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Post by tod2 on Mar 14, 2024 17:26:23 GMT
Lamb Neck Stew. The neck fell apart but its in there somewhere. Was really nice.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 14, 2024 14:34:52 GMT
Yes, I too read Kerouac's Montreuil thread from top to bottom and recognised the pedestrian market street (Ave. de la Resistance I think). It looks empty and forlorn but have a look at it on Google and its full of people and open shops and cafes. Wonder what it looks like today on a Saturday or Sunday or special market day.....
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Post by tod2 on Mar 14, 2024 13:10:45 GMT
Tonight's dinner will be lamb neck stew. This is something I have not made for over 10years at least. We bought half a lamb because of the great discount price R89 per kg...That equates to 4.37euro or $4.78US per kg. I have a little chest deep freezer just for meat, bread and milk. (You never know what's going to happen in our city...or country. Another reason we have 5,000L of stored water and solar energy when needed).
The neck is given whole but sliced in disks...rings... just round pieces. Don't know who would get the lamb with no neck.....? Anyway I added carrots onions and potatoes with the usual ton of garlic and fresh thyme and rosemary, and a tin of Italian tomatoes, paprika and other spices from my bottle collection under the microwave shelf. I might do a photo shoot tonight.....
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Post by tod2 on Mar 12, 2024 13:21:18 GMT
It has been 2 years since I fell upon some interesting places to visit when tired of continually following the backpack ahead of you. I continue to click around my key bored finding stuff I will most likely never have time to see but I can dream cant I? This bring me to a street packed with shops and cafe's on both sides. Many seem to have closed permanently but I can bet another has taken its place since Covid knocked us for a six.
The Metro stop is CROIX de CHAVEAUX and is on line 9 - The metro stops in the Commune de Montreuil. I think the area is named Seine-Saint-Denis. Looks like a short walk from the metro is Av.de la Resistance. On Google you can walk down this narrow street jampacked with shops , restaurant, a butchery, and everything in-between. I think I would really enjoy a walk up and down it.
Kerouac - You are our guiding light when it comes to Paris and its alleys and interesting places away from the tourist crowds. I would really appreciate your views on this area and give us a clue to more like it.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 12, 2024 11:42:37 GMT
That looks like it was done Med style with the grilling of onion and peppers and lemons alongside the fish. With the incredible selection of fish in Paris markets and stores , which is your absolute favourite (don't count the cost)? The only Tilapia I have see in one of our suoermarkets is frozen but I have no idea from where it comes but I'm thinking Zimbabwe or even further north of us,
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Post by tod2 on Mar 12, 2024 11:36:31 GMT
I'll say! When it got fixed did they find the cause? Rusty nail?
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Post by tod2 on Mar 12, 2024 11:35:29 GMT
Its a hoot and toot from me Questa! good to see you posting again.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 11, 2024 9:52:13 GMT
I love the seafood display. Reminds me of the covered Marche d' l'Olive around the corner from Kerouac. We bought the most awesome langoustines there for our Seine picnic.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 11, 2024 8:20:19 GMT
So pretty - Prune or cherry? What a nice surprise it will be.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 11, 2024 8:16:04 GMT
I have my standard favourite starters when eating out but a little while ago I was tempted to order something I had never seen on a menu before. Described as "A warm salad of steamed courgette fingers, asparagus spears and baby green beans tossed with blue cheese dressing". Everything was warm and Al Dente, with the blue cheese dressing just coating the tossed vegetables. It was divine! I've made it at home since increasing the blue cheese a bit.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 11, 2024 7:59:06 GMT
Cheery, about the Cape Gooseberry. My dad planted some in a large area of my garden because he was making jam at the time and needed fruit not available from grocery stores etc. The result was we had them growing everywhere!! They still come up here and there so I have a poignant reminder of my dear old dad.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 10, 2024 10:11:58 GMT
You are so far ahead of me.....
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Post by tod2 on Mar 10, 2024 8:34:38 GMT
No dear Bixa! Would I do a dumb thing like that?! I just read it wrong....
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Post by tod2 on Mar 10, 2024 8:27:38 GMT
Mick, having got chickenpox you are a no.1 candidate for Shingles, especially at your age now. Maybe finding out about the Shingles Vaccine would be an idea because the pain is something else...
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Post by tod2 on Mar 9, 2024 9:18:41 GMT
ONLYMARK - Please tell me how you made the pastry shell for the sausages! It looks a lot like Chou pastry?
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Post by tod2 on Mar 9, 2024 9:15:35 GMT
No Mick.....I think he said TILAPIA, a boney fish from the Sea of Galilea.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 9, 2024 9:08:59 GMT
Thank you ALL. Your good wishes are really appreciated! I went and got checked out again with a consultation at the doctors. I do desperately need the new pain capsules he has given me. He was very intrigued with my pseudo Hernia as I am the only the second case he has ever come across. I felt much better in my mind that I was not going to go through this pain indefinitely as I now was armed to the teeth. And thank goodness I am because although feeling quite fine but aware of my left side being sensitive, I got home and immediately took the "In-between" pain tablet to ward off getting really sore again. Then that night the two "hitters" that were to see me through the night.....they failed. At 23.54 I awoke in pain so took the "In-between" again. Got to sleep and awoke not feeling too bad. Time for the ritual of the "double Act" pills with morning tea. Still feeling very sensitive but able to function at a slower pace.
MICK, I would very much like to know if you have any tingling or strange sensation on your skin somewhere when you get stressed? My doctor had Shingles on the side of his face a long time ago but the minute he feels stressed the sensation comes back on his face and that is like a Beacon telling him his stress levels are being compromised.
KEROUAC - I wonder if he had something more severe? Peeling skin sounds bad : My Doc says don't touch the little blisters even if they itch....? Have you ever tried not to attack an itch!? I thought quite a lot about your Grandmother when you mentioned how she never complained. I can only hope she made up a mixture of her own medication to use either on the skin or to drink. She must have suffered so much just like our old people do.
BJD - Yes you can get them young....I had a mild case when 14 or 15. And in the same place as now.
HTMB-& KIMBY: Thanks for your message!
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Post by tod2 on Mar 8, 2024 11:43:34 GMT
So I told you I have unfortunately broken out in Shingles....A chicken pox virus. Funnily enough if you have never had Chicken Pox you cant get Shingles. But if you get Shingles like I have because I had chickenpox as a child, you can give it to someone who will develop Chicken pox not Shingles.
So after I started having shooting pains on my left side for about a week, my skin got tingly and sore and very hot, I then developed the rash starting at the spine and finishing at about my left boob, I started to feel ill. High fever, sweating, and abdominal pain, nausea and just wanted to curl up and die. I then took myself off to the doc. She gave me pain tablets that had something to do with the AIDS prevention and another pill to do with a nervous condition, To help with pain and let me sleep easier. Weeks are passing and I've swallowed a mountain of pain tablets, rubbed on creams etc. The pain was so bad I phoned my Doc who was back from somewhere, and he immediately sent the pharmacy a script for much stronger tables. The gave me a whole box full. They are now getting low and the other night I thought I was dying. When you are thinking of waking up your husband and wanting to get to a hospital, that's the feeling.
So I decided to go and see my doc today as I have looked up my symptoms on Doctor Google. Apparently I have all the symptoms of Enteric Herpes-Zoster. Internal Shingles virus. Now I now why my left side felt numb for a few days. The virus attacked my stomach muscles and cause a false hernia by causing a lump on that side. I honestly thought I had a hernia and couldn't figure out how I would have got one.
Let's see what my doc is going to do about it. The Google Doctor says it will go away in a few months....Or the virus could travel via my spine to my head and give me Bell's Palsy and other nasty stuff.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 4, 2024 10:30:25 GMT
Oh that looks so good! I love pork belly because of the fattiness. For us tonight another dinner from Woolworths Food - Creamy Fish Pie, and I will add some easy broccoli. I wish I had more enthusiasm for cooking but this Shingle business is much more complicated that just a skin rash. I could be in constant pain for three months. sigh.....
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Post by tod2 on Mar 4, 2024 10:24:57 GMT
It has been a long time since I watched something as gripping as this murder mystery.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 4, 2024 10:09:49 GMT
Thanks both. That's very modern Fumobici!
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Post by tod2 on Mar 3, 2024 13:20:28 GMT
Just one more question. How did you decide where to stay? Friend recommendation or internet?
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Post by tod2 on Mar 3, 2024 12:09:10 GMT
That was a superb photo report Whatagain! Pictures speak so much more that words. Yes, Queen Mary's Gardens would look pretty grim now. But wait until June - Oh boy what a rose explosion will be there! Just awesome. I hope you go one day.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 3, 2024 9:49:41 GMT
Tod, you seem very capable of wearing them down, just like I did with the French authorities several times over the years. Whenever I grew despondent at the mammoth task of keeping HMPO happy by feeding them as best I could, with their ever additional requests, the sentence sent to me by Kerouac kept my focus on never giving in. That's the honest truth.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 2, 2024 16:55:59 GMT
Hello Kerouac and bjd. Yes the process is extreme but you got to hand it to the Passport officials when it comes to guarding the privilege of possessing a British Passport. The passport allows doors to open but for Peter and I, the passport will allow us far easier travels abroad. With a South African passport we would have to apply for a visa which costs a lot ( I will find out the going rate) the applications to the Embassy of France and England require a lot of documentation, but the worst thing is we have to prepay every train ticket, hotel, and declare our movements around France if we leave Paris for a short time. This is so painful having to decide the exact train times, and hotel or apartment. Payments must be submitted together with the application papers.
We should have done this years ago but still look forward to a few overseas trips.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 1, 2024 11:23:26 GMT
On August 20, 2023 I posted "We draw ever nearer to finalising our British Passport applications".
It is now 1 March 2024 and Peter my husband has received his passport, a few weeks ago. I still await the great day.
I would like to tell all the British folks on this board, that your borders are extremely maintained tight shut for anyone not having a relationship with Britain now or in the past. Even though my Great Grandfather (my mother's mother (my Gran) and her mother) was born in Abbess Roding Essex on 3rd April 1863, this counts for nothing. Even though my birth certificate states "British Subject By Birth", this is debatable even though I have never renounced my Kenyan citizenship and therefore have been a British subject all my life without ever knowing it. Coming to South Africa in 1946 I acquired a South African Identity number and later applied for a passport.
Let me start at the very beginning with the process of applying:
Step 1. Submit my original Birth certificate (Luckily my mother had kept this all her life in a file). 2. Submit my Unabridged Marriage certificate. That means they will not accept an Abridged (Original given by the church) Only the copy in Pretoria where all Births, Marriages and Deaths are recorded. This meant applying for it through a tracing agency to hurry the process. At quite a hefty fee. 3. A copy of the Baptism Entry for my mother or birth certificate ( I traced the birth entry in a museum, and her birth record from Pretoria), 4. Submit my parents original Marriage certificate. (Also applied to Pretoria). 5. Applied for my father's Birth certificate in Pretoria. Born 1919 6. My Husbands Vault Copy of his birth certificate. This is a copy taken from the page in the Register, and stamped by Pretoria as certified original. 7. My Father-in-Law's Original Birth certificate.(Born 1912) And luckily we had it in family papers kept by Peters mother. Also my Mother-in-Law's birth certificate was required but all I could submit was the entry of her baptism in the church logbook. Born 1919. 8. My father's original Birth Certificate. Born 1919. This also applied for from Pretoria. He had to submit an affidavit (Many years ago) to receive a Identity documents many years ago as his birth was never registered, 9. A full copy of my current passport - This must include every page even the blank ones. all in colour. 10. Proof of residency in South Africa, in the form of a Tax record, Employment letter (I went for that), Medical Card, Voters Card, Bank Statement or Utility Bill. 11. Letter of Authority which allows my Agent handling my application to discuss it with HMPO. 10. A letter with a photograph and copy of a person holding a passport - Passport photo and details of every page, and how long they have known me. They had to be a person of good standing in the community(we used This is called 'A Signatory' Letter. The person must be 18 or older, Working or retired from a recognised profession, Must have known me for two or more years, cannot be a relative. 11. Submit my Parents marriage certificate. (Again Pretoria have copy). Married Jan 1944.
So I spent weeks and weeks waiting for the certificates and eventually they arrived.
In the meantime we were over joyed when my husbands Passport came but not without serious drama. The office of HMPO decided they did not recognise my husbands Vault Copy of his birth certificate. We had to get our agents to convince them that it was the only copy available. At last they said OK.
Now for my drama: HMPO want more proof for my application.
The email they sent me read thus: WHAT YOU NEED TO DO;
1. Provide a selection of your historic identity documents from the time of your birth to the present day. For example: School records (I left school in 1963), Medical Records (My Dr has retired), Previous Passports (I went for this option and sent them 5 of my passports) Identity card, drivers license, employment history with Payslips , tax confirmations. 2. Provide additional family photographs showing me and my parents from birth ( in the bush of Kenya there was no camera), hi-lite each parent and when the photo was taken. 3. Provide additional photographs of my wedding ceremony which includes the guests. There was no photographer only at the ceremony, so a few photos taken by family at reception). 4. Provide a selection of relationship photographs of me and my husband prior to our marriage, all named and dated ( we met on his birthday 23 June 1963). 5. Confirm the names and birth dates of my children. Even from Previous relationships....which there are none. Only my son got a mention,
If I said it nearly killed me digging out all these photos....I'm not lying. I am not well at the moment but soldiered on and sent off all I could find. The Agent tells me HMPO will have my documents on their desks as I type this morning.
So Britain have no fear - they are making it very very difficult to get a Passport.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 1, 2024 8:36:21 GMT
We draw ever nearer to finalising our British Passport applications. Just the digital photos (not more than 3 months old) need to be done, and a copy of my fathers birth certificate which was incorrectly filled in - need the new revised copy.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 20, 2023 11:35:45 GMT
That Choucroute Garnie looks fantastic. I cant say I have taken to the taste of sauerkraut over much, but it is almost the number one ingredient that the body thrives on. Same goes for Kimchi - It is a fantastic elixir for the digestion.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 18, 2023 8:56:08 GMT
Terrific photo Whatagain I just want to be there right now! Looking at my Michelin map of France I note there are ferries to nearby Ile de Port Cros. Is this something you have visited? The sleepy village of Cavalaire looks wonderful to me.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 16, 2023 15:21:08 GMT
Thank you Bjd. He is in the very early stage with only one lymph gland attacked.
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