Have an absolutely jam packed weekend ahead but I think I've got it all under control.
Starting off this evening after work (Friday) I have some preparation to do for my demonstration on Saturday. Could end up having to make contingency plans on some equipment I want to use because I've not yet received the necessary electrical safety certifications (PAT Tests) for my mini oven and water bath, they've been tested and got the sticky labels to say so but I believe the environmental health guys will still need to see the full documentation as it's a public event.
I'll take the equipment anyway and if I can't use them I'll just have to adapt. The first 3 dishes on my mind only require pans anyway so it's not so much of a drama.
The first dish I'm planning on doing is similar to one I did at my last demo but jiggled slightly to bring it into line with the festive food theme. I'll be doing a Boxing Day brunch with a bubble and squeak style potato cake containing bacon and brussel sprout topped with a delicious soft poached egg.
Second dish I'm thinking of recreating the Thai Green Curry that I cooked for 20 people on Tuesday at my local pub but this time substituting the chicken for turkey so making use of the Christmas dinner leftovers. Might do quite a big batch of this or several little ones and serve it up in some cups with a bit of rice to hand out. Might warm people up on what I'm sure will be a chilly day.
Incidentally the curry and a pint for a fiver night at The Golden Cross in Twyford went down an absolute storm and it will be a weekly event from now on :-)
Thirdly I'm going to go for another dish using up turkey but this time as an open Lasagne. The turkey sauce in between the layers of pasta being nice and creamy and with bacon peas and a little bit of chilli. I'll top the Lasagne's off with some crunchy breadcrumbs.
Lastly I'm hoping to recreate the dish I did for the final of the competition, slightly tweaked to be a bit more seasonal and certain much better however this will require that I use my waterbath so fingers crossed on that one.
In between all this I have DJ gigs both tonight and tomorrow night in Reading so it's all going to be a bit of a mad rush. Never mind that though for next weekend I will be doing absolutely nothing else other than staying up late and watching the first Ashes test match. Come on England.
For those interested in popping alone to any of these goings on you are more than welcome.
Saturday I'll be kicking off at about 11:30am in Broad Street, Reading. You shouldn't be able to miss the event as it's right on the main part of the shopping area with M&S one side and BHS the other.
For the DJ gigs both are at Sakura, Reading and tonight I'll be in the VIP room starting at about 10:30/11pm and tomorrow in the downstairs bar from 9pm.
On Sunday if you fancy a pint I'll be in Twyford tucking into some real ales :-)
Friday 19 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Pressure.....
For the first time in ages I feel really under pressure. Had a complete waste of effort yesterday trying to pre-prepare the curry for tonight's pub feast, made a big batch of sauce up only for it to taste pretty bloomin awful...in my opinion anyway.
So that lot went straight into the bin however I did manage to get plenty of rice boiled up. I was going to make this into fried rice but seeing as now I have decided to just go with a nice Thai green curry instead I think I'll just keep it plain.
Felt ill all last night and had a really awful nights sleep just thinking about how I was going to save the curry night but I've got a picture in my head now so all should be OK.
Saturday is now on my mid too. Another demo for the guys who ran Reading, Steady, Cook. Looks like I'm going to be doing the whole show on my own but I'm worried as I've not yet got the PAT testing certificates back from the guy who did them and I'm going to need to show them to the environmental health guys when they come to do the inspection. Might be a rather different show with just two camping gas burners rather than having my portable oven and water bath too.
Not sure what I'm going to make on Saturday just yet. I'm thinking some Pork fillet with those marvellous vanilla potatoes, poached pear and parsnip purée and then maybe seeing as it's a celebration of festive food I was thinking of making an open lasagne with Turkey, Cream, Bacon, Peas and Chilli ?!?!?!? Oh and maybe some slow cooked Lamb with something or other, perhaps lentils. Anyway it's gonna take a bit more organising than anything I've done before but I think I should just get curry night out the way first.
So that lot went straight into the bin however I did manage to get plenty of rice boiled up. I was going to make this into fried rice but seeing as now I have decided to just go with a nice Thai green curry instead I think I'll just keep it plain.
Felt ill all last night and had a really awful nights sleep just thinking about how I was going to save the curry night but I've got a picture in my head now so all should be OK.
Saturday is now on my mid too. Another demo for the guys who ran Reading, Steady, Cook. Looks like I'm going to be doing the whole show on my own but I'm worried as I've not yet got the PAT testing certificates back from the guy who did them and I'm going to need to show them to the environmental health guys when they come to do the inspection. Might be a rather different show with just two camping gas burners rather than having my portable oven and water bath too.
Not sure what I'm going to make on Saturday just yet. I'm thinking some Pork fillet with those marvellous vanilla potatoes, poached pear and parsnip purée and then maybe seeing as it's a celebration of festive food I was thinking of making an open lasagne with Turkey, Cream, Bacon, Peas and Chilli ?!?!?!? Oh and maybe some slow cooked Lamb with something or other, perhaps lentils. Anyway it's gonna take a bit more organising than anything I've done before but I think I should just get curry night out the way first.
Monday 15 November 2010
A whole week.....
It's been one whole week since I last blogged, blimey!! Reminds me of a joke actually.
What's the difference between oral sex and anal sex? Oral sex makes your day but anal sex makes your hole week?
Sorry about that but it had to be done.
So I guess your all wondering just what the hell I've been up to this past 7 days? No well sod you because I'm going to tell you anyway and I'm guessing that if you've read this far down without clicking that small cross at the top right hand corner of the screen then you probably have some form of interest.
Highlight for me was cooking food for 6 of my very good buddies (7 including my wonderful missus). Was a bit worried when the butcher rang me at 11am to inform me that my whole loin of Venison (all 1.8kg of it) had been delivered and that it was frozen! Oh no worries I'm only serving it up in 2 hours time....thank heaven yet again for the water bath.
Really quite happy with the way it turned out. The Venison was cooked to perfection, the hot smoked salmon starter that I pinched from Raymond Blanc was plentiful but still light enough not to ruin the main course and my chocolate pudding sent two of the boys to sleep so I reckon that was a success too. Bit angry with myself for not emulsifying the sauce for the main course but I think I'll get over it.
DJ'd at Sakura in Reading on the same evening and really enjoyed it. There was a good crowd in there which surprised me because it was ever so quiet when I got there and they were very responsive too. Took the music on many different angles though House, Disco, Funky House, Soulful House and even a small smattering of Tech house and only once did I get asked to cheese it up a bit :-) Normally it's about 4 times.
Yesterday I spent mostly with a few good buddies down the local boozer talking rubbish and watching football. Incidentally I called the Chelsea vs Sunderland score the moment I saw the line up, not just the Sunderland win but also the 3-0 result. Absolutely no way in the world we were going to even compete with Drogba as captain and Paulo Ferreira at centre back. Drogba played like a schoolboy and kept dropping back into Malouda's position meaning that he was cancelled out of the game. Couple that with Ferreira and Ivanovic at the back and we were effectively playing with 8 men. Ivanovic should definitely been sent off too. oooooopppps sorry about the mid blog footy rant off!!!
This weeks highights are as follows -
Tuesday - Cooking Curry for 50 people
Friday - DJ'ing at Sakura
Saturday (Day) - 4 hour cooking demonstration in Reading town centre
Saturday (Evening) - DJ'ing at Sakura again
In between - Spending time with my amazing girls and loving it :-)
Actually two other things!
Firstly I've been asked if I'd be interested in a new catering venture for private and corporate functions which has my interest buttons tingling but perhaps more of a revelation is the fact that I did not once turn my laptop on over the weekend !!! Crazy.......
Byezingtons.
What's the difference between oral sex and anal sex? Oral sex makes your day but anal sex makes your hole week?
Sorry about that but it had to be done.
So I guess your all wondering just what the hell I've been up to this past 7 days? No well sod you because I'm going to tell you anyway and I'm guessing that if you've read this far down without clicking that small cross at the top right hand corner of the screen then you probably have some form of interest.
Highlight for me was cooking food for 6 of my very good buddies (7 including my wonderful missus). Was a bit worried when the butcher rang me at 11am to inform me that my whole loin of Venison (all 1.8kg of it) had been delivered and that it was frozen! Oh no worries I'm only serving it up in 2 hours time....thank heaven yet again for the water bath.
Really quite happy with the way it turned out. The Venison was cooked to perfection, the hot smoked salmon starter that I pinched from Raymond Blanc was plentiful but still light enough not to ruin the main course and my chocolate pudding sent two of the boys to sleep so I reckon that was a success too. Bit angry with myself for not emulsifying the sauce for the main course but I think I'll get over it.
DJ'd at Sakura in Reading on the same evening and really enjoyed it. There was a good crowd in there which surprised me because it was ever so quiet when I got there and they were very responsive too. Took the music on many different angles though House, Disco, Funky House, Soulful House and even a small smattering of Tech house and only once did I get asked to cheese it up a bit :-) Normally it's about 4 times.
Yesterday I spent mostly with a few good buddies down the local boozer talking rubbish and watching football. Incidentally I called the Chelsea vs Sunderland score the moment I saw the line up, not just the Sunderland win but also the 3-0 result. Absolutely no way in the world we were going to even compete with Drogba as captain and Paulo Ferreira at centre back. Drogba played like a schoolboy and kept dropping back into Malouda's position meaning that he was cancelled out of the game. Couple that with Ferreira and Ivanovic at the back and we were effectively playing with 8 men. Ivanovic should definitely been sent off too. oooooopppps sorry about the mid blog footy rant off!!!
This weeks highights are as follows -
Tuesday - Cooking Curry for 50 people
Friday - DJ'ing at Sakura
Saturday (Day) - 4 hour cooking demonstration in Reading town centre
Saturday (Evening) - DJ'ing at Sakura again
In between - Spending time with my amazing girls and loving it :-)
Actually two other things!
Firstly I've been asked if I'd be interested in a new catering venture for private and corporate functions which has my interest buttons tingling but perhaps more of a revelation is the fact that I did not once turn my laptop on over the weekend !!! Crazy.......
Byezingtons.
Monday 8 November 2010
Lambtastic...
Weekend over and I must say apart from the severe delayed hangover that hit me on Saturday at about 6pm it was a rather fun few days.
Great send off for my homeward bound antipodean buddies on Friday which somehow ended up with us having a fry-up at the Ibis hotel in Reading at 7am on Saturday morning just before getting home and going to bed.
A few hours of sleep and then I just had to get mobile so popped next door to the local for a few ales with my brother from another mother....hair of the dog most definitely did not work so there was only one thing for it and that was to download the brand new football manager 2011 game which I'm sure now will consume most of my time.
In between all this I got a nice DJ booking for new years eve but more importantly we got to eat the Lamb and the Beef that had been in the water bath since Thursday lunchtime.
Friday it was the Lamb that we had and the reaction from my better half after the first mouthful said it all really. The fork went down, the eyes widened and something along the lines of "Oh my god...Oh my god...that is incredible" came out.
It was just so soft, tender and tasty. Easily the best bit of Lamb I've ever tasted and all from one the very cheapest cuts that being the Neck. All in all that cooked for 28 hours at 54.5C. I wasn't sure what to set the water bath at with Lamb but seeing as this temperature is perfect for medium rare Beef I thought I'd keep it at that.
Most of the temperature charts for this method of cooking are from the U.S. and they themselves eat very little Lamb so it's rare that you'll even find a recipe in a book for this type of meat let alone for something so diverse as Sous Vide.
Seeing as Saturday was a write off the Beef brisket got another day in the water bath so in total that was in for almost 60 hours and again is was really soft and tasty. It actually looked well done when I was carving it but the texture was far from that and the constant 54.5C mean't that it kept all the juiciness of a medium rare joint.
Actually turned out to be quite a feast because to accompany it we had Roast Potatoes, Brussel Sprout Gratin, Chipolatas, Bacon bits, Broccoli, Green beans, Parsnip purée, Yorkshire puddings and lashings of wonderfully beefy gravy....yum yum.
Ok well that'as it for now....byeeeeeeeeee
Great send off for my homeward bound antipodean buddies on Friday which somehow ended up with us having a fry-up at the Ibis hotel in Reading at 7am on Saturday morning just before getting home and going to bed.
A few hours of sleep and then I just had to get mobile so popped next door to the local for a few ales with my brother from another mother....hair of the dog most definitely did not work so there was only one thing for it and that was to download the brand new football manager 2011 game which I'm sure now will consume most of my time.
In between all this I got a nice DJ booking for new years eve but more importantly we got to eat the Lamb and the Beef that had been in the water bath since Thursday lunchtime.
Friday it was the Lamb that we had and the reaction from my better half after the first mouthful said it all really. The fork went down, the eyes widened and something along the lines of "Oh my god...Oh my god...that is incredible" came out.
It was just so soft, tender and tasty. Easily the best bit of Lamb I've ever tasted and all from one the very cheapest cuts that being the Neck. All in all that cooked for 28 hours at 54.5C. I wasn't sure what to set the water bath at with Lamb but seeing as this temperature is perfect for medium rare Beef I thought I'd keep it at that.
Most of the temperature charts for this method of cooking are from the U.S. and they themselves eat very little Lamb so it's rare that you'll even find a recipe in a book for this type of meat let alone for something so diverse as Sous Vide.
Seeing as Saturday was a write off the Beef brisket got another day in the water bath so in total that was in for almost 60 hours and again is was really soft and tasty. It actually looked well done when I was carving it but the texture was far from that and the constant 54.5C mean't that it kept all the juiciness of a medium rare joint.
Actually turned out to be quite a feast because to accompany it we had Roast Potatoes, Brussel Sprout Gratin, Chipolatas, Bacon bits, Broccoli, Green beans, Parsnip purée, Yorkshire puddings and lashings of wonderfully beefy gravy....yum yum.
Ok well that'as it for now....byeeeeeeeeee
Thursday 4 November 2010
Bathtime.....
The adventures in sous vide go on......
A couple of days ago I tried a recipe from one of my favourite chefs Glynn Purnell which he cooked for the Great British Menu series. It involved using Pork Fillet (Tenderloin) and of course involved using the water bath.
I was surprised to see that he only cooked the meat for 18 minutes at 62C as I assumed that you need to do it for longer but of course he knows better than me so I followed it and was unbelievably good.
Yes it was a little bit pink but using this cooking method ensures that when the internal temperature of the Pork fillet reaches 62C for more than 1 minute any trace of Trichinosis is killed off so it's absolutely fine to eat.
I finished these off with the blowtorch which gave the meat a beautiful golden colour and a slight crust.
Accompanying the Pork was a Water Chestnut purée (couldn't get any Jerusalem artichokes), Glazed Pears and perhaps the most outstanding part of the dish some Vanilla dipped Potatoes.
The potatoes are a revelation and very easy to make. You just set the oven to 130C and layer the bottom of a glass oven dish with 6 slices of potato about 1cm thick. Remove the seeds from a Vanilla pod and sprinkle these over the potatoes then just cover the whole lot with rapeseed oil, give it a bit of a stir around to get it mixed up well, bung in the empty pods too for more flavour then heat in the oven for about 30 mins or until they are soft. I suppose they could be described as a Confit of vanilla infused potato too.
The whole recipe can be found here
The whole combination of flavours was just immense and it's no wonder this guy has Michelin stars coming out his ears.
So this shorter cooking period got me thinking because about a week ago I cooked some Ribeye steaks in the water bath but I did them at 55C for about 8 hours and I was a little disappointed after that time to find them quite a bit smaller than I was hoping them to be, the flavour was absolutely stunning don't get me wrong and they were cooked perfectly to medium rare but I wanted to achieve a certain look with the finished article and that wasn't possible with what I ended up with.
After cooking Glynn Purnell's Pork Fillet it dawned on me that as a much more tender cut of meat I need not have cooked it for so long and in fact around just 40 minutes would have been fine so I'm going to give it another go this evening serving it up with some gorgeous chips (not my own creation but these and they are damn good) some Portobellini Mushroom and my own Chilli Pea creation.
I was also thinking of what else to try in the water bath so rather unlike my usual self I have pre-planned a couple of meals for tomorrow and Saturday.
For tomorrow I have a couple of Lamb Neck fillets all vacuum packed up and cooking away, these are going to cook for around 30 hours before I'll blowtorch them ready to serve up with some Parsnip purée and a warm Broad bean and Asparagus Salad.
The next meal will be Beef brisket which again is already cooking and will be doing so for around 40 hours, this is going to be served up full roast dinner style with all the trimmings.....Just what we're going to need after a rather massive night out on Friday DJ'ing at Walkabout, Reading and seeing our buddies the lovely Candice and Wesley back off to Australia.
Personally I think they are just leaving the country before our boys give their cricket team a good bashing during the upcoming Ashes series :-)
A couple of days ago I tried a recipe from one of my favourite chefs Glynn Purnell which he cooked for the Great British Menu series. It involved using Pork Fillet (Tenderloin) and of course involved using the water bath.
I was surprised to see that he only cooked the meat for 18 minutes at 62C as I assumed that you need to do it for longer but of course he knows better than me so I followed it and was unbelievably good.
Yes it was a little bit pink but using this cooking method ensures that when the internal temperature of the Pork fillet reaches 62C for more than 1 minute any trace of Trichinosis is killed off so it's absolutely fine to eat.
I finished these off with the blowtorch which gave the meat a beautiful golden colour and a slight crust.
Accompanying the Pork was a Water Chestnut purée (couldn't get any Jerusalem artichokes), Glazed Pears and perhaps the most outstanding part of the dish some Vanilla dipped Potatoes.
The potatoes are a revelation and very easy to make. You just set the oven to 130C and layer the bottom of a glass oven dish with 6 slices of potato about 1cm thick. Remove the seeds from a Vanilla pod and sprinkle these over the potatoes then just cover the whole lot with rapeseed oil, give it a bit of a stir around to get it mixed up well, bung in the empty pods too for more flavour then heat in the oven for about 30 mins or until they are soft. I suppose they could be described as a Confit of vanilla infused potato too.
The whole recipe can be found here
The whole combination of flavours was just immense and it's no wonder this guy has Michelin stars coming out his ears.
So this shorter cooking period got me thinking because about a week ago I cooked some Ribeye steaks in the water bath but I did them at 55C for about 8 hours and I was a little disappointed after that time to find them quite a bit smaller than I was hoping them to be, the flavour was absolutely stunning don't get me wrong and they were cooked perfectly to medium rare but I wanted to achieve a certain look with the finished article and that wasn't possible with what I ended up with.
After cooking Glynn Purnell's Pork Fillet it dawned on me that as a much more tender cut of meat I need not have cooked it for so long and in fact around just 40 minutes would have been fine so I'm going to give it another go this evening serving it up with some gorgeous chips (not my own creation but these and they are damn good) some Portobellini Mushroom and my own Chilli Pea creation.
I was also thinking of what else to try in the water bath so rather unlike my usual self I have pre-planned a couple of meals for tomorrow and Saturday.
For tomorrow I have a couple of Lamb Neck fillets all vacuum packed up and cooking away, these are going to cook for around 30 hours before I'll blowtorch them ready to serve up with some Parsnip purée and a warm Broad bean and Asparagus Salad.
The next meal will be Beef brisket which again is already cooking and will be doing so for around 40 hours, this is going to be served up full roast dinner style with all the trimmings.....Just what we're going to need after a rather massive night out on Friday DJ'ing at Walkabout, Reading and seeing our buddies the lovely Candice and Wesley back off to Australia.
Personally I think they are just leaving the country before our boys give their cricket team a good bashing during the upcoming Ashes series :-)
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Ashes to Ashes....
25th of November is the date of the 1st Ashes test of 2010 and I'm positively brimming with excitement. Despite our resurgent form and the lack of the same coming from the Australian team I think we have a great chance of keeping hold of that little urn.
I still wouldn't have us as favourites because in their own backyard Australia are a pretty fearsome opponent and they need no more incentive to win than simply beating the old enemy.
The Australian psyche is so much different from the English mentality. Every Australian will think that whatever competition they enter they will win. Even during the football (soccer) world cup every single Aussie thought that their team could win that cup whereas it was pretty obvious right from the start that English hopes were fading fast....I was surprised they even got out the group to be honest and I was tempted several months before the start of the competition to have a bet on England failing even worse than they did but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
With the test matches starting at 00:00 GMT it's going to mean getting nocturnal for a while and hopefully not missing too much to those inevitable naps during the breaks in play. Last time the Ashes were played down under I remember falling asleep after about 3 hours of play where hardly a thing happened. I thought I'd just had one of those quick shut eye moments but alas not because I'd missed about 2 hours and loads of action.
Good job I have plenty of holiday spare at work because I think I'll be needing it although the one bonus of sitting watching cricket through the night is that I can still work from home during that time and not miss a ball so good times all round really.
I still wouldn't have us as favourites because in their own backyard Australia are a pretty fearsome opponent and they need no more incentive to win than simply beating the old enemy.
The Australian psyche is so much different from the English mentality. Every Australian will think that whatever competition they enter they will win. Even during the football (soccer) world cup every single Aussie thought that their team could win that cup whereas it was pretty obvious right from the start that English hopes were fading fast....I was surprised they even got out the group to be honest and I was tempted several months before the start of the competition to have a bet on England failing even worse than they did but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
With the test matches starting at 00:00 GMT it's going to mean getting nocturnal for a while and hopefully not missing too much to those inevitable naps during the breaks in play. Last time the Ashes were played down under I remember falling asleep after about 3 hours of play where hardly a thing happened. I thought I'd just had one of those quick shut eye moments but alas not because I'd missed about 2 hours and loads of action.
Good job I have plenty of holiday spare at work because I think I'll be needing it although the one bonus of sitting watching cricket through the night is that I can still work from home during that time and not miss a ball so good times all round really.
Monday 1 November 2010
Good Times....
Well I suppose that today was the start of a new era for me. Waking up in my new house with my lovely girls. What a morning it's been too because as we were up extra early probably due to the clocks changing we got to go into the village and have a nice breakfast before walking off to school and work. Yep that's right I walked !!
The weekend itself was pretty subdued not helped by the fact that I'd got really bad backache from heaving boxes around which mean't that anything involving standing up for sustained periods was out of the question.
Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night and I've definitely got the red wine head to prove it. Made some Duck which cooked sous vide produced the most amazing results, by far the best bit of duck I've ever eaten let alone cooked. I'm wondering what a pork chop would be like cook this way because I usually find them really dry and pretty horrid.
Also it's bought Turkey back up on the Christmas menu. I really think it's going to bring out the best in turkey which again is something I'd usually shun in favour of something a little more juicy.
It's a shame in a way that the sous vide method takes so long because I'd definitely use it for one of my upcoming cooking demos.
Laters Tatas
The weekend itself was pretty subdued not helped by the fact that I'd got really bad backache from heaving boxes around which mean't that anything involving standing up for sustained periods was out of the question.
Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night and I've definitely got the red wine head to prove it. Made some Duck which cooked sous vide produced the most amazing results, by far the best bit of duck I've ever eaten let alone cooked. I'm wondering what a pork chop would be like cook this way because I usually find them really dry and pretty horrid.
Also it's bought Turkey back up on the Christmas menu. I really think it's going to bring out the best in turkey which again is something I'd usually shun in favour of something a little more juicy.
It's a shame in a way that the sous vide method takes so long because I'd definitely use it for one of my upcoming cooking demos.
Laters Tatas
Thursday 28 October 2010
Tweed.....
I'm desperate for a tweed jacket. I think I might buy one today but I face the dilemma of whether to go for leather elbow patches or not ?!?!
Proper country bumpkin or refined middle class tweed?
The former was my original idea but the latter is taking over, I think because I saw a rather nice one in a shop window off of Regent Street, didn't have a price tag on it though and around that area I believe the saying goes "If you have to ask how much it is then you can't afford it".
Also getting ready for the big move this weekend but really not expecting that to be a hassle at all because I've not got much stuff. Most of the bulk is up in the loft is my vinyl collection which my good buddy has kindly offered to house them in his music room and the bedroom furniture will be staying so we'll be done in about 30 mins.....good times.
Well that's wasted a few minutes now I've got to jump on the train and get my butt into London so until later my faithful readers.
Maybe I could get my Rabbits for the terrine idea too.
Proper country bumpkin or refined middle class tweed?
The former was my original idea but the latter is taking over, I think because I saw a rather nice one in a shop window off of Regent Street, didn't have a price tag on it though and around that area I believe the saying goes "If you have to ask how much it is then you can't afford it".
Also getting ready for the big move this weekend but really not expecting that to be a hassle at all because I've not got much stuff. Most of the bulk is up in the loft is my vinyl collection which my good buddy has kindly offered to house them in his music room and the bedroom furniture will be staying so we'll be done in about 30 mins.....good times.
Well that's wasted a few minutes now I've got to jump on the train and get my butt into London so until later my faithful readers.
Maybe I could get my Rabbits for the terrine idea too.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Catch Up Mk2.....
Phew! What a few days I've had. Apologies for not keeping you up to date, I know your lives must be all the more lacking of not knowing my inane thoughts and ramblings but a combination of Harry Potter & Chronicles of Narnia has mean't I've been to-ing and fro-ing from London with barely enough time to even pop out for a beer let alone ramble on blog styleeeeee.
So what to catch up on? I'd love to tell you my thoughts on the films I mentioned but I'm duty bound to keep my opinions to myself but I suppose I could say that fans of either will not be disappointed.
I suppose the only gripe I have is that I had to go to Soho for a few days to get one of them working properly and I have to say I'm not Soho's biggest fan. I have no idea how some of my friends work there. They must be mad!
It's just full of people dressed the same with the same haircuts talking in that same nu-skool university language that has lots of "likes", "yaaars" and "whatevaaaars". I just find it all so very false. Has it always been like that?
The better side of the area is the food to be had. On Saturday I was wandering around looking for some lunch and stumbled across this little Chinese place just outside of Chinatown and scouring the menu I managed to convince myself that the Beef and peppers with chilli was the way forward, well it was either that or chicken because the rest of the menu was made up of such luxuries as Pig's intestines and Tripe.
Well when these guys mean chilli they certainly mean chilli and lots of it !! It was fantastic. I just had that dish with some Egg fried rice and there was enough for 3 people easily. I will without doubt visit there again and have second helpings. They also had induction heaters build into the surface of the tables which I found fascinating. People around me were using them but it wasn't necessary for me.
Sunday I was again in the office investigating, sorting out and fixing all the issues that sent me to Soho in the first place. Absolutely none of them the fault of ourselves but as so often happens in this industry people feel the need to point the finger to absolve themselves of any blame and because we are last in the line when it comes to post production any mistakes made by people before us mean us having to correct them to ensure the integrity of our work. It's frustrating but it happens and we have to deal with it....OK it's a load of old s**t!
Monday I was back that way again and this time found myself eating in a restaurant called Ping Pong just off Regents Street by Liberty's. It's a Dim Sum place and they have all the usual dishes plus some of their own creation. The whole setting was lovely and the food fantastic, especially the chilli oil and sauce, again not done by half measures. There are about 16 of these places around London so get involved if your in the area. Otherwise just find some Dim Sum wherever you are and enjoy it's loveliness.
In other news I was really disappointed to read the news that the London fire service had announced plans to strike on 5th November. I understand it's the unions forcing this issue and the firemen would really rather settle the dispute without it effecting the service but to call it on this day and for 79% of the brigade to support it shows a terrible lack of concern for public safety on what will be the busiest night.
I'm in full support of the 21% who agree that strike action is not the way to negotiate and I'm absolutely disgusted with the behaviour shown by some of the people on the picket lines towards their fellow workers and I'm afraid because of that those 79% have completely lost my respect and it looks like it's split the country too.
They do a great job no doubt but their places could be filled 10 times over by people willing to train up and put on that uniform. It's about time that these people and all those other who thinking that striking is acceptable start looking around themselves and realising that in this day and age and at the times we are going through economically (all thanks to the previous government and not the current one) that nobody is indispensable.
They are trying to blackmail Londoners using their lives as bargaining chips and to me that is not negotiation that is terrorism.
Oooooh that was an unexpected rant !! I must learn to control myself :-)
On a lighter note I had a dream about a rather spectacular breakfast last night which I might try and replicate at the weekend...Breakfast art it'll be.
So what to catch up on? I'd love to tell you my thoughts on the films I mentioned but I'm duty bound to keep my opinions to myself but I suppose I could say that fans of either will not be disappointed.
I suppose the only gripe I have is that I had to go to Soho for a few days to get one of them working properly and I have to say I'm not Soho's biggest fan. I have no idea how some of my friends work there. They must be mad!
It's just full of people dressed the same with the same haircuts talking in that same nu-skool university language that has lots of "likes", "yaaars" and "whatevaaaars". I just find it all so very false. Has it always been like that?
The better side of the area is the food to be had. On Saturday I was wandering around looking for some lunch and stumbled across this little Chinese place just outside of Chinatown and scouring the menu I managed to convince myself that the Beef and peppers with chilli was the way forward, well it was either that or chicken because the rest of the menu was made up of such luxuries as Pig's intestines and Tripe.
Well when these guys mean chilli they certainly mean chilli and lots of it !! It was fantastic. I just had that dish with some Egg fried rice and there was enough for 3 people easily. I will without doubt visit there again and have second helpings. They also had induction heaters build into the surface of the tables which I found fascinating. People around me were using them but it wasn't necessary for me.
Sunday I was again in the office investigating, sorting out and fixing all the issues that sent me to Soho in the first place. Absolutely none of them the fault of ourselves but as so often happens in this industry people feel the need to point the finger to absolve themselves of any blame and because we are last in the line when it comes to post production any mistakes made by people before us mean us having to correct them to ensure the integrity of our work. It's frustrating but it happens and we have to deal with it....OK it's a load of old s**t!
Monday I was back that way again and this time found myself eating in a restaurant called Ping Pong just off Regents Street by Liberty's. It's a Dim Sum place and they have all the usual dishes plus some of their own creation. The whole setting was lovely and the food fantastic, especially the chilli oil and sauce, again not done by half measures. There are about 16 of these places around London so get involved if your in the area. Otherwise just find some Dim Sum wherever you are and enjoy it's loveliness.
In other news I was really disappointed to read the news that the London fire service had announced plans to strike on 5th November. I understand it's the unions forcing this issue and the firemen would really rather settle the dispute without it effecting the service but to call it on this day and for 79% of the brigade to support it shows a terrible lack of concern for public safety on what will be the busiest night.
I'm in full support of the 21% who agree that strike action is not the way to negotiate and I'm absolutely disgusted with the behaviour shown by some of the people on the picket lines towards their fellow workers and I'm afraid because of that those 79% have completely lost my respect and it looks like it's split the country too.
They do a great job no doubt but their places could be filled 10 times over by people willing to train up and put on that uniform. It's about time that these people and all those other who thinking that striking is acceptable start looking around themselves and realising that in this day and age and at the times we are going through economically (all thanks to the previous government and not the current one) that nobody is indispensable.
They are trying to blackmail Londoners using their lives as bargaining chips and to me that is not negotiation that is terrorism.
Oooooh that was an unexpected rant !! I must learn to control myself :-)
On a lighter note I had a dream about a rather spectacular breakfast last night which I might try and replicate at the weekend...Breakfast art it'll be.
Thursday 21 October 2010
Something silly...........
So here I am thinking about something a little less serious to blog about and my mind was drawn to an email conversation I had at work with a guy from Poland.
The subject of the email was quite serious so in the initial email I wanted to be a precise as I could with my wording to get the message across but the reply I received was in Polish and using Google translate it roughly translated as "I have no idea what you are saying"
AHA I thought! Maybe I should just shorten the original email down and use Google translate to translate it. Now I know that Google translate can be more than a bit dubious which is why I wanted to shorten the email down to key phrases and just get those translated.....that was the theory anyway so that's what I did.
Soon after I got a reply in English from the same guy so I thought "Hang on! This thing actually worked"......Happy days :-)
So anyway emails went backwards and forwards and we actually ended up having quite a good conversation but something was puzzling me because why did he not just reply in English the first time if he could read and write it so well anyway ?!!?
Turns out he just looked at my email signature and from my name assumed I was Polish too which I suppose has some logic but then I asked him what he thought of my translated email and he just said it kind of got the message across but had he not known our company and what we do then it would have been complete gobbledegook.
So this is my idea. I'm going to have a quick game of "Euro Whispers". It's a new game I've just thought of and it's based along the same lines Chinese whispers except that instead of using the same language I'm going to use Google translate (or some other online translator should Google translate not do that particular language) to translate a simple phrase from English to others and try to have a little euro road trip through different languages and see what I end up with when I get back to England.
And the phrase "Hello, It's fantastic to be in your country and I'm very looking forward to exploring it and meeting some new people"
So where should one start this little journey? It's a road trip so we might as well head off through the tunnel to France.
"Bonjour, C'est fantastique d'être dans votre pays et je suis très impatient d'y explorer et rencontrer de nouvelles personnes"
Oh France with your beautiful scenery, your amazing cuisine and your bountiful wine. I need to see more of you but alas my journey must go on...
Hmmm where next? I really want to get to see more of eastern europe so I'll give Spain a miss and drive through Belgium, Holland and Germany before getting to the Czech Republic.
No need for a translation for Belgium as one of the languages they speak is French so as I drive into Holland -
"Hallo, Het is geweldig om in je land en ik ben echt op zoek naar het verkennen en nieuwe mensen te ontmoeten"
Couple of cup of coffee in Ansterdam and I'm off over the border to Germany -
"Hallo, es ist toll, in Ihrem Land haben, und ich freue mich wirklich zu erforschen und neue Leute"
An efficient drive along the efficient roads via the Nurburgring and a night at Cocoon in Frankfurt I head off to unknown lands......The Czech Republic, could get interesting from here -
"Ahoj, to je skvělé, že ve vaší zemi a já se opravdu těším na prozkoumání a nové lidi"
Being English it's just Prague for beer and I'm off again. Next stop has to be Poland -
"Hej, to dobrze jest mieć w swoim kraju, a ja z niecierpliwością do odkrywania i nowych ludzi"
Krakow oh how I love you so but yet I must leave on my quest. Slovakia here we come -
"Hej, to je dobré mať vo svojej krajine, a teším sa na preskúmanie a nových ľudí"
Now I'm sure Slovakia is a lovely place but all I can think about is that film "Hostel" so I'm not stopping until I get to Hungary -
"Hé, ez jó, hogy az országukban, és várom, hogy felülvizsgálják az új ember" -
Oooh I met a lovely guy selling Hungarian wine recently so I'll stop by his vinyard and camp up for the night or in the morning we're off to Romania -
"Hei, e bine ca ţară, şi aştept cu nerăbdare să revizuiască omul cel nou"
Hmmm Romania.....lets just head to the Ukraine -
"Ей, це добре для країни, і з нетерпінням очікуємо розгляду нової людини"
What do you mean Chicken Kievs don't come from here? That's it, I'm off to Belarus -
"Эй, гэта добра для краіны, і з нецярпеннем чакаем разгляду новага чалавека"
They eat a lot of Pork here and the countries name derives from the term "White Russian" which of course is also the name of a cocktail so lets have a few of them and then head off to Latvia -
"Hey, tas ir labs uz valsti, un ceram uz atlīdzību par jaunu cilvēku"
Growing venue for all male stag parties and the health system consistently ranks as one of the worst in the world....not a great combination but I'm sure it's still a great country as is our next stop Estonia -
"Kuule, see on hea riik, ja loodan, et vastutasuks uute inimestega"
Not really too much to say about Estonia other than it's really as far a we can go by road. Next stop is Scandinavia and to get there we need to hop on a ferry to cross the gulf of Finland -
"Hei, tämä on hyvä maa, ja toivon, että vastineeksi uusia ihmisiä"
Finland maintains a one of the highest levels of health care and standard of living in the world. Life expectancy is 82 years for women and 75 years for men however it is the 3rd most sparsely populated country in Europe. Perhaps they live so long because the have to walk so far to see each other. Sweden next -
"Hej, detta är ett bra land, och jag hoppas att i gengäld för nya människor"
I've always wanted to go to Sweden. I get the image or a place that's really clean and full of lovely, bubbly people. I also imagine there to be plenty of rock bands that play power ballads and that can only be a good thing. Off to Norway -
"Hei, dette er et godt land, og jeg håper at i bytte for nye mennesker"
Norway has the second highest GDP in Europe behind Luxembourg. All this prosperity seems to be down to it's capitalist welfare state and I'm all for that to be honest.
So that's it, the roadtrip comes to and end. All that remains is to get catch one of Norway's massive merchant ships back to England and the ultimate goal of finding out what these multiple translations have done to my original phrase..............
God I hope this is worth it -
"Hi, this is a good country, and I hope that in exchange for new people"
HaHa I like it. Imagine washing up on the shores of Norfolk and coming out with that.
Oh well at least last nights Steak was good.
The subject of the email was quite serious so in the initial email I wanted to be a precise as I could with my wording to get the message across but the reply I received was in Polish and using Google translate it roughly translated as "I have no idea what you are saying"
AHA I thought! Maybe I should just shorten the original email down and use Google translate to translate it. Now I know that Google translate can be more than a bit dubious which is why I wanted to shorten the email down to key phrases and just get those translated.....that was the theory anyway so that's what I did.
Soon after I got a reply in English from the same guy so I thought "Hang on! This thing actually worked"......Happy days :-)
So anyway emails went backwards and forwards and we actually ended up having quite a good conversation but something was puzzling me because why did he not just reply in English the first time if he could read and write it so well anyway ?!!?
Turns out he just looked at my email signature and from my name assumed I was Polish too which I suppose has some logic but then I asked him what he thought of my translated email and he just said it kind of got the message across but had he not known our company and what we do then it would have been complete gobbledegook.
So this is my idea. I'm going to have a quick game of "Euro Whispers". It's a new game I've just thought of and it's based along the same lines Chinese whispers except that instead of using the same language I'm going to use Google translate (or some other online translator should Google translate not do that particular language) to translate a simple phrase from English to others and try to have a little euro road trip through different languages and see what I end up with when I get back to England.
And the phrase "Hello, It's fantastic to be in your country and I'm very looking forward to exploring it and meeting some new people"
So where should one start this little journey? It's a road trip so we might as well head off through the tunnel to France.
"Bonjour, C'est fantastique d'être dans votre pays et je suis très impatient d'y explorer et rencontrer de nouvelles personnes"
Oh France with your beautiful scenery, your amazing cuisine and your bountiful wine. I need to see more of you but alas my journey must go on...
Hmmm where next? I really want to get to see more of eastern europe so I'll give Spain a miss and drive through Belgium, Holland and Germany before getting to the Czech Republic.
No need for a translation for Belgium as one of the languages they speak is French so as I drive into Holland -
"Hallo, Het is geweldig om in je land en ik ben echt op zoek naar het verkennen en nieuwe mensen te ontmoeten"
Couple of cup of coffee in Ansterdam and I'm off over the border to Germany -
"Hallo, es ist toll, in Ihrem Land haben, und ich freue mich wirklich zu erforschen und neue Leute"
An efficient drive along the efficient roads via the Nurburgring and a night at Cocoon in Frankfurt I head off to unknown lands......The Czech Republic, could get interesting from here -
"Ahoj, to je skvělé, že ve vaší zemi a já se opravdu těším na prozkoumání a nové lidi"
Being English it's just Prague for beer and I'm off again. Next stop has to be Poland -
"Hej, to dobrze jest mieć w swoim kraju, a ja z niecierpliwością do odkrywania i nowych ludzi"
Krakow oh how I love you so but yet I must leave on my quest. Slovakia here we come -
"Hej, to je dobré mať vo svojej krajine, a teším sa na preskúmanie a nových ľudí"
Now I'm sure Slovakia is a lovely place but all I can think about is that film "Hostel" so I'm not stopping until I get to Hungary -
"Hé, ez jó, hogy az országukban, és várom, hogy felülvizsgálják az új ember" -
Oooh I met a lovely guy selling Hungarian wine recently so I'll stop by his vinyard and camp up for the night or in the morning we're off to Romania -
"Hei, e bine ca ţară, şi aştept cu nerăbdare să revizuiască omul cel nou"
Hmmm Romania.....lets just head to the Ukraine -
"Ей, це добре для країни, і з нетерпінням очікуємо розгляду нової людини"
What do you mean Chicken Kievs don't come from here? That's it, I'm off to Belarus -
"Эй, гэта добра для краіны, і з нецярпеннем чакаем разгляду новага чалавека"
They eat a lot of Pork here and the countries name derives from the term "White Russian" which of course is also the name of a cocktail so lets have a few of them and then head off to Latvia -
"Hey, tas ir labs uz valsti, un ceram uz atlīdzību par jaunu cilvēku"
Growing venue for all male stag parties and the health system consistently ranks as one of the worst in the world....not a great combination but I'm sure it's still a great country as is our next stop Estonia -
"Kuule, see on hea riik, ja loodan, et vastutasuks uute inimestega"
Not really too much to say about Estonia other than it's really as far a we can go by road. Next stop is Scandinavia and to get there we need to hop on a ferry to cross the gulf of Finland -
"Hei, tämä on hyvä maa, ja toivon, että vastineeksi uusia ihmisiä"
Finland maintains a one of the highest levels of health care and standard of living in the world. Life expectancy is 82 years for women and 75 years for men however it is the 3rd most sparsely populated country in Europe. Perhaps they live so long because the have to walk so far to see each other. Sweden next -
"Hej, detta är ett bra land, och jag hoppas att i gengäld för nya människor"
I've always wanted to go to Sweden. I get the image or a place that's really clean and full of lovely, bubbly people. I also imagine there to be plenty of rock bands that play power ballads and that can only be a good thing. Off to Norway -
"Hei, dette er et godt land, og jeg håper at i bytte for nye mennesker"
Norway has the second highest GDP in Europe behind Luxembourg. All this prosperity seems to be down to it's capitalist welfare state and I'm all for that to be honest.
So that's it, the roadtrip comes to and end. All that remains is to get catch one of Norway's massive merchant ships back to England and the ultimate goal of finding out what these multiple translations have done to my original phrase..............
God I hope this is worth it -
"Hi, this is a good country, and I hope that in exchange for new people"
HaHa I like it. Imagine washing up on the shores of Norfolk and coming out with that.
Oh well at least last nights Steak was good.
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Hogwarts to you...
Thankfully I didn't have to watch that scary film yesterday as the necessary elements were late to arrive. Today I have a team member in the house so that task has now been safely delegated.
Quite the opposite of this is that I have to attend a sound check for Harry Potter 7 pt 1 on Saturday and this fills me with nothing but excitement, not a chance in Hogwarts that anybody is going to get there before me on this one....not unless they apperate !! Do you think they be happy if I turned up in my Gryffindor dressing gown....or wizards robes as I like to call it?
Cooked a couple of Chicken Legs in the water bath yesterday and the taste and texture was amazing, really juicy too. Today I think I'm going to go for Steak, just rump steak, nothing fancy. This method is supposed to really increase the quality of a cooked piece of meat by breaking down the toughness over the prolonged cooking period.
Rib Eye and Rump steak have the most flavour in them due to the fat content but they are also pretty fibrous and can be much chewier after cooking than a muscle less well used on an animal such as the fillet or tenderloin.
Theory behind this sous vide method of cooking is that because of the meat is cooked over time you'll get the best of both worlds without having to go and spend ridiculous amounts of money on premium meats such as Kobe Beef.
Ideally I should brine the steaks for about 6 hours first and them cook them for 18 hours but I'm just going to go for straight in for 10 hours, should still produce outstanding results but we shall see.
Quite the opposite of this is that I have to attend a sound check for Harry Potter 7 pt 1 on Saturday and this fills me with nothing but excitement, not a chance in Hogwarts that anybody is going to get there before me on this one....not unless they apperate !! Do you think they be happy if I turned up in my Gryffindor dressing gown....or wizards robes as I like to call it?
Cooked a couple of Chicken Legs in the water bath yesterday and the taste and texture was amazing, really juicy too. Today I think I'm going to go for Steak, just rump steak, nothing fancy. This method is supposed to really increase the quality of a cooked piece of meat by breaking down the toughness over the prolonged cooking period.
Rib Eye and Rump steak have the most flavour in them due to the fat content but they are also pretty fibrous and can be much chewier after cooking than a muscle less well used on an animal such as the fillet or tenderloin.
Theory behind this sous vide method of cooking is that because of the meat is cooked over time you'll get the best of both worlds without having to go and spend ridiculous amounts of money on premium meats such as Kobe Beef.
Ideally I should brine the steaks for about 6 hours first and them cook them for 18 hours but I'm just going to go for straight in for 10 hours, should still produce outstanding results but we shall see.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Scary.....
Another day another buck. A very busy day yesterday but good in a way because I didn't get time to have any Monday blues and I'm expecting today to be much similar as once again it's me alone in the office, well in my department(s) anyway.
Have to watch Paranormal Activity 2 today as well and I'm not good with scary films. When I say not good I mean that they genuinely do scare the hell out of me. It's not that I don't appreciate them, indeed a lot of my favourite films come from this genre. When I was a teenager I used to watch all the old zombie films and of course the Nightmare on Elm Street series was big at that time too.
We used to watch them at my buddies house at the opposite end of my road and when walking back home on my own and invariably in the dark I had to walk past this alleyway and I was always petrified that there was going to be zombies running up it after my brains.
I have a couple of lasting horror movie memories and the first is from when I watched a film called "The Kindred". It was about horrible alien monster that had these slimy, knobbly tentacles and it would make these nasty appendages crawl under people skin and you would see it moving up. I was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen.
Since then anything to do with piercing skin of seeing things under skin turns my stomach. Hypodermic injections are a particularly gruesome to me and I'm not even going to get started on those horrid programs you see on TV about plastic surgery and liposuction etc etc.
The Exorcist is the other memory I have, I suppose it counts as two memories actually because I remember the first time I watched it again at my buddies house up the road but I don't remember it being all that scary at the time. However several years later in 2000 they released a digitally remastered directors cut and it was my duty to encode the brand new 5.1 surround sound.
Normally I'd have happily passed this on onto a colleague but it was one of those rush jobs that needed doing late at night to be ready for the next day and I was the only person in my team available...............great !!
So here I was completely alone in a hastily constructed cinema at the rear of a warehouse on a remote Berkshire industrial estate having to watch quite possibly the scariest film in cinematic history.
Even though I didn't have that many harrowing memories of my first viewing I was very aware that my opinions on scariness had changed and that this was in no way going to be a nice experience for me and I was right...........I have never ever ever been so jumpy and shaky watching a film in my life.
What made this different was that instead of watching in off a VHS cassette on portable TV in a room with 3 or 4 other friends. I was watching a crystal clear 35mm remastered film print being projected onto a 20ft wide wall with the sound coming from a full 5.1 digital setup being played at full THX level.......on my own.
The sound was what really made the difference. What I really like but also hate about horror films is those tense moments when you think something is about to happen but it doesn't.
The subtle background music builds up and you start to feel nervous about what's going to happen next, the eeriness slowly rumbles on and on until finally there is a massive crescendo of noise............................and bugger all happens !!!
Then comes a carefully measured moment of silence, you think it's all over then WHAM right out the blue there's a girl with a devils face wearing a blue nightdress doing a backwards crab down a staircase.
Well.................it was at this point that I was made all to aware that I was not infact the only person still at work because my boss was also staying late and had come into the cinema right at that point to inform me that she was off home.
Looking back now I understand why instead of saying she was going home she just pointed at me a laughed because there was I, a 26 years old man , knees up on a chair with my muffled screams barely audible from my mouth as I had my face buried into a cushion.
I do hope that she still tells this story too because it was a truly terrifying moment and testament to just how good that film is especially on the big screen. I vaguely remember being over in our Hollywood office and having to attend a sound check for the film "Cabin Fever" with my colleague and even he was laughing at my jumpiness but I loved that film too.......Hostel is another favourite, I even have the film poster for that on my studio wall.
Oh I've just remembered about a sound check I did for 28 Weeks Later where I was sat at the film lab with the post production supervisor and my coffee went flying at one point !! hahaha
I'm not allowed to let you know what I think of the film until it's released but if you see me later or speak to me at any point later today and notice that I'm a bit sketchy I think you can safely assume that it had it's desired effect.
Have to watch Paranormal Activity 2 today as well and I'm not good with scary films. When I say not good I mean that they genuinely do scare the hell out of me. It's not that I don't appreciate them, indeed a lot of my favourite films come from this genre. When I was a teenager I used to watch all the old zombie films and of course the Nightmare on Elm Street series was big at that time too.
We used to watch them at my buddies house at the opposite end of my road and when walking back home on my own and invariably in the dark I had to walk past this alleyway and I was always petrified that there was going to be zombies running up it after my brains.
I have a couple of lasting horror movie memories and the first is from when I watched a film called "The Kindred". It was about horrible alien monster that had these slimy, knobbly tentacles and it would make these nasty appendages crawl under people skin and you would see it moving up. I was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen.
Since then anything to do with piercing skin of seeing things under skin turns my stomach. Hypodermic injections are a particularly gruesome to me and I'm not even going to get started on those horrid programs you see on TV about plastic surgery and liposuction etc etc.
The Exorcist is the other memory I have, I suppose it counts as two memories actually because I remember the first time I watched it again at my buddies house up the road but I don't remember it being all that scary at the time. However several years later in 2000 they released a digitally remastered directors cut and it was my duty to encode the brand new 5.1 surround sound.
Normally I'd have happily passed this on onto a colleague but it was one of those rush jobs that needed doing late at night to be ready for the next day and I was the only person in my team available...............great !!
So here I was completely alone in a hastily constructed cinema at the rear of a warehouse on a remote Berkshire industrial estate having to watch quite possibly the scariest film in cinematic history.
Even though I didn't have that many harrowing memories of my first viewing I was very aware that my opinions on scariness had changed and that this was in no way going to be a nice experience for me and I was right...........I have never ever ever been so jumpy and shaky watching a film in my life.
What made this different was that instead of watching in off a VHS cassette on portable TV in a room with 3 or 4 other friends. I was watching a crystal clear 35mm remastered film print being projected onto a 20ft wide wall with the sound coming from a full 5.1 digital setup being played at full THX level.......on my own.
The sound was what really made the difference. What I really like but also hate about horror films is those tense moments when you think something is about to happen but it doesn't.
The subtle background music builds up and you start to feel nervous about what's going to happen next, the eeriness slowly rumbles on and on until finally there is a massive crescendo of noise............................and bugger all happens !!!
Then comes a carefully measured moment of silence, you think it's all over then WHAM right out the blue there's a girl with a devils face wearing a blue nightdress doing a backwards crab down a staircase.
Well.................it was at this point that I was made all to aware that I was not infact the only person still at work because my boss was also staying late and had come into the cinema right at that point to inform me that she was off home.
Looking back now I understand why instead of saying she was going home she just pointed at me a laughed because there was I, a 26 years old man , knees up on a chair with my muffled screams barely audible from my mouth as I had my face buried into a cushion.
I do hope that she still tells this story too because it was a truly terrifying moment and testament to just how good that film is especially on the big screen. I vaguely remember being over in our Hollywood office and having to attend a sound check for the film "Cabin Fever" with my colleague and even he was laughing at my jumpiness but I loved that film too.......Hostel is another favourite, I even have the film poster for that on my studio wall.
Oh I've just remembered about a sound check I did for 28 Weeks Later where I was sat at the film lab with the post production supervisor and my coffee went flying at one point !! hahaha
I'm not allowed to let you know what I think of the film until it's released but if you see me later or speak to me at any point later today and notice that I'm a bit sketchy I think you can safely assume that it had it's desired effect.
Monday 18 October 2010
Good Evening.
So nice to finish work today and get home to the kitchen.
Chilli Con Carne on the menu and I do like it hot. The vast amounts of hot chilli powder the 5 green finger chillies and the 2 scotch bonnets saw to that. Got a right old sweat on !!!
I like making a nice big pot of chilli and it's pretty similar to the way I make Spaghetti Bolognaise (or Spaghetti alla Ragu as it should be called but I'll get onto that a bit later) in that I don't think I've ever made it the same way twice.
The only constant ingredients are couple of chopped onions, a few cloves of chopped garlic, about 500g minced beef, 200ml stock, tbsp paprika, 3 tbsp of cumin, tin of red kidney beans, tin of chopped tomatoes and copious hot chillies, as many as you dare.
Basically that lot bunged in a saucepan and pretty much in that order will give even the inexperienced cook and a few chums a tasty treat after about 45 minutes of simmering.......make sure you wash your hands after chopping the chillies though.......a stray wipe of a sensitive area can cause immense discomfort. Serve it up with plain boiled rice and an ice cold lager.
If your worried about the heat whatever you do don't go drinking water to calm it down. It's the capsaicin in chillies that give off the heat and it's an oily chemical. Water will just was over it, it's best to have something dairy to hand, perhaps some yoghurt or a glass of milk, these will help break the chemical down and give you your throat back.
It's wonderful stuff really and teh link will take you to it's wikipedia entry where you can learn more about it.
Back to Bolognaise....or Ragu. No not the stuff you get out of a jar. Stuff you can make easily at home. I hate it when I see the words Spaghetti Bolognaise of a menu it should always be Spaghetti alla Ragu. I was shocked to see it listed a Spaghetti Bologanise on the menu at Jamies Italian.
The word Ragu just means a meat based sauce for pasta. In Bologna itself every family probably has it's own version and that's just how these dishes should be made so don't be afraid to experiment.
For the Chilli con Carne rather than using minced beef why not use stewing steak and let it cook for a few hours to soften the meat down like hearty casserole. Try red onions instead of white to give a deeper colour and a sweeter taste, try smoked garlic instead of fresh to give a completely different complexity of flavour. Got a odd carrot in the cupboard then chop it up and bung it in too, it'll add texture.
This is proper home cooking. Yeah it's nice to follow recipes and make it look like the picture in the book but in my opinion they should just be guidelines. It's all about making them your own and it's certainly not about dolloping a load of reheated gunk onto a plate of sticky, tasteless pasta and calling it home-made.
One other thing I've got used to using quite a lot in cooking, especially in spicy dishes is vinegar. Adding a bit of that can really enhance the heat and flavour, you have to add just a bit at a time because it can get overpowering and should you add too much you can soften it off with a bit of sugar to re-address the balance. I used Balsamic vinegar today and it worked very well.
So anyway until tomorrow mon cheries.
Chilli Con Carne on the menu and I do like it hot. The vast amounts of hot chilli powder the 5 green finger chillies and the 2 scotch bonnets saw to that. Got a right old sweat on !!!
I like making a nice big pot of chilli and it's pretty similar to the way I make Spaghetti Bolognaise (or Spaghetti alla Ragu as it should be called but I'll get onto that a bit later) in that I don't think I've ever made it the same way twice.
The only constant ingredients are couple of chopped onions, a few cloves of chopped garlic, about 500g minced beef, 200ml stock, tbsp paprika, 3 tbsp of cumin, tin of red kidney beans, tin of chopped tomatoes and copious hot chillies, as many as you dare.
Basically that lot bunged in a saucepan and pretty much in that order will give even the inexperienced cook and a few chums a tasty treat after about 45 minutes of simmering.......make sure you wash your hands after chopping the chillies though.......a stray wipe of a sensitive area can cause immense discomfort. Serve it up with plain boiled rice and an ice cold lager.
If your worried about the heat whatever you do don't go drinking water to calm it down. It's the capsaicin in chillies that give off the heat and it's an oily chemical. Water will just was over it, it's best to have something dairy to hand, perhaps some yoghurt or a glass of milk, these will help break the chemical down and give you your throat back.
It's wonderful stuff really and teh link will take you to it's wikipedia entry where you can learn more about it.
Back to Bolognaise....or Ragu. No not the stuff you get out of a jar. Stuff you can make easily at home. I hate it when I see the words Spaghetti Bolognaise of a menu it should always be Spaghetti alla Ragu. I was shocked to see it listed a Spaghetti Bologanise on the menu at Jamies Italian.
The word Ragu just means a meat based sauce for pasta. In Bologna itself every family probably has it's own version and that's just how these dishes should be made so don't be afraid to experiment.
For the Chilli con Carne rather than using minced beef why not use stewing steak and let it cook for a few hours to soften the meat down like hearty casserole. Try red onions instead of white to give a deeper colour and a sweeter taste, try smoked garlic instead of fresh to give a completely different complexity of flavour. Got a odd carrot in the cupboard then chop it up and bung it in too, it'll add texture.
This is proper home cooking. Yeah it's nice to follow recipes and make it look like the picture in the book but in my opinion they should just be guidelines. It's all about making them your own and it's certainly not about dolloping a load of reheated gunk onto a plate of sticky, tasteless pasta and calling it home-made.
One other thing I've got used to using quite a lot in cooking, especially in spicy dishes is vinegar. Adding a bit of that can really enhance the heat and flavour, you have to add just a bit at a time because it can get overpowering and should you add too much you can soften it off with a bit of sugar to re-address the balance. I used Balsamic vinegar today and it worked very well.
So anyway until tomorrow mon cheries.
Tired....
Awful night sleep last night which really wasn't what I needed after a rather heavy weekend. Hopefully my body will start to rebuild itself into something slightly more human as the day goes on. Well I hope it will anyway because I'm the only one in at work and there is plenty to be getting on with.
With that in mind I best crack on and think of something interesting to blog about later.
With that in mind I best crack on and think of something interesting to blog about later.
Friday 15 October 2010
Retail therapy....
Been quite an expensive morning so far but the saying "Two wrongs don't make a right" clearly do not apply when money is involved.
Had the car booked in for it's MOT which it passed only needing new wiper blades. Many thanks to our fabulous mechanic/neighbourhood watch superstar Paddy of Reading Drive-In
He relieved me of some cash as did the DVLA when I renewed my road tax just after. £112.75 for 6 months...........blinkin hell! Each time I drive over a pothole in the next 6 months or scrape an alloy on a poorly laid out width restriction I'll think of what else I could have spent it on.
So those are the two wrongs which needed making right so what better than a little retail therapy?
Soon I'll be up there with the Heston's and Joel Rubichon's or this would due to this little (or rather large) beauty
Sous Vide cooking is definitely the way forward so just the vacuum packer and I'm away.
Had the car booked in for it's MOT which it passed only needing new wiper blades. Many thanks to our fabulous mechanic/neighbourhood watch superstar Paddy of Reading Drive-In
He relieved me of some cash as did the DVLA when I renewed my road tax just after. £112.75 for 6 months...........blinkin hell! Each time I drive over a pothole in the next 6 months or scrape an alloy on a poorly laid out width restriction I'll think of what else I could have spent it on.
So those are the two wrongs which needed making right so what better than a little retail therapy?
Soon I'll be up there with the Heston's and Joel Rubichon's or this would due to this little (or rather large) beauty
Sous Vide cooking is definitely the way forward so just the vacuum packer and I'm away.
Thursday 14 October 2010
Fatherhood...
I'm sure that the joys of fatherhood and being around your offspring even when they are doing your head in is something that any doting dad would never want taken away. However have you ever seen the look on a young fathers face when an impromptu free evening pass to the pub is gifted to them?
I saw that very emotion last night when my good buddy was informed that his lovely wife had exited her friends house to find that the car had broken down and that she had to stay there for the night with the kids.
Never seen a face light up like it before, the realisation that those cheeky couple of beers after work had the makings of a full night out. What followed were the immortal words "Brilliant, I'm going to drop the car off and walk back here.....Get me a pint in."
"You're my best mate", "My home is my home" and "One more thing" were soon being uttered as well which is why my head was a little hazy this morning but feeling fabbo now.
Got some pub news too, well kind of. I called the area manager of Greene King to ask if he knew of any reason why the current people had not got back to me, perhaps illness or holiday etc etc but he said he wasn't aware of anything but he would himself contact them to see what the hold up is so that's good progression.
The overall feeling I got from our conversation is that we are certainly their number one choice for taking it on and although he's not allowed to comment as whether other parties are involved the overriding impression I got was that there wasn't anybody but still it would be futile to expect that as fact.
At the end of the day (damn I hate that phrase) regardless of who is put forward by the current people the final decision is made by the landlords who are Greene King. Now that they know we have put an offer in and are keen to get an answer and get in ASAP we will at least be in their minds when decision time comes.
Went to the restaurant show at Earls Court yesterday and it was a very good experience, unfortunately we couldn't get a reservation in the super duper restaurant as it was already fully booked but that did mean we could get to watch the demo by Ashley Palmer-Watts who is the Head chef at Heston Blumenthals Fat Duck and soon to be heading up HB's newest venture at the Mandarin Hotel.
He said at the start that he'd be making something simple................hmmmmmmm. Not so sure that a couple of dishes with a combined cooking time of about 4 days is all that simple but I suppose when you have three Michelin stars you can say those kind of things.
I came out of there with some good things stored in the memory banks. There was a great speech by a guy called Xavier Rousset who is the co-owner and Sommelier at the Michelin starred London restaurant Texture. He spoke very well about how to make a good margin on wine but also to make it fairly priced. He also gave tips of creating a wine list, which wines to stock and general service and presentation skills that will boost sales.
In that section there was also a company from Hungary who had bought over a selection of wines they produce using mainly grape varieties unique to Hungary, a couple of these wines were absolutely outstanding and I did resist the temptation to ask if some of the reds were actually whites before the chemical spill.
Got loads and loads of the usual bumpf associated with these things and I apologise now to K & B for the amount of crap they might very well receive through the letterbox as the barcodeing system mean't that all the exhibitors had to do was zap you when you showed a remote interest in anything which I assume links straight back to the registrations.
There was also a stand in the drinks quarter being hosted by Estrella Damm and they in conjuntion with Ferran Adrià (Chef and owner of El Bulli. 5 times voted as best restaurant in the world) have created a dining beer called "Inedit" and I have to say it is very very nice and very easy to drink with a strong floural nose and hoppy flavour, if you ever see some out and about you have to give it a go.
My main take home (to coin a phrase) was that I need to get practising and get mastering the sous vide way of cooking. It a technique of cooking food in a vacuum which makes food retain 100% of it's flavour and goodness seeing as there is no air or water being circulated around it diluting the bits that we want to keep.
Might be a bit of an expensive outlay seeing that you need a vacuum packing machine and a water bath but I feel it's just something I need to get if I'm going to take my cooking to the next level....................I'm just trying to convince myself arn't I? Dammit !!!
I saw that very emotion last night when my good buddy was informed that his lovely wife had exited her friends house to find that the car had broken down and that she had to stay there for the night with the kids.
Never seen a face light up like it before, the realisation that those cheeky couple of beers after work had the makings of a full night out. What followed were the immortal words "Brilliant, I'm going to drop the car off and walk back here.....Get me a pint in."
"You're my best mate", "My home is my home" and "One more thing" were soon being uttered as well which is why my head was a little hazy this morning but feeling fabbo now.
Got some pub news too, well kind of. I called the area manager of Greene King to ask if he knew of any reason why the current people had not got back to me, perhaps illness or holiday etc etc but he said he wasn't aware of anything but he would himself contact them to see what the hold up is so that's good progression.
The overall feeling I got from our conversation is that we are certainly their number one choice for taking it on and although he's not allowed to comment as whether other parties are involved the overriding impression I got was that there wasn't anybody but still it would be futile to expect that as fact.
At the end of the day (damn I hate that phrase) regardless of who is put forward by the current people the final decision is made by the landlords who are Greene King. Now that they know we have put an offer in and are keen to get an answer and get in ASAP we will at least be in their minds when decision time comes.
Went to the restaurant show at Earls Court yesterday and it was a very good experience, unfortunately we couldn't get a reservation in the super duper restaurant as it was already fully booked but that did mean we could get to watch the demo by Ashley Palmer-Watts who is the Head chef at Heston Blumenthals Fat Duck and soon to be heading up HB's newest venture at the Mandarin Hotel.
He said at the start that he'd be making something simple................hmmmmmmm. Not so sure that a couple of dishes with a combined cooking time of about 4 days is all that simple but I suppose when you have three Michelin stars you can say those kind of things.
I came out of there with some good things stored in the memory banks. There was a great speech by a guy called Xavier Rousset who is the co-owner and Sommelier at the Michelin starred London restaurant Texture. He spoke very well about how to make a good margin on wine but also to make it fairly priced. He also gave tips of creating a wine list, which wines to stock and general service and presentation skills that will boost sales.
In that section there was also a company from Hungary who had bought over a selection of wines they produce using mainly grape varieties unique to Hungary, a couple of these wines were absolutely outstanding and I did resist the temptation to ask if some of the reds were actually whites before the chemical spill.
Got loads and loads of the usual bumpf associated with these things and I apologise now to K & B for the amount of crap they might very well receive through the letterbox as the barcodeing system mean't that all the exhibitors had to do was zap you when you showed a remote interest in anything which I assume links straight back to the registrations.
There was also a stand in the drinks quarter being hosted by Estrella Damm and they in conjuntion with Ferran Adrià (Chef and owner of El Bulli. 5 times voted as best restaurant in the world) have created a dining beer called "Inedit" and I have to say it is very very nice and very easy to drink with a strong floural nose and hoppy flavour, if you ever see some out and about you have to give it a go.
My main take home (to coin a phrase) was that I need to get practising and get mastering the sous vide way of cooking. It a technique of cooking food in a vacuum which makes food retain 100% of it's flavour and goodness seeing as there is no air or water being circulated around it diluting the bits that we want to keep.
Might be a bit of an expensive outlay seeing that you need a vacuum packing machine and a water bath but I feel it's just something I need to get if I'm going to take my cooking to the next level....................I'm just trying to convince myself arn't I? Dammit !!!
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Awards.....
Wasn't sure what to blog about today. I have a huge rant building up inside of me but I'm not entirely sure what it is about?!? Keep them peeled because within the next couple of days it's going to burst out like that horrible slimy thing that erupted from Sigourney Weavers chest in Alien.
Today I'll just take a break from the normal self-appreciative, arrogant and narcissistic nature of my usual blogs and try to wax lyrical about somebody whom I have a great deal of time and respect for and someone for whom I was very fortunate to be invited along to see crowned as Reading's first food hero......Mr Paul Clerehugh.
He pretty much single-handedly bought good food to Reading and continues to do so. His association with the Primary school close to his Crooked Billet restaurant in Stoke Row preceded Jamie Oliver's foray into the field by many years and it's an association that continues to this day providing the children with good healthy meals using fresh produce from his own small holding. It's no wonder that he was asked to be a consultant for the second series of Jamies School Dinners.
What I really like about him and can relate to is his passion for life itself and his desire to let nothing stand in the way of his vision. At this time in my life particularly he's an inspiration and a guiding light.
Hard work and passion has got him to where he is today and he's showing no signs of slowing down.
PC is only the second pub chef ever to win the highly coveted Craft Guild of Chefs award. Previous winners include Paul Gayler, Brian Turner, Anton Mosimann and Raymond Blanc and that is quite some company to keep I think you'd agree.
Anyway Paul manages to do all this but still retain a very humble and gracious demeanour which is why he's admired by so many and fully deserving of this award.
Bottoms up!
Today I'll just take a break from the normal self-appreciative, arrogant and narcissistic nature of my usual blogs and try to wax lyrical about somebody whom I have a great deal of time and respect for and someone for whom I was very fortunate to be invited along to see crowned as Reading's first food hero......Mr Paul Clerehugh.
He pretty much single-handedly bought good food to Reading and continues to do so. His association with the Primary school close to his Crooked Billet restaurant in Stoke Row preceded Jamie Oliver's foray into the field by many years and it's an association that continues to this day providing the children with good healthy meals using fresh produce from his own small holding. It's no wonder that he was asked to be a consultant for the second series of Jamies School Dinners.
What I really like about him and can relate to is his passion for life itself and his desire to let nothing stand in the way of his vision. At this time in my life particularly he's an inspiration and a guiding light.
Hard work and passion has got him to where he is today and he's showing no signs of slowing down.
PC is only the second pub chef ever to win the highly coveted Craft Guild of Chefs award. Previous winners include Paul Gayler, Brian Turner, Anton Mosimann and Raymond Blanc and that is quite some company to keep I think you'd agree.
Anyway Paul manages to do all this but still retain a very humble and gracious demeanour which is why he's admired by so many and fully deserving of this award.
Bottoms up!
Monday 11 October 2010
And still we wait....
So another weekend comes and goes. Monday however has started well which hopefully points as all forward to a wonderful week ahead.
The sun is shining and the leaves on the trees are starting to brown off and fall from their twiggy perches, it's all so very autumnal and for me exciting too as it signal the start of the best season for all things Game. Great Venison & Pheasant to be had and loads of wonderful flavours to enjoy.
Well I'm guessing your all dying to know what I got up to at the weekend ?!?............NO............Good then I shall proceed....
Friday was lovely, had a nice night in with my lady. Little'un was off to Grandad's for a sleepover so we had some lovely food and some wine and some averna and some lemonchello and some whiskey and some..........nope that was it.
Saturday was a double DJ header affair kicking off at Mango for a short while to help start my good friends 40th birthday celebrations then over to Sakura until 2am to entertain the folks in VIP. Before that however spent a wonderful day with Bolger and Asbo starting off with lunch at Jamie's Italian before meeting up with a few other buddies and shooting some pool.
Finished Saturday off by heading back to Mango where the garden was at it's absolute best. Absolutely rammed full of fantastic people having a great time, testament to Kevin's chums and also to the old days of Mango weekends. Maybe the penny will drop and the vibe can continue......I doubt it somehow.
Sunday awoke with a stonker of a headache which was very disappointing because I was desperately trying not to make that happen, didn't really start to go away until I took a trip to the chinese supermarket and got some awareness food. Nothing like a good dose of MSG to get you going.
So that brings us up to today and like I mentioned it's been a good start. Sunny, traffic not too bad and McDonalds coffee all helping to get the minerals flowing ready for a days work then at 5pm I have been invited to attended the awarding of Reading very first "Food Hero" title which I'm quite chuffed about. One day I'll get that prize, it's a new goal. Forget your Michelin stars there's only one thing I'm after :-/
Still no news on the pub offer, each day that goes by I loose a little faith. I would have expected at least a response to say it had been received and was being considered (or flatly refused) but not a peep, not a sausage, not even a chipolata. I'll give them a few more days, I think each parties valuation of the existing business are at very opposite ends of the scale but there is always room for negotiation if indeed we have got our figures and forecasts wrong.
Toodlepipions xx
The sun is shining and the leaves on the trees are starting to brown off and fall from their twiggy perches, it's all so very autumnal and for me exciting too as it signal the start of the best season for all things Game. Great Venison & Pheasant to be had and loads of wonderful flavours to enjoy.
Well I'm guessing your all dying to know what I got up to at the weekend ?!?............NO............Good then I shall proceed....
Friday was lovely, had a nice night in with my lady. Little'un was off to Grandad's for a sleepover so we had some lovely food and some wine and some averna and some lemonchello and some whiskey and some..........nope that was it.
Saturday was a double DJ header affair kicking off at Mango for a short while to help start my good friends 40th birthday celebrations then over to Sakura until 2am to entertain the folks in VIP. Before that however spent a wonderful day with Bolger and Asbo starting off with lunch at Jamie's Italian before meeting up with a few other buddies and shooting some pool.
Finished Saturday off by heading back to Mango where the garden was at it's absolute best. Absolutely rammed full of fantastic people having a great time, testament to Kevin's chums and also to the old days of Mango weekends. Maybe the penny will drop and the vibe can continue......I doubt it somehow.
Sunday awoke with a stonker of a headache which was very disappointing because I was desperately trying not to make that happen, didn't really start to go away until I took a trip to the chinese supermarket and got some awareness food. Nothing like a good dose of MSG to get you going.
So that brings us up to today and like I mentioned it's been a good start. Sunny, traffic not too bad and McDonalds coffee all helping to get the minerals flowing ready for a days work then at 5pm I have been invited to attended the awarding of Reading very first "Food Hero" title which I'm quite chuffed about. One day I'll get that prize, it's a new goal. Forget your Michelin stars there's only one thing I'm after :-/
Still no news on the pub offer, each day that goes by I loose a little faith. I would have expected at least a response to say it had been received and was being considered (or flatly refused) but not a peep, not a sausage, not even a chipolata. I'll give them a few more days, I think each parties valuation of the existing business are at very opposite ends of the scale but there is always room for negotiation if indeed we have got our figures and forecasts wrong.
Toodlepipions xx
Thursday 7 October 2010
So it begins....
The offer has been put in. I'm sure it's some way off what was expected but you have to take things on their merit and be honest with your evaluations.
Will it be accepted ?!?!? I'm completely unsure but of course I hope it will because I think it's fair and anything more would be making a rod for our own back for no more than sentimental reasons which is not great business sense is it?
Quite nervy all this isn't it?
I guess this is how people feel when buying a house :-)
Wish us luck I think we'll need it.
Will it be accepted ?!?!? I'm completely unsure but of course I hope it will because I think it's fair and anything more would be making a rod for our own back for no more than sentimental reasons which is not great business sense is it?
Quite nervy all this isn't it?
I guess this is how people feel when buying a house :-)
Wish us luck I think we'll need it.
Wednesday 6 October 2010
a PM post
So I've been spending most of the day contemplating what we could have on our pub menu(s)
At the moment and of course it is subject to change I have decided on 5 separate menus which should suit the business model that I'd like to follow.
Bar Menu
Lunch Menu
Childrens Menu (still to do but Emily is helping here so proper input)
Evening Menu
Sunday Lunch
There will also be a monthly seasonal specials board which will add maybe 3 starters and 3 main courses to the evening menu (and maybe the lunch menu) each month
I initially made just one menu for the restaurant but it soon reached around 50 dishes including desserts which is just ridiculous so I've reeled it in a bit.
The Bar area and Restaurant area in the pub are quite clearly separated and I really want to treat them as two separate entities within the same building. When you walk into the bar it'll be like walking into a very "as you'd expect" village pub. Open fire, wooden beams bit of horse brass here and there and the air filled with jolly banter.
The restaurant area at the moment looks very much like it is, an old saloon bar filled with tables. I want to completely revamp it and leave the customer in no mind as to it's intended purpose...it'll be a restaurant full stop.
So I'd be interested to know what you think about these -
Bar Menu -
Freshly baked baguette, sandwich or tortilla wrap filled with choice of filling –
Egg mayo
Sliced egg & tomato
Ham salad
Ham & Mustard
Ham & Pickle
Tuna Mayo & Sweetcorn
Hummus & Red Pepper
Cheese Salad
Cheese & Onion
Cheese & Pickle
Nachos
Chips
Cheesy Chips
Lunch Menu -
Starters -
Soup of the day
Prawn cocktail
Chicken liver paté with crusty bread
Mini vegetarian meze platter
Breaded mushrooms with garlic mayo
Mains -
Tagliatella alla ragu
Traditional beer battered cod, chips and peas
Chicken curry and basmati rice or chips
Chilli con carne with long grain rice or chips
Steak and ale pie and mashed potato or chips served with peas
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet.
A la Carte evening menu -
Starters -
Rabbit & pistachio terrine
Smoked Berkshire trout with beetroot salad and horseradish créme fraiche
Dry cured bacon potato cake with poached egg and crumbled black pudding.
Watercress and wild mushroom paté with juniper berries
Carpaccio of beef with rocket & parmesan cheese
Panfried scallops with cauliflower purée
Mains –
Panfried salmon with crushed new potatoes and minted pea purée
Fillet of venison with celeriac mash, cumin glazed carrots and red wine jus
Pork fillet with creamed leeks and seasonal vegetable salad
Duck Confit with crispy potatoes and chilli peas
Tagliatelli with wild mushroom and white wine sauce
Salted cod with chorizo, butterbean and goats cheese stew
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet
British cheese and biscuits
Sunday Lunch -
Starters -
As per A la Carte menu
Mains –
Panfried salmon with crushed new potatoes and minted pea purée
Traditional roast dinner.
Choose from –
Slow cooked pork belly
Roast rib of beef
Stuffed shoulder of lamb
Cashew nut roast
Roast Potatoes (cooked in duck fat or rapeseed oil)
Potato Dauphinoise
Broccoli
Caulifower
Glazed carrots
Gratin of brussel sprout
Yorkshire pudding
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet
British cheese and biscuits
Quite like the Sunday one as it offers a vegetarian alternative to a traditional Sunday roast.
Like I say the specials board will be seasonal and will also offer more vegetarian dishes. I think it's difficult to add too many veggie dishes to a general menu without being repetitive and uninteresting especially from a meat eaters perspective.
Desserts will be varied and proudly on display in a glass fronted cold cabinet for all to see. Whatever they are they will be made in house and served up with the usual cream, custard or ice cream.
The basic premise is that it'll all be local food from local suppliers and producers (where possible) used simply to create wonderfully delicious food at a reasonable price to be enjoyed in a relaxed and convivial environment.
Leaving Steak off the menu could be a bit controversial mind you but then again it can go on the specials board. Does every single pub in the UK have to have steak ?!?! Maybe.....I'm really not decided. Perhaps we could.....perhaps we couldn't....oooh what a dilemma.
Roger Roger over and out.....
At the moment and of course it is subject to change I have decided on 5 separate menus which should suit the business model that I'd like to follow.
Bar Menu
Lunch Menu
Childrens Menu (still to do but Emily is helping here so proper input)
Evening Menu
Sunday Lunch
There will also be a monthly seasonal specials board which will add maybe 3 starters and 3 main courses to the evening menu (and maybe the lunch menu) each month
I initially made just one menu for the restaurant but it soon reached around 50 dishes including desserts which is just ridiculous so I've reeled it in a bit.
The Bar area and Restaurant area in the pub are quite clearly separated and I really want to treat them as two separate entities within the same building. When you walk into the bar it'll be like walking into a very "as you'd expect" village pub. Open fire, wooden beams bit of horse brass here and there and the air filled with jolly banter.
The restaurant area at the moment looks very much like it is, an old saloon bar filled with tables. I want to completely revamp it and leave the customer in no mind as to it's intended purpose...it'll be a restaurant full stop.
So I'd be interested to know what you think about these -
Bar Menu -
Freshly baked baguette, sandwich or tortilla wrap filled with choice of filling –
Egg mayo
Sliced egg & tomato
Ham salad
Ham & Mustard
Ham & Pickle
Tuna Mayo & Sweetcorn
Hummus & Red Pepper
Cheese Salad
Cheese & Onion
Cheese & Pickle
Nachos
Chips
Cheesy Chips
Lunch Menu -
Starters -
Soup of the day
Prawn cocktail
Chicken liver paté with crusty bread
Mini vegetarian meze platter
Breaded mushrooms with garlic mayo
Mains -
Tagliatella alla ragu
Traditional beer battered cod, chips and peas
Chicken curry and basmati rice or chips
Chilli con carne with long grain rice or chips
Steak and ale pie and mashed potato or chips served with peas
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet.
A la Carte evening menu -
Starters -
Rabbit & pistachio terrine
Smoked Berkshire trout with beetroot salad and horseradish créme fraiche
Dry cured bacon potato cake with poached egg and crumbled black pudding.
Watercress and wild mushroom paté with juniper berries
Carpaccio of beef with rocket & parmesan cheese
Panfried scallops with cauliflower purée
Mains –
Panfried salmon with crushed new potatoes and minted pea purée
Fillet of venison with celeriac mash, cumin glazed carrots and red wine jus
Pork fillet with creamed leeks and seasonal vegetable salad
Duck Confit with crispy potatoes and chilli peas
Tagliatelli with wild mushroom and white wine sauce
Salted cod with chorizo, butterbean and goats cheese stew
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet
British cheese and biscuits
Sunday Lunch -
Starters -
As per A la Carte menu
Mains –
Panfried salmon with crushed new potatoes and minted pea purée
Traditional roast dinner.
Choose from –
Slow cooked pork belly
Roast rib of beef
Stuffed shoulder of lamb
Cashew nut roast
Roast Potatoes (cooked in duck fat or rapeseed oil)
Potato Dauphinoise
Broccoli
Caulifower
Glazed carrots
Gratin of brussel sprout
Yorkshire pudding
Desserts –
Selection from the dessert cabinet
British cheese and biscuits
Quite like the Sunday one as it offers a vegetarian alternative to a traditional Sunday roast.
Like I say the specials board will be seasonal and will also offer more vegetarian dishes. I think it's difficult to add too many veggie dishes to a general menu without being repetitive and uninteresting especially from a meat eaters perspective.
Desserts will be varied and proudly on display in a glass fronted cold cabinet for all to see. Whatever they are they will be made in house and served up with the usual cream, custard or ice cream.
The basic premise is that it'll all be local food from local suppliers and producers (where possible) used simply to create wonderfully delicious food at a reasonable price to be enjoyed in a relaxed and convivial environment.
Leaving Steak off the menu could be a bit controversial mind you but then again it can go on the specials board. Does every single pub in the UK have to have steak ?!?! Maybe.....I'm really not decided. Perhaps we could.....perhaps we couldn't....oooh what a dilemma.
Roger Roger over and out.....
Tuesday 5 October 2010
There must be something....
I'm having a bit of a blank with regard to blog content today. I have been asked to do a little blog about how to cook the perfect steak which I'm thinking about at the moment but I've not quite worked out how to word it.
So I'm guessing all I have left to waffle on about is how the pub situation is progressing......
We'll be putting in an offer on Thursday...There you go :-)
All we need to do is get the financing agreed and hopefully we'll be in by December just in time for the build up to Christmas and the New year.
That's it...I have no more. Maybe something will irritate me later and I'll feel the need to blurb about it.
So I'm guessing all I have left to waffle on about is how the pub situation is progressing......
We'll be putting in an offer on Thursday...There you go :-)
All we need to do is get the financing agreed and hopefully we'll be in by December just in time for the build up to Christmas and the New year.
That's it...I have no more. Maybe something will irritate me later and I'll feel the need to blurb about it.
Monday 4 October 2010
Weekend
Well what a weekend that was.
Normally that headline would indicate a couple of very late nights interspersed with incredibly loud music and ending up on random sofas in the houses of people I've never met or am ever likely too again.
Nope this was something else. Friday night and indeed Friday day was all a bit of a mad rush around and I ended up speed walking to Copa Bar in Reading in time to make the 7pm DJ slot I had with my good buddy Kevin. Twas the birthday party of my amazingly beautiful and lovely friend Carrie (AKA Lemon Drizzle Cake).
The only unfortunate thing about that is that I had to leave early because I had cookery demo numero deux on Saturday morning and just had to be on the ball.
As for the demo itself I really do not think it could have gone any better. I was all miked up and got well into the chatting whilst cooking....I was like Madonna with a frying pan.
Started the demo off with a bacon, carrot and potato cake topped with a poached egg and I must say that the poached egg was perfection.....even got a round of applause when it was broken and the yolk poured out. Mind you I have to say it probably had more to do with the absolutely perfect organic eggs that were supplied by Bloomfield Hatch Farm they really are something else.
The carrots too were great, really nicely coloured and ever so sweet. The bite that they added to the potato cake was wonderful. They along with the potatoes came from Pagets farm which is based in Devizes, Wiltshire. They don't have a website but they are regulars at the local farmers markets so the next time you UK readers go to one....which I assume will be at the weekend......then do yourself a favour and get some of their goodies.
Next up I made a couple of apple crumbles which turned out a bit better than I expected. Nice crust on top of a deliciously gooey crumble and filled with a delightfully sweet and chunky apple and cinnamon syrup....................Oooh that does sound a bit "Nigella" doesn't it? Served that up with a whipped Chantilly cream which I definitely did not spill upon a black lace negligée then lick temptingly off a my full cupped bosom whilst fluttering my eyelashes at the camera.
For the life of me I cannot remember the farm that supplied the apple or indeed the variety but they were the most popular stall in the market by far. The queue to their display must have been 20 deep which was handy as they were right opposite me.
To finish I did a Fillet Steak with Wild Mushroom and Marsala cream sauce...pretty damn special if I say so myself......did get one criticism saying it was a bit chewy from and octogenarian with no teeth (I kid you not) but other than that it was all "Ohh" and "Aahh".
Weekend was topped of with some beers with buddies on Sunday.
Early nights and waking up without a hangover is absolutely the way forward.
Normally that headline would indicate a couple of very late nights interspersed with incredibly loud music and ending up on random sofas in the houses of people I've never met or am ever likely too again.
Nope this was something else. Friday night and indeed Friday day was all a bit of a mad rush around and I ended up speed walking to Copa Bar in Reading in time to make the 7pm DJ slot I had with my good buddy Kevin. Twas the birthday party of my amazingly beautiful and lovely friend Carrie (AKA Lemon Drizzle Cake).
The only unfortunate thing about that is that I had to leave early because I had cookery demo numero deux on Saturday morning and just had to be on the ball.
As for the demo itself I really do not think it could have gone any better. I was all miked up and got well into the chatting whilst cooking....I was like Madonna with a frying pan.
Started the demo off with a bacon, carrot and potato cake topped with a poached egg and I must say that the poached egg was perfection.....even got a round of applause when it was broken and the yolk poured out. Mind you I have to say it probably had more to do with the absolutely perfect organic eggs that were supplied by Bloomfield Hatch Farm they really are something else.
The carrots too were great, really nicely coloured and ever so sweet. The bite that they added to the potato cake was wonderful. They along with the potatoes came from Pagets farm which is based in Devizes, Wiltshire. They don't have a website but they are regulars at the local farmers markets so the next time you UK readers go to one....which I assume will be at the weekend......then do yourself a favour and get some of their goodies.
Next up I made a couple of apple crumbles which turned out a bit better than I expected. Nice crust on top of a deliciously gooey crumble and filled with a delightfully sweet and chunky apple and cinnamon syrup....................Oooh that does sound a bit "Nigella" doesn't it? Served that up with a whipped Chantilly cream which I definitely did not spill upon a black lace negligée then lick temptingly off a my full cupped bosom whilst fluttering my eyelashes at the camera.
For the life of me I cannot remember the farm that supplied the apple or indeed the variety but they were the most popular stall in the market by far. The queue to their display must have been 20 deep which was handy as they were right opposite me.
To finish I did a Fillet Steak with Wild Mushroom and Marsala cream sauce...pretty damn special if I say so myself......did get one criticism saying it was a bit chewy from and octogenarian with no teeth (I kid you not) but other than that it was all "Ohh" and "Aahh".
Weekend was topped of with some beers with buddies on Sunday.
Early nights and waking up without a hangover is absolutely the way forward.
Friday 1 October 2010
Fuzziness
Feeling a tad fuzzy today no thank to being roped into the pub quiz last night. I think we can forth last and I was useless I mean what the hell do I know about Fizzy Rascals or whatever his name is?
As the DJ I was expected to get all the music one right but it was all modern Crap factor/Britains got idiots stuff so I had no chance however I did win the raffle and managed to pick myself up a copy of the Hairy Bikers 12 days of Christmas book.................I reckon I know somebody who wanted that....now who was it ?!?!?
Double bonus was that I also got given two tickets to the restaurant show at Earls Court by the landlord and landlady. It's a trade only event so we'd be otherwise unable to attend so many thanks for that and I'm sure we'll look forward to being Karen & Bill for a day or two.
Cooking demo was really good yesterday. Such good fun and the whole project they have got going is amazing and really quite inspiring. Please do have a look at their website to see the wonderful things they do - food4families
Highlight of it for me was seeing all these kids so interested in food and vegetables in particular. I had a couple of chats with two young lads who both said that they are really excited about food and cooking indeed both enjoyed cooking at home and were asking all the right questions when I was actually doing the cooking. Emily even enjoyed some courgette cake !! It's made out of green stuff !!
Everything I made got snaffled up rather quickly and it would seem that the pumpkin cheesecake and the spicy pork and pumpkin pasties were somewhat of a sensation. All the cheesecake recipes went anyway.
Following on from that they asked if I'd be interested in taking part in a much bigger show in the town center later in the year so must have been doing something right.
Just this very second taken a call from the area manager of Greene King who is going to be about at around 1:30pm today for a little meeting concerning the progress and forward momentum of the pub lease. I think this meeting will be the definitive one and will enable us to really start making firm plans. I'm desperate to have that so I can discuss the situation with my current employers, not really any point in putting forward my vision to them without having a clear picture ahead.
Guessing I'm not really going to have time to blog again before Sunday but saying that I'll probably be busy watching Europe winning the Ryder Cup....Come on boys.
As the DJ I was expected to get all the music one right but it was all modern Crap factor/Britains got idiots stuff so I had no chance however I did win the raffle and managed to pick myself up a copy of the Hairy Bikers 12 days of Christmas book.................I reckon I know somebody who wanted that....now who was it ?!?!?
Double bonus was that I also got given two tickets to the restaurant show at Earls Court by the landlord and landlady. It's a trade only event so we'd be otherwise unable to attend so many thanks for that and I'm sure we'll look forward to being Karen & Bill for a day or two.
Cooking demo was really good yesterday. Such good fun and the whole project they have got going is amazing and really quite inspiring. Please do have a look at their website to see the wonderful things they do - food4families
Highlight of it for me was seeing all these kids so interested in food and vegetables in particular. I had a couple of chats with two young lads who both said that they are really excited about food and cooking indeed both enjoyed cooking at home and were asking all the right questions when I was actually doing the cooking. Emily even enjoyed some courgette cake !! It's made out of green stuff !!
Everything I made got snaffled up rather quickly and it would seem that the pumpkin cheesecake and the spicy pork and pumpkin pasties were somewhat of a sensation. All the cheesecake recipes went anyway.
Following on from that they asked if I'd be interested in taking part in a much bigger show in the town center later in the year so must have been doing something right.
Just this very second taken a call from the area manager of Greene King who is going to be about at around 1:30pm today for a little meeting concerning the progress and forward momentum of the pub lease. I think this meeting will be the definitive one and will enable us to really start making firm plans. I'm desperate to have that so I can discuss the situation with my current employers, not really any point in putting forward my vision to them without having a clear picture ahead.
Guessing I'm not really going to have time to blog again before Sunday but saying that I'll probably be busy watching Europe winning the Ryder Cup....Come on boys.
Thursday 30 September 2010
Pasties...
Tried a full run through of today's recipes and program yesterday evening and I'm very glad I did because there are quite a few mistakes in the recipes that I've already passed on for printing.....OOPS.
Still the format worked and with a bit more preparation done this morning and I think it'll run well and most important the food will be goooooooood.
Couple of news items that have surfaced today firstly the news that Alberto Contador (winner of the Tour de France) has failed a drug test. Not entirely a shock because that sport is more corrupt than the average touring Pakistani cricket team.
What it does for me though is that it makes me laugh even harder at those middle aged muppets that clog up our roads each weekend by riding their midlife crisis machines three abreast while adorned in their favourite drug cheat endorsed Lycra.
Hahahahaha you fools.....Imagine the furore that will follow after Lance Armstrong gets pinged for cheating too......I can hear the snapping of Livestrong wristbands already.
Second bit of news that tickled me was that David Milliband has stepped down from front line politics after being completely sh*t on by his baby brother. There is only one decent thing for him to do now..............confirm and whistle blow on the Labour parties voting fraud at the last election as has been suggested by Baroness Wadi.
My friend has blogged about it here and it's quite a good read :-)
I do feel sorry for him though because if I ever got gazumpt on a senior role by my little brother I'd be positively suicidal.....fortunately my little brother is a right little herbert and the only job he's ever likely to reach the pinnacle of is senior B wing pin cushion at HMP Belmarsh! he can have that no probs.
Anyway that's it just for the moment. Another blog later to let you all (the millions of you) how the demo went.
Still the format worked and with a bit more preparation done this morning and I think it'll run well and most important the food will be goooooooood.
Couple of news items that have surfaced today firstly the news that Alberto Contador (winner of the Tour de France) has failed a drug test. Not entirely a shock because that sport is more corrupt than the average touring Pakistani cricket team.
What it does for me though is that it makes me laugh even harder at those middle aged muppets that clog up our roads each weekend by riding their midlife crisis machines three abreast while adorned in their favourite drug cheat endorsed Lycra.
Hahahahaha you fools.....Imagine the furore that will follow after Lance Armstrong gets pinged for cheating too......I can hear the snapping of Livestrong wristbands already.
Second bit of news that tickled me was that David Milliband has stepped down from front line politics after being completely sh*t on by his baby brother. There is only one decent thing for him to do now..............confirm and whistle blow on the Labour parties voting fraud at the last election as has been suggested by Baroness Wadi.
My friend has blogged about it here and it's quite a good read :-)
I do feel sorry for him though because if I ever got gazumpt on a senior role by my little brother I'd be positively suicidal.....fortunately my little brother is a right little herbert and the only job he's ever likely to reach the pinnacle of is senior B wing pin cushion at HMP Belmarsh! he can have that no probs.
Anyway that's it just for the moment. Another blog later to let you all (the millions of you) how the demo went.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Crisis....
Apparently they say the mid-life crisis happens when you hit 35 !!!
Well I beg to differ because I was about 32 when I bought my 3.0l rear wheel drive Japanese male member enhancer :-D
Preparation for tomorrows demo is going well. I think I'll need to be right on the ball for the first 30 min section because it's quite involved so getting all the ingredients portioned out and ready beforehand will be essential.
Oh blooomin hell I've just realised that the recipe for the cheesecake I sent to the organiser had a typo in it! Be a pretty shoddy cheesecake when it doesn't actually contain any cheese!
One sec.............
Sorted
OK where was I?
So yes..second section should be much more relaxed so I'll have a slurp of wine while doing this bit. Small one mind you :-)
For Saturdays demo I'm getting a Podcast recorded so I better be looking my best. Also it'd be dead handy if there were actually some people willing to take part in choosing the ingredients otherwise it could be rather dull so if you are free and available at 8am on a Saturday morning then please do pop down and join in.
H'arriva Durky and all that xx
Well I beg to differ because I was about 32 when I bought my 3.0l rear wheel drive Japanese male member enhancer :-D
Preparation for tomorrows demo is going well. I think I'll need to be right on the ball for the first 30 min section because it's quite involved so getting all the ingredients portioned out and ready beforehand will be essential.
Oh blooomin hell I've just realised that the recipe for the cheesecake I sent to the organiser had a typo in it! Be a pretty shoddy cheesecake when it doesn't actually contain any cheese!
One sec.............
Sorted
OK where was I?
So yes..second section should be much more relaxed so I'll have a slurp of wine while doing this bit. Small one mind you :-)
For Saturdays demo I'm getting a Podcast recorded so I better be looking my best. Also it'd be dead handy if there were actually some people willing to take part in choosing the ingredients otherwise it could be rather dull so if you are free and available at 8am on a Saturday morning then please do pop down and join in.
H'arriva Durky and all that xx
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Off Track
Gonna start todays blog with a little mini rant and it's aimed, once again, at poor drivers.
I genuinely believe that everybody should have to retake the driving test every 10 years and pass with a high rate to be able to continue driving on public roads. A major part of the test should be devoted to having consideration for other road users.
This morning not just myself but several other tax paying road users were held up by people (mainly in Vans) blocking off a junction. Now I don;t know about you but whenever I am in traffic and I'm approaching a junction I always leave space for people to either come out or turn into that junction.....Anybody who doesn't do this should be given 3 points end of story.
Also people who after a certain amount of time and after passing certain tests should be able to report poor driving and be able to issue points themselves for instance this morning a qualified person should have been able to take note of the registration plate of the vans blocking the way and at the next convenient time get to a computer, logon on to the DVLA and issue a penalty.
Not just anybody should be able fill these position of course because it's then open to abuse but after a careful selection process and vetting procedure I think it's viable. I'd certainly apply to be one of those people and I wouldn't want paying for it if i knew that the money was being invested in the retesting of current drivers after a 10 year period.
But of course the government won't take such extreme measures because they'd be 50% less people on the road, 50% less cars being sold, 50% less fuel being consumed, 50% less insurance policies being taken out and 50% less Road Tax (plus the tax on the sales of the preceding 3 items)
This is why we need a revolution folks :-)
I genuinely believe that everybody should have to retake the driving test every 10 years and pass with a high rate to be able to continue driving on public roads. A major part of the test should be devoted to having consideration for other road users.
This morning not just myself but several other tax paying road users were held up by people (mainly in Vans) blocking off a junction. Now I don;t know about you but whenever I am in traffic and I'm approaching a junction I always leave space for people to either come out or turn into that junction.....Anybody who doesn't do this should be given 3 points end of story.
Also people who after a certain amount of time and after passing certain tests should be able to report poor driving and be able to issue points themselves for instance this morning a qualified person should have been able to take note of the registration plate of the vans blocking the way and at the next convenient time get to a computer, logon on to the DVLA and issue a penalty.
Not just anybody should be able fill these position of course because it's then open to abuse but after a careful selection process and vetting procedure I think it's viable. I'd certainly apply to be one of those people and I wouldn't want paying for it if i knew that the money was being invested in the retesting of current drivers after a 10 year period.
But of course the government won't take such extreme measures because they'd be 50% less people on the road, 50% less cars being sold, 50% less fuel being consumed, 50% less insurance policies being taken out and 50% less Road Tax (plus the tax on the sales of the preceding 3 items)
This is why we need a revolution folks :-)
Monday 27 September 2010
Good Monday to you all :-)
So Monday didn't really get off to the best of starts.
I did have something to do with that having not prised myself off the sofa until 1am because I just had to get my team ready for the new season on football manager. 3 promotions in 4 seasons and this time going up would mean making it to the football league.......As any hopelessly addicted football manager fan will understand this is a big season.
That I was in control of and take full responsibility for however next doors little one wailing at the top of it's voice for the next 5 hours was not something I could have planned for.
So my self inflicted late night twinned with devil child crying and a 06:45 alarm setting made me just a bit dreary today but it's most definitely picked up.
I have spoken to the regional manager of the pub company that we will be dealing with regarding the lease, unfortunately he was driving at the time but he's keen for a meet up to go over things.
I'm now of the opinion that it will be better for us if we can renegotiate a new lease and have it looked over with a fine toothed comb from a legal perspective so that we all know exactly where we stand and exactly how we can build the business going forward. It's a very positive move I think and the ball which had kind of stopped rolling will be getting back in motion.
Also had an idea about how my current work and the pub can work together for the benefit of both parties which I'm hoping, should the pub go ahead, will offer some security for us and a firm showing of commitment to my current employers.
Also looking ahead I have my first cookery demo coming up this Thursday (as previously blogged) and I'm actually feeling quite calm about it although there is some inevitable nervous excitement.
I'll be taking the advice of an experienced demo'ing foodie I know who informed me that I must just keep talking at all times to keep the audience otherwise they will drift........I'm not sure I've ever talked for an hour in my life but I do have a clear idea of what I'm going to be making, how I'm going to make it and I'll be thinking about timings etc etc so perhaps I'll have plenty in the memory banks to waffle on about.
Following that will be the demo at Reading Farmers market. Certainly going to be doing the proper Ready, Steady, Cook thing and getting the market go'ers to choose the ingredients but you know how us English have this reluctance to get involved in such theatre in public so I'll make sure I have something of my own in mind.
Had great fun over the weekend involving lots of champagne, oysters, music and buddies. Topping it off with a 7 hour DJ set at a private party was just the icing, such a great time with such a lovely and receptive crowd made me fall in love with it all again just a little bit :-)
I did have something to do with that having not prised myself off the sofa until 1am because I just had to get my team ready for the new season on football manager. 3 promotions in 4 seasons and this time going up would mean making it to the football league.......As any hopelessly addicted football manager fan will understand this is a big season.
That I was in control of and take full responsibility for however next doors little one wailing at the top of it's voice for the next 5 hours was not something I could have planned for.
So my self inflicted late night twinned with devil child crying and a 06:45 alarm setting made me just a bit dreary today but it's most definitely picked up.
I have spoken to the regional manager of the pub company that we will be dealing with regarding the lease, unfortunately he was driving at the time but he's keen for a meet up to go over things.
I'm now of the opinion that it will be better for us if we can renegotiate a new lease and have it looked over with a fine toothed comb from a legal perspective so that we all know exactly where we stand and exactly how we can build the business going forward. It's a very positive move I think and the ball which had kind of stopped rolling will be getting back in motion.
Also had an idea about how my current work and the pub can work together for the benefit of both parties which I'm hoping, should the pub go ahead, will offer some security for us and a firm showing of commitment to my current employers.
Also looking ahead I have my first cookery demo coming up this Thursday (as previously blogged) and I'm actually feeling quite calm about it although there is some inevitable nervous excitement.
I'll be taking the advice of an experienced demo'ing foodie I know who informed me that I must just keep talking at all times to keep the audience otherwise they will drift........I'm not sure I've ever talked for an hour in my life but I do have a clear idea of what I'm going to be making, how I'm going to make it and I'll be thinking about timings etc etc so perhaps I'll have plenty in the memory banks to waffle on about.
Following that will be the demo at Reading Farmers market. Certainly going to be doing the proper Ready, Steady, Cook thing and getting the market go'ers to choose the ingredients but you know how us English have this reluctance to get involved in such theatre in public so I'll make sure I have something of my own in mind.
Had great fun over the weekend involving lots of champagne, oysters, music and buddies. Topping it off with a 7 hour DJ set at a private party was just the icing, such a great time with such a lovely and receptive crowd made me fall in love with it all again just a little bit :-)
Saturday 25 September 2010
Saturday
If your slightly hungover like me then I promise you that turning the volume up and banging this out IS the way forward......
Sven Vath – Essential Mix Live Cocoon Amnesia Ibiza 02.08.2010 found on Minimal
The world is a better place with Sven :-)
Sven Vath – Essential Mix Live Cocoon Amnesia Ibiza 02.08.2010 found on Minimal
The world is a better place with Sven :-)
Thursday 23 September 2010
FB...
Facebook is down........OH MY GOD !!!
I just checked to see if the world was still spinning on it's axis and I think it is or did Twitter just make the clouds move ?!?!
Experimented some more on the Curry Spiced Pork, Pumkpin & Pea Pasties this evening and I think they are pretty bloomin sensational, just the soup to perfect next and then we are all go for the demo on Thursday.
For anybody wanting to come along and watch the demo or just to see what the Food4Families concept is all about it's being held at the Geoffrey Field Junior School
View Larger Map
The event will be kicking off at around 3:30pm and I'll be demo'ing for about an hour.
Right I'm off to bed. 10pm seems like an early night to me especially as I'm engrossed in a game of Football Manager 2010 but seeing that I'm 14 points clear at the top of the Blue Square North Division and performing well in the F.A. Trophy I think that Rainworth Miners Welfare FC can do without me for now.
I just checked to see if the world was still spinning on it's axis and I think it is or did Twitter just make the clouds move ?!?!
Experimented some more on the Curry Spiced Pork, Pumkpin & Pea Pasties this evening and I think they are pretty bloomin sensational, just the soup to perfect next and then we are all go for the demo on Thursday.
For anybody wanting to come along and watch the demo or just to see what the Food4Families concept is all about it's being held at the Geoffrey Field Junior School
View Larger Map
The event will be kicking off at around 3:30pm and I'll be demo'ing for about an hour.
Right I'm off to bed. 10pm seems like an early night to me especially as I'm engrossed in a game of Football Manager 2010 but seeing that I'm 14 points clear at the top of the Blue Square North Division and performing well in the F.A. Trophy I think that Rainworth Miners Welfare FC can do without me for now.
Yikes....
I didn't blog yesterday! Oh the shock of it. Twas a good day too with a couple of things planned for the not too distant future.
First up is another cookery demonstration this time being held at a farmers market to promote the Living Reading campaign which were the organisation responsible for organising the Reading, Steady, Cook! competition.
It'll be an early start and initially I was asked to decide what I was going to cook beforehand but I've just suggested to the organiser that we should let the people at the market decide at the time and I'll then make something out of whatever they choose.
Bearing in mind that I'll only have a two ring camping stove to cook on that could be fun !!
Second up will be a roadtrip to Amsterdam with my good buddy James. Plan is to drive from Reading down to Dover where we'll catch the ferry to Calais then drive up to Amsterdam, through France and Belgium, stopping for lunch in Bruges then onwards to catch Sven Vath at the Cocoon event being held during the ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event)
All exciting fun stuff I think you'll agree......perhaps ?!?!
Weekend is now looming large and I'm starting my preparations for DJ'ing at a private party this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it too because it'll be good music and good people :-)
First up is another cookery demonstration this time being held at a farmers market to promote the Living Reading campaign which were the organisation responsible for organising the Reading, Steady, Cook! competition.
It'll be an early start and initially I was asked to decide what I was going to cook beforehand but I've just suggested to the organiser that we should let the people at the market decide at the time and I'll then make something out of whatever they choose.
Bearing in mind that I'll only have a two ring camping stove to cook on that could be fun !!
Second up will be a roadtrip to Amsterdam with my good buddy James. Plan is to drive from Reading down to Dover where we'll catch the ferry to Calais then drive up to Amsterdam, through France and Belgium, stopping for lunch in Bruges then onwards to catch Sven Vath at the Cocoon event being held during the ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event)
All exciting fun stuff I think you'll agree......perhaps ?!?!
Weekend is now looming large and I'm starting my preparations for DJ'ing at a private party this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it too because it'll be good music and good people :-)
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Mecca.........
I've found a new shopping paradise in the heart of Reading, Berkshire......Who'd have thunk it?
Sitting at work yesterday...as I do, I was thinking about what to have to eat in the evening.....as I do. After contemplating nipping to The Mission for a tasty Burrito I began to think about Dim Sum. I'm not sure how I managed to link those two but seeing as Dim Sum seems to be my latest culinary craving I thought I'd have a go at making it myself.
To be able to to this I needed to find a specialist Asian supermarket in order to get the right tools for the job and the right ingredients.
Knowing that Reading has a thriving Asian community I was pretty sure that I'd be able to find something on Google and that I did.
The place I found is called "See Woo" and it's more of a cash and carry than a standard supermarket but anybody can walk in and buy stuff, there is no signing up to do and you don't have to be in the catering trade or anything like that.
They have got absolutely everything from my necessary Dim Sum ingredients to Fresh Vegetables to meat to sweets to beers to wines and even some Frogs Legs and Chickens Feet. It's just amazing !!!
Best of all for me were the banks and banks of freezers containing every Dim Sum item you can imagine, all ready prepared (handmade) and just in need of steaming (which is done from frozen............Bonus)
They also have all the raw ingredients you need to make them yourself which I will definitely do one day however making home made Dim Sum just for two people would be pretty expensive and pretty wasteful given the amount of ingredients you'd need to buy.
Of course to go with this I needed Chilli Oil, Soy Sauce, Chopsticks, Sauce bowls, and some Bamboo Steamer sections and I got the whole lot, including 6 different Dim Sum for £30.00 which I think is an absolute steal.
There is absolutely no doubt that I will go there again if not just for the smell as you walk in !!
It's located in the industrial area between the Madjeski Stadium and Basingstoke Road and opens until 6pm each day so get down there and see what my fuss is all about.
Sitting at work yesterday...as I do, I was thinking about what to have to eat in the evening.....as I do. After contemplating nipping to The Mission for a tasty Burrito I began to think about Dim Sum. I'm not sure how I managed to link those two but seeing as Dim Sum seems to be my latest culinary craving I thought I'd have a go at making it myself.
To be able to to this I needed to find a specialist Asian supermarket in order to get the right tools for the job and the right ingredients.
Knowing that Reading has a thriving Asian community I was pretty sure that I'd be able to find something on Google and that I did.
The place I found is called "See Woo" and it's more of a cash and carry than a standard supermarket but anybody can walk in and buy stuff, there is no signing up to do and you don't have to be in the catering trade or anything like that.
They have got absolutely everything from my necessary Dim Sum ingredients to Fresh Vegetables to meat to sweets to beers to wines and even some Frogs Legs and Chickens Feet. It's just amazing !!!
Best of all for me were the banks and banks of freezers containing every Dim Sum item you can imagine, all ready prepared (handmade) and just in need of steaming (which is done from frozen............Bonus)
They also have all the raw ingredients you need to make them yourself which I will definitely do one day however making home made Dim Sum just for two people would be pretty expensive and pretty wasteful given the amount of ingredients you'd need to buy.
Of course to go with this I needed Chilli Oil, Soy Sauce, Chopsticks, Sauce bowls, and some Bamboo Steamer sections and I got the whole lot, including 6 different Dim Sum for £30.00 which I think is an absolute steal.
There is absolutely no doubt that I will go there again if not just for the smell as you walk in !!
It's located in the industrial area between the Madjeski Stadium and Basingstoke Road and opens until 6pm each day so get down there and see what my fuss is all about.
Monday 20 September 2010
Catch Up....
Fairly busy day ahead I reckon. Bit of catching up to do after leaving early on Friday but nothing too out of hand.
Should find out about the pub lease situation tomorrow. Unfortunately we found that the copy we had was indeed the latest one as held by the current tenants solicitor which begs the question "How come his solicitor didn't spot all the mistakes that mine did?"
It's going to make the whole process longer because we absolutely need to find where we stand before we can even contemplate the business plan as the lease, it's contents and it's conditions are the basis on which it all stands.
Sales figures are irrelevant at this time because we have no idea what our goings will be each month because for instance if the lease is full maintaining i.e. we are responsible for any repairs then the insurances will be much higher.
If there is or isn't a loophole that says the brewery can take it back at any time given the right amount of notice even if the conditions have not been broken is certainly a bit ambiguous.
Anyway that's out of our hands for now.
Made a start on my Pumpkin experiments yesterday, that was until I realised we'd run out of sugar so I couldn't go much further than basic preparation for the cheesecake. I must say I was expecting pumpkin to be a bit sweeter than I found it, more like Butternut Squash but in fact they are quite non de-script just on their own.
Tried to few things in an attempt to bring the flavour out more and found that Ginger and Nutmeg really do a good job of that. The Purée I made out of the pumpkin has been mixed with a pinch of each and left over night in the fridge to infuse a bit more. The base is done and is also chilling in the fridge, the Lime zest I've put in this is really giving off a good aroma, on to a winner there I think.
Spicy Pork and Pumpkin Pasties tonight along with a big of hearty Soup.
Should find out about the pub lease situation tomorrow. Unfortunately we found that the copy we had was indeed the latest one as held by the current tenants solicitor which begs the question "How come his solicitor didn't spot all the mistakes that mine did?"
It's going to make the whole process longer because we absolutely need to find where we stand before we can even contemplate the business plan as the lease, it's contents and it's conditions are the basis on which it all stands.
Sales figures are irrelevant at this time because we have no idea what our goings will be each month because for instance if the lease is full maintaining i.e. we are responsible for any repairs then the insurances will be much higher.
If there is or isn't a loophole that says the brewery can take it back at any time given the right amount of notice even if the conditions have not been broken is certainly a bit ambiguous.
Anyway that's out of our hands for now.
Made a start on my Pumpkin experiments yesterday, that was until I realised we'd run out of sugar so I couldn't go much further than basic preparation for the cheesecake. I must say I was expecting pumpkin to be a bit sweeter than I found it, more like Butternut Squash but in fact they are quite non de-script just on their own.
Tried to few things in an attempt to bring the flavour out more and found that Ginger and Nutmeg really do a good job of that. The Purée I made out of the pumpkin has been mixed with a pinch of each and left over night in the fridge to infuse a bit more. The base is done and is also chilling in the fridge, the Lime zest I've put in this is really giving off a good aroma, on to a winner there I think.
Spicy Pork and Pumpkin Pasties tonight along with a big of hearty Soup.
Saturday 18 September 2010
Isle of Eels..
Woken up this morning to a wonderfully sunny day in the lovely city of Ely up in Cambridgeshire and I'm just waiting for the better half to make her way up before we head off to see my nephew in hospital.
He says he wants to come home because it's too noisy there. I think there were a few restless kiddies on his ward that kept him awake, all that however is very good because it means he's more alert.
They've moved him from the Intentive Care unit down to a High Dependency ward and they are already thinking that he's well enough to be moved to a normal ward so all good there.
We thought it'd be a good idea to keep all his buddies updated via his Facebook page which has worked well and I'm so happy he has such brilliant friends. They seem like the kind of people that are going to be his friends for the rest of his life.
At his age (14) his friends are definitely the biggest influence in his life and judging by these guys he and they are going to have a very bright future together.
Thats it for now. Will do another update later. Not sure how the visiting hours work now that he's moved ward but I'm thinking that maybe we'll nip off for a bit and do some shopping in Cambridge, maybe get him something to cheer him up.
He says he wants to come home because it's too noisy there. I think there were a few restless kiddies on his ward that kept him awake, all that however is very good because it means he's more alert.
They've moved him from the Intentive Care unit down to a High Dependency ward and they are already thinking that he's well enough to be moved to a normal ward so all good there.
We thought it'd be a good idea to keep all his buddies updated via his Facebook page which has worked well and I'm so happy he has such brilliant friends. They seem like the kind of people that are going to be his friends for the rest of his life.
At his age (14) his friends are definitely the biggest influence in his life and judging by these guys he and they are going to have a very bright future together.
Thats it for now. Will do another update later. Not sure how the visiting hours work now that he's moved ward but I'm thinking that maybe we'll nip off for a bit and do some shopping in Cambridge, maybe get him something to cheer him up.
Friday 17 September 2010
Bloggy Break
Hey Folks. No big blog today as I'm at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge where my Nephew has been admitted after getting knocked off his bike on the way to school.
Just keeping out the way a the moment, don't want to get his room too crowded incase they need to get to him quickly so time for a brief check in with social network HQ.
Also want to highlight how important it is for people to wear a helmet when on their pushbikes. My nephew wasn't and although he's got some head injuries and few broken ribs that'll take time to heal this situation could easily have been a tragedy and not just a horrible accident.
When he comes round he'll be chuffed to bits that he got to ride in a Helicopter......not so chuffed of course that he won't have remembered a thing!!
Just keeping out the way a the moment, don't want to get his room too crowded incase they need to get to him quickly so time for a brief check in with social network HQ.
Also want to highlight how important it is for people to wear a helmet when on their pushbikes. My nephew wasn't and although he's got some head injuries and few broken ribs that'll take time to heal this situation could easily have been a tragedy and not just a horrible accident.
When he comes round he'll be chuffed to bits that he got to ride in a Helicopter......not so chuffed of course that he won't have remembered a thing!!
Thursday 16 September 2010
Hark at me.....
Blimey I almost forgot to Blog today. Shame on me !!
So anyway yesterday I got myself fully pumpkin'd up, got four of them to experiment with. They are on the small side but that is fine for the time being.
I've decided on three things that I'm going to make for the cookery demonstration.
The first will be a Soup, the second some mini pasties and the third will be a cheesecake.
For the soup I'm going to first roast the Pumpkin to intensify the flavour and I'll do that with some whole Garlic Cloves and some Rosemary plucked straight from the garden. I'll then Purée all this down with some Vegetable stock, add a swirl of Créme Fraiche and top with a few Almond flakes. I really think the marriage of these flavours will work brilliantly.
For the Pasties I'm going to mix the Pumpkin with minced Pork and give it a nice curried flavour using Cinnamon, Ginger, Chilli and of course Curry Powder.
I may also add some Peas into this to add some freshness and texture then I'll wrap this mixture into some light puff pastry. I actually think these will work better as big pasties rather than bite size ones but seeing as it's a demonstration and people will want to try them then small ones are the way ahead.
The Cheesecake will be normal kind of cheesecake affair with the biscuit base but I'm going to mix in Lime Zest with the base because this sharpness of the Lime should go really well with the sweetness of the Pumpkin. I think this could be a revelation if I can get the cheesecake filling to be super light.
All in all I think these are very nice dishes to do and should be very easy for people to recreate at home once they've seen the demo.
Having never used Pumpkin before I think it'll take some practice and I'll probably be sick of the sight of them by the 30th September when the demo takes place.
So anyway yesterday I got myself fully pumpkin'd up, got four of them to experiment with. They are on the small side but that is fine for the time being.
I've decided on three things that I'm going to make for the cookery demonstration.
The first will be a Soup, the second some mini pasties and the third will be a cheesecake.
For the soup I'm going to first roast the Pumpkin to intensify the flavour and I'll do that with some whole Garlic Cloves and some Rosemary plucked straight from the garden. I'll then Purée all this down with some Vegetable stock, add a swirl of Créme Fraiche and top with a few Almond flakes. I really think the marriage of these flavours will work brilliantly.
For the Pasties I'm going to mix the Pumpkin with minced Pork and give it a nice curried flavour using Cinnamon, Ginger, Chilli and of course Curry Powder.
I may also add some Peas into this to add some freshness and texture then I'll wrap this mixture into some light puff pastry. I actually think these will work better as big pasties rather than bite size ones but seeing as it's a demonstration and people will want to try them then small ones are the way ahead.
The Cheesecake will be normal kind of cheesecake affair with the biscuit base but I'm going to mix in Lime Zest with the base because this sharpness of the Lime should go really well with the sweetness of the Pumpkin. I think this could be a revelation if I can get the cheesecake filling to be super light.
All in all I think these are very nice dishes to do and should be very easy for people to recreate at home once they've seen the demo.
Having never used Pumpkin before I think it'll take some practice and I'll probably be sick of the sight of them by the 30th September when the demo takes place.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Midweek ramble
Can it be Wednesday already? Time flies when you're having fun I guess.
This morning, under my new healthy eating regime, I decided that I would pop to the supermarket and get myself some Granola.
I first fell for Granola when I was over the pond in L.A. I was out there with work and staying at the rather splendid Sheraton Universal in the Hollywood suburb of Universal City.
The buffet breakfast included just plain Granola which I had with just plain Yoghurt and it was a revelation, I made a point of urging myself to locate this in the UK when I got back and have it every morning.
However...............Can I find just plain Granola anywhere ?!?! NO
It's either boxed up with Banana Flakes, Macadamia Nuts, Almonds or various dried fruits such a Strawberries, Raisins, Mango, Papaya etc etc all of course which vastly boost the sugar content. I'm guessing the have to do this because I should imagine that Granola on it's own is pretty bloomin worthless so by adding these "Exotic" ingredients they can get away with selling an Eggcup full for about £70.00 !!
Well anyway I found a compromise. I'm really not a fan at all of dried fruit so I thought that just Granola with mixed nuts would be fine.
So I pick up the environmentally friendly plastic pouch and look at the brightly coloured, fairtrade and organic labelling that's already making me feel like some kind of new age hippy that goes jogging in public places then I turn it over to read the label of it's nutritional content and what do I see..............?
28g of Fat per 100g !!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat !!
Also on the back of the label it tells you that not only does it contains these nuts it's also packed fully of nice sugary syrup, this snippet of info the decided to leave off the front packaging.
Absolutely disgraceful. So I went for good old reliable Weetabix with it's not so scale tipping 2g of Fat per 100g
This morning, under my new healthy eating regime, I decided that I would pop to the supermarket and get myself some Granola.
I first fell for Granola when I was over the pond in L.A. I was out there with work and staying at the rather splendid Sheraton Universal in the Hollywood suburb of Universal City.
The buffet breakfast included just plain Granola which I had with just plain Yoghurt and it was a revelation, I made a point of urging myself to locate this in the UK when I got back and have it every morning.
However...............Can I find just plain Granola anywhere ?!?! NO
It's either boxed up with Banana Flakes, Macadamia Nuts, Almonds or various dried fruits such a Strawberries, Raisins, Mango, Papaya etc etc all of course which vastly boost the sugar content. I'm guessing the have to do this because I should imagine that Granola on it's own is pretty bloomin worthless so by adding these "Exotic" ingredients they can get away with selling an Eggcup full for about £70.00 !!
Well anyway I found a compromise. I'm really not a fan at all of dried fruit so I thought that just Granola with mixed nuts would be fine.
So I pick up the environmentally friendly plastic pouch and look at the brightly coloured, fairtrade and organic labelling that's already making me feel like some kind of new age hippy that goes jogging in public places then I turn it over to read the label of it's nutritional content and what do I see..............?
28g of Fat per 100g !!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat !!
Also on the back of the label it tells you that not only does it contains these nuts it's also packed fully of nice sugary syrup, this snippet of info the decided to leave off the front packaging.
Absolutely disgraceful. So I went for good old reliable Weetabix with it's not so scale tipping 2g of Fat per 100g
Tuesday 14 September 2010
Post 2
So I've been asked to do a cookery demonstration for a local community project that involves people growing their own produce and sharing it around. Such a wonderful thing really and gets children involved too which can only be a good thing at a time when everything comes pre-packed and in a uniform shape.
Please if you can take time just to have a look at the wonderful things they do - Food4families
The next thing I have to do is think of what to cook !!
They would like me to do something with Pumpkins seeing as they are in season and their general use involves them being scraped out, given scary faces and filled with candles for a Jack'o'Lantern.
Well there is quite obviously so much more to them and given that I have an hour of demonstration time I think I might do a few dishes, maybe a Starter, Main Course and Dessert.....you can certainly do that with a Pumpkin because they are such wonderful and versatile things.
The only details I have on the event so far is that it'll be held on Thursday the 30th September in a marquee in a big field in Reading, Berkshire where lots of people will be having a picnic :-)
I'm thinking perhaps these dishes -
Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter
Pumpkin Curry
Pumpkin Pie
Spicy Pumpkin Mini Pasties
Oooooh anybody else got some ideas?
Please if you can take time just to have a look at the wonderful things they do - Food4families
The next thing I have to do is think of what to cook !!
They would like me to do something with Pumpkins seeing as they are in season and their general use involves them being scraped out, given scary faces and filled with candles for a Jack'o'Lantern.
Well there is quite obviously so much more to them and given that I have an hour of demonstration time I think I might do a few dishes, maybe a Starter, Main Course and Dessert.....you can certainly do that with a Pumpkin because they are such wonderful and versatile things.
The only details I have on the event so far is that it'll be held on Thursday the 30th September in a marquee in a big field in Reading, Berkshire where lots of people will be having a picnic :-)
I'm thinking perhaps these dishes -
Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter
Pumpkin Curry
Pumpkin Pie
Spicy Pumpkin Mini Pasties
Oooooh anybody else got some ideas?
Changes....
I've awoken this morning with a strange feeling!!
I'm concerned buy the lack of movement on the pub front and also by my ever expanding waistline.
For the second concern I'm going to make an effort to eat a bit more healthier to start with and then I might start considering some form of exercise but of course nothing too vigorous because as my right knee showed me just a few weeks ago I'm not really of an age to start considering half marathons.
For the Pub I'll send a message over today asking if any progress has been made and if I don't hear anything back by the beginning of next week then I will consider that the end of the road for this project and I'll start looking at new ones. Infact I may even shelve it altogether unless there are opportunities abroad.
Definitely packing in the DJ'ing in early 2011. Until then I'm just going to do the regular work I get from it to fund my trip to Australia in March then I'll be focussing fully on all things Foody. Glad I made that decision.
Also glad that I bought some rather delicious looking Cod loins yesterday that I have salted and set aside in the fridge ready for cooking tonight. Was going to do it with Chorizo and Butter Beans as seen on TV by Glynn Purnell but given my new found zest for healthiness I might have to adjust that to make it a little leaner.
Bit disappointed that I couldn't find any cheaper, more sustainable but equally as tasty fish in Waitrose such as Pouting or Pollock but the label at the counter did say it was line caught which does suggest that some level of sustainability is enforced.
Everybody should look for this when buying Fish because low Fish stocks not only drive up the price of the produce but it also means that species are not allowed to thrive which has devastating effects on all sea life.
Next time you buy Fish look at the label of ask the Fishmonger about the catching methods and sustainability of their produce and be prepared to pay a little extra for the good stuff. Those extra pennies will reward you with better flavour which is what it's all about.
Have a great day folks :-)
I'm concerned buy the lack of movement on the pub front and also by my ever expanding waistline.
For the second concern I'm going to make an effort to eat a bit more healthier to start with and then I might start considering some form of exercise but of course nothing too vigorous because as my right knee showed me just a few weeks ago I'm not really of an age to start considering half marathons.
For the Pub I'll send a message over today asking if any progress has been made and if I don't hear anything back by the beginning of next week then I will consider that the end of the road for this project and I'll start looking at new ones. Infact I may even shelve it altogether unless there are opportunities abroad.
Definitely packing in the DJ'ing in early 2011. Until then I'm just going to do the regular work I get from it to fund my trip to Australia in March then I'll be focussing fully on all things Foody. Glad I made that decision.
Also glad that I bought some rather delicious looking Cod loins yesterday that I have salted and set aside in the fridge ready for cooking tonight. Was going to do it with Chorizo and Butter Beans as seen on TV by Glynn Purnell but given my new found zest for healthiness I might have to adjust that to make it a little leaner.
Bit disappointed that I couldn't find any cheaper, more sustainable but equally as tasty fish in Waitrose such as Pouting or Pollock but the label at the counter did say it was line caught which does suggest that some level of sustainability is enforced.
Everybody should look for this when buying Fish because low Fish stocks not only drive up the price of the produce but it also means that species are not allowed to thrive which has devastating effects on all sea life.
Next time you buy Fish look at the label of ask the Fishmonger about the catching methods and sustainability of their produce and be prepared to pay a little extra for the good stuff. Those extra pennies will reward you with better flavour which is what it's all about.
Have a great day folks :-)
Monday 13 September 2010
Catch up....
Well what a complete non event that weekend was !!
Friday was desperately disappointing for me in some ways but extraordinarily good in others. Was great to see some old friends out as well as some new and it was good that there was a fantastic party atmosphere down at the club to compliment all the effort JP & Martin made to put it on.
Disappointing in other ways, firstly not being able to concentrate fully or even get to my tunes due to......how can I put this nicely?....Overcrowding in the booth !! Blatantly asking people to get out the way and leave even with hand gestures and just being ignored and bumped all the time is not conducive to good floorfilling I'm afraid.
Perhaps I should have just risen above it or perhaps I should just chuck it in and get away from all these wannabe superstars.
Secondly, Brandon Block not turning up. OK you kind of expect it at times, especially when it's his last port of call for the night. He was probably about £2k up by the time he even thought about getting up to Reading and to be honest by the time he was supposed to be there it was thinning out anyway.
Thirdly and perhaps most disappointing was being asked by some girl if I was indeed Brandon Block !!! As much as I love the fella and as much as I know I'm never going to able to enter any Brad Pitt look a like competitions I'd like to think that there is absolutely no comparison in looks between myself and Mr Block. If there is then I'm saving for a surgeon :-)
The rest of the weekend was just pure rest and relaxation. Yes I had a bad hangover but I'm also still suffering a bit with the cough which seems to be relenting, oh and by the way I'm sorry if I gave anybody germs on Friday, I was trying to suppress any coughing but a certain Richard Sloman kept making me laugh which just made it worse.
So anyway I do feel a rather chipper this morning and already thinking about what to have for dinner....must be back on form.
I'm thinking something fishy.
Did my usual cookery program catch up over the weekend and there seemed to be plenty of fishy things being cooked up. Both Kenny Atkinson and Glynn Purnell (Whom incidental is one of my absolute favourite of the new breed of Chefs, he's such s breath of fresh air and his food is just like him, quirky, fun and even humorous) both made fish dishes on Saturday kitchen. Rick Stein also made a wonderful looking Salmon curry and Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall was making all kinds of things with a plethora of fish on his River Cottage gone Fishing program.
I think I'm going to follow Glynn Purnell though and try to use some salted fish. I'm thinking that just a simple pan fry with some seasonal veg and a nice buttery sauce with capers would be nice.
Mind you thinking about it it does take 24hrs for the salting process to work.........Bangers and Mash it is tonight then :-)
Friday was desperately disappointing for me in some ways but extraordinarily good in others. Was great to see some old friends out as well as some new and it was good that there was a fantastic party atmosphere down at the club to compliment all the effort JP & Martin made to put it on.
Disappointing in other ways, firstly not being able to concentrate fully or even get to my tunes due to......how can I put this nicely?....Overcrowding in the booth !! Blatantly asking people to get out the way and leave even with hand gestures and just being ignored and bumped all the time is not conducive to good floorfilling I'm afraid.
Perhaps I should have just risen above it or perhaps I should just chuck it in and get away from all these wannabe superstars.
Secondly, Brandon Block not turning up. OK you kind of expect it at times, especially when it's his last port of call for the night. He was probably about £2k up by the time he even thought about getting up to Reading and to be honest by the time he was supposed to be there it was thinning out anyway.
Thirdly and perhaps most disappointing was being asked by some girl if I was indeed Brandon Block !!! As much as I love the fella and as much as I know I'm never going to able to enter any Brad Pitt look a like competitions I'd like to think that there is absolutely no comparison in looks between myself and Mr Block. If there is then I'm saving for a surgeon :-)
The rest of the weekend was just pure rest and relaxation. Yes I had a bad hangover but I'm also still suffering a bit with the cough which seems to be relenting, oh and by the way I'm sorry if I gave anybody germs on Friday, I was trying to suppress any coughing but a certain Richard Sloman kept making me laugh which just made it worse.
So anyway I do feel a rather chipper this morning and already thinking about what to have for dinner....must be back on form.
I'm thinking something fishy.
Did my usual cookery program catch up over the weekend and there seemed to be plenty of fishy things being cooked up. Both Kenny Atkinson and Glynn Purnell (Whom incidental is one of my absolute favourite of the new breed of Chefs, he's such s breath of fresh air and his food is just like him, quirky, fun and even humorous) both made fish dishes on Saturday kitchen. Rick Stein also made a wonderful looking Salmon curry and Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall was making all kinds of things with a plethora of fish on his River Cottage gone Fishing program.
I think I'm going to follow Glynn Purnell though and try to use some salted fish. I'm thinking that just a simple pan fry with some seasonal veg and a nice buttery sauce with capers would be nice.
Mind you thinking about it it does take 24hrs for the salting process to work.........Bangers and Mash it is tonight then :-)
Friday 10 September 2010
Workin.....
Dagnammit I think these antibiotics are taking effect !! Certainly not as coughy as I have been the last few weeks and an pretty good nights sleep. Having said that I'm probably going to completely ruin it tonight by smoking about 5000 cigarettes and drinking copious amounts of beer for tonight is Brandon Block night :-)
I'm a bit sceptical about tonight actually. I really hope it goes well for the promoters but with so many people nipping over to the Isle of Wight for Bestival I'm doubtful as to whether it'll get a great turnout. Not that it'd matter one jot on the night because we're definitely going to have a good time :-)
So if you're at a lose end and fancy a boogie then please do pop down to The Venue in Reading and join us (My DJ slot is at 1am)
On the subject of festivals I'm not really sure why I'm not so keen to go to them myself anymore. I remember years gone by when the highlight of the summer was the Oxford Mayday Ball. When that came around it was the start of summer...Festival season had begun !!
Great little festival that was too, there were about 4 tents, all linked by tunnels and all completely decked out and carpeted. Even the toilets were pretty good. Of course it was full of students which is a downer but the plus side of that was cheap beer.
I think the next festival I would go to after the Mayday Ball would be Homelands down in Winchester. Absolutely huge event held in the Mattersley Bowl which was like a natural amphitheatre, this big crator in a field where everything was set up. At the start I loved this festival but then it got a bit too big, a bit too commercial and when I stopped going it turned all a bit chavvy.....Needless to say that was the final year and it is now defunct.
After Homelands I think it would be the Gatecrasher Summer Sound System. The first year they did it was on the same day as England were playing Germany at football (soccer) in either some big competition or it was a qualifier for a big competition and they had these massive screens showing the game. It was a terrific day, really sunny and of course England won which just made the atmosphere electric.
Throughout the night in one of the main arenas they had the England goals on loop continuously behind the stage on more huge screens. Alas though I think this festival too is now defunct :-(
So after that would have been Godskitchen which is held in the exact same location as Gatecrasher, some airfield in Stratford-upon-Avon if I remember correctly. Pretty much of a muchness however it always seems to rain when I go to this one and in fact I think it was the last of the "biggies" that I went too.
The actual last one was not such a biggie but it was certainly more for me these days and Cocoon in the Park is now the only festival that is firmly listed as a yearly must do and the others I think I could take or leave.
Then in between these there were trips to the biggest festival of them all......Ibiza.
Hmmm of course where the festivals are concerned they've not changed at all have they? I've just got older.......
I'm a bit sceptical about tonight actually. I really hope it goes well for the promoters but with so many people nipping over to the Isle of Wight for Bestival I'm doubtful as to whether it'll get a great turnout. Not that it'd matter one jot on the night because we're definitely going to have a good time :-)
So if you're at a lose end and fancy a boogie then please do pop down to The Venue in Reading and join us (My DJ slot is at 1am)
On the subject of festivals I'm not really sure why I'm not so keen to go to them myself anymore. I remember years gone by when the highlight of the summer was the Oxford Mayday Ball. When that came around it was the start of summer...Festival season had begun !!
Great little festival that was too, there were about 4 tents, all linked by tunnels and all completely decked out and carpeted. Even the toilets were pretty good. Of course it was full of students which is a downer but the plus side of that was cheap beer.
I think the next festival I would go to after the Mayday Ball would be Homelands down in Winchester. Absolutely huge event held in the Mattersley Bowl which was like a natural amphitheatre, this big crator in a field where everything was set up. At the start I loved this festival but then it got a bit too big, a bit too commercial and when I stopped going it turned all a bit chavvy.....Needless to say that was the final year and it is now defunct.
After Homelands I think it would be the Gatecrasher Summer Sound System. The first year they did it was on the same day as England were playing Germany at football (soccer) in either some big competition or it was a qualifier for a big competition and they had these massive screens showing the game. It was a terrific day, really sunny and of course England won which just made the atmosphere electric.
Throughout the night in one of the main arenas they had the England goals on loop continuously behind the stage on more huge screens. Alas though I think this festival too is now defunct :-(
So after that would have been Godskitchen which is held in the exact same location as Gatecrasher, some airfield in Stratford-upon-Avon if I remember correctly. Pretty much of a muchness however it always seems to rain when I go to this one and in fact I think it was the last of the "biggies" that I went too.
The actual last one was not such a biggie but it was certainly more for me these days and Cocoon in the Park is now the only festival that is firmly listed as a yearly must do and the others I think I could take or leave.
Then in between these there were trips to the biggest festival of them all......Ibiza.
Hmmm of course where the festivals are concerned they've not changed at all have they? I've just got older.......
Thursday 9 September 2010
Sleeeep...
Again not the best nights sleep I've ever had but I do feel a bit better today. Still coughing lots and sounding like Muttley from the Wacky Races cartoons.
Had a call from a very influential person in the catering trade yesterday (Private Chef to the future king of England for 11 years and founder of the Duchy Originals brand) who was thrilled that we'd found a business opportunity and that we are serious about giving it a go.
The call got off to a very bad start due to some crossed wires. I mentioned to them the premises in question and after what can only be described as a torrent of bad news and a firm warning to stay well away I suddenly realised that we were talking about two completely different places. The sigh of relief coming from the other end of the phone was all too apparent :-)
In the end the conversation turned to excitement and optimism with the promise that they'd be at the end of the phone if ever we needed anything and that they'd be glad to help in anyway possible in order to get our dream under way.
The studying is going well. I'm getting so involved and interested in this book that I just cannot wait to read the next page....I even learn't something about boiling water yesterday !! What may you ask is there that can possibly be learn't about plain old boiling water.............ERM..............A Lot :-)
More exciting news is that we've been given 4 freshly caught Trout (1 Rainbow & 3 Brown) which are currently in the fridge waiting to be turned into something yummy. My study book has a recipe in it for "Fillets of Sole Meuniére" which can be adapted for Trout methinks.
They are whole so should be fun gutting and filleting them later with Emily. She's mesmerised by all that kind of stuff. If she doesn't get involved in food in the future she'd make a wonderful Biology teacher or Veterinary Surgeon....Food Science or Science Science it's all the same to me....Science rocks !!
Picked up some Antibiotics this morning too and the information says -
"Amoxicillin capsules do not have known interactions with any food or drink. Alcohol may irritate your stomach if taken with amoxicillin, so use it with moderation."
I think that's a typo...Surely what it should say is -
"Amoxicillin capsules do not have known interactions with any food or drink. Alcohol may irritate your stomach if taken with amoxicillin, so use it with a couple of pints while in The Moderation."
For those not in the know "The Moderation" is a pub just round the corner from the Caversham house :-)
So once again I leave you fully topped up on my current affairs and wish you a wonderful day and .....ERM...Same time tomorrow.
Had a call from a very influential person in the catering trade yesterday (Private Chef to the future king of England for 11 years and founder of the Duchy Originals brand) who was thrilled that we'd found a business opportunity and that we are serious about giving it a go.
The call got off to a very bad start due to some crossed wires. I mentioned to them the premises in question and after what can only be described as a torrent of bad news and a firm warning to stay well away I suddenly realised that we were talking about two completely different places. The sigh of relief coming from the other end of the phone was all too apparent :-)
In the end the conversation turned to excitement and optimism with the promise that they'd be at the end of the phone if ever we needed anything and that they'd be glad to help in anyway possible in order to get our dream under way.
The studying is going well. I'm getting so involved and interested in this book that I just cannot wait to read the next page....I even learn't something about boiling water yesterday !! What may you ask is there that can possibly be learn't about plain old boiling water.............ERM..............A Lot :-)
More exciting news is that we've been given 4 freshly caught Trout (1 Rainbow & 3 Brown) which are currently in the fridge waiting to be turned into something yummy. My study book has a recipe in it for "Fillets of Sole Meuniére" which can be adapted for Trout methinks.
They are whole so should be fun gutting and filleting them later with Emily. She's mesmerised by all that kind of stuff. If she doesn't get involved in food in the future she'd make a wonderful Biology teacher or Veterinary Surgeon....Food Science or Science Science it's all the same to me....Science rocks !!
Picked up some Antibiotics this morning too and the information says -
"Amoxicillin capsules do not have known interactions with any food or drink. Alcohol may irritate your stomach if taken with amoxicillin, so use it with moderation."
I think that's a typo...Surely what it should say is -
"Amoxicillin capsules do not have known interactions with any food or drink. Alcohol may irritate your stomach if taken with amoxicillin, so use it with a couple of pints while in The Moderation."
For those not in the know "The Moderation" is a pub just round the corner from the Caversham house :-)
So once again I leave you fully topped up on my current affairs and wish you a wonderful day and .....ERM...Same time tomorrow.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Short and Sweet...
Just a quick one today as I'm all grumpy guts because of my cough. Actually mamanged to pull something in my neck/shoulder just from coughing yesterday and it's still sore.
Don't worry Mum I'm going to the Docs later.
So the only real news I have is that I have the 1am - 2am slot for the party on Friday/Saturday down at The Venue in Reading.
Oh and I also got some advice from Heston Blumenthal....He says I should never lose enthusiasm and temper this with a solid classical foundation.
OK...........will do :-)
Don't worry Mum I'm going to the Docs later.
So the only real news I have is that I have the 1am - 2am slot for the party on Friday/Saturday down at The Venue in Reading.
Oh and I also got some advice from Heston Blumenthal....He says I should never lose enthusiasm and temper this with a solid classical foundation.
OK...........will do :-)
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