Talk a bit about yourself

Kate Richardson · Post by **Kate Richardson** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:50 pm

kate richardson wrote:
I'm Kate Richardson... into baking
one word: sweet or savoury?
SWEET
kate richardson wrote:
jam making
one word: favourite fruit?
RASPBERRY
kate richardson wrote:
Man City
one word: Ka'ka; yes or no?
NO
glad you had fun kate!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:53 pm

Fine choice on the raspberry, such an infinitely superior fruit compared to the strawberry.
I'm more into savoury baking (though only cos I have never bothered trying sweet stuff) - made a spinach and feta pie last night, fantastic.
And finally, I'd love to see Ka'ka in the Premiership, though it's my prediction that if Man City get relegated this year they won't even exist in 5 years time. Which'd be sad.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:56 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Fine choice on the raspberry, such an infinitely superior fruit compared to the strawberry.

At last, some sanity on C4C.

Kate Richardson · Post by **Kate Richardson** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:10 pm

Something I didn't mention on the show, but wish I had. One of the best purchases we made last year was from lakeland it's a jelly stand and bag.

This means you can make raspberry jam by straining the fruit so you don't get irritating little pips in your teeth.

We also make our own fruit vodkas. You buy cheap vodka and steep it in your favourite fruit for 6 to 8 weeks.

Strain it and rebottle it (we found some very cute kilner bottles to put this in)

We made cherry vodka, apply and blackberry vodka, orange, cinnamon and vanilla vodka and bleuberry gin using this method. Don't worry we both have our livers intact we've got loads left and a lot went as christmas presents.

It was lovely

I had an operation last summer and during my recovery started baking (I've got a 1950's yorkshire women's institute cook book from my mum which is fantastic) it's quite weird really my grandmother from sheffield was a fine matriarch and got her family thru the 1930's recession by baking meat and potato pies every lunchtime for workers at the local co-op (my dad used to deliver them every day in a wheelbarrow) I feel like I'm morphing into her in my dotage

Ho hum

Lesley Jeavons · Post by **Lesley Jeavons** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:50 pm

kate richardson wrote:Something I didn't mention on the show, but wish I had. One of the best purchases we made last year was from lakeland it's a jelly stand and bag.

Welcome Kate!

Ah, yes the Lakeland catalogue - or housewife's porn as I call it!

They make stuff that you really DO find useful.

I'm vegan and although I'm happy enough with shortcake instead of shortbread I missed it looking Scottish. So I bought the mould for doing petticoat tails with thistles on them, and now I'm a happy bunny!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:55 pm

Lesley Jeavons wrote:
kate richardson wrote:I'm vegan [...] and now I'm a happy bunny!

Do you like the way I edited your quote? hehe
Just for the info, I'm vegetarian Lesley - have been a vegan in the past two. Just in case you felt alone here!

Lesley Jeavons · Post by **Lesley Jeavons** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:01 pm

If I have to be a bunny I choose Jessica Rabbit, then.

I went to a couple of fancy dress parties as her - hair was vibrant and red for about four minutes and then goes tomato soup colour. Doh!

Have you heard of Viva! the veggie group? I used to work there and ghost wrote their recipe guide 'Martin Shaw Cooks Veggie'. All the recipes are my own (well two are Martin's ex Mrs - choc cake and Christmas pud) and tried, tested and loved by all. I can send you a copy if you like, or they're on the website http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/martinguide.htm

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:16 pm

Lesley Jeavons wrote:Have you heard of Viva! the veggie group? I used to work there and ghost wrote their recipe guide 'Martin Shaw Cooks Veggie'. All the recipes are my own (well two are Martin's ex Mrs - choc cake and Christmas pud) and tried, tested and loved by all. I can send you a copy if you like, or they're on the website http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/martinguide.htm

Nope not heard of them before to be honest, but then not really explored the web for veggie stuff.
Was thinking recently I need to expand my recipes though, as I'm a pretty good cook at what I do know, and love cooking too.
So yeah, would love it if you send a copy, would save me having to get them all manually off the site! Hugely appreciated - I think you can grab my e-mail from my profile page?

Katherine Birkett · Post by **Katherine Birkett** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:40 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:
Lesley Jeavons wrote:
kate richardson wrote:I'm vegan [...] and now I'm a happy bunny!
Do you like the way I edited your quote? hehe
Just for the info, I'm vegetarian Lesley - have been a vegan in the past two. Just in case you felt alone here!

Same here - been veggie for nearly 22 years......

Kate Richardson · Post by **Kate Richardson** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:58 pm

just to be clear, i'm an omnivore

my partner sara made my dad a steak and kidney pie and rhubarb crumble first time she met him, neer looked back frankly

kate

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:39 am

Hello I'm Dinos, a successful Maths and Chemistry undergraduate in his early twenties

I too am an omnivore. For their own safety my opponents at COLIN should sit at least 6 feet away from me.

Good retro-active look on the show Kate!

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:09 am

Hi, Kate!

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:05 am

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Hello I'm Dinos, a successful Maths and Chemistry undergraduate in his early twenties

I too am an omnivore. For their own safety my opponents at COLIN should sit at least 6 feet away from me.

Good retro-active look on the show Kate!

This is a 'Talk about yourself' topic, not a dating area.

Kate Richardson · Post by **Kate Richardson** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:12 am

Kai Laddiman wrote:
Dinos Sfyris wrote:Hello I'm Dinos, a successful Maths and Chemistry undergraduate in his early twenties

I too am an omnivore. For their own safety my opponents at COLIN should sit at least 6 feet away from me.

Good retro-active look on the show Kate!
This is a 'Talk about yourself' topic, not a dating area.

Kai/Dinos
Calm down for goodness sake, I'm a lesbian, I've been with my partner Sara for 7 years and very happily civilly partnered for 2 and a half years. I know this is hard to believe but countdown is watched by all sorts of people.

Kai, a bit of harmless flirting does nobody any harm, you should try it sometime

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:13 am

Flirting! Sounds like a brilliant idea!

PS. We were just joking.

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:25 am

kate richardson wrote:
Calm down for goodness sake, I'm a lesbian,

A lesbian? I would never have guessed from your picture...........

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:30 pm

You're funny, Kai!

Kate Richardson · Post by **Kate Richardson** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 8:31 pm

you should see my identical twin sister liz, when she's around people think I'm wearing drag

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:30 am

Kate Richardson wrote:Kai, a bit of harmless flirting does nobody any harm, you should try it sometime

I was gonna say that Kai's only 12, he's a bit young! But that would be hypocritical as I had my first girlfriend when I was about 7.

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:14 am

Martin Gardner wrote:
Kate Richardson wrote:Kai, a bit of harmless flirting does nobody any harm, you should try it sometime
I was gonna say that Kai's only 12, he's a bit young! But that would be hypocritical as I had my first girlfriend when I was about 7.

"Had"?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:06 pm

Ian Volante wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:I was gonna say that Kai's only 12, he's a bit young! But that would be hypocritical as I had my first girlfriend when I was about 7.
"Had"?

near the top of my list of favourite ever posts

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:23 am

Matt Morrison wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:I was gonna say that Kai's only 12, he's a bit young! But that would be hypocritical as I had my first girlfriend when I was about 7.
"Had"?
near the top of my list of favourite ever posts

I think I broke the thread...

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:16 am

I didn't realise this was happening on the same day as COLIN, but I just won the British French language Scrabble championship. 5 of us turned up; 3 born in France, 1 in Belgium and me, so that's an achievement. I'll post a link when the results are confirmed, unless I can't be bothered.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:46 am

I couldn't find anywhere more appropriate to post this.

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:54 am

Michael Wallace wrote:I couldn't find anywhere more appropriate to post this.

Yeah so what. I can climb trees, eat apples and hibernate but everytime I sodding post someone doesn't go "Chemist boy?"

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:03 am

Michael Wallace wrote:I couldn't find anywhere more appropriate to post this.

Ahahahaha

Clare Sudbery · Post by **Clare Sudbery** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:05 am

Dinos Sfyris wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:I couldn't find anywhere more appropriate to post this.
Yeah so what. I can climb trees, eat apples and hibernate but everytime I sodding post someone doesn't go "Chemist boy?"

[mystified]

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:35 am

Raccoon boy... or Michael?

I didn't think you would actually post that message until they actually found the raccoon!

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:53 am

Clare Sudbery wrote:[mystified]

Yeah, me too. I've tried asking Michael privately what the whole raccoon thing is all about but to no avail. It's some sort of in-joke amongst the clique.

Scott Bagnall · Post by **Scott Bagnall** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:30 am

My real name is Scott (what a shocker!) i am 30 years of age and live in Manchester. I run my own business which is a very small one mind, but i enjoy it so who cares. I am single and still live at home as i simply can't afford to move out. I live what i would call a very routined life like the majority of people do.

My interests are going out drinking with friends, but to be honest i've knocked that on the head for the time being. Drinking 10 - 15 pints of lager on every weekend night will only take so long before it catches up with you. I collect dvd's and have roughly 600 of them. I also love snooker and wanted to be a pro when i was younger, but i could never find the time to get the practice in and ultimately that's the reason i didn't pursue it any further..

I could write a lot more, but i won't bore you.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:37 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Clare Sudbery wrote:[mystified]
Yeah, me too. I've tried asking Michael privately what the whole raccoon thing is all about but to no avail. It's some sort of in-joke amongst the clique.

Not really - like I said when you asked, I just like raccoons...

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:44 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:I just like raccoons...

I suppose that, if nothing else, through repeated exposure on here it's become a word I'm less likely to misspell in future.

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:47 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Clare Sudbery wrote:[mystified]
Yeah, me too. I've tried asking Michael privately what the whole raccoon thing is all about but to no avail. It's some sort of in-joke amongst the clique.
Not really - like I said when you asked, I just like raccoons...

Change your avatar back.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:00 pm

Kai Laddiman wrote:Change your avatar back.

Why? Do you have something against raccoons in teacups?

Steven Tew · Post by **Steven Tew** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:52 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:Change your avatar back.
Why? Do you have something against raccoons in teacups?

Is it just me, or does that racoon have three eyes? (Is it from Springfield?)

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:55 pm

Steven wrote:Is it just me, or does that racoon have three eyes? (Is it from Springfield?)

Clearly that picture is not suited to so few pixels, so now here's another one.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:35 pm

Michael, did you change your avatar to make other people happy?

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:06 am

Yes! But I don't think it worked.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:44 am

Do what you please, Michael.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:07 am

Thanks Jason. Perhaps I shall put together a variety of avatars and let the forumites pick their favourite, that way more people might be happy.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:19 am

That's a good idea, Michael!

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:41 pm

I thought this might be the time to say I'm breaking up with my girlfriend of two years. I've had a wonderful time and she's enriched my life a lot, but I suppose our relationship was never going to last forever. I really think I've matured and learned so much. I'm not gonna say more than that, as this is a public forum.

By the way, I think Ben W. is the only person from this forum to meet her (at Peterborough), or possibly Nick Deller, as he just joined the forum.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:36 pm

I thought this might be the appropriate time to tell you that my mum has broken her arm today by slipping over on the ice.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:27 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:I thought this might be the appropriate time to tell you that my mum has broken her arm today by slipping over on the ice.

Get well soon Mrs O'Neill, and thanks for last night.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:19 pm

Good luck with finding a new other half, Martin!

And Jon, I heard there was a lot of snow in London! I thought your mom seemed a bit young to fall and break her arm on the ice! Best wishes to her anyway!

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:05 pm

Jason Larsen wrote:And Jon, I heard there was a lot of snow in London! I thought your mom seemed a bit young to fall and break her arm on the ice! Best wishes to her anyway!

Yes Jason, in fact we were out frolicking in the snow and reminiscing about her evening with Charlie when it happened - she just slipped on the ice and BAM, she was crying again. She is around 50, for the record!

Still, the snow was very very very fun. We built a gay Jewish pirate detective snowman:

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:50 am

That just goes to show you that you have to appreciate every minute of your life while you are having it!

Daniel O'Dowd · Post by **Daniel O'Dowd** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:53 am

I may as well introduce myself here after cleverly doing so mistakenly in the new people thread, though likely you all have already a lot of this, for which apologies.

I'm Dan, from Carlisle, where the snow isn't affecting our public transport. (On-time buses? What are those?) I work in a large pizza franchise, which plays hell with my body clock, but has its upsides, obviously

And I've been watching Countdown intermittently seriously for about ten years. Had a failed audition (quite rightly so; 27/30 numbers doesn't justify only one 8 in letters) 6 years ago, which feels like a lifetime, but reinspired by COC XIII I've found this place and intend to reapply once I acquire enough beatings on Apterous. Whether I stay the course of learning enough words though is another matter, since I'm mainly a chess player by hobby. Love my Aftershock, and beer, also languages, currently learning Turkish. Certainly finding it easy to forgive RR her numbermongery errors, based on her visage

So hi to all! Any other polyglots around?

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:52 am

Hi, Dan!

Welcome to the forum!

I think Damian has talked about you before!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:44 am

Daniel O'Dowd wrote:I work in a large pizza franchise

It better be Box Pizza

or I'm ignoring it

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:26 pm

Kai Laddiman wrote:
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:I work in a large pizza franchise
It better be Box Pizza or I'm ignoring it

Unfortunately BoxPizza isn't a large franchise

One day maybe..

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:32 pm

Daniel O'Dowd wrote:I may as well introduce myself here after cleverly doing so mistakenly in the new people thread, though likely you all have already a lot of this, for which apologies.

I'm Dan, from Carlisle, where the snow isn't affecting our public transport. (On-time buses? What are those?) I work in a large pizza franchise, which plays hell with my body clock, but has its upsides, obviously And I've been watching Countdown intermittently seriously for about ten years. Had a failed audition (quite rightly so; 27/30 numbers doesn't justify only one 8 in letters) 6 years ago, which feels like a lifetime, but reinspired by COC XIII I've found this place and intend to reapply once I acquire enough beatings on Apterous. Whether I stay the course of learning enough words though is another matter, since I'm mainly a chess player by hobby. Love my Aftershock, and beer, also languages, currently learning Turkish. Certainly finding it easy to forgive RR her numbermongery errors, based on her visage

So hi to all! Any other polyglots around?

I'm fluent in French, I'm currently learning Spanish and I'm doing a module in Old French at Leeds Uni. With those skills and the skills I've got from Countdown/Scrabble, I can understand quite a few languages, written down. I'd estimate at about 12 but of course there are lots of languages I've never seen before. Galician was the last one I discovered, which is about 90% Spanish. Catalan and Occitan are also really easy for Spanish speakers, I was reading something in Spanish and it wasn't until I got to the end that I noticed it was actually Catalan - they're that similar! Also I was watching a film with subtitles, and the University speaker was speaking Catalan and I just thought it was Spanish with a strong regional accent. I suppose you could argue that it actually is!

Daniel O'Dowd · Post by **Daniel O'Dowd** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:06 pm

Martin Gardner wrote:
Daniel O'Dowd wrote:I may as well introduce myself here after cleverly doing so mistakenly in the new people thread, though likely you all have already a lot of this, for which apologies.

I'm Dan, from Carlisle, where the snow isn't affecting our public transport. (On-time buses? What are those?) I work in a large pizza franchise, which plays hell with my body clock, but has its upsides, obviously And I've been watching Countdown intermittently seriously for about ten years. Had a failed audition (quite rightly so; 27/30 numbers doesn't justify only one 8 in letters) 6 years ago, which feels like a lifetime, but reinspired by COC XIII I've found this place and intend to reapply once I acquire enough beatings on Apterous. Whether I stay the course of learning enough words though is another matter, since I'm mainly a chess player by hobby. Love my Aftershock, and beer, also languages, currently learning Turkish. Certainly finding it easy to forgive RR her numbermongery errors, based on her visage

So hi to all! Any other polyglots around?
I'm fluent in French, I'm currently learning Spanish and I'm doing a module in Old French at Leeds Uni. With those skills and the skills I've got from Countdown/Scrabble, I can understand quite a few languages, written down. I'd estimate at about 12 but of course there are lots of languages I've never seen before. Galician was the last one I discovered, which is about 90% Spanish. Catalan and Occitan are also really easy for Spanish speakers, I was reading something in Spanish and it wasn't until I got to the end that I noticed it was actually Catalan - they're that similar! Also I was watching a film with subtitles, and the University speaker was speaking Catalan and I just thought it was Spanish with a strong regional accent. I suppose you could argue that it actually is!

Indeed. I haven't got fluency in any yet, but I am strongest in French. Also know Spanish and Italian, but then veered off with Russian (for chess, obv), Japanese (which I also intend fluency in if I can overcome my quasi kanji dyslexia trick of mixing radicals), Czech (for no reason other than it was a language...silly really), Finnish (life long love of the country and culture) and now Turkish the same. As far as Spanish comprehension, if you're that strong in Galician you'd also understand a decent bit of Portuguese of course.

Also, to Kai and Jono: It's not Box. It's Domino's. Ever tried us?

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:34 pm

Daniel O'Dowd wrote:Also, to Kai and Jono: It's not Box. It's Domino's. Ever tried us?

Forgive him father, for he knows not what he says.

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:36 pm

Daniel O'Dowd wrote: As far as Spanish comprehension, if you're that strong in Galician you'd also understand a decent bit of Portuguese of course.

"Strong" is a bit of an exaggeration - you get whole sentences in Galician where every word is identical to the Spanish. Wikipedia is the best multilingual site I know, the English one is by far the biggest, but a lot of other languages have decent ones - I think the Catalan and Portuguese ones are bigger than the Spanish one, and in Galician they have about 40 000 articles, which let's be honest is quite a lot. Oh, and yes Portuguese as well I can understand it, interestingly the coffee I buy is imported from Brazil and I can understand what it says on the jar.

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:30 pm

No real reason to say this, but Charlie you are the most intelligent person I've ever met. There was a funny story when I was talking to Christine about you (translated for obvious reasons) that I said you're "very very intelligent" and she said to me "and you think that you're not very very intelligent!" And I don't think I actually said it to her, but I should have said "not like Charlie". Seriously, I think you're what 3 years younger than me and you know about loads of shit! I'm seriously impressed.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 5:15 pm

Martin Gardner wrote:No real reason to say this, but Charlie you are the most intelligent person I've ever met. There was a funny story when I was talking to Christine about you (translated for obvious reasons) that I said you're "very very intelligent" and she said to me "and you think that you're not very very intelligent!" And I don't think I actually said it to her, but I should have said "not like Charlie". Seriously, I think you're what 3 years younger than me and you know about loads of shit! I'm seriously impressed.

Cheers, nothing like an unmotivated compliment to brighten a slow weekend.

Martin Gardner · Post by **Martin Gardner** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 5:21 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:No real reason to say this, but Charlie you are the most intelligent person I've ever met. There was a funny story when I was talking to Christine about you (translated for obvious reasons) that I said you're "very very intelligent" and she said to me "and you think that you're not very very intelligent!" And I don't think I actually said it to her, but I should have said "not like Charlie". Seriously, I think you're what 3 years younger than me and you know about loads of shit! I'm seriously impressed.
Cheers, nothing like an unmotivated compliment to brighten a slow weekend.

in vino veritas

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:21 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:
Martin Gardner wrote:No real reason to say this, but Charlie you are the most intelligent person I've ever met. There was a funny story when I was talking to Christine about you (translated for obvious reasons) that I said you're "very very intelligent" and she said to me "and you think that you're not very very intelligent!" And I don't think I actually said it to her, but I should have said "not like Charlie". Seriously, I think you're what 3 years younger than me and you know about loads of shit! I'm seriously impressed.
Cheers, nothing like an unmotivated compliment to brighten a slow weekend.

In the apparent absence of anyone less salubrious round here, I'll make the suggestion that he just wants in your pants.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:42 pm

Ian Volante wrote:In the apparent absence of anyone less salubrious round here, I'll make the suggestion that he just wants in your pants.

Well didn't he just break up with his girlfriend?