david_carnell

Bitter, moi? Nice use of anecdote there though. All people with high income made those sorts of sacrifices did they? Hmmm.

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wowzers, the combined might of the EDF is actually > making me feel quite cheerful about the prospect > of 95 slavering relatives and inlaws with their > judgies all wudgy. You are all lovely, and maxxi > I really am most sorry to have brought up the > C-word so early in the season, mea maxima culpa. > > > As you all pointed out, of course d) is the > answer. But I'm not going to serve any turkey. > Mum and my Aunt P have been doing turkey > Christmases since 1886, and though they make a > major fuss every year they do it bloody well and > there is NO WAY I will be able to match the > expected standard. > > Therefore I will be ditching the turkey and I > think I'll serve a big chunk of beef, and use that > as an excuse to do things a little differently, so > of course roast spuds but only one or two other > vegetables. > > And d_c, I would love to have your Christmas pud > recipe so I can serve a home-made pud... tradition > in clan Moos is to scour the weekend papers in the > run-up and find out which supermarket is selling > the best pudding this year, and then buy it. So a > home-made one is instant points. > > So... how best to do a yummy big chunk of beef. > Thoughts? Darling Moos I'm not giving my recipe away! An outrageous suggestion. I do not give up my secrets lightly. I will happily however make you one. I make them in November on "Stir-Up Sunday" along with my own mincemeat. I always make two so you've been earmarked for the spare this year. It'll be dropped off with final cooking instructions long before Xmas day to be hidden in cupboard. Well done for choosing beef too. A superior choice. Humbly, I suggest a whopping great fore-rib - 4-5 ribs worth. It won't be cheap but it will be delicious. For all meat-related issues, Saint Delia can be relegated and replaced with the Archangel Fernley-Whittingstall and his Meat Bible. If you don't have a copy, I'll lend you mine and it has the full instructions for the whole meal with all the trimmings.

In my mind, if you have to pot roast the thing, or cover it in two sauces to make it edible, then you will have merely won a pyrrhic victory over the bird. But I get it's traditional and all. And a turkey can feed loads.

Hoopers are meant to be doing rugby breakfasts for those interested in early starts and beer combined!

Personally, I think turkey is terrible. The legs are ok but the breast is universally dry and tasteless. So I would choose almost anything over it. Goose, duck, a massive fore-rib of beef, pheasant (one between two) etc etc. Even chicken. But there are strange people out there who will tell you it is not Xmas without a turkey and won't have it any other way. If Moos fears her family members are of this disposition it would be unwise to be too adventurous. Perhaps in the appertizers or nibbles to compensate.....but let's not over complicate an already stressful situation.

Moos - normally I can't abide the woman and her patronising tones. But for Christmas, from scratch, it has to be Saint Delia. And Annette's suggestion a week at a time is a good one (although turkey at any other time of year is weird). And booze. Lots of booze. But not for you. A drunk chef is not good. Drunk guests will eat anything though. And I will offer to make you a very good (even if I say so myself) Xmas pudding. How many people?

I've paid ?5 for a 330ml bottle of cheap, watery, American lager-pop which by my crude maths works out at about ?8.87 a pint. Airports are the worst for this.

For the love of god use the threads that already exist.

All are welcome in the Drawing Room - it's not scary....honest! And I can't wait for my trip to Stoke Newington to try on slings and push prams around. Really. Can't wait. Seriously - glad BB and I will have so many people going through what we are especially those who have been there, done it and got the toddler to prove it once (or even twice) before! Sounds like you like you all had fun the other night and no doubt I'll meet some of you in the future. Best wishes to all DC (aka The Chair) (aka Mr Bellenden Belle)

28. Moos likes this joke < I like this joke

Look deep inside yourself MamoraMan - embrace your old, gay Brazilian persona - and then go along anyway. You're still welcome at all of these events regardless.

Yes you can - you'll be fine.

I think we've just upgraded to IE8 after a LONG time with IE6. Might be something to do with that. Sue - what browser are you running?

Might be time to give it up LadyM. They are quite cheap to get second hand in good condition.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My view on that is there is a balance. It's > noticeable how many charities are up in arms about > government cuts. Why is the government funding > charities? The government should fund *services*. > Charities - funded by charitable donations - > should provide a different set of services. > > The money I give to charities fund things I think > need and want to be funded. My taxes should > provide government services to the country. They > are not the same thing. It annoys me that the > government fund certain charities (the Fawcett > Society and other professional lobby groups being > top of the list) and I would rather have more > control over where my money goes in that regard. > > I could also argue that government doing it this > way lowers the charities efforts in fund raising > and, ergo, awareness raising. And, through that, > the amount people actually give to charity. And > therefore the total amount of money put to both > sets of services. Sort of a funding death spiral. Loz - what do you think charities are doing with govt money? Sitting on it? Throwing it at each other? They ARE providing services and have been doing so for years. And at a much cheaper rate than local authorities or the private sector. When govt withdraws funding and then still expects the "big society" to exist with charities providing the services but only through volunteers they are either ignorant or naive.

Frankito - think of an egg as a chicken's period. It arrives regardless of whether a cock is around.

As it happens, yes. I run IE at work (compared to Firefox at home) and there I have the same issue as Sue. What I actually have to do click search and then whilst it looks like it is still running the search click on the hyperlink entitled "Click here to return to the search page" or somesuch. That then brings up the list of results. More of a small irritation than anything but if you get a chance to take a look.

Stay away from St Austell. Like East Berlin in the 1980s.

Also, are they not angry that politicians have chosen that as a spending cut whilst retaining, ooh say, a replacement for Trident? I mean, they won't be because the level of discussion amongst those stealing trainers over the future of an independent nuclear deterrent was, at a guess, negligible. But you get my drift. It's about choices not absolutes. And a careers advisory service doesn't seem like a pillowy luxury to me. It would seem eminently sensible in an ultra competitive jobs market.

Huguenot - are you genuinely making the argument that the riots were caused by an over-inflated sense of self? Or the crushing realisation that you're worth very little?

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,528011,528512#msg-528512

Godwin! You're outta here.....

Christ, if these jack booted EU-stormtroopers (or whatever the fuck you're prattling about) shut you up it'd be bloody worth it.

Zzzzzz. 1/10. Fail.

I don't think you can "invent" language. Unless you mean Esperanto. Otherwise, the origins of Jamaican patois are likely to have come from Or perhaps this paper by NYU might be more illuminating: