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CHATTERBOX

Chill out and chat with the foodie community or swap top tips.
NOTE: THE CURRENT CHATTERBOX IS IN THIS FORUM
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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Gillthepainter » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:16 pm

Aaaargh. Rail Replacement Services. Never again.
I got stuck on one for over an hour, with several people with colds. No escape.

Congratulations on your win, Dennis. Well deserved.
Shame the accommodation was stretched to its limits really. But you came out stronger for it.

I had packed away my decs and put the tree outside when we left for family on 31st.
So came back to a pristine home, with no post christmas chores to weight me down.

Final gift for me arrived this am. It came via China.
A circular knife.
Looks goodly lethal

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Renée » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:25 pm

I rather like that Gill and would be interested to hear how you get on with it. Was it through Amazon?

Poor you with the rail replacement service and hope that you don't get a cold. I always tell myself that I'm not going to get the cold over and over again if ever I've been in contact with people who have one. It has worked so far except for the time that I forgot! :crying1

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Gillthepainter » Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:07 pm

Well, fingers crossed I've not had a cold for about 3 years now Renee.
A chap was sniffling a lot outside the cinema but I was able to avoid him completely by going around the long way.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Renée » Wed Jan 03, 2018 7:03 pm

I seemed to avoid colds when I took echinacea Gill, but I haven't taken it for some time after I read that there was no evidence that it worked. Still, it might be due to the power of the mind keeping viruses away ... who knows?

I'm back home tomorrow.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:56 am

Yesterday I went dowm to Shoreditch so I visted the new pan-Asian supermarket by the railway bridge
Incredible numner of deep freezes, small selection of fresh ingredients. Lots of jars bottles and packets arranged more or less geographically, I nearly got lost in Korea / Japan though for some reason Korean sesame oil is filed under what I'd provisionally identified as Taiwan
I bought it anyway, though I'm slightly confused by the label mentioning Myanmar, I think it may be made in Korea from Burmese sesame
Very clean and well lit, which makes a lot easier than most of Chinatown
Longdan supermarket right in the Vietnamese restaurant strip of the Kingsland Road
They call it the Hoxton branch but it's very near Shoreditch, they have a few stores around London
http://www.longdan.co.uk/?mod=storefinder&sid=10

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Renée » Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:46 am

Aren't you lucky Sue! I looked under "Trees" and found Wealthy Trees and Kumquat Trees. They seem to have a very good selection of products, mind you, I used to spend far too much when I lived closer to Wing Yip's!

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:46 pm

Yesterday I went down to Shoreditch so I visited the new pan-Asian supermarket

No branches near me, unfortunately, but from Google Street View I see that the two branches in Kingston dominate the building opposite Bentalls!

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:50 pm

...and today's Mastermind contestant's specialist subject is "Chopsticks"...

A whole book on the history of chopsticks!!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopsticks-Cul ... 1107023963

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Rainbow » Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:00 am

Sakkarin wrote:No branches near me, unfortunately, but from Google Street View I see that the two branches in Kingston dominate the building opposite Bentalls!

Does Bentalls still exist?! I used to go shopping there as a child with my mother - a milkshake at the cafe was a real treat and the escalators were great!!
Happy memories!

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:42 am

I would have thought it was long since gone (I have memories of going there as a special treat when I was a kid too, my grandad and nan lived in Kingston).

On Google Streetview here, you can see it's still there, opposite that oriental place...

Streetview Link

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby jeral » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:14 am

The shop I'll remember is Gamages in Holborn WC1 London years ago (long gone) because it was several buildings strung together, with lifts and a maze of short staircases up and down to different levels such that you'd lose all sense of spatial direction.

Recently, a local equivalent department store became a wedding dress shop for ages and is now gearing up to be a Nando's restaurant. It's perhaps a sign of the times that food shops survive better than other shops, but pleasingly Nando's do have veggie fare alternatives, so better than empty-shop syndrome on a high street.

That Bentall's shop must be huge in floor area terms, or single-unit equivalents. I wonder what their survival secret is...

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:47 am

I've never eaten in Nando's (I should try once) but one thing I will say for them is that they renovate and maintain their buildings very well

Apparently department stores are having a hard time, and I must say they annoy me because they are (by and large) no longer department stores but inadequate mini-malls. It used to be that if you wanted a navy sweater you went to the knitwear department and someone helped you find three navy sweaters by different manufacturers to compare and see which was best for you. Now you have to wander round from boutique to boutique and the staff can't really help because they only know the range of one or two manufacturers and cannot know all the knitwear or all the jeans.

I used to like Fenwick's and Dickens and Jones.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Linnet » Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:17 am

Bentalls is still there, but very much reduced in size; what used to be the whole store is now as Sue describes a mini-mall, with all manner of shops, including a food court on the top floor.
John Lewis came to Kingston some years ago, which probably led to the changes, and is just across the road from 'The Bentall Centre' as it is now known.
We used to regularly shop in Kingston, but after moving house, visit only occasionally now, though it is not far!

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:23 pm

I tried to find details of the food court, but no joy, even on this official floor plan of the Bentalls layout, although there seems to be a chain restaurant outlet on every floor. Seems the "Bentalls" name is more of a historical hand-me-down, and as you say, it is now just a mall.

https://www.fenwick.co.uk/stores/kingst ... directory/

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Linnet » Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:19 pm

Maybe they've changed it again since I was last in - has got to be at least 6 months ago now. There used to be all the usual culprits, with quite a good Singapore noodles outlet. I'll ask my DIL who is a frequent shopper there.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Pepper Pig » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:39 pm

Of the food chains Nando's is one of my favourites. The food is nice and spicy and they do jolly good salads.

Haven't been to Bentall's since I went there looking for a dress to get married in circa 1980. I agree re department stores, they've had their day. House of Fraser are in trouble I see. Never liked them anyway. :stfu

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Gillthepainter » Fri Jan 12, 2018 9:52 am

We're getting a new John Lewis in our high street, they're renovating a failed mini mall that had pointless shop, like poster boutiques, candles and overpriced silver ware. The House of Fraser doesn't stand a chance against it.
It should be open by now, but is taking longer than planned.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:37 pm

They've ripped out the heart of the town here to double the size of the existing mall, and are going ahead with a fundamentally flawed pedestrianisation plan, which will make the new town centre inaccessible to the elderly and the disabled. (EDIT: There's already a huge John Lewis)

Anyway, my point is that the heart of the new hub is a ginormous new Debenhams store, so I guess the news of the demise of department stores hasn't filtered down to them yet.

From my point of view the only benefit is that it will include an Imax cinema, although I probably won't be able to afford to go there, and it will also kill trade for the existing cinema complex, which was thoughtfully built on the edge of town to avoid congestion back when people gave a toss.

Does Watford need more mall space? Well bear in mind that as you go through the main mall entrance, there are eight vacant shops before you have walked 100 yards, and there's my answer.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Jan 12, 2018 2:59 pm

Wretched diet.

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Re: CHATTERBOX

Postby Petronius » Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:13 pm

Oh my what an exciting day. OH has a really bad cold. Yesterday I decided we'd have fresh bread today and minestrone.

Overnight mix – easy. Up at 7am, bread and rolls baked and on the side by about 9. Start preping for soup. The fog clears, the sun is out. Off to town to shop.

Pop in pharmacy for Benylin for OH and chat about my cough. Normal advice, no need to go to the doctor until coughing for three weeks, now changed to five weeks. I give a Gallic shrug. I've only had The Cough for two weeks.

Home, continue preping – washing machine on discharge cycle and lots of water around my feet. Dash for old towels. Fortunately it's the not the washing machine but the connecting pipe under the sink.

Try to fix it. Ring plumber and carry on cooking. He arrives within the hour (story below) does the necessary, I give him a couple of rolls for his lunch – he turned down the soup. So glad, it and the bread, were delicious.

The context for plumber. Many years ago there was a mature student in a HNC Engineering group. As the end of his final year drew to a close I asked him about his plans. He was hoping to start his own plumbing business and asked if I could help. We found a couple of jobs for him and we have used him ever since including our kitchen and bathroom refurbishments.

The guy who turned up today was his grandson. Always they respond if we need help.

I wish we still had an electrician like that.

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