Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 10 December 2017

No snow here - yet - but LOTS and LOTS of rain.  And high winds.  But thinking of Annette, so not complaining, even though there were branches down and water across some of the country roads I needed to use earlier this morning.

OG   Do hope that EE is pain free soon.

Good job we didn't make the trek around the corner - chef snowed in!!!!!!!

Sorry you missed your lunch out, ForestBoar.

OG - Hope EE is soon recovered.

We've stayed in, after our travels of yesterday - I've taken the opportunity to sit and write most of our Christmas cards ready to post and distribute.

On Friday, we served our dinner of Lamb, twice cooked using a James Martin recipe - you roast a shoulder of Lamb with veg and thyme, plus beef stock and red wine, slowly for two hours (I did mine for longer). Then you remove the meat, let it cool and break it into pieces, which you put back into the savoury gravy then cover the dish with sliced potatoes, then bake for 30-40 minutes. Yum! I made plum pie with some of our own plums, and we lingered over some cheese & biscuits before our coffees. A nice evening and I was relieved that all turned out well, as my Friend is such a good cook and far more adventurous than I.

These are aerial photos taken an hour or so from above Carpinteria - about 15 mins down the road from us. The fire is now burning mostly in the back country wilderness which firefighters are letting go in favor of protecting south and west (inhabited/agricultural) edges.  Air quality/ash is the worst I've seen. Just back from hardware store which had pallets of special N95 masks that were selling like hot cakes! I bought a 10-pack. Power/cable/wifi on and off since 1 this morning. At 2, we got an (erroneous) Evacuate Now alert (on my cell phone), which had everyone out in the pitch dark wondering why as no sign of problems in our hills. I called local sheriff's office but line was busy - no wonder! 30 minutes later we got an "Oooops!" message, saying the original should have gone to people closer to the fire.

Don't think we're in any real danger of the actual fire. About 600 horses are being moved out of the Santa Barbara Polo club (they were originally evacuated from the Ventura area) and to the Showgrounds at this end of town....  Feel really bad for the wildlife out there.  Did you see the video of that guy out of his car to rescue a rabbit that was trapped between the road and the fire? Here it is:  www.cnn.com/.../rabbit-wildfire-rescue-california-moos-erin-pkg.cnn

Forestboar: Sorry about pub lunch.  Please send some of that snow.

Lindybird: Love the sound of that lamb dinner with plum pie! Yum!

Thanks ANNETTE for taking the time to update us. I was wondering about masks. Will be thinking of you.

Oh, dangity dang dang, Annette. I'm sending you all the protective energy I can muster. I'm sorry that you must breathe that ghastly toxic air. Good idea to buy the masks!!! I know you don't feel like you're in danger from the actual flames, but don't hesitate to leave if the situation gets dicey. Take your family photos and insurance papers and run. I hope you stay safe, and please know that I'm thinking of you!

Oh my goodness Annette. Diane has been keeping me up to date, and I have been really concerned about you. Needless to say there is very little that I can sensibly say, but I am thinking of you and hoping you stay safe.

As Heather has said, thanks Annette for letting us know you are safe. What a fright to get that alert! Scary pictures. Glad you have some masks and hope they help.

Lindy, your lamb dish sounds good. My kind of cooking. I don't eat  lamb, but  cook it for others.

Some snow still lying on the ground here,

I echo the worries and advice for Annette.  Fingers crossed that it will end soon.

We've had more snow, on top of that which fell two days ago now. A cold night forecast tonight.

The lamb recipe appealed because there was not a long and complicated list of ingredients. And it was very straightforward. EDIT:  It can be found on the BBC Site, under BBC Food.  It's called "Braised Hogget Pie!" -  this refers to a lamb which is older and more tasty, without the stronger taste of mutton. However, James Martin says that if you can't grab a Hogget, you can use shoulder of Lamb, which I did.

Hope everyone in the UK stays safe on the roads,  and warm.