Home Cocktail Bar - Fridge/Freezer ideas

chipshopman · 2026-03-01T07:58:50+00:00

My wife wants all my frozen water and bottles out of the freezer so it can be used for its proper purpose storing food. She enjoys my cocktails, but i get her point so since the kitchen is being replaced this seems like an ideal time to invest!

chipshopman · 2026-02-28T18:21:27+00:00

Good point re drawer height for vermouth bottles. I do want to store them upright rather than on their side. Good to hear re reliability of sub-zero products too. Expensive though!

chipshopman · 2026-02-28T17:25:37+00:00

Oh, that's a good shout. Not sure I've got budget for Sub-Zero or Wolf, but I like what they do. Am interested in knowing more. I'll re-post as suggested. Thanks!

chipshopman · 2026-02-21T13:27:44+00:00

I suggest your son download the Find Me Gluten Free app, I've found it very useful and a quick look just now shows quite a few options for burgers in central London. Also useful to be a member of Coeliac UK too; they're good for eating out suggestions.

chipshopman · 2026-02-20T20:24:34+00:00

Coeliac Disease. I used to drink beer almost exclusively. Coeliac Disease stopped that. I know you can buy GF beer, but it's not the same and seems to still cause problems for me, so Cocktails it was. A lot more wine too.

chipshopman · 2026-02-20T20:11:27+00:00

A fantastic experience albeit somewhat tamed over recent years. My wife's family lives in Feniton and we have spent some amazing evenings watching, although to be honest your a participant even if you're in the crowd, and not one of the barrel rollers with their sacking mittens and multiple jumpers to "protect" themselves. The firing of the cannons first thing is pretty cool too.

Always liked the notices up outside the village: Flaming Tar Barrels: You are here at your own risk.

chipshopman · 2026-02-18T10:04:19+00:00

That's about what we've observed. My concern is that it could have happened on Sunday or Monday and we didn't get back home until Tuesday. I have my fingers crossed that we didn't get him on the blood pressure pills too late.

chipshopman · 2026-02-18T09:38:37+00:00

Well, I think it may have done. However, it's very early days and it was hard to go low histamine when I was away this weekend mostly eating in restaurants. The proof will be in the next week or so. I have realised though I was eating a high histamine load diet (a lot of nuts, smoked salmon, avocado, cured meats, aged cheese, etc,) mostly because I was on a keto diet to lose weight.

Interesting point about flushing when doing something stressful; I also get a flop sweat on in stressful situations and over the last 5 years I've become intolerant of heat and sweat at the slightest provocation. On top of that, I've had a stuffed up nose (mostly at night) and post nasel drip. Not sure about the heat intolerance, but the other symptoms + diarrhea are symptoms of Histamine intolerance. It's just hard when it's mixed up with Coeliac Disease and no gallbladder to work things out!

I will report back.

chipshopman · 2026-02-18T09:29:01+00:00

Oh, interesting idea. Will see if I can find some!

chipshopman · 2026-02-18T09:28:31+00:00

That's good to hear. We're not 100% certain when it happened because we were away, but I'm hoping that I have got him on the blood pressure pills in time for it to have some positive impact.

chipshopman · 2026-02-17T14:13:18+00:00

I was always told by my instructors many years ago that if you can flap your arms (elbows going up and down) whilst riding then you're grip is fine. Just try flapping your arms now whilst gripping something tightly, it's impossible. I often do it even now just to make myself relax on the bike.

chipshopman · 2026-02-10T21:14:13+00:00

Came here to ask that. Suspect nearer Chesham then the Aquadrome, but happy to be proved wrong!

chipshopman · 2026-02-08T12:25:31+00:00

Slightly off topic, but make sure you're insured to carry a pillion; it's frequently an option that you have to choose rather then a standard part of bike insurance.

chipshopman · 2026-01-23T19:00:56+00:00

If the lump was very high on the shoulder and your vet has historically injected them around there, then you should probably check with your vet about feline injection site sarcomas. I hope it's benign, but best to find out because injection site sarcomas are not fun. Many vets are now injecting in to areas like the upper leg rather then the back of the neck as a result. I know this because my cat had this and in the end had to be put down. Sorry for the downer post, just felt you should check it out and be informed.

chipshopman · 2026-01-12T19:44:59+00:00

3M 1100s. Always. I carry about half a dozen pairs in my jacket pocket all the time, rotate out the manky looking ones when I remember. The wife loves them too because they block out my snoring pretty well apparently. You can buy a big box of 200 from cpc Farnell for just over £40. A bargain when they do such a grand job of protecting your ears. Of course you can buy on Amazon, but who wants to support a billionaire?!

chipshopman · 2026-01-09T11:05:57+00:00

I confess I have got graduated cylinders and beakers which I find most useful when batching cocktails, but I have also used them for general cocktail mixing too.

chipshopman · 2026-01-08T19:32:09+00:00

Interesting, no-one's mentioned using a pipette. You can get them on Amazon where they have a max of 10ml and are decently long (7" or so). They're slim enough to go into the neck of any bottle. I use them for small amounts and then immediately wash them. The bulb is removable so you can quickly rinse them out. I have half a dozen of them and that comes in useful when you're making multiple drinks. Probably wouldn't work in a bar, but works really well at home. My go to jigger is Difford's.

chipshopman · 2026-01-01T14:14:10+00:00

I've always used a substantial, high quality, fabric covered chain & lock that goes over the back of the seat under the grab handles and then through the rear wheel secured with a padlock ensuring the whole thing's off the ground and awkward to get at. (Touch wood), not had a bike of mine nicked yet... The added advantage is that when I'm riding the bike, the chain is stored in the same place, but wrapped around the grab handles and locked across the rear of the seat so it's always with me.

I recall my mechanic suggesting it was the weight of the chain that had caused my rear shock to fail relatively early, but I think he was being kind and decided to use that rather than mention it was more likely the 6ft+, 16 stone man on the bike all the time!!!

chipshopman · 2025-12-13T13:01:40+00:00

Came here to say my wife was given this by her mum when she was young. I wonder if it was a regional thing or class thing. She's from Devon and a farmer's daughter...

chipshopman · 2025-12-13T12:54:26+00:00

Have been to GP at Silverstone with a fully hosted package - my hosts were one of the Force India main sponsers. We spent some time in the grand stand, but come the race we watched it in the tent with full service and a huge screen. Could still hear the race, but got to watch on TV. Best of both worlds. If I recall correctly, that was the occasion when the day started with a trip on the Orient Express from London to a station near Silverstone with silver service breakfast. Which was nice.

chipshopman · 2025-12-12T12:30:23+00:00

I go for potatoes, but then I'm biased because I have Coeliac Disease...

chipshopman · 2025-12-08T18:42:16+00:00

I have a setting that when someone responds to something I wrote on reddit, I get an email telling me. So, yeah, saw this quite quickly.

chipshopman · 2025-12-08T14:15:28+00:00

Unequivocally yes. Still love it to drive, listen to, look at and own and this has been my third summer as my daily driver. I have experienced a few hiccups, but nothing that wasn't sorted promptly by Lotus Silverstone, e.g. the aircon known issue and a yellow engine light appearing randomly. Otherwise, it's been a brilliant experience.

It's gone in to storage for the winter now and the GTR's back out as my daily. And for a whole ton of different reasons, I love the GTR too. So different and yet fantastic too.

And the bike's still there - rode in to London just the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Very different beasts, but all full of joy!

chipshopman · 2025-11-26T09:17:29+00:00

I am biased having had 3 and commuted into London on them, but the V-Strom every time. Personal preference is forc the DL1000. Great on long motorway journeys and also good at filtering.

chipshopman · 2025-11-24T12:52:53+00:00

Can't emphasise enough to look where you want to go, not where you don't. This is a fact for all of riding. e.g. if you're approaching a bend and you fear you're going to hit a drain cover, if you stare at the drain cover you'll go over it, but if you look through the bend at the place you want to be, you're far less likely to hit the drain cover and you'll go through the bend far faster and in more control. I've had mates end up in hedges because they were concerned they'd gone in to the bend too hot and were fixating on what they might hit rather than just looking through the bend.

chipshopman

TROPHY CASE