That’s if I can get up the stairs - I’m seizing up now!
What have you been doing today?
- Thread starter Mottie
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Third bike ride this week, thought I would call at my favourite cafe for a bacon & egg bun, it was closed grrrrr, looks like it has shut for good according to their FB page, my second choice is the Buddhist temple cafe, great cakes but no bacon
Repaired the winters damaged felt, on the hut, on concreted side. The grass/soil was still far to soft, to tackle the other side yet. Neither side was a problem if not done - I took the precaution of fitting plastic layer first, under the felt, when I originally did it.
Up at the workshop again. Replaced the crumbling flexi hoses on my water heater that broke when I moved it to replace the stop cock. Water now back on. I buggered up the CCTV when I disconnected it the other week to clear out and paint the office. Just wouldn't work when I reconnected it - screen kept saying no signal. Tried disconnecting, reconnecting, switching on and off, giving it a thump but no joy. Brought a replacement 8 channel one I had at home and connected that up but I got a message that that it wouldn't play on my ancient monitor with only a VGA cable. Oh well, disconnected that and plugged the old one back in and it worked! I'll leave well alone in the future. Fitted some handles on the kitchenette doors. I went in the A3 and decided to sort the windscreen washers out. Three jets on each side, two were blocked on each side so cleaned them out and tried adjusting them. Impossible to do with them fitted so had to keep taking the jet assembly out from each side, adjust, refit, try out, remove adjust....you get the picture. To make matters worse, the wipers/washers wont work on an Audi with the bonnet up so that made things take twice as long. Finally sorted it and now have three lovely jets of water, perfectly adjusted on both sides. Next job was to sort out a water leak in the tailgate. No water in boot floor but every time I opened the tailgate I'd get a flood of water pi55 out of the tailgate trim and drip on me 'ead! On top of that, the wiper was playing up - intermittently stopping halfway through its travel and not parking properly when switched off. Took the tailgate trim off and it was obvious straight away what the problem was. On the A3 the washer water goes through the wiper motor and comes out through the wiper arm spindle where the jet is fitted. It had leaked internally causing the wiper to play up and water to leak into the tailgate. You can see the rust marks where water is coming out of numerous places on the motor. Going to order a new wiper motor when I get home.
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Cooked the perfect fillet steak tonight. 
What's the secret?, I ask because Mrs filly although being a good cook, delicious meals, nice cakes, despite all that, I always dread it when she cooks a steak.
For medium rare, I start with the steak at room temperature, season with salt & pepper, lightly oil the steak, not the pan, high heat for a minute each side to seal it, then on low/medium heat turning every minute or so and keep testing how it feels - should feel like the density of your cheek. I always chuck in a knob of butter near to the end and baste it and most importantly, let it rest, covered in foil for at least 10 minutes. Mrs Mottie likes hers done medium so I usually start hers a few minutes before I start my one.
For me, for medium - rare, for an inch - thick fillet:
Leave the steak to get to room temp
Salt, pepper, and olive oil
Get dry pan hot
3 minutes per side
Plate it up, and let it rest for five or so minutes
Adjust to personal taste, from the above.
I can't be bothered with gilding the lily, when it really isn't necessary.
Well done for me, any sign of blood, and I will not eat it..
My mates wife is the same. He once ordered Chateaubriand for the pair of them and she butted in with "well done". The waiter asked her if she was sure. She was. He could have punched her.
Anthony Bourdain: Five of his tips for eating out
Not known for hiding his opinions on all things culinary, here are five pieces of forthright advice.
www.bbc.co.uk
"People who order their meat well-done perform a valuable service for those of us in the business who are cost-conscious: they pay for the privilege of eating our garbage. In many kitchens, there's a time-honoured practice called 'save for well-done'... the philistine who orders his food well-done is not likely to notice the difference between food and flotsam."
All above cooking instructions noted and bookmarked. Thanks.
One time in Florence, we went to visit a friend for dinner. When we arrived she hadn't started cooking and, I was thinking, dinner at eight isn't going to happen. The steak was sitting on the worktop ready to be cooked. When she started cooking it, it went into the pan with a whoosh, and after what seemed like 15 seconds there was another whoosh and the other side was being done. Once it was scalded on both sides it came out and onto a rack, I was thinking that it was then going into the oven. Nope, that was it done.
There was blood all over my plate and I struggled to eat it. My reply when I was asked if I would like some more, no grazie, sono pieno.
We laughed about that many times after because my partner knew very well that I didn't want to eat it.
There was blood all over my plate and I struggled to eat it. My reply when I was asked if I would like some more, no grazie, sono pieno.
We laughed about that many times after because my partner knew very well that I didn't want to eat it.
Neighbours of my mate in London (who I knew quite well as a customer) moved to my road in Hornchurch. They invited me, my mate and our wives to dinner one night. The husband cooked and it was trout. It was practically raw - I kept expecting the eyes to blink or the tail to move. We all basically pushed it around on our plates. At the end of the evening when we left, they saw us to the door. Our friends drove off and we walked up to our house. I hadn’t even got home when my mate phoned me and said “Fùck me, Phil could have warned us it was Sushi". We still laugh about it.One time in Florence, we went to visit a friend for dinner. When we arrived she hadn't started cooking and, I was thinking, dinner at eight isn't going to happen. The steak was sitting on the worktop ready to be cooked. When she started cooking it, it went into the pan with a whoosh, and after what seemed like 15 seconds there was another whoosh and the other side was being done. Once it was scalded on both sides it came out and onto a rack, I was thinking that it was then going into the oven. Nope, that was it done.
There was blood all over my plate and I struggled to eat it. My reply when I was asked if I would like some more, no grazie, sono pieno.
We laughed about that many times after because my partner knew very well that I didn't want to eat it.
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Busy at the mo' with the understairs cupboard door, again. We got fed up of cracking heads on the far too short door, and decided to change it to a full height door, but angled to match the angle of the stair - a few months ago. We got the joinery done, then slapped a coat of white paint on the plain door. Not a very good finish, and it looked, well - bland. So we've been waiting for the better, warmer weather, to redo it outside and painted flat. We got fed up with waiting, tried to repaint in the living room, the back of it.
That didn't turn out well, so we decided to wall paper the front face, then emulsion paint it to match the rest of the hall, and add architrave, part way up the door, so it blended in to match. Avril is out at the moment, trying to see if the still have matching architrave, to match what I bought from the local place, a few years ago, when I did the hall.
That didn't turn out well, so we decided to wall paper the front face, then emulsion paint it to match the rest of the hall, and add architrave, part way up the door, so it blended in to match. Avril is out at the moment, trying to see if the still have matching architrave, to match what I bought from the local place, a few years ago, when I did the hall.
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