Tag Archives: friends

Food, Food – – –

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Jack will still post as Wendy takes a break – –

I’m not sure when I got interested in cooking – maybe around when Wendy and I got married.

 

Growing up in a Northern European country meant food was just fuel to keep you going. So it wasn’t until I first traveled to Southern Europe with my band that I really discovered what a meal could be, the varieties of food to be savored and dinner as a social gathering.

 

I had already, though, discovered curries as Indian restaurants multiplied throughout Scotland.

 

All of that got me interested in discovering discovering new dishes and re-discovering old ones.

 

Some of the old ones –

 

  • Fish n’ Chips – The secret is to fry in lard and to fry the chips three times at ever increasing temperatures.
  • Steak pie – boil the steak for a long time and put Bisto in the gravy.
  • Steak bridie – same as the steak pie.
  • Sausage rolls – the secret is to make your own sausage filling and use real breadcrumbs.
  • Shepherd’s pie – try to get fresh peas.

 

Some of the new ones –

 

  • I discovered how Indian restaurants make a big batch of basic curry sauce and I do that all the time now.
  • Finding by trial and error the different roasting times for vegetables.
  • Baking fish in foil.
  • Experimenting with overnight marinades, particularly for chicken tikka.
  • Using an outdoors charcoal grill.

 

Wendy is the baker, and her specialties are cookies, breads and desserts.

 

Just some of the things we get up to during lock-down!

 

 

Our Pets Can Teach Us

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Jack is a day late and a dollar short with his guest post this week – – –

In contemplating how everyday life has changed for us and most other folks, I’ve been observing how it goes on pretty much normally for our pets.

Bruce2

Our rescue dog Bruce has always been happy to get his exercise running around our big backyard and spend the rest of his time sleeping in his favorite bed. Every now and again he gets walked up and down the alley beside our house where he can enjoy different smells and that continues normally too.

Our cats are used to going in and out at will and know to stick to the yard or close by. So no real change for them either. It’s true that our most recent cat recruit, Buddy, has some health issues and that has meant a couple of vet visits. The arrangements for attending the clinic are a bit different, but I don’t suppose Buddy notices!

Our neighborhood dogs are all being walked as usual, although their humans are observing social distancing rules, but again I don’t suppose the pets notice much difference.

Our previous canine and feline friends probably knew the contrast between work days and weekends when we had the bookstore in Big Stone Gap, but when we moved here to Wytheville our routines changed. I finally really retired and Wendy worked much more from home. So our new ‘brood’ only recognized this new regime for us which likely won’t seem to change much from day to day for them.

Oh that it was as simple for us –

We are usually pretty social and sociable types, but now there are no weekends away, no shared meals with friends, no unannounced droppings in. Days tend to be much the same regardless whether it’s a weekday or a weekend. We do pay more attention to our neighbors than before but always while observing social distancing and our careful quarantine rules. I suspect that our pets see little difference for now, while we are beginning to get a bit ‘stir crazy’. It’s beginning to dawn on me that we won’t be going back to ‘normal’ for a long time, if ever.

Perhaps we can learn something from our animal friends?