idun

 Encore you 'faire l'andouille', naughty! [:D] How boring life would be if I only cooked traditional english cooking.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, and frankly in a traditional english winter, it is very comforting and lovely food. Still, I like to broaden my horizons, but not with 'andouille'.........[+o(]

Just to change things a little, I thought I would try a cajun gumbo..... shock horror though, suggested sausage in it was andouille. I looked them up and they seem to be a cajun version of andouillette........... For some reason, I never imagined that. Husband love andouillette, and I find them degueulas, beurk[+o(]

  I have had something I love, poached eggs on toast for lunch, and as ever, as I am so fussy about egg white being firm, but the yolk runny, it felt like an ordeal, it always does. I must have made thousands throughout my life....... but worth it. My husband and son, do not mind, snotty white, but just the thought turns my stomach. My mother used a poacher and they were not 'right', just strange, 100 times better when my Dad made them placing them straight into the water. I really think that these are the most difficult thing I cook.

History is what it is. And I don't like this messing with it to be honest. I agree people of colour should be treat equally, but we did not invent racism, it is alive and well in Africa and Asia.  We need to make sure that justice works 'now'. I have friends who, well one worked in Rwanda in the early 1990's...... and at a similar time another friend was in Ghana and speaks of people being 'sold' there. I won't even mention what our friend in Rwanda saw, horrors, will suffice. Another friend worked in the Congo in the early 00's and they are white and encountered anti white racism. So all this energy spent on getting rid of statues, when there are over 40 million people enslaved or in forced labour in the world TODAY. Women still mutilated, forced marriages.......... honestly talk about ignoring the elephant in the room. Better to deal with current problems than be hung up about the past. Re comedians apologising, well, why. Is Lennie Henry apologising for 'white'ing' up in a film. Just getting ridiculous.... so whilst we are about it, should the descendants of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon apologise for dressing up as women...... Dear me, the world is round the bend at the moment. So much to address and not history, it is all in the word....... it is 'history'!

Good luck chessie. Have you got your car keys sorted now... I might have missed you posting about it if you did.... if so, sorry for asking about it.[:$]

BiB, I don't know what your post meant, most of us have varied ideas about so much and sometimes unless we are so good, some of those ideas will be extreme, for good and what some would consider bad. ie a paedophile, takes your child, grandchild, abuses and kills them........... I know I would have their demise in my heart, believing that hanging would be too good for them and wish the laws changed. And some would forgive and accept the current laws, but I would hazard a guess that a LOT of people would not find anything 'fair' about current laws in such circumstances. Life is full of paradoxes. If someone tells me their point of view, then I would have a discussion about it and tell them mine. Goodness, in France, what on earth do you do à table with your guests, we always had debates, often heated, very heated. Only one guest went off in a huff, and they were english and had been in France a very long time, and should have known better, and been better behaved at 'my' table! The discussions I understand, hissy fits I do not!

BiB, I don't know what your post meant, most of us have varied ideas about so much and sometimes unless we are so good, some of those ideas will be extreme, for good and what some would consider bad. ie a paedophile, takes your child, grandchild, abuses and kills them........... I know I would have their demise in my heart, believing that hanging would be too good for them and wish the laws changed. And some would forgive and accept the current laws, but I would hazard a guess that a LOT of people would not find anything 'fair' about current laws in such circumstances. Life is full of paradoxes. If someone tells me their point of view, then I would have a discussion about it and tell them mine. Goodness, in France, what on earth do you do à table with your guests, we always had debates, often heated, very heated. Only one guest went off in a huff, and they were english and had been in France a very long time, and should have known better, and been better behaved at 'my' table! The discussions I understand, hissy fits I do not!

https://www.amazon.fr/AmazonBasics-Coffre-Fort-pour-Domicile-04/dp/B078K44SG4/ref=pd_sbs_328_4/258-5834995-4108068?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B078K44SG4&pd_rd_r=0e3cf6bd-54e9-46b8-9276-54e3ad70725d&pd_rd_w=UbKnh&pd_rd_wg=F83zs&pf_rd_p=0baa9522-93fe-4512-9471-0c8d24e13dac&pf_rd_r=FXXZ4WFH6XM6F03D518F&psc=1&refRID=FXXZ4WFH6XM6F03D518F This should be a live link, there are very small safes that are quite cheap, but the ones on this page would seem to hold quite a bit. Where would you put it, you wouldn't want to find him taking a sledge hammer to it because he had simply decided to. A banque sounds like a good idea, or as has been said, set stuff up on a cloud.

mint, this has been interesting.....nothing wrong with a healthy debate. I take all newspapers with a pinch of salt. I doubt I will ever really trust any of them, what with their own agendas. I don't even watch the news that much either these days. My MIL used to get the Daily Mail, because her husband was a betting man and apparently there was good racing things in it. And she would read it and tell me about articles, as if they were the unadulterated truth. A friend reads the Express from cover to cover and tells me 'stuff' too, as if it is the unadulterated truth, more like 'stuff and nonsense' much of it. When they were all paper they were very useful things, wrap your fish and chips in them, or use to light a fire...... or, my impoverished grandmother, used to cut them up, pile the sheets up, put a hole in the corner and thread a string through, and voila, toilet paper.

Norman, honestly, there have been mistakes, but I can tell you that at least where I live, it doesn't feel like there has been constant unadulterated bungling. Just does not. And I don't know who you  think has been lazy, because I have frankly been impressed by so much during this lockdown, it has amazed me as to how quickly so much was done. I have just about given up watching the news, or reading british papers at the moment, because I am sick to death of 'experts' mouthing off about things....... easy peasy from the comfort of their homes to criticise all the time, and actually doing nothing. These 'experts' maybe could have started doing something concrete and constructive, but their interest, from my point of view, is simply in condemnation. The world is full of moaning minnies, who content themselves with pointing out every last fault, not their own, obviously. And we can have a masterclass of 'that' every day on tv or radio or in the newspapers. So no, NH, it has been OK for us and those we know. There have been a few problems  from time to time, but equally there has been some really good stuff as well, and everything in between.

isn't this just s o d's law.......... I have just been wrestling with our french banque compte, they have removed the method of transferring money......... it was there yesterday....... and the day before, tonight when everything was set up..........and like a magic trick, isn't there, disappeared. [:@][:@][:@] This is our usual life...... if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.

Well you brought a wry smile to my face wooly. When we bought our first RHD car after 27 years, on numerous occasions I got into the passenger seat when going to the car, and even pulled the bloody seat belt on too sometimes, looked in front of me, and no wheel!!!! I would then thirkle in the glove compartment, as if I had got into that side deliberately, I daresay, that few would have even imagined that I had got in on the wrong side WITH the intention of driving. And then when I used a friends car, when back in France, did the same thing, getting in the LHD car's passenger seat. Good thing that I do remember to drive on the correct side of the road, according to the country![:-))]

Funny isn't it, if we couldn't afford the round trip, because it was expensive........we preferred to catch say Dover/ Calais on the way down and come back via Zeebrugge. It just felt good getting off the boat first thing on a morning and being home by lunch, OR prior to leaving France being at friends or families homes in England by lunch, and even earlier if we were going to see friends in York first! As you live near the Tyne, have you not got any connections, friends or family so you could catch the freight line that goes to Zeebrugge regularly, a friend of ours has done this in the past.

Good for you Eric. Sadly it isn't good that they are not running though. I like using that route, reduces our driving and I appreciate that. I do hope that it reopens at some point.

mint, thanks for posting that. I'll tell you what I think about all this. Firstly, that the world is a very different place for retirees, often without mortgages, and we, OH and I, have decided to treat this new world with caution and follow steps that are as practical as possible for us. And friends are the same, other 3eme age folk. We are lucky,  younger folks with huge bills to pay, rent or mortgages and kids to bring up need to work. No government can prop them up for ever. Is Boris following the polls is that the right expression, or following the 'people' the mood of the people and one can say it is polls, but it just feels like the mood of the people around here.  For all help has been given to many, not all were eligible, and some folk are quite desperate now to get back to earning their living. I cannot knock Boris really. I am just glad that it was not me having to decide what to do.

I misread this, I thought it meant that people did not want covid tracing, but like the following, which confused folk too[Www] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drivers-hit-fines-after-council-22148714 No Parking Enforcement in Operation, so people thought that they could park for free.

I have endless curiosity about this. Living in the Creuse is mentioned below your name, so what is the autonomy of your new car. We have friends with an electric car, and they reckon that they get about 150 miles at most out of theirs, and never let it go down to the wire. Quite a hike up to the channel from the Creuse, so how does that work out for long journeys? ie are there plenty of charging places and how long do they take. You mentioned the dreaded touch screens. We, but especially my husband has a real problem with them, plays guitar and we suspect because the ends of his fingers are 'hard' that these things simply do not work for him. My problems are slightly different, but they don't seem to like me either, never mind getting toooooo hot.........yet a further case of more numpties at work!

I had seen that too, but as there has been some relaxation of the 'rules'. I think that keeping an eye on their movements was an option. Also Eric had not been actually told that they were not running, which seems very unfair to me. Wouldn't have hurt to get in touch with passengers. I know freight is running, I see the vessels on my, almost daily, Boris walk[:D]

Curiosity about the ferries has meant that I have kept an eye on the Pride of Bruges in Rotterdam at the moment and Pride of York, currently in Hull. Neither have moved for a few days, so what hope for you crossing Eric? I would have imagined that they would be transporting freight, but apparently not.

Well that would not surprise me if they had changed and rollocksed up the system. We had a terrible job with french pensions because they wanted info that we do not have any more and cannot get because we no longer live in France or have an account with La Poste, which apparently would be OK, or pay taxes there or use the CPAM. I was always impressed with the decent linking up and forethought with many of the governmental systems in France, but if this is also the case, then numpties have taken over in more than just the pensions section.

I have never had a sophisticated car, ever, and so I have no idea what you are on about. What needs to be in english rather than french in a car in France? So as I said, I am completely clueless, so please explain in very very simple terms what the difference is apart from kph or mph. And then curiosity got the better of me, so here (live link): http://myrenaultzoe.com/Docs/000066_ENG_NW1048-1_ENG.pdf GB75, take it that means page 75 Well, I ploughed through that, and it was what I thought it should be, menu and system settings and language. The rest, well, you have well and truly put me off EVER getting a car that has all that. I had not got a clue that there could be so much in a car, and for the life of me, do not understand why there is. We were just saying the other day that we wished that Renault still did a simple R4 just with a more reliable motor etc, the rest would suit me just fine. EDIT: I have looked for this in french but all I get is e- manuals. There are plenty of them in french.

As was said, it has nothing to do with the insurance or green card etc, it is where one is resident. British non resident in the UK, can drive french registered cars in the UK, no problem, but not british residents. Just the way it was, and probably still is. Could some of these things change with brexit? For the OP, yes, you can buy a car, register it and get insurance etc.

I like artichokes. I like dibbing the leaf ends in a good sauce and then dragging that little flesh off with my teeth and then the heart, at the end. Love palm hearts too with a good sauce. Re the jerusalem ones, well, I think that I have always cooked them properly and they still have the same effect, but I still like them.

I love topinambours, the side effects or is it the backside effects however are not so pleasant![:-))] [Www]  

None of our friends or neighbours had heard of panais de guernesey either.  It was rutabagas that people didn't want, as people ate it during the war and it was considered only good for animal feed. Same same with sweet corn when I first got there. I could always buy navet long, quite like that.