Stella Added To The List

I cannot recall the last time I ever drank a bottle, can or even pint of Stella Artois. That could change soon, however.

I recently found out that the Belgian beermakers have released a limited edition to celebrate Wimbledon.

Yes, there is a strawberries and cream flavoured lager out there in supermarkets as I write this.

I enjoy the occasional fruit lager, so - upon hearing about this edition - I immediately added the product to my 'To Find' list.

With that said, I'm not completely keen on strawberry-flavoured things. This could turn out to be a fail. However, I have to try them.

That's the goal. If I do come across them over the next fortnight or so (or longer!), you'll be one of the first to know.

So, I've Bought A Ninja Combi

The Ninja Speedi I have been using for many years began to quit on me earlier this year. I ended up losing the ability anything that used the heating element at the bottom of the machine. That meant I couldn't steam food or, one of the main things I loved about the Speedi - use the slow cooker.

I carried on using everything else but knew I would eventually have to move on. Like I already said, the Speedi is possibly the best cooking machine I've ever had. However, I started to look for an upgrade in the form of the Ninja Combi.

To cut a long story short, I have had the Ninja Combi for almost a week. I thought I'd spend today's post sharing a few words about it.

The first thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the build.

My friend - Vicki - had an amazing air fryer which had a window and the ability to use a rotisserie with chickens. I joked with her that her fryer looked like it had Metal Mickey's body. 

That was the first thing I thought of, when I unpacked the Combi. 

The first thing I made in it was rice and pork using the Combi Meals function (similar to the Speedi Meals option on the Speedi which allows for full meals to be made in fifteen minutes or so). 

I wasn't happy with the result of the meal. It was my fault, though. I didn't use enough water with the rice.

A day later I made up for the previous mess up and cooked some fish with baby potatoes. 

That turned out well. Very well, in fact. Everyone here at home gave the dish high praise.

Sandwiched in-between those meals were a few air fryer meals. I was particularly surprised at how well the skin-on fries came out of it. The best fries I've ever air-fried. I cannot wait to get hold of a couple of other chips I have used in my other air fryers just to see if they come out better in the Combi.

Today's dinner were  New York City Beef Brisket Burgers, from the TGI Friday's range at Iceland. I made them with curly fries using the 'Combi Crisp' setting.

The burger patties came out nice and juicy. As were the fries, because they were steamed. 

I still have yet to try the slow cooker on this appliance. I will get there eventually. I have some amazing ideas for that (Well, I hope they turn out amazing!).

The final take (for now) goes like this: I still very much miss the Ninja Speedi. However, I believe I've made the correct decision by opting to upgrade to a Combi.

Expect more posts about my Ninja Combi experience.

Sami Does It

The conclusion of last night's WWE Night of Champions event was very newsworthy.

In the main event, Sami Zayn defeated Cody Rhodes (and Gunther) in a triple threat match to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

It's such a brill underdog story both in fiction and reality. I am very happy for him.

With that said, I feel the moment would have been a tad better had it happened a few years ago when the Sami Zayn iron was hot. 

Still, this win was in front of a Saudi audience that has taken to Zayn due to his Arab roots.

12-0

If I had a fever last night, which I didn't, I would have had a reasonable excuse to explain away one of the silliest things I am about to write.

I switched the Uruguay versus Spain game on before I fell asleep. I had the sound muted so wouldn't have heard anything (obviously!). In the middle of the night, I woke up in one of my heat exhausted states, in need of water, so I picked myself up and grabbed my bottle. As I took a few gulps, I looked over at the TV. I saw the score as Uruguay 0 Spain 12.

'Wow,' I thought. I then laid my head back down on the pillow.

It wasn't until this morning, whilst looking through the other overnight scores, realisation struck. Spain could have only been 1-0 up when I glimpsed at the TV.

1-0 Spain was the final score.

I blame the heat.

Or not having my glasses on.

Either way - it was silly for me to even accept such a scoreline.

Red Heat

The red heat warning has continued. 

Even though we had a bit of rain (and thunder) last night, the humidity was still off the charts. In fact, I felt  last night was worse than Wednesday and that's actually not factually true because Wednesday's weather was the hottest on record for Cardiff.

Think of the timing for this - I woke up and needed some fresh air, so I went out my back. As soon as I was outside, the rain came down and thunder began to rumble. Perfect timing, or what?

I hope things cool down soon.

Christmas Countdown

The reminder has just gone off on my phone.

'Six months until Christmas'.

Wow. 

You can also read that another way - it has been six months since last Christmas.

We're still in this darn heatwave. Christmas seems such a long way away. And when I write that, I mean 2025 and 2026!

Heatwave

It's another hot one today.

See?

It's so bad that around one thousand schools have been closed. That's somewhat crazy to consider. That would have never happened back in my day. Snow? Yes. Heat? Absolutely not.

We live in a peculiar age for sure.