Chilly McFreeze

1 hour ago, Tommy! said:

There's an Alan Partridge reference here that involves a sausage and it's not the breakwater one. 

Absolutely outrageous snooker. I have no idea why Selby hasn't tightened up though, he seems determined to meet Brecel on his terms, and it's backfiring badly. He needs to stop going for the risky shots and play percentage again tonight otherwise Luca will gobble up everything he leaves him.

Watching my favourite player make the first 147 I've seen live, in the WC final as he storming a comeback might just be too much. I was almost in tears hearing that roar as the black went in.

It's not like the crowd have been on his back but they so obviously love Brecel that it's just beautiful seeing that. Hendry has been giving him so much undeserved stick, everyone telling him how he should play the 'right' way, Twitter and social media is full of people saying he's killing the game, he doesn't deserve to win etc...

After the couple of years he's had with his mental health, and with just how fucking good he is at the game, he deserves all the love in the world. 

That was an absolute epic. Brecel v Selby might just be the perfect final. Cannot wait.

Pretty much the perfect day of snooker to me. Watching two young guys knocking them in off the lampshades, and two experienced match players try and outwit each other. I love both sides to the game and I LOVE that each semi-final offers it's own intrigue. It's always odd to me when I enjoy watch a long interesting tactical frame, and then Hazel starts apologising for it 'that wasn't fun to watch!' Well speak for yourself Hazel, I fucking loved it.

Snooker is neither one thing or the other, it's both. That's why I love watching it so much. People who say it should only be played one way (looking at you Hendry) are talking out of their arse. As long as the standard is high I'll gobble up every frame the BBC shows.

Still hard to believe Brecel or Si can win it for me, I just can't see Selby or Allen giving them the chances they need to score. But it'll be fun to watch either way.

Well that was a fun watch, but if that's the standard of snooker for the next generation of players, Mark Selby has got that record 8 titles sewn up.

Wallop. That was so much fun to watch. It has to be said though, it's more to do with Ronnie absolutely shitting the bed. Allen, Higgins or Selby won't give him that kind of chance to play a session like that I feel. He can definitely win it, but he's always gonna rely on his opponents game not being on point.

Hoping for Si vs Brecel semi though. That will be absolute chaos.

2 hours ago, Gay as FOOK said:

Alan McManus was pretty unscrupulous on the Eurosport punditry last night, flagging that a lot of the current crop's problem is just really sticking to their guns on the stuff they're good at, and not putting in the hours practice for the stuff they're not. Brecel's great to watch but when he's taking 5-6 seconds before absolutely pelting in shots that are going to get him in trouble, at the Crucible against a guy like O'Sullivan, it does seem like there's a bit of maturity missing. Not out of respect for the game or any bollocks like that, but just in playing a bit more pragmatically. 

That's why I've warmed to Selby as well. Cynically there's nothing like a good mental health story to stop the endless japes over someone's perceived lack of personality, but he's the one guy who came up to the main event level in the last crop who can do it all. It doesn't matter who he's up again, you always feel like there's a very good chance he'll just torture them for entire sessions. 

Angles is right as usual. The thing is, it's not like you've got to be a master safety player or anything, if some of these lads just got the basics of good safety and shot choice down, played the percentages a bit, they would be winning way more titles. That's what's so frustrating is they are SO bad at it. Just giving it no thought whatsoever. The only player who ever did that successfully is Hendry, but look at the competition he had in the early 90's and his ability to basically never miss a shot and you'll realise why he didn't need that aspect of the game.  

It's no coincidence that once Trump started tightening up his safety game a couple of years ago he started hoovering up titles. You'd think his buddy Lisowski might have noticed that, but even with Peter Fucking Ebdon as his coach, he just cannot seem to see any value in spending time on his safety game.

1 hour ago, Gus Mears said:

Part of the reason I'm so gutted that Yan 'The Man' Bingtao is likely gone for years is that he was the one youngster who really leaned on outstanding safety play. There was a UK Championship match a couple of years back between him and O'Sullivan and while Ronnie won it was quite evident he was hating every moment of it - balls being put safe, fiendish snookers, getting him out of rhythm.

If you were going to pick two people who he'd love playing against, Loosey Goosey Brecel and Hoss doing an impression of me down the snooker club after 8 pints would be near the top.

Absolutely. His match vs Selby last year was fantastic to watch. Safety is only boring to me when it's done badly. Two men trying to outwit each other with pure skill and gamesmanship is what I really love about Snooker. It's that cerebral side of the game that gets me going. Watching Yan beat Selby at his own game had me convinced he would be the first Chinese player to actually become a Triple Crown player. Obviously not gonna happen now.

One of the reasons I love Selby so much is he can go toe to toe in an epic 30 minute safety battle, scrape a frame and then knock in 3 tons without breaking a sweat. Easy to forget that man has nearly 800 centuries. His reputation precedes him for sure, but I think he's just a joy to watch because he is so in tune with all aspects of the sport. I don't think it's appreciated enough just how good he is without falling back on the 'Granite' cliche. He's the only player of his generation to come close to the 'Class of 92' shite the sport still clings too. He'll surpass them all apart from Ronnie before he retires.

10 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Rocket/Bullet was a great standard. Quarters already a much better watch than the second round thus far. 

Really? Honestly I found it kind of woeful bar the odd big break. Especially the safety. Watching Brecel give a safety shot about 2 seconds thought and then putting Ronnie back in is infuriating. He's such a naturally gifted player but has a huge vibe of just not really giving a shit. One of the most careless players I have ever seen. See also Jack Lisowski. Players like those 2 will never win the WC until they work on their all round game. You can't just pot your way to victory at the Crucible.

Ronnie was relying on his C game as far as I can tell which shows how bad Brecel is at all round match play given the scoreline. Ronnie was definately there for the taking in the 2nd session and Brecel just threw his chance away because he couldn't be arsed to actually engage with the match and think about the shots he was playing.

I'm all for Vafaei giving it a bit of needle against Ronnie. I've been weary of Ronnie's shtick for a good few years now, and it's about time someone points out that the reverence for 'The Class of 92' does the modern game absolutely no good. Snooker needs to move on from the 90's and players like Vafaei are so refreshing in front of the camera. I'm sure Ronnie will blow him away in Round 2, but Vafaei winning would be so memorable. 

Also The Gardener, for once, is a phenomenal snooker nick name.

Sorry can we all agree that 'Air Fryers' don't count? It's a fucking oven, there's no frying going on in those things.

Regarding toast and butter, I don't mind doing it myself but that butter better be room temperature. Nothing worse than trying to spread rock hard butter from the fridge and tearing up the bread.

8 hours ago, Thunderplex said:

No fried bread?

It’s buried under the eggs 

Feast your eyes lads. 

I went to The Street cafe in Norwich, widely regarded as the best fry-up in town. For some reason I've never been so it was time to try it out and it didn't disappoint.

Lots of different options but I went for the biggest called 'The Old English.' This was really fantastic stuff:

2 Bacon, 2 Sausages, 2 Eggs, 2 Mushrooms, Bubble & Squeek, White AND Black Pudding, Grilled Tomatoes, Fried Bread and Beans. Comes with 2 slices of toast or bread. Tea not included.

Just really fucking good. And some nice variety. Bubble & Squeek instead of Hash Browns worked really well, and a rare White Pudding sighting. All the ingredients were top notch and cooked perfectly. Bread instead of toast is a nice option, I tend to prefer bread for mopping up at the end. Hard to fault it really. Shame tea wasn't included, although a big mug instead of a crap pot and tiny cup was appreciated.

All that for £15 which for Norwich is decent. Highly recommend if you're in the area.

Best fry-up ever? Maybe. Best in Norwich? By a long fucking way.

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Looks excellent, only let down by the sugar free 7 Up. Thats for pussies.

Tastes better than the full fat version I find. Not sure why

Lads, I found the perfect fry-up. Genuine 10/10.

From a greasy spoon in Bungay, Suffolk called the Garden Cafe.

2 runny eggs, 2 hash browns, 2 sausages, 2 bacon, mushrooms, beans and tinned tomatoes. 1 slice of toast and a cup of tea or coffee.

You get 1 free replacement so I switched the tinned tomatoes (grim, no place on a fry up) with extra hash browns and they chucked an extra 2! 

Just fucking perfection right here. The ingredients were just right, not too posh and expensive but no cheap and nasty. Everything cooked to order and to perfection. And only 10 fucking quid which around here is an insanely good price.

Only downside is only 1 slice of toast, but knowing I can swap the tomatoes for extra toast next time means I won't dock points for it.

I'm going again this weekend and it's all I can think about. I can't see this ever being topped for me.

In theory I'm gutted, because Selby is my boy and I was desperate to see him live next week when I go to the semi-finals for my first visit.

But fuck me what a player Yan is. Cut from the same cloth. Absolute granite, phenomenal tactical and safety play, and great in among the balls. And he outplayed Selby on his A game, which I don't think I've ever seen before. Selby gave him his absolute best and he still beat him. Genuinely one of the best victories I've ever seen. 

And Williams was my no 2 pick to see next week, so whoever wins in the QF, I'll be happy I think. 

I'm actually going this year for the first time. I've been wanting to do it for years and finally stumped up for tickets for me and Mrs Freeze after the final last year. we're going to the first sessions of each semi-final. 

My thinking was that I wanted a single table set up, but also didn't want a latter session incase the games ended early and I had to watch John Virgo do trick shots instead. So this way we get to see each of the semi-finalists, and the opening sessions are usually pretty good standard. Final would have been the real dream but it was just way too expensive.

Got 3 days in Sheffield around the semi finals too, so can't wait to just soak up the atmosphere around the Crucible. Any tips/places to go/things to do from people who have been would be appreciated.

Oof. Way too many tomatoes, ratios are all off there.

Parsley is a crime on a fry up. No idea why posh places do that.

And where's the potato? 

Sausages do look good though.

I can't believe a 'Full Italian' exists and there's no Italian Sausage.

What a poor excuse for a fry up anyway. Not even close really.

4 hours ago, Accident Prone said:

On another facet of the fry-up, who else employs the "a little bit of everything HAS to go on the fork" technique? Nothing better or more satisfying than squeezing every element onto the prongs and sloshing down each mouthful with a glug of coffee. Toast and fried bread is obviously an outlier, and that can be taken in-between the mouthful of food and the beverage if necessary.

It's a 100% complete free for all when I eat anything really, but especially a fry up. I love mixing it up, sometimes just one thing, sometimes a bit of everything, but with a half a mind that the last mouth full has to contain all the best bits in one go.

People who eat one thing at a time off their plate are weird honestly. I know people who eat all their fries before they touch their burger. Insane.

I was recently tipped off by a friend that a Garden Centre outside of Norwich does a very decent fry up, so I headed out there today to try it out.

It did not disappoint.

Pros - 

2 of everything. This is the bare minimum portion wise for me. One sausage, one bacon? No thanks. That ain't gonna fill me up

Everything was cooked perfectly. A rare thing for a fry up I find. It's a difficult beast to manage in a kitchen, and bringing it all together perfectly is no mean feat in a busy cafe. The eggs especially were perfect. Runny without being undercooked.

Decent quality ingredients. Right in the sweet spot of not too posh, not too cheap and nasty. The sausages were a particular highlight.

Nice big plate - Give me room to work with. I need a Dad Plate. No some poxy tiny thing that can't hold all the food (looking at you Morrisons Cafe)

The beans were not too wet - Beans are essential on a fry up for me. I need the lube. But I don't like too much bean juice slopping around. These were perfect, so no ramikin required.

Price - £9. On the more expensive side, but with it ticking so many boxes and food generally being more expensive these days it seemed reasonable.

Nothing green on the plate.

Served til 3pm. This is a huge plus point. I hate having to get to somewhere before 10am to have a fry up. All day is best, but I really want it between 12-12.30.

Cons - 

1 slice of toast. Not enough, I need 1 slice to eat with the fry up, and then another to mop up at the end.

No tea or coffee included in the price - this should be standard with every fry up. No excuse.

No black pudding - I can forgive this as I know it's not something most people have, but it's the sort of thing that can edge a fry up from a 9.5 to a perfect 10.

Overall I'm gonna say 9/10. Another slice of toast, free tea and a slice of black pudding would give it a perfect 10.

22 hours ago, Frankie Crisp said:

Something needs to break the Chippy Tea monopoly on here.

So share and rate your big, heart-attack inducing fry-ups as and when you have one.

I had a delicious one the other day (Café No. 33 in Norwich), but I was uneasy about it not floating in its own fat, so it only gets a 7 from me. Bacon and sausage hidden underneath the toast.

Don’t do the Partridge thing. Too easy.

I've lived in Norwich 18 years and still haven't found the perfect fry up. Cafe 33 is decent, but yeah, you're gonna get a bit of green for some reason and that's never right on a fry up.

There's very few proper greasy spoons in town, you have to head out into the cheaper parts of town for good cheap food (magdalen st is the best place for food i.e kebabs, curries etc..)

There used to be a great cafe not far from Cafe 33 that used to an insanely good fry up (2 of everything, including black pudding) but that only lasted a few months.

And yup, Norwich is pretty posh these days, especially for food. 

On 8/23/2020 at 5:51 PM, Chest Rockwell said:

Anyone know much about active speakers? At some point I'd like to update my monitors which are just old HiFi speakers atm. I'd like some that are reasonably neutral for mixing when recording, but also with a bit of warmth for listening. Maybe a question for @Loki although as a hobbyist I don't need to go nuts with it...

I've got some basic M-Audio AV-40 monitors mounted to the wall that do the job (not sure what the latest model is though, they are about 7 years old.) Nice and neutral for mixing/audio production, and they sound decent for listening to records on my turntable. They have both RCA inputs and TRS inputs so can handle both inputs at the same time. 

Are you using an amp for listening? Main thing I learned when running my turntable/amp into my active speakers was that the amp will need pre-outs. That way you can run an RCA cable to the active speakers to hook them up.

Also bear in mind, if you use the pre outs on the amp, you can't use the headphone jack from the amp as well.