Just because I've never had the chance to congratulate someone on not getting a job before

My random comment is that I went to buy a chicken to roast on Christmas day and have come home with duck. It was only ?2 more. I now need to work out what to do with it.

Duck is lovely! But it has a lot of fat, so you will need to prick the skin all over with a fork and stand the bird on a rack in the roasting dish so that the fat can run out into the dish while it's cooking. Said fat always smells wonderful, but I haven't worked out what you can do with it - possibly baste your roast potatoes?

Enjoy!

Said fat always smells wonderful, but I haven't worked out what you can do with it - possibly baste your roast potatoes?

Duck is lovely! But it has a lot of fat, so you will need to prick the skin all over with a fork and stand the bird on a rack in the roasting dish so that the fat can run out into the dish while it's cooking. Said fat always smells wonderful, but I haven't worked out what you can do with it - possibly baste your roast potatoes?

Enjoy!

I did duck 4 years ago for xmas - I found the duck-y smell of the fat to be a bit overpowering so had to be quite careful with how much of it I used on the roast potatoes.

Fruit flavourings work well with duck - I used to melt a bit of orange marmalade, stir it up with a bit of onion & clove & star anise and brush that on the duck before and during roasting. This year we are having goose, and I'll be doing similar stuff with it.

Cloves are awful

Cloves are awful

Do you approve of the duck and orange at least?

Cloves are awful

Barry's nightmare meal:

Grape and olive salad in a clove vinaigrette served with prawn cocktail crisps on the side

aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

sorry Barry,

I should be flute playing......

Have you yet today?

I had 1/2 an hour of long tone work this morning but then it's been my dad's birthday so had to stop. Then we went out, and I did a bit of work on one of my pieces but not very detailed work. And now I just can't be bothered.

With fatty birds such as duck and goose, its a good idea to torn them upside down for a while in the later stages of cooking to let the fat drain out (assuming they've been well pricked).Yes a fruity acid sauce is best to counteract the fat. Orange or cherries are most effective with duck, but Ive also had duck with a raspberry sauce (Trewithen Restaurant, Lostwithiel, Cornwall). Its also good to flash grill the top of the duck when cooked to get the skin crisp. At Trewithen they de-bone a half duckling. then flatten it, and crisp the skin, quite the best duck Ive ever had.

Electric trains with a third rail - the rail gets covered with snow, trains can't run.

Electric trains with overhead power - icicles form on bridges and short out the lines. If it's windy, things seem to hit/damage the lines very easily.

Bring back the diesels, I say

Why is the copyright date at the end of BBC programmes always in Roman numerals? (eg MCMLXXXIV = 1984)...

I've briefly come between BC and Louise!

Oo-er...
That's quite a feat these days!
How many xxx did you acquire in the process???

I'm sure that in days gone by that Boxing Day couldn't fall on a Sunday, and that if the 26th fell on a Sunday, Boxing Day moved to the 27th...

All the presents are under the tree now.

To the uneducated eye, I'm fairly sure there's not a harpsichord under there (my last minute request, which appears not to have been taken seriously )

I did duck 4 years ago for xmas - I found the duck-y smell of the fat to be a bit overpowering so had to be quite careful with how much of it I used on the roast potatoes.

Fruit flavourings work well with duck - I used to melt a bit of orange marmalade, stir it up with a bit of onion & clove & star anise and brush that on the duck before and during roasting. This year we are having goose, and I'll be doing similar stuff with it.

I had a job interview today. I know that academic jobs are really scarce and you need to take what you can get. However, this is a research-only job (teaching is where my heart is) in a different subject area and, having found out more about the research project at the interview, there is absolutely NOTHING I find even vaguely interesting about the job. I don't want to move to a completely different part of the country for a year to do a job that I have no interest in whatsoever. I know that 'a job's a job' - especially in the current climate - but would I be totally crazy to turn it down if I was offered the post? I'm kind of hoping they'll offer it to someone else, but they have decided to take up references which I'm a bit concerned about as it sounds like they might be seriously considering me.

Not even a sopranino harpsichord?

Well. I pricked the duck and studded it with cloves. Sauce was made from 2 freshly squeezed oranges, some seville marmalade, heather honey (local ) and cherry brandy. I have to say that it was the nicest sauce I've ever made. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

...
Well. I pricked the duck and studded it with cloves. Sauce was made from 2 freshly squeezed oranges, some seville marmalade, heather honey (local ) and cherry brandy. I have to say that it was the nicest sauce I've ever made. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

When was it I stopped ascending the stairs 2 at a time?

Feel a bit . Just got home from visiting my cousins for Christmas, wish I could have stayed there a lot longer. I must admit that I did miss my violin while I was done there, they said I should have brought it with me.

Glad you enjoyed Christmas with your cousins All good things must come to an end, but I bet you have some great memories.

Pick up that violin and drown your sorrows in music.

When was it I stopped ascending the stairs 2 at a time?

I remember thinking exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago...