Did I overstep?

Maybe my reference to Bruckner and praise in my last post was hyperbole but check out this link to see what others say.

In fact I rarely listen to Bruckner, strange though that might seem when the very name of my blog venerates him. But then I rarely eat fish pie or golden syrup filled trifle sponges. For each one the reason is partly circumstantial (I will not listen to good music unless it is quiet and I have some chance of hearing the whole performance, and my lifestyle does not often grant me such conditions), and partly because a great experience repeated too often is in danger of becoming commonplace. Whilst the thought of golden syrup at every meal sends certain thrills, I rather think I might tire at last.

Talking about golden syrup, does anyone else out there venerate evaporated milk as I do? Another family here venerates condensed milk to a similar degree. Whilst both substances start with reduced milk, and the original purpose of each was to preserve milk, they are very different in taste. So I did a bit of research. Condensed milk has, of course, a lot of sugar added and this helps preserve it. Evaporated milk, on the other hand, has no added sugar and thus has a shorter shelf life even when tinned. To help combat this, the process of making evaporated milk raises it to a higher temperature, so high that it starts to caramelise and it is this which gives it its characteristic taste. I should have known, caramel lover than I am. There is no way to start the day quite so pleasing as breakfast cereal with a healthy slosh of evaporated milk added to the normal whole milk and sugar.

And, talking about a pleasing start to the day, I was concocting a new temperature scale (as one does) whilst taking a longer than usual, and rather chilly run this afternoon, barefoot with Meg around the lake shore around by Baltiboys bridge. It goes something like this:

> 25'C is far too hot for life as we know it here in Ireland
20-25'C very hot and rather exceptionable
15-20'C hot: this and above is good for swimming in lakes, rivers or sea
10-15'C warm, OK for Autumn swimming but a bit parky in Spring
5-10'C cool, and most common here in Ireland
0-5'C cold, chilly when wet under-barefoot
< 0'C freezing, barefoot running is OK only if it is dry

A bit of wind-chill factor can be added to this rough guide, but the weather forecasters overdo it. And there is a bit of seasonal hysteresis especially for swimming because of the thermal mass of water.