What shall your weekend bring?

[Kikó]

There's science mate. You need a wider pasta to absorb your sauce.

[Dquincy]

Not sure where Giggles stands on this, but fresh pasta over dried is an improvement worth paying for.

[niko_cee]

Think it depends on the shape. :henn0rz:

[Spikey M]

Which ever shape you want Guernsey, pay attention.

[Pepe]

I am on team 'shape matters' on this one.

[Foe]

I have my bolognese with sticky rice.

[Giggles]

I'd normally eat the twisty ones now because they're easy to drain. You can get too much water held over in the shells or tubes.

[niko_cee]

BuT YOu nEEd ThE StARchY wAteR FOr tHE SAucE!

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've spent fucking years trying to make a good cacio e pepe like that and it's a load of balls. These days I just chuck the parmesan straight on and mix it in. Best way to eat spaghetti, that, as it happens. If you have a more substantial sauce you need one of the holding shapes. Conchiglie a favourite.

Farfalle is the worst shape, what's the point of that lads. Might as well make them in the shape of a dung beetle.

[niko_cee]

It does seem a uniquely bad design as the bit in the middle takes about 5 times as long to cook as the bit at the edge.

[Ben]

The Romans will be seething at me but the trick for me with cacio e pepe is butter.

[randomlegend]

I have my bolognese with sticky rice.

Nah how has this snuck through. What the FUCK.

[Spikey M]

Geezer takes a lettuce to the cinema, this is small time weird shit in comparison.

[Magic]

I mean I've done that when I've ran out of pasta or something but would never wilfully choose it. Can you confirm which it is, Foe?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Have you lot been to the north of Scotland? Different world up there, bolognese with rice is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

[igor_balis]

I'm in Edinburgh for the week, though probably too middle class and English to do any field research on weird carb choices.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Last time I was in Forres - could be the last time ever, actually - I was given a dish named 'Deep fried haggis balls with fruit mayonnaise'. Quite nice, as these things go. I never did find out what sort of fruit was in the mayonnaise. It's possible that they don't even know there are different fruits available.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's all just whatever fruit they find (ripe, unripe or gone off) that is mulched up into a paste.

[Shindig]

Or it's secretly meat. :drool:

[Foe]

Haggis balls are peak starter, and sticky rice with bolognese was done to begin with out of necessity due to lack of available pasta, but now done out of choice.

I really like sticky rice…

[Bam]

when you're only eating it for show, yes.

:D

[Dquincy]

I have my bolognese with sticky rice.

That's chilli con carne, mate.

[Spikey M]

That's chilli con carne, mate.

More like a shite Pad Kra Pao.

[SvN]

Friend of mine has his bolognese with chips. I mocked him for it, but it wasn't bad.

[Spikey M]

That was a staple in my Uni days. As was Chilli con Carne and chips (sorry Pepe).

[Ben]

Tinned steak on a bed of chips.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Tinned steak?

I hope that's a typo of some sort.

[Spikey M]

Cheeky tin of Felix.

[Kikó]

Friend of mine has his bolognese with chips. I mocked him for it, but it wasn't bad.

This would be superb. Totally into this.

[Pepe]

That was a staple in my Uni days. As was Chilli con Carne and chips (sorry Pepe).

It's all good, chilli con carne isn't Mexican.

[Spikey M]

It's all good, chilli con carne isn't Mexican.

Wikipedia calls you a big fat liar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne

[Pepe]

"Chili" is not a word in Spanish. "Carne con Chile" is way too generic a thing to consider it anything like what currently is called "chili." Like saying "meat with sauce." Bolognese would qualify.

[Pepe]

Speaking of, this is the specialty of the place I live in now:

https://www.skylinechili.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/menu-coney-rotated90.png

[Jimmy Floyd]

I was always taught it was carne con tomate, but they taught me a lot of complete balls in Spanish, or at least stuff that applies in Spain only.

[Pepe]

I'm sure modern day chili is based on something that people ate in Mexico, but no one will serve you that shit over there. Or at least they didn't 15 years ago. They probably do now because anything from US = good.

[randomlegend]

I thought it was Texan.

[Spikey M]

Thank you for not saying "TexMex".

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Speaking of, this is the specialty of the place I live in now:

https://www.skylinechili.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/menu-coney-rotated90.png

Cincinnati.

Skyline Chilli intrigues and disgusts me.

[Ben]

Don’t know how the Americans dare slag off our cuisine.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They genuinely think theirs is amazing. Beef and cheese, baby.

[Pepe]

I still haven't grown the courage to try. My new boss even took me out for lunch my first day here and offered that as an option. I opted for the local Greek restaurant instead.

[niko_cee]

Is that spiralized cheese? I thought it might have been some sort of super thin fried potato, which would be better.

I quite like a lot of the mad eccentricities of 'American Food' although I'm not sure it's survivable in the long term.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Is that spiralized cheese? I thought it might have been some sort of super thin fried potato, which would be better.

I quite like a lot of the mad eccentricities of 'American Food' although I'm not sure it's survivable in the long term.

It's cheese.

You can also get the chilli and cheese on spaghetti too!

[Pepe]

Indeed you can. And now you can apparently get ice cream flavored after it.

[Shindig]

Here I am pearl clutching over butter in a squeezy bottle.

[Giggles]

Nothing is better than American BBQ.

[Pepe]

Depends on how much sugar they choose to add.

[Kikó]

It's cheese.

You can also get the chilli and cheese on spaghetti too!

I prefer my chili and cheese on fettuccine.

[Dquincy]

More appreciation for chips. They go with any dish. Show me a main meal theu wouldn't go with and I'll show you a liar.

[Danny]

Got a friend up in Cincinnati who was born and raised there. Loves Skyline. Another friend moved there for work. Hates it and says it’s shit.

They must indoctrinate them from a young age to think it’s good.

However a chili cheese hotdog (with not skyline) is good

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

More appreciation for chips. They go with any dish. Show me a main meal theu wouldn't go with and I'll show you a liar.
Cereal.

[niko_cee]

Eat the chips, put the cereal in the bin.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You never see salmon with chips, do you? Though I don't really know why.

[Raoul Duke]

You never see salmon with chips, do you? Though I don't really know why.

Too far apart, class-wise.

Maybe you could ponce up some chips enough to warrant being served alongside it in a fancy restaurant.

[Lewis]

Tinned steak on a bed of chips.

I do this. You need to chuck a stock pot and some gravy powder into the steak but it's a blinding meal for after the gym. They should serve it in hospitals.

[igor_balis]

More appreciation for chips. They go with any dish. Show me a main meal theu wouldn't go with and I'll show you a liar.

We don't always see eye to eye on stuff but I'm 100% with you

I don't generally have stuff like chili or bolognese with chips day 1, but when batch cooking stuff, I'll very often have whatever the fuck it is with chips on a later date. Having it properly like a grown up first time makes the chip day more special.

I had oven fries with a sandwich the other day cus I didn't have any crisps, couldn't be arsed to go to the shop, and having a sandwich without something crunchy and fatty and potatoey always feels wrong. It was like the kind of lunch option you get in a mediocre cafe, was quality.

[igor_balis]

I don't even mind chips with a fry up, even though I wouldn't actively choose them.

[Dark Soldier]

Shepherd's Pie on an oven bottom lads, meal of the gods.

[Dquincy]

Cereal.

Good shout, but wouldn't put cereal in the 'main meal' category.

On a side note, most cereals are just pure sugar aren't they. I get that they're nice to eat but you really shouldn't be eating (the majority of) them. Weird how as a society it's become such a staple. Magic of marketing.

[Dquincy]

I don't even mind chips with a fry up, even though I wouldn't actively choose them.

+1 for this. If I can get chips and hash browns on a breakfast plate, that's a winner.

[Danny]

That was a staple in my Uni days. As was Chilli con Carne and chips (sorry Pepe).

When I still lived in England chili on potato waffles was often a go to when I came home pissed.

[Foe]

You never see salmon with chips, do you? Though I don't really know why.

Funny you say this as a month or two ago I stumbled onto baked salmon, oven fries and peas one night as I didn’t realise I didn’t have potatoes. Worked really well. Basically posh fish and chips.

[niko_cee]

How does salmon still get the posh rep when it's generally one of the most affordable fish going?

[Ben]

It's not beige.

[Spikey M]

One of my old uncles used to love trotting out the old story about Lamb Shank being the bit the local butcher would throw to the dog or gift to the local destitute family before the restaurants realised they could make a killing by slow cooking it and using poncy spices like pepper.

He'd entertain us with this story everything something more inventive than chicken pie or sausage and chips was even hinted at for dinner.

[Baz]

Speaking of chips, how does everyone go from potato -> chips, using an airfryer? I never really enjoy them so presume I'm missing something.

[Ben]

Look at the chips you enjoy (McDonald's? I don't know). Basically you're skimping out way too much on oil and salt. Everyone does the same thing when home-cooking chips. Lots of fat and salt those fuckers into heart attack territory.

Although I suspect an air fryer isn't the way to go. They're fine for a lot of things but chips I'm doubting.

[igor_balis]

I much prefer good white fish to salmon. Or even mediocre white fish, honestly. Salmon is decent but overrated IMO.

[Giggles]

My Da used to eat those sickening tins of salmon and it put me off ever being able to go near it.

[Baz]

Cmon. Does anyone enjoy McDonalds chips? They’re not even chips, they’re wet potato packets with air inside.

Pub chips, let’s say.

I also don’t have any salt on anything, so that’s probably an issue.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Any chip worth the name will have been for a dip in some boiling oil, doing it dry will just give you oven chips effect at best.

[Kikó]

The only good thing about McDonald's are the chips. Absolute salty filth.

[niko_cee]

Problem is getting decent examples of the McDonald's chip. Need a super high turnover one to avoid the soggy disappointment.

Breakfast is their strongest suit though. The Sausage McMuffin is king.

I thought the idea of air fryers was that they could emulate the effect of a deep fat fryer [with regard to chips] in a healthier way - is that not the case? Are they just, as I have heard, really hot little ovens?

[randomlegend]

They are just small, hot, fan ovens. They heat up quicker because they are small. They probably do get things crisper than a big home fan oven because they move air better.

[Spikey M]

Problem is getting decent examples of the McDonald's chip. Need a super high turnover one to avoid the soggy disappointment.

Breakfast is their strongest suit though. The Sausage McMuffin is king.

I thought the idea of air fryers was that they could emulate the effect of a deep fat fryer [with regard to chips] in a healthier way - is that not the case? Are they just, as I have heard, really hot little ovens?

Somewhere in the middle and basically what RL said.

They are pretty shit for chips though. French fries are probably the best it gets in one.

[Shindig]

Five Guys are the king of salty chips. As a bloke who cut table salt out of his life years ago, it hits like a truck.

[Dquincy]

Five Guys are the king of salty chips. As a bloke who cut table salt out of his life years ago, it hits like a truck.
Shame it's so pricey though.

[Dquincy]

I also don’t have any salt on anything, so that’s probably an issue.

All of the strange things you've said on here, this is up there. Why no salt?

[Baz]

All of the strange things you've said on here, this is up there. Why no salt?
High cholesterol.

[Mike]

“Stroke dust” is what it was called growing up.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Jesus wept, no wonder you're so thin, all your food must taste like carpet sweepings.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

High cholesterol.

Salt doesn't contain or raise your cholesterol though...

[niko_cee]

Not great for blood pressure though, which to my completely untrained mind sounds more strokey. Like the higher pressure will make it burst up there.

As with everything there's a balance. Salt on chips, fine, taking the top off the salt shaker and making a small heap of salt on your plate, as practised by my grandad, heart attack 77, perhaps less so. Although given he died in the 80s that was probably still a good run.

[randomlegend]

High blood pressure (increased by high salt diet) and high cholesterol are both risk factors for atherosclerotic heart disease (plaques in your arteries).

[niko_cee]

On the subject of salt, have I become desensitised or has someone got to the halloumi makers? Seems a lot less offensively salty these days, which is a shame.

[randomlegend]

Yeah getting tolerant of salt is definitely a thing.

[niko_cee]

I don't notice it generally, but halloumi just seems to be one of those things that has become a lot less salty. Conspiracy brain tells me they're shrinkflating it in some way, adding more water or something, which causes it to leach out.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Too many are scared of salt.

We need it.

Going salt-free is stupid.

[Bam]

Said the fat hermit.

[Lofty]

Keep up Bam, Mahow is a gym rat who could bench press you now.

[Spikey M]

But not squat him. Calfless little wank.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

But not squat him. Calfless little wank.
My calves are MASSIVE.

My squatting also appears to be sorted now but I'm taking it slow.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Had an early Christmas Dinner with neighbours today as they're off to Bolivia (where they're originally from) next weekend.

Had beef and goose which I had been requesting for years. The goose was probably a little overcooked (seeing as you can have it pink) but it was really tasty and still really moist.

[Shindig]

Went out drinking with wor sis and wor brother in law.

I bore witness to:

- Three old wifeys falling flat on their arse. One of which were scrambling for their high heels.
- One fight in the pizza shop over nowt.

I've never been prouder of the North East.

[AJ23]

That's why I prefer daytime drinking in bars and drinking at home in the evenings these days.

[Shindig]

I don't mind it as long as it doesn't take a dark turn. The last time I saw an old fella crack his crown was like 6pm. I had two bags of shopping on me and the fella was completely fucked. If I see blood, it's bad. If someone's on their arse whinging about bollocks, it's entertainment.

[Shindig]

Spent the weekend in Birmingham with the some mates. Got ourselves a nice airbnb in the Jewellery Quarter and had a decent mooch about town. Thought we'd get some culture in but the art gallery only had the ground floor open. :moop: I did get roped into an overly-friendly coffee shop which felt worryingly cultish.

The city's got surprisingly alright vibes. The accommodation was fantastic, even if it had all the wanky accessories these places seem to have. Books on PSYCHOLOGY and WELLBEING and BUSINESS that are merely for show, etc. A former metalworks deserves better, really. Mostly a good time from a food and drink perspective, although it took forever for someone to get our orders in the Indian Tap room.

Would possibly visit again if I had more of a tourist plan. If someone could bring back the Birmingham SuperPrix, I'd be there every year.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Where are you going next, Hartlepool?

[Shindig]

We needed some place central because we're scattered all over the place. Plus we're not getting a 3-storey townhouse for 10 people in Hartlepool, are we?

[Ben]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/51549947?adults=10&children=0&enable_m3_private_room=true&infants=0&pets=0&search_mode=regular_search&check_in=2025-02-07&check_out=2025-02-09&source_impression_id=p3_1737361132_P3EcmOuggxnnrRi K&previous_page_section_name=1000&federated_search_id=e645e9af-c3c0-41c0-886a-7db8fdf44683

[Spikey M]

Birmingham has either improved massively since I was last there OR Shinners is mistaken and he wasn't in Birmingham OR Shinners view of what makes a City good or bad has been massively blurred by too many visits to shitholes in America.

[Ben]

I go every year for the cricket finals day. It's actually alright in some areas.

[Jimmy Floyd]

So do I and it's a dump. We must have different expectations.

[Giggles]

That would be like me going to Longford for a weekend.

[Shindig]

Birmingham has either improved massively since I was last there OR Shinners is mistaken and he wasn't in Birmingham OR Shinners view of what makes a City good or bad has been massively blurred by too many visits to shitholes in America.

There are some truly awful places in the North. Compared to them, Birmingham is lively. Put this down to me not really seeing much of the UK beyond that. It did, however, have the most homeless I've seen outside of San Francisco.

Would've probably been shit if I was there solo, mind.

[Dark Soldier]

Completed life this weekend lads

https://i.ibb.co/2sVfM42/sash.png

[Pepe]

Can someone translate for me please?

[Dark Soldier]

No, just know I'm happy, thanks Pepe.

[Pepe]

If you are happy I am happy.

[SincereTheRebel]

Anyone got any experience with a good outside night light? I want to add some lights at the bottom of the garden, that willl light up the back fence which is about 20 feet across. I havent been down the solar route in years but they were always rubbish. I want the light to be on through the night.

[phonics]

My parents got some charge up ones and they seem to spend more time being on charge than being on.

[SincereTheRebel]

My point exactly. Seems like they are all a bit shit

[Ben]

From experience, they're all absolutely shite. And I've bought some not-so-cheap stuff. Mains powered is the way to go, and almost all of it is low voltage now anyway. Running an armoured cable around the perimeter of the garden is a great investment.

[SincereTheRebel]

Sounds like the best way. Not aure how much a outside power outlet will set you back these days but it sounds like the most reliable method for maximum output.