Experimental Cookery 2021: Smoky Prawns Cooked in Foil

For Father's Day, and in preparation for the Birthday BBQ, I received a copy of Tom Kerridge's "Outdoor Cooking". This is the first meal I've cooked from it. It amounts to some prawns in a sauce, sealed in a foil packet and left to cook on the BBQ.

In terms of preparation, this meal was quick and easy - build the package and add the prawns, melt together all the parts of the sauce, add the sauce to the prawns, and then cook on the BBQ.

Unfortunately, something then went somewhat wrong - after the appointed time I opened the packet only to discover that the prawns weren't fully cooked. Still, that was easy solved by the application of a few minutes in a frying pan.

Once done, the result was excellent. In the end we had way too much food for the BBQ as a whole, which meant that there were a significant number of prawns left (which was a shame), but everyone who tried them really enjoyed them. They were a good addition to what turned out to be an excellent BBQ (more on that later).

LC and I will definitely be having this again. However, I intend to do far fewer prawns in future, and consequently with less sauce. I'll also use a larger packet, so it can lie flatter on the BBQ, and probably for longer next time. Hopefully that will all lead to more effective cooking - though, ultimately it was an easy fix, so I'm not too concerned.

I'm calling that a win.

Devastated

On Friday I received some really bad news. I had, honestly, been expecting it since September, and had a pretty good idea of how it was all going to play out. But, somehow, knowing this and having time to prepare didn't make it any easier to bear - indeed, it made it harder.

The upshot is that two years of extremely hard work has been made to count for nothing, and there is not a damn thing I can do about it - even if I could change the circumstance that brought this about (which I can't), the damage has now been done and can't be undone.

Friday was a good day. Until it became a really, really bad one.

Triumph and Disaster

Well, that's it. Scotland are out of the Euros, having lost twice and drawn once. Who knows when we'll next make it to the party?

I have no complaints about the exit - we were just beaten by the better team. And while we started the game reasonably well, the stuffing was really knocked out of us by the goal. Bluntly, though, our problem was up front. If you can't score, you're just not going to get anywhere, and we just didn't take anything like enough of our chances.

(Plus, of course, the truth is that it was the game against the Czech Republic that did for us. That was the team we might have had a chance to beat, especially if we had played then as we did against England and at the start against Croatia. Losing that one meant we were really up against it. Oh well.)

One thing that is odd is the reaction to the various results.

It is fair to say that we over-reacted to the draw against England. Yes, it was a good performance, and it was an unexpectedly good result against a much better team, and it kept us alive in the tournament when we could have been out already. And, yes, there was a certain amount of defiance in the face of a punditry that had arrogantly written us off completely. But it was also a 0-0 draw, not really something to get carried away with.

At the same time, the abject despair after the Czech result and, to a lesser extent, the Croatia result were also over the top. Yes, they were losses, yes there were goals that we really shouldn't have lost, and yes we should have actually taken the chances we did have. But it's also worth noting that we weren't actually expected to win either of those matches - both were against higher ranked teams. And, yes, we were lucky to be at the tournament at all.

So that's that. There are some reasons for hope for the future, but in the present there is also reason to be disappointed. Good luck to Wales and England in their next round matches.

#28: "The Diviners", by Margaret Laurence (a book from The List - thirteen to go)

The First Hurdle Cleared

Now that we have been moved to Covid Level 1, it is just barely possible for us to host a family gathering - we're allowed twelve adults outdoors, which means the birthday barbecue is basically ideal. Weather and delta variant permitting, we'll be able to gather for the first time since August. Which is rather nice.

That said, the journey has already been something of an adventure. It started with the meal planning - as I've mentioned before I like the notion of having a small number of foundation items along with a few elaborations, but with it being so long I thought I might go for something a little more involved this time... and I have some very interesting things to debut.

But this past weekend we hit a major hurdle. Our gas canister was nearing its end, and finally reached the end on Friday. This is actually a good thing, as we were in that awkward twilight area where there was some gas but not enough - leaving a judgment call over whether to replace it, get a second canister, or gamble. Better to be sure.

So on Saturday we went to B&Q to get a refill... and only then discovered that there is a major shortage at the moment! Disaster.

That of course prompted a lot of phoning around to try to find stock, as well as looking at other options, including but not limited to replacing the whole BBQ with a charcoal one, hiring in a BBQ and/or gas supply, or just getting takeaway instead.

But, luckily, there's no need - I've been able to find a stockist with actual, well, stock. And so we're now back on track... weather and delta variant permitting.

Surprise!'s Lack of Surprise

Yesterday we celebrated the baptism of Surprise!, which was a very different experience than Funsize's equivalent event - this was the first time we were back in the church building in more than a year, it was a much smaller event (both in the church and the family gathering afterwards), and we're all that much older and tireder than we were then. For all that, it was a lovely event.

The service was, in form at least, pretty much the same as for Funsize. However, where we had several people at the front, this time it was just LC and myself, plus Funsize and Surprise!. When the time came, LC held Surprise! forward, and the minister applied the water, rather than taking the child as would normally be the case.

One of the more surprising elements of the event was Surprise!'s reaction to the whole thing, or rather his complete lack of one - he just happily lay there are the water was applied, as though it was any other day.

After the event we returned home, where it was possible to host a small family gathering - one of the benefits of having a garden in which to host these things. It was a relatively small affair, but nice for all that. It was also the first time we've had any sort of gathering involving both sides of the family for more than a year. Another very welcome sign of things returning slowly towards normal.

Hopes For Our Son

Unlike with Funsize, we weren't asked for any words about our hopes for our son. That's probably just as well, as I'm running short of suitably subtle Pratchett/Tolkien/Babylon 5 references to use.

That said, the truth is that I hope for my son pretty much what every parent hopes for their child: happiness, health, good friends, and self-worth. Everything around that is just about arranging words.

So: I hope he grows up to he happy and healthy. I hope he finds himself surrounded by good friends. I know he will have a loving and supportive family, both immediate and wider.

And, most important of all, I hope he always knows just how loved and treasured he is. Just like his sister.

I Was Wrong

My previous post turned out to be in error. There is one combination of events that would represent an even more Scottish way to be eliminated, though it's massively unlikely...

As a consequence of yesterday's fixtures, the table is pretty open: the Czech Republic and England have both qualified, with four points each, and Croatia and Scotland are each on one point, with those two pairs still to play one another. Additionally, Scotland has the worse goal difference. So when Scotland play Croatia:

• If we lose, we're out. However, Croatia will almost certainly go through.
• If we draw, we're also out. Croatia will almost certainly also be eliminated - they'll be third in the group, but probably not one of the best third-placed teams.
• If we win, we're almost certainly through.

However, there is a permutation where we can actually go through as the second-placed team in the group, but only if the other result falls out just right:

• If England and the Czech Republic draw, they'll both be on five points. Regardless of how we do, Scotland could only manage third at best.
• If England win, they'll top the group on seven points, the Czech Republic will be on four points. And if Scotland also win, and thus get to four points, due to the head-to-head we would therefore be third. (I think, but am not 100% sure, that it is the head-to-head, not goal difference that would determine this.)
• However, if the Czech Republic win, they would top the group on seven points, and England would be on four points. If Scotland also won, we would be on four points, and of course the head-to-head was a draw. So we'd go to goal difference, and then to goals scored.

What that means is that, in the unlikely event that Scotland beat Croatia, and the very unlikely event that the Czech Republic beat England, and if the scores are big enough, it's just barely possible that we could get to second place.

Which means there is a new most-Scottish way to go out:

1. Scotland score early to lead their game 1-0.
2. England suffer an utterly disastrous collapse, and somehow contrive to lose their game 3-0.
3. With minutes to go, all of Scotland is gripped by the impossible fever of knowing that this time we're going to do it, and in fact we'll even make second place!
4. And then Croatia score the equaliser at the death, and in an instant we go from "second" to being out!

But, more likely, we'll revert to form and come ever so close but never quite manage to score.

The Most Scottish Way to Go Out

I think I'd best post this before today's matches go ahead. I think I have found the sequence of results that would be the most Scottish way of being eliminated from Euro 2020:

1. Scotland will play well tonight, but suffer a narrow defeat - 2-1 or something like that. The kind of result that everyone accepts as being just, and the kind of performance to give hope.
2. More importantly, Croatia have a nightmare against the Czech Republic. This results in them failing to win the match and, more importantly, give us hope that we can actually win.
3. This should mean that the winner of our final group would go through as one of the best four third-placed teams, but a draw would eliminate both.
4. Scotland then score early in that final match, and defend manfully for the remainder of the game. Until...
5. With practically the last kick of the ball, Croatia score an equaliser and eliminate us both. Disaster!

All of which isn't without precedent: that's almost exactly how the women's team were eliminated last time...

A Major Milestone

I've noticed this morning that my previous post, about the "Game of Thrones" rewatch, was actually the 2,000th post on the blog. It's funny how that milestone just crept up on me, but it's good that it's not going completely unmarked.

Game of Thrones rewatch

I have been working my way through "Game of Thrones" for the past several weeks, at roughly a rate of an episode a day. I'm now halfway through the fifth season. Some thoughts:

• I tend to split the series into three parts: seasons 1-4 adapt the first three books and are generally excellent, albeit not as good as the books. Season 5 adapts books four and five, and adds some new material (notably involving Dorne, but also sending Sansa to marry Ramsay Bolton). For the most part, this season is good, not as good as 1-4, but better than the (fairly poor) books. That said, the new material is notably poor. Seasons 6-8, of course, move beyond the books, and race towards the end. There is a very noticeable drop in quality.
• Varys' storyline makes no sense. He's apparently working "for the good of the Realm", but he's supporting a Targaryan restoration, when the last Targeryan was "the mad king" and the initial heir is Viserys who really is no better. And then, when Daenerys emerges and makes for a fairly good candidate, he promptly jumps ship to support Jon Snow who (a) doesn't want the jobs, (b) isn't in a position to claim it, and (c) is a poor choice anyway.
• Sansa's storyline in season 5 likewise makes no sense. It's entirely out of character for Littlefinger to sell her off to someone about whom he knows so little.
• The Dorne storyline just sucks. No more really needs to be said about it.
• That said, I remain of the opinion that season 5 remains a step above the novels, which sadly drop horribly in quality after the first three. I'm increasingly inclined to recommend that people read those and then consider them to represent the start of the greatest unfinished fantasy epic ever. I'm somewhat doubtful about whether the series will ever see an end, and even more doubtful about the eventual quality of any end that does emerge.
• I think this is the fourth time I've watched the first few seasons (once on Sky, once when I first go the blu-rays, once with LC, and now), and only the second time for the later ones. That's not terrible, given the relative quality of the series.
• I really hate these blu-rays. Not only did I have difficulties with some data they had stored on the PS3, which meant they didn't want to play properly again, but each disc has several minutes of unskippable nonsense that insists on running every time you load it. When I want to sit down to watch an episode, every extra second I have to wait before hitting the starting credits is an imposition, and these disks have too many. But then, the days of physical media are essentially done, so I guess it matters very little really.

I may well have some more thoughts when I get to the end. We'll see.

Freedom D(el)ay

So, Boris is set to delay "Freedom Day" by another four weeks. Frankly, that's a good thing - we're getting there, but the fact is that the group most likely to go out and mingle are also the group who are still unvaccinated. Far better to wait a few more weeks, vaccinate that last group, and then call it done. It's a frustrating delay, but it's the right thing to do.

That said, the reasons this delay is needed are frankly inexcusable. There are three very obvious lessons from the last year that our government have singularly failed to learn:

1. We live on an island. (That is, GB specifically. Different considerations apply to Northern Ireland, not to mention the other islands that make up the UK.) That means that we have control of our borders that other countries don't enjoy. For goodness sake, close the borders early!
2. If you think you might need to tighten restrictions, or delay relaxing them, you absolutely should have done so several days ago.
3. Every day you delay in taking the necessary steps makes the inevitable pain worse - in terms of lives lost, in terms of the economy, in terms of people's mental health, and in every other way. Get on with it!

And so, once again, we get to a point where it's obvious a delay is needed, we've all known it was coming for about a week, and still the government dithers. And this after the government dithered over adding India to the red list.

I really wish I believed that there would be a reckoning for this. Our government are manifestly incompetent; it would be nice to think they would be replaced in short order.

Euro 2020

So, today marks the start of Scotland's campaign at Euro 2020, our first major tournament (in the men's game) for decades. And today's game represents our best chance of racking up some points... with even one win likely being enough to qualify from the group. This is, already, the big one! (Though the game against England is also "the big one", albeit for very different reasons.)

Honestly, though, I'm not too bothered. We've already over-achieved just by getting to the tournament, so provided we don't suffer any outright humiliations I'm actually happy regardless of the results. Getting out of the group would represent our greatest result ever, and the odds of getting any further than that are minimal anyway, even if the impossible were to happen. So...

Meanwhile...

I've only "seen" two of the matches thus far. Obviously, I was quite glad to see Wales gain a draw in their first match, and wish them well.

As regards England, I thought they gave a perfectly creditable performance - they did what they needed to do, they got themselves a win, and there weren't any glaring weaknesses that I could see. It wasn't a steamroller, but that's fine.

In the past, I've felt that it's been obvious right from the first game that England weren't going to win the thing. Usually, they do okay, win the group by virtue of being by far the biggest team there, progress a few rounds, and then meet a really good team (usually by the quarter-finals; definitely by the semis), and then go out.

I didn't get that feeling this time. I thought that this was a team that, you know, was actually in with a shot. That said, I also didn't get the feeling that this was an invincible team. My gut feeling is that several teams will likely think they're in with a shout of winning this thing, and England are one of them. Which is fair enough.

Scotland, of course, aren't one of the teams with a realistic belief we could win it. But that's fine. I'm jus glad to be there.

#26: "Children of Húrin", by J.R.R. Tolkien

#27: "Sharpe's Fortress", by Bernard Cornwell