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"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

Some good news at last, my brother is off the ventilator and breathing for himself. He's still not responding to the medical staff but it's a step forward. I still think part of the problem is that he is not responding well to the anaesthetic and so is shutting out what he isn't understanding. SIL will go to see him tomorrow and maybe he will respond to her.
 
Em stayed over last night and actually slept for 10 hours! But she's up now and we're making a cake for her Mum and Dad using some dried strawberry powder I had. It's planned to be a very fruity cake - strawberry sponge, lemon icing on the bottom to look like a cupcake case (the cake pan is like a large cupcake) and blackcurrant icing on top with some pink shimmering sprinkles. Not only fruity but colourful! Now I only have to find the blackcurrant powder. It has to be somewhere in the larder.

There is also a plan to do some artwork so I will no doubt be left with paint all over the kitchen tablecloth (not sure what the material is called but it used to be oil-cloth), so it's reasonably easy to clean up.

Guess I should do something about breakfast now.
 
Em's latest thought: "Grannie, is the moon solar powered?"
"Well, not exactly solar powered. It doesn't do anything to use power."
"But it uses the light of the sun to give off light."
"It reflects the light of the sun, it doesn't give off light of its own."
"That's what I mean, its light is powered by the sun, so it IS solar powered."
"Well ... if you put it that way ... I guess ..."

Her very fruity cake is done. Had great fun mixing a colour for the blackberry icing on top. So difficult to mix a Ribena colour from the colours I have. But we ended up with an icing that she approved as tasting right and kind of Ribena coloured. Then she decided to top it off with a single wafer biscuit, with blackberry icing dribbled over it. Nobody will have a very big piece of the cake, it is like a cupcake on steroids, so not proper cake sized. But she's happy with it,
 
Annb said:
"But it uses the light of the sun to give off light."
"It reflects the light of the sun, it doesn't give off light of its own."
"That's what I mean, its light is powered by the sun, so it IS solar powered."
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The sun does not shine out of the backside of the moon, only sir Johannes Bjelke Peterson's when he was state premier of Queensland then the sun shined out of his.

Edit: Inserted a consonant.
 
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Just received a letter from the surgeon in Inverness - the path lab in Glasgow couldn't find any sign of anything cancerous in the fatty lump that was removed from my breast. It seems it was just that - a fatty lump! That's some good news anyway. No good news on my brother though, which is far more important. Might hear something later - either good or bad.
 
Goonergal said:
Hey @Antje77 just been watching a back episode of Dragon’s Den, including a pitch from these guys. Thought of you!

https://haypigs.com/collections/haypigs
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I think this is hilarious!



And now I'm wondering if I'm a bad person for not buying my piggies this circus box for only 18 quid ...



... but have them make do with this inferior but free Old Captain caribbean rum box...
Do you think they feel very deprived?

 
Not ifyou let them have the rum, first. They won’t recognise the images or words on the box after a few tots.
 
Annb said:
No good news on my brother though, which is far more important. Might hear something later - either good or bad.
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It's not good. Not desperate yet, but worrying. SIL is thinking that, despite what he was told about the drastic reduction in temperature during the op allowing surgeons to stop the blood flow and therefore oxygen to his brain and other organs, which would prevent damage to those organs, he has suffered some brain damage. At present, he is only mildly sedated and just on oxygen, but seems unable to move or respond. He is being hoisted out of his bed twice a day and sat in a chair, but, apparently, he is like a rag doll during this procedure. He was told that the op had an 85% success rate, but it's beginning to look as though he is one of the remaining 15%. That's not to say that the heart part of the op was not a success, but, as SIL says, what was the point in having a healthy heart in a body completely unable to live a life?

I must say, my prayers are beginning to be for "whatever is best for him", rather than for a good recovery only. SIL is at breaking point. Not helped by the fact that her daughter has to go back to work in London and so there will be nobody able to drive to Oxford (a 3 hour journey from where they live and 3 hours back) for a daily 1 hour visit. £150 a time in a taxi. Cheaper to try to get a B&B in Oxford and just stay there for the duration. She is thinking of asking if he could be transferred to their local hospital now that it is just a question of trying to nurse him back to health.

Still, we have to hope. What's the alternative?
 
Antje77 said:
That is a very unlucky outcome, I'm so sorry for all of you.
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It's not a certainty yet, so we still must hope for better news. The thing is we all (including him, I think) thought it was a black or white issue, that is, he would survive the surgery and come back to his normal self OR he would not survive the op. It never occurred to us that there might be a different result so it has come as quite a shock. I think, had he died during the procedure, or had the procedure just not worked, we were preparing ourselves for the worst result. But now, we have been reminded that there are worse things than dying. But it hasn't definitely come to that yet, so we wait and hope.
 
Aww @Annb sending you a virtual hug - my thoughts are with you and all your family at this very difficult time for you all xx
 
Antje77 said:
I knew this forum was the best place for advice!
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I was trying to read the fine print on a ready to eat meal a while back, I keep a magnifying glass for this could night find it in the drawer. So grabbed in my phone and took a pix of the instructions. Zooooooooooooooed in so I could read it.

Might be of a useful tip.to someone , make sure that heating this product will make it hot.

 
Seeing as there are loads of chocolate eating going on in the other thread.

Here's a couple of Cadbury's advert that've has been alternating with some of their other "random acts of kindness" adverts.


 
Shan't be making any more bread this week - Neil couldn't get wholemeal flour of any type and there was no yeast available either - we're getting low on that as well. I've ordered yeast from Amazon since it hasn't been in the shops for several weeks now but I don't really want to order flour unless as a last resort.

I gather the Harris ferry was off yesterday - short staffed because of covid but the Lewis ferry was on so the problem must have been with the lorry drivers bringing goods to the ferry.

It's early so I don't know what we'll be eating today - possibly something experimental since Em is here. My legs are unwilling to hold me up right now - I got up early to put the bins out but walking down the ramp to the bins and then out to the gate 3 times - 3 bins to go out - total of 50 yards which for me is far too far, has left my knees and back protesting vehemently! Came back in from that intending to crash into the big kitchen chair only to find Em curled up, wrapped in a travel rug, asleep in it. It would be a shame to wake her so I'm sitting at the desk (also in the kitchen). Can't put my legs up, but at least I'm not standing.
 
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