Experimental Cookery 2025: Slow Cooker Vegan Chilli

We're having a pot-luck lunch at work, and I have decided that my offering is going to be a vegetarian chilli. So I've had a look around, and found a method on the internet. Today was the test drive.

As might be expected from a slow cooker recipe, this one was quick and easy - chop things up, put them in the cooker, stir to mix, and then wait a very long time.

We had the resultant chilli with a mix of baked potatoes and rice, some pickled jalapeños, guacamole, and (non-vegan) sour cream and cheese. Oh, and some Doritos. It was something of a feast!

The verdict: yeah, that was good. The jalapeños definitely helped - it was perhaps slightly lacking in a kick without... but then, tastes vary on that one, so providing the option is the way to go. But it was hot, filling, and flavourful - all the things you want from a meal. And it's ideal for the purpose I need it for in a few weeks.

We'll definitely have this one again, though it's unlikely to entirely replace our regular (non-vegan) chilli recipe!

Officially Underway

This morning I purchased the first of my Christmas presents for the year. So I'm now officially underway!

Obviously, the hope is to get all the presents bought by the end of the first week in December, get them all in hand by mid-December (earlier would be good, but isn't actually possible), and get them all wrapped by the end of the 18th of December. We'll see how that goes - at the moment I don't even know all the people that I'm buying for, which rather hampers my ability to select a gift.

(I say "obviously", but of course it's not obvious at all. Those deadlines are entirely arbitrary. But as part of my "stress-free" Christmas, I like to get ahead on those things that are amenable to getting ahead on, and buying presents definitely falls into that category.)

You may note that I've discarded my previous stance that I don't start on Christmas until December. That's a consequence of having children - in the past I was in the habit of taking a day off work early in December to get everything organised, and indeed I had time at other times to actually do things. These days, I absolutely can't use one of my days off for this purpose (I just don't have any to spare), and my available time for anything is sorely limited. Which means that things just take longer. So now my rule is that I start Christmas after we get past the Armistice, giving a few weeks to get things done, with the hope of concluding the present buying at the same time as previously.

To Stop, or to Do It Forever?

It is now eight years since we moved into our current home. As is basically standard practice, at the point that we moved we forwarded our mail, and made sure that "everyone" was aware of our new contact details. The previous owners of our current house did likewise. Those redirections have, of course, long since expired.

Shortly after one of those redirections expired, we started receiving a small number of letter addressed to the previous owners. So we reached out, got a forwarding address, and sent them on. All of which is to the good, except that about once a year we still receive a letter (and only one) addressed to the previous owner. I'm almost certain, but not entirely so, that it's junk mail.

So I find myself at a quandary.

On the one hand, it basically costs nothing just to keep readdressing the letter and chucking it back in the mail - there's a post box close enough to being "on the way" that it's just the cost of a little ink and a few steps.

On the other hand, eight years is probably long enough that if they'd wanted this company to know their new address they would have let them know.

I'm also struck by the reality that either we have to stop forwarding these letters at some point, or we have to commit to doing so effectively forever. And, of course, if they ever move again, I'd just be creating another new problem for another set of new owners...

So... yeah, I think I'm done. I forwarded this week's letter, and I'll continue to forward anything that looks like it isn't from a business (on the off chance that a long-lost friend tries to get back in touch), but for anything that looks like it's just spam I'm now going to introduce it to the shredder.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Lovely Home-made Gravy

We've just had a fairly indifferent dinner - venison sausages, mashed potato, and gravy (plus peas and sweetcorn for me). The sausages were nice, the mash was okay but a bit bland (could have done with boiling the potatoes for another minute or two, and perhaps adding some mustard to give it a kick - but we didn't have any), and the peas and sweetcorn were as you would expect.

The method for the gravy came from the Hairy Bikers "Perfect Pies" book, which advocated slicing and frying an onion, adding some wine and some flour, some stock, boiling it down and straining. Nothing much to it, really.

I think that what went wrong was two-fold: too much flour, and boiling down a little too long. The outcome, therefore, was a really thick gravy that tasted fine but looked fairly unappealing - not really what I was aiming for.

I actually have loads of different methods for gravy scattered among my many books, most of which go unnoticed (since I don't generally care for gravy, we only ever have it fairly seldom, and when we do I tend to just bust out the granules as a lazy solution). But it's something that it's good to have in the back pocket, if only for special occasions. So I'll be making gravy again... just not necessarily this one. Though I should perhaps note, if it wasn't obvious, that the weaknesses of this meal were more down to my preparation of the components rather than anything in the books.

Should Have Seen That Coming. I Didn't. But I Should Have.

Our microwave died on us last night - at first glance it seems to work, but it doesn't actually heat anything. And given that that is the main, nay the only, purpose of a microwave, it's somewhat less than ideal.

I think this is my fourth microwave - there was the initial one bought when I first moved out, a replacement purchased some time in 2011, a replacement product for when that one failed almost immediately, and now the current machine. I don't have a specific record of buying this one (because I don't track everything), but I'm reasonably sure we must have had a new one some time since 2011, and I'm equally sure that this is the one we brought with us from the old flat. So it was at least eight years old, which is decent service.

The upshot is that I should probably have expected it to be on its way out, but alas I did not - I was blissfully unaware that my trusty appliance was just about done for.

I'm now in the process of trying to find a new microwave, and am finding myself somewhat stymied. My assertion last night was that "microwaves are all pretty much of a muchness", which is pretty much accurate. The problem with that is that when you ask Google to recommend the best microwave, every site therefore gives a completely different set of results. Similarly, the reviews of every microwave seem to be the same - loads of people saying it's great, some giving a more nuanced view, and then one or two saying it's a load of rubbish.

All of which isn't terribly helpful. I guess the reality is that it doesn't matter much: just pick one and be happy with it.

Celtic's Management Woes 2025

Funnily enough, I almost wrote a post by this name yesterday. It would have been a very different post!

Had I posted yesterday, I would have noted that Hearts are in a really strong position, and Celtic a surprisingly poor one, but that Celtic still had the best squad in the league, the best manager in the league, and sufficient money that, if they had to, they could go buy a whole new squad in January. I therefore expected (and expect) them to go on a very long unbeaten run in the latter parts of the season. The destination of the league will therefore, I think, be determined by just how much of a lead Hearts can build before Celtic get their act together.

(I would also have noted that it's a really good thing to have a serious challenge in place again, and also that it would be really good if Hearts did manage it - it's really not healthy to have one, or at most two, clubs winning everything all the time.)

Of course, Brendan Rodgers then resigned last night, which was followed by two rather acrimonious statements being issued by Celtic.

So, what now?

Well, the first thing that strikes me as really interesting is the contrast between how Celtic are doing and the way Rangers did - Rangers were the ones who removed their manager, and they did so right before an international break. They thus had control over the timing, and gave themselves the best possible opportunity to find a new manager. They then engaged in farce for several weeks, left poor Steven Smith to manage the club in a game in between, before finally settling on what seems to be a decent appointment (although with rather too many near-misses).

By contrast, when Brendan Rodgers walked away, Celtic immediately put in place a temporary team of impeccable credentials - Martin O'Neill probably wouldn't be in the frame even if he were interested, but as a safe pair of hands he is second to none. This gives them as much time as they need to take to get exactly the right person in position - as long as it's done reasonably quickly, and certainly before the transfer window opens, they'll be just fine.

As for who "the right person" is, I wouldn't care to speculate. I suspect they may well go for the obvious option, and bring back Ange, but my gut feeling is that that would be a mistake. But we'll see. In the meantime, my biggest question is whether Hearts can take advantage of this to widen the lead further - will someone do them a favour or two?

Day 300: Update on Goals

The penultimate update on goals for the year:

• Books: By day 300 I should have completed 24.66 books. I'm now far enough ahead of target that I'm reasonable confident that this goal will complete successfully - indeed, I've started giving some thought to which books I would want as any "extras" for the year.
• Weight: There has been a very small loss since the previous update, but not enough - this goal will show some progress but will not be successful.
• Church Website: There has still been no update made.
• Career: Done!
• Redecoration: Done!
• Blogging:  If I had set my usual goal for this year, I would expect to have posted 98 times by now.  As with the "books" goal, I'm now reasonably confident that this will be successful over the course of the year.
• Home Automation: The item I had been waiting to purchase was reduced very significantly for Amazon's "Big Deal Days". However, about a day before those started we saw an Amazon advert that prompted LC to declare that I should not buy said item. I therefore respected that, and as a consequence this goal has been abandoned On the one hand, that was somewhat unfortunate, not least since I had basically waited the whole year for that very moment, but on the other I can readily see where LC was coming from.

So that's two goals completed, two that are sufficiently advanced that I'm confident of completion, and one that has now been abandoned. Of the two that remain, one is something that I might be get to something approximating "done", while the other won't succeed (but where any progress is better than none).

I've also started giving some thought to goals for next year - two of the goals will clearly carry over, as will a third if it doesn't reach "done". I'm inclined not to set a formal "blogging" goal, though will continue to track it in the same way as last year. The others will be dropped for one reason or another. But that then seems a little light.

#25: "Defiant", by Brandon Sanderson