i.e. Room 101 backwards.

We know the idea of the TV show [iRoom 101[/i.
Well, this is the opposite, what generally under-rated thing that could be in Room 101 would you liberate?

It could be plumbers, sago pudding, cloudy days, Blackpool ... anything that you think is not as bad as people generally think.

OK ... rules ... you have to give reasons and it mustn't be political or religious.

I'll go first.

[uThing[/u
[iBargain Hunt[/i (BBC TV Programme)

[uReason[/u
Although it's a lightweight daytime programme, it is only a bit of fun and you get to know bits and pieces about, erm, old bits and pieces, from quite knowledgeable people and sometimes get to marvel at hideous stuff that is considered to be valuable or, equally, attractive items that are pretty much worthless.
Plus you get to admire the irrepressible Tim Wonnacott's waistcoats and tweeds.
I love the sheer Britishness of it, where no-one is really that bothered about whether they win and quite often it's the team who loses the least money that actually wins, all part of the gentle fun of it all.
All round a nice warm programme to watch with a cup of Earl Grey and a nice slice of Apple Cake.

That reminds me, I need to go on [ieBay[/i to look for some pastry forks.

Over to you ...

Nice socks

You cannot beat fine hosiery, yet it's a clothing item that goes overlooked far too often. I'm a total convert to the silk sock and picked up some of these fine chappies the other day.

Marvellous

What a cracking thread idea.


[iMiranda[/i

Yes, I know it's not hip or trendy or cutting edge, but it's comfy and comforting in the way that you need sometimes: it's comedy that gives you a big hug. It doesn't pretend otherwise and it always puts a smile on my face.

Vesta Chow Mein.

The very first "foreign" food that I recall eating came in dried food format in a cardboard box from the supermarket, now almost universally derided as being the very tip of a slippery slope of fast food and desensitising of the nations tastebuds (LOL at that, heavily boiled potatoes and washed out carrots anyone ?) the Vesta Chow Mein carton of unknown foreign spiced rice and unidentifiable hard bits of what could have been some sort of meat, or maybe not, had a heavy taste of too much salt and something else that I'd never tasted before, a bit like just eating one of those glass jars of Schwartz "Chinese Spice" on its own, a taste that I have never had since but is instantly recognisable as a food from me youth and a treat once a month or so.

"Simply add water and boil" were the cooking instructions and indeed thats what you did, add water and boil, even the 11 year old me could manage that although judging when your Vesta Chow Mein was actually soft enough to eat was an art form and meant tasting bits of it from the pan constantly until you had either crunched most of it like muesli or judged it to perfection.

Summed up perfectly by my father as "Bloody foreign muck" which only made me like it even more the once a month special treat was soon a weekly occurrence until one week I hit upon a bad batch and got the runs for several days - how the hell can you get food poisoning from dried bits of rice and unrecognisable dried other things in a cardboard box ?