A Parlour for a Plague

yep soft boiled is poached in the shell. $ minute eggs is enough to keep the yolk "Dippy' and all the whites are white and not like a snot ball.

In Glastonbury church the stained glass is of Joseph of Arimathea who, legend has it, sailed to Glastonbury with Christ as a child, then later returned after the crucifixion with the Holy Grail.

There’s also the legend of the Glastonbury thorn which sprouted from his walking stick. The original has been vandalised but the one in the abbey is Ok. Apparently it flowers on Easter and Christmas Day and is not related to any of the local flora, the nearest relative being in Lebanon.

The story of Christ coming to Glastonbury is what inspired Blake to write Jerusalem.

I lived with my grandmother when I was in my mid-twenties and she was in her late seventies. I got a job nearby to which I could walk, which meant no car fare, and thought everything was OK. But almost immediately, my grandmother began to sulk. Mystified, I finally asked her what was wrong. She told me nothing was wrong, that everything was fine. When she said fine, I knew there was real trouble. It finally came out that she resented that I did not walk home for my lunch every day, and that I was "squandering" my money in some cheap greasy spoon somewhere. So, I agreed to walk home for my lunch every day. She insisted that I call to let her know I was coming--so she could put the food on the table hot when I came in the door. Her share of the peace treaty was to make my lunch every day around poached eggs. A lot of people can't do poached eggs very well, but when it came to plain cooking, she did everything very, very well. She was born in 1899, and grew up believing that the man goes out and earns the money (men worked ten hours a day, six days a week in those days), and the woman stays home to cook, clean and do the laundry. She was married in 1919, almost 60 years earlier, so plain cooking she could do in her sleep. (Ironically, she and my grandfather met while volunteering in the 1919 flu pandemic.)

I love poached eggs, and can't do them worth diddly.

I’m sorry I don’t know the name of that particular vlog, I think they might have shown it on ITV over here.

A standard term for such boats over here is barge, and before the railways they were the main form of infrastructure. The Victorians were the ones who turned them into leisure pursuits.

Tony Robinson, (who played Baldric,) did a series on the Thames where he follows it from the source all the way to the sea. It’s very good, Ithink it’s called Tony Robinson’s Thames or The Thames with Tony Robinson.

There’s also a kid’s show, Rosie & Jim, about two rag dolls on a barge. Barge art is quite collectible, brightly pained pots pans and watering cans, it’s got a particular style.

I eat most of my eggs medium to hard-boiled. They taste just fine to me.

I also adore poached eggs and am hopeless at cooking them. They’re a real thing here, though, and I go out for poached treats.

I thought in the US you guys had to cook eggs to rock consistency, for fear of salmonella?

I never could get a poached egg anywhere I tried in the US. Most places didn’t know what they were

But the ultimate comfort food is soft boiled eggs in the shell, eaten with toast “soldiers”

I like soft-boiled, too, although I prefer poached. My experience is that short-order cooks don't like doing poached eggs, and I've known some places that refuse to do 'em. I never heard of any restriction on eggses in the U.S. 'cause of Sam and Ella.

Makes no difference how secretively I crack a boiled egg, Rocky the dog is there to get his bit of it. I haven't eaten a complete one in months.

Go Rocky!

one of the easiest ways to do poached is , in a very small pot (1/2 qt) add about a T of cider or plain vingar. Then get the water to a slow boil and break the egg into the water while stirring the water to just make a "gyre" not a whirlpool. In a few secondss if you do it right, the whites should begin to skin up and you keep stiriing for about 10 seconds and then LEAVE IT ALONE till the whole mess is like a star cluster withan orange HOLE in the center.
Then after it is done the way you want, lift it out with a slotted spoon and make whatever you wish. I really dont like eggs bendict a whole lot,(just maybe once every couple months. BUT, I can et poached eggs on buttered toast every day.
I make the poached eggs a lot. Once it clicks in , it like riding a bicylcle.

A friend of ours (Mr. Joeblow, as a fatter of mact) can poach a dozen of 'em at once. He's made eggs Benedict for all of us on many occasions. I know about the vinegar trick, I've known about if forever. I can't make poached eggs to save my life.

theres two, one, with a guy who used to be a TV news anchor (named DaveSomething) His is called Cruising the Cut the one with Prue is called Great Canal Adventures

Monocle is definitely free. I listen to some of their programming on CBC radio overnight and grab other bits from the website. I love their Urbanist features.

oh yeah. I know that stuff. I've seen some interesting decorative things made out of it.

He was a journo on local news, this is the first I’ve heard of him. I think cruising the cut is only available on Amazon.

Great Canal Adventures was shown on ITV.

the conglomerate sometimes shows up in entrance halls as a 'feature'

I started watching Pru's last night after you gave us the heads-up. Good stuff.

You can buy it at the market.
I like it because there's no aftertaste and measures like sugar.
No glycemic load, doesn't spike blood glucose.

For me, anything other than plain black coffee no sweetner, no nuthin' is gross.

I haven't liked anything in my coffee for over 40 years. But it has to be hot. None of that lukewarm stuff.