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Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:02 pm
by mangocrazy
Getting nose bumps off my cat.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:25 pm
by Yorick
Just read this story about my best pal and it really made me smile.
We shared a flat as kids then mates all our lives. He moved to France 20 years ago and we've been to see them there every year. Never known a grafter like him.
He's converted a huge barn into a beautiful house and has a tree felling business and builds clamping pods.

We need to get over this summer for some free beer..


https://actu.fr/bretagne/malguenac_5612 ... 73843.html

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:57 pm
by slowsider
Yorick wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:25 pm Just read this story about my best pal and it really made me smile.
We shared a flat as kids then mates all our lives. He moved to France 20 years ago and we've been to see them there every year. Never known a grafter like him.
He's converted a huge barn into a beautiful house and has a tree felling business and builds clamping pods.

We need to get over this summer for some free beer..


https://actu.fr/bretagne/malguenac_5612 ... 73843.html
Sounds like Brexit beer should do you:

une bière pour dame, pas très forte

;)

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:23 pm
by Noggin
I made a couple of cakes for a friend (their oven, ordered from a French company but actually made in the UK :roll: still hasn't arrived at their chalet, so she can't bake)

I took them down earlier and sat and had a cuppa with her. She so appreciated my baking (and the fact that I'll do more later in the week for her). It's a really insignificant thing for me. But I love baking and like making people happy. So that was kinda nice and made me happy!! :D

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:28 pm
by Mr. Dazzle
Noggin wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:23 pm It's a really insignificant thing for me. But I love baking and like making people happy. So that was kinda nice and made me happy!! :D
I've often struggled to explain to Mrs. D why I like cooking, she just doesn't "get it"....loads of effort for something you spend 5 minutes eating is her argument :D But yeah, you're right, cooking for other people is such a simple thing that's so rewarding sometimes.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:31 pm
by Noggin
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:28 pm
Noggin wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:23 pm It's a really insignificant thing for me. But I love baking and like making people happy. So that was kinda nice and made me happy!! :D
I've often struggled to explain to Mrs. D why I like cooking, she just doesn't "get it"....loads of effort for something you spend 5 minutes eating is her argument :D But yeah, you're right, cooking for other people is such a simple thing that's so rewarding sometimes.
No one 'gets' why I bake - I don't really eat cake and what I bake I generally give away!! I just love baking and when other people like to eat it, it makes me happy!

I do love cooking a proper meal for friends - can't do it where I live, but one day!!

(Guess it's why I loved being a chalet host so much :D )

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:12 pm
by Yorick
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:28 pm
Noggin wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:23 pm It's a really insignificant thing for me. But I love baking and like making people happy. So that was kinda nice and made me happy!! :D
I've often struggled to explain to Mrs. D why I like cooking, she just doesn't "get it"....loads of effort for something you spend 5 minutes eating is her argument :D But yeah, you're right, cooking for other people is such a simple thing that's so rewarding sometimes.
I hate cooking and Pen wasn't in the mood.
So earlier we walked into town and had a Sunday roasty. Beautiful gammon and a few cold beers in the sun beats cooking and all the washing up.

Just back now and doing bugger all for rest of the night :)

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:13 pm
by Mr. Dazzle
I'm hearing you're in the "don't get it" camp too :D

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:16 pm
by Yorick
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:13 pm I'm hearing you're in the "don't get it" camp too :D
Take a seat in the sun. Drink beer. Eat food. Drink beer. Walk home.

Yup, that suits me.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:34 pm
by DefTrap
I don't get cooking either. It may as well be Martian. I've tried, it takes up too much of my energy to produce something less than mediocre and I don't seem to get any better. But I'm fine at preparation and cleaning up, so it's no big deal.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:42 pm
by Yorick
DefTrap wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:34 pm I don't get cooking either. It may as well be Martian. I've tried, it takes up too much of my energy to produce something less than mediocre and I don't seem to get any better. But I'm fine at preparation and cleaning up, so it's no big deal.
I hate the cleaning and washing up. I'd rather miss the meal and grab a sarnie.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:44 am
by Trinity765
The day I realised that I didn't have to cook anymore I almost had a party but decided against it as I would have had to clear up after that too. These days, I cook the most fantastic Christmas dinner anyone has ever had and then don't bother for the rest of the year :lol:

I used to cook a lot (every day in fact :P ) when I had my family at home, now, if we have a family meal I cook it at my Mum's and I have phases of making things like bread, butter and coffee roasting for fun but I've more or less snacked my way through covid times. I can cook but as others have said, I'd rather spend my time doing something else.

I believe that is pretty normal in one of the Asia countries (Hong Kong/China?) that people don't have kitchens.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:54 am
by Yambo
I hate cooking. :thumbdown: You need to have everything in, it all needs prepping, you cook it, eat it, do the dishes and think "What the fuck was that all about?"

My problems are I like to eat and I'm single so I have to do it. On Mondays and Fridays I do a big pan of gazinty which will last me 3 days. It's either got chicken or beef in it, occasionally lamb and I mess around a bit with herbs and spices. It's usually got chillis in. I'll eat it with spud/pasta/brown rice, never the same two days running. On Thursdays I'll eat out if I can or have a pie that a friend makes for me - that makes me happy. During the current situation I can have a meal delivered.

I think that the most arguments the wife and I ever had were over "What do you want for dinner?" She liked cooking and was good at it but would run out of ideas. My answer was usually the same - "Food." or "Put it in front of me and I'll eat it." With her gone (10 years now) I know where she was coming from so I cook much the same thing with some simple variations. If I want something different or just fancy a real change I'll eat out and put that night's meal in the freezer. If I get invited out for dinner, I never refuse and show my appreciation by turning up with wine/beer/rakı but it'll always be a good meal. :D To reciprocate I'll take them to a restaurant as there's no way I'm going to cook for people. I have too much other stuff to do to stand around destroying fresh food for others. Oh, and It'd take a few days to get the house in shape for visitors. :lol:

You shouldn't get the wrong idea though - I eat fairly well. I'm off to the market shortly to get the fresh fruit and veg for tonight's gazinty. :P

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:02 am
by Mr. Dazzle
Yambo wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:54 am "What do you want for dinner?" She liked cooking and was good at it but would run out of ideas. My answer was usually the same - "Food." or "Put it in front of me and I'll eat it." With her gone (10 years now) I know where she was coming from so I cook much the same thing with some simple variations.
I like cooking and have since I was a kid, but I still struggle with the same thing. I think everyone does!

For about 2 years now Mrs D and I have been getting all our weekday meals delivered in kit form from Gousto. They send you a big box once a week with all the ingredients and the recipes and away you go. None of it is ready meals, its all fresh ingredients.

We started doing it for convenience and so that we'd eat 'proper' food every day, but by far and away the best thing about it is removing the "what shall we have for dinner?" element.

I like cooking but I often have brain freezes about what to cook! Gousto has solved that problem. I think we probably only do "repeats" two or three times a year.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:37 am
by Yambo
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:02 am
I like cooking and have since I was a kid, but I still struggle with the same thing. I think everyone does!

For about 2 years now Mrs D and I have been getting all our weekday meals delivered in kit form from Gousto.
A friend in the UK was telling me about Gousto a couple of weeks ago. Seems like a good idea but I simply don't want to stand and cook every evening. It's enough to boil a spud or rice (and only 8 minutes for pasta so I usually have that on day 3 as meal prep only takes 10 minutes!), dump some stew on top and get eating.

My mum died when I was 16 and I think she knew she wouldn't be around too long so taught me to cook and do all the other stuff to look after myself. I could still darn socks if I needed to. :lol: But I don't enjoy it. There's an old saying "If you don't eat,you don't shit and if you don't shit, you don't eat. Eating's good, cooking is just a necessary evil. :P

Food is simply fuel really isn't it. It doesn't need to be cordon bleu all the time.

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:46 am
by Mr. Dazzle
Yambo wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:37 am
Food is simply fuel really isn't it.
This is the key difference in attitude I thibk. "No" would be my answer to that.

There are very very few pleasures I would prioritise over food. :D

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:40 am
by gremlin
Tits.

I have a birdbox hanging on a tree that I made years ago when the kid was knee high. Every year the same blue tits (I assume the same, though they all look the same to me) rock up and take up residence in it.

Just sitting having a bit of brekkie and bugger me, the male (again assumption, no idea how you sex a tit) is back, checking out the tree, jumping all around the box before tentatively going inside. I have no idea why, but I find their antics captivating, particularly when they have chicks and are constantly bring food to them. I must be getting right old. :lol:

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:43 am
by Yambo
gremlin wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:40 am Tits.

I have a birdbox hanging on a tree that I made years ago when the kid was knee high. Every year the same blue tits (I assume the same, though they all look the same to me) rock up and take up residence in it.

Just sitting having a bit of brekkie and bugger me, the male (again assumption, no idea how you sex a tit) is back, checking out the tree, jumping all around the box before tentatively going inside. I have no idea why, but I find their antics captivating, particularly when they have chicks and are constantly bring food to them. I must be getting right old. :lol:

I think tits they only live for about 3 years so . . . :thumbdown:

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:49 pm
by Taipan
Yorick wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:25 pm Just read this story about my best pal and it really made me smile.
We shared a flat as kids then mates all our lives. He moved to France 20 years ago and we've been to see them there every year. Never known a grafter like him.
He's converted a huge barn into a beautiful house and has a tree felling business and builds clamping pods.

We need to get over this summer for some free beer..


https://actu.fr/bretagne/malguenac_5612 ... 73843.html
It's in foreign speak. What's he done then?

Re: Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:13 pm
by gremlin
Don't know about happy, but makes me laugh....


One of Mrs G.'s favourite dinners was either a piece of pan-fried white fish or chicken, served with sliced Brussels sprouts fried in a little coconut oil. :sick:

It's now been usurped by minced turkey breast, fried in a little coconut oil, with a side of boiled and mashed cauliflower. To say it looks and tastes 'bland' would be an understatement.

Given her skill and flair in the kitchen, I find this truly bizarre.