jonab

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Posts posted by jonab

  1. How's your day?

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    Relaxing outside yesterday evening I noticed huge numbers of bats flying around. They're a bit of a rarity around here and it put me in mind of when I lived at the top of Woodborough Road when bats reached almost plague numbers one year ('72 - 73?). I also used to see a lot around the Grosvenor when I lived next door.

     

    It seemed Nottingham was a sort of haven for bats then. Any updates on that?

  2. Jam

    in General Hobbies and Interest Chat

    Posted

    Any quinces around now? I mean the real types, not those Japanese imposters which could double up as cannon balls. I remember my granny had a quince tree in her garden in Rempstone. She used to make a type of compôte with them. It wasn't very nice to eat - full of gritty bits. 

     

    She also had a fig tree but I never saw any fruit on it. As kids we used to break twigs off and use the white sap as "tattoo ink" - as it dried it turned black and was extremely difficult to remove.

     

    Anyway, my housekeeper makes a sirop from blackberries (les mûres) by lightly bashing them to break the skins, adding an equal weight of sugar and leaving them to stand for a few weeks in a stone pot similar to a rumtopf (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumtopf ). She then pours off the juice and adds about one tenth of its weight of strong spirit or of vinegar. The vinegar version is her treatment for colds and winter ills. The alcohol one is to enjoy as a drink. There are her "secret" ingredients that she puts in to give hers a distinctive cachet. From looking at the dregs put into the compost heap, I think these are orange and lemon peel, coriander seeds and cinnamon.

     

    There is also a sureau (elderberry) version of this which I hate - the elderberries around here all seem to be of the tom cat pee type.

  8. " Smile " Make my Day

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    I didn't listen to the link before I posted it. I have now and I'm very impressed. That little girl has real talent.

     

    I also want to apologise to Centaur for taking any credit for his posting. It was he that provided the inspiration, I merely provided the link.

     

  13. Best and worst seaside resorts

    in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !

    Posted

    My lasting memory of Cleethorpes is when I was about 10, going there on a day trip organised by the company my mother worked for.

    We arrived and there was little me all excited about going into the sea. I didn't notice the dark deposits all along the tideline as I ran towards the water. There was an awful squelching noise as my feet sank into a deep mass of stinking black goo. It was crude oil jettisoned from oil tankers which had washed up on the beach. Apparently it was normal at that time for these ships to clean their tanks in (and with) the North Sea with little (NO) thought as to the environmental consequences.

    I wasn't the only one to have been caught out like this. There were loads of mothers cleaning this revolting material from their children's body and clothing. The bus smelled disgusting on the way back as crude oil is far from easy to remove from anything, especially kids legs.

     

    I wonder if Troggs' chips were fried in the same stuff?

  14. Colwick cheese

    in General Chat about Nottingham

    Posted

    I quite enjoyed Colwick cheese. I don't agree it had a "gone off milk" flavour - it had a nice acidity and was very good on a sandwich with cucumber and pepper. There was a cheese that showed some resemblance to Colwick cheese called  St Ivel Lactic Cheese. Not quite the same stuff but it had this same acidic character. I doubt it is available now.

     

    A number of the French fresh goats cheeses (Chèvre) are similar to Colwick cheese but I doubt they would travel very well away from their area of manufacture.

     

    I did try once making my own lactic cheese by mixing lactic acid with milk and collecting and pressing the curds. It was quite nice but not the same as the real thing.

  16. Top of Woodborough Road - Mapperley

    in Kat's Carlton, Mapperley, Arnold & Sherwood Forum

    Posted

    Margie, I don't want to go off topic too much but, am I right in remembering a Judge's branch on Mansfield Road? Your description of their cherry topped buns (with sultanas in them) brought back memories (nostaglia!!)

     

    Socram, regarding Pork Farms pork pies, on my last visit to England (Christmas/New year 2017 - 18) I tried one of the aforementioned "delicacies". It bore little or no resemblance to what I remembered. My (French) carer sampled a piece and his reaction was "Merde putain terrible".

  23. Down Clumber Street.

    in Nottingham City Centre

    Posted

    I remember a two floor Kardomah at the top of Market Street (they roasted and ground coffee near the door so the aroma would attract custom) and a smaller version on Clumber Street -that one may have been opposite the Lion Hotel.

     

    I don't recall place with a reverse auction on Clumber Street but there was County Sales on Thurland Street (mentioned elsewhere on these pages) which did something similar.