Ant

I reckon it's time to move seats when the shoes come off and the pumice stone comes out.

I've always found twat does the job quite well. :)

You'll be selling Americans? Given that many of us think ED is becoming overbegiftshopped, which one(s) do people think might be first to go belly up should the economy head south? I reckon Moo Too would struggle against the local competition.

I recorded that. Haven't watched it yet. Not altogether sure that I'll bother.

I'm not sure it's what the area really needs. Or rather, I doubt the area needs quite so many gift shops - but whether this one or another already established one gets the economic, free-market heave-ho remains to be seen. I agree with ct that another clothes shop for men would be a welcome addition. ED's got some (but not much) OK-ish stuff. The blokes' bit in the White Stuff is pretty awful. Still, there's always Sainsbo's.

I was hoping for all three of those rolled into one.

Eh? Bona Gifts? Will Julian and his friend Sandy be working in there? How lovely to vada their eeks again.

This looks quite nice. Lifted from the Grauniads website today: The G2 weekly recipe: Radicchio and red wine risotto Allegra McEvedy Wednesday January 9, 2008 The Guardian This dish is special, deep and rich - not one for the fainthearted. Serves 6 (as a starter, which risotto should be) 3 garlic cloves, smashed 90g butter 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 red onion, finely diced 3 celery sticks, cut into small dice A few sprigs of rosemary, picked, washed and roughly chopped 375g risotto rice (arborio) 1 bottle (75cl) decent red wine 350g radicchio, washed and shredded 50g parmesan, grated In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, sweat the garlic in the butter and olive oil. Add the onion and celery, with the rosemary and a touch of seasoning. Cover and sweat over a low heat for 15 minutes. Pour in the rice and stir well. Add half a glassful of red wine and stir. Normally with a risotto, your stock would be hot, but this works fine straight from the bottle, it just takes a bit longer to cook. Allow all the wine to be absorbed before adding more. Continue adding the wine half a glass at a time and keep stirring until you run out of wine. Stir in most of the radicchio, keeping a handful for last-minute crunch. Finish cooking with warm water - around 250ml. When the rice is cooked al dente, turn off the heat and check the seasoning. There will be a multi-layered sharpness, as some of the wine is well-cooked and some quite fresh. Add the Parmesan and leave to rest for not less than five minutes, with the lid askew. Stir and serve, resisting the urge to overkill on the parmesan.

Is it just me, or does 'squashing the furry monster' sound like some sort of euphemism. (Not sure precisely what for, mind.)

I hope you won't think me churlish if I turn that down. Kind of you to offer though. I'll have to make do with my daydreams. Mmmmm.... goulashalicious....

The docs also recommend not to go back to work until two days after the symptoms disappear.

Me too.

I had it before Christmas. It laid me out for a bit more than a week. I think Polly D had it too.

It's a fairly standard Pizza Express. There's not an awful lot to say. If you want child-free then avoid it on weekends. If you want to take the kids, get there early (I think they open at noon) otherwise the high chairs will all be taken.

Made a chicken and veg stew yesterday. Am looking forward to having it tomorrow as it should be much improved by then.

Hm, yeah... 19k does seem pretty mean. (boom, and indeed, boom.)

I sit right by the kitchen in our office. Someone has heated up some food and the smell is making me very hungry. I want hot food now, but my wallet wants me to get a cheap and boring egg sarnie. Bah.

Women who walk right up to the ticket gate on the tube and only then begin to rummage around in their handbag looking for their ticket. Talk about a lack of foresight. (Sorry but it does seem to be women more often than men.)

Hello! Hope you feel better soon.

Ah - I can see all sizes on flickr again. Hooray! Here are my most popular pictures, first going by number of views: (How I wish now that I'd taken a moment to wipe the bottle!) And second going by the number of times people have marked it as a favourite: Flickr also counts the second one as my most interesting, but its definition of interestingness is - how shall I put it? - interesting.

Some plain 'ol linkage until I can post some actual pics. These are some favourites from flickr - all other people's photos rather than mine. 1. Eggs 2 by kjatexas 2. Daisy Lowe by Kai Z Feng Photography 3. Untitled by frischmilch http://www.flickr.com/photos/frischmilch/1536483415/ Nice editing - thank you Mockers.

Lovely stuff everyone. I was going to post some pics from flickr but they All Sizes link doesn't seem to be working for me so I can't for now.

I've always found the staff in Threshers friendly, but I've also often found them a bit lacking when it comes to knowledge about their stock. Although one person in particular did say she was about to attend some training, so perhaps things will improve. They staff in Green and Blue and Nicolas always seem to know their stuff.

For Me. /obscure pun

I may try it out now that it's had some time to settle down. After all, it is just at the end of my road.