Party pooper LJ!

[wiseheart]

Well, folks, it seems that LJ has decided to crash our birthday party - the original post is no longer visible. But I still have most of the comments in my inbox, and will re-post the original entry and list the available comments with the simple mentioning of the names, if it's all right with you. If not, tell me, and I'll delete yours.

We won't allow LJ to crash our party!

Original post

Hi folks! *waves*

Time is flying by, isn't it? It's that time of a year again - I'm getting older. In this case, I'm turning 56 on October 9, which means I'd have been retired for a year already, back under the old regime. Women could retire at the age of 55 back then. So I've decided to ignore all that fantastic headway we've supposedly made towards democracy in the last two decades and have considered myself retired for the last year, blithley overlooking the fact that I'll have to work another 6 or 7 or only God knows how many years.

So, let's party! Last years virtual birthday party yielded 943 comments on 7 pages, which won't be easy to top, but we're good, aren't we? WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN BREAK THE 1000-COMMENT-BARRIER! So, let's give it a try! In the recent years, it has always been great fun, so let's have fun again!

You're all cordially invited to help yourself to a slice of virtual cake of your choice. If you want to post your favourite recipe in a comment, be my guest. If not, just drop by and say hello.

Cheers!

Note: The party will be closed on October 9, at midnight, sharp.
Join us and have fun! Feel free to start any thread, any topic you want; we can discuss it, mock the general stupidity of life and laugh at it.

Last count was 1328 comments on 6 pages.

NB: Shoud the original party post mysteriously reappear, I'll delete this one.

Comments

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict said:
Chai, at the moment. Russian earl grey is another favourite. And orange pecoe. I take a little milk sometimes, but no sugar or lemon. Green cranberry tea (no milk) is good, too.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart (accedently anon):
I'm glad it's here. I just wish I had more forewarning. The shop's
apparently called us yesterday, but we were out, throwing away things and
buying new thigns and stuff, so they delivered out of the blue.

Still, a birthday gift that arrives in time is a nice thing.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I think this comment that I made was in response to the above:
Ah yes, you get a lot of 'fruit teas' in Sweden that are black tea with some fruit flavouring. I do not like them at all! I don't mind black tea, without the fruit flavouring, but I like it with milk. That doesn't quite work with the fruit thrown in...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

To which wiseheart replied:
To the current day, the mere idea of tea with milk baffles the living highlight out of me. I don't know why. Perhaps because when I was a child, milk striclty belonged into the coffee... Well, into the strange product that was sold to us as coffee and never saw a single coffee bean in its sorry existence.

We only had black tea back then, and we drank it with honey because a: we didn't have lemons, either and b: because it mostly went as cold medicine.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me:
> Yay for baking! Good luck trying to get lj to behave!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart:
It seems an irregular glitch, but a very annoying one.

In any case, I had fun, the kids had fun, the buns were delicious, and
next week I'm going to do the same with the 5th-term-kids... yes, I
am insane, why are you asking? *g*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Will do. As to your question, I've never actually had any Green & Black chocolate.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I meant to respond to this but I am not sure I ever did, getting side-tracked with other comment threads:

We used to get honey-and-lemon water to soothe sore throats when we had colds. To this day I dislike the taste of honey, but this remedy is very good! I get around the problem by adding lots and lots of lemon juice to the point of almost completely masking the honey.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me:
> Aww :( I've done that too - I hate getting rid of books, but there are
> just too many to keep sometimes. (one of the advantages of ebooks -
> although those have other downsides....)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Which icon do you mean?

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart:
Yes, that's why I'm considering getting an e-reader, but I must admit my
unwavering fondness for the Dead Tree variety.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict replied:
Ooh, my mother made blackcurrant leaf ice, which was delicious!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

You can always restore them after the end of the party, if it gets in the way of more-enjoyable activities.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

rcfinch told us:
My favourite piece is a phantom: the white cabinet with paneled glass doors big enough for my silver tea tray. I just don't seem to be able to find an affordable one.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me:
> Coffee! :)

> I mostly drink filter coffee (well, cafatiere), as that is a fair balance
> for me of effort vs results. Black, sugar or sugar syrup - I make my own
> cardamom and/or cinnamon syrup (and sometimes other spice ones). I can't
> deal with a lot of hot milk, so can't drink most of the fancy versions...
> Espresso is nice when I'm in the mood for it...

> When I feel like a treat I can get really nice coffee as there is a
> coffee and tea shot here that sells loads of different kinds of coffee
> which they grind for the different makers. Very nice. :)

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict:
I drink cafetiere in preference to filter when I can't get espresso,
because it's much easier to make it strong & it does get a good head of
cream. I've never tried syrups (bit of a purist) but cardamom & cinnamon
sound delicious. Perhaps also ginger? Ginger biscuits work well with
coffee.

I've lived in the middle of nowhere for well over a decade, but one thing
I miss from living in a city is a decent coffee (& tea) shop. I'd love to
be able to try lots of different beans/blends, but doing it via mail
order is very expensive. There should be coffee tastings :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine used to have a rabbit named Erwin. Erwin liked raisins and chocolate.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me:
> Which episode with 11 did you see?

> (I must admit that 11 is my least favourite Doctor of the ones that I've
> seen, but Amy and Rory made up for him most of the time... [spoilers])

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I am not sure what particular comment in the tea thread I made this in reply to, but I am going to put it here because of the mention of milk in tea.
My Mother who was actually born English doesn't drink 'normal' tea at all and her father always drank it weak and without milk.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:

Amy and Rory are indeed fantastic! I love their interactions both with
the Doctor and with each other and the fact that they are in some way
reverse gender stereotypes.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict replied:
I can't speak for all the English, obviously, but I think that would be quite unusual. I have relatives by blood or marriage from a lot of different regions of the country, and a fair spread of classes, and all of them (except me) drink Typhoo or English Breakfast type tea, with milk, by the bucketful.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

The one with the red planet in it.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I think you could read the Ivan book without having read Cryoburn, as it is set well before Cryoburn.

Oh, I'll try the Ivan book, then, and just give Cryoburn a miss.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by heter-oise - especially as it seems to me that only fandom ever considered Ivan non heterosexual...

Ivan in the novels reads as heterosexual, yes, though I think one could argue his lack of interest in commitment to marriage could be due to closeted m/m orientation. Byerley reads to me as queer in the novels. (And rumour has it that By also gets paired off?) One of my problems with A Civil Campaign was the neat way in which everyone got paired off in m/f pairs, especially after all the gender fluidity with Donna/Dono.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me:
> Ginger syrup could work well - I made a mixed spice one with ginger for
> Christmas (last year? the year before?), but maybe I should experiment
> with it sometime :)

> Coffee tastings would be fun...

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict:

Ginger is another of my great loves; it goes with everything in my
opinion. [And have I said before how much I love that icon of yours?]