cactus flower wrote:

arnaudherve wrote:

johnfás wrote:

Lidl is the place to be seen right now.

Lidl has some good products. Especially some canned products for German tastes, like mackerel with sauce. I also bought good panna cotta there.

johnfás wrote:

Then we buy our fruit and vegetables locally, supporting local business and Irish farmers.

Ideally, there could be a ticket system, according to which you can find a job more easily from the locals if you bought from the locals.

We say "what goes around, comes around" and it usually does.

Sadly it works as much for colds in an office as it does for people buying peas.

Aldi reminds me of when I was a skint student in the southwest of Germany, except that they no longer sell the products I used to like - there was a really good yoghurt with fruit on the bottom and a better selection of cheeses. The staff used to be well paid in those days because of their skill in knowing all the prices by heart and processing the sale remarkably quickly.

The shops remind me of converted abbatoirs, though; all tiles and and no style.

Does anyone know where you would get - if in fact such things exist - a lock for a kitchen cupboard which does not require much screwing and defacement of the cupboard?

Bit of a situation with a roommate in the girlfriend's new dwelling at the University of Limerick .

I'd suggest that your girlfriend keep her food in her room, even if she's reluctant to do that for all kinds of reasons. These things can only get worse and having locks contributes to that - and it bugs landlords.

I watched over a period of a couple of weeks while someone ate an entire jar of nutella from my cupboard - which had a lock that I decided not to use - while I was in a shared house in Germany. I didn't have a taste of it, but someone(s) else savaged it, down to scraping the sides of the jar.

Yea, I've suggested she keep it in her room.

It is looking like it is going to be a year of interest. Despite specifically asking to be in a non smoking apartment on campus (another person in the apartment, asthmatic, also asked the same) they are in with a smoker who smokes all over the apartment. University residences are exempt from the Smoking Ban so there is nothing you can do but plead to their better side. Then the guy was drunk and trying to break into her room at 5am last night - luvurly!

Time to nip those things in the bud. I hope she keeps a written record of everything that happens, and emails the accommodation dept and keeps copies of all correspondence. By the time she's doing exams, if this continues unabated (and it will if some halt isn't called to it) she will be very, very unhappy and very, very distracted.

Yup, she got a copy of the code of conduct this morning from the accommodation manager (without making a complaint yet) and is going down it with a pen taking note of everything that has happened so far.

Bit of a pain in the neck to be honest.

The joys of student living. If I were her I'd keep the food in her room as Kate P suggested. Putting a lock on the press probably wouldn't be a good idea. She might also invest in one of those mini fridges. I was always lucky with the people I've shared with but I've heard some horror stories...usually involving girls.

I got a really funny book as a present that she could invest in LINK. It is a collection of notes left from one flatmate to another and it might give her some ideas about how to deter food-stealers. One person left a note saying "Whoever eats my cheese I LICK IT!! Ha ha."

My favourite note is the one that said "You are a lying sack of shit. A 38-year-old man who can't pay his rent on time "

Good stuff.

They're all postgraduates, you'd think he might have grown up a bit at this stage .

johnfás wrote:

They're all postgraduates, you'd think he might have grown up a bit at this stage .

Too stressful altogether. It doesn't sound possible that this person will make an acceptable flat share. It seems a dodgy situation to me to have to share with strangers over whom you have no control, so the managers of the accommodation are taking on a high degree of responsibility for it to work, and for all tenants to stick to the rules. If I was her position, rather than get into a long demoralising war I would give the accommodation managers one chance to sort it out (i.e. get this person to leave) and if that doesn't happen, get my money back and get into private accommodation over which I had more control.

cactus flower wrote:

God its nice to be back in the old kitchen again. I think I'll make some tea. Have a nice weekend all you Mon-Fr posters

Cake, anyone ?

Just what the doctor ordered.

johnfás wrote:

Just what the doctor ordered.

Just jump right in to that...

Jeez Cactus, you really know how to break a girl's resolve. I think some rich champagne would go well with that beauty. If only I had some.

Buy some Tesco champagne, it consistently beats most expensive champagnes when tested blindly by the 'experts'.

Speaking of which, Spanish Cava is a great substitute if you know a good one - fraction of the cost and in some cases as good as anything of the best from Champagne itself.

Aragon wrote:

Speaking of which, Spanish Cava is a great substitute if you know a good one - fraction of the cost and in some cases as good as anything of the best from Champagne itself.

It is of course. freixenet.

As is the German Sekt!

Have I offered you all some of this before? It's rather tasty...

Is it your own, Kate? Looks delicious.

Kate P wrote:

Have I offered you all some of this before? It's rather tasty...

Hey... That's my cake. Hands off johnfás. I won it fair and square...

You did EVM, though it's taken you so long to collect it, I'm afraid it's gone rather, well...

How about some of this Johnfás - brown bread coffee cake, my own recipe (hope I still have it ) and it tastes far, far nicer than it sounds.

Obviously it needs a few walnuts or something on top for aesthetic purposes.

That's intriguing Kate - any chance of giving us the recipe - or is it a patented, vault-held family secret? My gran had a brilliant coffee cake recipe - swap you it for yours?