'Our Scientific age demands that we provide definitions, measurements, and statistics in order to be taken seriously. Yet most of the important things in life cannot be precisely defined or measured. Can we define or measure love, beauty, friendship or decency, for example?'
- Dennis Prager

Seeing as 'Mr. Montero' and I were getting a little long-winded on a D1 thread I'm opening this as an open topic for all free-loving, adventurous, laughter-filled individuals. Come! Join us - have some chocolate cake!! Talk about whatever your over-abundant heart desires...

 

I believe some interaction will still be ongoing at the original thread...

Fellow understanders of the wisdom that knowledge is better shared around a cup of coffee (particularly the Irish way) and good chocolate cake are welcome to join in and bring humor back into life as a Landrover owner. This thread may be used for REAL technical stuff by REAL people - with ability in their hands as well as heads.

 

I'm making the coffee extra strong and the cake is coming out of the oven..

 

... thin, with cinnamon sugar added liberally and then rolled up and eaten as hot as your hand can handle it.

It is excellent when coming inside after having spent the morning under lady Landy wondering why yesterday's fix to the exhaust leak is actually working and staying fixed... and crawling out into a blizzard. It was perfectly blue skies when I crawled under for a listening session focused on tell tale little hisses and gargles. There were none - how about that!

Now that all the up-stream gaskets and seals and other diverse leaks have been attended to I notice a more evident growl from the exhaust pipe and not the mere manly rumble as is normal for the technologically ancient Packard V8 used in the petrol-fired Landy. (Where I come from we use gas for cooking or in some fracking areas it is just naturally passed through cracks and not to perambulate vehicles).

Any suggestions? Has one baffle in the muffler gone? (I must confess that these terms are at times confusing; English is not my first language - all I know is that the new muffling sound baffles me no end).

By the way, does anyone know the etimology of the word "muffler" as used for the sound suppression system in US vehicles? I am too embarrassed to ask my good friend Sir James Watts-Phillips in the U.K. and expose my ignorance of the Queen's English regarding even the base-word muff. I wonder if Websters has an explanation for the noun muffler, or the verb to muffle - then one could take it from there.

 

Lol.. Mr. Montero, I haven’t laughed so hard in days!

Interesting that you should bring this topic up, Andries..sss..sss. I told myself this past fall that I would take more time out of each day to sit a spell and pick a classic out of my cozy little library to read while the wind howled its mighty objection to the change of season. You probably can guess the rest of the story. As much as I’d like to say that I finished reading all the Classics, many of them still sit on the shelf waiting to be plucked and pleasured. BUT.. having said that, I was successful in finishing one English masterpiece by Charlotte Bronte, the book otherwise known as Jane Eyre. And let me tell you.. I can understand your confusion and wonderment to the etymology of the English term ‘muff’. There I was reading this romantic tragedy, the wind howling thru the cracks of the windows (much like the gas you speak of) and the passage "Gathering my mantle about me, and sheltering my hands in my muff, I did not feel the cold." I have to say that I was quite befuddled as to the mantle and muff colloquialisms… What’s a mantle and how does one go about gathering it around oneself?!? The only Mantle I had ever heard of was the one directly above the hearth and fireplace and it served as a place to set my cherished treasures from my many travels. And why on earth would she shelter her hands in her muff? I sat on my hands contemplating the conundrum and tried to warm them up as I could feel the cold creeping in thru the window panes as they huffed n’ puffed with the changing of season…

According to the ever faithful Webster's, the first known use of the word ‘Muffler’ was circa 1536, well before the Bronte sisters were ever born. Of course Webster's didn’t care to embellish on the origin or even give an example of why it was used in 1536… typical. BUT.. it did state that ‘muffle’ originated from the Middle English term ‘muflen’. As if that helps

I can tell you this though… the full definition of ‘muffle’ is to:
1: wrap up so as to conceal or protect
2: to blindfold (which is now an obsolete definition) or
3: to dull the sound (more applicable to your lovely Landy’s problem)

Speaking of cinnamon.. the synonym of ‘muffle’ is mute (not moot.. many people use these two terms interchangeably but there is a difference). Perhaps you should just press your mute button the next time your Lovely Landy decides to get her growl going? Either that or turn your radio up

PS.. Thornfield is the name of the manor in Jane Eyre where they witness the insane Bertha Mason scurrying around on all fours growling like an animal. Have a wonderful night...

 

... but unlike the "Suzette" kind, these are without the sublime, esoteric, lingering aftertastes and gentle citrus aromas of Contreau - but rather display with unashamed frankness and vigor the more earthy cin(namon)ful aroma and body of hardcore home cooking - prepared for over-indulgence until the last four go down for the pure unadulterated pleasure of eating it - quite well after the initial hunger had already been served.

 

I have to say that I can't imagine a proper lady eating crepes this way. And to eat them with 'unashamed frankness & vigor?!?' Are you certain that they are as good as you think? I’ve made crepes before and they’ve never had an aroma such as the one you’ve described…and I’m a hardcore home cook. My crepes come out hearty (more like an American pancake), with an aroma somewhere between maple syrup and hot cross buns. I guess it depends on what I’ve mixed into the batter but it’s always something sweet.

 

..which is then set alight until all the alcohol has burned off. You know that Contreau is made from orange blossoms and the oil therein leaves the distinct citrus aroma.

The crépes we make are drier than the French C. Suzettes and immediately get a good sprinkling of cinnaman sugar and rolled up tightly into a sausage form and cozily stacked next to one another in a warm Pyrex dish.

By the way - Received an email yesterday from the LR Forum that my account had been terminated. Found it back to normal again when I switched on a few minutes ago.

It was immediately after I had posted the contents which I'll repeat once I have sent this one off.

A.

 

It is all gone, sorry - had to do with the exhaust leaks and my idea to write a Ph.D thesis on the known and repeated and repeated ad nauseam Landrover problems as related on these pages, and as a counterpoint use the data from the back home Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Landcruiser forums. Will be very interesting charting, I believe.

 

Gee, some mothers' kids.... "And to eat them with 'unashamed frankness & vigor?!?" you say.

I said these pancakes display their taste and cinnamonny aroma with unashamed frankness and vigor - with other words, meaning the cinnamon is not there to be possibly detected by a connoiseur taster but it makes its presence distinctly known the moment the lid of the dish is removed.

You may still wish to eat it delicately, and limit yourself to only three - even when your taste buds say: "give us more of that!"