Sorry Heston

I'm a big fan of Heston Blumenthal.  I'm also a big fan of gin.  So the combination of the two should be great, right?  Errr, sadly not really.  In fact, if I'm honest, it's just horrible.  I keep thinking I must have made some kind of mistake.  Surely, Heston Blumenthal knows more about how things should taste than I ever could?  In this instance though I'm forced to admit that maybe he doesn't get everything right.  

Writing this I've just remembered that I also didn't like his Pine Fresh Toilet Cleaner flavoured mince pies.  Ahh well, never mind, I'll go and console myself with some snail porridge.

An Unlikely Princess

I took Phoebe to a kids party at the weekend.  The parents had laid on an entertainer and while she was trying to get the children involved she gathered them round her and asked them who their favourite princesses were.  Yes, they were all girls.  She got the usual answers I was expecting - Cinderella, Rapunzel until she came to the birthday girl herself.  When she was asked, she just pointed and said "Phoebe!"

I'm glad to say Princess Phoebe didn't let it go to her head.

The Dangers of Syllable Juggling

One of the long running jokes in our household is the something I have just decided to call "Syllable Juggling".  This essentially involves changing the syllables in a sentence round so they form some kind of amusing nonsense.  Unfortunately this happens in such a spontaneous and throwaway fashion that concrete examples are hard to remember, but typically something like "Let's load the dishwasher" becomes "Let's dish the loadwasher" or something similar.  Yes, the long winter nights just fly by.

However, Syllable Juggling while tired can have unintended consequences as my Darling Wife discovered when she had a go with "The Princess and the Pea" and came up with "The Peaness and the Prince*" - fortunately Phoebe is so used to this kind of thing that she didn't notice the unintended meaning, while I was able to quickly leave the room to avoid drawing attention to it by laughing.

* just say it out loud if that's not making sense.

UncleMungo - Nature Photographer IV

Finally some success or at least I got something much better than my first effort anyway.  I have to admit, this  was a massive fluke and unfortunately I missed what could have been the best shot while dragging my camera out of my bag and turning it on.  But never mind, I managed to snap this pretty cool shot of a Grass Snake apparently trying to make off with a duckling*.  For those of you with a nervous disposition, don't worry Mummy Duck was equal to the challenge of chasing the marauding snake away.  Click the picture for a better view...

* I have no idea if the snake was really after a duckling, it did seem to be chasing them though - swimming directly at the family of ducks several times before mummy finally saw it off.

Ringtone Songs

The problem with using a song as a ringtone is you feel very stupid when it comes up randomly during a shuffle and you try and answer it.

Boooo to Tescos

We don't normally shop at Tescos, living next door to Sainsburys is just too convenient, but once a year or so when I do I always try and pick up a bottle of the wonderful Bella Veroni Espresso Amaretto.  Lately, trying is all I can do as it appears they've stopped selling it.  Given that nobody else sells it either, it is now effectively unavailable.

Boooo.

SPAM - A Warning

Not a warning about SPAM itself.  Goodness me no.  SPAM is wonderful.  The warning is about SPAM preparation.  Don't fry it in olive oil.  It makes it go somewhat bitter and mars the usually wonderful fried SPAM experience.  SPAM is best served pan fried in its own juices.



That is all.