OK, so it was raining.

Was a bit wet at times last week so ended up watching You tube for a while, came across this
Amazing what you get up to when you cant go out.

You can fast forward the waffle, but I was thinking, does this really work?
So got some bricks together and made my own, it does actually work, no smoke, no smell, and quite efficient bearing in mind how much wood you have to burn.
I struggled to get the sauce pan to boil after 20 mins but it did get pretty hot, enough to cook some thing.
This was just an experiment and no food was harmed at the time of taking the picture.


Next week I will mostly be making Moonshine, hic hic.
Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place.

 

I haven't played with the rocket one yet but I did make an experimental solar oven to see if it did work and discovered, yes indeed it does so I went on to buy one. It gets up to banout 375f on a sunny day.

I did try making a solar water heater. It worked. It was to experiment with heating troughs of water in the green house for storing neat for the night. It was slow circucating because it was only by thermal siphoning. And I needed too much bulk of water to retain the heat for very long.

There are a few other things that interest me but it will have to wait until maybe the summer.

I'll watch the moonshine one later. I do have a large 26 liter pressure cooker

 

That's good Lori.

Dont hold your breath waiting for the moonshine, it might be a while before I get round to that

 

What? You're going to age the moonshine too??

 

Just be carefull as some bricks can explode with heat

 

I am impressed! I am sure the Bud helped things go smoothly. I have seen similar made on Jamie & Jimmy's programme. Going back to how the old folk cook here (some still don't have cookers).
You get from me.

 

The bud was just part of the special effects

 

Ok, I've now moved on, the weather is better and I'm thinking of outdoor stuff to eat.
I've now come up with the Multicultural cream tea.

It uses ingredients from the far thrown ends of the British Empire.

To start you need some good quality Devon scones, you then add, after cutting them in half, a nice thick layer of Wiltshire butter.
On top of that, (this is where it gets messy), a layer of really sticky Cornish clotted cream, and top it off with as much strawberry jam, (from Essex), as you can get to stick.

Serve with a nice glass of Kentish homemade blackberry wine at room temperature.

Put it all on a plate and serve from a Black and Decker workmate.
I really recommend the workmate for outdoor dining, especially the dual height version.



For some reason I'm feeling a bit sick now.
Must be the heat.

 

Hey you @pete , I have that same workmate down in my cellar. Didn't realize how nice a glass of wine and a posh snack would look on it! But there is a 10" Makita saw sitting on it at the moment and I don't feel like moving it. Fine dining will have to wait for another time.

It is raining here and I am back to this monotonous sewing (there are 7 different steps to manufacture each piece) so I am breaking it up by doing 20 steps at a time and then 5 minutes of tidying and tossing parts and things that are of no use to me in between. By the end, I should have tidy workrooms and then have time to play outside when the sun shines again.

I'm planning to play a bit more with solar powering other functions out in the greenhouses. Oh, and I'm rewiring the rest of my electric fence when things dry out. My hair needs straightening anyway..

 

Not good that the weather seems so bad there, is it normally like this at this time?

Good to hear you're keeping busy, I'm sure the sun will come back.

 

We are about three weeks behind the "normal" temps and right now we are getting our "April" showers. Oh well, free water is better than no water

 

Oh well it hasn't been raining,
Is this what you call a bottle palm?

 

Good fun @pete . I've never tried a Stella and I can't read the label on the other one so

I like a Grolsch or a Lowenbrau or something along those lines. I tried an Indian beer whilst at dinner after Shineyland and it was nice too but I don't remember it's name. @ARMANDII would probably remember it.

Maybe I'll have a try at seeing if I can compete with your garden chachis!

 

The best ones are the ones that are on offer @CanadianLori

But I do draw the line at some, the Bud, red labeled one is a bit borderline, just a bit too light for my likings but its cheaper at the moment, my favourite would be Peroni, but that is never on offer, or only rarely.
Not into so called real ales, I'd need to grow a beard and smoke a pipe to get into them I think.

Having said that some smaller breweries are doing some really nice beers these days, Innes and Gunn are a good un from Edinburgh.

Some of the local ones are good also, but pricey.

 

Oh, Budweiser. American beer is a lot lighter than Canadian domestic. Back when I used to camp, a couple of the gals on the next site and I drank most their case of Bud and mine of Molson Stock. Our cases hold 24. Hangovers all round. But the camp fire was good and we didn't get too badly chewed by the bugs. And none of us bothered lighting up our naptha stoves the next morning to make breakfast. Fuel saved.

Molson stock used to be heavy beer. Now to me, they all taste like asparin and I'm guessing that's why I switched to European beers.

I switched to spritzers when my backside got a full axe handle wide. But I still very much enjoy a beer.

But I will still figure out a garden feature themed in line withi the master..

Oh, and forgot to mention that your brick stove would be a great place for a pot of slow cooked ingredients. Enough to heat to simmer but not boil over