What's Occurring

Well, the weeks tick past and the extension still isn't finished. The good news is that things are (mostly) weatherproof, so the only reason it is chilly in the house is because it is colder than a snowman's freezer outside. The bad news is that the floor in the dining room has swelled up in one area and it's quite an effort to sort that out. We are going to have to move all the furniture out for a couple of days for that.

In other news I have been busy baking and cooking. Today I made two quiches. One was bacon, the other was broccoli and smelly cheese. I first had Shropshire blue at a cheese and port evening a couple of years back. And there was a recipe in my new baking book for this quiche, so I had to give it a go.

Christmas Duck

I think it was Mork and Mindy who explicitly pointed out something I had felt for a few years. It is a long time since I saw the show and have no idea who anybody is apart from Mork. But basically, somebody is trying to explain Christmas to an outsider (in this case a slightly deranged space-alien). They have no difficulty explaining what turkey is. It's like chicken, only dryer and not as good. So when asked to explain why you have an inferior bird for the most special of occasions, the man was a bit stumped.

I used to eat Turkey for Christmas, but not for a few years. We had ham for at least the last two years, and this time I got to thinking we should do something different. And I came out of Sainsbury's carrying a frozen duck. 

This isn't a food blog, or a recipe blog, but I will tell you my thoughts anyway. The duck cooked with no issues, and I made an exciting glaze which was sweet, hot, salty and umami. It was however more than a bit tricky to carve. I am rubbish at carving at the best of times, but we very nearly had Chinese style shredded duck for Christmas.

One duck, "lovingly" prepared for roasting. I should have paid more attention is GCSE science, because I was unaware than the insides of a duck were neatly contained in a plastic bag.

Nearly done. Glaze added, just needs another 10 minutes.

Not too bad for my first attempt.

I seem preoccupied by the mathematics of my glaze. It had four ingredients, and four flavours. So it should be that case that each ingredient is there to supply one taste. However that is not the case, and I am unsure what to do with the pigeon principle. Oh shit, there were five ingredients, I forgot about brown sugar. (Which substituted for the molasses I don't have.) 

Right then, a Christmas riddle. Four flavours (see above), five ingredients to accompany duck, one of them is brown sugar. What are the ingredients?

1, (6,5)

2, (5)

3, Brown sugar (5,5)

4, (3,5)

5, (3,5)

First correct answer wins something appropriate. Maybe a Subway turkey sandwich. Obviously, people who live here and ate the meal are excluded. Don't jump in and ruin it for everybody else like you did last time. Yes, you know who you are.

I will accept if you get 4 and 5 in the wrong order! One last clue, the letter E appears 5 times.

Project: Extension - Week 5

Another week has passed, and we now have a new room. It isn't finished or anything, but it is workable. We had our Christmas dinner in there. No major mishaps this week, just the power tripping out a few times. The builders are having a week off for Christmas, and we get a new space for all the junk to expand into.

Once the door arrived things moved on quickly. The plastering was finished, and the room painted. Still no floor or power at this point.

On Saturday the floor was put in and the paining mostly done. So I set to, making the dining table and chairs in the light of a rugged industrial strength lamp the builders had left.

The lights are on, but is anybody home?

Guess what was under our path? Another path. Genius.

Two doors. That's two more than we had a week ago.

This path is not permanent, but it's a damn sight better than the rickety bridge we had.

Project: Extension - Week 4

Another week has passed and it is clear that the two parts of this project are proceeding at different rates. We now have electricity and water in our new room. We don't have a door or a radiator or any lights or any electrical sockets. Interestingly, the floor is already borderline too high, and there is supposed to be some stylish laminate flooring going on top of it yet. (Only the badly fitting stuff is stylish, maybe this will be well fitting and boring.)

Nothing very exciting happened. Some drilling, some digging, some banging - the usual sort of stuff. We haven't lost any more mugs either. Although Winnie the Pooh is clearly visible, but tantalisingly out of reach in the room we can't get into.

The bridge of Khazad-dum

We have plasterboards and windowsills.

There is a new wall on the drive for me to hit when I attempt to maneuver the car into the garage.

That's not actually a door, just a piece of wood screwed over a doorshaped hole.

I quite like how this mound of rubble and assorted crap gives the garden hight. You can achieve much the same effect with some plants.

No scaffolding!

This pile of debris is even bigger than the one round front.

We have an outside tap again!

Although it looks like a trendy shop-like awning , I suspect that stylish sheet of black plastic will be removed at some stage.

Project: Extension - Week 3

Another busy week of digging and cementing and whatnot. Nothing quite as exciting as what happened in the first two weeks, but still, things have moved on nicely. The side bit has a ceiling and all the bricks are in place. The new porch now has some of the walls. (By that I mean each wall is partly complete, rather than some number of the walls are finished.

I can only imagine that glove is there so you don't hurt yourself on the end of the pole. 

The weather has been drier and quite cold which has firmed up the ground a bit. But the damage has been done.

Yay, generic fizzy pop.

You may want to compare this pile of rubble to the area as it appeared in earlier posts. Rhubarb 1, Rhubarb 2

Like all the best rooms, our new extension has an inside as well as an outside.