Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

Baxters soups have generally gone downhill, ime, but the RG is the most
disappointing, I agree.

Yup, they used to be a decent alternative to the rest of the tinned soup
makers, now like the others they strive to sell salt water with added
starch and fat in a tin.

I used to have an image of Ma Baxter slaving over a huge pot, churning
it out, but for decades it's been a giant industrial process, just like
every other maker. I see they sold off the chilled soups to Northern
Foods in 2008. Hohum, more industrial muck.

Errg, haven't bought anything from them for some time now. Oddly,
outside the UK, Knorr sell fairly decent soups in Tetrapak boxes. They
don't seem to offer them here at all.

Alan wrote:


For those who like salty food the salt can be added after cooking.


vegetables that have been boiled in fresh water are tasteless, and adding
salt 'on the plate' is nothing like cooking them in salted water


--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

In message _O2_n.239272$_m6.106117@hurricane, Phil L
wrote
Alan wrote:


For those who like salty food the salt can be added after cooking.


vegetables that have been boiled in fresh water are tasteless, and adding
salt 'on the plate' is nothing like cooking them in salted water


If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt. The problem with removing a lot salt from a diet is
to get used to the taste of how things are meant to taste and not just
the taste of salt. As I mentioned previously try (all) food completely
free of salt for a couple of weeks and you may find that afterwards you
dislike over-salted food. It's very much like smokers who can never
understand how much they stink until they give up and notice the smell
on other smokers.

I would suggest however that overcooking in plain water may impart the
flavour to the water and so the solution is to cook them for less time,
or perhaps a quick steaming.



--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In message lEPZn.173226$NW.8404@hurricane, Arfa Daily
writes
Today, I ordered five 8 pin chips from RS. And how are they coming ? By
DHL for christ's sake. Why ? It's coming 10 miles down the road from
Corby. Use the Bloody Post office and a Jiffy bag ! It's gotta be
cheaper than using a courier for small packages, hasn't it ?


I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work



--
geoff

In message
,
Owain writes
On 10 July, 11:41, Tim Watts wrote:
You should have seen the caramel slices I made once (to a recipe):
Butter in the base biscuit.
Butter in the caramel.
And luscious chocolate on top. Used around 1lb butter making a 2x2 foot
tray's worth. They were delicious, but you wouldn't want more than a 2x1"
slice or you'd pretty much have a heart attack on the spot!

Nothing wrong with good fresh butter, cream, eggs, suet and lard. Good
"builds you up" food.

Just what I need ...

--
geoff

We actually own a family food business, and a lot of rubbish is spoken about
the adding of salt, mostly by people who think that they understand all
about health. The addition of salt is pretty much essential to much food, in
order to season it. This is not about tasting the salt, but 'bringing out'
the flavours of the other ingredients. A lot of food that you get in
restaurants these days, is bland, because it is being cooked by people who
are not proper chefs / cooks, and don't understand the concept of seasoning.
They think that they are being 'healthy' in their cooking by not adding
salt, but actually, all they are doing is turning out inferior tasting food.
Just look on any of the cookery competition programmes that are on TV these
days. The contestants are continually being admonished by the proper chefs
who are judging their food, for it not being seasoned correctly. This is
usually met by a totally blank look from the contestants.

My missus makes things taste great without salt, she has other ideas..

Likewise, anything that we produce that requires a fat content, is made
using 'proper' fat - that's butter or cream. There is no reason that this
should be considered unhealthy. It's the lifestyle that goes with it that
causes it to be so. When we were kids 40 years or more back, we all used to
eat butter, cream, pork and beef dripping, bacon with fat on, pork with fat
on, drink full cream milk and so on. There was no obesity problem, and
nothing like the levels of coronary disease that we have now. Attacking the
food because it contains fat, is wrong. I would personally far rather have
proper dairy in my food, than some 'alternative' fat that has been
manufactured from god knows what in some factory deep in one of the eastern
states. Apart from this, many of the alternative 'manufactured' fats, just
don't work the same with the other ingredients, leading to cakes with the
wrong consistency or pastry that won't crisp up, and so on.

Arfa


Over in the very rural part of France where 'err indoors parents live
they consume copious amounts of fat, beef, pork, ham, puff those
radioactive fags, drink red and white wine like its water and they all
think that keeling over at 90 is a bit premature to go..

One difference.. They just do NOT know what stress is.....

It doesn't exist there....
--
Tony Sayer

In message , geoff
wrote

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Probably the correct thing to do if you don't want repeat business.

These days you could print off your own stamp after paying on line.

My gripe about a lot of companies is that they over-pack items.
Something small and unbreakable that should be sent in the smallest
jiffy bag will treated as a priceless Ming vase with a ton of bubble
warp. I'm sure that the unskilled people they employ in their dispatch
departments sometimes have competitions to see who can pack the smallest
item in the largest box.

--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Alan wrote:
In message , geoff wrote

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Probably the correct thing to do if you don't want repeat business.

These days you could print off your own stamp after paying on line.

My gripe about a lot of companies is that they over-pack items.
Something small and unbreakable that should be sent in the smallest
jiffy bag will treated as a priceless Ming vase with a ton of bubble
warp. I'm sure that the unskilled people they employ in their dispatch
departments sometimes have competitions to see who can pack the smallest
item in the largest box.

conversely until you have seen a box full of balsa wood marked 'fragile'
BROKEN IN HALF with tyre tracks all over it.... the cost in terms of
wasted time money and customer relations is something else.

In message , Alan
writes
In message , geoff
wrote

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Probably the correct thing to do if you don't want repeat business.

Ha ha, so far from reality

Why do eejits say such stupid things ?



These days you could print off your own stamp after paying on line.

What on 20 items which I would have to leave work for to take down to
the post office, losing potentially dozens of orders


.... or send one of my employees to drop what they are doing

.... or emoploy someone specially to do it - thus raising my prices

and then when they lose something "if it doesn't turn up on 30 days,
fill in this form"


do get real




My gripe about a lot of companies is that they over-pack items.
Something small and unbreakable that should be sent in the smallest
jiffy bag will treated as a priceless Ming vase with a ton of bubble
warp. I'm sure that the unskilled people they employ in their dispatch
departments sometimes have competitions to see who can pack the
smallest item in the largest box.


--
geoff

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:51:44 +0100, Alan wrote:

My gripe about a lot of companies is that they over-pack items.
Something small and unbreakable that should be sent in the smallest
jiffy bag will treated as a priceless Ming vase with a ton of bubble
warp. I'm sure that the unskilled people they employ in their dispatch
departments sometimes have competitions to see who can pack the smallest
item in the largest box.

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:51:44 +0100, Alan
wrote:

In message , geoff
wrote

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Probably the correct thing to do if you don't want repeat business.

These days you could print off your own stamp after paying on line.

My gripe about a lot of companies is that they over-pack items.
Something small and unbreakable that should be sent in the smallest
jiffy bag will treated as a priceless Ming vase with a ton of bubble
warp. I'm sure that the unskilled people they employ in their dispatch
departments sometimes have competitions to see who can pack the smallest
item in the largest box.

CPC are the worst for that. Not so much over-packaged as over-sized
boxes...

--
Frank Erskine

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work

Don't you have minions?

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on the same
order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next day.

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:35:11 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on the
same order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next day.

I actually do consider that factor every time I order. I sometimes deley
the next tub of dishwasher powder for several orders, if those orders
contain fragile stuff.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:35:11 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on the
same order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next day.

I actually do consider that factor every time I order. I sometimes deley
the next tub of dishwasher powder for several orders, if those orders
contain fragile stuff.

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing




--
geoff

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work

Don't you have minions?

Yes, but they have work to do

It strikes me that some people think that we are sitting around all day
waiting for their order so we can rush out and pop out down to the PO
and spend an hour ****ing about on dispatching this item they have
bought for £30

.... and when they return the exchange item, don't feel the need to put
in the returns slip as I expressly instruct them to do as, surely I know
who that suprima board came from



--
geoff

On 11 Jul,
geoff wrote:

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing

I've been after a disk drive or two. I'm not risking that with what else I
have currently planned for CPC despite reasonable prices. Seperate order,
possibly elsewhere.

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message lEPZn.173226$NW.8404@hurricane, Arfa Daily
writes
Today, I ordered five 8 pin chips from RS. And how are they coming ? By
DHL for christ's sake. Why ? It's coming 10 miles down the road from
Corby. Use the Bloody Post office and a Jiffy bag ! It's gotta be cheaper
than using a courier for small packages, hasn't it ?


I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work



--
geoff

But a company the size of RS is going to have Royal Mail collection, so
nobody is going to have to go down to the Post Office, are they ? Do you
drive down to whoever you use as a courier every night ? No, of course you
don't. The whole point is that they, and others like them, used to employ
common sense and joined up thinking, and use the delivery service that was
the most appropriate and cost effective for the size of the shipment, and
the destination. RS certainly used to send small local items out by Royal
Mail. Now, some kid with a university degree in logistics stupidity,
determines that everything is going to get sent out via some half-arsed
courier that they've done a deal with to save a penny here and there, and
sod the requirements of the customer ...

It is a sheer bloody nuisance not knowing when a small package is going to
arrive, especially when parts are needed for a job in a hurry. It is also a
bloody nuisance when they need a signature, and won't leave a package if
they can't get one, even when it is in a Jiffy bag, and would fit through
the letterbox. If you then need the bits in a hurry, you have to drive
perhaps 20 or more miles to their depot, after the truck finally gets back,
and before their collection desk closes. At least if the Post Office can't
deliver personally, it's back with them just down the road, by lunchtime.

Arfa

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:16:05 +0100, geoff wrote:

In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:35:11 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the
opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on
the same order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next
day.

I actually do consider that factor every time I order. I sometimes deley
the next tub of dishwasher powder for several orders, if those orders
contain fragile stuff.

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing

Best one was the 5ft fluorescent tubes. Wrapped in extensive bubble wrap
with a label stuck on. No box.

I think they were folded to get them in the van. They were certainly
folded when they arrived.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

In message , writes
On 11 Jul,
geoff wrote:

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing

I've been after a disk drive or two. I'm not risking that with what else I
have currently planned for CPC despite reasonable prices. Seperate order,
possibly elsewhere.


I've not found CPC to be that competitive on hard drives

You do have to be careful, sometimes they are more expensive than the
RRP


--
geoff

In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:16:05 +0100, geoff wrote:

In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:35:11 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the
opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on
the same order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next
day.

I actually do consider that factor every time I order. I sometimes deley
the next tub of dishwasher powder for several orders, if those orders
contain fragile stuff.

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing

Best one was the 5ft fluorescent tubes. Wrapped in extensive bubble wrap
with a label stuck on. No box.

I think they were folded to get them in the van. They were certainly
folded when they arrived.

Turned them into CFLs did they ?

--
geoff

In message , Arfa Daily
writes


"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message lEPZn.173226$NW.8404@hurricane, Arfa Daily
writes
Today, I ordered five 8 pin chips from RS. And how are they coming ?
By DHL for christ's sake. Why ? It's coming 10 miles down the road
from Corby. Use the Bloody Post office and a Jiffy bag ! It's gotta
be cheaper than using a courier for small packages, hasn't it ?


I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work



-- geoff

But a company the size of RS is going to have Royal Mail collection, so
nobody is going to have to go down to the Post Office, are they ?

But that's what I'm getting asked to do on occasions

Do you drive down to whoever you use as a courier every night ? No, of
course you don't. The whole point is that they, and others like them,
used to employ common sense and joined up thinking, and use the
delivery service that was the most appropriate and cost effective for
the size of the shipment,

No, they have never done that in my experience

good example I remember well a couple of years ago

they sent me a toroidal transformer in a jiffy bag and some other light
items in a cardboard box separately




and the destination. RS certainly used to send small local items out by
Royal Mail. Now, some kid with a university degree in logistics
stupidity, determines that everything is going to get sent out via some
half-arsed courier that they've done a deal with to save a penny here
and there, and sod the requirements of the customer ...

It is a sheer bloody nuisance not knowing when a small package is going
to arrive, especially when parts are needed for a job in a hurry. It is
also a bloody nuisance when they need a signature, and won't leave a
package if they can't get one, even when it is in a Jiffy bag, and
would fit through the letterbox. If you then need the bits in a hurry,
you have to drive perhaps 20 or more miles to their depot, after the
truck finally gets back, and before their collection desk closes. At
least if the Post Office can't deliver personally, it's back with them
just down the road, by lunchtime.

Arfa

--
geoff

"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
wrote


We actually own a family food business,

That's the problem with too much salt in food. People in the business are
addicted to salt and tasting it all day doesn't give them salty "hit" so
they always add a bit more... and then a little bit more ...and then a
little bit more. Like all drug addicts a reasonable amount doesn't satisfy
their cravings.

Perhaps those in the business shouldn't be the ones deciding how much salt
is included food?

and a lot of rubbish is spoken about the adding of salt, mostly by people
who think that they understand all about health.

It's not about health it's about taste.

The addition of salt is pretty much essential to much food, in order to
season it. This is not about tasting the salt, but 'bringing out' the
flavours of the other ingredients. A lot of food that you get in
restaurants these days, is bland, because it is being cooked by people who
are not proper chefs / cooks, and don't understand the concept of
seasoning.

If the food tastes bland it is because it is bland in the first place, or
of poor quality. Modern processing of food doesn't let flavour mature. It
is no longer permissible to hang meat in the traditional way. It now has
to be kept chilled within an inch of its life. Fruit and vegetable
varieties have been bred for their "class 1" looks rather anything to do
with taste.

Adding salt doesn't improve ingredients, it just disguises the fact that
many people in the food business use the cheapest ingredients they can get
hold of .

They think that they are being 'healthy' in their cooking by not adding
salt, but actually, all they are doing is turning out inferior tasting
food. Just look on any of the cookery competition programmes that are on
TV these days. The contestants are continually being admonished by the
proper chefs who are judging their food, for it not being seasoned
correctly. This is usually met by a totally blank look from the
contestants.

Professional TV cooks are part of the problem. They are also addicted to
the overuse of salt. The blank looks by the contestants are because they
don't believe that anyone would want to make food so inedible by the use
of so much salt.

For those who like salty food the salt can be added after cooking.

It's the lifestyle that goes with it that causes it to be so. When we
were kids 40 years or more back, we all used to eat butter, cream, pork
and beef dripping, bacon with fat on, pork with fat on, drink full cream
milk and so on.

The average Mcdonnalds 99p meal contains the same amount of fat and salt
as a family's fat and salt ration for the week 40 years ago
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

All of which actually shows that you know absolutely nothing about the
production of food, and seasoning it properly ...

The salt cannot be added afterward, because then, what you taste is salt.
Seasoning, as I said, is not about tasting salt in the food. It is absolute
nonsense to suggest that professional and trained cooks are addicted to
salt. It's just that they have a trained palate, which you obviously don't,
and understand the importance of the use of correct levels of salt, to
properly bring out the flavours of the other ingredients. Bland tasting food
is not necessarily because inferior product is being used to make it. We use
only top quality produce, but with some items, no matter how 'strong' the
primary flavours of the ingredients are, without proper seasoning, the
finished product can still taste 'flat' or 'uninteresting' or sometimes,
plain bland.

Arfa

"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message _O2_n.239272$_m6.106117@hurricane, Phil L
wrote
Alan wrote:


For those who like salty food the salt can be added after cooking.


vegetables that have been boiled in fresh water are tasteless, and adding
salt 'on the plate' is nothing like cooking them in salted water


If vegetables are tasteless then cooking them in salty water only makes
them taste of salt.

That is utterly wrong.


The problem with removing a lot salt from a diet is
to get used to the taste of how things are meant to taste and not just the
taste of salt.

'Correct' seasoning is not "a lot of salt". Too much salt is just as bad for
the taste of the food, as not having any in there at all. You cannot suggest
that putting no salt in a dish during its preparation, is preparing that
dish to taste as it is "meant to taste". When a dish is composed of a number
of ingredients, you do not taste them all individually. They combine to form
new flavours, and some of those new flavours benefit, to an educated palate
at least, from a degree of seasoning. If you cannot taste this, then you are
one of those people who will never make a decent cook.

As I mentioned previously try (all) food completely
free of salt for a couple of weeks and you may find that afterwards you
dislike over-salted food.

Anyone with a half way decent palate, will dislike over-salted food anyway.
Try to understand, that seasoning is not just about "adding salt"

Arfa


It's very much like smokers who can never
understand how much they stink until they give up and notice the smell on
other smokers.

I would suggest however that overcooking in plain water may impart the
flavour to the water and so the solution is to cook them for less time, or
perhaps a quick steaming.



--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"Steve Firth" wrote in message
...
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

Baxters soups have generally gone downhill, ime, but the RG is the most
disappointing, I agree.

Yup, they used to be a decent alternative to the rest of the tinned soup
makers, now like the others they strive to sell salt water with added
starch and fat in a tin.

I used to have an image of Ma Baxter slaving over a huge pot, churning
it out, but for decades it's been a giant industrial process, just like
every other maker. I see they sold off the chilled soups to Northern
Foods in 2008. Hohum, more industrial muck.

Errg, haven't bought anything from them for some time now. Oddly,
outside the UK, Knorr sell fairly decent soups in Tetrapak boxes. They
don't seem to offer them here at all.

We took over another cafe about 18 months back, and the previous owner had
cartloads of Knorr 'professional' soups in stock. They were packed in boxes
of 10, I recall, and each was in a strong plastic pouch about the size of
one of those 'Orange C' packs that Libby's used to make. I would guess
perhaps a half litre in each. We make all our own soups from scratch, so
decided that these ones would not continue to be used, so I took them home.
There was about 4 or 5 different flavors, including a Mediterranean Tomato,
and a vegetable, and I have to say that they were very good. But for the
fact that we like to control exactly what goes in our soups, we could have
continued to serve them. If you received it in a restaurant, you wouldn't be
disappointed, and would probably think that the chef had made it himself. As
to Baxter's tinned soups, the only one I like now is their plain tomato, as
it tastes more tomato-y and less sweet than any of the others, including the
supermarket own brands.

Arfa

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:49:03 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 11 Jul,
geoff wrote:

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were
dispatched from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing

I've been after a disk drive or two. I'm not risking that with what else
I have currently planned for CPC despite reasonable prices. Seperate
order, possibly elsewhere.

I hav ecompletely given up on disk drives from CPC, for that reason.
Amazon aren't bad for them.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

In message , Arfa Daily
writes


"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
wrote


We actually own a family food business,

That's the problem with too much salt in food. People in the business
are addicted to salt and tasting it all day doesn't give them salty
"hit" so they always add a bit more... and then a little bit more
...and then a little bit more. Like all drug addicts a reasonable
amount doesn't satisfy their cravings.


All of which actually shows that you know absolutely nothing about the
production of food, and seasoning it properly ...

The salt cannot be added afterward, because then, what you taste is
salt. Seasoning, as I said, is not about tasting salt in the food. It
is absolute nonsense to suggest that professional and trained cooks are
addicted to salt. It's just that they have a trained palate, which you
obviously don't, and understand the importance of the use of correct
levels of salt, to properly bring out the flavours of the other ingredients.


Or maybe they have trained their palates to expect food to taste as it
does when seasoned? They are used to it and therefor it tastes wrong
without it? I'm not saying they are addicted to it, just used to a
certain way of food tasting.

Certainly ISTM that limiting the salt you add to your food, seems to
change how much you taste the salt added to food.

I've not for many years added salt to food when cooking it as a rule
(though sometimes there will be some in it from say using soy Sauce, or
whatever) and I'd object to the accusation that my food is bland :-) -
other people seem to be very happy with it.

But I think that this a different argument from that about the amount of
salt in a lot or prepared and processed foods in supermarkets. where it
does seem that higher levels of salt and sugar are used to try to give
the foods a 'taste', that really is just relying on these high levels.
People get used to this and then expect things to taste like that.

I'm not a great eater of such things, but I find now that prepared soups
say are often very salty - almost to the point of being uneatable for me
- esp tinned ones, but also sometimes the chilled ones. Similarly for
other chilled prepared foods or things like pies or pasties


--
Chris French

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:04:39 +0100, geoff wrote:

Best one was the 5ft fluorescent tubes. Wrapped in extensive bubble wrap
with a label stuck on. No box.

I think they were folded to get them in the van. They were certainly
folded when they arrived.

Turned them into CFLs did they ?

F=Fragmented.
--
Peter.
2x4 - thick plank; 4x4 - two of 'em.

In article , geoff
scribeth thus
In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:35:11 +0100, me9 wrote:

On 10 Jul,
Bob Eager wrote:

Apart from CPC, who sometimes vary it, and compete to do the opposite.

"Jiffy bag? That'll do fine for this hard drive.."
I became worried after I'd ordered T&K brackets /and/ light bulbs on the
same order from CPC. I needn't have, they arrived intact the next day.

I actually do consider that factor every time I order. I sometimes deley
the next tub of dishwasher powder for several orders, if those orders
contain fragile stuff.

I've had what I presume were intact lightbulbs when they were dispatched
from CPC in orders

even the replacements needed replacing





We had some lead acid batteries and some desktop inserts they things you
put cables through..

All in the same box.

Net result was all cable inserts smashed. One battery missing went out
through the hole in the side of the box;!...
--
Tony Sayer

Anyone with a half way decent palate, will dislike over-salted food
anyway. Try to understand, that seasoning is not just about "adding salt"


Whatever happened to moderation? These days things either taste of
nothing at all, or they are swamped in inappropriate herbs and spices.

"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
writes


"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message lEPZn.173226$NW.8404@hurricane, Arfa Daily
writes
Today, I ordered five 8 pin chips from RS. And how are they coming ? By
DHL for christ's sake. Why ? It's coming 10 miles down the road from
Corby. Use the Bloody Post office and a Jiffy bag ! It's gotta be
cheaper than using a courier for small packages, hasn't it ?


I get this all the time "can't you just post it?"

No I f'king can't

Who do you think is going to leave work, go 15 minutes down the road,
stand in a queue behind half a dozen people for another 15 minutes and
then come back having lost all in all about an hour of productive work



-- geoff

But a company the size of RS is going to have Royal Mail collection, so
nobody is going to have to go down to the Post Office, are they ?

But that's what I'm getting asked to do on occasions


Yes, and being a small company, I can understand that you cannot accommodate
them, and if you've never used Royal Mail for your shipments, then that is
your company policy, and that's fine.



Do you drive down to whoever you use as a courier every night ? No, of
course you don't. The whole point is that they, and others like them, used
to employ common sense and joined up thinking, and use the delivery
service that was the most appropriate and cost effective for the size of
the shipment,

No, they have never done that in my experience

good example I remember well a couple of years ago

they sent me a toroidal transformer in a jiffy bag and some other light
items in a cardboard box separately


All of the component companies have always done nonsense like that, but I
think that is more down to the morons employed in dispatch, rather than
company policy. RS, and Farnell for that matter, used to send out small
items by Royal Mail, in a Jiffy bag, by default, and for the most part, the
bits arrived in the post, at a predictable time, the next morning when you
needed them, and undamaged. The shipping policies that both of these
companies have now, for the most part preclude this ever happening any more,
and it is unhelpful to all concerned, including them, because if I can find
an alternative supplier for my orders each time, who will ship them Royal
Mail, then they will get the order, irrespective of whether they are a few
pennies dearer, or charge for shipping.

Arfa






and the destination. RS certainly used to send small local items out by
Royal Mail. Now, some kid with a university degree in logistics stupidity,
determines that everything is going to get sent out via some half-arsed
courier that they've done a deal with to save a penny here and there, and
sod the requirements of the customer ...

It is a sheer bloody nuisance not knowing when a small package is going to
arrive, especially when parts are needed for a job in a hurry. It is also
a bloody nuisance when they need a signature, and won't leave a package if
they can't get one, even when it is in a Jiffy bag, and would fit through
the letterbox. If you then need the bits in a hurry, you have to drive
perhaps 20 or more miles to their depot, after the truck finally gets
back, and before their collection desk closes. At least if the Post Office
can't deliver personally, it's back with them just down the road, by
lunchtime.

Arfa

--
geoff

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

It strikes me that some people think that we are sitting around all day
waiting for their order so we can rush out and pop out down to the PO
and spend an hour ****ing about on dispatching this item they have
bought for £30

Ironically, even if you did just 'pop down the PO' with it, they'd
likely get it later than simply waiting for your normal pickup/delivery.
I assume you have a deal with one of the delivery companies.

... and when they return the exchange item, don't feel the need to put
in the returns slip as I expressly instruct them to do as, surely I know
who that suprima board came from

Customers, eh?

stuart noble wrote:


Anyone with a half way decent palate, will dislike over-salted food
anyway. Try to understand, that seasoning is not just about "adding salt"


Whatever happened to moderation? These days things either taste of
nothing at all, or they are swamped in inappropriate herbs and spices.

That the problem with pre-prepared food.


Flavour is the first thing you lose when you keep stuff hanging around -
vegetable stuff that is.

Vegetables straight out of the garden have real flavour. It last a day
or to at most.

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 16:04:09 +0100, Phil L wrote:

It's like the dreaded words 'new and improved recipie' on one of your
regular groceries,

Agreed, lates one Cauldron Foods Lincolnshire or Cumberland sausages.
Now rubbery and rather too herby in flavour.

The packaging states: "We'd love to know what you think...
addressphone no. or visit our website www.cauldronfoods.co.uk. I
can't find anywhere on the saite that allows you to let them "know
what you think".

--
Cheers
Dave.

"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
writes


"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
wrote


We actually own a family food business,

That's the problem with too much salt in food. People in the business
are addicted to salt and tasting it all day doesn't give them salty
"hit" so they always add a bit more... and then a little bit more
...and then a little bit more. Like all drug addicts a reasonable
amount doesn't satisfy their cravings.


All of which actually shows that you know absolutely nothing about the
production of food, and seasoning it properly ...

The salt cannot be added afterward, because then, what you taste is salt.
Seasoning, as I said, is not about tasting salt in the food. It is
absolute nonsense to suggest that professional and trained cooks are
addicted to salt. It's just that they have a trained palate, which you
obviously don't, and understand the importance of the use of correct
levels of salt, to properly bring out the flavours of the other
ingredients.


Or maybe they have trained their palates to expect food to taste as it
does when seasoned? They are used to it and therefor it tastes wrong
without it? I'm not saying they are addicted to it, just used to a certain
way of food tasting.



Are you seriously suggesting that every world class and renowned Michelin
starred chef is wrong ?




Certainly ISTM that limiting the salt you add to your food, seems to
change how much you taste the salt added to food.




Your concept is utterly wrong. You do not taste the salt added to food
during its preparation - unless its use has been heavy handed. The salt is
put in, in *small* and correct quantities to 'bring out' the flavours of
other ingredients, as they combine in the cooking process, to produce new
flavours. It acts as a sort of flavour catalyst, if you like. Used wrongly,
it becomes a taste in its own right, so if that is the only way that you
have ever experienced its presence, then you have never either eaten
correctly prepared food, or used it correctly in your own cooking. It's not
easy to get it right, which is why there are professional chefs with
naturally good palates. That is their gift, and why they are professional
chefs.





I've not for many years added salt to food when cooking it as a rule
(though sometimes there will be some in it from say using soy Sauce, or
whatever) and I'd object to the accusation that my food is bland :-) -
other people seem to be very happy with it.



But why not add salt ?




But I think that this a different argument from that about the amount of
salt in a lot or prepared and processed foods in supermarkets. where it
does seem that higher levels of salt and sugar are used to try to give the
foods a 'taste', that really is just relying on these high levels. People
get used to this and then expect things to taste like that.




It is indeed a different argument, and I don't dispute that manufacturers
will add excess salt to crap ingredients to obtain a strong savoury taste
that I'm sure that people get used to, but that is misuse of salt as an
'ingredient', rather than correct use of salt as an enhancement to the
flavour blending process - called 'seasoning'




I'm not a great eater of such things, but I find now that prepared soups
say are often very salty - almost to the point of being uneatable for me -
esp tinned ones, but also sometimes the chilled ones. Similarly for other
chilled prepared foods or things like pies or pasties



I used to buy a chicken slice from a local family baker. Then, all of a
sudden, they got onto this health crack about salt, and completely stopped
using it in their fillings. The taste quality of their slice went from
superb to rubbish overnight. With the small amount of salt that had
previously been added to the mix, the flavour of the chicken and potatoes
and onions used to burst out as both individual items and a combined
flavour. After the salt was removed, the filling became a bland
chicken-coloured gloop, typical of what you find in supermarket pasties.
This sad demise of what was previously a top quality 'home baked' product
was not because you could no longer taste salt that had been added to crap
ingredients, but that the flavour combinations created from the quality
ingredients being used, were no longer being enhanced by the correct
addition of seasoning to the mix, prior to cooking. No amount of salt added
afterward, would have restored that same flavour quality, emphasising that
it is *not* about the taste of the salt itself, Chris.

Arfa



--
Chris French

Arfa Daily wrote:


"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
writes


"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
wrote


We actually own a family food business,

That's the problem with too much salt in food. People in the
business are addicted to salt and tasting it all day doesn't give
them salty "hit" so they always add a bit more... and then a little
bit more ...and then a little bit more. Like all drug addicts a
reasonable amount doesn't satisfy their cravings.


All of which actually shows that you know absolutely nothing about
the production of food, and seasoning it properly ...

The salt cannot be added afterward, because then, what you taste is
salt. Seasoning, as I said, is not about tasting salt in the food. It
is absolute nonsense to suggest that professional and trained cooks
are addicted to salt. It's just that they have a trained palate,
which you obviously don't, and understand the importance of the use
of correct levels of salt, to properly bring out the flavours of the
other ingredients.


Or maybe they have trained their palates to expect food to taste as
it does when seasoned? They are used to it and therefor it tastes
wrong without it? I'm not saying they are addicted to it, just used to
a certain way of food tasting.



Are you seriously suggesting that every world class and renowned
Michelin starred chef is wrong ?




Certainly ISTM that limiting the salt you add to your food, seems to
change how much you taste the salt added to food.




Your concept is utterly wrong. You do not taste the salt added to food
during its preparation - unless its use has been heavy handed. The salt
is put in, in *small* and correct quantities to 'bring out' the flavours
of other ingredients, as they combine in the cooking process, to produce
new flavours. It acts as a sort of flavour catalyst, if you like. Used
wrongly, it becomes a taste in its own right, so if that is the only way
that you have ever experienced its presence, then you have never either
eaten correctly prepared food, or used it correctly in your own cooking.
It's not easy to get it right, which is why there are professional chefs
with naturally good palates. That is their gift, and why they are
professional chefs.





I've not for many years added salt to food when cooking it as a rule
(though sometimes there will be some in it from say using soy Sauce,
or whatever) and I'd object to the accusation that my food is bland
:-) - other people seem to be very happy with it.



But why not add salt ?


Soy sauce has lots of added salt.




But I think that this a different argument from that about the amount
of salt in a lot or prepared and processed foods in supermarkets.
where it does seem that higher levels of salt and sugar are used to
try to give the foods a 'taste', that really is just relying on these
high levels. People get used to this and then expect things to taste
like that.




It is indeed a different argument, and I don't dispute that
manufacturers will add excess salt to crap ingredients to obtain a
strong savoury taste that I'm sure that people get used to, but that is
misuse of salt as an 'ingredient', rather than correct use of salt as an
enhancement to the flavour blending process - called 'seasoning'



Agreeed.


I'm not a great eater of such things, but I find now that prepared
soups say are often very salty - almost to the point of being
uneatable for me - esp tinned ones, but also sometimes the chilled
ones. Similarly for other chilled prepared foods or things like pies
or pasties



I used to buy a chicken slice from a local family baker. Then, all of a
sudden, they got onto this health crack about salt, and completely
stopped using it in their fillings. The taste quality of their slice
went from superb to rubbish overnight. With the small amount of salt
that had previously been added to the mix, the flavour of the chicken
and potatoes and onions used to burst out as both individual items and a
combined flavour. After the salt was removed, the filling became a bland
chicken-coloured gloop, typical of what you find in supermarket pasties.
This sad demise of what was previously a top quality 'home baked'
product was not because you could no longer taste salt that had been
added to crap ingredients, but that the flavour combinations created
from the quality ingredients being used, were no longer being enhanced
by the correct addition of seasoning to the mix, prior to cooking. No
amount of salt added afterward, would have restored that same flavour
quality, emphasising that it is *not* about the taste of the salt
itself, Chris.

Arfa


I agree.

A correctly sorted body will excrete salt damned fast.

I think the worse danger is that you then lose chloride ions too fast.
So I use sea salt that mas a lot of chlorine in it as well. The other
way to pick up chlorides IIRC is to eat fruit and veg.



There's a lot of rubbish talked about salt.

And food in general. Balance is all. If your body is short of something,
you get hunger and cravings: if you don't put the right food in, you get
unbalanced chemistry and THAT is the problem.


My niece has had to get all vegetable oils out of her diet,.. Ruins her
skin apparently.





--
Chris French

Dave Liquorice
wibbled on Sunday 11 July 2010 12:15

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 16:04:09 +0100, Phil L wrote:

It's like the dreaded words 'new and improved recipie' on one of your
regular groceries,

Agreed, lates one Cauldron Foods Lincolnshire or Cumberland sausages.
Now rubbery and rather too herby in flavour.

The packaging states: "We'd love to know what you think...
addressphone no. or visit our website www.cauldronfoods.co.uk. I
can't find anywhere on the saite that allows you to let them "know
what you think".


Another "first" is http://lilleytileandstone.co.uk/

I've recommended them here before as good Mapei suppliers, but since earlier
this year, they "improved" their website, meaning:

a) The main thing has been done in Flash (FFS, I thought people had got over
that nonsense - and don't they realise that Google can't find *anything*
anymore?)

b) Their Online shop that used to work perfectly well is broken and non
functional, despite me emailing them about it on 17th April.

What possesses people to take down a website in order to develop a new one
in place? Where do they get their cretinous web developers who can't develop
offline and then to top it off, can't finish the job?

Utter utter cretinism.

Since then, they've lost my business to Tile Giant who can get all things
Mapei and I can go and collect...

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.

On 11 Jul,
"Arfa Daily" wrote:



"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , Arfa Daily
writes


All of which actually shows that you know absolutely nothing about the
production of food, and seasoning it properly ...

The salt cannot be added afterward, because then, what you taste is salt.
Seasoning, as I said, is not about tasting salt in the food. It is
absolute nonsense to suggest that professional and trained cooks are
addicted to salt. It's just that they have a trained palate, which you
obviously don't, and understand the importance of the use of correct
levels of salt, to properly bring out the flavours of the other
ingredients.


Or maybe they have trained their palates to expect food to taste as it
does when seasoned? They are used to it and therefor it tastes wrong
without it? I'm not saying they are addicted to it, just used to a
certain way of food tasting.



Are you seriously suggesting that every world class and renowned Michelin
starred chef is wrong ?

If they need to use salt then yes. I've never needed to add salt to cover up
bland food. Salt tastes foul to me.




Certainly ISTM that limiting the salt you add to your food, seems to
change how much you taste the salt added to food.

You get used to excessive salt. Try without for a month or so and you will
wonder why you ever added it.

Your concept is utterly wrong. You do not taste the salt added to food
during its preparation - unless its use has been heavy handed. The salt is
put in, in *small* and correct quantities to 'bring out' the flavours of
other ingredients, as they combine in the cooking process, to produce new
flavours. It acts as a sort of flavour catalyst, if you like. Used wrongly,
it becomes a taste in its own right, so if that is the only way that you
have ever experienced its presence, then you have never either eaten
correctly prepared food, or used it correctly in your own cooking. It's not
easy to get it right, which is why there are professional chefs with
naturally good palates. That is their gift, and why they are professional
chefs.

And why I rarely eat out.





I've not for many years added salt to food when cooking it as a rule
(though sometimes there will be some in it from say using soy Sauce, or
whatever) and I'd object to the accusation that my food is bland :-) -
other people seem to be very happy with it.

Me too. Not for over 40 years.



But why not add salt ?

It tastes foul




But I think that this a different argument from that about the amount of
salt in a lot or prepared and processed foods in supermarkets. where it
does seem that higher levels of salt and sugar are used to try to give
the foods a 'taste', that really is just relying on these high levels.
People get used to this and then expect things to taste like that.

It is difficult to get processed food that isn't salty, but it is possible
with reading the small print on labels. If salt isn't mentioned it's probably
too high.

It is indeed a different argument, and I don't dispute that manufacturers
will add excess salt to crap ingredients to obtain a strong savoury taste
that I'm sure that people get used to, but that is misuse of salt as an
'ingredient', rather than correct use of salt as an enhancement to the
flavour blending process - called 'seasoning'

Like the renowned monosod. glucamate(SP?) flavor enhacer. Just makes you want
to consume more, water in the case of salt.




I'm not a great eater of such things, but I find now that prepared soups
say are often very salty - almost to the point of being uneatable for me
- esp tinned ones, but also sometimes the chilled ones.

I've found /some/ of the Aldi ones ok.

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:03:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I think the worse danger is that you then lose chloride ions too fast.

Thought it was the sodium. Get low on sodium (or potassium) and the
nervous sytem starts to misbehave. But you need chlrodes as well...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 11/07/2010 13:30, Tim Watts wrote:


Another "first" is http://lilleytileandstone.co.uk/

I've recommended them here before as good Mapei suppliers, but since earlier
this year, they "improved" their website, meaning:

a) The main thing has been done in Flash (FFS, I thought people had got over
that nonsense - and don't they realise that Google can't find *anything*
anymore?)


My word. That's one of the worst sites I've seen in a long time.

Rob