Yeah not bad mate. I had my own brilliant spag bol sauce heated up from yesterday but made w/ rigatoni.
What's amazing is to go to I believe it's in Pakistan, and get Fish n Chips n mushy peas or sizzling fillet steak on the menu, or local cuisine. Wot a choice!
I love a paratha on the plate first then the curry and whatnot soaks in and ..... delicious!!
Oh, my love, my darling I've hungered for your touch A long, lonely time
Time goes by so slowly And time can do so much. Are you still mine, I need your love I need your love God speed your love, to me.
Lonely rivers flow, to the sea, to the sea To the open arms, of the sea Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me Lonely rivers cry, wait for me....
Best version was the original one before the Righteous Brothers. I think, anyway.
Thought I'd share this - from the BBC website today:
I checked into the Serena Hotel in the town of Mingora, Swat's last remaining hotel in one of the few towns in the area which is still relatively safe.
The Serena has 50 rooms set in beautiful landscaped grounds. I was the only guest in the entire hotel and the first one they had seen in well over 6 weeks. The handful of other people they have had stay this year were all journalists like myself.
It's become a ghost hotel.
Yet despite the empty rooms all of the uniformed staff have been kept on by the Aga Khan - who owns the Serena. They are lucky. The damage to the economy means that few people in Swat have a job anymore. And they were truly delighted to see me.
"Would you like to order dinner, madam?" a saffron-suited waiter asked on my first night.
I mumbled something about whatever they could rustle up in the kitchen being fine. His face registered surprise. "We have everything listed on the menu, madam. Fish and chips with mushy peas, sizzling beef fillet, traditional Pakistani cuisine."
"How can you?" I asked. "You haven't got any guests."
"But we are a five star hotel madam," he said proudly. "We must maintain standards at all times."
A few minutes later a steaming plate of delicious paratha, raita and masala beans (a Swati speciality) arrived at my door. After that the staff couldn't do enough for me. Word went out they had one - a real, live, paying guest - and all of them rushed to display their impeccable service.
Yep mate, tell me about it. My native country is truly beautiful but take a brolly and anorak. And go in July/Aug.
Y'all should visit Bulgaria. 2 days in the capital and a few days in Varna. (which I haven't been to myself yet but by all accounts it's the best resort in the country).
The weather in Bulgaria is truly excellent. Right now it's dry and mild. Probably get up to 15 or more in the afternoon.
OK I told this joke before and nobody laughed but I'll try again
A grey cell is wandering around all alone in a male cranium, just aimlessly pottering about and kicking the odd tin can or bit of debris...
When suddenly a 2nd grey cell bursts in and cries: Hey there you are! I was sent to look for you. Come one down and join the fun, there's a great party going on!
Hi folks. I thought I'd share the recipe for this great dish with y'all.
I've entitled the thread pasta alla carbonara rather than the more common spaghetti, because it's a dish that can be made in advance and reheated (I can see purists throwing up their hands in horror at this idea, given that the very essence of this dish is the way the freshly made hot pasta cooks the sauce, and then it's swiftly brought to the table to be devoured by the hopefully appreciative and hungry diners!!)
But I'm sticking to my guns. When you re-heat it, it's easier to separate it if the pasta is shorter, i.e. penne, linguine, bucatini, rigatoni, whatever. The taste is the same, so it doesn't matter which. I mention this because pasta alla carbonara (woman charcoal maker) is great the day after, or pre-prepared as part of a buffet at a garden party or the like.
One should use good pasta though. If you have a cheaper pasta which you know from personal experience is equivalent in taste and texture to Barilla or Buitoni but cheaper, great. But avoid bargain basement pasta that you haven't tried out. It can ruin your dish and your day! I have found that the Greek Melissa brand pasta is excellent. It's available where I am but for the Italian ones I have to drive to Montana. Yeah, not in the USA, it's a town in Bulgaria! They have a couple of better supermarkets there.
OK, long story short, here's the recipe: Oh wait I have to digress once again. This dish, while being very very simple and easy to make, requires a little thought in advance, because the crux of the matter is having three dishes, or more exactly 2 pots and a bowl, in which you get things going, in order to be able to unite them in one quick action, and from there straight to the table. In other words, the pan or pot or skillet that you gentry fry the bacon strips in, has to be big enough to hold the steaming hot al dente pasta that you're going to dump on top. At the same time, while keeping this big pot (I use a non-stick cast aluminium pot) on a gentle heat or off the heat altogether, you dump the bowl's contents (the well whisked eggs/extra yolks, salt and pepper, grated pecorino or fresh parmesan cheese) on top of that and mix well with tongs, your hands, whatever. The eggy sauce should not solidify into fried egg texture, so some hot salty water from the pasta pot can be added swiftly. Have a little bowl or jug handy and when draining the pasta, pour a little of the salty water into it, and empty this swiftly onto the pasta, bacon, egg/cheese mix.
Now obviously this dish doesn't take long to make. As the bacon strips will fry gently in a few minutes, the longest part is cooking the pasta, and that only takes 7 or 9 minutes after the water boils (don't forget to put a goodly amount of salt in, though not too much). Mixing the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper is very quickly accomplished also, unless you are grating freshly from a lump of cheese.
Personally I thought the Obama video on his pledges to roll back some of the weapons insanity (and incidentally save American taxpayers billion) was very sane. He is to be commended and will make a great president. Will he carry out his promises? We'll have to wait and see.
Today was very warm and sunny and I was outside in my yard cleaning up, sawing wood for my woodburner. It was 26 or 27 C in the shade/high seventies F. Darkness falls abruptly though. I have lighting outside but it attracts the flies. Haven't built the screened porch yet! Next year though for sure...
Also preparing to board up my doors and windows, in case I do head for the Southern Hemisphere for the winter. The winters here are very cold and the snow deep.
I've got Bolton v. Man City in the background and before that I half watched an old Belmondo film.
I guess I'm indebted to you PietroPaoloV (long nickname, mate btw could I call you Pete?) for introducing me to a, for me, new word in the wonderful English language. A bindle, eh? I guess it's OK.
Yeah the CNN weather map showed the line between the cold snowy sleety windy weather and the warm, nice, pleasant sunny weather a couple or 3 days on the trot.
Cutting diagonally to the North East through about Trieste/Croatia/Slovenia. This line is edging eastwards though and I'm preparing my getaway.
I did get robbed (not mugged). On Monday. Yesterday I went to the police in Vidin and filed a complaint and looked at some mugshots on a computer. I was pretty sure I recognised one of the faces. Today 4 cops in 2 cars from Belogradchik, which has jurisdiction over my village, came to my house and asked me a lot of detailed questions. We spent well over an hour in the warm sunshine, me providing as much information as possible in my broken Bulgarian. One of the cops, a woman, wrote everything down and I had to sign the paperwork in several places. Then to my great surprise they went out to the road and brought in this handcuffed guy who had been in one of the cars! I immediately recognised him as one of the culprits!
Btw you can thrash me anytime Did I really say that?
RE: Europe...
Hello ... anybody there ?