Pied Out

Most of the biker weekend, I am well fed.  This weekend, I was properly pied out.

I was tempted to a chicken and ham pie in a Welsh biker cafe.  It was quite creamy, but a little blend.  By the time I ordered, it was too late to realise I was booked in for more pies the evenings.

I had a Ludlow venison pie at the Queens.  The pie was massive, very flavoursome, very rich, too rich for summer!  I was stuffed.  My stomach did not complain about the deer this time.

The day after, I had fish pie.  The fish pie was quite standard, I quite liked the browned mash on top.  I didn't know normal fish pie is packed out with hard boiled eggs.  It came with some lemon and parsley sauce, which I passed.

Lastly, I had a bite at Sarah's Shropshire beef pie.  I asked the cook, "what made it 'Shropshire'."  She said it was the beer they put in.  Normally, beef pie had ale, stout or red wine, but this one had a hoppy beer.  It was horrible.  I am glad I did not order it.  If it was mine, I would have given up eating it even if I were starving.  It was that bad.  I must remember never to go near beef pie with beer!

Kelsmore at Carvell's

I spotted this ice-cream parlour in Ludlow and I took Sarah to it.  Carvell's sells Kelsmore ice-cream.  The ice-cream was okay, less creamy than expected, the flavour is acceptable,  But I don't think it was exceptional.

Suchard 86% Noir Brut

The last one was horrible, I had no expectation on the rest.  This is better than I expected.  It is not very rich, it is quite 'shallow'.

Suchard Pecan Noir 70%

Cheap Austrian chocolate.  It was quite bad.

Silicon Crisps

I never had salt and vinegar crisps before, because I thought I would not like them.  I am right, they are horrible, they smell like silicon.

Kids are Like Cats

When kids get to a certain age, they develop their own characters, they only like those they like, and ignore everyone else.  If you do something they disagree, they will become other very violent, otherwise, they entertain themselves and keep to themselves.

Kids are Like Dogs

Young kids are like dog.  They love anyone that play with them.  Occasionally, they bite you, and you think it is fun and game, until they decide to attack you and cause actual bodily harm.  Lastly, you would defend them saying they did not mean it.

Mysterious Plants

As I was re-potting the mint, found a little germinated seed.  I cannot quote work out what it is.  I re-potted it into a nursery pot, and let see what comes of it.  I am wishing it would be the lemon!

Lucky BBQs

I have scheduled these August BBQs since beginning of the year.  BBQs in England is never guaranteed.  We were quite lucky that these two occasions, the afternoon was okay, and most of the cooking were done before the really heavy rain came.

Parking Man

The biggest problem about driving into town is parking, to be exact, the packing fee.  I know a few sneaky parking spots, and I tried it on, again.

This time the location was busy, and I had slight difficult parking.  Then the parking man actually came and told me, "You need a permit to park."

I need to be wary about the sneaky parking in the future.

Multi-Baking

I was going to bake two items, and I wrote both recipes on the same bit of paper.  I made so many mistakes!  I really should avoid multi-baking in the future.

Music Playlists

I don't usually use playlist functions.  When I listen to my music, I know who to go to for my mood.  Then I thought I would anticipate for the upcoming gatherings, so I put some random music together in a playlist, hope that would be a suitable entertainment.

Fine Bulgur II

I had some of the fine bulgur with my normal recipe.  I am quite impressed.  It is very quick cooking, "instant'.

Obviously it does not have the same texture as the big coarse bulgur, but it is better texture than cous cous.

Fine Bulgur

I ran out of bulgur wheat, so I went to the shop.  I tried different brand, and I don't have a favourite one.  This time I tried fine bulgur instead of the coarse bulgur.  I was a bit skeptical of my choice, especially I got a giant bag.

I tried some out tonight, it turned out well.  The texture is similar to cous cous.  Most importantly, it is just like the coarse bulgur that it does not overcook.

Mary and Max

I came across this stop motion movie, and since it has got high rating, I went ahead and watch it.

It was very well made, although it was a very sad story between two pen pals.

Fridge Panic

Sarah's fridge lamp went out.  I went into panic mode.  I checked all the electricity leading to the fridge, all were looking okay.  I turned down the fridge to make the compressor to come on.  We checked the temperature.  All seemed okay but I was still not happy.  So I look into the bulb compartment, in view of getting a new bulb.  When I was loosening the bulb, it came on.  Maybe it was just loose all along.  So I screwed it back on and panic over.

Overrated Pizzeria and Burgeria

The new foodie wave have rolled on from café to pizzeria and burger joints.  They are just more disappointments.

I just want honest food;  I simply cannot be bothered with the contemporary hipster twist.

Seasonal Shopping

In summer, everyone wants a bike, bike gear, and perhaps a cottage by the peaks or the lakes.

Lets do those shopping in winter, it should be much better value.

Entertaining Monkeys

When you entertain an animal, you must appear to be interested.

I much rather get a monkey to entertain other monkeys.  I much rather spend my time productively.

RMB Devaluation

I was reading the Economist last weekend, and it had an article mentioning the appreciation of RMB.  I pointed out the article to Sarah, and said someone is trying to drum up false signals and RMB maybe on its way down.  Lo and behold, it has dipped.  I should have sold my RMB years ago!

Avici

I never really look into Buddhism.  I watched a new BBC programme about these ancient thinker.  Then I looked up a few Buddhist terms such as Avici.  I started to understand Buddhism is full of shackles like any other religions.

Is Mr Buddha really a good thinker or just another religion reformer like Jesus?  In short, they both failed to reform their religion, and an awkward if not horrible, yet influential religion was born.

Even Cheaper Milk

Europe has lifted the milk export cap, and we will soon see really cheap milk.

Apparently British and Belgian diary farmers are protesting, but ultimately, they are not competitive in this European market, should the government bend over to help them?

What will be everyone's strategy?  Price mixing, protectionist, or 'go organic'?

Grantham

While I was in the area, I stopped by Grantham.  There were very few attractions, everything are do with either Newton or Thatcher.  I did notice Grantham has lots of coffee shops, a lot of competition.  I stopped at a Kawasaki Café just outside Grantham.  It was a nice café with friendly staff and patrons.

Chicken Hazards

I was a little freaked out of the undercooked chicken and unwashed eggs.

The problem with home grown free range eggs is not only they are not washed, they are also not red lion certified.

Tiger Chocolate Revisit

I disliked Tiger chocolate as an eating chocolate so much that I was unable finish them. I knew I was going to throw them in my baking, and I finally got the chance.

Tiger chocolate turned out to be very good baking chocolate, and probably slightly cheaper than leading brands.  I will stock them up next time I am in a Tiger.

Don't Click

There are a lot of headline grabbing websites and videos.  Avoid them at all cost.  Why traumatize yourself at the same time encourage these posters.

How's Your Diet Going

It was quite funny.

Blog Traffic

Every so often, I will click onto my blog traffic, I always find the stats strange. How do I get Russian readership?

Long Dales Walk

We finally embarked the first stage of Dales Way. I suggested to walk all the way between Ilkley and Burnsall, 14 miles later, we were exhausted and drenched! We made a good start for Sarah.

Changeable Weathers

English weather is very changeable, the last two days was worse! We were drenched from the walk, and my washings were rained on. The Met Office should try harder.

Butter Absorbent

Oatmeal is a good cholesterol absorbent, but it is really bad at binding butter in a cookie. I am never baking high oatmeal-content cookies again.