Thursday Noodles 10/26/23

NOTHING BUT COMFORT edition

Scene: our den. Teen, Husband, and I are cuddled up on the couch watching Netflix.

N.B. to Boomers and Gen X: we were not “Netflix and chill”-ing. Netflix and Chill doesn’t mean what you think it means. Young people snort every time a politician says, Netflix and Chill to sound cool.

Back to the den.

Me: (covering my eyes) Ah! I can’t watch.

Teen: Mom, it’s ok.

Me: No. It’s too intense. I can’t watch.

Teen: You don’t have to be an empath 24/7, you know.

Me: You say that like I have a choice.

Husband: Hon. It’s ok. They’re all going to be ok.

Related question:

Do y’all watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix?

Across the pond it’s called The Great British Bake Off, and The Guardian covers it “as it happened” every episode. [Spoiler alarm: that link takes you to the very latest episode.]

Our hosts and judges. From L: Prue Leith, Noel Fielding, Alison Hammond, Paul Hollywood. Don’t ask me who they are or what they do or why they’re on this show. Ask a Brit? I honestly have no idea, except that Paul’s the cranky one.

It’s the nicest show on earth and my family loves it. WE LOVES IT.

Everyone’s kind to each other and supportive and quirky and the baking looks scrumdiddlyumptious.

But when the clock is ticking on a baking challenge … time is running out … the voice-over is telling us how much our contestants still have left to do …

I have to cover my eyes. Or play Sudoku on my phone.

It’s worse than the most intense of dramas because THIS IS REAL LIFE, man.

Also Related: That Big Crash

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, but at the end of last September, Teen got in a really bad mountain biking crash. As in helicoptered from the local hospital to the trauma center, bad. (You can watch the video he made with his GoPro footage of the crash on Youtube.)

I won’t keep you in suspense: he is a-okay. It was a miracle. He had a broken vertebrae, lung damage, cracked ribs, a nasty concussion, and scrapes and bruises everywhere.

You know how hospitals wheel you out when you’re discharged, just to be cautious?

When Teen was discharged, his treatment team let him walk off the ward and out of the front doors. Because the team was so, so happy he COULD walk.

We got so lucky.

Still, he was out of commission for weeks.

And we were shook.

My husband was riding with him when it happened. That was really hard for him.

I wasn’t with them when it happened. That was really hard for me.

For weeks after, we all felt very … fragile and vulnerable.

Plus, Teen was concussed and in pain, so he was literally fragile and vulnerable.

You know what’s interesting?

We had the instinct, all of us, to pick out picture books, cuddle up, and read them out loud to each other.

It just felt right.

For the first time in a decade, our coffee table was stacked with favorites: FERDINAND THE BULL, I AM A BUNNY, BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL, DIARY OF A WOMBAT, GEORGE AND MARTHA, LIBRARY LION, A VISITOR FOR BEAR.

And for several weeks, all we could stand to watch on the goobtube was the gentleness of The Great British Baking Show. (And only for 15 minutes at a time.)

So it means a lot, this show.

Have I mentioned I’m doing a grad program?

Yeah I’m just dropping that in as a header. For no particular reason except because I love being in school again and also I’m kinda … actually … really busy? But in a good way, a way I’m loving, even with a big deadline coming up.

So the other night as I was finishing up class on Zoom, I heard Teen and Husband literally GASPING at something on the bloobtube.

Mountain bike races?

A video of a bad crash?

A scary mystery?

Nup.

It was a new season of - you guessed it. The Great British Baking Show.

They were gasping, y’all.

Here’s a sample. This is not the new season, but Allison is one of the new co-hosts and … yeah, this will give you a taste. Har har.

On TGBBS, they bake deeply British things like Spotted Dick and Devonshire Splits.

I was crying laughing every time they said “Spotted Dick,” I mean literal tears drowning my eyes and streaming down my face, so I couldn’t even see the noobtoob to tell you what Spotted Dick is.

But Devonshire Splits: WOW they looked divine.

At our request, Teen made them.

He Googled around and found Paul Hollywood’s recipe for Devonshire Splits.

Well.

This is the last one and the cream looked prettier; in this photo it had suffered from cling film. Want one? Sorry. They are gone. All gone.

I would show more photos, but we dove in and this is the last of eight. OMG. Highly recommend.

What is a Devonshire Split? It’s some kind of sweet (but not too sweet) roll with strawberry jam and whipped cream. (Teen couldn’t find fresh strawberries for the top.)

Heavenly.

Wait! Breaking news! Teen is telling me something!

I’ll transcribe in real time: There is one thing you have to be sure to do: use caster sugar for the dough. Otherwise it’s not gonna taste good.

(Don’t ask me what caster sugar is.)

Teen is still talking!

He continues: The recipe amounts are all in British, so you have to do your own translating and conversions.

“In British.” Too right. Tiddly womp. Or whatever those silly billys say.

That’s all for now, beloveds.

Until next time, may you eat plenty and happily what makes you feel good.

And may The Great Cosmic Echidna bless you and keep you.

XOXO

P.S. EXTRA ESPECIAL SUPER GRATITUDE to paid subscribers. This week we welcome Ken R. to the Unruly Quaker Paid Subscriber Community. Thank you, Ken! Ken knows teamwork makes the dream work. Wooooo!