tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post4186878722538035280..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: Pumpkins and kippers for soup, and a bombastic bloater. Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-29691244013024364012012-11-28T09:55:50.973+01:002012-11-28T09:55:50.973+01:00First things first, your Alphabet Soupers are magn...First things first, your Alphabet Soupers are magnificent. I adore the collaged effect, partially because it reminds me of the much-loved 'cut-out' books of my childhood. An entirely gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing solution to what you wrote of in an earlier post about finding ways to utilise drawings made on different pieces of paper. Your compositional arrangements are wonderful satisfactory, carrying the eye round and round both images. I delight in each element. I particularly like the puckered-up-lips-for-kissing!<br /><br />You wrote here too of your dissatisfaction with your handwriting/lettering, and yet in these it works perfectly, with that sense of the hand-lettered labels I used to so love in the old-fashioned museums of my childhood, that now can only be found in that fabulous survival, the Pitt Rivers in Oxford. I love the brown background that smacks of the exercise book, and the black one that like the perfect little black cocktail dress, is tres chic! Well done Lucy. These have made me smile a LOT!!!<br /><br />Re gutting. I love squid. I love it in nearly all its forms. But preparing fresh squid from scratch I find to be almost unendurable. I screw my face up and close my eyes. And no matter how much I love the taste of it on the plate, whether deliciously succulent inside a crispy tempura batter or smokey and sweet from the ridged-grill pan, I cannot remove from my mind the memory of the noxious mess awaiting me in the steel sink, that must be plated and carried out to the garden for disposal. At the cottage I've been known to throw the remains to the seagulls, but even that makes my toes curl, especially when the gusting sea-wind throws it back playfully into my hair. (The 'attacked by alien spawn from outer space' scenario!) I am an absolute wimp when it comes to squid entrails.Clive Hicks-Jenkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00573698513351018726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-81841270629052510742012-11-27T18:48:26.823+01:002012-11-27T18:48:26.823+01:00Neither kippers not kedgeree would deter me, if I ...Neither kippers not kedgeree would deter me, if I wanted to, from kissing anyone,Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-14050418820205802452012-11-27T13:35:37.441+01:002012-11-27T13:35:37.441+01:00Thank you both, these two comments have quite made...Thank you both, these two comments have quite made my day.<br /><br />Robbie - funny you should mention butter beans, they are among our favourites. One of the first meals Tom ever prepared for me was chicken Kievs, spinach and butter beans. I was smitten. The first two items cannot very easily be procured here; I have learned to make my own chicken Kievs (the originals were M&S), and it is also one of those acts of devotion but a much pleasanter one than handling kippers. They are tricky things; if the garlic butter leaks out in the pan they are spoiled - I've more or less cracked this by just sealing them quickly in the pan then transferring them to the small fan oven, so if it leaks out in the dish there it doesn't matter so much. The oiliness of the garlic butter and moistness of the spinach offsets the feculent dryness of the beans, a quality I have come to value. Occasionally one comes across these in jars, as 'haricots blancs de Judion' and very good they are too, or else there are sometimes Greek or Antillaise versions to be found in tins. Or one can buy the dried version, when they are 'de Soissons' and cook them oneself. Along with marrowfat peas they are something we miss and go out of our way to procure when we can.<br /><br />Tom does his share of unpleasant duties, don't worry. I think collecting and disposing of the dog poo, an area in which he more than pulls his weight, probably merits the odd kipper! (Though not in too close proximity...)<br /><br />FB - oh how could I forget! I can hear you singing it now; it was one of those things you could always make me laugh uncontrollably with, wherever we were.Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-57128674301099424152012-11-27T10:40:02.862+01:002012-11-27T10:40:02.862+01:00'thou shalt have a bloater when the boat comes...'thou shalt have a bloater when the boat comes in' in suitably North-eastern accent is rumbling round my head as I laugh... glad it was worth the trialsFire Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13518190677399410354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-2551526781076307282012-11-27T08:20:11.588+01:002012-11-27T08:20:11.588+01:00"smoky, slimy guts, jaundiced eyes, intact gi..."smoky, slimy guts, jaundiced eyes, intact gills and hairy bones".<br /><br />Hard to work that into a Valentine but I suppose there's now no need. You've gone public, a million eyes have seen it, and a million-divided-by-two voices would be raised in protest if Tom wasn't living up to his obligations.<br /><br />VR's equivalent is to open a tin of butter beans every so often and to avert her eyes as I consume them with my dinner. When much younger our grandson Ian was interested when VR referred to this sacrificial act and asked what butter beans were. VR described them and Ian's eyes lit up in recognition: "Oh you mean those beans that are full of dry."<br /><br />I'd be interested to hear of Tom's reciprocity in this matter but perhaps that's caddish of me. Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.com