Day 300 Update on... Stuff

The penultimate update for the year...

The last few weeks have been absolutely brutal - work has been crazy, we've all suffered a bout of illness (a cold that just won't clear), and too many other things. Basically, it has just sucked.

• Books: By Day 300 I should expect to have completed 49.315 books. I've finished 46 and am well advanced in two others, so I'm a little more than two books behind. I don't hold out much hope of getting caught up for the ear, but I do expect to complete my allocation on the three sublists that I consider most important, so I'm not too disheartened by that.
• Weight: There has been some progress here, but it amounts to repeating what I did earlier in the year. This is getting tedious.
• Blogging: By this point I would have hoped to have posted around 99 times here and 49 or so over on the Imaginarium. The actual totals are 83 and 28, so I'm miles behind, with no prospect of getting caught up - indeed, I think it's more likely that I'll fall further behind than that I'll catch up at all.
• Redecorating the Spare Room: Done. Additionally, last week I refreshed the paint in the living room, which is both an improvement in general, and also brings it into line with the dining room and, not incidentally, with the various bits of patching that LC had done over the past couple of years (and, indeed, that were the motivation for doing this now).
• Tadpole #2: Done.

And that's that. This remains a poor showing, but it's in line with the rest of the year.

Experimental Cookery 2021: Lentil Bolognese

Meh (again).

This one came from the box in which some chopped tomatoes were packaged, so it's probably not fair to raise the expectations too high. In any case, the meal was quick and easy to put together, with the bulk of the time taken up with simmering.

And it was okay. Not great, or particularly interesting, but it was at least okay. Once we've finished off the three remaining servings I doubt we'll have it again, but I don't particularly resent the time spent making it.

And that's about that, really.

#45: "The Summer Tree", by Guy Gavriel Kay (a book from The List - nine to go)
#46: "Troubled Blood", by Robert Galbraith

Experimental Cookery 2021: Meatball and Pasta Traybake

Meh.

This one came from the Hairy Bikers' "One Pot Wonders". It was quick and easy to put together, and... it was fine. But no more than that - while it was utterly inoffensive I'm afraid there also wasn't anything at all to recommend it.

We won't be having this again. It just didn't inspire.

Who would have thought Jamie Oliver would win the pasta bake contest?

#43: "Firefly: Generations", by Tim Lebbon
#44: "Broken Homes", by Ben Aaronovitch

Backsliding

September was going to be the month when I caught up on things - get the post count on the blog back to where I would like it, get caught up on reading, get everything else motoring. It didn't work out so well.

The fundamental problem is that I'm just too busy - work is in an extremely busy phase (which doesn't look to be ending soon), while the rest of my time is soaked up with family matters. There just isn't time to read or blog.

So it looks like I'll end the month further back on the blog, and if I'm really lucky at the same place on the reading. And don't expect October to be much different.

Practice Resumes

My band finally had our first face-to-face practice back last week, after around eighteen months away. I was pleasantly surprised on two counts: there were twice as many people present as I'd expected (all pipers, though), and it seemed the band hadn't lost just as much over the time away as I had feared. An uncharitable person would note that we didn't have a great standard to slip away from, and relative to even the weakest competing bands there's a lot of truth in that, but then there's a good reason why I'm no longer with a competing band - and the lack of stress and pressure is a huge part of that.

Hopefully, this now marks a permanent return to practices. Also, over the next few weeks we'll hopefully be able to get the bagpipes themselves going (rather than just practice chanters), and we may even start taking on some actually performances - of which the Christmas lights switch-on will be the first.

The Obsession

My birthday BBQ is now firmly established as a tradition, albeit one that doesn't manage to happen every year (the BBQ that is!). In aid of that, for my birthday this year I received an actual book on BBQ cooking, and then a few weeks later I picked up a second. hat second book is an interesting one - it's very much a textbook on the subject and is extremely thorough.

As a consequence of that, I proceeded to spend several weeks gaining an appreciation of just why it is so many people become obsessed with BBQ in all of its forms, as I found myself examining all aspects of BBQ kit, deciding on the four (!) BBQs I wanted to get, all manner of new toys, and so on and so forth.

Fortunately, the upshot is that I have purchased none of these things. There are one or two items I may buy over time, but those are pretty minor, and in the long term I may come to replace our BBQ with another should it eventually wear out. And, finally, I might invest in a portable one, but only if we reach a point where such a thing would be justified - which is very much not the case right now.

In the meantime, we've had a few BBQs, but relatively few this year compared to years past (though, of course, one turned out to be on a rather eventful day!). We're now getting to the end of the season - I'm on the lookout to see if there is one more suitable day for it, but either way I'll be packing it up for the winter come the start of October.

#42: "Rebel", by Bernard Cornwell

Experimental Cookery 2021: Chicken Panzanella

This one doesn't really deserve a post, given just how simple it was, but for completeness if nothing else...

This one came from the Tesco magazine. It was very quick and simple, and came out nicely. There were a couple of cookery stages, one for the chicken and then one for the bread, but it was mostly about assembly of a warm salad.

We concluded that there were several tweaks we would make to this if we had it again - we'd probably use leftover roast chicken (if we had such a thing), less onion, and a little less vinegar. But there were no major changes we would insist on making.

#41: "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", from Wizards of the Coast

Day 254: Update on... Stuff

I was away this week, and so was not able to post my update (and didn't have time to compose it before I went). So, here it is...

The last few weeks have been much more normal than the rest of the year, which is good. Though, oddly, they have also featured the disruption of two lots of packing for holidays, and also a bout of illness for Funsize and then Surprise!. Fortunately, it was just a cold, though still fairly horrible for them. Funsize is now fully recovered, thankfully, with Surprise! now very much on the mend.

• Books: By Day 254 I should expect to have completed 41.753 books. I've finished 40 and am halfway through one other, so I'm fairly far behind. I'm now doubting whether I'll hit the planned 60 for the year, though I do expect to complete the 12 from The List. So not all bad.
• Weight: This is in a pretty bad way - the two holidays have caused me to gain weight, and so there's a definite need for a pretty serious bout of dieting. Watch this space.
• Blogging: By this point I would have hoped to have posted around 83 times here and 42 or so over on the Imaginarium. I'm way behind on both blogs, and unlikely to hit my targets on either. A shame.
• Redecorating the Spare Room: Done.
• Tadpole #2: Done.

And that's that. Two complete, two behind and unlikely to complete, and one going in the wrong direction. It's lucky I didn't set any formal goals for the year, because this is a pretty poor showing.

#38: "Warlord", by Bernard Cornwell (a great end to a great series)
#39: "The Notebook", by Nicholas Sparks (a book from The List - ten to go)
#40: "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", by Suzanne Collins

Experimental Cookery 2021: Greek Salad

Paired with the chicken in the previous post, I put together a Greek salad, also from "Outdoor Cooking". This was slightly different from the ones I've prepared before, which come from "Jamie's Fifteen Minute Meals", though the principle is much the same.

It was quick and easy to prepare, of course - cut up some fruit and veg, dress them quickly, and add the cheese.

It was also very nice, and a great accompaniment to the chicken. This is a very good thing, as one issue with BBQs is that they tend to be extremely meat-heavy, and it's good to have some veg-based sides that are actually worth the eating.

I'm reasonably sure this has now become my method of choice for the Greek Salad - there is very little between it and Jamie's version in terms of effort, but this is a little nicer, I think.

Experimental Cookery 2021: Herby Lemon Chicken Thighs

Chicken is one of those things that I've never dared to cook on the BBQ - because of the need to make sure it is thoroughly cooked through, coupled with the tendency for the BBQ to burn the outside while leaving the inside raw, it's just not something I've risked. And yet, it's such a classic, and something I've quite fancied giving a go.

This Experimental Cookery comes from Tom Kerridge's "Outdoor Cooking", a book which is rapidly becoming a favourite. It's dead easy - create a quick marinade for the chicken, and then stick it on the grill for a while. I did make the mistake of using bone-in rather than boneless chicken, which meant a much longer cooking time, but that was fine.

Ironically, it's probably the safest thing I've ever cooked on th BBQ, on account of using an actual meat thermometer to determine when it was cooked. Which is probably just as well, as there was no physical difference between when I thought it was cooked and when it was actually cooked.

The end result was excellent - we thoroughly enjoyed it. That said, there was too much chicken for two of us, and it just wasn't as good for lunch the next day. But those are quibbles - we'll definitely have this again.

#36: "The Mists of Avalon", by Marion Zimmer Bradley (a book from The List - eleven to go)
#37: "The Massacre of Mankind", by Stephen Baxter

The Irregulars

This was a series that very much intrigued me when I first saw sight of it, but that LC and I have just gotten around to watching recently. In the meantime, the series was cancelled.

Some very quick thoughts:

• It's worth watching, in my opinion, though I can see why others may feel otherwise. Also, it's worth noting that the first episode takes a ridiculously long time to get going - that by itself may be why it was cancelled.
• Don't look for anything remotely faithful to history, the Sherlock Holmes stories, or anythink like that. This is mostly "Beatrice the Vampire Slayer", set in Victorian times. There is one episode, and a few other flashbacks that show us Holmes and Watson doing their thing in happier times, and that's actually a highlight of the show, but it is not the point of the show.
• The show practices colourblind casting, which is mostly a good thing, with one exception. That exception is pretty jarring, but it is also minor enough to ignore.
• Perhaps more unfortunate is that this show indulges in my new least-favourite trope: the 21st century feminist transplanted to a historical setting. As noted, the whole environment isn't remotely faithful to history, so I'll give it a pass here, but there's another rant brewing.
• I can entirely understand why this was cancelled. Truth be told, we'd probably not bother with a second series even if they had produced one.

And that's more or less that. If a Victorian "Beatrice the Vampire Slayer" sounds attractive, give it a watch, and do try to gut it out through those first 25 minutes or so. But otherwise, give it a pass.

The Sharpe Cycle

For the past several years, Bernard Cornwell has been one of my favourite authors, and over that time I've read almost everything he has written (which is a lot). However, until last year I'd mostly stayed away from the Sharpe novels, as the few I'd read had felt rather too close to the TV series, which is good for TV but not so good for the books.

However, having run rather short of things to read, I decided that the time had come to read Sharpe, and so I did. And now I've finished the cycle, just in time for a new book in the series to be published.

It has been an interesting experience, largely because so many of the books are so close to the TV series, and the rest feel very much like they could have come from it. In terms of quality they're really good, though not quite uniformly so - at their best they can be exceptional, at worst they are reasonably enjoyable. I probably enjoyed the final book I read, "Sharpe's Prey", the most, and I didn't really care too much for "Sharpe's Fortress". I don't really know why that might be.

In terms of reading order, I started with "Sharpe's Rifles", the revised starting point of the series (written to tie in with the first episode of the TV series), then proceeded mostly in chronological order (skipping three books I had read some years ago). After getting to the end I skipped back to the five prequel novels Cornwell had written. I don't think I would recommend that order - in hindsight, "Sharpe's Tiger" is probably the place to start.

But I have no complaints. All in all, this was a great series, and stands as a nice companion piece to O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series - they're very different, of course, but deal with two branches of the armed forces in the same, or mostly the same, time frame.

The Paw Patrol Movie

Funsize has a reward jar, in which she collects stars. Having colleced 20 stars, she gets a special treat, and last week she completed her second 20. (In fairness, she should probably be much further advanced. The big problem with this system is that is depends on us remembering to give her stars.) Her special treat, therefore, was to go to see the "Paw Patrol" movie with me on Saturday.

Well... it's a really big toy commercial. The story is pretty basic, making sure to tick all the required boxes. (Humdinger causes problems, the Paw Patrol rush to the aid, one of them has a crisis of confidence but works through it, and they have a mega-happy ending. Also, there's a Kardashian.) But the main thing is that they all get a load of new gear, and there's a few new characters, and so of course there are going to be toys. And apparel, and endless other branded items.

It was all done well enough, I guess. I enjoyed it more than "The Rise of Skywalker", though that isn't saying a great deal. And Funsize loved it.

And that's pretty much that.

Backlog

I've been away for a while, and have been very busy for a while. But I've built up quie a backlog of topics, so hopefully now that I'm back I'll be able to get caught up. We'll see...

#34: "The Witcher: Tower of the Swallow", by Andrzej Sapkowski
#35: "Sharpe's Prey", by Bernard Cornwell

Experimental Cookery 2021: Satay Kebabs (Chicken)

One of LC's favourites from the takeaway is chicken satay, but unfortunately our experiences with this one have been rather hit and miss. Fortunately, though, I found this recipe in the "Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure", and so put it to good use.

This is a fairly quick and simple meal, with one small wrinkle in that the meat needs to be marinaded, preferably overnight. That means that it does require a little planning, though it means there are two simple preparations rather than just one. (The other big thing to recommend about this one is that the book gives several options - beef, pork, and prawns as well as chicken. Which is really great.)

My initial thought when cooking this was to use the BBQ for the chicken. In the event I decided against this, but in hindsight I was right first time. Cooking the chicken skewers on the griddle proved to be slightly more awkward than I had expected and hoped - it worked fine, but the BBQ would just have been better.

Preparing the sauce was simple - put everything in a pan and simmer for a bit.

The end result was great. Nice and tasty, with a good but not excessive amount of kick in both the chicken and the sauce.

All in all, this was a really great meal, and stands to become a new favourite - which actually makes two in the space of a week!

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

The latest "Masters of the Universe" series is an almost perfect example of the He-Man universe - like the old school show form the 80's it has a goodly number of genuinely good ideas, but it's then wrapped up in a whole load of nonsense and the sort of insipid storytelling we should really have come to expect by now. There's a reason "Animaniacs" chose to parody the show's Wheel of Morality...

It's bad, but it's also interesting enough that I'm happy I watched it, if only to rip it off for ideas.

(Incidentally, it's an almost perfect example of what any new D&D show should be.)

That's actually more or less all I have to say about the show, except perhaps to address the backlash from the old school fans.

As far as I can see, much of the backlash is driven by the fact that the show sidelines He-Man in favour of the female characters. Which is, of course, truly horrible - I mean, who could possibly imagine?

That said, there is one thing that the creators did do wrong in all of this: when the trailers dropped, sections of the fandom voiced their unease at what they thought was coming - that He-Man was being sidelined and that this was going to be the Teela show. At which point, the creators loudly and noisily denied this... only for the show to be released and for to indeed be the Teela show.

What the creators should have done is simply told it as it is - that He-Man is, frankly, not a particularly interesting character, that his story has been told to death, and that they wanted to work with other characters instead. And, yes, that that meant bringing Teela to the fore. Just don't lie to the fans, especially when those lies are inevitably going to be revealed.

But that's a minor quibble. And it's not actually as if telling it like it is would really have made all that much difference - let's face it, a very large part of the objection to this being the Teela show, or to the lead Jedi in the new Star Wars films being Rey, or to Rose Tico, or... is rooted in something pretty nasty, and something that really shouldn't be humoured.

(Even there, though, telling it like it is is the right thing to do - if there are toxic elements of fandom that are going to boycott the show because of sexism, it's probably better to say what needs said, and let them have their boycott - you're better off without them anyway.)

Experimental Cookery 2021: Barbecued Meatball and Mozzarella Sub

Tonight we tried our second meal from Tom Kerridge's "Outdoor Cooking", which was pretty much just his version of Subway's best item. On the face of it, there's nothing much to this - meatballs cooked in a tomato sauce and then dropped into a roll, wrapped, and then grilled.

But that is to do a disservice to what was a really great meal. Although there's nothing much to preparing meatballs, it is worth noting that tonight's meatballs were the best we've had - whenever we have them in future this will be my go-to set of ingredients. And the sauce was the perfect mix of rich and hot. Add the cheese and the bread, and it's just a winner.

We'll definitely have this again. But I do think I'll tweak it in a couple of ways - the main one being to try to get the bread more toasted and less soggy. That's probably just a matter of increasing the heat of the BBQ somehow. The only other change I would make is to the quantity - we had one and a half subs each, and that was probably a bit much. I think we'd probably be better with just one each, and possibly a salad or something on the side.

But those are quibbles. This was a really good meal from what is turning out to be a really good book. Recommended.

The Next Doctor

So Jodie Whittaker and, more importantly, Chris Chibnall are leaving "Doctor Who". I wish I was more disappointed by the news, but I'm afraid I'm not - Thirteen, like Six, has been let down really badly by the material and the sooner, and more thoroughly, we move on from this era the better. It's a shame that this means that the first female Doctor hasn't been handled well, but oh well.

The obvious question then turns to: who next?

And for that I have a fairly simple answer: it pretty much has to be Jo Martin. That's the best chance to undo the vandalism that has been done to the show in the last series - explain that the Master was wrong/lying/mad and that the entire story he was weaving is a big pile of mince. Instead, the "memories" Thirteen uncovered of Doctor Ruth were actually echoes of her future self... and then never mention it again.

It also really helps that Jo Martin has experience playing the role and has done well. It would mean shifting to a significantly different take on the character... but after the last few incarnations someone with a more sober demeanour might be refreshing.

That's what I think, anyway.

Lack of an Outlet

I have recently come to the realisation that one consequence of lockdown is that I have, by and large, stopped engaging with my hobbies - by the time I've finished work I tend to find I just can't be bothered with some of them, while others involve spending quite a bit of time sitting at a screen, which after a long day of working from home is the last thing that I want to do.

However, the upshot of that is that there generally hasn't been any great avenue for enjoyment - there's nothing to release the tension. And that's probably one of the reasons things have been such an ordeal of late. (Obviously, another key reason is a complete inability to get any meaningful rest, on account of a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old. And, at present, a heatwave that really isn't helping.)

That's definitely something that needs some consideration. Because while all the various things I'm dealing with are important (and I have an update to the church website to do that is badly overdue...), it is worth considering that there is a need sometimes just to switch off and relax for a bit. And hobbies are intended for exactly that purpose.

That said, it doesn't help that over the course of lockdown I have found that I don't really miss one of the two, and I've become significantly disenchanted with the other...

The BBQ of Many Meats

It's a few weeks old now, but I did manage to host my birthday BBQ this year - we were blessed with some good weather, and the local Covid restrictions had dropped to a sufficiently low level to make this possible. Unfortunately, shortly before the day we learned that one branch of the family couldn't make it due to self-isolation, which meant we weren't able to all get together as had been hoped. A shame.

The BBQ itself went really well. We massively over-catered, of course, but that's par for the course with these events. It was no big deal - the remains either got eaten up over the next couple of days (if cooked) or went in the freezer (if not).

But what marked this BBQ out from the others was that this was the BBQ of Many Meats... although in fairness, several of them ended up not being used.

Specifically, we had:

• Beef, in the form of burgers
• Pork, in the form of sausages
• Venison, in the form of sausages (not used)
• Goat, in the form of burgers (not used on the day - we've since had them, and concluded that while they were nice we probably wouldn't have them again, as they aren't nice enough to justify the extra cost)
• Lamb, in the form of burgers (used) and kebabs (not used)
• Sea bass (not used on the day - have since consumed)
• Prawns (see my Experimental Cookery post)
• Chicken, in the form of drumsticks
• Wild boar, in the form of sausages (these were great)

The most important thing from the BBQ, though, was that everyone had a really good time. I was obviously very happy about that, and it was really great to see (almost) everyone again - it has been far too long since that was last possible.