mint

Did you think it would never come? I certainly did but now...it's HERE[:D] Last year's RG was in October because of covid.  Between all my doctors, they managed to keep me in my room in hospital.  But it was memorable, watching the last half hour of the men's final with my pneumologue.  As we were both avid Nadal fans, we cheered like mad and watched the trophy ceremony and the post match interview.  She was doing a bronchoscopy on me the following morning so it was a good way to get to know each other better before the op[:D]

There was a programme on BBC1 last night on this topic.  It was called something, something we feed our kids. Did anyone see it?  I found it very interesting and also found that, without thinking too much about it, I do buy and eat some of these ultra processed foods, biscuits mainly and I am not sure about the Greek style yoghurts I normally get. Would be helpful if people have comments to make about these foods.

Hi, Lehaut, first day without rain so did my whites today, using your suggestion.  Worked a treat, some marks and stains are gone.  Some more stubborn marks remain but fainter and, of course, this is only the first wash with the dishwasher tablet. I reckon that, after a couple of washes, the stains should be gone and yes, everything definitely looks cleaner and whiter. Thank you for the tip![:D]

Not just the French who don't want to declare improvements, Judith.  We need to be fair.  We have Australians who have put in 2 new bathrooms making a total of 4 and a load of other works.  Thinking they didn't know about the need to declare the improvements, I told them what they should do.  And, of course, they took not a blind bit of notice!

Of course, nomoss, fruit or veg that have been picked and brought thousands of miles away can never compare to fresh produce picked maybe only earlier in the day. If you don't eat other than fresh and local, do you then never eat avocados, drink coffee, indulge in chocolate, long for a Middle Eastern date? Nowadays, it's always better if you could avoid "foreign" produce, especially from the environmental point of view.  I now do not eat avocados since I read about how they are produced but I'd be hard pushed to give up on coffee. It's ok to be curious about exotic fruits and veg and sometimes some of these products are now produced locally.  You can, for example, buy sweet potatoes grown both in France and in Spain so no need to buy American or Israeli. I have every sympathy with idun on wanting to taste foods other than European because I, too, have a curiosity about them.

Yes, mangosteins are nice, so are rambutans but I don't fancy those dragon fruits! Have you tried plantains?  Don't quite know how to deal with them.  Also, have you tried other tubers than potatoes and sweet potatoes? Manioc, for example?

Er.....on second thoughts, please don't bother[6]

This promises to be good[:)] [url]https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/101895-000-A/cameron-carpenter-et-daniel-hope-interpretent-franck-bach-et-messian/[/url]

et notamment pas pour faire du shopping?[:D]

Well Weegie, you can equally say that there are no bank deposit accounts that pays you interest?  If inflation is taken into account, aren't we all paying the banks to hang on to and get control of our hard-earned?[:P]

OTOH, when there was some fluctuation in the exchange rate, I used to keep a few thousand in my account ready to exchange when the rate is better (not that I have ever guessed when that might be) There must be a clearing bank for Transferwise because they would have to use a bank in order to change your funds?

Thank you, betise. I'm NOT participating and I don't intend to sign up again for next year.  I take great exception to people who should know better and don't follow the rules. It's just selfishness on the part of so many that has prolonged this pandemic.

Sorry, Blodwyn, I can't throw further light on your question because I don't know anyone with CA.

I have declared my Currency Fair account, putting "autres" when it asks what kind of account.  I used the number that is for Barclays as that is CF's clearing bank. Just thought I'd give them absolutely everything so that I could forget about the damn déclaration for another year.

Just to say that I too was going Norman's question:  which bank is it?

Yes, I always have disinfectant wipes in the car and hand gel in my handbag. Have had emails from the organisers of our pilates class for practising in the open.  But I am hesitating because I think it's only 10 allowed together for leisure and sport à l'extérieur?  Can someone confirm whether that is right, please? Have written to the teacher but she is not answering so I suspect that I am right and she is doing this for her own reasons!

Pomme, that is a really interesting piece.  Now I have read your article, I seem to remember a lighter (weight and colour) cinamon in Sri Lanka and in my friend's cooking.  I saw many people working in the cinamon trade in Sri Lanka and yes, cutting the bark and filling the "tubes". Now, like Lehaut, I shall have to go looking for the real McCoy[:)]

Well, Lehaut, I have been to Sri Lanka and I had a Sri Lankan friend who used to come to our house and cooks her special curries to treat us and all our guests. If anybody knows their spices, she does.  She'd only have to sniff a bottle to know exactly what spices are in it.  She's never said anything about the cinnamon being of different grades though she liked using whole spices.  So a bark's a bark?  I can't say I have ever tried it, Lehaut.

Thanks Lehaut.  Will try it tomorrow if the rain has stopped by then!  Will let you know.  I have a load of grubby white things, notably OH's pillow cases, to wash and hells bells if it works I shall be very happy[:D]

Thought I'd revisit this thread as it was such a light-hearted sort of thread with no arguing and, let's face it, haven't we all done rather a lot of shopping during lockdown? So my latest finds are lemon grass paste and garam masala.  The lemon grass paste, besides being green bears no resemblance to fresh lemon grass but it's OK for a lazy person like me as, even if I could find it, I'm too idle to bash it, cook with it and then fish it out of the final dish. The garam masala is another matter.  There is an épicerie (cum delicatessen, I suppose we'd call it in the UK) that I have visited dozens of times.  This last time, I found a small shelf of spices and there was the garam masala in a small squat bottle with a wonky label.  The label is simply printed (fait à maison like the contents, I think) on ordinary paper and is slightly too big for the bottle.  On an impulse I bought it and it smells and tastes wonderful.  The spices are quite coarsely ground, nothing like the over fine commercial spices and I have found every opportunity to sprinkle it on dishes. As some writer has said:  Les jours se suivent et se ressemblent tous.  It's been a long, long year and the weather has been dreary.  So maybe now's the time to re-stock cupboards and prepare for the summer?

to keep your whites white? I need some suggestions and your suggestion would be doubly valuable if you lived in a hard water area. I don't miss anything about Wales except the lovely soft Welsh water.  All the linen soft and clean with the coloureds unfaded and the whites sparkling. If I am unable to keep clothes and towels white, I shall have to do some shopping of new stuff.  Shopping's fine but I'd feel guilty if I don't first make an effort.

Gardian and Lori, what I meant was that, seeing it was the President and Prime Minister, I thought it looked terrible[6] Not exactly showing a good example?  You'd think that, if only for their own PR purposes, they'd show some restraint! 

New day, new rules so what else is new?  For me, new confusion! Has anyone seen the news pictures on tv with Macron and Castex, sitting opposite each other across a tiny square of table, chatting animatedly sans mask and apparently without a care in the world? Did you also see how close the other tables are to theirs on that terrace? Have I got this wrong, that terrasses can be open with distanciation, geste barriers, etc?  I thought there were going to be minimum distances between tables and that masks were to be worn except when eating or drinking? As far as I could see, the only people wearing masks were media bods and their security people. So then, who's got this wrong, poor old Mint here or the great Castex and the illustrious Macron?

Just seen your post, Kong, thank you for your contribution.  Yes, I do just invent all the dates as most of our accounts have been held for in excess of 40 years minimum!  Comes from having lived a long time? Pomme, I had just got out of the car after the opticien visit and hadn't yet looked at your links when someone called me from the tax office....wow!!!  We had a long discussion and at least she did not imply in any way that I had ticked the wrong box or anything like that.  I told her your suggestion of clearing the cookies but she said she didn't know anything about that[:D] The long and the short of it was I didn't agree to go to the office in Nontron (our local market town apparently no longer has a Centre des Finances Publics) and she agreed to send me all the forms and that I would not be "punished" for being late. I have since seen your links, for which I thank you most abundantly, and I will just get on tomorrow, fill the forms in and stick them in the letterbox of the local office.  The lady on the phone assured me they still had a letterbox! What kindness and patience and sympathy I have experienced from all who have replied!  Thank you all very much[:)]

Firstly fittersmate, I am so glad I genned up on this from your link before the opticien's.  And indeed I wish to thank you again.  We felt it was a very good service, the woman tested our eyes, so it was in effect a check on the ordonnance, a second opinion if you like.  I asked to see the 100% sante frames after she led me to another part of the shop to choose frames.  In fact, I thought there was a very good range of "free" frames and I was very quickly able to choose a pair and she worked it all out and told me it was all prise en charge. Same procedure with OH and nothing to pay for him either.  That surprised me somewhat because I thought that, as he needed his frames large, there might not be a suitable "free" frame for him.  According to the link that fm gave me, these frames are of good quality as are the lenses.  I would have paid whatever necessary for OH but, for myself, I am not likely to need my glasses much as the cataract operations have done wonders for my sight and I now only need glasses for reading. We thought we'd try them and if we were dissatisfied, we would just go and pay for another pair. Sue, we have both had Esilor before; I was very pleased with mine but OH never got on with his despite taking them back about 3 times.  If memory serves, we paid nearly 600 euros each, but that would have been about 4 years ago.  Anyway FOC sounds pretty good to me and I was more [:)]han thrilled. Hope my experience is helpful to others.  It's always good to hear a range of people's experiences; nothing like knowing what to expect to put one at an advantage.