Oven to tableware

Following preparation yesterday evening, as noticed at reference 1, I tried grilling the acorns this morning. The book said oven and BH said use a dry frying pan, but I knew best.

With the results snapped above, despite sitting next to the grill, eating bread and cheese. The acorns went from a golden brown to black very quickly, and would probably have caught fire had they not been in BH's line of sight.

Being quite small, not enough left to eat, and what little we did manage to scrape out did not taste of much at all. The good thing was that there was no unpleasant smoke or smell hanging around the kitchen.

We will try again this evening with the second half of the acorns, perhaps using the frying pan. In the meantime, I wonder about the potential of acorn cooking oil. Presumably there is plenty of oil in acorns which could somehow be extracted. So what is the catch?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/10/breaking-news.html.

Breaking news

Back in the middle of August we had a go with green acorns, probably a little unripe and as reported at reference 1. Today we had a go with wet brown acorns, probably a little overripe.

Dorothy Hartley remained unenthusiastic about using them for anything except, just possibly, making dreadful coffee or feeding pigs. But the Woodland Trust was much more positive at reference 2. While reference 3 makes it clear - if you can stand all the advertisements - that lots of people, all over the world, eat them. Particularly, it seems, Koreans. After all of which there was a clear consensus from the small people present that Hartley should be put aside in favour of the Woodland Trust.

So the acorns were shelled, using the tried and tested method of a sharp tap at the pointed end with a brick. We have now had two goes at leaching out the tannin, using boiling water both times. After which the kernels were easy enough to clean - albeit a bit fiddly and messy. Maybe a third of them were spoiled with some form of black rot. The thin brown, fibrous skin covering the kernels was very like that you get on hazel nuts, while the texture of the kernels themselves was very like that of the sweet chestnut. 

The next step is to toast them under the grill, but I am slightly apprehensive about what they might do inside and in any event I left it too late. Maybe we will have a go for breakfast. Watch this space.

PS: no need to worry about gluten. Apparently, acorns don't do gluten, the down-side being that bread made from acorn flour is a bit odd.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/acorns.html.

Reference 2: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/09/are-acorns-edible-and-other-acorn-facts/.

Reference 3: https://honest-food.net/acorn-cake-and-acorns-around-the-world/.

Lyme Regis

A quick visit to Lyme Regis earlier in the month. Starting with a stroll from town to Cobb, where we found a mobile sauna. Many more pictures of same to be found at reference 1, but don't bother if you are hoping for nubile occupants.

Strolled back to the Royal Lion, now part of the Hall & Woodhouse empire, to be found at reference 2. Took a time out in our room, containing, inter alia, the tribute to old fashioned craftmanship snapped above. Wonderful what they could manage without proper levels. The only catch being that it was rather awkward working at the plinth mounted table while sitting on a floor mounted chair. I made alternative arrangements, made possible by the formidable intelligence of the modern (computer) mouse. I might say that the Internet service was a great improvement on that offered by previous management.

Then down to dinner, no longer in the grand Oak Room upstairs, rather in what had been the rather underused lounge to the right of the main entrance, now upgraded to a dining room. While the Oak Room is now reserved for breakfasts and functions and the pianist has been moved from a part-time to a zero-hours contract. We supposed that there must be another kitchen behind the downstairs bar, as otherwise it would be a long walk from the kitchen behind the Oak Room.

In any event, we had the services of two waitresses that knew their business, one somewhat older than the other. Always a pleasure to be served by people who can do it properly.

There was a difficulty with the wine in that it turned out that there was only one bottle of the wine we selected, snapped above, and the second bottle had to be something else, probably a Sierra Grande Sauvignon Blanc with a light elegant style with citrus and green fruits; friendly approachable wine from Chile. First bottle to be found at reference 3, the second not run to ground. Or perhaps I should say terroir. As it happened, I wondered this morning whether there are specialists out there who specialise in knocking out these websites for wine growers. People with a real knack for sourcing arty pictures of grape covered hillsides, tastefully decorated with wraiths of mist. Arty pictures of wholesome peasant families knocking up their wine in antique surroundings. All that sort of thing.

I took steak and chips. Not bad for the price and triggering an inconclusive discussion about the relative merits of once, twice and thrice cooked ships. I made two contributions. First, I like my chips to have the texture of potato, not of some powdered confection. Perhaps 'al dente' is the proper phrase. Second, my understanding was that canteens liked twice cooked chips because they could do the first long cooking of a big batch in the quiet hours of the morning, then do the short second cooking of a portion as when someone asked for them. Freshen them up a bit. Helped to bear down on the time from order to food on the table. 

In due course we retired to the bar on the other side of the divide. No Calvados and I may have settled for Monkey Shoulder. Good gear, of which, as it happens, I had my own bottle at home, finished off last night. Which meant that I looked at the bottle more carefully than usual, it turning out to be an expensively crafted production, a fitting analogue to the winery websites.

So a very thick bottomed bottle, giving it a distinctive, heavy feel when you handle it, when you pour from it. A fake old label with just slightly ragged edges. Said to come from Batch 27, suggestive of that batch being far superior to any other batch. Three brass monkeys embedded in the bottle above the label. Three more monkeys cut stencil-fashion out of the plastic topping to the cork stopper. I shall have to take the time to notice which of the presently popular brands put so much effort into their bottles.

The whisky appears to be a joint production between Grant & Sons and Global Brands Ltd. The former of these is to be found at reference 4, where they admit to Irish as well as Scotch whisky. But Bing turns up lots of global branding companies, some of them into alcoholic drinks, but none of them the right one. Perhaps another time.

At breakfast the following morning, for once in a while, I tried one of the oranges on offer. Better than I expected. And I was amused first by the little slip of greaseproof paper that lots of places insist on putting under things like beefburger and fried fish. Rather unsightly once they have soaked up all the grease. Second by the fact that Messrs. Hall & Woodhouse appeared to have sourced their plates from the very same place as Mr. Wetherspoon. Is the latter a silent partner in the former?

Sour dough toast perfectly acceptable, if not quite the same as real toast.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Royal Lion lives on. Hall & Woodhouse have freshened the place up and we shall, no doubt, be back again.

References

Reference 1: https://shorelinesauna.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.sileni.co.nz/.

Reference 4: https://www.williamgrant.com/.

Trolleys 538 and 539

Captured at the top of the Kokoro passage this morning. There being two stores and two sizes of trolley involved, I made two trips of it and score two. There was also the consideration that wheeling three trolleys on the open road is a bit of a business and I did not want to make an exhibition of myself to that extent.

Small trolley taken in through the front door of M&S and deposited at the stack by the back door, the one into the Ashley Centre.

Removed the litter from the two large trolleys - emptying the various fluids into nearby planters - one of the fluids turning into a curious array of small white lumps - hopefully non-toxic to invertebrates - finding on the way that the Waitrose trolley had been bashed slightly out of shape at some point in its life. Left it in the Waitrose stack, but apart from the others. Too idle to walk it around to the back - and anyway, the last time I did that, the Waitrose trolley man ruled it fit for service. Good enough for the punters in the immortal ruling of a McDonald's manager when a lump of plaster fell into the barrel of coffee out back. Presumably in the days before people didn't bang on as much about their coffee as they do now. M&S trolley fine.

Spot of shopping in Waitrose, then off to the Library to see what they knew about Brecht. The answer was that the drama section has been swallowed up by something called literature, where it has shrunk to near vanishing point. Lots of fiction but very little literature. Next stop the performing arts collection which used to be held in the Bourne Hall Library.

Home to inspect the avocado in its new home in the upstairs landing window - the thought there being that maybe avocados are not very frost tolerant. Leaves not as tropical and shiny as they were at the beginning, when they first emerged from the compost heap, but pleased to be able to report that the lead bud is on the move again after a period of dormancy.

And the water hawthorn, aka Aponogeton distachyos, last noticed at reference 2. Last seen, as it happens at the gardens at Abbotsbury, to be noticed in due course, rather than at Newbridge, near Ashburton, where we first came across it. Here coming back into autumn life, with one flower so far, as promised by Mr. Pondlife. We shall see whether it holds out against the leaves falling from the oak tree above. And against the silkweed below, which must have come in with it, so maybe that is not a problem.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/10/trolley-537.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/06/pond-life.html.

Group search key: trolleysk.

The long and short of it

It wasn't so incredibly clear to me, but there does seem to be a lot of long COVID about and it does seem to be a bad thing, best avoided. This prompted by speed reading reference 1, followed up with a peek at reference 2. With the result that I checked with the FT, to find that they are still producing their death graphic, the current version of which is reproduced above.

Reference 2, itself six months old, was a meta-analysis which pooled data from 18 studies, covering around 10,000 patients, which reported between January 2020 and August 2021. The story here seems to be that getting mild COVID as opposed to severe COVID does not mean that you will not get long COVID. That around a third of people who get COVID will go on to get long COVID. And lastly that 'fatigue, cognitive dysfunction (brain fog, memory issues, attention disorder) and sleep disturbances appear to be key features of post-COVID-19 syndrome. Psychiatric manifestations (sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression) are common and increase significantly in prevalence over time'.

Some methodological issues with meta-studies of this sort are addressed at references 3 and 4.

Another part of the story seems to be that now people are not dying in such large numbers - although deaths are still running at around 400 a day in the US - we have taken our eye off this ball and our governments have moved onto other matters.

So some people believe that we have become far too relaxed about all the COVID circulating in our communities. People who are perhaps closer to the Chinese position in these matters than to that of our former fat leader, very much a 'let it all rip' merchant.

I suppose that here at Epsom, we shall continue with our somewhat isolated, pensioner lifestyle. We will do some communal activities, will do some concerts and such like, but otherwise largely avoid busy places. Not so easy for people who still have to earn their living.

References

Reference 1: Long COVID Experts: So Incredibly Clear What's at Stake - Claire Sibonney, Medscape - 2022

Reference 2: Mid and long-term neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of post-COVID-19 syndrome: A meta-analysis - Lavienraj Premraj, Nivedha V Kannapadi, Jack Briggs, Stella M Seal, Denise Battaglini, Jonathon Fanning, Jacky Suen, Chiara Robba, John Fraser, Sung-Min Cho - 2022. An international effort, but maybe with John Hopkins in the lead.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_Reporting_Items_for_Systematic_Reviews_and_Meta-Analyses. PRISMA was used by the authors of reference 2 to guide their work.

Reference 4: Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement - David Moher, Alessandro Liberati, Jennifer Tetzlaff, Douglas G Altman - 2009. More on PRISMA.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/out-of-first-wood.html. My last thoughts on this subject.

Group search keys: FT, graphic.

Shaldon

One of our days in Devon was dedicated to Shaldon and Teignmouth, starting at the southern car park of the latter place, handy for the heritage ferry across to Shaldon. The 'P' above the word 'Ferry' in the snap above.

But we kicked off at Buckfast where, just before the entrance to the heritage part of the abbey, I came across this mill leat, or perhaps just a drain, not visible on either gmaps or Ordnance Survey, although the Survey no doubt have larger scale maps than they make available to me, on which it might well be visible. In any event, nothing like as picturesque as the heritage mill wheel, snapped at reference 1.

Got to our car park and headed down to the ferry, with one of the two available being in business. The talkative and interesting ferryman explained that both ferries were heritage items and both had been adapted for one man operation directly off the beach. All very cunning. The one we were in was clinker built, probably for the purpose, while the other one started out as a barge of steel construction, probably for some inland waterway purpose in the east of England. On his story, given the considerable cost of renovation and maintenance, he was in it more for the love of it than to make money.

[Turned up by Bing, maybe the very ones we saw. 'Racing gigs parked up near the Point, Teignmouth. Teams of six oars and a cox train and race in these handsome boats all year round ... ladies team training ... Here is their berth behind the back beach in an intricately shared space for boats, equipment, vehicles, sheds and snack shacks']

And while we are in boaty mode, there was also a small brown wood, clinker, gaff sloop, having a bit of trouble getting out against the tide with only a light wind to help it along. And there quite a few six oared racing gigs, one of which we saw at sea later in the day.

First stop at Shaldon was for rather expensive tea, coffee and cake. I was a bit taken aback by the bill of more than £30 for the four of us, but this perhaps reflected being unused to paying for four more than inflation. That said, what started as my piece of Dorset (or perhaps Devon) apple cake was inflated by the addition of a dollop of cream, some fruit & vegetables and some drizzles. I stuck to the cake and left the remainder to BH.

For our money, we also got a talkative, older gentleman, out with his long-suffering daughter. A survivor of all kinds of frightful illnesses and awash with anecdotes about all sorts of things.

After a while, I was moved to inspect the road outside, where I found these new to me drain covers. Clever, the way that they slot together. Don't recall seeing such before, but I dare say they are common enough: just need to take a bit of interest. Slotting which serves to deter the average punk from lifting them?

The second stop was the Botanic Gardens, dedicated to the memory of the inventor of Liqufruta and his wife, for which see references 2 and 3. Visible bottom centre in the map above as the thin strip of green marked out by the blue heritage rose marker. 

The view back across the Teign to Teignmouth from the Botanic Gardens. Telephone - in my hands at least - fails to deal with the bright light under the trees.

A stray echium, blown in from the Ventor Botanic Gardens on the far side of the Isle of Wight.

Not sure that I have noticed acorns on the Holm oak before.

An unknown small tree, trunk top left.

The western end of Mrs. Liqufruta's castellated summer house. A house she used, inter alia, for her bridge parties.

For some reason the drain covers in the lane at the back of the gardens carries the stamp of a Westminster builder. Shipped into the once thriving coastal port of Teignmouth from London? Or perhaps the Westminster builder just ordered them from somewhere up north, and never actually laid his eyes on them.

A public convenience, just outside the famous Shaldon tunnel, I dare say something to do with smuggling. Nothing new about stealing from the taxman - although I believe that in the 18th century penalties could be a little harsh by the soft - not to say decadent - standards of today. While the public convenience started life as something military during the second world war, more exactly an emergency engine room for a coastal battery, a battery sporting two 4.7 inch naval guns - large enough to do serious damage to anything trying to enter the Teign. A gun which was very successful at the end of the 19th century, being made (under license no doubt) and used all over the place. Completely obsolete by the end of the first world war according to Wikipedia. While according to reference 4, these two were made in Japan in 1917 and were mounted in Shaldon for the duration of the second world war.

A lime kiln, also just outside the tunnel, complete with resident tree, probably deceased. Seems an odd place to put such a thing.

The fish pond, on the way back down to ferry. I think the fish are real, while the ducks are plastic.

A house back in Teignmouth which has seen better days. Once twinned with the Tom Cribb of reference 5. From where we made our way to the Wetherspoon's, already noticed at reference 6 and detailed at reference 7. Converted from a 1970's supermarket. Before that, the site of a once prosperous printing and publishing business. Called 'Jolie Brize' for a famous, albeit French built, pilot cutter which, under English ownership, won lots of races. According to reference 8, she still exists, still sails and is owned by a Wiltshire public school. Which in the curious English system, means private school. Quite possibly a charity too. While our discussion was confined to what the name might mean. Feeling contrary - as driver, I had been denied proper refreshment - I insisted that 'briser' means break in French, nothing to do with breezes.

Possibly from her time under the Portuguese flag. Lifted from reference 8.

A type of low brick arch I remember from a Heavitree House in Fore Street, Exeter. Perhaps a west country thing.

The rising moon in the east. As I recall, it looked a lot bigger in real life than it does here. Who says the camera never lies?

Some debate about the visibility of Portland Bill, on the far side of Lyme Bay. I asserted that the shadow on the horizon said to be the Isle of Portland, was the wrong shape, with no slope down from left to right. A matter which remains unresolved.

Still feeling contrary, I declined to use headlights on the way home, asserting that dipped light was quite enough. Which is true enough on a main road, but I decided after quite a few miles of back roads that I was wrong - although not so wrong as to admit it. Maybe I shall quietly start using head lights on the next occasion.

PS 1: Ordnance Survey continue to annoy me with the very creaky entry point to their excellent maps, a sample of which is snapped above. Always seems to take longer to get into their maps than I spend with them. The map archive up in Scotland is both free and much easier to get into. But maybe not once they have cast off from the mother ship, to try their hand, once again, at paddling their own canoe. From where I associate to the Icelanders of the middle ages who gave up paddling their own canoe, that is to say running their own parliament rather badly, and invited the Norwegian king to come in and get a grip on things. 

PS 2: Littré suggests that the French have adopted the English word breeze, over the protests of the Académie Française. While Linguee suggests that 'fresh breeze' might be the sense of 'jolie brise'.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/10/heat-pumps.html.

Reference 2: https://liqufruta.com/.

Reference 3: https://liminoids.com/Liqufruta.pdf.

Reference 4: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/ai_full_r.cfm?refno=6515.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/marshgull.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/10/dining-out-west-part-one.html.

Reference 7: https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/england/devon/the-jolie-brise-teignmouth.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolie_Brise.

Newton Abbot

I had thought that Newton Abbot was little more than a town which grew up around an important 19th century railway junction, that is to say where the line to Torquay branches away to the east of the line which goes on to Plymouth and beyond. With both Torquay and Plymouth once being important destinations - not to mention Cornwall to the west. But both from our recent visit and from reference 1, I learn that it was rather more than that. In particular, a substantial market and wool trade town, long before the railways arrived in the mid 19th century.

The livestock market survives, although not on the day of our visit, and we were able to park in its environs. Where one also had a substantial multi-storey car park (snapped above) and a shopping centre. The latter a bit open plan and drafty.

Then a substantial High Street, if a little faded. First stop, their branch of NatWest bank, done from the same pattern book as the branch in Epsom, but rather bigger and grander. Second stop, the Orsino Lounge, possibly a former public house. We took coffee for her, tea for him and toasted tea cakes. Not busy but entertaining and their tea cakes were good, much better than average. It is even possible that they were not microwaved from frozen.

The town struck me as a large version of Ely, the cathedral town to the north of Cambridge. Lots of rather countrified people wandering about, all shapes and sizes, lots of fags, vapes and tattoos. Very few foreigners. But old fashioned and interesting on that account, rather in the way of the Isle of Wight.

Then, after the Wellingtonia previously noticed, down East Street to come across a rather sprawling, once grand, department store called Austins, to be found at reference 2. At some point in its history, gobbling up the Globe Hotel, notable for the monolithic porch pillars, snapped above. One wonders how prone to breaking in half they were when you were moving them about? How many did you lose between quarry and porch? In any event, these monoliths seem to be quite common in the churches of the towns and villages around Dartmoor: see, for example, reference 3.

We also had a stray church tower, detailed at reference 4. Near a place important in the progression of William III onto the throne of James II. As detailed in the pedestal snapped above. I wonder whether I would get vertigo standing on such a thing? Three feet of the ground can, at times, seem very high up, particularly as I get older.

From there back to the car park where we snapped the news above. It would be interesting to know more about the sheep clearance days, from which I associated to the chalet clearance months you get in some chalet parks, presumably to discourage long haired or tattooed long-term residents.

Then headed off to Stover Country Park where we bagged another couple of Wellingtonia, also previously noticed. Plenty of more ordinary trees, some of which are snapped above. I also bought what turned out to be a rather dubious flapjack from a caravan parked up next to the car park. Tasted all right, if a bit large and damp, at the time.

Home to spot a small flock of chaffinches messing about at the top of the drive down to our cottage, aka barn/shed conversion. First time I had seen chaffinches for a while.

PS: Google have just pushed the advertisement lines you get in your subsidiary gmail boxes one more step forward. By scattering them about, rather than confining then to one or two lines near the top, they have become more intrusive and more irritating. Presumably, from their point of view, this change results in more paying clicks, intrusion and irritation notwithstanding. Perhaps one day they will offer a no-advertisement offering - for a further consideration, naturally. Not that I would mind paying a bit: advertisments aside, gmail is a good service.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Abbot.

Reference 2: https://www.austins-uk.com/.

Reference 3: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/settling-in.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Leonard%27s_Tower,_Newton_Abbot.

Reference 5: https://www.thelashladyservices.co.uk/. Noticed on gmaps, not far from Austins. Not a discrete service for the older gentleman, rather something to do with ladies' eyelashes.

Group search key: nwa.