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"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

My friends and I went to the travel agent yesterday and booked a 5-day coach holiday in Dunoon! It will be my first normal holiday since my husband died in 2011. I know I went to America to stay with my son 3 years ago but it wasn't a 'hotel' holiday if you know what I mean. Nor have I ever been with friends on holliday before so this is a comletely new experience. I've led a very sheltered life lol! I am so looking forward to it.
 
There's a big difference between a visit (to friends or family) and a holiday. Both can be equally enjoyable but they are different. Quite apart from the cost, that is. I hope you have a lot of fun in going to and being in Dunoon. Smashing little town - it was when I last went there, anyway.
 

Traveling with friends is the best kind of travel because you don't have to take care of them like a family, but you're not alone in a strange city. Have a good time!

Although I'm going to go on a short vacation with my boyfriend in early May, I realize that I would prefer to go there with a friend, because it's easier for me with her
 
@Annb, my mother and step-father went to Dunoon years ago and fell in love with the town so I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to Scotland before and it's such beautiful scenery. Ticked it off my bucket list. A visit to Devon or Cornwall is also on my bucket list. A 'Wingwalk' too ,altho I can't really see that coming off! Anyone else got a bucket list?
 
Left over sausages, reheated with a couple of dry-fried eggs for breakfast.

2nd meal will be a couple of twice cooked pork belly slices with the vegetables that they are cooked in the first time.

I've made myself a list of potential things to make for my young friends' reception when they get home to Stornoway. I've been told that their sister and family, who will be coming, are vegan, so have been looking up some vegan cake recipes. Savouries are no problem, but vegan baking is not my forte. Must try out some recipes and see if Alistair can taste them for me.
 
Zhnyaka said:
I dream of seeing Michelangelo's Pieta and the Sistine Madonna, but I doubt it will ever happen.
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I had dreams of travel when I was young, then married a sailor who took me to quite a lot of places around the world. Sadly, I was too young to really appreciate them and would have loved to do it all again. Forlorn hope, I'm afraid.
 
Annb said:
I had dreams of travel when I was young, then married a sailor who took me to quite a lot of places around the world. Sadly, I was too young to really appreciate them and would have loved to do it all again. Forlorn hope, I'm afraid.
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there is a big difference between traveling (to wherever you want, for as long as you want, to a well-equipped hotel with service and good food) and military business trips (to wherever the state wants, for an indefinite period, to military apartments, with young children who may need to change schools and you may need to change jobs) In addition, people who work in jobs where orders must be obeyed transfer this to their family and expect their relatives to do what they say without question and are very surprised if you don't do it. As the daughter of a military man, I can say that I would not like to have a military husband. although... personally, any marriage seems like hell to me, but these are my personal problems.

Is it full of romance when you're young? a handsome, athletic man in a handsome sailor uniform and the endless expanse of the sea
 
I miss posting for a couple of days and find the chat has turned to bucket lists and men in uniform!!
Should I stay away longer and see how much further you all go?

@RosemaryJackson we are just back from Northumberland and found it's like Devon and Cornwall were 20 years ago, ie far less crowded and easy to get around, amd cheaper too. Stunning beaches, countryside, history and nice places to stay and shop

Not much on my bucket list as have been fortunate to work through most of it. If you can't marry a man in uniform, marry one who works in the travel industry. The perks have been amazing.!

Long drive today, fuelled by avocado and eggs, with a pain au chocolat pressed on me by my retired GP friend.
En route only a few nuts , then cheese and cold meats when home

@Annb theres current posts on a vegan thread on here that may have ideas for your friends reception. I'll see if I can find it...
 
@Annb

Vegetarian/Vegan Low Carb Recipe Index

This is a work in progress as it'll take ages to get all the suitable recipes indexed here, so please bear with me as I'll mainly be doing this during my lunch hour at work. Please feel free to suggest other recipes on the forum that should be added to this.. I've decided to create a post...
www.diabetes.co.uk
 
MrsA2 said:
I miss posting for a couple of days and find the chat has turned to bucket lists and men in uniform!!
Should I stay away longer and see how much further you all go?
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This thread is wild, anything goes and I love it!
Maybe I should see about getting another date just to amuse you with my stories?

@Zhnyaka , please keep interacting here to keep things interesting.
 
It was romantic. A handsome, athletic, merchant navy officer (still a strict code of conduct although not military), with a voice like Sean Connory which excited young women whenever he spoke, and a new wife a good bit younger. Starry eyed and besotted - both. Later we took the boys with us for a couple of trips but really it was all about being together on the various ships more than visiting the different countries. On those later trips it was all about home schooling while Dad worked, and learning to get along with a lot of different characters. It didn't do the boys any harm having a few unconventional months at sea and the family life together was good, but I failed to appreciate the whole experience of travel. Didn't realise at the time that Neil had Asperger's syndrome and his behaviour was a bit stressful, when it needed to be much better controlled. Alistair was just is usual sunny self, all the time and a great favourite with everyone. A slight cause for concern though that was - lots of sailors from lots of unknown backgrounds kept his Dad on the lookout for him.

Food was interesting - some of the ships were Iranian but the food offered was not-very-good European rather than what-might-have-been-good Iranian. We were on an Iranian ship just after the Revolution. At that time, the regime was getting as many people into work as possible and the ship was obliged to take on an excessive number of crew, some sailors, some not. The Chief Steward was a time-served and promoted steward. The Chief Cook was a barber to trade. Maybe he was a good cook at home, but he knew little about European food. The Chief Steward and the Chief Cook didn't get along.

One evening, the meal was pizza - just ready made pizzas out of the freezer, no salad or anything with it. The Chief Steward had decided that the pizzas were not really very good and wanted a cheese sauce to be served along with it and told the Ch Cook that what he wanted was a recipe from the recipe book. He gave the number, so there would be no mistake, but he got the number wrong. At that meal, the pizzas were served and the steward (a man who reminded me of Manuel in Fawlty Towers) came round with a jug of the sauce murmuring to everyone "You don't want cheese sauce on your pizza, do you?" Everyone around the table agreed, no they didn't, but Neil did and insisted on having it. He told us afterward that he quite enjoyed pizza with custard!
 
Had a quick look and the ones I checked were mostly vegetarian, but not vegan. Thanks for trying though. Found a website with a good selection of vegan cakes and traybakes, so I'll practice a few of those and try them out on Alistair.
 
Annb said:
On those later trips it was all about home schooling while Dad worked, and learning to get along with a lot of different characters.
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So you had to sacrifice your career and teach your children all the subjects yourself for a few months?


Annb said:
We were on an Iranian ship just after the Revolution.
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Have you seen the Islamic revolution in Iran with your own eyes ?! O my god! I am so sorry to see what great Persia, stretching from the Aegean Sea to India, has become.

MrsA2 said:
Not much on my bucket list as have been fortunate to work through most of it. If you can't marry a man in uniform, marry one who works in the travel industry. The perks have been amazing.!
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Wow, you must be a very lucky person to be able to fulfill all your dreams! What cool places have you seen?


Antje77 said:
This thread is wild, anything goes and I love it!
Maybe I should see about getting another date just to amuse you with my stories?
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Guy: "You asked me out on a date. Did you like me?"
You: "I just need a funny story for the diabetes forum."

Antje77 said:
@Zhnyaka , please keep interacting here to keep things interesting.
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Who's stopping you from talking about something other than diabetes without me?
 
At that time, I was a stay-at-home mum. I didn't do my degrees until the boys had grown up. I made the decision to be there all the time for my boys because their dad was away so much of the time. I was lucky to be able to afford to do that - lots of others couldn't.

Tom was sailing on Iranian ships during the Revolution but I wasn't with him then. When the boys and I went with him on the Iranian ship, it was just after the Revolution. We didn't go ashore in Iran - too risky - so when in an Iranian port, we all stayed on board. However, the crew members were very volatile and excitable, so we had to be careful about what we (and particularly Neil) said. Persians are actually lovely people, on the whole and I have many friends from Iran. But that's true of people from all over the world - it's just their politicians that spoil things.
 
Annb said:
I didn't do my degrees until the boys had grown up.
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So you went to university when you were over 40? It's really admirable! I would hardly have done the exams now, because I hardly remember anything from the school curriculum. When I was young, I thought that if I didn't go to university at 17, it would be too late at 18

Annb said:
However, the crew members were very volatile and excitable, so we had to be careful about what we (and particularly Neil) said.
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When you're surrounded by a bloody revolution, it's easy to become a volatile and excitable person, in many ways, it helps to survive. Fortunately, in quiet times, people also become calm.
 
I went back into education when I was 48, doing catering, started up a catering business, then changed my mind and went back to study management and admin when I was 52 (still running the catering business at the same time). Then did a part time degree while I was working, then decided to go all out for an MA while teaching. Got that when I was 62 and then retired to look after my sick husband at 64. Didn't really need the MA but I was told at school in 1961, by the headmistress, who had an MA in something or other, that I would never be any good at anything so I should just take a nice little secretarial course and look for a husband. In fact, that's what I did back then (well I didn't look for him - he just turned up) but later the comment rankled and I decided that I was as good as her and could gain an MA, under more difficult circumstances than she had. I feel ashamed of myself for having let the comment rankle all those years.

Just had a very late invite to go out for a meal. My (Persian) friend is coming to collect me at 5 pm. Just had time to throw a contribution together - spiced vegetables with cauliflower and coconut rice. It will be ready by the time she comes to collect me.
 
Wow ! It's so inspiring! I should stop saying that I'm too old for everything.

I needed to Google what catering is.

Have a good time with your friend!
 
I don't intend to be too old for what I want to do until I get too old to breathe. I am a bit restricted at the moment, but that's not old age, it's arthritis. I can still cook, I can still do many of the things I used to; just can't walk. But there are still things I am not too old to do.

You @Zhnyaka, are just a spring chicken and capable of lots before you get "too old",
 
Zhnyaka said:
Guy: "You asked me out on a date. Did you like me?"
You: "I just need a funny story for the diabetes forum."
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Perfect. If he thinks this is as funny as I think it is I'll take him on a second date!
I'll try to find one.
Zhnyaka said:
Who's stopping you from talking about something other than diabetes without me?
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No-one (except maybe only having my phone to access the forum at work, I hate typing on my phone), and as far as I remember we haven't talked diabetes in a long time, both on the open forum and through pm. So many more interesting topics between two people with somewhat annoying but mostly boring T1 without many issues.

But please keep on coaxing those stories out of Annb , I've known and very much appreciated her for years on here and there must be so many more interesting stories, I had no idea!
@Annb , you're a generation above me, and much older than @Zhnyaka , we love hearing about your experiences, it's like looking into a different world!
 
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