Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[maggiepie]

Celeriac is a thing which has never tempted me..... but now I get the idea from Robin of this layered cheesy bake.... I'm enthused. Thanks!

My other half loves layers of celeriac, potatoes and onions  covered with cream and dots of butter and baked until done, is fantastic and even better if you mash a few anchovies and add to the cream.
Have to say I like it too.

[Paddy Tobin]

OK Helen,

I could live with that.

Paddy

[David Nicholson]

Speaking as an 'unfortunate' without a gall bladder and therefore unable to cope with much fat in my diet, sounds great but for me "ouch!"

[Lesley Cox]

Speaking as an 'unfortunate' without a gall bladder and therefore unable to cope with much fat in my diet, sounds great but for me "ouch!"

How galling!

I'm ashamed of you Paul, Brussels Sprouts are superb, (again, steamed until just done then whole or rough chopped with a dab of butter and a little salt, lots of black pepper, and avocados are food for the gods - and me. Fortunately my N.I. sister has a tree and sends me a boxful several times a year. I love them any way but best of all, halved, the stone removed, the hole filled with lemon juice and the entire surface sprinkled with salt and pepper, then the lemony, salty flesh scooped out with a spoon.

I couldn't live without potatoes either. I'd be wanting to substitute chocolate! 

[Lesley Cox]

I must try the sprouts with star anise and ginger. That sounds really good. I cooked some sprouts last night, dropped one which Teddy grabbed. He didn't eat it (it was raw) but chewed it so that I had to clean up finely minced sprout all over the kitchen and dining room. He's such a lovely wee dog.

[maggiepie]

Lesley, I'm with you, avocado is food for the gods and baby brussell sprouts are wonderful.
I love avocado in salsas,  with asparagus, in salads, mashed on a chillie con carne pizza ( you don't put the avocado and sour cream on until after it is cooked), hmmmm what else, anything mexican, but maybe best of all is on a fresh bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, vidalia onion slices and a few capers.........oh bliss!!!

.......and then there are fiddleheads which just happen to be in season at the moment 

[Lvandelft]

OK, I can live with all these strange vegetable discussions.    Just so long as no-one starts spouting the virtues of Brussel Sprouts.  They're even worse than Avocado!  (shudder)

Paul, on the matter of Brussels Sprouts I am on your side.
It's for me the most terrible vegetable. 
As a young boy I had to pick them when freezing cold and afterwards I was forced to eat them too, because they are so healthy  .
(In those days you had to do what mum said. )
It's at least more than 50 years ago I had to eat them, an I am still (reasonably) healthy without them. 
When smelling them when they are cooked in the kitchen is enough for me to go as far as possible
Though I'm the only one in our family who cannot eat them 

[Anthony Darby]

Remaining with a somewhat gory subject, in Central Otago which in parts looks very like the wilder parts of Afghanistan, there is an annual Great Easter Bunny Shoot. I think around 25,000 rabbits were shot this year. While at the beginning it was a local event, with the farmers and run-holders whose land was infested doing the dirty deed (they work in teams of 4 or 5), the event has become famous and is now a world-wide thing, with teams coming from Poland one year, from the Australian and US armies and many other places. There are now so many teams registering to shoot, that they have to hold a ballot in order to keep the numbers reasonable, and for safety to be maintained. They shoot through both day and night. The men (and some women) all get to do their macho thing and the harvest makes it possible for farming in the area to remain viable.

I personally think all guns should be destroyed.

[Lesley Cox]

Well Anthony, the alternatives for pest animals, include some pretty filthy poisons which endanger native birds, farm dogs and others. It is not the gun which is the problem, it's the person who uses it, and his/her attitude.

[johnw]

Lesley, I'm with you, avocado is food for the gods and baby brussell sprouts are wonderful.
I love avocado in salsas,  with asparagus, in salads, mashed on a chillie con carne pizza ( you don't put the avocado and sour cream on until after it is cooked), hmmmm what else, anything mexican, but maybe best of all is on a fresh bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, vidalia onion slices and a few capers.........oh bliss!!!

.......and then there are fiddleheads which just happen to be in season at the moment 

Helen - Do you deliver?

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

Fiddleheads are...? Sound like something invented by Michael Leunig.

Never mind, Google has come up trumps.

[Paul T]

Croziers, Lesley.  Unfurling (or still furled) fern fronds.

I thought my Brussel Sprouts comment would generate some reactions, although I am most worried by those angry looks from Luc.    I'm sorry but I can't even stand the smell of them.  I have I think twice sort of enjoyed them, but they have to be exactly the right young and fresh, and shops seem to only sell old and bitter.    And Avocado is green slimey stuff that just feels allwrong... urk, I don't even want to think about either of the two.  Can't stand Kidneys either, for reference, although I am quite attached to my own personal ones, just not those that I would be required to eat. 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I thought my Brussel Sprouts comment would generate some reactions, although I am most worried by those angry looks from Luc.   

You should be Paul - you've hit me in my national feelings... 
Brussels sprouts are one of our national institutions such as the Atomium, Manneken Pis, etc...... 

[Anthony Darby]

Well Anthony, the alternatives for pest animals, include some pretty filthy poisons which endanger native birds, farm dogs and others. It is not the gun which is the problem, it's the person who uses it, and his/her attitude.

Tell that to sixteen families in Dunblane.

[Rodger Whitlock]

Speaking as an 'unfortunate' without a gall bladder and therefore unable to cope with much fat in my diet, sounds great but for me "ouch!"

How galling!

Lesley, you should hang your head in shame for a pun like that. What is it they call puns? "The lowest form of humor" I think is the right term.