Really impressed with Aldi's wagyu steak range, I've had about 10 now and they're always delicious. You have to sift through them to find ones with decent marbling, but there's some real belter knocking around in there!
Picked it up to read the tasting notes and it felt super light, I asked the staff if I was going mad or if they agreed so they put it on the scales and it weighed 140g in the bag.
Guessing there's some sort of glitch going on with their weighing machine, just thought I'd give everyone a heads up on the off chance that anyone buys a bag in a cafe any time soon!
u/MioNombreEst, you've only gone and fucking done it mate! I heard Max start reading out your comment and thought "Well, there's no chance it was actually a correct guess if he's reading it out a week or two after the quiz started. He wouldn't put us out of our misery/Stockholm syndrome induced enjoyment this quickly" but you've actually bloody saved us from another 9 months of this Nish!
to hear John's novel about a man with bad farts. Finally, a piece of literature that I can relate to.
Just kidding, this is a cracking bit of business on our part! My initial reaction was definitely bewilderment that he's picked such a mediocre mid-table club, but overall it's hard to be mad at this. We get a fucking insane transfer fee for a player who's AWOL as often as he's world class, Arsenal have been mugged off and Chelsea will still finish 9th next season.
Time to show VARgentina who's boss. Come on England!!
Anyone remember the days when you could open up a bag of coffee and be forgiven for mistaking it for a 4 pack of blueberry muffins?
A natural Ethiopian from Hasbean changed my life 15 years ago, and I had many other similar coffees in the following years, but it's been a good 5 or 6 since I've had that proper blueberry bomb hit.
Anyone know where I can get my fix? I've ordered a bunch of coffees that had blueberry in the tasting notes but none of the have really scratched the itch.
Had to settle for this sirloin joint instead. £11.67 for just shy of 800g, it had a lovely bit of marbling for a supermarket sirloin. Forgot to take a photo of it beforehand unfortunately.
​
Dry brined for 24 hours and then rubbed with a mix of garlic, dried rosemary, pepper and celery salt. Smoked at 140c with a couple of oak chunks until it reached 44 internal, rested for 20 minutes and seared in a cast iron pan.
​
While it was resting I cooked my parsnips using the Fallow chefs technique (which is now the only way I will ever cook parsnips for the rest of my life) but in my Kamado this time. They turned out amazing, really enjoyed the smokey flavour it imparted.
​
The beef was one of the juiciest roasts I've ever done, absolutely phenomenal flavour and lovely crust. Only issue is I would have liked to have rendered and charred the fat cap a bit more but I was more concerned about over cooking the beef.
Tried my hand at over the top chili with half and wagyu mince from Aldi and 5% fat pork mince, smoked over some cherry wood chunks on my Aldi kamado. Tasted absolutely delicious, will definitely be doing this one again the next time I have a few spare hours to do the big cook for the week, although I'll probably take the meat off the rack a bit sooner next time to leave a bit more moisture in there.
What a fucking incredible end to this wild season. Wrapped up champions league with time to spare, Ollie has played his way back into the England squad, we won our first major trophy since I was 8 years old and Unai pissed all over Pep's parade on his last game at Citeh.
I was watching the footage of their send offs for Stones, Bernado and Pep and I actually shed a few tears. Not because of what I was watching, but it just made me overcome with all of the emotions I've felt as a villa fan in the last 30 years.
All the near misses, the players who deserved to bring some silverware to villa park but went on to better things. The shit managers and absolutely woeful players, the flirting with relegation and the inevitable drop to the championship after some of the worst football I've ever seen. The 3 seasons in the championship and the sweet relief of finally making it back to the prem, the playing to empty stadiums, the squeaky bum time at the end of the West Ham game. The kicking on with Jack, John, Emi and Ollie at the helm and finally seeing some genuinely brilliant football at Villa Park again, losing Jack to city and seeing him lift titles and the Champions League trophy for another team.
The rebuild, the awful Gerrard era, the ecstacy of seeing we'd signed Unai, the incredible turnaround from being above the relegation zone on alphabetical order to getting European football in the same season. The CL qualification season and the best football we've seen at Villa Park in my lifetime, the pure joy of beating Bayern Munich, the huge pride we felt after beating PSG despite still losing the tie. The devastation of missing out on CL because of a shit referee decision, not having any money to spend and having to sell homegrown players to rivals to comply with PSR rules and having the shittest start to a season in years. The 11 consecutive victories breaking a 111 year old record, the lull in form after losing our 3 best midfielders in the space of a week, the crucial return of our lord and saviour SJM bringing us back from the brink of full collapse, the unbridled joy of winning a mother fucking Europa League final scoring 2 absolute worldies!
It's really hard to put how much joy I'm feeling into words, but even if we never reach these dizzying heights again, I'll forever be grateful that we got to experience this season together. We've had our patience and our dedication to this club tested on so many occasions over the last 30 years. We've roared with joy and relief, and had our hearts broken over and over again, but our fan base has never wavered through thick and thin and will always be the 12th man. Villa til we die, up the fucking Villa!!!
God I fucking love this football team man.
Haven't felt this nervous about a game since the playoff final, my arse went at about midday when I realised we were 8 hours away from the biggest game of my life. Thought I'd feel a bit more relaxed about it knowing we've already qualified for the Champions League, but fuck me I feel squiffy. I stopped drinking last January so I can't have a fucking beer to ease the nerves.
5/19/77 for the bot.
One of my favourite Sugarees ever, a phenomenal Dancing In The Street and the whole second set is out of this world. The whole Terrapin>PITB>UJB>Drums>The Wheel>China Doll>PITB sequence is outstanding, and probably my favourite ever Wheel, a real spacey and drippy feel that I can't get enough of. My 3 year old listened to the whole show with and didn't ask to skip a single song, which is high praise from a kid with zero attention span.
If so, where? I always watch at home these days but it would be nice to watch the final somewhere surrounded by other fans and not having to worry about making a bit of noise and waking up my 3 year old. I'm guessing there's gotta be a few pubs with a Villa contingent given how many brummies there are around here. Happy to travel to Exeter or possibly Plymouth too.