Hanwell Flight, Grand Union Canal

D

Well, I lived in Hanwell as a kid between the ages of 4 and 7 and I remember this lock! So on nostalgia grounds and because I like it anyway, I give it a YS. BTW what does D mean! I've never understood this text code stuff!

D means diarr, as Howard explains on this link.
www.ipernity.com/doc/isisbridge/24878413

All my best pictures get a "D". What's a "YS"?

This picture, I admit, isn't an all-time great but was IMHO good enough to be uploaded. The other shot, of Asylum Lock, I'm actually quite pleased with, and that, if the water, bottom right, had been still would have been even better.

It was a slightly strange day. We (I was on an organised walk) walked from Brentford to Hayes via Southall, where we stopped for lunch in - the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha. All comers are admitted (provided they remove their shoes and wear the right head covering) and may eat there free - the giant, self-service, volunteer-run "cafeteria" on the ground floor is open and serves (rather hot and spicy) food from dawn to dusk 7 days a week. Quite an experience.

YS means 'you suck'. Not sure of the relevance here.

I do suck - or at least have been during these last two week - Strepsils. With a sore throat they do help a bit.

Strepsils and curry should banish any flu!

Idakok. I like traditional British pies but am wary of ordering them in pubs etc. because (and there's no way of knowing beforehand) they vary enormously in quality, and the worst (e.g. Pukka Pies) are absolutely horrible.

I miss the old working men's cafes, where the grub was cooked on the premises, with large helpings at reasonable prices. Today's special: cottage pie and peas, followed by sponge and custard.

Very nice (as long as the pie isn't full of gravy or other soggy gunge) but those cafes only served that stuff at lunchtime, and I don't normally eat cooked meals then.

I was rather partial to transport caf's breakfasts myself but they had to have black pudding in with the full English; if not, I simply ordered a bacon roll, also usually superb, to kick one off on the right footing at sparrowfart!
Something I miss in Madrid (transport caf's, not sparrowfarts)! If one opened and was authentic, I would be a happy patron and it would, of course, be awarded a YS (yellow star) by me!
I'm currently in Cornwall for family reasons and I have to find such a breakfast at least once before I return to Spain!

I have a feeling that Howard doesn't like black pudding. He's very particular.

No. When I have a full English breakfast I order it with no black pudding (which I don't like), no tomatoes (because I don't like grilled tomatoes, and tinned tomatoes make everything on the plate wet), no fried bread (there's enough grease on the plate already) and no baked beans, which contaminate everything else with tomato sauce.

But the challenge remains in getting what remains (the bacon, egg, hash brown, mushroom and sausage) served hot. In some places (out of laziness and complacency) the warm food is plonked straight down on a cold plate, rendering it instantly horrible. In hotels with buffet breakfasts I get round this by pre-heating the plate on a toaster.

But even when the cooked breakfast is both good and served hot I can only have it for a maximum of 3 days in a row before my stomach begins to rebel against the grease. Like most people nowadays I never have it at home.

Would you feel safer with a cheese omelette? Oh, no, you don't like cheese either.

I like omelettes when they're properly cooked through, even cheese ones (the obnoxious taste of raw cheese disappears when it's melted and still warm) but here at home I just can't get them right - gas low or high, they come out too thick, dry and solid. Should I try diluting the beat-up egg more before it goes into the frying pan?

The proper way to cook an omelette is to separate the white and yolks, whisk the white to a froth and then fold it together with the beaten yolk and add to a lightly greased hot pan. When the underside is sufficiently cooked to peel from the pan, place the pan beneath a warm grill until the top rises. I used to do them for my friend on my caravan calor gas stove, but frankly it's not worth the effort just for oneself.

My mother never did any of that. When the beaten yolk+white went in the frying pan it quickly solidified in a THIN layer which she then pushed sideways with a spatula - it folded up easily into multiple, concertina-layers - and still-liquid egg then flowed into the vacated space in the pan, and in turn was added to the concertina until all was solid. When I try, the liquid forms a dense layer too thick to fold and all I can do is flip it over in its entirety.

It depends on whether you like your omelette fluffy.
Mine were light as air and more than an inch thick.

Your version sounds more like mixed-up fried egg.

Neither thick nor fluffy - just thin and foldable.

Then I suggest you put less mixture in the pan, or get a bigger pan.
You said you were 'diluting' it. What with? Milk? Milk is heavy.
Too much milk and you will have a scrambled pancake.

No, not milk - water. But frying it in two stages, putting half the mixture in the pan each time - there's an idea.