"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[Peregrin]

There's a drinking lamp???

I thought that as long as I woke up, that was good enough! To think of all those breakfast toddies that I've consumed!

I'm just sayin' that, Carl. In reality the lamp is always lit!

 

[pmew]

Here's to your old man Frank, as promised. Slàinte Mhor!



It's one of *hic* my favourites. Sorry about the rubbish pic, it's dark in here. Our Ulster boys just beat the league leaders by twenty points so I may have had more than one toast.

Paul

 

[Jack Black]

There's a drinking lamp???

I thought that as long as I woke up, that was good enough! To think of all those breakfast toddies that I've consumed!

It's one of *hic* my favourites.

Interesting, do you know that there's a Blair Athol Road very close to where your granny used to live Paul, finishes just opposite Ecclesall Church?

 

[pmew]

Interesting, do you know that there's a Blair Athol Road very close to where your granny used to live Paul, finishes just opposite Ecclesall Church?

Jack, I didn't know that. I must have spent so much time there and I never realised.

It's one of the whisky's local to where Claire and I got married; Athol Palace Hotel. I've been making my way through them all. Such a chore but someone's got to do it.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack, I didn't know that. I must have spent so much time there and I never realised.

It's one of the whisky's local to where Claire and I got married; Athol Palace Hotel. I've been making my way through them all. Such a chore but someone's got to do it.

Yes, it's a hard job! I think I've only ever had Blair Athol once, when I was on one of my trips to The Highlands, I rather liked it too

Here we go Paul, actually I was mistaken in saying it ran all the way (from Greystones Road) to Ecclesall Church, it stops short of that (though a new road has been added since I was a kid) :thumbup:

 

[knarfeng]

Thanks. 100 years seems significant to me. My family tends towards long generations.

Congrats to the team, Paul. And I regret not being there to help you test all the local whiskies.

 

[Raymond1000]

Jack, pmew, I’ve got a question.

When I sip Scotch, I only drink single malt.

When I make Atholbrose, I wouldn’t waste single malt. It’s blended Scotch for that.

What booze do Brits use, making Atholbrose?

Just to be clear, I mean the version you drink. Not the bizarre Whiskey pudding you eat with a spoon. (I guess it’s a pudding. You guys call nearly anything a pudding.)

And the pressing question—do you add heavy cream?

For the record, I never believed the well story. Anybody who drew Scotch out of a well, and didn’t get suspicious, deserved to be captured.

 

[Jack Black]

You don't really come across Athol Brose down here in England in my experience Raymond. I also drink single malts, and on the rare occasion I stray onto other quality spirits, rum for example, I also tend to drink them neat. The thought of cream in liqueurs or drinks rather turns my stomach I'm afraid.

I'm not a huge sweet pudding eater, maybe three times a year, but I sometimes have Cranachan, for which I'll use a blended Scotch, such as The Famous Grouse.

My standby cooking/blending whiskey over the years has generally been Jamesons, rather than Scotch, though sometimes you have a bottle of something in the cupboard someone has left behind.

 

[pmew]

Yes, it's a hard job! I think I've only ever had Blair Athol once, when I was on one of my trips to The Highlands, I rather liked it too

Here we go Paul, actually I was mistaken in saying it ran all the way (from Greystones Road) to Ecclesall Church, it stops short of that (though a new road has been added since I was a kid) :thumbup:

Thanks Jack, my Grandparents last home was in Walton Road to the north east, between the Ecclesall Road and the Botanical Gardens. Just out of shot to the north of your map is Endcliffe Park where I spent many a happy day as a young'un.

Thanks. 100 years seems significant to me. My family tends towards long generations.

Congrats to the team, Paul. And I regret not being there to help you test all the local whiskies.

100 years is significant to anybody Frank, and thanks for providing me with an excuse for a dram

Jack, pmew, I’ve got a question.

When I sip Scotch, I only drink single malt.

I'm sorry to hear that, you're missing out.

There is a misconception that single malts are the best and that nothing else will do. Single malts are actually a very modern thing; the distilling technology has improved enough over the last hundred years so that single malt is now drinkable. Up until that time whisky had to be blended in order to produce something which tasted good, or in fact didn't simply kill you.

There are more fantastic complex blends and vatted malts being produced now than ever before and there are some beauties! The finest whisky I have ever tasted is a vatted malt called Big Pete which utilises all the Islay malts carefully put together to provide the most wonderfully bold yet subtle flavour I've ever experienced in a whisky.

[
When I make Atholbrose, I wouldn’t waste single malt. It’s blended Scotch for that.

What booze do Brits use, making Atholbrose?

Just to be clear, I mean the version you drink. Not the bizarre Whiskey pudding you eat with a spoon. (I guess it’s a pudding. You guys call nearly anything a pudding.)

And the pressing question—do you add heavy cream?

For the record, I never believed the well story. Anybody who drew Scotch out of a well, and didn’t get suspicious, deserved to be captured.

Atholl Brose is a sweet sickly sticky drink and I'm not a fan myself, but I have made it in the past for Burns night. As with all things the better the ingredients the better the finished product. Use decent porridge oats and steep them in really cold water for a long time before you strain them, if you don't get the brose right then there's no point in carrying on. Use a decent whisky, I'm not talking an expensive malt but something from that south central highland area (close to Blair Athol) and if you must use a cheapie then use Bells, which is finished in Pitlochry. Single cream is fine, you don't need to stand a spoon in it, it's a drink.

As for the myth about the Stewart quashing a rebellion - well the tale came from somewhere and if you start questioning everything then we'll wind up with no history at all!

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks Jack, my Grandparents last home was in Walton Road to the north east, between the Ecclesall Road and the Botanical Gardens. Just out of shot to the north of your map is Endcliffe Park where I spent many a happy day as a young'un.

Sorry Paul, I'd forgotten that (I was thinking of Psalter Lane). My parents lived on Ecclesall Road just up from the park, so it's pretty central to my childhood as you can imagine I can remember when there were injuns hiding in them woods!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endcliffe_Park

As for the myth about the Stewart quashing a rebellion - well the tale came from somewhere and if you start questioning everything then we'll wind up with no history at all!

I was in the Fort William museum a few years ago, and virtually every stick of furniture, walking stick, firearm, and dirk had been used by Bonny Prince Charlie! There were dry but witty notations about the relatively recent age of some of the objects!

 

[Parke1]

I love listening to people who are in the know talk about various types of Scotch. It seems like a whole other world of spirits from what I'm accustomed to.

I keep it simple:

If I want to fancy it up a bit, I go with this:

 

[Raymond1000]

Thanks Jack, my Grandparents last home was in Walton Road to the north east, between the Ecclesall Road and the Botanical Gardens. Just out of shot to the north of your map is Endcliffe Park where I spent many a happy day as a young'un.



100 years is significant to anybody Frank, and thanks for providing me with an excuse for a dram



I'm sorry to hear that, you're missing out.

There is a misconception that single malts are the best and that nothing else will do. Single malts are actually a very modern thing; the distilling technology has improved enough over the last hundred years so that single malt is now drinkable. Up until that time whisky had to be blended in order to produce something which tasted good, or in fact didn't simply kill you.

There are more fantastic complex blends and vatted malts being produced now than ever before and there are some beauties! The finest whisky I have ever tasted is a vatted malt called Big Pete which utilises all the Islay malts carefully put together to provide the most wonderfully bold yet subtle flavour I've ever experienced in a whisky.



Atholl Brose is a sweet sickly sticky drink and I'm not a fan myself, but I have made it in the past for Burns night. As with all things the better the ingredients the better the finished product. Use decent porridge oats and steep them in really cold water for a long time before you strain them, if you don't get the brose right then there's no point in carrying on. Use a decent whisky, I'm not talking an expensive malt but something from that south central highland area (close to Blair Athol) and if you must use a cheapie then use Bells, which is finished in Pitlochry. Single cream is fine, you don't need to stand a spoon in it, it's a drink.

As for the myth about the Stewart quashing a rebellion - well the tale came from somewhere and if you start questioning everything then we'll wind up with no history at all!

Thanks, pmew.

I’m fond of Islay malts. I’ll give Big Pete a try.

Legends are legends. I don’t think Washington crossed the Delaware standing in his rowboat, either. (I’ve got to wonder whether E. G. Leutz had ever been in a rowboat.)

I see Atholbrose as part of the British tradition of shared drink. Like minded men passing around a pin tankard. The Beefsteak Club sharing punch.

Atholbrose doesn’t correspond to the old punch recipe, “One of Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong, Four of Weak”. It would still befuddle an Edinburgh Hell Fire Club.

 

[pmew]

Honestly, here athol brose would be considered 'a drink for the ladies'. The blokes would drink beer and whisky. Oh, and another thing, whisky should be drunk as is. No ice. No water.... And adding coke will shorten your lifespan considerably too lol

 

[Raymond1000]

Honestly, here athol brose would be considered 'a drink for the ladies'. The blokes would drink beer and whisky. Oh, and another thing, whisky should be drunk as is. No ice. No water.... And adding coke will shorten your lifespan considerably too lol

Mixing Scotch and coke?

Now that’s abusing alcohol!

 

[Jack Black]

And adding coke will shorten your lifespan considerably too lol

:thumbup:

My favourites are also the Islay malts

 

[Jack Black]

I came across a bowl of old British pennies for sale in the market today, and thought I’d buy a few. Now I don’t know too much about coins, so I just picked out the older ones that were in the best condition. Then I noticed one of them had something strange about it, it weighed almost nothing, and was hollow. At first I thought it was from some kind of forgery, but even in the early 20th century, I’m not sure a penny was worth forging. I showed it to another trader, who reckoned that what I’d got was half a smuggler’s coin. Smugglers coins go back a long way, and were made out of genuine coins hollowed out. In the case of the British cartwheel pennies, which weigh 1oz, they were one coin split in half. There’s a story about one here: http://www.coinworld.com/insights/c...de-from-1797-british-cartwheel-penny--re.html



My friend told me that coins like this had been used by spies and OSS agents to smuggle micro-film, and that was certainly the case. Some coins also had compasses built into them. What I couldn’t understand though was why you’d issue OSS agents with covert British coins, since presumably they wouldn’t have been operating in Britain (though the Channel Islands were under German occupation during WW2). Perhaps the coin had belonged to a comrade of the Russian spy who famously gave his stash coin away to his paper boy by accident (http://mentalfloss.com/article/32100/how-nickel-and-paperboy-brought-down-cold-war-spy)!





I went back to the stall to see if I could find the bottom half of the coin, but what I actually found was another similar coin. Now what were the odds of that? Perhaps this was James Bond’s old coin collection!

I spent quite a bit of time searching on the internet, but couldn’t find anything quite like the coins I had. The two hollow coins are very light in weight, and unless the base of the coins were weighted, the overall coin would be noticeably light. Then I noticed that one of my coins would fit inside the other, and I wondered if they were part of a magician’s trick. Now, I’d have really liked these to be some sort of historic spy device, but thought the latter idea might be more plausible, explaining why the two coins had been together. Perhaps there never were any bottoms to them. And while I don’t really have any practical use for a smugglers coin, I can see me winning extra Granddad Points with my granddaughter as, with a rub of the hands, a blow from her, and an ‘Abracadabra’, I neatly make one of the ‘coins’ disappear. In fact, since some of the earlier Victorian pennies are very slightly smaller, I can actually make TWO coins disappear Of course I also now have a double-headed coin :thumbup:







I went back to the internet and started searching again. I soon found a modern version of my coins - http://www.johnsonmagicproducts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=87 Shells of this kind apparently go back to the 1600’s, but mine are still fairly old ones, and good ones have never been inexpensive. So maybe rather than James Bond’s old coin collection, I found Houdini’s!

If anyone has more ideas and information about these, it’d be great to hear from you. In the meantime, I’m practicing my magic skills!

Abracadabra!

Jack

 

[Gevonovich]

You just never know what you will find in those old bin!! Super cool, Jack. When you get good ...you can turn that/those pennies into dollars

Abracadabra

I have read about the hollowed out coins used during the war. I will go read your links a little later

Great find and write up, as always!!

 

[Parke1]

Great find and write up, as always!!

I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks Jack! Very, very neat stuff!

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks guys, I've been practicing my tricks. Hopefully a two year-old will be an easy audience!

 

[Humppa]

Thanks guys, I've been practicing my tricks. Hopefully a two year-old will be an easy audience!

LOL!!! Yeah, she will be - no doubt.

I tried to handle that in case of knives with an 8 months old... he seems to be like a vacuum cleaner and eating everything, even knives
(They don´t taste too well, believe me.)