Oxtail tales

Wardrobing

One for the little guy. As long as you take on the giant internet retailers and not some cottage industry lady sewing frocks in her spare time, that is.

You shop online, you buy. You wear to that one-off function. You return. What's not to like? There's probably already an on-line community swapping tips and hints, just as M&S and Primark are probably sharpening up their act against wardrobers (I just made that up, but I'm probably not the first).

There was a story of a woman buying a dress then returning it because of a tear, and not actually declaring that it was torn because she fell over the first time she wore it.

Muddy dogs

It's wet out. Very wet. That means muddy dogs. White dog (a) seems to get muddier, because it shows up against the white fur, and (b) actually does get muddier, simply because she's got a real knack for it. D the Dog just sort of does his own thing. He's mud-neutral, or mud ambivalent, or mud apathetic, or whatever. He's neither mud-aholic nor mud-ophobic.

Unsupported operating systems (according to the evil empire)

In one of the cheekiest sales messages ever known to computer users, the Microsoft (world Domination and You'll Need a New PC Annually) Corporation have released a warning about using unsupported operating systems.

They were talking about Windows XP, which will not have updates, or technical support from now on.

I dabbled with Windows 7, reportedly one of the best, most stable, blah, blah, editions, and still had everything grind to an irritating halt, bang on cue, just coming up to the Christmas period (funny that, isn't it?).

The reason open-source software is supported, is exactly that, anyone with the interest and skills can get in under he bonnet and tweak away to their heart's content. Some of those tweaks are of interest to many others, and so they get tested, then included in the next full update.

It gets you fast, stable operating systems and software.

Don't take it from me. BLISS is BLISS-fully uninterested in the techie side of what happens after she hits the keyboard or clicks the mouse, and she's on her third Ubuntu Linux computer and wouldn't consider a windows machine again.

Oxtail, and what to do with it

When you see it, buy it, because like those chicken wings, they'll soon stop selling it because it has bones and sounds like a real bit of something real rather than something lab-grown and sanitised in polystyrene and clingfilm.

I gently coloured mine up in that favourite, heavy, cast iron, orange le Crueset pot, with a little bit of smoked bacon, then simmered it for hours in chicken stock and chucked in some seasoning, some spuds and carrots and a drop of vinegar at the end. Then the meat fell off those awkward-shaped bones, and I had a gelatinous, thick mess of vegetables and beef in a tasty broth.