SuperGoose75

So is there a convenient way of putting a photo on the forum from a smart phone? Is photobucket still a thing? I used to be able to upload from the laptop using that, but about 95% of my time on here is from using the phone. I'm not very savy at all when it comes to technology. It seems a breeze for some people to upload photos. Any help appreciated.

I met a few celebs over the years. Met Henry Cooper as a boy and fist clenched Nigel Benn whilst we talked in a nightclub and talked about the McClelland fight. I challenged Brian O'Driscoll(Bod) to an arm wrestle but he never gave me my glory so that doesn't really count😃 I think my real claim is getting a ''Smacker on the lips'' off Whigfield! It wasn't a Saturday night,but the air was getting hot🔥 and I also had a wee smooch with one of the backing singers! I have witnesses. I was a handsome boy back in the day lol They wouldn't look twice at me now👴

The one we purchased was the biggest of the dual fryers with a 9.5litre capacity. The extra money for the 9.5litre as opposed to the smaller dual 7.5 litre capacity is money well spent IMO. I use ours a lot since we purchased it and as put, the oven and gas hob gets used way less now. Even for fish fingers, I'll put them on the air fryer,rather than a frying pan now. I've found there is a lot of trial and error, regarding cooking times. I cooked 4 chicken fillet burgers last night (From the butcher, flattened with a meat mallet and then dipped on flour,egg and panko breadcrumbs) I cooked them for 20mins but I think maybe 17 or 18 mins may have been better as they were a bit on the dry side. I have found this with sausages also. I like to be on the safe side with the chicken, but 20mins was too long. Double drawers have advantages for sure!

Thank you for the reply👍 Teal has put me right. Ah, that's it! I pressed the arrows and now have the full forum categories displayed again. Thank you very much for your help.

The full forum does not load for me anymore! I used to be able to scroll from Welcome to PW right down to Food and Drink. It now gives me the option of choosing one of three forums; Pigeon Watch Community Pigeon Shooting Country Sports I also have a large advertisement taking up the top half of the screen. I thought I hit something by mistake but even when signed in, I can't get the full forum displayed.

Hopefully 🤞 Not sure if it was OTT or not, but it certainly was gruesome and I have no problem saying I put my hands over my eyes and had to look away,I'm very squeamish with things like that. I'd imagine the books are better than the series as books are usually better than what appears on the screen. I probably won't watch the series religiously as it air's, but will watch it in catch up when time allows. Daemon Targaryen looks like he could be and interesting character. I hope we have a stand out character like ''The IMP'' or ''The Hound'' or Joffery for that matter. Doubtful any will live upto them strong characters, but maybe it's unfair to expect that! Time will tell.

I never watched ''Game of Thrones'' until the covid lock down. I took the opportunity and watched a couple of episodes each evening from start to finish. I was a fan, brilliant series IMO and I had no issue with the last episode like many seemed to have. I watched the first episode of the prequel on catch-up last night and I think it has the potential to be pretty good. It doesn't have all the familiar faces of GOT, but anything with Paddy Considine in, is usually quality. Any fans?

Had my first McDonald's at the age of 14 on a weekend away in Dublin, as there was none locally. Hadn't another until 20yrs later on a lads holiday in the canary Islands. Was not a fan of the ''Big Mac'' wasn't a fan of gherkins or the sauce. Despite branches becoming more localised and within reach, I never ventured in their doors until I had kids of my own. I try and promote healthy eating and homecooked dinners, but what child doesn't like a ''Mike'y D's'' now and again. My girl loves their chicken nuggets and my boy gets plain burgers with red sauce. I'd be a bit of a food snob and was reluctant to be seen in a McDonald's at a time. But over the years that has all changed. With the Children's sports and classes ect..in the evenings at different times and with not many free weekday evenings we use McDonald's on a regular basis if its too late to cook. I often go in but only get a coffee until the kids eat and then grab something from somewhere else after. Still not a fan of their burgers unless the ''Big Tasty'' is on, and that is with cheese and without the big tasty sauce, and I put barbecue sauce on instead. The little chicken wraps aren't bad either, but wouldn't fill a hole in your back tooth. I ordered their plant burger one evening as I was watching my weight, and guess what? It wasn't too bad at all..you wouldn't lick your lips thinking about it, but it was edible. PS Regarding Italian food, Pizzerias and Chinese takeaways..Then we have outstanding establishments locally. The Chinese is renowned for its quality and cleanliness and the Neopolitan Pizzeria and bakery is some of the best pizza's and bread you are likely to taste anywhere. Expensive but unreal for taste. I'm into white pizza's these days as I've a tomato allergy.

Enjoy😋 I have a bag of ''Jam sugar'' in the press that's been sitting for a few years unopened. I may attempt to make some jam. One of my Aunt's ''now passed was a great jam maker. Gooseberries,Rhubarb,blackberries,black currants ect..! I may even be tempted to go out and try and bag a fat September, Stubbling Mallard and make a blackberry jus to go with it. Its the tradition of picking that I like passing onto the kid's. We will be out for Conkers when the time comes too!

Well after the heatwave finished and we had a wet day yesterday, This morning was back to blue skies and a nice fresh breeze. I loaded the 3 bikes into the van and drove the 5 miles to the start of our cycle route. 10 Kilometres of the most glorious coastal countryside your likely to find anywhere. The hedges were abloom with honeysuckle,meadowsweet and bindweed flowers, the chestnut trees were loaded chestnuts and the fresh breeze of the sea was refreshing as we enjoyed an idyllic day on the bikes free wheeling down the brays and quite country roads. There was a lot of pigeon activity and I could hear some shooting. Shooting in warm weather is not my thing. I was surprised to see that some of the brambles bushes were loaded with big juicy ripe blackberries. We stopped and picked a few and vowed to return in the evening with a bowl to pick more. This we did and after washing them, we had them simply with some sprinkled granulated sugar. We will be back for more. Mr Seamus Heaney says it best

Very interesting and informative Pushandpull, thank you. I also thought Robinson was very sneery with his comments towards Wildfowlers and Wildfowling. I've read enough on the subject to know what you have put is correct and factual. No long lenses or high powered glasses back in them days. And also regarding the artists that Wildfowling produced is even true to this very day. I think most of the world's best wildfowl artist's are from a Wildfowling/Waterfowling background. I found it interesting that even back then in the days of old hardened Wildfowlers, who you would have thought didn't process much of a conscious when shooting wild birds, when trying to earn a few bob would have taken priority over any form of conservation: would seek to protect the wild birds. I think it paints genuine Wildfowlers (who we know care and love the birds the most) in a very good light. Even as far back as Bob Pinchins day, and of course is still the case today. Good to learn that there is an actual creek named after the man. I have a a copy of Saltmarsh and Sandunes signed by the Wells chairman. I will put ''Cley marsh and its Birds'' on the to read list. Truth be told I haven't read a Wildfowling book in years, as other commitments took priority. It is something I am at present looking to get back into, and am awaiting books from two well known Norfolk fowlers at the current time. Thanks again for your imput👍

Whilst getting my ''Norfolk fix'' on youtube recently, I came across this interesting video. Now I have read extensively on Norfolk Wildfowling and this is one name that I don't recall reading or hearing about before. Seems he was a Peter Scott type before Peter Scott was a thing. The talk of Wildfowling on Blakeney is at around the half hour mark on the video. There is also an interesting black and white photo of Wildfowlers in the video.

The Swallows,Swifts and Martin's both house and sand, are all here in good numbers this year. The housemartins have been busy since they arrived and I love watching them building new nests and repairing old ones. I usually wait until they they have all fledged before cleaning up the mess on the tiles on the front door shelter as they nest above this. I usually glean gutters and all when doing this job. Last year and this year they brought off two broods. I was surprised to see them start building a new nest beside the current one on the 23rd of July. It was complete and the Martin's in it, in a matter of a few days. It wasn't long before I heard the young ones chittering during the night. There are lots of other nests in the street and I watched the young Martin's attempting to start new nests on other houses during the heatwave. I think they may instinctively know more than we do about what the future weather holds. Or maybe they are just chancers making the most of a good spell. The work ethic of these wee feathered beings has to be admired.

Yeah I do the exact same thing. The above recipe is for 6 pasty's but I only got 5 out of it. I used a bowl around the 20cm mark to cut them out, but then rolled them bigger and slightly thinner, yet still thick enough to work with and strong enough to keep the filling enclosed. I used a pizza cutter to tidy up the crimp end and to make a neat semi circle again before attempting to crimp (which I was pants at). I then used the cutter to put a few slices across the top of the pasty. I'm not attempting to hijack your thread,but rather add to it. If you ever have a go at making the pastry, you won't be disappointed.

Well I made this very recipe today, and have to say they were superb. I added some butchers mince to mine ''not traditional'' bit hey ho! I used some quality beef, a half a Spanish onion, potatoes and turnip, as it is called here also Now any passionate cook who is serious about and wants a quality end product,will make their own pastry.I said it before and I'll say it again, that homemade pastry beats anything shop bought. With the exception of puff and filo pastry, most others- shortcrust/hot water crust and rough puff are all pretty basic and straight forward and not really time consuming. I usually use a ''rough puff'' for my pastys and although delicious it is hard to work with with all the pieces of butter and you need to be quick. I have to say the pastry in this recipe was the highlight. Absolutely delicious and easy to work with. The lard definitely is the key ingredient here as far as taste goes. I highly recommend this recipe.👍

Yes plenty of sense in what you say! Some changes to the diet and put some graft in at the gym should help shift some weight. The full on middle aged ''dad bod'' has to go! The weight probably won't dissapear as fast as my hairline is going though 👴 I'm a man who likes his full on country style dinners, but I think the way people are cooking and eating these days are changing. Most Butchers here now, are making in house ready made meals and butcher shops care lined with fridges and the actual butcher counters are getting smaller. Like the air-fryers I think its all about convenience and less time in the kitchen. I'm slow to change my ways and enjoy cooking old skool! But like has been already said, the kitchen oven is getting used less and less since the air-fryer came into the house. I'm trying to knock back on the big Spud dinners, with pies,stews and casseroles ect..! I love my food but can't have it both ways unfortunately.

Yeah some changes are needed to be sure, although I'm generally a healthy eater, or at least I try to be anyhow. The air fryer is definitely going to be a help IMO Like something air fryed like chicken wings for example, is going to be a lot less calorific than wings deep fried in hot oil. And I'll use the chicken wings as another example to say that as far as taste goes, they are not far off ones being deep fried. We usually have a wing and ribs night every once in awhile (usually when the deep fat fryer oil is due to be changed) and the wings are done in this and are proper job to use a Chris Greene phrase. I've tried doing them in the oven to be healthier, but they never be as good as deep fried. I tell no lie when I say the air fried ones are not far off the deep fried ones as far as taste and texture goes. Tossed in Frank's hot sauce with butter and grated Parmigiano and they're as good as I've had anywhere including New York. Good to see there is other Air fryer/Ninja fans, they are definitely money well spent. The convenience alone is a big plus IMO

Yes we went for the Ninja dual zone with the 9.5 litre capacity. It has settings to Air fry,roast,bake,reheat,dehydrate and has a max crisp setting as well. Probably are better ones on the market that can do more things as you say, I'm a fan anyway.👍

So nearly two years off the fags and as a result have put on a few stone in weight.Its time to take action and after joining the gym again ,the air-fryer was the next step to hopefully help weight loss. I was dubious to begin with, that the food would taste as nice as deep fried for example. Well I I have to say I very happy with what I've used it for so far. I've air fried a whole chicken,chicken wings for buffalo wings, fish fingers, fish goujons, chicken fillets cut into strips and egg washed and rolled in panko bread crumbs. And also for homemade fries which were just OK in fairness, I think I'll par boil them next time and let them cool before air frying. We kept the deep fat fryer of course as you can't beat homemade chips now and again. I fave thing at the moment is making fish tacos 🌮 A red cabbage slaw, with pico de gallo , with air fried fish goujons topped with homemade baja sauce in warm tortilla's The air fryer is easily cleaned and a fantastic addition to the kitchen. Any other air fryer fans?

The very popular butcher in my village ''whom I'm very friendly with'' and I be in with 4 or 5 times in any given week, won't put it on the counter as it simply does not sell. It was a staple in our home growing up and although we all ate it with spuds and onion gravy, the bajasus was usually cooked out of it! Im lucky in that I live in the in land of milk and honey and am surrounded by near-by village's, a large town 7 miles away and a city 5 miles in the other direction, all of which have quality butchers. I've eaten liver from lots of different butcher's, and one in particular gets liver fresh in every Wednesday morning ,usually lamb and sometimes pig's' I much prefer lamb's. I usually buy a lbs worth and get him to put it in two separate bags. I'll have it for dinner the traditional way and my boy eats a small portion. Then the following day for lunch, I'll flash fry it until just done with some onions and let it rest, then slice it up and put it in a fresh soft floury bap, topped with the well fried onions and some HP fruity sauce😋 I have even ordered it a restaurant in Dublin once as it was the Sunday special, over Steak ect..! Don't think many young people would eat it these days in fairness. It's not something I would buy pre packed from a supermarket, but fresh from a butcher's, it is the food of the God's if you ask me.

I use a technique the Chinese takeaway's use that is called ''velveting'' if I'm either using the chicken for a Chinese or Indian curry. I don't go the full hog, but it is only a matter of coating your diced chicken in cornflour (I use a sieve to sprinkle over a couple of teaspoons) and then mix it together and then blanch in off the boil water for a few minutes. I use a Wok to do this. It's basically pre cooking your chicken before using it in the curry/stir-fry. The full technique involves using rice wine vinegar, but I don't bother with this. The chicken usually is soft and tender as a result.

A friend bought one 2nd hand after I introduced him to Wildfowling and shooting in general years ago. It was a fixed choked O/U with 28'' tubes and a fair big chunk of wood for the stock. I used it on occasion and liked shooting it as the heavy stock helped soak up 36rgm and 42grm lead loads. It shot very smooth and was lively enough with the 28 inch barrels and I took some nice ducks with it. Never missed a beat in the time he used it. I thought about buying it after he decided to pack the shooting in, but I didnt really need it. A no frills,solid gun probably in the same vein as Lanber,Bettinsoli ect... John Forsey used to advertise a 3 1/2 inch chambered 12bore Silma O/U with 36'' barrels and if I had of lived in the UK I would have snapped it up.

I have a mint 687 Silver Pigeon ll sporter, bought new in 2010 with the intention of using it over in the UK to go Wildfowling, as it met the criteria for the use of steel shot. It has the optima chokes and the fleur de lys stamp. It was the time Beretta were revamping the silver pigeon range and all the Sporters in the range..2,3,4... were steel shot proofed. I just liked the 2 version.(The gun stands in the cabinet having fired less than 1000 cartridges) ''at clays'' and was never used for Wildfowling. I toyed with buying the SP 3.5 O/U shortly after that (Which had steel barrels) but opted for a different gun that was more friendly on the pocket. A decision I don't regret. I assume Beretta like most other European gummakers will be making their guns in that particular prize range with barrels intended for the safe use of steel shot nowadays. Anything else would be going backroads as most people buying a new gun for shooting live game will want peace of mind. That said I've no doubt there are are plenty of steel being shot through guns that don't bear the fleaur de lys stamp. I read of some having there tight fixed chokes reemed out to accommodate steel shot safely. I've also seen plenty of photos of burst barrels and muzzles by shooting HP steel through tight chokes. I'm far from an expert on the use of steel shot as we here in Ireland can still use lead shot for everything. Although lead is being fazed out over the next couple of years Lots of shotguns guns getting handed in to be scrapped due to the ban of lead shot. The Beretta in the cabinet might get more use in the near future.

I tend to agree! The thing is lots of people feed garden birds for their own benifits/enjoyment rather than just for the birds. That said I put out a small fistful of seed and nuts and some mealworms on top of a wall for a pair of fairly tame Robin's. They come and sit on the fence outside the kitchen window to gey my attention. They haven't eaten out of my hand as yet! I get a wide variety of birds come into the garden. The collared Dove's love the seeds as do the sparrows. The feeder disease ''Trich'' seems to be very prevalent these days, so it is a bit of a dedicated hobby if it is to be done correctly, ie..cleaning and disinfecting the feeders regularly. I'll put a bird table out in the winter time again.

I disagree! I personally don't think Fury would have beaten any of the names I mentioned, and there are others not mentioned who also would have beat Fury IMO Liston,Shavers, Riddick Bowe ect..! Fury's resume is pretty weak in all honesty. Got dropped heavy by a small-ish Cruiserweight and only won that fight by using his size and gangly-ness and weight leaning all over the smaller man and wearing him out. (Think what a prime Mike Tyson would have done) Tyson's come forward peek-aboo style would have gotten inside and tore up Fury's body and Fury would be susceptible to deadly uppercuts by a deadly power puncher. Beat an old 39yr old Vlad in possibly one of the worst HW fights ever encountered to get the belts, which he then vacated and got stripped of the last one for not defending. His other big wins were against a Basketball player with legs and footwork like a baby giraffe and very little boxing ability, but had freakish punching power. Credit to Fury for doing what he did! Especially concerning getting clean and back in shape and turning his life around. But I think way too much is made of his movement. He certainly doesn't ''float like a butterfly's like Ali did! He reminds me of a Joe Bugner type of fighter. I think if Bugner was in the division today he would have done what Fury did against the opposition Fury had fought.On the flip, if Fury was around back in the day of Ali, Shavers ect..he would have a similar results against the greats IMO Training and diet may have came a long way over the years. But it takes more than that. Even today's modern fighters often go back to ''old-Skool'' training methods like what was done back in the day. ''Chopping wood" ect..! Plus them old school fighters had a hunger and rawness about them that you don't see as much today. Also they were all 15 round fighters back in day which took tremendous preparation to be able to get to the fitness level required. AJ has all the modern dietary and training at his disposal! Does anyone think he could go 15 rnd's at a pace like Ali/Frazier did? It's only fantasy talk and opinions at the end of the day and we will never know for sure. Fury seen the poor state of the modern HW division and he took full advantage of the situation and you can't knock him for that.