peds

I hear you, many things are definitely improved by a short walk across a hot place, however brief, just to get the fat running a little. But not everything needs it... the absolute all-time greatest marine taste sensation of my whole life, even in front of such great players as monkfish liver and sea urchin (one improved by a quick sear, the other not), was the fatty chunk from just behind the gills of a tuna bigger than me, at dawn outside the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. I don't think many food experiences can be compared to quasi-religious experiences, but this was one of them. And while I'm fairly sure being flipped over the coals wouldn't have done any harm, it was already as perfect a taste sensation as you could hope to find that it seems unnecessary. God damn I miss that breakfast.

I guess that's a no, then.

I'm not Canadian, but I'm probably a twat, and I always wear a buff under a helmet, whether it's rock or arb. Keeps my beautiful flowing locks under control, because obviously I have to pony tail it all instead of having my usual twat knot. Because you aren't allowed to cut a hole in the top of your helmet to accommodate it. To the OP, I recommend wearing a buff under your helmet, even in warm weather, as it helps sweat to evaporate instead of accumulate.

Nice. I had a "sharing" bag of posh crisps for lunch yesterday. No photo, sorry.

I am currently making udon noodle soup for the bambini with peas, cabbage, brocolli, prawns, and leek, with miso paste. Later I will be making gnocchi with leek, mushroom, and tomato, and probably a pile of leaves, because chicks dig salad.

Between 2 and 3 euros for sure anyway, probably north of that in some locations. I remember when a Calippo was 70 pence!

Why cook the oyster, why cook the carrot? Why cook the salmon... If your chicken is kept like a pet and then impeccably slaughtered and gutted, you can eat it raw. Chicken sashimi is available in some of the fanciest restaurants in Japan. Some things are worth eating raw, some aren't, and often the only line separating the two groups are based on nothing but society's whim, which can vary from place to place...

Djaknow what? It was brought to me! I was filling 3000 little pots with compost ready to receive a delivery of primulas, in a baking hot polytunnel with my shirt off, and my colleague, who was in the area anyway but not working, dropped by with an ice cream at just the right moment. Very successful day.

Well, two things... do you have any German or Eastern European lineage? The raw pork on toast thing is a thing over there, I think. Secondly, if by bacon we can assume pork that has been salted in one way or another for a length of time greater than zero, then it has been cured or prepared in such a way that it no longer qualifies as raw... ...but the big question would be is that a traditional bacon cure, or a modern one? That is, either packed in salt or submerged in brined for a number of days; or injected with brine and/or tossed around in brine in a vacuum tumbler... Man, so many questions. I'm eating a Solero. No bacon involved.

Maybe don't use the ones that have sat ignored for years... Keep in mind, there is no obligation to use packet nigella with a bar code... any leeks, onions, or chives left to go to seed can provide for you, despite being a completely different plant to the "black onion seeds" of Nigella sativa which, of course, isn't an onion.

Yeah, someone hasn't been doing their due diligence. I suppose Hezbollah are going to be reviewing their hiring and firing (squad) procedures.

The joy is real, all right!

I'll be testing that one out today.

I'm not sure about that... the photo is quite well zoomed... "Na-an inspired bread" (or translated: bread inspired bread) does suggest that they'd be nigella, anyway. Black sesame seeds are also available. Of course, historically, one of the most important jobs these little black seeds, whatever they were (nigella, sesame, poppy etc), was to hide the inevitable mouse droppings. Same as "crispy leeks" as a popular garnish for fish (is that an errant bone in my mouth? No, probably just a bit of crispy leek...) or a good grind of black pepper when cooking with wild mushrooms, or anything foraged or freshly harvested... hide the evidence.

Whoever could have predicted that spreading poison everywhere would kill everything!

No no, no nono no, no no nono, no no... ...there's no limit. Techno techno techno

Got to see that everywhere I turn will point to the fact that time is eternal...

No no, you've got it all wrong. It was the KLF. They were justified, ancient.

Up to nearly 3000 injured so far, with 9 dead... I do wonder just how many of those 3000 were definitely the baddies, though...

Yeah, we'll need another few hundred million pagers before that happens.

Just had this picture appear: daughter at 18 months out on the forage.

Crikey! That's some job. The armchair generals I've read seem to think it is a few grams of explosives, not just self-destructing pagers. But distributing 1200 of them (that number could continue to rise, the news was dozens at first, then hundreds, now 1200)... that’s just cartoon-style levels of whatever the hell this is. Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

JD, I have one question for you, if you don't mind?

My old stomping ground. I regularly found a variety of different boletes, hedgehogs, girolles and chanterelles, death trumpets or horn of plenty, constant forest puffballs, an occasional oyster, and once, one marvelous day, a cluster of gomphus clavatus, or pig's ears, hunted to extinction in the British Isles on account of how delicious they are... but still hiding in a few places in mainland Europe. The tastiest mushroom I have ever eaten by a country mile, and I mourn the fact that I'll likely never find them again. Where in the endless forest of the valley were you? North or south facing, what altitude? Edit: I had a quick look for a few old mushroom pictures from the Alps, life wasn't so bad when you could just stroll through the woods with the dog for a a few hours just picking a load of wildly-expensive delicacies off the ground. I remember this dish, it's yellow and grey chanterelles on fresh tagliatelle I made with powdered boletus in the pasta dough, fried in butter with garlic.