Icebreakers time!

@Spirit_Healer thanks for the thought but I am not able to read music. And I can't afford a music teacher lol!

I’ve done more singing, in reality. An Irish background, and all that.

Jumping into @FearofUnknown s icebreaker, on pasta. Was lucky enough to get funding for an academic convention in Italy, in the noughties. One of the highlights was a fourteen course “italian degustation dinner” at the conference’s opening. So many small but exquisite pasta dishes!

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@NightFury wrote:

Pottery is a great answer @Ru-bee

I have always wanted to try...acting in a play. I love stories and telling stories and I used to pretend and play act out scenes of my favourite TV shows when I was a child.

I wish I had the confidence.

@AuntGlow

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omg @NightFury I love acting! I haven't really done much since high school but I too have been thinking about seeking out my local theatre club!! I can tell you now, it is a wonderful way to build confidence, particularly because there is something different about being onstage as a character vs. just being ourselves. Like I always would get soooo nervous about anything where I had to do public speaking, whereas on the stage as a character I could really lose myself in it. Something about it being... not me me that the audience is judging, but character me.

I hope you end up finding a way to dip a toe in - acting is so fun! And an awesome opportunity to get silly, and sometimes it's a way to practice getting embarrassed, and not getting so overwhelmed by it 😉

@FearofUnknown stews are a staple simple meal in my house! Mainly cos they're hard to mess up! Basic recipe:

• Chop a bulb (or a few cloves if you're sensitive to it) of garlic and a couple yellow onions, then chuck em in a big pot with a little oil, cook until they're just getting translucent.
• Grab your protein of choice (chuck steak works wonders) and cook until sealed (i.e. the outside is brown, or white if it's chicken).
• Add in herbs/spices/flavours - rosemary, thyme, parsley, and some Worcestershire sauce go down a treat
• Toss in the rest of your veg - potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, celery, leek, mushrooms, all good options
• Add in a couple of cups of stock and enough hot water so that everything is covered, and bring to the boil
• Turn down the heat and simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat falls apart
• Serve with some crusty buttered bread if you have it!

Feel free to report back any cooking you end up doing! Or any...misadventures in the kitchen ahaha 😝

@FearofUnknown I love the suggestions of pasta & stew as easy cooking. But I reckon the easiest might be a snack-sandwich / jaffle. 2 pieces of bread, butter both sides. Pre-heat the sandwich press. Place one slice on the grill, add cheese on top, and then the second slice on top. Close the lid of the press and wait until it says it is done.

Not "cooking" you say? Totally counts in my book. 😂

My hot tip if making pasta: drain the water from cooking the pasta in before you add the sauce to it. True story of my first time; I wasn't told to drain it.

I'm actually not sure if there are many things I want to do that I have not done. I mean, sure, visit every country possible perhaps to see what its like in other places? (But I have done quite a lot of travel already, so I don't feel like I can say its something I "haven't" done).

I'm not sure whether this is my lack of motivation/enthusiasm, or just "if I want to try it, I usually find a way to do it". 🤔

Seriously @AlwaysMyself ? You never drained the pasta water before putting in the sauce? How did that taste? LOL

@Ru-bee

Thank you for starting this thread. It is a great idea.

Hope you get to try something new (pottery)- and it will be a great experience for you.

Yep lol @tyme - admittedly I was 13, and was following verbal instructions being called out from the next room - they did not say to drain it haha (they just assumed I would). Well, since it was very very watery it was not good - I think i might have drained the pasta at that stage (after noting it didn't look right) and then re-done the sauce --- I can't remember exactly what I did after, but this is most likely what I think happened knowing myself. Never made the same mistake again though! 🤣

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@GezzaP wrote:

I did pottery at schools @AuntGlow . With hands at primary school, glazed it and all. Can’t remember how that turned out. Tried wheel at high school was difficult for me. Don’t think I produced anything.

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Sooo cool! @GezzaP I wonder if that's a hobby you could take up now? 🤩

I have more than enough to keep me occupied @AuntGlow . Gardening, Spanish, cooking and reading. Would likevto go back to playing guitar and charango again too.

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@AlwaysMyself wrote:

Yep lol @tyme - admittedly I was 13, and was following verbal instructions being called out from the next room - they did not say to drain it haha (they just assumed I would). Well, since it was very very watery it was not good - I think i might have drained the pasta at that stage (after noting it didn't look right) and then re-done the sauce --- I can't remember exactly what I did after, but this is most likely what I think happened knowing myself. Never made the same mistake again though! 🤣

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LOL! Well done on giving it a go at 13 anyway!

I knew a teen who 'boiled' eggs by putting it in a bowl and pouring hot water over as the only other thing he knew how to make was 2 min cup noodles! @AlwaysMyself

Live and learn, eh?