. We were going to dance class.

When we got there the ickle girls were being presented with awards for being the best ballet dancers in Brookfield Hall while Stewart & Jane looked as if they were about to blow a gasket. I could understand why. We lost ten minutes of our dance class to this little frippery.

Jane was the one to call a halt to the celebration when she started clearing away the unnecessary seats and allowing us to get out of our trainers and into our dance shoes while the little charmers went charging round the hall. Then we danced a little bit of fluff, the Blue Angel Rumba It wasn’t blue, I saw no angels but there was a little bit of rumba there. Next, as we’d expected, we went through the Butterfly Jive. Again, I must complain because there were no Butterflies although there were a few Jive steps. It’s quite complicated and it’s FAST. Far too fast for my poor feet. They’ve only just learned how to waltz and foxtrot, but aren’t experienced enough to handle a fast Jive. Neither am I come to that. I managed to get my phone to record the routine and hopefully between now and next Saturday we’ll have had a chance to learn the steps and assemble them in the correct order.

Next was a new ‘improved’ version of the Tango we’d learned ages ago which had a ‘Prom turn to Rock turn’ added to it. I’d never understood what a Prom turn to Rock turn was, something to do with 6th years leaving party added to Mick Jagger’s on-stage antics. Actually it’s just fancy word for a turn and then rocking back and forward. Next Jane added ‘The Chase’ which I didn’t understand and still don’t. Just a whole pile of pirouetting on the dance floor, much like the ickle girls were doing earlier. Thankfully Scamp managed to make sense of this new dance language and we got through it.

We finished up with another couple of sequence dances, a Midnight Jive and a Bossa Nova. I can handle them.

I was so relieved when the teachers started clearing up, because my little brain was full after we did the Blue Angel Rumba and I was beginning to get a nagging headache.

We drove home through the lightest traffic I’ve ever seen on the M8/M74. In fact, when I glanced over to the Kingston Bridge, the traffic on it was travelling at about 50mph. Unheard of on a Saturday afternoon.

I was absolutely beat and feeling quite down, when I got home. A piece ’n’ egg helped, but didn’t cure it. Scamp suggested I take a couple of paracetamol and I did and I felt better. Went for a walk in St Mo’s later and got a few photos. That’s where the PoD came from. It’s what my mum called Purple Vetch, so that’s what I’m calling it too.

Dinner was provided by Golden Bowl, Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice for Scamp and a Special Chow Mein for me. Both quite, quite delicious. A large glass of red to wash it down helped too.

The walk in St Mo’s lifted my spirits and the Golden Bowl helped too, but the heavy lifting was done by Scamp, as always. Thank you my love for talking me out of a bad day … again!

Nothing planned for tomorrow, but I think we need to practise the Butterfly Jive. Who knows, we may even find the butterfly!

Birlin’ roon Stirlin’ – 21 June 2024

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It was a dull start to the day with low white cloud.

We had a quick discussion about places to go, but we finally settled on Stirling and a walk up that big hill to the castle. We weren’t driving today, we parked at the station and took the train to Stirling. It was a long walk from Stirling station to the castle, but after a coffee and a cream bun we felt energised enough for it.

With barely a stop to catch our breath, we reached the castle. Scamp wanted to see the Scottish tapestry and I wanted to take some photos from the ramparts. I took the first batch of photos and then we went and visited the hut at the back of the castle where we had watched the ladies weaving the tapestry at least ten years ago. After wandering back along the high ramparts we found our way into the bedchambers of the king and queen and it was in the Queen’s Inner Hall we found the actual tapestries, looking resplendent, hanging on the walls. They were commissioned in 2001 and work began in 2002. The seven tapestries were completed in 2016. They are really worth the entrance fee (and the walk).

All that climbing and walking was making us hungry, so we walked down the hill by a less circuitous route that took us down to the Indian Cottage restaurant in the town. We haven’t been there for years, but the food was just as good as we remembered it. Another wander through the city centre, because Stirling is a city now, and then we walked down to the station just as the rain came on.

Got the train home. Not the busiest train in the world, but I assume it covers its costs. Stopped on the way at Tesco to take on badly needed supplies and by the time we got parked at home the rain was getting heavy.

An enjoyable day. PoD was the view from the Ladies Lookout. Allegedly this is where the ladies of the royal court of Stirling Castle stood to admire the view. So did we!

Dancin’ is planned for tomorrow in Brookfield. Hopefully not too much of the Butterfly Jive!

Back to Dancin’ on a Thursday – 20 June 2024

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After a few missed Tea Dances and a few cancelled ones, we were back to the ‘normal’ grid for this week at least.

A lazy morning (again) and then the time seemed to disappear and suddenly it was time to get changed to go to Glenburn. The weather wasn’t anywhere as good as yesterday’s blue skies. Milky white seemed to be the sky’s choice today.

A fairly easy drive to Paisley for a change and after a dodgy first waltz, we got back in a groove. Not a great one, but I didn’t make too many mistakes. Actually, that was the story of today’s tea dance. Not perfect, but we danced almost every dance that came up. After tea, the teachers decided to introduce a lesson on a new jive routine. I think that is only the second time they’ve included a lesson in a tea dance program. This one was fine when we were walking through it, but when the music started it was a different story … and that was a fairly sedate jive track. We imagine the dance will be reprised on Saturday for those who weren’t at Perth last weekend and weren’t at the tea dance today. A real jive sequence dance!

The drive home was just as easy as the drive to Glenburn and when we got home I went for a walk in St Mo’s to see what was there to photograph. The milky skies of the morning had given way to blue skies and sunshine and although there wasn’t very much to photograph, the wildflowers were all looking good. A photo of a grass flower got PoD, mainly for the detail in the seedhead. Who knew that grass had flowers?!

Giovanni Rana potato Gnocchi with spinach and mozzarella filling was dinner tonight. I wasn’t greatly taken with it, but Scamp was. I felt the filling was a bit dry. I’m sure we’ll try it again maybe with a sauce the next time. It was different, that we agreed on.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Doon the Canal – 19 June 2024

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This morning, Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel while I stayed home and finished my book.

The book is Edge of The Grave by Robbie Morrison. A story based in 1932 Glasgow. If you’re thinking it might be interesting, my recommendation would be to ignore it, and go straight to the second book in the series, Cast a Cold Eye, a much better read. I’ll write a review of EoTG on Goodreads soon, but don’t expect it to get five stars.

When Scamp returned from Costa, and after we had lunch, Scamp suggested we go for a walk. I agreed and chose Auchinstarry as the destination.

We got parked quite easily for a change at Auchinstarry, it’s usually a full house in the afternoon with folk parking there and walking or cycling along the canal. It was a very pleasant walk along the Forth & Clyde Canal, with around 25 photos taken. Favourite and PoD went to a landscape view across the valley to the Campsie Fells under a blue sky and for once I didn’t have to fake the sky!!

We turned at Twechar and walked back along the old mineral line, but about half a mile from the car, Scamp was complaining about cramp in her foot and I was constantly shifting my camera bag to a different part of my shoulder to ease the ache that had appeared. I think we were both happy to get a seat on the wall at Auchinstarry Quarry. Just five minutes made all the difference. Then we drove home and sat in the garden for a while to enjoy the sun. Scamp with a Pimms and me with a glass of beer.

Highlight of the day was watching a cow on the far bank of the Forth & Clyde Canal munching its way through the lush vegetation at the water’s edge.  It stopped for a while to stare at us and it reminded me of a poem:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

Leisure by William Henry Davies.

Our own dinner tonight was a re-heated veg chilli and it had increased in heat since it had been put in the freezer a month or so ago.

Watched the second of Scotland’s matches in the Euros and decided that they almost deserved the 1 – 1 draw, but towards the end they were looking ragged. This is the opinion of two people who have only been to one football game in their lives!

Hazy, the Captain’s Grog was even better than Boozy Gladys. You can really taste the rum in the beans. Two very good choices!! Thank you.

Tomorrow is a Tea Dance day. Hopefully I’ll be able to remember which is my left and which is my right foot!

Fathers Day – 16 June 2024

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I remember complaining to my mum and dad that there were Fathers days and Mothers days, but when were the wee boy’s days. The answer came from both of them “Every day is wee boy’s day!” Funny how you remember these things.

Today Scamp was making breakfast in bed for me on Father’s Day. Tea, two Weetabix with blueberries and milk with a strawberry on top. Also on the tray was a glass of orange juice with a couple of carnations in a vase. Later in the morning I spoke to Hazy and thanked her for the prezzy which she always remembers and the card. I will enjoy some of the first packet tomorrow, hopefully, Hazy. We talked for a while about the books we’re reading and what’s coming up on our lists.

My father’s day present from Wordle was a score of 3. Best I’ve had for quite a while. I also managed to get one of the two available Pangrams which is also an achievement for me. Nice to know we fathers are appreciated by the New York Times!

The main task for me today was to repot my Venus Flytrap and my miniature Sarracenia pitcher plant. They’ve been waiting far too long for new compost and a wee bit of Sphagnum moss to retain the moisture. It didn’t take long and I’m sure they will both feel the benefit of getting their feet wet in now soil.

PoD was taken from just outside the back door, because the rain had been on from early this morning and looked as if it was going to continue for most of the day. I’ll admit to being lazy today and not venturing out into the wide world, but I’d no wish to get wet for no reason and today’s photo of a straggly Campanula fitted the bill perfectly.

Wrote to Alex who seems to have picked up another virus (not a computer one) just as Carol is beginning to improve. Hope you both feel better soon.

Dinner for Scamp was Salmon fillet with Ratatouille (AKA ‘Rats’) and potatoes. If you substitute a steak for the salmon fillet, you have my dinner. Dessert was the other half of yesterday’s Tiramisu from M&S.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and thanked him for his card. It seems the doc is not sure whether it is Whooping Cough that Simonne has, but they are treating it as that for now, just in case. Hope you feel better soon Simonne. Jamie and I also discussed what books we’re getting through and as usual, I didn’t really enjoy some that he suggested and vice versa. I think that’s quite normal for us.

Well, that was a lovely Father’s Day. I thoroughly enjoyed being pampered for a day. Great cards and prezzies. Thank you all very much. I don’t deserve you.

Scamp is going to phone the dentist tomorrow to get her new crown investigated, because it’s becoming more painful. Hope it gets fixed soon S.

Going East – 15 June 2024

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After a short discussion this morning, we agreed to take the train to Edinburgh.

Scamp was looking for a new bag. Not just any old Tesco bag, this was a posh, bright coloured bag she initially saw in Tiso – Glasgow last week. She wasn’t sure then whether it was right for her, but today she confirmed that she was in the search for a bright new Cotopaxi bag. It’s made from coloured sections of material all different, each bag is unique.

The train is quite convenient for travel in to Glasgow or Edinburgh and we were soon on our way. Unfortunately we had a trio of Zoomers in the same coach. They got on at Linlithgow and sat behind us, the head Zoomer didn’t shut up all the way to Edinburgh. He had an opinion, no, make that “A Sure and Certain Knowledge of EVERYTHING!” Cars, football, weans, everything you could name, he knew more than you about it. I’m not sure he stopped to take a breath all the way to the Capital. It was indeed a flow of consciousness, Man! Thankfully we got off a stop early as we usually do and left him to bore everyone on the carriage with his pointless knowledge.

We walked up to the Architectural Canyon and crossed over to Lothian Road, and Caffè Nero. From there it was down to Princes Street and over to Tiso on Rose Street to look at some bags. They looked good, but I suggested we take the tram down to Leith where there was another Tiso which might have a different selection. We did that and maybe there were a few different designs, but Scamp bought one and immediately stuffed her jacket into it to see how well it coped with actually carrying things. It worked. We found a wee market in Leith and Scamp fell into conversation with two ladies who where looking for like minded folk to knit or stitch together triangles to make squares to make the tallest knitted Christmas Tree. Scamp was quite taken by the enterprise, but unfortunately the knitting and stitching takes place on Fridays in Leith. A bit far for us to travel. We wished them well and moved on.

We walked on and found the stop for the tram that would take us back to the centre of Edinburgh. A wee man sat with us at the stop and was telling me about where in Edinburgh he had stayed. He listed a few places I remembered from when I used to come to Edinburgh with my mum and dad. Then he started telling us that cars weren’t allowed on the street the trams run on and was quite adamant that he was right. I don’t think he was.

There wasn’t much to do in Edinburgh. Neither of us was really hungry and we’d achieved our goal for the day, so we caught the train back home.

We got some chicken in M&S and Scamp later turned it into Chicken Curry. Driving home we were thinking we were running just ahead of a cloudburst, but for some reason it didn’t come.

Watched a confusing version of ‘Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy’ that we couldn’t follow, but had some excellent acting.

PoD was a view looking down the Canyon at Conference Square in Edinburgh.

No plans for tomorrow, although I should pot up my Venus Flytrap and my miniature pitcher plants with fresh compost.

We wuz Robbed – 14 June 2024

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Scamp was off to FitSteps this morning I was staying home.

It wasn’t the brightest morning and it didn’t look as if the day would brighten much. However I was feeling quite happy. Yesterday, I’d ordered a two day rental of a lens, an expensive one, but after sleeping on it, I decided this morning it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the cost of the lens so much as the weight of it. Approximately 840gms. That’s a heavy load to lug around along with a big camera and another lens. I was wondering how I was going to extricate myself from the trial, when I got an email from the company apologising that the lens couldn’t be delivered to me in time. I’d read somewhere that the lens was coming from Edinburgh, but it was actually coming from Vauxhall and would have taken two days to be delivered. Relieved, I enjoyed my coffee.

When Scamp returned from her class, she brought the rain with her and that rain stayed with us for the rest of the day. We had both considered going to Brodens for lunch, but neither of us were really all that bothered and instead had a light lunch at home.

During one of the lighter rain showers I strapped an old Nikon fit Tamron zoom to the A6500 with an adapter. Then shot some flowers in manual mode as neither the autofocus, nor the anti-shake work on the old Tamron now. One of the photos made PoD. It was the best shot of the dozen or so I took.

Dinner was Arancini which are little balls made from left over cooked rice ( we used yesterday’s paella),  coated in flour and dipped into beaten egg, then into breadcrumbs. They are left in the fridge for an hour or so before being deep fried.  Crunchy and delicious, they don’t last long.  We had ours with a home made tomato sauce.  Val assures me they should have a bit of mozzarella pushed into the rice balls before they are coated in flour.  We generally don’t bother.

Later in the evening we watched the buildup to the Euros football competition and weren’t surprised when Scotland were beaten 5-1 by Germany. Now I know next to nothing about football, be even I could see they were completely outclassed. I imagine there will be sore heads in Munich tonight.

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather looks as if it will be the same as today’s … wet!