Villa Verboten (IT) - July '23

[Hayman]

nice... this was a white marble, though much that size. my wash stand top is white, too, and it is seriously heavy. And I have the once broken toe which still aches in bad weather to attest to it. the washstand quietly collapsed in a pile of dust under it... taking half my photographic developing kit with it, I used to keep my enlarger on it and all my gear in the cupboard before I moved largely to digital. Now the top comes out of storage for serious bakery. otherwise I work on glass that's been cooled in cold water. I might take pastry a bit too seriously lol....

What enlarger did you have? I started with a Gnome back in the 1950s! The Durst I used before going digital has a colour head which I now place upside down on the baseboard when making digital copies of my slides. I attach my Canon 400D or 5D to the enlarger column and fit extension tubes between the camera and the lens to obtain the required focus. I have never understood the bit about cooling things when baking. But I'm a Hayman, not a Baker!

 

[Sarah Waldock]

What enlarger did you have? I started with a Gnome back in the 1950s! The Durst I used before going digital has a colour head which I now place upside down on the baseboard when making digital copies of my slides. I attach my Canon 400D or 5D to the enlarger column and fit extension tubes between the camera and the lens to obtain the required focus. I have never understood the bit about cooling things when baking. But I'm a Hayman, not a Baker!

crumbs, I'm not sure, I got it secondhand, and any name had rubbed off. I suspect it's older than I am, but it has a jolly good set of filters for contrast tinkering. It'll take a 35mm up to just shy of A2. I've done that to copy old family photos onto 35mm and 54mm.
Cool-made pastry makes less heavy pastry, that's all!

 

[Hayman]

crumbs, I'm not sure, I got it secondhand, and any name had rubbed off. I suspect it's older than I am, but it has a jolly good set of filters for contrast tinkering. It'll take a 35mm up to just shy of A2. I've done that to copy old family photos onto 35mm and 54mm.
Cool-made pastry makes less heavy pastry, that's all!

It sounds as if you were only doing black and white. I remember using different grades of printing paper - from very soft to very hard - to get the right contrast effects. I remember using Adox printing papers which gave prints with plenty of detail. I did colour printing from my slides, using the Ilford Cibachrome process - it made very good quality prints, which I still have.

Thanks for the cool pastry tip. Looking online - as one does (!) - I found this:

I don’t think my hands are cool enough to make good pastry – do you have any tips?

To chill your hands down, try running them under cold water for a minute. Make sure you dry them thoroughly before making the pastry and always use your fingertips only to rub the fat into the flour – this helps keep the mixture as cool as possible. You can also keep your mix cool by only adding cold or chilled water and, on hot summer days, it’s worth chilling the bowl and the flour in the fridge for half an hour before you start.

So - now I know!

 

[Sarah Waldock]

It sounds as if you were only doing black and white. I remember using different grades of printing paper - from very soft to very hard - to get the right contrast effects. I remember using Adox printing papers which gave prints with plenty of detail. I did colour printing from my slides, using the Ilford Cibachrome process - it made very good quality prints, which I still have.

Thanks for the cool pastry tip. Looking online - as one does (!) - I found this:

I don’t think my hands are cool enough to make good pastry – do you have any tips?

To chill your hands down, try running them under cold water for a minute. Make sure you dry them thoroughly before making the pastry and always use your fingertips only to rub the fat into the flour – this helps keep the mixture as cool as possible. You can also keep your mix cool by only adding cold or chilled water and, on hot summer days, it’s worth chilling the bowl and the flour in the fridge for half an hour before you start.

So - now I know!

yes, I only ever tackled B&W, I read about the colour process, and reminded myself that I had set fire to the chemistry lab accidentally thre times in one term, and that some hobbies were probably beyond me....

good tips for pastry making, especially if you are ambitious enough to try puff or flaky pastry, which has to be rested in the fridge between each re-folding. I can handle flaky, but these days, puff pastry requires non-arthritic fingers, so I buy it by the roll in the supermarket.

 

[Hayman]

yes, I only ever tackled B&W, I read about the colour process, and reminded myself that I had set fire to the chemistry lab accidentally thre times in one term, and that some hobbies were probably beyond me....

good tips for pastry making, especially if you are ambitious enough to try puff or flaky pastry, which has to be rested in the fridge between each re-folding. I can handle flaky, but these days, puff pastry requires non-arthritic fingers, so I buy it by the roll in the supermarket.

Vauguely related - I had tea (she's a Mancunian) at a neighbour friend's house yeserday. It consisted of two 'wraps' she had filled with freshly sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sausage meat, etc, etc - heated in the microwave. The wraps themselves were still soft and doughy.

 

[Sarah Waldock]

Vauguely related - I had tea (she's a Mancunian) at a neighbour friend's house yeserday. It consisted of two 'wraps' she had filled with freshly sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sausage meat, etc, etc - heated in the microwave. The wraps themselves were still soft and doughy.

interesting; I'd prefer meatloaf to just sausage meat. I make my meatloaf with liver, mince, sausage meat, heaps of onion, a bit of cardamon and the tin lined with bacon to hold it together. I'd say it goes a long way but it never does because it always vanishes too quickly because it's popular.

 

[Hayman]

interesting; I'd prefer meatloaf to just sausage meat. I make my meatloaf with liver, mince, sausage meat, heaps of onion, a bit of cardamon and the tin lined with bacon to hold it together. I'd say it goes a long way but it never does because it always vanishes too quickly because it's popular.

I remember from my childhood some version of sausage meat that I could not get enough of. But Spam I never took to.

 

[Sarah Waldock]

I remember from my childhood some version of sausage meat that I could not get enough of. But Spam I never took to.

spam is only palatable fried if you run out of bacon, better, deep fried in batter, but chopped up it does take a Chinese marinade quite well if you're heavy with the aniseed. corned beef is better, and can be served in so many different ways. Oh, I have put spam in an omelette before now.