Kerala

I'm not really posh, so I use the fork concave side up for peas and baked beans. If I'm in posh company I would most definitely use concave side up to stay true to my working class roots. Welcome to the British class system. The overhand grip on the knife is the generally accepted technique in the United Kingdom. The "English hold from below grip" sounds like a pen grip? It's not standard in the UK but people do use it. I would sneer at this grip, and acknowledge my horrible bourgeois programming. While continuing to use my fork upside down.

@haresfur yes, we mix the sloppy bits with the rice. We may or may not have a piece of meat or vegetable in the portion we bring to our mouth. When we eat rice, we use our fingertips, and the palm remains clean. My grandfather from Tamil Nadu, the state just to the East, would use his whole hand. Other people form balls of rice and gravy before passing food to their lips. The action to form the balls by tossing and rolling the semi-solid amalgam of rice and curry is something we don't see much in the west in any context and is difficult to explain. There is a lot of variation across India and even within Kerala. Chappathi is North Indian but completely normal in Kerala. I've never had naan in Kerala. Parottas in Kerala are not paratha of N India, although similar. With all of these, we'd scoop up the gravy and maybe grab a piece of meat to pop in our mouth. Licking your fingers after eating - variable acceptability! Naturally, everyone thinks their way is the right way. @haresfur do you hold the roti in your right hand or left when you load it with a fork? Right hand- many Indians would do this if they're eating at a restaurant when abroad. Left hand- no one is judging you; thank you for your custom. I hold the roti in my left hand... I know I'm being judged. Equally, I'm sure the Chinese waiter doesn't give a hoot how cack-handedly I hold my chopsticks! On the other hand, we're all pretty judgemental about how someone holds their knife and fork, aren't we? Are we?

In Kerala we use our fingers. Yoghurt, rasam and sambar are mixed with rice and eaten by hand. Payasam is eaten off the leaf by hand, but in recent decades may be served in small bowls and eaten with a spoon. I sustained a gory injury to my right arm when I was a house officer 35 years ago and the median nerve didn't grow back quite right. Not only do I lack the fine dexterity to eat rice elegantly with my fingers, but I also suffer sensitivity to hot food on my fingertips. Sadly I now eat Indian food in the English manner. Chopsticks are impossible for me to grasp properly since the accident, so I use them cack-handedly. I just endure the ignominy. Worst of all, I sometimes eat Indian food with my left hand. I'm sure people think I lost my culture growing up in the UK!

Finally, a cheap sardine that tastes good! Canned in Portugal. Light delicate texture and taste. 70 pence a can in Sainsbury's. They were only available in sunflower oil, brine or tomato sauce. I can see them online in "refined" olive oil, for £2 a can, which would still be a bargain.

I The packaging says Newlyn, Cornwall. There is a sardine works there, previously marketing as pilchards. Sorry to hear of your bad experience with the ice cream. It's usually well regarded. Did you at least find a nice high tea there?

Absolutely top tier. Maybe the best.

Shepherd's pie. It's not PDO so there was Parmesan on top, a smidge of Saint Agur blue cheese in the mash, a teaspoon of Marmite and peas in the filling. Lots of mash!

@rotuts my plan this time was to take it out of the foil to finish off in the cooker for another half an hour, but it was evident the meat was fall-apart cooked at this point, and would not take any messing about.

Once I'm more confident about the temperature control, I'll do that again. The grill is too small for indirect heat methods. I have cooked without foil, with good results, but I'm trying different things out. I haven't tried different woods for smoke and flavour yet.

I've been thinking about buying a Big Green Egg for about 10 years, I guess, my usual decision-making time for non-essential extravagances. The BGE is expensive, and a) will I like cooking on it and b) will I use it after the initial period anyway? I have enough cameras and guitars sulking around the house to be wary of jumping in. Even the cheaper BGE alternatives are expensive. But then, from the middle of Lidl: £80! $106 for our friends across the water! OK, the grill diameter is only 10 inches, but it was too tempting to pass. I've had it about 2 months, and never had a bad meal from it, although I've still not mastered the temperature control. Tonight's meal was lamb. I deboned a leg and kept interference to a minimum. Garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, rosemary. Wrapped in foil then 130C- 170C for 4 hours. Fell apart with a couple of spoons: Served with store-bought Lebanese flatbread and some salad. Salad dressing was honey, lemon juice, olive oil The family loved it. This ceramic grill is too small to cater by itself for a much larger gathering. There were 6 of us eating today and there was easily enough for 10 people. The joint was 1.6kg before boning, so pretty substantial. I have a kettle grill and of course an indoor oven, plus an air fryer. So I don't need a BGE. Will I get one? I know how this ends...

Yes, as I understand it. The man at the shop was implying that Nuri might be the second-best line, but he couldn't tell the difference. I've only had one tin of Nuri, I think, but many of Pinhais. I think we're into very minor, if any, objective differences. I'd need to do a blind A-B comparison, and even I'm not that nuts!

The Nuri Pretty good. Nice plump sardines (4 in the tin) with good texture, not mushy but mashable. Clean taste. Skin and bones present but not in the way at all. In my mind the Pinhais would be preferable, but that may just be the packaging and the good times in Portugal I associate with that brand.

Today's visit to Borough Market when I came up to London to pick up my daughter from Uni. £4.50- £5.50, so not scandalous. The chap at the stall said he'd heard Pinhais was the early season catch (Nuri the late season) and perhaps better, but he couldn't taste any difference. The "extra picante" has 3 chillies compared to the 2 in the simple "picante," but I assured him I would be fine. Just to pass on an experienced person's views, he felt the Papa Anzois sardines were the best he had.

My daughter brought a couple of tins for me from a delicatessen in Hackney. £3.50, which is comparable to the price in Portugal! She remembered from one of my Ryanair hauls. I really like these.

The price of experimentation is failure! I'd like to say no harm done, but it sounds as though you truly suffered, @liuzhou. I hope when you say "Never again," you mean never Porthos again, not never a new brand again. I've tried Porthos before. My memory is that it was unmemorable, not necessarily disgusting. Quite possibly I'm holding myself up for ridicule, with a review hidden somewhere in this thread.