My friend is French, his wife Portuguese, they live in England with their two children. When all together, they all speak English with each other. When the kids are with one parent, the speak that language. In the park with father, French. Baking with mother, Portuguese. Bedtime stories are in the language of the parent reading. Kids switch between languages easily and understand what to speak with whom. Effortless trilingual.

Another friend moved country with her husband and had three kids. Home language was always mother tongue, both my friends had fairly bad English. Everything outside parents is in English for the kids - media, school, anyone outside the household. Again, the switch for the kids is really easy, they are fluent and have no accent in both languages.

Is that pit lined with mattresses so that those peeps will just isolate themselves for a day? I read the first sentence and nodded in approval: let the natural selection take the wheel but the second sentence made it much more humane.

On the first photo Silas is probably standing in front of a blooming bush but I want to think he’s wearing a birthday wreath

That’s the thing tho, you can’t use the scales for yorkies, it works by volume. Two eggs worth maybe not so much but a pint of flour weighs a lot less than pint of milk making the batter too thick and stodgy.

I wouldn’t bother to make some just for nibbles but if you have a full roast in the afternoon and feel a tad peckish in the evening, then all you need is a dipping bowl of hot gravy and a few leftover Yorkshire puddings to scratch the itch.

You guys make dutch babies in US, don’t you? Similar thing, only Yorkshire pudding batter doesn’t have sugar in it.

Originally Yorkshire pudding was cooked in one big tray under the spit roast to catch all the drippings and served before the main meal so you’d fill up with bread and eat less meat. Nowadays it’s usually individual puddings, cooked on a special tray with wide shallow holes or on a regular muffin tray. You want the tray piping hot before pouring in the batter so get the oiled tray in the oven warming up at least 15 minutes before. Use caution, don’t burn yourself. You can use oil or animal fat of your choice. 350-390°F, if I converted right. (180-200°C). When you fill the divets, the batter should sizzle and when returned to the oven, should start rising high from the edges. Try not to open the oven at least 15 min in the beginning as it can sink the yorkies. Check after 25 min or so, the yorkies should look like golden cups, the hole Iin the middle set and yellow, the edges and the bottom browned. Depending on the temperature and the oven, it can take up to 45 min.

As for the batter, ignore all the recipes and follow a simple formula: even amounts of egg, milk and flour, pinch of salt. Roughly half an egg per nase so mix with 2 eggs should serve 4. Measure with a small cup or a measuring cup and tip it all in the bowl. Two schools about it: mix just lumps out or beat the hell out of it. I go to town with a stick blender until the mix is frothy.

Serve it with something with a lot of gravy. Roasted joint (beef, ham, chicken) and veggies is the most common way. Also good for snacking, rip pieces and dip in gravy, delish!

Sorry, got a bit carried away but I’ve cooked yorkies for living for over a decade now so…

Not in the off licences, no. The one by my house is quite large and well stocked so I do most of my grocery shopping there. They have two tills and usually only one is manned. Only if the queue starts twisting between the shelves, someone temporarily fills the second till. I’ve ushered people to pay before me many times.

Hedgehog in the fog

You’re the lardon for those Brussels, baby

£10.70 for two drinks is cheap by London standards so definitely that b&b trap must be working.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Not ice teeth, ‘jäävhambad’ means permanent teeth. The root word ‘jääma’, meaning to stay

Oh, better than anyone!

Cute cat pics are always a good choice. Where are you obtaining these?