Priceless Paintings from W7

We held a twenty-plus-year-no-see boy scout reunion over the past bank holiday weekend (some photos are here, and a discussion board is here).

That’s ex-boy scouts and girl guides, coz’ we were a mixed-sex group (VCP). Nice, especially when you’re a teenager Those who made it into the circle of leaders, typically between the years of 15 and 19, have spent almost all out-of-school time together. This is the group that met, from the leadership circle of the 80s. We used to spend our time with meetings, preparations, camps and various outings. And when we weren’t with the scouts, we still meet. Eventually, finishing school, starting a profession or moving away for university broke it all apart. Gently for some, but thoroughly for most.

When we met again last last Friday, most hadn’t met or even been in touch for 20 or more years. That’s really strange when you think about it. Fascinatingly, we could simply continue where we had left off. Everyone grew older in the meantime. Some grew fatter, some grew gray hair, but by and large, we all still were who we once were, and none had to proof anything to anyone.

Even the old knowledge about scout tent construction was just there as if it hadn’t paused all those many years, and the same who always made way too much firewood quickly started cutting and chopping way too much firewood.

We ended up enjoying two fine days and two balmy nights in the open, talking until well past midnight (and almost to sunrise). Every one enjoyed a lovely weekend –except the sleep deprivation-, until Sunday noon: the hour of farewell and departure.

I wasn’t the only one with a big fat lump in my throat, and it comes back when I write those lines. Goes to show that one should never forget the old friends.

Lesson learnt.

P.S. You may ask in a year or so how or if I managed to deliver my pledge and stay in touch, of course.

Thoughts friends, scouts

NICE has now approved of acupuncture, to be subscribed on the NHS once traditional means (such as injections of various kinds) have failed to cure back pain. Other secondary methods of treatment include physiotherapy and some-such.

I am no doctor as you know, and I certainly acknowledge that many people suffer from genuine and chronic pain in the back.

I am, however, vaguely aware of the great British furniture, and thus suggest NICE should consider supplying good quality ergonomic desk chairs, firm sofas and very firm latex mattresses.

I’m pretty sure this could do wonders and avoid much of the pain, and the costly treatment required later.

Too bad they never come and ask me what to do.

Thoughts Health, NHS;

Oh, welcome back. More about the past weekend as soon as I manage to find the words.

Something else came up last night though: While I was preparing the rubbish – mostly, of course, recyclable items –, I couldn’t help noticing that smell. Unmistakably that smell, and it wasn’t for the first time neither.

Years ago, when we lived in Park Royal and near the Guinness Brewery, we had that smell in the air every couple of days, too. I believe it occurs when they malt the barley (or whatever it is they do) when making that brew.

I wonder in one of the not-so-inviting Hanwell industrial estates features a brewery?

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Thoughts Ealing, hanwell

W7 is on a blogging break until after the Bank Holiday Monday. You take care and do something useful meanwhile.

Thoughts

This week, I’ve been mostly eating improvised food, given that the whole house went through one last major crisis of moving things out, about, and back in again. I had enough towards the weekend, and all my nice ovens are ever so tempting, so things got a little better towards the end:

Roast beef sandwiches from home-made roast beef, and home made bread. Delicious, and cooked to perfection in my new combination micro wave oven.

Tamarind Prawn Laksa. Took me a while to find Tamarind, but need to try this again – probably use more Tamarind.

Fried Duck breast with a fry-up from olive oil, dry bread and cranberries. Don’t know what possessed me when I bought the cranberries. I should have bought figs or pears.

Steak Tartare w/ green salad and fries – quick and yummy.

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr- Clang, it goes. And again: Grrrrrrrrrrrr – Clang. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr – Oh! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr- Clang. A small pause, then again: Grrrrrrrrrrr – grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr – grrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrr – Clang.

You are reading the transcript of the sounds surrounding me in the evening. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr – Clang.

It never happens in heavy rain, but otherwise in all weather condition. It mostly starts in the hours of the late afternoon and lasts until sunset, although exceptions exist.

It’s the local kids. Three of them, probably 12..14 year old, practising their skateboarding and scooter skills. Relentlessly, never-tiring, for hours. Never arguing, rarely shouting, but focussed on practising and improving their jumping and sliding and flipping skills with skateboard and scooter.

I find it brilliant, and admire their perseverance.

Thoughts future, kids, people

Stop it! My head hurts from shaking it in disbelief alone. I’m pretty sure that you heard that UK newspapers had (through some questionable means) acquired and published details of UP parliamentarians’ expense claims, causing a huge stir-up.

In short, many politicians of all parties are excused to having exploited an overly generous expense system. (Here’s the detailed breakdown.)

That alone doesn’t surprise me much. Neither am I surprised by what happens next:

Step one (public declaration):

I have done nothing wrong; all my expense claims were in line with the guidelines, and lawfully approved.

Step two: (thinking to self):

Hmm, there’s a lot of public pressure here. And actually, claiming for cat food really doesn’t look too good. Of for 18 months of a mortgage that had been paid off. Or for a second home, while my good wife, also an MP, also claims for a second home. Or for three different second homes within a single year.

Step three: (public declaration):

I insist that I have done nothing wrong, but I’ll repay a five-digit figure anyway, in order to restore my now falsely damaged reputation and integrity.

How can I trust a politician how can neither stand by the claims of rightfulness, or admit exploiting the system?

Some brought lame excuses of claims being made by accident or poor accounting. Some others even acknowledged inappropriate claims, or withholding taxes, offered repayment and think this is the end of it. If Joe Public ‘withholds’ £13,332 in capital gains tax (See Hazel Blears), it certainly won’t be done with “Oops. Here’s the money.”

Now it’s all the speaker’s fault. He let us do it, so his head must roll, appears to be the common logic. One cannot but shake the head in disbelief.

Anyone erroneously claiming £16,000 expenses on grounds of “poor accounting” is not fit for office in the first place, so how… Didn’t I tell you? I shake my head in disbelief so much that it hurts, and much of the nation seems to shake alongside.

But, where’s the fraud squad I wonder? Few seem to ask for it, and many seem happy with apologies, paying back, and a few scapegoat resignations. Now that makes me truly shake my head in disbelief.

Current Affairs, Thoughts Britain, Politics, United Kingdom

I am sure some of you are waiting for those “really, really, almost done” photos. So am I, but right now, it’s really not a nice picture, with book and boxes and heaps of stuff just about everywhere.

I will need until Sunday for posting some of those “really, really, almost done” photos. They’re coming, but you’ve got to hang in there for another while.

The flooring is finished and I am in the process of moving back in. We have a through-lounge back, and it all looks great – if it wasn’t for the mess everywhere.

I’m a bit tired of it, but hang in there ‘till Saturday evening and you’ll see what I am so pleased about.

home home

I fear I may have lost out in evolution through a loss that goes all the way back to the fruit flies. Some male fruit flies carry powerful pheromones on their tails, which makes them irresistible to their female counterparts.

But then, the commentator tells me in the superb BBC South Pacific production, one wrong move [by the male], and she is off for good.

Evolution all the same all around, and my world order is restored.

Thoughts BBC, BBC Television, evolution

…food prepared around our emerging kitchen. Life without a proper kitchen is hard, but life half moved into a still work-in-progress kitchen isn’t any easier. But, we get to enjoy some aspects of it. Like those:

Ratatouille on rice, in anticipation of summer.

Thai-style Chicken and noodle soup, a first test with the wok on the gas burner (had to use the small wok on the small flame and wasn’t too impressed to be honest, but once the real, full-size wok has been recovered from storage, we’ll try the big burner and a meal for two.

Saucison Neufchateloise (Pork and apple sausages on a bed of green lentils, with mashed potatoes). Nice to get multiple zones going at the cooker. At the same time, I made a lovely lemon cake and an equally delightful roast beef, so also had both ovens going at the same time. Exciting!

American-style roast beef sandwiches, using the aforementioned roast beef.

A lovely tamarind prawn laksa, using the same small wok on the electric hob with much better results.

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe

I have commissioned the building work to my house. At some point in the now distant past, we emptied our kitchen, moved most of it into temporary storage (and the rest into temporary arrangements). We lived through it. With the builders nearing the finishing line with one last full-scale effort for maximum disaster (the re-flooring of the entire ground floor), we are gradually moving back into the kitchen. Step by step:

One box, labelled “herbs and spices.” Another box, labelled “spices and cooking ingredients.” Another one, labelled “spices” and, the scariest of all, one labelled “spices, etc.”

The same goes for cooking gear. One box labelled “knifes,” one with “spoons and ladles”, at least one more with a similar label, and again, the dreaded “spoons, etc.”

I also went through several boxes of provisions, pots and pans, bowls and dishes.

It’s always the same. One box. Oh, and another one. What? Three? OK. Then, the unavoidable discovery of etc. Some boxes contain nothing but etc, leaving my fingers black from unwrapping lots of newspaper, used to protect a wide variety of things, wide than I ever dared to consider my own.

I am surprised we don’t have a special, dedicated pen, designed for writing ‘ETC.’ I have not yet opened the box labelled “stationary, etc.”

It’s nice to be reminded of everything we have. It’s nice to know we have enough. It’s even nicer to know that we still have space remaining, but the nicest thing of all, of course, is to be moving back in.

That’s what I thought. Until I found another half-dozen of boxes. I haven’t dared check their labels yet.

Thoughts, home home, Kitchen

Excuse me. Do you have a screwdriver? I mean one of those tiny ones, one that can be used to fix the frame of my glasses?

It happens every now and then. Somebody who needs glasses approaches me with a handful of fragments, or maybe a pair of glasses with some parts about to come lose, and hopes for a quick fix, thanks to my tiny screwdriver.

Yes, I have one of those tiny screwdrivers.

I can now also tell you that the same tiny screwdriver is bloody difficult to use when the own reading glasses fall apart, and when I struggle focussing on that tiny little screw which takes the tiny little screwdriver to hold the whole works together.

Assuming my eyesight will not get better anytime soon, I might just ignore my tiny little screwdriver the next time my glasses fall apart. I shall instead collect a handful of fragments, knock on the neighbour’s door and say:

Excuse me. Do you have a screwdriver? I mean one of those tiny ones, one that can be used to fix the frame of my glasses?

Thoughts age, eyesight, tools

It’s time for another Friday progress report on Le South Wing. Although this week’s progress wasn’t as swift as we wanted it to be, a lot got done since last Friday nevertheless:

The kitchen wall tiles are fixed, grouted, sealed and cleaned. They are also much admired by everyone. Seems like we made the right choice.

All walls and ceilings have their first coat of paint, with the second coming on later today and tomorrow.

The nice, flat and level floor resembled a miniature version of the south England hillside. An attempt to fill the valleys has now been made, using a self-levelling compound. We can only hope that the corrections will be sufficient, and haven’t done more damage. The fix-up attempt has now cost us a four-day delay, one day for the fix, one for the drying out. Meanwhile, the joiner and tiler have both moved on to other jobs…

A few little bits here and there, such as the under-unit lights, have been sorted out.

Next steps include the kitchen floor tiles and the bamboo flooring, the moving in and the grand opening. Oh, and another four dozen little bits here and there. Next Friday’s progress report won’t be the last I am sure, but one of the last ones.

You can see the latest photos right here. All of them, actually. Most recent ones first.

home home, Kitchen

I mentioned Pommes Dauphinoise with Halibut and Tuna a la Grecque just yesterday. This is one of those lovely meals that don’t take much time and are ever so rewarding, so here goes:

Pommes Dauphinoise:

Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius.

Peel and wash waxy potatoes, and use a slicer to slice them into 3 mm slices. Lightly butter a oven proof dish, spread the slices into the dish.

Mix a good amount of black pepper, some salt and ground nutmeg with enough cream to just cover the potatoes with this mix – the lasagne dishes that you can see used in today’s photo take about 200ml of cream each.

Pop into the oven, set the kitchen timer to 60 minutes, and take a break. Come back 20 minutes before the potatoes are done.

Halibut and Tuna a la Grecque:

Works with any bone or white fish as long as it doesn’t flake too much. Halibut steaks are good, Swordfish steaks are even better (but currently out of season). Tuna works, and so do many others. Use pretty thick slices (at least 2..3 cm, or one inch).

Prepare the fish (rinse and clean, but leave the skin on).

Heat a generous amount of olive oil. Add an extraordinary amount of coarsely ground black pepper (at least one table spoon), a teaspoon of salt, at least 5 crushed cloves of garlic, and a finely diced red hot chilly pepper.

Quickly shallow-fry the fish for 2..4 minutes each side, depending on its thickness. Then drizzle juice from half a lime per portion over the fish (lime, not lemon), put the lid on and let it steam for the remaining 5..8 minutes until the fish is cooked through.

Greek Salad:

Chip half a cucumber and a handful of ripe tomatoes into pieces. Make a dressing from half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of mustard, 3 table spoons olive oil, two table spoons white wine vinegar, and a generous pinch of thyme – lemon thyme preferred, if available.

Since the salad accompanies a whole meal (rather than acting as a starter or a lunch by itself), forget the feta cheese that otherwise features in Greek Salad.

See what I mean? 30 minutes preparation time, one hour cooking time, and a very lovely meal. Enjoy!

Food and Drink cooking, Fish, recipe

…food prepared in our emerging new kitchen:

Pommes Dauphinoise with Halibut and Tuna a la Grecque, and Greek Salad (hmmm… maybe I should post I posted the recipe to this shortlyright here, as it is so quick and easy yet so rewarding),

A lovely Paella (‘coz one should start (the new kitchen) just like one ended (the old kitchen), and ‘coz Paella is one among my top-ten favourite dishes),

Steak Frites with salad,

Spaghetti Bolognese (not very original but still popular at w7 – shown in today’s picture).

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe