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Tag Archives: pancakes

The Best Little Smokehouse in Derbyshire

30 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by simon682 in Mostly Concerning Food, Uncategorized

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

bagels, Betty's, Harry Potter World, Jaquest, kedgeree, pancakes, smoked beef

Mainly Concerning Food

It has been a quiet month here in North East Derbyshire. Some visits by me to other English towns, some visits to us by family and friends, some reading, some cooking, some gardening, some gainful employment, some leisure time. One thing that has been completely absent has been rush. As I get older the word urgent has become an infrequent visitor to my thoughts. On some days it has been cold enough to light a fire and some days it hasn’t. But the fire is so nice to sit by that I light it anyway. It’s a family tradition. We come from folk who have known hard times but folk who kept the fire well stoked. Whatever season you visited a cousin, auntie, grandma in this family, you’d be offered cake and a seat in the chimney corner. We continue the tradition. Modern fires don’t use a lot of fuel and they give off a lot of heat. I’m looking forward to winter.dsc_0003This is a favourite. Unbeatable as a quick snack, a budget meal and a tasty treat; but also scores high on nutrition, sustainability and gastronomy. It’s the humble but very delicious sardines on toast. Can be made using a toaster but, like toasted cheese, is better using a grill. Toast the bread fully on one side and partially on the other. Butter (real butter please) and spread a couple of tinned sardines straight from the can. I prefer the ones in tomato sauce for this recipe. Sprinkle a few drops of tabasco sauce and return under the grill for a minute or two to finish. It’s one of those meals that don’t tempt until you’ve made it and then it is irresistible. What’s for tea? Sardines on toast. Can’t we have something better than that? Here you go. Any chance of some more?dsc_0005The East Midlands hasn’t yet developed a strong reputation as a food capital. Some supposed lesser counties have become associated with fine food shops and innovative restaurants. Shropshire is now known for good eating as is Cumbria. But we do have the same supermarkets (for better or worse) as the well-heeled areas and we have a few gems of our own. Some brilliant farm shops and a local charcuterie  and smoke house in Bolsover that trades under the name of Jaquest. This is a piece of smoked cod that is absolutely full of flavour. The firm is discretely sited and run by a modest man and wife team who pick up gold, silver and bronze medals for their products from food fairs around the country. This is as good as you’ll get anywhere in England and you’ll enjoy the experience of shopping with them. They are lovely people and to top things off, it’s superb value for money.dsc_0006Their bacon is a treat. Several different cures. I usually choose the standard cure which gives you a flavour and texture from the past. No un-foodlike slimy white oozings from these rashers as they cook. This is the real stuff. It has so little in common with the pre-packed product that comes off the supermarket shelves (even the supposed dry cure) that it seems incredible that we give it the same name. The taste of bacon like this, cured by strictly traditional methods on a small scale by people who care about food, is what gave bacon its reputation. That rubbery, squirmy stuff inserted into a pappy bun, at all too many sandwich shops, isn’t bacon. It’s a horribly processed meat that we have learnt to tolerate. And we shouldn’t. This is like comparing a true stilton to Dairylea. Even the rind cooks perfectly and adds crunch and depth of flavour to the sandwich or the breakfast.dsc_0007Jaquest also do a smoked Holoumi cheese. A single slice added to the nearly made bacon sandwich and then melted under the grill before eating turns a treat into a feast. dsc_0009There are as many different recipes for kedgeree as there are bogus recipes for Paella. It comes from the Raj and is obviously a dish prepared for people who are used to having servants and others to do for them. A real hotch-potch of ingredients. It all ends up in one dish but there is a lot of washing up with a kedgeree. I like Britain but its Imperial past isn’t an aspect that I feel any pride in. My recipe is the one I was brought up on. If any of my family made it to India it was as foot soldiers. Neither side of my family ever sat at the top table (on my mother’s side many were in service…my father’s side consists of miners, steel men and factory workers). My mothers favourite flavouring for fish and rice was parsley. I enjoy spicy kedgerees but given my druthers I’d always select this combination of Basmati rice, hard boiled eggs, poached smoked haddock (Jaquest), lots of black pepper and handfuls of chopped parsley. Serve with brown bread and butter. One of the great legacies of British imperialism is the wonderful multi-culutural society that parts of the country have become. My life has been enormously enhanced by this multi-culturalism.dsc_0010 dsc_0012Never had a fig until I was married with children. Only once had a pomegranate. We were told to use a pin to pick out the seeds. It took far too long and we lost interest. If you cut them in half and gently beat the outside with the back of a large knife the seeds fall out very easily. Suddenly the pomegranate is available in large numbers and low prices in most supermarkets. Visually stunning, as fresh as a morning meadow and apparently very good for you. To use the current stock phrase; what’s not to like?dsc_0014 dsc_0016I love bagels. Here the unusual combination of good cream cheese, capers and thin slices of venison salami (Jaquest gold medal winner, judged best salami in Britain). The salami is far too flavoured to over-indulge. It needs complimentary ideas and this works perfectly. I enjoyed these and then had two more!dsc_0017This black pudding was delicious and I cannot remember who made it. It came from a supermarket and I deliberately kept the card container somewhere safe so I’d know to buy it again. I found a very safe place and hope to find it one day. Black pudding has become the both ends of the spectrum and nothing in the middle food. You’ll find it on the poshest menus and you’ll find it in working class greasy spoon cafés but you won’t often see it in the centre field.dsc_0020Smoked rib of beef. I forget the exact name of the cut. Smoked to order by Jaquest, this isn’t easy to come by. I was lucky. Very lucky, this is a superb product. I simply took the proprietors advice and roasted it very slowly for 10 hours. I love cooking that fills the house with good smells. This was exceptional.dsc_0023 dsc_0024 dsc_0027It produced several meals. At first the richest flavoured roast beef I can remember eating for a long time. Here served English style with new potatoes, carrots and kale. The gravy from the roasting pan was unbelievable. Fabulous on its own but once I added a little English mustard it sang to the four corners of my mouth.dsc_0028 dsc_0031I’m not a great multi-tasker. I do like the golden filigree on the bottom and edges of my fried eggs but I have to confess that I rather over-did these fellows. It made no difference. I call this a Morland breakfast because this is what Nicholas Jenkins and Hugh Morland had on a memorable occasion in A Dance to the Music of Time (one of the truly great sequences of novels written in English). Every time I have this most simple of breakfasts I’m reminded of so many things from my own past as well as that fabulous book.dsc_0032Cold slices of smoked roast beef. Or roast smoked beef. Either way they made the most delicious sandwiches with some horseradish (T) and mustard (me).dsc_0033I have a slight regret that I stopped drinking beer at the same time as the craft beer movement really took off. The regrets are minor. I’m happy with the improvement in the British banger over the same period. I have mixed feelings about middle class people with no experience setting up companies with the words artisan and provender in the titles. But I’m happy to eat a good sausage wherever it comes from.dsc_0034The finest of many fine dishes to come from that £21 piece of beef. The bones were stocked for a number of hours and the stock made into a beef broth. Lots of the cold cuts plus onions, carrots and kale all supplemented with classic soup mix ingredients like yellow split peas, red lentils and pearl barley. This could have been made my my mother, my grandmother or my great grandmother…and that is the sort of food I like the best.dsc_0035Another tasty breakfast and a morning with the newspapers.dsc_0036 dsc_0038As the only member of the family who likes seafood I suffer a feast or famine regime. Long periods of going without and then finding I have to eat enough for four or five. Mussels are sold in bags of about a kilogram in Britain. This moules mariniere meant I didn’t have to eat again that day.dsc_0039 dsc_0041Four oysters. Some pepper, some freshly squeezed lime. Another working class staple that has made its way up the food hierarchies.dsc_0042I began this post with tinned sardines and now add a few fresh sardines. I head and gut them and fry them for a minute of two on each side and serve with bread and butter. Every bit as delicious as the earlier dish and just as east to make. (Both attract the attention of two cats and a sheep dog. I’m afraid there wasn’t enough to go round.dsc_0043Perhaps I spoke too soon. Maybe this was the piéce de resistance of the smoked beef. There are many ways of attaining the depth of flavour that separates the really good chilli from the ordinary. With  this beef it didn’t matter. The depth of flavour was there. Quite simply this was the best chilli I’ve ever tasted. Far too good to serve in any other way.dsc_0046Remarkable how much a sprinkle of lime and a dollop of soured cream adds to the dish. Do you use the word dollop in Australia, New Zealand and America?dsc_0050No month is complete without a simple steak dinner. It’s what I dreamed of as a boy and now measure out my happiness with.dsc_0060A simple cake baked by T for a school baking festival. Wonderful balance between the flavours of the different elements.dsc_0074How I plan to spend the winter. I travel a lot less in the darker months. I mostly work from home these days and once I’ve lit a fire I rarely move more than a few yards. Books, food, dog walks and music. Travel can wait until the days start to lengthen again.dsc_0065Mind you. A family trip to York included breakfast at Bettys with David and Melissa  made a very special treat.dsc_0072And ice-cream in a York ice-cream parlour.dsc_0006I wasn’t part of the big family trip to Harry Potter World. Jolly and I stayed at home and read a travel book by the fire. Before they set off I put in my biggest ever stint at the pancake pans. 2 pounds of flour, a dozen eggs made two large mixing bowls of batter and two pans going non stop for over half an hour. All our children with their partners filled the dining room with good cheer. It felt very quiet when they’d gone.

 

Sweet and Sourdough

05 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by simon682 in Mostly Concerning Food

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

blinis, Cumberland Sausage, pancakes, simnel cake, sourdough

Mostly Concerning Food

Thanks to fellow blogger Master of Something I’m Yet to Discover (wonderful title) I have finally been inspired enough to have a go at making sourdough bread. She in turn had been inspired by a serious food blogger called Foodbod. I recommend both blogs heartily and will add links at the end. I won’t go into great detail. My days as a recipe writer are long gone and there are so many places  to get a better recipe than I could make up. I actually followed two as well as getting inspiration from the above.
DSC_0002I set two starters off at the same time. One was just flour (wholemeal) and water and the other was white bread flour and also had a grated (organic) apple in it. One was kept in a sealed Kilner jar and the other in a bowl with cling film over it. Both were doing fine until the particular bowl I’d used was required for something else. I continued feeding the one with the apple in and it was soon reproducing itself in a manner that would interest a writer of science fiction. Every day or so you are supposed to discard half and add new flour and water. It’s rather like having a pet. Not as good as a dog or a cat but a darned sight better than a stick insect or a Tamagotchi.

After the second feed I decided to simply add double the flours and water and keep the discarded half in a second jar. A decision that was fully vindicated when Master of Something said that it made wonderful pancakes…and it does!DSC_0005

Meanwhile back in the world of true homely eating. This (see photograph) was always one of my favourites. Both sausages and bacon are thought of as breakfast items: at least in England. Both are in fact much nicer served with potatoes and vegetables as a main meal. Even the traditional (over the top) “Full English” is improved if served with a portion of chips as a proper dinner.

The Cumberland sausage is a wonderful thing. The late jazz trumpeter and all round comic genius, Humphrey Lyttleton made tracking down the perfect Cumberland sausage a life long hobby. I thought I’d cracked it in as obvious a place as Marks and Spencer. For two years their Cumberland sausage was without peer in lands away from the Lakes. But alas, the photo before you shows what happens when you tamper with a winning recipe. Someone must have been reading a book and confused the words “generous grinding of” with “far too much of” in the context of adding pepper. I bow to no-one in my love of piquancy but pepper is a condiment, a spice. It’s there to enhance the flavour not smother it. These sausages were not the treat they should have been. I’d caution against them but as I’m not exactly the Frank Rich of the food world I don’t think Marks and Spencer need worry too much. Does anyone know where I can get a really good Cumberland sausage?DSC_0068

I’ve had a spate of eating steak. Tesco has recently been selling first rate sirloin steaks. I don’t normally have much time for Tesco. Despite (or because of) the presence of a massive store practically on my doorstep I very rarely go in. But a good steak is a good steak. An ideal treat for one and a perfect evening meal for two. Not much cooking…I simply follow the advice of Hervé This and Harold McGee.DSC_0112DSC_0074

While I was in Tesco I noticed oysters at 50p each. For a mere £3 I turned breakfast into a treat for one. Nobody else likes oysters. I got an oyster shucking kit for Christmas. Finally I can break into the shells without risking severe injury. I’m proud of it in an ironic way. It goes well with the fish knives and forks we inherited except that the kit is actually useful. It makes shucking oysters simple. I’m also very fond of it because it was a present from my daughter, and she’s wonderful.

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I may never have made any fancy breads before but I’m fond of eating them. My favourite meals are often simply bread cheese and tomatoes. It’s perfect as a picnic on a beach or for an instant lunch or even a reliable meal at a hotel where the catering isn’t up to scratch. I’d far rather have good bread and cheese in my room than a bad roast dinner in the restaurant. One of the big advantages of having supermarkets in every town is that you can invariably get good bread and cheese. Here is some rather nice cured ham. Yes I know it is fatty. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that the flavour is in the fat. (I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier.. the one about This and McGee).DSC_0001

One of the discussions we have, when the whole family gets together, is whether the large English pancake or the smaller American pancake is the better. Personally I prefer the former but this could be because it was what I was brought up with. Like pronouncing scone to rhyme with gone, it is simply the way I learnt it first. I love American pancakes but would walk past them if a little further down the line someone was cooking them like my mother used to… two or even three pans going at once trying to keep up with the hungry appetites of seven children. DSC_0003

Sourdough batter is perfect for the smaller trans-Atlantic cousins. I repeat my gratitude to Master of Something Yet for the idea. I improvised the recipe…well I simply added 2 eggs and a cup or two of skimmed milk to the sourdough starter I was about to discard. Beat it merrily and left it to stand. For how long? Until my wife and daughter got back from Sheffield. They are essentially blinis when made this way but with a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon they were fabulous; simply fabulous. Even my mother would have loved these. Next time I’ll try them with maple syrup and the time after that…cream cheese and caviar!

It’s Mothering Sunday tomorrow. Must use the proper name. My mother in law would have been annoyed if I’d called it Mothers’ Day no matter where I placed the apostrophe. Simnel cake is the traditional treat for Mothering Sunday. It’s become associated with Easter but that is just plain wrong. As wrong as chocolate eggs for Whitsun or Christmas cake for bonfire night. Recipes will often include a series of marzipan eggs on the top. Ignore these. They are wrong too. The tradition of Simnel cake to celebrate mothers goes back a lot further than greetings cards, a trip to the florist and taking her out to a carvery once a year.DSC_0014

It’s basically fruit cake with a layer of marzipan halfway down. It cooks with the cake leaving a sweet almondy vein of enhanced flavour in the middle. A real treat and an ancient recipe.DSC_0016

Which brings us to my first attempts at sourdough bread.

I followed the recipe which told me to knead it for ten minutes which produced a wonderful, silky-smooth dough. I proved it once in a bowl for 5 hours and later for twenty hours. This was the part I had to improvise…because I wasn’t sure what the recipe meant. I was given a choice between making a proving basket or laying the dough on a floured cloth and placing it in a clean plastic bag. I loved the fact that it insisted on a clean bag. I’d been very keen to use a dirty one before reading this. DSC_0002

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The apparent black bread in the background might be another example of the blue or gold dress that caused an internet stir last year. I can assure you the bread was white when I photographed it!

I’ve baked bread often and know it is not overly forgiving stuff. Once it has risen it doesn’t like to be messed about with. I’d appreciate any advice readers may have on how to get dough onto a cloth and in and out of a plastic bag without messing the dough about. I just about managed it. I’m pretty sure the professionals do it differently though. 40 minutes in the oven, and a hot oven at that, produced a couple of fine loaves. Good crisp crusts on the outside, wonderfully chewy on the inside. Quite simply first class bread. Delicious with butter and even better with some well flavoured Cheddar.DSC_0008

I mustn’t forget to add my thanks to another blogger who suggested using sourdough as a pizza base (She’s Italian). My gratitude to you all.

 

Bon appétit. Simon

Sticking To The Sourdough

https://foodbod.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/pumpkin-seeds-rye-berries-oats-and-spelt-sourdough/

Day 195: Vegetable or Mineral

15 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by simon682 in Mostly Concerning Food, Uncategorized

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

asparagus, baked beans on toast, boiled eggs, cornichons, gardening, Lent, pancakes, Risotto, stilton, The Nun's Priest's Tale, vegetarian

Weekly Food Round-Up

I cut the grass this week. And managed a few hours sitting out. It’s keep your shirt on and well buttoned up weather but it feels so nice to sit out and get the feeling of sun on my face. It’s all a bit desolate out there. I dug up the front in order to rebuild the walls and dig some goodness into the soil. All the plants worth saving were potted to survive the winter but most haven’t survived the extreme wet. A couple of blackcurrant bushes and some daisies. A real pity as a lot of the plants that perished were taken as roots and cuttings from my parents’ garden. It was a link that meant a lot to me. I have a few left. I’ll cherish them, grow them, split them and coddle them. Both my mother and father were good gardeners and the sense of continuity is important as well as the sentimental value.

Have I kept up the ‘no meat in Lent’ regime? You bet I have. I’ve always known that middle aged people should eat differently but had been too keen to go on a binge celebration of leaving bad things behind that I thought of the net gain rather than the common sense. Old Benson retired from farming when his son took over the reins. This didn’t stop him walking three miles up Furness hills to the farm each day, putting in  a full shift and walking home again. He did this into his eighties. He was a phenomenal man and he said (back in the sixties) that you don’t eat red meat once you are past fifty. Modern science, as is so often the case, is catching up with long held wisdom.

Carl (a fellow blogger and a darned good cartoonist) comments that it is how long food stays in the gut that makes the difference. Up to eight hours is fine. Over that and it starts producing toxins. Beef, in particular, takes two hours longer than other foods to digest. It makes a big difference to a middle aged body.

I won’t go vegetarian this year but I may well have left beef behind. It’s not such a daft idea to drop one type of flesh each year until I’m meat free. During my heavy smoking days I always knew I wouldn’t die a smoker. I’ve long had a feeling that I will end up a vegetarian. At the moment, I am. It’s only for Lent but I’m enjoying it and not missing meat in the slightest.

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A piece of stilton and a few crackers in the garden start the week off nicely. Stilton is one of many cheeses that don’t require anything else on the cheese board. We’ve got too used to the horn of plenty. Time to change back to having one good cheese rather than a choice.

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If you add pickles (and here we have some cornichons and some pickled chilli peppers) a strong cheddar is perfect.

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Strict vegetarians might forego eggs. We’re not strict anythings and are certainly not going to miss out on the first eggs from the chickens in Frances and Steven’s garden. The treat of the week. (I was given the honour of naming one and chose Pertelote after the hen in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale).

Percy checks the ingredients to make sure I’ve got the ratios right. He doesn’t like pancakes much but he does like being involved.

 

I’d mis-judged the calendar and got caught out. I thought pancake day was going to be the 11th so I stick by the plan. I can remember making pancakes for T during our courting days back in the seventies. I think this week was the first time I’d made pancakes for two in all that time. Well it would have been for two but a friendly sheepdog positioned herself under the table and was a willing recipient of one or two pancakes of her own.

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We have some maple syrup on the table. Good maple syrup. It gets used but sugar and lemon is still the favourite way of eating pancakes in this house.

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I could eat risotto for every meal for a month and not complain. This one follows the simple method. I don’t have any vegetable stock or stock cubes. I do have some sachets of Ainsley Harriott’s soup in a mug. I use one of roasted peppers and tomato in this as well as adding a couple of frozen white fish fillets. It’s such a simple dish to make and is so useful. Even without a microwave it is so easy to heat up, it is delicious cold and it packs into a tupperware container for the most convenient of packed lunches.

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Muesli and banana has been my default breakfast this week. Dorset Cereals provide the muesli and a very good start to the day it is. On Wednesday I have a yearning for beans on toast. Who needs bacon or sausages? It’s a classic dish in England (not sure about anywhere else) and gets the midweek off to a flying start.

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By Thursday I need a substantial meal I need the preparation as much as the meal itself. I enjoy fish however it is served but, given the choice I would opt for it to be shallow fried with a cornflake crust on the flesh side. Always buy fillets of cod or haddock with the skin on. Even if you don’t eat the skin it holds the fillet together and adds enormously to the flavour. Dredge the white side of the fillet in seasoned flour. Dip it into beaten egg and then into cornflakes which you have rolled fine with a rolling pin. (You can buy crumbs made like this but they don’t improve for keeping and you deny yourself a few minutes of fun. It’s worth t for the sound alone!).

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Asparagus, spinach and Charlotte potatoes complete the dish. I was going to make a parsley sauce but was more than happy to settle for some knobs of butter meting on the asparagus and potatoes.

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On Friday I’m not feeling well. I’d managed to get myself invited to spend the day at Oxford University. I simply can’t go. It seems cruel. I don’t get ill often and it was a day I was looking forward to enormously. I may not be one of the great academics of England but I’m clever enough to enjoy being among people who are.

I stay at home and don’t eat very much. As simple salad with olive oil, pepper and lemon juice does well enough.

 

 

http://carldagostino.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/baseball-courage-by-carl-dagostino/

Day 133: Not Quite Dieting

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by simon682 in Mostly Concerning Food, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ainsley Harriott, Aldi, John Lewis, Nicole Kidman, pancakes, prestat chocolates, quail

Pancake day came about by needing to use up perishable foods before Lent. Eggs, butter and even to some extent, flour, would not survive the 6 weeks of Christian fasting and were used up in a feast before the famine.

Our feast had lasted two weeks. The Epicurean indulgence lasted four days but good meals still featured every day until David went back home to Exeter. We sent him on his way with some pancakes made with the last of the Yorkshire pudding batter.

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He looks a lot more awake than I do on these pictures. Or is it just that he isn’t carrying quite as many years on his shoulders?

 

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The photographs also reveal that good intentions are being put into effect. The cereal boxes are out again. The frying pan is back in the cupboard. The egg rack is empty. My body is craving less and a greater percentage of this lesser amount to be fruit and cereal.

 

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There is no new year resolutions about this. No new regime that will fail at the first hint of temptation.This is simply listening to the body and giving it what it wants. There is no discipline. If I pass a packet of Christmas biscuits, I open them and steal two or three. I want to shed a stone but I’m not over bothered if it goes in a week, a month or a quarter.

 

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David enjoys eating the pancakes. I enjoy making the pancakes.

Being once more a two coincides with us both being working people. Every breakfast is shared after the early morning dog walk. We have a mug of tea at 5, walk Jolly at 5.25 and enjoy a little breakfast together at 6.30. Every day this week we have toast and marmalade. I rate it very highly as a breakfast. It is a nice mixture of fruit and fibre. Almost certainly higher in sugar than is perfect for all the year round, but it keeps you going til mid morning and the taste factor is very high indeed.

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The last of the beef provides David with good sandwiches for the train journey and an excellent Sunday supper with the sharpest, crunchiest pickled onions I have ever made.

 

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Pork makes sandwiches for the return to school and a simply made Tuesday roast tea.

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I simply boil some new potatoes and peas and serve slices with the rest of the gravy from Saturday.

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We have a few crackers and some cheese for Monday tea. Lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are packet soups in a mug. These are supposedly superior, being branded by top TV chef Ainsley Harriot. They serve as a light snack but they are not particularly nice. The quality is summed up by students arriving for Friday afternoon’s lesson asking if I’ve had a pot noodle for my dinner.

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On Thursday I’m home a little earlier than T and cook the last of the Aldi Christmas treats. And these really are something of a treat. The four whole quail advertised on the box are exactly what are in the box. They cook up beautifully in 40 minutes (it says 25-30 minutes on the box, but this wasn’t enough in my oven). Once again I keep it simple with new potatoes and peas left over from Tuesday and a few rashers of bacon in case the quail proved disappointing. They did not. We had cats doing abseiling exercises and a dog performing tricks to get a share of the simple feast.

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I feel a little guilty as Frances and Steven keep quail in their garden. The Aldi ones are raised specially in Spain. They are a real treat and are highly recommended. Last time I looked they were being sold at £2.99 a box.

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On Friday we do without tea but treat ourselves to a few chocolates. We have a challenge between the fanciest Aldi sold on the right and Prestat chocolates bought in the sale at John Lewis or Waitrose (same thing).

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Both are nice but the Prestat are an exceptional brand. They are a good deal nicer than most chocolates and there is no shame in Aldi coming second to them.

 

 

A still life of my Friday morning. Dog walk, diary, mug of tea and a half grapefruit which was simply the most enjoyable thing I have eaten all week. I had a particularly nice day on Friday. I’m sure the grapefruit played its part.

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On Saturday we spend a good part of the day at the cinema. Marks and Spencer provided us with a little picnic to eat between films and a light snack on returning home. After watching 100 films last year, it is nice to be back to watching without keeping count. Having said that, we watch two films and get the balance about right.

First we see Robert de Niro, Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman and Michael Douglas add some good performances to what could otherwise have been a lightweight film about old people raging against the dying of the light. In the event, it proved thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes with at least ten laugh aloud moments, which is pretty good value for money.

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The second (and it was well to see them in this order) was The Railway Man. It tells the story of survivors of the Burma Railway and the terrible legacy it had on their lives and how one found redemption through love. There are really good performances from Colin Firth (we have come to expect nothing less) Jeremy Irvine (we didn’t think he had it in him after woeful performances in Great Expectations and War Horse) and Stellan Skarsgard. Nicole Kidman was miscast and, though very lovely, put in her “Others” performance of lots of telling silences as she tried to work out the eternal mystery. It is an amazing story and this story comes across strongly. Therefore, it is a very good film. The audience left in silence.

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I’ve eaten much less than normal this week. I’ve missed out quite a few meals altogether and I feel a lot better for it. Half the stone has gone. The other half can hang around until the days get warmer and I come fully out of my winter regime.

 

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Scotland 1987

Burns' Memorial
Burns’ Memorial
Glenfinnan
Glenfinnan
Rannoch Summit
Rannoch Summit
Erskine Bridge
Erskine Bridge
Rannoch Moor
Rannoch Moor
Glencoe
Glencoe
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Glenfinnan Viaduct
Lion & the Lamb
Lion & the Lamb
Coniston Water
Coniston Water
West Highland Way
West Highland Way
The King's House, Rannoch Moor
The King’s House, Rannoch Moor
Rannoch Moor
Rannoch Moor
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Way out west
Way out west
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Sunset from Ayr
Sunset from Ayr
Burns' Cottage
Burns’ Cottage
Ben More
Ben More
Ulverston
Ulverston
Dalton
Dalton
Near Crianlarich
Near Crianlarich
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Loch Tulla
Loch Tulla
Rhinns Of Kells
Rhinns Of Kells
Coniston
Coniston
Ayr
Ayr
Near Crianlarich
Near Crianlarich
Way out west
Way out west
The Clyde
The Clyde
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis
Glencoe
Glencoe
Brig o' Doon
Brig o’ Doon
Pennington
Pennington
Glencoe
Glencoe
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond

Categories

  • A Cyclist on the Celtic Fringe
  • A Jaunt into The West Country
  • A Journey into Scotland
  • A-Z of England 2014
  • Day Tripping
  • Mostly Concerning Food
  • Music and Theatre
  • Pictures and Poems
  • Reading Matters
  • Travelling Companions
  • Travels with Jolly
  • Uncategorized
  • Western Approaches

Categories

  • A Cyclist on the Celtic Fringe
  • A Jaunt into The West Country
  • A Journey into Scotland
  • A-Z of England 2014
  • Day Tripping
  • Mostly Concerning Food
  • Music and Theatre
  • Pictures and Poems
  • Reading Matters
  • Travelling Companions
  • Travels with Jolly
  • Uncategorized
  • Western Approaches

Award Free Blog

Aberystwyth Alan Ladd Aldi asparagus Ballinasloe Barrow in Furness Betty's Bicycle bicycle tour Bill Bryson Birr Bonnie Prince Charlie Caithness Cardigan Carlisle Charles Lapworth Chesterfield Chris Bonnington claire trevor Cumberland Sausage Cumbria Cycle tour of England cycle tour of ireland Cycle tour of Scotland Cycle tour of Wales Cycling Derbyshire Dumfries Eli Wallach England Glencoe Halfords Ireland James Coburn James Hutton james stewart John Ford john wayne kedgeree Kilkenny Kris Kristofferson Lake District lidl Mark Wallington National Cycle Network New Ross Newtown Newtownstewart Northern Ireland Offaly Oscar Wilde pancakes Risotto Robert Burns Roscommon Scotland Scrambled eggs Shakespeare Shrewsbury Slieve Bloom Mountains Sligo Sperrin Mountains Staffordshire stagecoach Sutherland tagliatelle The Magnificent Seven Thomas Hardy Thurso ulverston vegetarian Waitrose Wales Wexford Yorkshire

Award Free Blog

Aberystwyth Alan Ladd Aldi asparagus Ballinasloe Barrow in Furness Betty's Bicycle bicycle tour Bill Bryson Birr Bonnie Prince Charlie Caithness Cardigan Carlisle Charles Lapworth Chesterfield Chris Bonnington claire trevor Cumberland Sausage Cumbria Cycle tour of England cycle tour of ireland Cycle tour of Scotland Cycle tour of Wales Cycling Derbyshire Dumfries Eli Wallach England Glencoe Halfords Ireland James Coburn James Hutton james stewart John Ford john wayne kedgeree Kilkenny Kris Kristofferson Lake District lidl Mark Wallington National Cycle Network New Ross Newtown Newtownstewart Northern Ireland Offaly Oscar Wilde pancakes Risotto Robert Burns Roscommon Scotland Scrambled eggs Shakespeare Shrewsbury Slieve Bloom Mountains Sligo Sperrin Mountains Staffordshire stagecoach Sutherland tagliatelle The Magnificent Seven Thomas Hardy Thurso ulverston vegetarian Waitrose Wales Wexford Yorkshire

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