venta

Having recently spent a little time investigating new cookers, I am curious to know your opinion on the ignition buttons on gas hobs. Your answer is unlikely to affect my cooker-purchasing actions, but having discovered in the pub last night what an unexpectedly polarising question this is, I'm now curious...

[Poll #2060995]

Imagine yourself in a situation where you are feeling very nauseous, but wish to eat something. (Perhaps because of medical advice, perhaps because you know it will make you feel better, perhaps because of medication - whatever situation might make that set of circumstances true for you.)

Now, o LJ, tell me...

[Poll #2049789]

G'morning, LJ. Shall we play a game? It's been a while...

At our Sunday night pub quiz the picture round was on statues - so we did considerably better than we do on the usual sporting personalities and C-list celebrities.

Googling (afterwards, of course!) for "famous statues" I found that the ten pictures were, according to one site's list, the ten most famous monuments in the world. However, there were still two statues that none of us recognised at all.

But it made me think: what are the most famous statues in the world?

( Let’s find out, in the most scientific manner... )

[Poll #1965203]

On account of, since Thursday night, a work Christmas party (cava, cocktails, wine, cocktails), a friend's party (champagne, champagne, champagne), a pre-Christmas dinner with friends (prosecco, red wine, port) and a pub quiz (beer), I feel like I ought to let my liver have a little rest.

On the other hand, the pre-Christmas dinner has left me with half a bottle of quite nice red wine that it would be a shame to waste. And the dinner has also left me with enough leftovers that I won't be cooking again for a while, and there is no space in the freezer to put the nice stew or something I could make with the wine.

I hate waste. Then again, I'd probably hate liver damage as well.

[Poll #1948315]

Another day for pointless curiosity... how are you at eating things when you don't know what they are? I made sausages at the weekend (post on the topic coming soon), and offered some pieces of cooked sausage to colleagues to see if they could guess what was in it. Both happily chomped down on mystery food without any info. I regard this as completely normal, but am aware that some people would never do it.

So... in the poll below, I'm asking about whether or not you'd eat mystery food I gave you. This is not just a meal I've cooked, this is something "mysterious" I'm inviting you to try. I'm aware some of you probably trust me, and some of you barely know me. Let's assume I'm someone you know well enough to know won't poison you, or feed you fag-ash-and-spider sausages for a laugh, but not someone whom you feel you know well enough to place special trust in.

Let's also assume that I know about your dietary requirements, so I won't give you meat if you're vegetarian, I won't feed you pork if you eat kosher, and I won't give you wheat if you're coeliac. I have perfect knowledge of your dietary requirements, even if they're quite complicated :) I don't know about your likes and dislikes, though, so won't guarantee not to feed you aubergine if you really hate it.

[Poll #1907455]

I feel there's quite enough options already, if you want to be all snowflakey, you can do it in the comments ;)

I spend a lot of time on trains, commuting. And a lot of that time I spend reading. I have, however, come to a rather sad realisation: I can't be trusted to choose my own books.

( I don't seem to be very good at it )

Accordingly, this year my new year's resolution is to read better books. Which is where you, ladies and gentlemen of LJ, come in. Please recommend me a book which you love, and which I should read. I'd like fiction, but beyond that I'm willing to try anything. It'd be useful if it weren't something which is very out of print, but if you really think it's worth it I'll try and track it down (or turn up on your doorstep demanding to borrow a copy).

[Poll #1887610]

( [*] )

You'd think that, by now, I'd have exhausted all my weird words and phrase. Or, at any rate, learned which ones of them would get me funny looks. Apparently not, though.

Last night I sent a text message which ended "... and once you've found your keys you'll be framing".

I got the response "framing?"

Er... ok. You know the drill now, don't you? Clicky time!

[Poll #1871848]

And not relatedly: microwaves. Why are they so complicated? I don't want to be able to set 10% power for a fish-based plated meal of 350g, I want to choose a time and press "go". Full power.

Do people really use these features? Assuming we're not talking about combination microwaves and ovens, or anything like that, does anyone do anything other than full power, go?

I'm perfectly happy that such microwaves are on offer, for those as want them, but why are there none available which have basically a time dial and a big green button?

[Poll #1871849]

How's your weather today? Are you OK?

[Poll #1852211]

Take care, you folks up in the north of England...

From the spurious enquiries department:

[Poll #1795486]