Babble Away to win prizes! We have a winner!

[jcat]

What on earth happened with that link?  When I tried to access is I was told it was forbidden, and it doesn't even show up in the quote... 

@Mani I don't think my phone liked me using two @mention links in one post. :lol3: I fixed it. Today was really weird - everybody was having trouble with their smartphones at school. I don't know whether something was wrong with the WiFi, or the subway tunnel construction under the building was messing things up.

 

[ananya]

Hello from Norwich, UK. Monday is volunteer at RSPCA, Paws day (socialising cats) and my favourite day of the week. I have 4 cats at home, who at the moment can go out during the day if they want to but are in before dark if not already because of bad weather. I'm moving soon and a little worried with the cat side of things as they will be very upset about being kept inside, so am going to have to make a big effort to make sure they have plenty of nice things inside to try and keep them occupied and interested. They'll have a nice garden but it is VERY well stocked with all kinds of everything and I need to find out what everything IS and make sure there's nothing harmful ready for when 'if ever' I will be brave enough to let them out! They are microchipped, but it is nerve wracking!  Firstly I'm afraid they'll wander and secondly I see no cats around the area and somehow need to find out what the general opinion about cats is from the neighbours! I'm hoping with this garden being far more interesting than the present one and high fences ... they will be happy to stay in it ... but they are cats ... so will of course act like cats ... but it's the 'people' I worry about - as not all people are cat friendly.

 

[peaches08]

I love rice pudding! I've never tried making it. I should! Drinking a diet coke right now, trying to stave off that nap that keeps calling me.

 

[bbdoll22]

Getting ready to watch Bambi with my oldest as the littlest is napping. Wish I could nap too. Teething 1 year olds don't sleep well and keep mommy awake.

 

[christinemarie]

Here I am, sitting on my sofa drinking yet another cup of tea and watching the windows mist up.  :wndw:   Nasty, cold,wet evening and I'm happy not to be going out anywhere.....  Mouse is holed up on my bed, surrounded by his favourite fleece and enjoying some peace and quiet for a change.  Thinking about making a big pot of rice pudding to use up excess milk that's going to be out of date tomorrow. Might not get past thinking. 

So where is home for you, exactly? Sounds far from where I am in Cleveland, OH.
Mmmm... rice pudding is yummy... don't know the last time I had some!

 

[jcat]

 As for snow; well I'm praying we just don't get too much!  I avoid driving in it if at all possible!  Seriously don't like it.  If it could snow everywhere but on the roads I'd be fine with it though!  I'll enjoy it more when we get a wood stove and some way to run our well if we lose power.  

Heated streets to melt snow and ice would be great. It's not so much snow as black ice that I dread. I commute by train, and we have a couple of stores within walking distance, so I don't worry too much about snow, but hate hate hate having to slip and slide down the hill to the train station in the morning.

 

[peaches08]

Black ice...ugh! I used to deal with that in Atlanta, Georgia. Terrible stuff; I don't miss it at all. Very rarely do I deal with it here, thank goodness. What I have to be concerned about is flooding.

I loved my visits to Germany, roughly where are you?

 

[mservant]

Now, watching Bambi while eating rice pudding (without a teething 1 year old wailing in the backgournd) would be a blissful eveining. 

  And you'd have to doze off at some point!

Rice pudding is the easiest (cooked) pudding in the world, not that I can remember the proportions without looking at a recipe on the packet of pudding rice but if you go for the oven method not the stove top you just leave it in the oven till it's the consistency you want!  Use a nice big casserole dish, grease the pot and bung all the rice, milk, and sugar / sweetner in together.  Put a sliver of butter or margarine on the top of the mix, grate a bit of nutmeg or other nice spice you like on the top and hey presto, bake in the oven for ages and ages until teh rice is soft and the mix is the consistency you like :-)  And if you like the burnt crispy top don't put a lid on, but if you're like me and hate it with a skin then cook it with a casserole lid on.   

Way better home made coz you can make it as sweet / thick / thin as you like.  I don't use full fat milk and part sugar part stevia/sweetner and it still comes out creamy and gorgeous.  

     

 

 

[jcat]

peaches08 We live in southwestern Germany - the greater Stuttgart area, so home to Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) & Porsche, as well as the worst traffic in the country. We used to live in Augsburg, Bavaria.

mservant My mom used to make the greatest (oven) rice pudding, and it wasn't until after she died that my sister and I realized we didn't have her recipe. It took some hunting on the Internet till I found what I think was the recipe she used. It's pretty close, at least. I haven't made any in ages. Hmmm, that reminds me that I haven't made tapioca for a very long time.

 

[di and bob]

I've had a LOT of stomachaches in here today (nurse's office), I think most of them just don't want to be back in school!  Oh well, I guess it's job security! We are always the busiest after holidays and after weekends!

 

[peaches08]

Never been to Stuttgart, but as far as SW DE I've been to Heidelberg and the black forest. Miss that black forest cake! I can buy Kirchewasser pretty cheaply...I should look into that...

I live on St. Simons Island near Florida. No German restaurants here, just 5 star imitations of southern cooking and lots of seafood.

 

[mservant]

@jcat,  (OK, I know it's not working for me but I like to do it anyway 

 )  I have never made tapioca. You don't often see the dry ingredient any more.  I used to love it too, my mum would make it and we'd get what ever jam was open to stir in as an extra bit of sweetness.  My favourite was always blackcurrant.  

   Good to hear from a fellow fan, most people don't seem to like it. Possibly because they only had the 'school dinners' version.

 

[boulderaggie]

This thread is growing like crazy! :-)

Peace, All!

 

[katachtig]

So much lovely imagery of rice pudding on a cold rainy day. And tapioca pudding is delicious also.

Keg is planning a trip to Bavaria for us next year as he loves Germany.  We only saw a little bit when we were on our river cruise last year and fortunately that was before the awful flooding of the Elbe and Danube.

I hope Angel is Ok and that it is a minor inconvenience.

Aoibhe is right now telling me that she sees something that only she can see.  I have no idea what it is but she always gets excited about it.  My little orange girl is always excited about something.

 

[peaches08]

I've seen the dry ingredient for tapioca here and I've still never made it. Talk about lazy! Then again, I rarely make sweet stuff anyway.

I WAS studying, until the neighbor's kid decided to go outside and have a good scream/cry. It actually startled my cats!

 

[mservant]

Now neighbours, there's a topic!  I've got new ones in the apartment that adjoins my sitting room..... music students.  They're quite nice and polite but one sings and the other one plays yes, you've guessed it, drums.  So far they have toned it down when I've asked and they don't make a huge amount of noise that often.  I just wish I didn't have to ask at all.  Wish I lived in a big detached house  (actually maybe not coz I'd always be hearing noises and thinking it was a big boogieburgler or something).

 

[peaches08]

Neighbors are quite a topic, yes! My other neighbors, the crazy ones, have been quiet ever since one of the sons got shipped off to rehab. Police used to be at that house about twice a month. Again it's quiet now, thankfully.

 

[mservant]

Eek.  Mind you, last year I called anonymously to ask for help about the same flat next to me when my sitting room started to smell really weird.  It worse and worse to the point where I had to stop using the room and shut the door for a whole weekend, like I'd get a headache within minutes of going in there. And when I went out in the mornings the bins started to smell the same as was coming through the walls....  They called the landlord before going in to the flat and because the landlord said everything was fine and the smell went from my sitting room after that the police never went in to investigate!   Those tenants moved out pretty quick after that and the landlord had to gut the place before they let it out again. I guess we're all different. I prefer my home to smell like my own home though and not some noxious chekical that makes me sick.  Between the smell and the drums I'd go with the drums I think.

 

[andrya]

l'm back from the vet.  Fantastic babbling everyone!!!

l'm going to babble about how much of a star my cat is - he's a little trooper. No howling in the car, no meowing at the vet, no flinching at the shot, was purry and friendly to everyone, and he wouldn't eat the treat they offered him. l'm so proud 

 

[bbdoll22]

Can't wait for eggplant Parmesan tonight. It's leftover from last night but oh man it's soo much better the next day. Plus I have an extra tray in the freezer.will be having a green salad and italian bread and maybe a glass of Cabernet.