Oh no!

Look, I know I shouldn't but I've been giggling all morning after reading this article in The Telegraph. I wonder how the tree huggers felt?

A great find

Many years ago in Italy we were treated, amongst other things, to fresh local burrata. It was amazing stuff, especially if you are a fresh mozzarella fan. The one we tried in Italy was butter filled but the one we have found here was cream filled.
Burrata isn't readily available and until the other day we hadn't seen it at all. That all changed in Booths our local supermarket. I found it in the 'poor section', that small area of chiller cabinet where they heavily discount end of life products. We bought it for £2.20, a bargain.
Since writing this post I have found that you can get it online from Waitrose and, my favourite local mozzarella source Laverstoke Park, where former world champion racing driver Jody Scheckter has established a buffalo farm.

Not as young?

Friends from France arrived last Thursday and left Monday morning.
We had a day in the country on Friday with a trip to the Theakston Brewery and lunch in Masham. A quick trip to Pateley Bridge to buy some great pork pies, delicious ham and a small pork joint on Saturday, because our visitors were out visiting relatives in York. A trip to Harrogate on Sunday to meet another friend from France (who now lives in the US - keep up) and have lunch, and that was about it.
So apart from a little driving, several meals out and a lot of laughs, it was all fairly tame. Monday, after they had gone, we went back to Harrogate to see my mother and come  Monday afternoon we were shattered.
OK maybe we did a bit more than I thought. The one who should have been more shattered was Jan who prepared quite a few meals. All in all a hectic but fun weekend.

Is it a vegetable?

This is interesting. I only scored 60%. How will you do?

The White Queen

Did anyone watch The White Queen last night?
What total and utter rubbish. Jan and I laughed out loud at various bits which is a bit of a bummer because there are another nine episodes. Nine on Sunday night is costume drama time, especially for Jan. I'm not a big Downton fan but I watched it for no other reason than to have the occasional inward giggle whilst Jan sat mesmerised. But please BBC who on earth commissioned this rubbish?
Having checked the TV reviews this morning it seems that people far more qualified than me, agree, and some of the reviews were downright hilarious. If this programme had been produced for a children's audience then I could understand but not at prime time for adults. It was extremely insulting and someone should get fired. Talk about the BBC dumbing down.

Stop the whinging

With all the recent brouhaha about A&E, I'd like to do my bit and give them a big thumbs up.
We were in Harrogate town centre and mum tripped and fell. Always problematic for an 89 years old and she was very shaken. My first concern was that she might have broken something, having recently had a new knee and hip fitted, and this would entail time in hospital which she hates.
Off we went to A&E at HGH where she was seen immediately in triage and then whisked in to see a doctor. The wait here was about 30 minutes and she was discharge after xrays showed she had only broken a bone in her hand. All the staff were excellent, sympathetic and caring.
OK, she might have had to wait longer on a Friday or Saturday night but it wasn't and she received good treatment. Thank goodness for the NHS I say.

And one more thing

Satisfaction comes in all shapes and sizes.
Yesterday, by about 5pm, I was very satisfied and slightly bemused. I have a Samsung netbook running Windows XP, which as some might know is not going to be supported by Microsoft anymore soon. Given that I'm interested in computers, and stuff like that, I decided some time ago that I'd instal Windows 7. Eventually, I found a really inexpensive copy of the software with one or two bits missing (the drivers - if you don't know, it doesn't matter) but that would make the installation that bit more tricky. I fully anticipated making a cockup and started at about noon.
As anyone who has done this will tell you, it can be quite a long process, not just with the original installation but with the time needed to update and then update the updates and then reinstall any software that you need. 'Fun' to someone like me but a right royal pain in the arse to others and definitely time consuming.
By 5pm I had a nice 'new' netbook that looked good and worked well and I felt very, very satisfied. The next morning I fired it up to check that everything was working as it should only to be advised that there were another 14 updates to download and instal. Another hour and a half of updates on updates, bugger.

404 Not Found

If you're sitting there wondering what to do next, like all the people who turned up early for the service at Westminster Abbey today, here's the answer.

Rotten Apple

From time to time I have ranted about Apple and the ridiculous price of their otherwise very good products. It seems that there was some justification but in a way that I didn't anticipate. Take a look at this.