Not a sponsored post. Just some information on a new find. New to me, at least. And that’s what counts on here.
Superb, delicious, free range and batch cooked “to perfection”, nogal. All the boxes ticked. These are the duck equivalent of Pork Scratchings.
Duck Scratchings, then. Perfect.
What, as they like to ask, is not to like? Well actually, the serving suggestions provided by the retailer might fall into that category:
Perfect with salads or as a topping on lasagne.
No. Don’t do this. Don’t trouble yourself with that level of detail. Simply scoff the (reduced because the use by date is approaching) packet on the way home from the supermarket. No green leaves or pasta sheets in sight. Much easier.
They also say:
Once opened, store in an airtight container.
Well, that’s pretty much my body, if you exclude the lungs and the other breathy bits.
And say what you will about the Chinese, with their authoritarian government, harsh restrictions on press freedoms, complete and absolute disregard for the environment, and horrific human rights record: that 5-Spice is an absolute banger. And there’s still so much more room for potential improvement by maybe adding a sixth or seventh spice. I’m shocked that it hasn’t happened already.
Folks, with just 25% of your daily cholesterol per packet and about the same for your sodium, there’s clearly no need to do more than simply devour 4 packets of these, each day. Sorted.
I bumped into my cardiologist at the shopping centre, and showed them to him, and he told me that they’re great for business, so it does really seem like everyone is happy.
I know that a lot of you out there think that it’s all invitations to film premieres, VIP seats at international music events and black tie charity auctions with foreign dignitaries – and look, a lot of it is – but there is also a mundane side to being South Africa’s favourite blogger.
You can’t simply overlook the day to day stuff.
Like buying bags for your German-made vacuum cleaner, for example. We’ve got the Kärcher WD3: a good mix of power, portability and reasonable value for money. And I need some new bags for it.
Und es ist gelb!
Weirdly, it’s proven actually quite difficult to find these things on previous occasions. They can be pricey, there always seems to be a stock and supply issue, and making sure that you get the correct bag with many similarly coded variants around is more of a pain than it should be.
So, here’s what I found initially:
OK. No stock, but that’s fine, I can wait. Fits the WD3. And 4 bags, which means that I probably don’t have to go through this rigmarole for maybe another year or so.
But this being a page from our pisspoor local Amazon wannabe, and they’re not always as trustworthy and accurate as we’d all like them to be, so – as always – I’m just going to check the reviews before I order.
And – as always – they’re absolute gold.
You know – you just know – that when anyone starts shouting at the end of a 5 sentence review, they are part mildly unhinged and part absolutely furious. There’s a guy on the Whatsapp group down in Agulhas that is FAMED FOR HIS SHOUTY RANTS, and you can always tell how outraged he is by how many he gets into a single message. I wonder if he’s related to Luke?
But look: that’s exactly what I was saying about above. You can never guarantee that what you ordered is what you’re going to get.
Elme’s a big fan of Takealot, though:
Elme’s hoping for a voucher for her groveling review. Sadly, she messed up by trying to buy her vacuum bags somewhere else first. Though quite why she needed to order from here at all when she couldn’t not find the bags at her local store is a bit beyond me.
5 stars from Tracy:
I wouldn’t love that it comes in a pack of 3 when I’ve ordered a pack of 4, but clearly Tracy doesn’t see that as a problem. I would agree that it’s the beat vacuum ever, though.
Grant is all about the savings:
I wouldn’t know where to go to buy an individual vacuum cleaner bag. I didn’t know that was a thing. And given the stress of trying find these things each time I need them, I’m already thinking that they need to be sold in a 20-pack.
But it’s Gabrielle that nails it for the “most helpful comment on the page” award.
What… what on earth was anyone planning to do with them aside from replacing the old bags? Use them as some sort of humane rodent trapping device? An avant-garde handbag for an upcoming trip overseas? A lamp shade for a troublesome pendant light fitting in the garage? Or a cheap (not that cheap) alternative to a beekeeper’s hat and veil?
Gabrielle has opened a can of worms here in hinting that there may be some other use for vacume bags for her vacume cleaner. Thankfully, with (hopefully) 4 in the pack, maybe I can try out some alternatives while not compromising on the housekeeping.
I’m going to order now, and experiment in 5-7 work days. Watch this space.
What with one thing and another, the last few weeks have been rather difficult and disrupted. I’m equally ready and absolutely not ready at all to get back into some sort of new normality, but with (at least) another two weeks of bathroom renovations to go, I can’t see it being a smooth transition.
Still, I’m really not in the mood to let my mind idle for too long, and so I’ve been throwing myself into doing stuff as much as possible. I’ve got plans for sprucing up the spare room and the kids’ bathroom, but I can’t do that at the moment because they’re two of the most important rooms in the house with the ongoing renovations.
We spent yesterday afternoon rebuilding part of the garden. I’ve been repotting plants and tidying up out there again this morning, fighting – and comprehensively being defeated by – the bergwind and the autumnal leaves. And now, after this blog post and before the afternoon’s footy and this evening’s braai, I intend to hit the Geoguessr website for the first time in over a month.
And should I run out of other stuff to do (unlikely), I do still have about a million photos that need cataloguing. That would likely be a plan for later in the week, though. It might be (and it is) 35oC today, but we’re due for a maximum of 12oC on Thursday.
There’s even talk of lighting a fire simply to keep warm, and not to cook food on. Crazy, crazy times.
Mr Trevelyan said: “Those who know me well know I was eventually going to build a giant curlew.”
Of course they did.
It’s all good, though. Mr Trevelyan – an ex-puppetmaker, obviously – is raising awareness of the loss of habitat, land-use changes and climate pressures on the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) – by walking 53 miles (that’s 85.29km) dressed as a curlew.
He crafted the 10ft-long (3m) costume of a Eurasian Curlew – Europe’s largest wading bird – out of polystyrene and bamboo.
It’s an admirable endeavour. Although not without its dangers:
It’s got a 4ft-long curved bill…
[the costume, not the actual bird]
[Jesus. Can you imagine?]
…which I’m quite worried about snagging in trees on the way, or tripping over and it snapping, but I’ve got a splint and I’ve got strong tape in case that happens.
But that’s not even the most dangerous bit.
It’s very lightweight luckily, but I am a bit worried about getting up on the tops because it’s quite windy today.
Actual Curlews can fly. 3m long bamboo and polystyrene costumes of Curlews aren’t meant to.
Still, if you’re going to die in a horrific freak gust of wind/giant Curlew costume-related accident, it’s a beautiful part of the world for it to happen. Just look at those views (only mildly spoiled by the ubiquitous massive beak).
You can follow Mr Trevelyan’s journey on his IG, and you can donate to his (and the Curlews’) cause here.
