Good News stories

[vinteuil]

A few months ago in Morrisons a young checkout assistant asked me what type of vegetable were the courgettes I was buying.

... I hope you pointed out that they were a fruit and not a vegetable - Cucurbita pepo var. cylindrica


.

[french frank]

Tasteless things - I can't be bothered with them.

Tasteless things are often good for absorbing other tastes.

Slice the zucchino in two, long ways, and scoop out the seeds to form two 'boats'. Fill with finely chopped red (and green) chili and garlic. Drizzle with oil and bake. Tastes of chili and garlic. And mixed herbs if you add them

[gradus]

We have raspberry bushes in our garden. The first year we noticed them, but I think the birds noticed them first. Last year it was fairly dry, and we didn't try to water them, but I had put up netting to keep birds out. Result - hardly any berries. This year we have had a very extended dry period, and I didn't bother to move the netting from last year. However, we have been splashing water in from hosepipes and we managed to have a couple of very small bowls of very small fruit a few days ago. I looked at the plants again yesterday, while carrying out watering, and there are really quite a lot of fruit coming along now, so hopefully with continued watering we will have some tasty morsels to follow our main courses. The berries we've had so far have been very promising - even though small.

We also have some tomatoes and strawberries - which are also now starting to look good, but the watering has to be kept up on everything now - no sign of any rain until next week.

If your greengage is an Oullins Gage or Reine Claude it will probably fruit better if hand-pollinated at flowering time. If it is the original Greengage it'll need a pollinator.

[gradus]

Tasteless things - I can't be bothered with them.

Certamente no! Zucchini/Courgette sliced thinly, salted, peppered, oiled and grilled or fried are delizioso.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for all the ideas about cooking courgettes, people! Might try some of these out when the "cooking seasons" return.

[oddoneout]

Tasteless things - I can't be bothered with them.

At least if they're tasteless they'll be safe to eat...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/17/tim-dowling-homegrown-courgettes-poisoned-us-all

[Zucchini]

We were served this starter on a wonderful summer afternoon on a rare visit with our daughter to Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir.

Assiette Anne-Marie recipe - Raymond Blanc OBE

It's lovely. At least try it with the complimentary Malvern spring water. Leave wine until later

[HighlandDougie]

If I had an über-potager where I could just go and pick the right-sized courgettes, pluck white and green asparagus and find fresh morels, I might have a go at what, I must say, looks absolutely delicious. Meanwhile, the very estimable Rachel Roddy has supplied this recipe (which I shall try as soon as one of my kindly neighbours supplies me with allotment-grown courgettes):

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/19/rachel-roddy-recipe-courgette-potato-in-lemony-olive-oil

[jayne lee wilson]

If I had an über-potager where I could just go and pick the right-sized courgettes, pluck white and green asparagus and find fresh morels, I might have a go at what, I must say, looks absolutely delicious. Meanwhile, the very estimable Rachel Roddy has supplied this recipe (which I shall try as soon as one of my kindly neighbours supplies me with allotment-grown courgettes):

https://www.theguardian.com/food/202...mony-olive-oil

I saw that and kept it open at the page....

Simliar to my baked recipe above, though I wouldn't use lemon or potatoes, but garlic butter/garlic cloves and herbs as aforementioned. I do sometimes do such a bake with halves or chunks of the veg, and place it on the table alongside pasta and salad. Do remember though, larger onions will require more cooking time than courgettes unless finely sliced, tomatoes of course much less....and you don't need water if oven cooked. Just cook them until meltingly succulent....

I recall making a Nigel Slater version, based on Aubergines. Its the type of dish you can vary endlessly, according to taste and availability. Fun to make too, with plenty of time to sip wine, feed cats, watch the Newspaper Previews, Newsnight etc as you go along.....

[Mario]

Greetings to all!

Fun times are back!

I know it doesn’t affect any of you, but…

Spotify is now available here!

Now, I can at last make some sense of all the wonderful recommendations all of you make.

(Just thought I'd share that with you.)

Mario

[oddoneout]

For now I'm regarding this as good news https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...-for-ofcom-job
When I read this quote I did think "well that could be part of the problem"

A government spokesperson said: “The campaign to appoint the chair of Ofcom will be run in compliance with the governance rules for public appointments.”

given what's been seen in recent times in the way public appointments are made.

[french frank]

For now I'm regarding this as good news https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...-for-ofcom-job
When I read this quote I did think "well that could be part of the problem"

A government spokesperson said: “The campaign to appoint the chair of Ofcom will be run in compliance with the governance rules for public appointments.”

given what's been seen in recent times in the way public appointments are made.

'Peter Riddell, the commissioner for public appointments, has previously said it is essential for public confidence that “the new competition is seen as genuinely fresh rather than an attempt to get a different answer from the outcome of the first competition”. He is being consulted on the new interview process.' I see from Wikipedia that Riddell's term in office is due to expire in September 2021. No doubt the campaign to appoint his successor will be run in compliance with the governance rules for public appointments.

[oddoneout]

This brightened up my morning https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...from-wildfires
Using the natural browsing habits of the goats - the cause of problems in so many places around the world - has many benefits beyond the stated purpose of managing wildfire risk, although there will doubtless be criticism about them damaging the biodiversity as intensive sheep grazing does. That will need an appropriate education/publicity drive to explain the not entirely straightforward issues.

[oddoneout]

There are doubtless ifs and buts but these two articles contain a welcome bit of positivity I think?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/21/lancashire-village-buys-its-own-pub-to-add-to-its-shop-and-library

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/21/black-friday-largest-boycott-planned-by-independent-retailers

[Serial_Apologist]

At last my computer whizz has been operated on at Kings College Hospital in Camberwell, having had an artifical replacement valve for the faulty natural one that had been causing him increasing problems, fibrillations, breathlessness and so on, for a number of years, during which he was told to lose weight otherwise major surgery would probably be fatal. He phoned me on his mobile just now from one of the high dependency wards - in a lot of discomfort and speaking with considerable difficulty, making him hard to hear. From what I could make out visits are out of the question for now, which is of course understandable in the circumstances; the main thing is that he seems to have pulled through: recovery's going to take some time, Eddie being Type 2 diabetic among other problems, but I shall post the news on the Corbynista website he had been contributing copiously to so that people know.