Beer, beer and food

We have just got back from the Greek restaurant in town.  We enjoyed a lovely Meze, accompanied by a wonderful Cypriot beer that I have enjoyed for many many year called Keo.

Despite Pete struggling to eat with a full arm cast, we figured that we deserved a night out as we haven't been out for a while.  Also, neither of us has been sleeping well.

In fact, in the early hours of last night, at 3.15am to be precise, I was woken by the old lady in the house behind shouting "here kitty kitty".  Our 80 year old neighbour has been cat sitting two moggies and I assume had mislaid one.  I was awake until 5am.  The previous night wasn't much better.  I am now exhausted.

In more positive new, the next 2 weeks is our own music festival.  We already had tickets to see the Barenaked Ladies in London on Monday, but today Pete won two tickets to Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park in London - so I get to see Stevie Nicks!  Next weekend is the festival at the hop farm in Kent with The Eagles headlining and one of my favourite bands, Death Cab For Cutie.  And we have our annual Rhythms of The World festival the weekend after!

Too much music?!

Birthday

Today is my birthday and I am typing this on the train home (on my iphone) after a very long day in London.

We left home 8.30am and took a train and 2 tubes to rich/trendy Richmond with the main aim of having a top lunch. Although the day started a bit chilly, by the time we got there it was warm and sunny.

Everyone is labelled up in Richmond: Hollister, Jack Wills, Eden Park, Crew, etc.  It's a very wealthy area - in fact, Mick Jagger lives on the hill. We walked along the Thames path for a while, grabbed a coffee then a Gin, before going for lunch.  We selected Al Boccon Di' Vino for my birthday lunch based on the amazing scores on Tripadviser. It's not only a top Italian restaurant, it's also voted one if the best in London - and there are 6000 London restaurants and cafes on Tripadviser.

The restaurant has no menu. You sit and they feed you. From what we remember, this was lunch (each a separate course):

Prosecco
Bread and oil
Frittata
Fried smoked cheese
Asparagus and egg
Veal and anchovies
Mozzarella and tomatoes
Chicken
Beans and pasta
King prawns
Capaccio salad
Mushroom ravioli
Artichoke ravioli
Langoustines
Desert wine
Tiramisu
Chocolate cake
Strawberries
Espresso
2 bottles of wine
Water


You may guess that we were a little drunk by the end of our 3 hour epic meal! I won't tell you how much it was, but let's say that it was a treat that may not be repeated for a while.

We walked from Richmond to Kew before getting a bus then a tube to Tottenham Court Road. We walked to Kings Cross station and then home!  Here are some pictures from the day, complete with an enhanced David mural...

London birthday

Yesterday was Pete's birthday and as we have decided to buy each other a top meal on our special days instead of presents, we ventured into London.

I had booked one of the top rated (and expensive) restaurants in London called Goodman.  It was amazing - they specialise in steaks and mine was perfect!

We arrived at Kings Cross at 10am and walked via St Pancras International to see the new Olympic rings (which are massive) then had a coffee in the Wellcome Collection (well worth a visit).  We walked into the West End via Marylebone High Street - where I noticed a chair in The Conran Shop priced at £6,384.  We looked around a few shops and had a couple of cocktails before lunch.  After spending an obscene amount of money on food, we walked for miles taking in the sights and had a coffee in Bar Italia before some more alcohol.  We arrived home at 9pm completely exhausted.

Here are some highly stylised images from the day:

Food food drink drink food

We spent the weekend in France, eating, drinking and shopping.

It was pleasant weather and it was a very relaxing weekend.  On Sunday morning, we went for a walk on the beach at Escalles.   We finished in Calais watching two madmen swimming (yes swimming) in the sea and a great lunch.  It amazes me that there are so many restaurants, many of which are top notch, in Calais.

And one other thing; in France the main brewers tend to release limited edition beers at Christmas (a little darker and sweeter than usual) and the Leffe Noel was rather nice.  I took a picture of some beer - sad eh!?

Day 21 - A recipe: Triple cheese and onion strata

This posting is part of the 30 day challenge...

I have cooked this a couple of times and it varies on the strength of the cheese and the quality of bread.  It needs light a fluffy French bread.  It makes a cheesy feast with soft texture like a soufflé.  It's great as a starter with some relish...

• 1 baguette, ends chopped off and discarded, cut into ½in slices and left to go stale
  
  6 spring onions, roughly sliced
  
  150g mozzarella, roughly chopped
  
  50g parmesan, shaved or grated
  
  100g mature cheddar, broken into pieces
  
  100ml oz sour cream
  
  5 free-range eggs
  
  Some milk (quantity varies)
  
  Small bunch fresh chives, chopped, to garnish
  
  
  Method
  
  Arrange the baguette slices in a layer in a 25cm square dish.
  
  Put the spring onions, mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar into a food processor. Add the soured cream, eggs and milk, then blend until smooth. You want a mixture about the same consistency as yorkshire pudding batter.
  
  Pour the cheese and egg mixture over the bread in the dish one layer at a time - has to fill the dish with liquid to avoid dry its when cooked, cover with cling film, and leave in the fridge to soak overnight.
  
  When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180C/360F/Gas 4.
  
  Take the strata out of the fridge and uncover. Bake for 30 minutes, or until completely cooked through
  
  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chives.

Blog extra!

This posting is NOT part of the 30 day challenge...

Yesterday, my friend Sonny, Pete and me went to London for an overdue celebration of Sonny and my 40th birthdays.  Having considered many venues, we decided on a late lunch at The Ivy.

I drove to Sonny's apartment near the Imperial War Museum and we started the expensive marathon at The American Bar in the newly reopened Savoy hotel with cocktails of course.  The lunch at The Ivy was excellent as expected (and as pricey as expected) and we enjoyed the atmosphere for over two hours.  We tried to get into Paramount in Centre Point but were not on the 'guest list' - I assume that there was a party looking at the fireworks ending the Lord Mayor's show.  So we slummed in at stunning The Soho Hotel with more cocktails, followed by double espresso's at Bar Italia on Frith Street.  And then on to The Rockwell for more cocktails, then The Ship & Shovell ending up in The Old Vic pit bar for wine.

It was possibly the most expensive day I'd had eating and drinking (other than when an employer was paying!).   We stayed at Sonny's place and had a fry up at a greasy spoon this morning followed by a walk to clear our heads.  A fine weekend!  Here are some images from the last two days...

 

Spring cometh

It's been a busy few days hence no blog entry.

On Friday night, Pete and I met a few people and went to the local beer festival. If you have never been to a British beer festival, you haven't lived! It brings out the weirdo's of society (us not included of course). There were many bald men with ponytails and guts hanging over their trousers and people with no fashion sense at all! Saying that, (mostly) men of all ages attended and the town hall was packed.

There were around 60 local ales and plenty more foreign beers and ciders. The only way to tackle the vast choice is to pick at random or choose one of the crazy names that some ales have. After that we wall went for a meal at Prezzo (sans voucher!).

On Saturday, Pete and I got the train to Cambridge to look around the shops and take in the sites. It's always a fun place to visit and this weekend the city was heaving with people. We can only assume that the Universities had an open day. It did mean that the posh totty was out and it was a pleasure to see them!

In the evening we went out for another meal at a local restaurant that had been recommended to us for Pete's "official" birthday meal. We have decided to just buy each other a nice meal rather than presents from now on. It was £95 for the two of us and the food was amazing. Who would have thought that a provincial town would have such a high class restaurant.

On Sunday, I went for a run, did some more work in the garage and then watched some of the first Grand Prix of the season. What a dull race! Taking away the refueling seems to have ruined part of the race action.

In the afternoon yet another meal out, this time at Pete's mums house. Far too much food over the weekend you will agree!

No more alcohol for 3 weeks is my plan...

Pasta pride

The weather in the UK has been awful in recent days with a lot of rain. On a rainy day like yesterday, there's not much to do other than watch TV, clean the house, surf the net and cook. So I made pasta for the first time and used my mum's pasta machine (which hasn't been used in a decade or more) to roll it into suitably thin strips. There is definitely a skill involved in the consistency and amount you put through the rollers. After making the dough and letting it rest, it then took me about an hour and a half to produce some noodles and cheesy ravioli!

Top: Noodles drying in the garage. Bottom: Experimental ravioli.

Lucky Iceland

In the last post I spoke about Starbucks - I haven't received a reply yet, but I am still hoping. On a related food-drink-chain topic, about 3 years ago on the 1st of January, I made a New Year's resolution not to visit McDonalds for a whole year. No more Big Mac, no more fries, no more volcanic apple pie.

The main reason was to avoid fatty food and as the year proceeded I noticed that when I walked near to a McDonalds outlet, I was overwhelmed by the stench of fat and had no desire to ever return. I haven't been in one of their branches since.

We all know that this is just fast food and it can taste great, but the meal has so many calories and fat that I don't want to eat it and then feel guilty for doing so. It's not actually that cheap in the UK, so if I am going to spend that much and eat all that fat, give me a high quality meal instead please.

Something else I noticed is the amount of rubbish with the golden 'M' that you see near (and not so near) to a McDonalds. I'm not saying that they are the only fast food chain that produces rubbish, but due to their success, the local roads and lanes have wrappers thrown down by selfish idiots. I call it McFly tipping. Why someone can't put their KFC greedy-bastard bucket in the bin always amazes me.

Those lucky people in Iceland are losing their McDonalds due to the recession, so it's back to fish for them. It would be no loss to me, but spotty kids may be upset to lose their regular dose.

There is an interesting economic factor to the MacDonalds global success and it's the Big Mac Index. It uses the price of a Big Mac to compare currency values on the Big Mac as services should cost the same in both currencies in theory. It was published by The Economist and has also meant a new word in the English language - burgernomics.

An email to Starbucks

OK, so the new layout didn't work, so we are back to normal (whatever "normal" is). I will review the layout again as I think the 3 column structure can work, but the width of each section wasn't right.

Anyway, I went into our local town on Sunday with Pete and was pretty disgusted with Starbucks after seeing a bag full of "in date" sandwiches thrown away. There are people starving in the world and local people who could benefit from food, yet Starbucks feel it is acceptable to destroy food. So I have emailed them - I will let you know if they reply:


Dear Sirs

I visited XXXX town centre this morning (Sunday) and walked past your Starbucks branch. I was shocked to see, in the rubbish next to the outlet, a bag full of unused sandwiches.

Whilst I appreciate the worthy charity work that Starbucks undertakes and your overall approach to corporate responsibility, the absolute waste of food in the bag cannot be justified. There were at least 40 uneaten sandwiches in the rubbish bag that could have fed those in need.

The obvious answer to me would be to give the sandwiches to the homeless; there is a homeless shelter in XXXX and another two close by in XXXX and XXXX. Making this gift would mean a difference to a lot of people and would avoid throwing them away or selling the items at a lower amount and therefore potentially damaging your brand. Seeing the bag has certainly made me question my support for your organisation.

Let me be clear: my criticism is focused solely on this irresponsible waste of food; I have no problem with your products. I hope that you will reconsider your approach to throwing away perfectly good food, at least at this local branch.

Yours faithfully

Unanswered questions

Yesterday was not the best of days. Pete was placed "at risk of redundancy" by his short-term thinking employer and I received a speeding ticket. OK, Pete's bad news was worse than my self inflicted annoyance, but it does also feel like the shin splints are also back as I can hardly walk today!

I was in Edinburgh for a day this week and seeing the "head office engine" made me appreciate that I can do so much more within the company than I am currently doing. I need to talk to my boss I think, but need to be careful how I word it. The Scots moan about the weather (as we all do), but it always seems to be sunny when I am in Edinburgh.

Last night, I made a great pizza - including making the dough which wouldn't stop rising! It was enjoyed last night along with a bottle of red wine. We were watching the Simpsons and Marge is talking to Homer over a shortwave radio saying "hello... hello... is there anybody in there?" - which is the start of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" which I now cant get out of my head.

One last food comment... I am going to attempt making my first cheesecake today. Wish me luck.

Some unanswered questions on a dull Saturday morning:

Was the Daily Mail article about Stephen Gately homophobic, usual misinformed Daily Mail rubbish or just plain evil? More here
[Bloggers comment: the article, which I have read, seems to imply that only gay guys drink, smoke some drugs and have a 3some. Now, I am sure that the straights out there may have done 1 or 2 of those things!]

Was the balloon boy event a publicity stunt? It was strange, but when I saw the the little boy, he immediately reminded me of myself when I was his age - not that I ever hitched a ride on my Dad's balloon.

Why does every new Bon Jovi song sound like "Bon Jovi by numbers"? Is it just a loss of talent or just very lazy songwriting?

Something that has puzzled me for a while... what sort of person is interested in Z list celebs like Jade, Jordan and Kerry? Who buys the magazines and the books? I don't understand it at all.

Why do I have to wait until late December for my new car?!

Free food!

When Pete and I lived in London, we would eat out perhaps 3 times a week. That has 2 effects: firstly, it's not cheap and secondly, you tend to put on weight.

As we now love being at home, we tend to go to restaurants less. However, we may still go out once a week - as we did the other night - and we will always find a way to get something for free. If you are in the UK and intend going to a restaurant chain, make sure that you go to this site:

Money saving expert (links directly to the restaurant vouchers)

Despite the site having an awkward layout, it gets millions of hits each month and I have been using it for various financial research for a few years, let alone taking advantage of the restaurant vouchers. For example, this week we had a voucher for the excellent Prezzo chain for buy one main meal, get one free. The deals change all of the time, so it's worth taking a look if you are eating out.

Enjoy!
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The weekend and Mama's spicy potato recipe

Pete and I had a quiet long weekend. We both have exams next week, so did a little studying and plenty of moaning about how boring studying is.

I noted a couple of stories worth sharing:

- Is Amazon homophobic or did they just make an error?
- Tate art made available on iTunes - bring some culture to the masses!
- And this is genius... Cardboard Oven Wins £50,000 Green Contest

We took Pete's Godparents out for Sunday lunch and picked a load of young nettles later in the afternoon. We have gone all rural and are making nettle ale, as seen on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall 's TV programme. Watch this space to hear how great (or otherwise) it turns out!

Talking of making things to consume, when I published the first part of "100 facts about me" back in November last year, I included the following statement:

-I believe that my mum’s spicy potatoes are a near perfect recipe.

I received several emails on this topic asking for more information (including one from Marco who has had the recipe for a while) and I have, at last, convinced my mother to pass on the secret recipe. Please cook, enjoy and appreciate how lucky you are!

Mama's Spicy Potatoes

2lb firm potatoes cooked in salted water
2tsp mustard seeds
2tsp turmeric powder
2tsp cumin powder
1 finely chopped chilli
2tbsp finely chopped coriander
3tbsp oil for cooking

Put all ingredients in large pan or wok and cook for a minute than add the potatoes and turn gently until all evenly covered with the spices. Enjoy them hot or cold. You can also add some parsley and coriander powder - but try the recipe as it is first.