Monday 7 May 2018

Miscellaneous Musings

The cheerful elegance of Spring .... 
Basically I started this post with this photo because it looks so much better than Sauerkraut - unless you love Sauerkraut and are really hungry, of course!

Musings on a Sunday afternoon

OK, so it isn't Sunday, but a bank holiday.  But it feels just the same.  I had a leisurely stroll up the road for a coffee and the papers, engaged in a little light shopping, and fitted in a video of Mancheeze before lunch - I love her videos, though they are perhaps not for everyone ...

Lunch was a plate full of salads and sausages!


Don't you just love this little creature?  Bought it together with some Christmas ornaments, but way too cute to hang on a tree for just three days a year!


Musings on Sauerkraut

The Sauerkraut turned out really well, and I have been dipping into my Sauerkraut-crock on a daily basis.  I like to east it raw as a salad, mixed with onion, apple, and a bit of olive oil.  Delicious with anything or by itself, though sausages are nice.

Of course you could heat it up and eat it with boiled potatoes and smoked cured sausages as well, as is done in Germany.  I think heating up the sauerkraut might destroy some nutrients, though..

I shall soon stock my smaller crock-pot with mixed pickles!



Musings on condensed milk

I like to keep a tin of condensed milk at the ready, just in case I run out of regular milk.  And you know what?  If used in tea, it sinks to the bottom of the cup and stays there, unless the tea is stirred.  If I put regular milk in a cup of tea, the motion of walking from the kitchen to my armchair with the cup is enough to mix the milk with the tea.  But not so with condensed milk.  Probably one of those occult phenomena that scientists will eventually get around investigating.  Remember, you read it here first!

Musings on mis-naming

There has been a lot in the news (well the sort of news I get) about addressing people with the wrong gender terms, and how this is rude and causes real distress.  Well, what I heard on the radio today makes me emphasise suddenly!

A nurse was reading from her diary, and from what I heard she is one of those kind compassionate ones.

Not like the type I recently heard about on a youtube video - where a "brain-dead" person heard herself referred to as "can someone please help me move this 'thing'!" by a nurse, and "I wish her relatives stopped fussing and released her body for organ donation!" by a doctor - the "Thing woke from her coma a week later and lived to become a nurse herself.

Anyway, this kind nurse who was reading from her diary on the radio was reporting talking to an old lady patient, who was called "Betty" throughout, had her hand petted, and was treated throughout as though she was a two year old child.

Is that what patients are treated like in the NHS?  If I were in a coma and someone referred to me as 'DB' or even worse as 'Doris' I think my blood pressure would double and my face would grow purple with rage!  Show some respect, people!  What about calling people Ms and Mr, or Madam and Sir?

'Course, this could be a medically proven procedure to get people out of a coma ....

Musings on Handkerchiefs - again!

I am still on a handkerchief hunt.  Nice soft, 'man-sized' handkerchiefs, soft on my nose, and soft on my environmental conscience.  I have even purchased a few wooden handkerchief boxes, one for each room, to store my ironed treasures in.

Handkerchiefs box in the bathroom


Full of handkerchiefs

And in the back bedroom



I store my main stash in the cupboard inside my hall stand - that way I can quickly grab a few on the way out.



The other day I had a little search on youtube, looking for some sort of In Praise of Handkerchiefs, but met with little success.  'Handkerchiefs' nowadays mainly seems to mean 'Pocket-square' - those ridiculous useless little pieces of coloured fabric some men insist on wearing in the breast pocket of their suit.

However, The Gentleman's Gazette does include the Linen Handkerchief as #6 on their  '18 Must have items every gentleman should own:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P2fFPpsW-w