Wood Pigeon No More

So we thought we would be experimental,  I went of the wood pigeon on the menu.   

In Hong Kong,  we have barn reared juvenile pigeon,  which is delicious.  

I know the English eats adult wood pigeons' breasts medium rare,  so I was prepared,  so I thought.

On the menu,  the wood pigeon was not labelled as wild,  when the venison and rabbit,  even halibut was labelled as wild.   So I was not prepared for a pellet!

Anyhow,  I am never eating wild games again. 

Autumn is Nigh

 August is not yet over, the air has already changed.  Autumn is nigh!

Bargain Peas

It must be peas season, only 66p a kilo of freshly frozen peas.  I am stashing them up, preparing for a tough winter ahead...

Malt Scrumping

We can add malt to the good British past time scrumping.  All the sad looking wheat is actually malting, perfect for making granary loaf.

Just keep in mind, the grain processing by hand is quite time consuming.

Old Banger

My old banger Kendrew is literally falling to bits.  When I was stopping at a junction, a bit of the front coil fell out of my car.  While Kendrew was in the shop, they reckon the constant rattling was the exhaust, which they did not want to fix.  

Three Pronged Approach in Complaining

Three pronged approach - the retailer, the banker, the public.  Sometimes all that efforts still do not result in obtaining remedy, that can be upsetting.

Storm Francis

Storm Francis is causing havoc, it doesn't help when half of my team is off.  Busy day.

Kawasaki Vulcan S

The second bike I rode in the demo day was Vulcan S.  It was a very different riding style, it was able to keep up with the group, but the wind got to me and the knee, it was very tiring.   I was absolutely knackered, and quads are killing me for days.  It needs some wind protection...

Kawasaki Z650

I signed up for a demo day, and the first bike I tried was a Z650.  This is a direct competition with Yamaha MT-07.  My first thought was, this is tiny, like a toy.  Then during the ride, it does everything expected, very adequate, but it gave me a very sore bum.  Also, due to the sitting position, I cannot see the TFT without moving my head, as a result, I keep missing the indicator cancel.

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

I came across the Basque Burnt Cheesecake when I was watching random things online.  It is weird and gooey, I am not sure it would be my thing.

Monk Fruit

Someone got talking about monk fruit, aka siraitia grosvenorii.  I know it as a brown round thing, but now I learnt that is in in the gourd family and started out green, and it is so sweet that is can be refined as sweetener.

Anglicised Oriental Names

I used to get upset when people tries to call my Cantonese name in the Anglicised way, but maybe I already have it easy.  The BBC reporter Mariko Oi has to put up with people cannot even pronounce her last name!

I always wonder what is Mariko's actually name, given the Oi pronunciation isn't very Japanese, so I searched online.  It was not Oi, it was OhYee (big well).  People mispronounces her name not because they cannot sound the actual work (unlike in Cantonese, my name), people mispronounces her name either because of laziness or pure ignorance.

Misquoting Cantonese Sayings

The Kangaroo documentary itself was very upsetting, but what has continuously bother me is how some Australians misquoting a Cantonese saying.

One of the contributors reckoned Canton would be a good market for kangaroo meat, because "Cantonese eats anything with the back facing the sky."  This is actually just part of the saying, the saying in full is "Four legged crawlers, back facing the sky."

My instant thought was, "Kangaroo's back isn't facing the sky!" Additionally, they are not four legged!

Just about all bipedal mammals are out of bound, Cantonese is famous for eating a lot of things, but primates (bipedal) were not one of them.

If you want to appropriate other cultures to aid your argument, at least use it right!

Lack of Changing Rooms

Most of the recreation facilities have stopped their changing room facilities.  This is particularly disconcerting for wet activities, you are expected to change out in and around a car or around a human shield.  This reminds me of my childhood experience to a beach, you can rinse, but you cannot change.

Involunteerable

So the call for non-white participants for the Sars-Cov-2 vaccine was on the news.  I looked online, neither Leeds or York was available for sign up, unbelievable...

Minskip Farm Shop

On our way to Aldborough, we stopped by Minskip Farm Shop.   It is a nice little egg farm with a few other animals on show and a little veg patch.  The chicken are so free range that one found her way to the carpark!  Sarah noticed the restaurant is a refurbished chicken hut.  All very cute, and all free*.  We are looking forward to our next visit.

 

Don't Eat Kangaroo!

We were watching a documentary about Kangaroo trade, and both of us were very disgusted, so barabaric.

Only just the other day, Oded had a kangaroo steak in Yorkshire Inn, and I was talking about my Hein Gericke gloves that lasted 8 years with kangaroo leather.  I will be more mindful about it. 

How to Mask a Hamster

On a recent research, it has concluded a masked hamster group fare better than one not masked.

Then I was on a mission to find out how to mask a hamster, only to find out they did not mask any hamsters!

Method:

Healthy and infected hamsters were housed in separate cages placed next to each other.

A surgical mask partition was placed on either side to separate the cages, with air flowing from the infected side to the healthy side.

(2/5) #COVID19

— HKU Medicine (@hkumed) June 29, 2020

Old Little Tent

 When everyone is talking about camping, I took out my old tent and gave it a rinse.  It is a highly functional little tent.  It has travelled from the States to Hong Kong to Greece to England, but Sarah reckon it is only good as a play tent.  Poor tent!

Kayaking in Roundhay

 Roundhay has the strangest collection of people.  I have once seen a guy playing with his glider.  This time we saw a guy practicing kayak ball in the lake.  Seriously, why do you want to paddle in the swan cesspit?

Pale Gammon Hock

We found Marr Grange near Brodworth and we popped in whilst we were in the area.  They have a wide range of offerings, and the gammon hock caught my eye.

So I bought two "gammon hock", one for the weekend, one for the freezer.  When I finally prepped and cooked the first one, it is unbelievably white, it is barely cured.  If a gammon hock is not cured, I believe it is just pork knuckle!

Considered the extremely competitive price, it is nice pork at the end of the day, I could not complain. 

Peak District Déjà vu

 I went on Richard's ride, as expected, we were back in the Peaks, where I was just the week before.  He enquired where we went last week, and took us all back to Thorp, Carsington, Bakewell...

The Milk Churn II

 We stopped by the Milk Churn on a busy sunny.  The car park was quite full, and the garden was quite full, and we were lucky to find a table.  A nice day enjoying ice cream and watch some low flying kite.

Mint Harvesting

A portion of the mints has its second and third branch, so it is time to start clipping.  I am a strong believer in heavy pruning and giving room for new growth.

Variable Hummus

 This time I used oriental sesame paste instead of middle eastern tahini.  The hummus is a bit different.  I would never work out what is the best ratio...

Tony Chocolonely Milk Chocolate

 I finally break into the Tony Chocolonely milk chocolate bar.   It is good, for a milk chocolate.   I will take this over Cadburys. 

Chatsworth on Valium

Both Sarah and I were both down in the Midlands, and we took the opportunity to meet up and visit Chatsworth. The new safety measures includes controlled capacities, and we chose a week day. It was all relatively peaceful. 

 

We did everything quite comprehensively, even the Stand Wood, what a hike, aka dangerous.

Hazardous Walking

Whilst on trip in the Peak District, I walked up Bunster Hill.  It was very steep and I slightly slipped and landed on some dried thistle, so painful.  Was the view really worth it?  I am not sure.

Aldi Traffic Light

On a recent shopping trip, out local Aldi has installed a traffic light outside the shop indicating the shop is below capacity.  Interesting.

Ubuntu Install Phase 3

I am slowly getting a hang of the command terminals.  And the closer I look, I realised they are written in C, and I have to look for libraries, etc, this really makes me feel my computer minor wasn't wasted.  I cannot wait to play with more software.

Fake SD Card

I could almost say, most if not all of my micro SD are fake.  I was never able to say conclusively that they are fake, but as I am using more than 25% of their capacities, I started seeing problems.  I have downloaded some software to test them and hopefully fix them.