Adrian Praetzellis -- my little home on the web

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Things I like to do

Thing 1: Cooking

Pretty nice sourdough loaf.

When I was a dig cook...

Bread and potatoes.

These were the staples of the archaeological crews for whom I cooked in the early 1970s. At the time, the British archaeology digging circuit was in full swing and a few hundred itinerant diggers traveled from one excavation to the next every 30 days to take advantage of the higher per diem. I had started on this life in early 1972 at Flint Castle in Wales. January 1973 found me living in the dig house with a dozen or so others and toiling on the 2nd century Roman defenses of the town of Chelmsford, Essex.

The weather was miserable and the work was hard. We spent days pick-axing through the incredibly hard Roman construction material opus signinum. But the dig cook was allowed to leave work at the afternoon tea break, go shopping, and make dinner! This was before the days of celebrity chefs, and I got the job on the merit of having done it before with no recorded hospitalizations.

Everyone chipped in a few pounds each week and the designated cook had to stretch this measly sum to cover lunch and dinner. My daily trip to Tesco would load me down with butter, cheese, Branston pickle, and potatoes. The local bakery supplied bread every day—the Brits won’t eat day old bread—and the milkman delivered pints of milk every morning, each topped with a little foil cap.

The diggers would take these staples for lunch but dinner was more complex for the cook. Even in those ancient days we had vegetarians on the crew while others demanded meat, meat, meat. And a “sweet” (aka desert) was mandatory.

Minecraft cake decorated with fondant for my grandson's 6th birthday. It's trickier than you'd think.

Baked potatoes were the core of an easy and cheap meal for those hungry archaeologists, and useful for the end of the week when communal funds were low. There were no measurements. I made it up each time. Bear in mind, I was feeding a dozen people out of a small (UK size) oven.

Adrian’s Baked Spuds

· 1 big King Edward potato
per archaeologist

· Butter

· Grated cheddar cheese

· Milk

· Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 (it’s a Brit thing). About 400F.

Wash the spuds and cut them in half lengthways.

Bake for about 40 minutes, circulating the halves from top to bottom.

When they are soft, scoop out the middles into a bowl.

Add salt, pepper, butter, and milk. Mash it!

Add cheese and stir.

Carefully scoop the mix back into the potato skins and cover with even more cheese.

Put them back into the oven, circulating as before, until the cheese is brown.

Thing 2: Hiking

Full English breakfast (no bacon, thanks) at a pub/B&B in Cricklade.

I do a lot of hiking.

In October 2019, I walked the Thames Path from the source of the River Thames by Cirencester to my sister's home near Oxford, about 100 miles. Now, 14 to 20 miles per day with a 20lb backpack is no joke for an old bloke like me even on flat terrain.

It was a great experience!

I walked the second half from Goring to London (Tower Bridge) in spring 2023. Thankfully not as wet. The first section is mostly rural and second more urban.

Go do it!

Photo of sopping wet boots and socks on the Thames Path

The Thames Path was plenty flooded in 2019. But did I give up? Well, nearly...

Thing 3: Angling

I caught and released this 27" 6.1 lb common carp at one of my favourite spots somewhere in Sonoma County, California. Don't ask.

I've enjoyed coarse fishing since I was a lad. At The Lake in nearby Epping Forest or a local canal I'd try for roach or chub. The latter bask on hot days and can be caught when nothing else is biting, if you're quiet. But carp was my favourite quarry in summer using dough balls, floating bread, or big worms from out of the garden.

All fishing rights in the UK are owned by a club or landowner and fly fishing for trout was strictly for the wealthy when I was young. Consequently, I'm not at all proficient in that style, although I try my best during steelhead season. Largemouth bass are common here in Northern California. These aggressive fish can be easily caught with a wet fly, topwater lure, or Senko. A plastic frog drawn across a patch of lily pads can trigger an explosion as the bass breaks the surface to seize the lure. It's a fun and very energetic way to fish as one is constantly casting and retrieving.

The common carp is a different kettle of... oh, never mind. He is a wary bugger and easily scared. I use the in-line method with a circle hook and hair rig, and make my own pop-up boilies. Cast it out, set a loose drag, sit quietly for 30 minutes, retrieve, replace the packbait. Repeat until desired result achieved.

My favourites

Fiction

Northanger Abbey. Jane Austen

The Wind in the Willows. Kenneth Grahame

The Penitant. Isaac Bashevis Singer

Clues to Connemara. Mabel Esther Allen

The Fortnight in September. R. C. Sherriff

Bleak House. Charles Dickens

The Marrow of Tradition. Charles Chestnutt

Stoner. John Williams

Non-fiction

Confessions of a Carp Fisher. BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford)

The Burnt Book. Marc-Alain Ouaknin

Folk Housing in Middle Virginia. Henry Glassie

Ways of Seeing. John Berger

Biography/Autobiography

The Tale of Beatrix Potter. Margaret Lane

Edward Lear, Life of a Wanderer. Vivien Noakes

J. R. R. Tolkien. Humphrey Carpenter

Adolf Hitler, My Part in his Downfall. Spike Milligan

The Naked Civil Servant. Quentin Crisp

Films

Brief Encounter (1945). David Lean. Screenplay by Noel Coward.

The Godfather (1972). Francis Ford Coppola. Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Copolla.

Passport to Pimlico (1949). Henry Cornelius. Screenplay by T. E. B. Clarke.

The Maltese Falcon (1941). John Huston. Screenplay by John Huston.

Kill Bill (2003-2004). Quentin Tarentino. Screenplay by Quentin Tarentino.

Poetry

Dear March - Come In. Emily Dickenson

The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. William Combe

The Second Coming. William Butler Yeats

The Old Vicarage, Granchester. Rupert Brooke

To His Coy Mistress. Andrew Marvell

Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs. Translated by Ariel and Chana Bloch

Musicals

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling (2001). Directed and written by Joss Whedon.

Singing in the Rain (1952). Directed by Gene Kelley and Stanley Donen. Written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden.

The Producers (1967). Directed and written by Mel Brooks.

Opera/Operetta

Cosi Fan Tuti. Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart.

Die Zauberflöte. Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart.

Carmen. Georges Bizet.

The Pirates of Penzance. Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert.

Albums

King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961). Robert Johnson.

Beck-Ola (1969). The Jeff Beck Group, Nicky Hopkins.

Velvet Underground and Nico (1967). Velvet Underground, Nico (Christa Paffgen).

Freeborn Man (1983). Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger.

Djangology (1961). Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli.

Possessed (1997). The Klezmatics.

"Mr. Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty." Oscar Wilde

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Random stuffThings I like to do