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Monday, 29 April 2019

I Have Bean Greedy

NO!  How Many Times Do I Have To Shout It Out -
That's not a spelling mistake.  Conrad does not make spelling mistakes, despite the best attempts at sabotage that Blogger's South Canadian spellchecker can try.
     Okay, let us backtrack a few days, to when I made Ragout in the slow cooker.  I did mention that brewing a stew whilst all on my own is a tradition, hence the ragout.  
     Conrad was not satisfied with this alone.  O no.  For had I not picked up at least half a pound of bacon going cheap at Morrisons?
Image result for morris minor
One of the sons of Morris.  And close enough.
     There is a recipe in my slow cooker recipe book for a "One Pot Bean Stew", which required a ton of bacon.  Conrad thus begot himself to the shops yesterday and bought in the rest of the required ingredients, making the whole thing up this morning since it takes up to 9 hours to reach completion.  Art?

The end result
     You may be able to judge how much stuff is in there by scaling it via that pint glass at upper right.  This is, after all, the end result of: 4 x tins of baked beans and pork sausages; a tin of kidney beans; a tin of butter beans; a pound of mince; half a pound of bacon; an onion (to keep it healthy!); three ounces of brown sugar; three tablespoons of cider vinegar and most of a bottle of barbecue sauce, since I hate and detest ketchup.  I've also thrown in some stale beer and some finely-chopped apple.
     Only after finishing this process did I bother to check how many people this concoction is supposed to serve.
     Ten.
     Ten!  Ooops.  I suspect I shall be eating this for a few days on the trot.
Conrad, looking both guilty and mortified.*
     Of course, Edna would be simply delighted to help, but - no.  Onion, you see.  Sorry, Edna, you can gaze with slavering anticipation but you can't have any.
     
Speaking Of The Wunderhund -
For our morning stroll we headed up to the local off-licence, for we had run very low on bread, down to only three slices -
     Here an aside.  Wonder Wifey asserts that it would be ridiculously easy to entrap Your Humble Scribe: merely put a sandwich on a plate in the ambush and he'd inevitably fall into the net as it hoists his carcass into the air.**
     Anyway, I hadn't been up this way since the last time I dogsat, back in November.  There were a couple of cats skulking next to a car, whom rapidly darted beneath it upon seeing Edna, who was busy looking elsewhere and didn't notice.  Art?
At ginnel end.
     We went up fairly rapidly.  Coming back, though, the Four-Footed Alarm System had to pause and sniff every single patch of grass.  I think this is a consequence of the small domesticated wolf's nose being perpetually so close to the ground.
     Right, that will hopefully satisfy WW and concludes today's Dog Report.

Conrad: Pedantic Hair-Splitter Of The Highest Order
A badge I wear with pride.  Remember yesterday?  Your Humble Scribe was holding forth on a particular episode of "Hercule Poirot", namely "The Mysterious Affair At Styles", and fulminating about dates.
     Poor director! (Ross Devenish - I looked it up) I now know that the events were set in late June 1916, from the 19th onwards, which means that  Lieutenant Hastings bad dreams about tanks were positively clairvoyant, since they didn't go into action for the first time until September 15th 1916.
Image result for hastings town
Hastings
      As I said, poor Ross - you can't possibly imagine him suspecting that, twenty years later, some nit-picking internet nerd with a mind like a skip would pick up on the issue of dates and tanks.
Image result for tanks palm trees
Date palms, okay?
     For any South Canadian readers not familiar with English idiom YOU SHOULD BE! <ahem> what we call call a "skip" is not a method of rhythmic motion proceeding from one foot to the other, it is what you inelegantly term a "dumpster".  Art?

Image result for rubbish skip
Thus

"Game Of Thrones" - A Winning Strategy
Currently downloading Episode #3 of Season #8.  You can take the fingers out of your ears and open your eyes, I'm not going to watch it until after I've posted today's BOOJUM! so you need not worry about spoilers.
     Okay, because Conrad is both an anorak and fond of military tactics, he has come up with yet another method that leads to the good guys winning against the army of wights.
                Image result for isle of wightImage result for isle of wight
                                                                  Wights
     Okay, recall young Arya Stark if you will.  You know, small, feisty, possessed of a potty mouth at times.  Art?
Image result for arya stark
Also a killer bodkin
     Right, what outstanding ability does she have?  Why, that of being able to shape-shift into another's form.  So, we give her an obsidian dagger, or five, after giving her some training in throwing them.  She hides ahead of the wight army, and before they arrive, transforms herself into - a wight!  Then she bimbles around carefully, getting as close to the Night King as poss, then - she shivs him.  Plus throws her throwing obsidian knives at the other White Walkers.
     Collapse of stout party, along comes a dragon to airlift her to safety, end of Episode Three, leaving another three for the Big Battle between Cersei's mercenaries and the assembled armies of the north.
Image result for obsidian dagger
No, Art, I don't think that will work.  Nice try
     Okay, you may talk amongst yourselves as I go and stir ten peoples-worth of bean stew.  Also, Edna is getting a bit whimpery, so I suspect her stomach is telling her it's tea time as well.

     <looks out of window>

     I say, I'm glad we got our two dog-walks in earlier today, the sky has a distinctly gloomy cast to it.  This is a mixed blessing because whilst rain will make the world a much more miserable place, it will also water the flowers and thus do one of my chores.

     Off to port over GoT!
Image result for game of thrones throne
I thought swords were made of steel?


*  And greedy.
**  However, unless it's a very robust net with high breaking-strain mesh, he might not stay there.  Our Conrad is a hefty lad (see first article).

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