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.

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 :-)

Books....

I'm not normally a prolific reader by any stretch of the imagination but at present I have three on the go and I can't get enough of them.

I'm around 100 pages into "French Provincial Cooking" by Elizabeth David and I've not hit a single recipe yet, it mostly seems to be a massive rant at how poorly the English viewed French cooking at the time and of course vice versa.

I just love the way she writes. She comes across as one of those terribly posh but slightly squiffy women that you sometimes see in pubs talking the hind legs off a Donkey (or should that be "Ooooorf an Ass"?). Actually she reminds me of my Nanna !!!

I do miss my Nanna dearly. I miss the way she talked, she was brought up near Glasgow the actual place is etched in my memory but for some reason I cannot think of it right now. Anyway I'm pretty sure the area was not conducive to the accent that my Nanna had which was kind of a mixture of Robbie Coltrane, Billy Connelly and Queen Elizabeth.

"When" wasn't pronounced "Wen" it was "Whhhen", lots of emphasis on the "Wh"

I also miss her copies of Country Life magazine that she used to have my Polish Grandad go down to the Newsagents and pick up. Can you imagine that ?!?! My lovely Grandpops, quite obviously foreign because his grasp of the English language was never great, in his Brown cords, cardigan and flat cap buying a high society country living and lifestyle magazine and taking it back to a two bedroom council flat.

We'd look through every issue to try and find the perfect country house to live in. Of course Nanna always wanted a Castle in Scotland, she'd have made the best Lady of the Glen ever. Instead of fending off Marauders by tipping boiling fat from the ramparts she would definitely substitute the fat for Lentil and Bacon soup.

One of the other books is aimed more at the professional cook or student cook, it's origins are from the United States but as it's in it's seventh edition now it's very varied in it's use of ingredients and recipes so apart from other reference books of the same ilk which generally seem to be based on French food this one has a more Global/International feel about it.

It really does cover all bases and starts off explaining how a modern kitchen works and how that has changed from the days of Marie-Antoine Carême through Georges Auguste Escoffier right up to the present day. Not sure I'll ever be in a position to have all these kitchen stations in place but it's good to know how it all works.

Health and Safety, Food Hygiene, Stock rotation and Menu Planning are all covered in this mammoth book and I can't wait to get to each section.....Oh it's "Professional Cooking 7th Edition" by Wayne Gisslen if anybody is interested....it's hefty both in size and in cost !!!

Good day..

Snagged......

Good Monday everybody :-)

What a nice weekend that was. Been busy hence no blog so do forgive me.

Friday night spent in London at a very nice hotel with an epic view of Tower Bridge. We went out had a wander around St Katherines Dock in the evening and then grabbed some food but it was really quite late so we ended up in a smoke house for Burgers and Ribs. You have to indulge yourself in these pleasures every now and again. Not exactly gourmet but certainly much better than the god awful TGI Fridays !!

Saturday we awoke to a glorious morning, drew back the curtains and let the sunshine in showing off the beautiful skyline over the South Bank of the Thames. Full breakfast was ordered the previous evening so was duly delivered to the door at 9:30am and eaten without care for crumb spillage.

Originally we were going to take the tube over to South Kensington but given that is was a good day and that we'd not really seen too many landmarks we (I) decided that we should walk the 5 or so miles from Tower Bridge.

Glad we did too, not sure my feet and legs are too happy about it even now but it was very enjoyable.

First place we walked through was the Tower of London and we saw the Ravenmaster by the gates. Wouldn't have had a clue who he was had he not just been on some kids TV program we'd literally just turned off prior to leaving the hotel.

I have to stop to have a mini rant about a certain section of the community here because why oh why do people feel the need to go jogging right through these massive tourist hotspots ?!!?!? They could quite easily avoid it but they don't because these people see jogging as an essential accessory to life. You know the types....

"What did you do yesterday?"
"Oh well after my morning run....10 miles.....or was it 2000 miles...I dunno it's all the same when you are a jogger like me...well anyway after my run I just chillaxio'd to the maxio'd"
"So you ran pointlessly for miles, knocking people over along the way then did nothing remotely useful for the rest of the entire day?"
"Yeeeeeeeeep"
"WOW you really must be an amazing person.............."

Onwards we go to the smallest city in the UK..........The City of London. Now I have spent quite some time in London working, mainly north London but I also had a spell working in Bishopsgate just after that horrid IRA bomb was detonated. It's here where I found out that I have Vertigo.....in reverse !!!

OK I'm not the greatest with heights full stop but I also really dislike standing at the base of tall buildings. When I look up at the them I get all goose pimply because they seen to impose themselves upon me like some really tall person bending down to peer into my face.

I did find however that this is limited to rectangular shaped buildings because I didn't get the same feeling for the building at 30 St Mary's Axe....Norman Foster's "Gherkin" of course. What an amazing building that is.

I'm guessing that because of the curvy nature if this building those claustrophobic feelings I get from the more regimented giant structures such as the neighbouring Natwest Tower seem to fade away to other more pressing questions such as how do they clean the windows on a curved building ?!?!?

Perhaps the highlight of this part of the journey was stumbling across "Brassiere Blanc" in Threadneedle Street. Raymond Blanc's City of London restaurant and definitely the next place on the list for something to eat. I'm certain we'd have eaten there right there and then had it have been open but alas it wasn't no doubt due to the square mile being something like a scene from the film 28 days later over the weekend.

No doubt all these wheeler dealers off slumming it at some summer music festival or winding down after a hard week of betting with the countries future at Daddies Wiltshire retreat.

Such an amazing amount of betting shops in the City of London too.........More Coral's than the Great Barrier Reef!!!

Anyway we did eventually make it to South Kensington but we did have to give the feet a rest so got a train from Piccadilly rather than trudge the whole distance in Zag Zag form.

A long long time ago, when I was still a schoolboy the Mother of my good friend at the time Sharon used to own a quaint little Sandwich Bar in South Kensington called Cromwells so I was quite looking forward to stopping there for a coffee but the bloomin place had gone, replaced by another Sandwich bar which had taken over the whole row of shops that I vaguely remember being there. Still SK does hold some very fond memories for me during those impressionable teenage years so regardless of the shop it's still nice going there.

I suppose it was about 1pm by the time we were approaching the Museums so decided that today we'd just visit the Natural History Museum rather than try to cram in both that and the Science museum in a few short hours.

I've been to the Natural History museum a few times but I really remember the first ever time. It was with my Junior School and with my favourite teacher ever Miss Lloyd (Who later became Mrs Dance) but I don't remember it for any of the exhibitions or artefacts. Me being me I remember it only for the packed lunch that we ate while playing around the bases of the columns that support the buildings east side! Even at that age food was always the number one priority.

So anyway we whipped around the museum taking in all we wanted. I suppose it's one of the good things about being semi-intelligent is that you can gloss over things in Museums because you already know full well why the artefact is there and you just want to see it.

After the Museum we stopped along Knightsbridge for some lunch. Found this charming little roadside restaurant that pulled me in with the promise of Dim Sum. Carley had never had this before so I ordered a good amount of different dishes and a cold bottle of Prosecco and we sat there eating away contently while watching the people go by, many of whom had the obligatory Knightsbridge accessory............The Harrods Food Hall carrier Bag.

Well enough was enough and we got ourselves back on the train and headed back to the sanctuary of Berkshire in time to attend my Cricket Clubs end of season bash. Was all very nice and jolly as you'd expect that was until we headed back to a friends house and went through his entire vinyl record collection until 7am !!! Loads of old wonderful tunes from SKA to Motown....Randy Crawford is just the best !!

Yesterday of course was just junk food, TV and Football Manager. Pizza Hut, documentaries on the BBC iPlayer and Watford finishing 7th in the Premiership just behind Man Utd finished the weekend off nicely albeit in a hungover fashion.

The snagged heading refers to the pub situation. My legal guys have gone over the copy of the lease which I have and have found many key points that are very ambiguous and some that have not been updated to take into account the newest licensing act bought in in 2003. Hopefully these will get cleared up shortly and we can once again get the ball rolling.

Toodlepipions....

Good Morning.....

You won't be getting any rants out of me today. No Sir'eeeeeeee!

I was thinking about going off on one about guys in their mid 20's who wear Polo shirts with the collar flicked up and how it was so sad that they feel the need at this tender age to cling onto their youth......but I won't.............I'll save that for another day.

Or I was going to harp on about people who play for pub football teams who think that by doing so they are akin to over priced professionals.....but I won't

Why?

Because today is a good day for two specific reasons.

1. I have had the most wonderful and beautiful morning with our little angel Emily. We sat in the kitchen and chatted about so many things over breakfast...Let see what we're they....

Can we get a Dog?
Can we go to the Park?
Cat Poo.
How excited we both are about the Pub.
Cold Toast.
Ibiza.
Mummy catching flies while asleep.
Packed lunches.

Oh the joys :-) Made me completely forget about the Chateauneuf Du Pape head that I've got going on!!

2. It's book day...Amazon assure me that my latest purchases will be arriving at my office before 1pm !!

This is my Christmas !!!

I'mm too excited to type anymore............Maybe an update later :-)

Ciao for now (<<<< I'll rant about how much I hate that saying soon too)

Interview....

Well today is the day that the interview I did for the radio gets broadcast.

Firstly it's not a massive national radio but a small internet based community radio for the Reading area but I assume it can be listened to from far and wide.

It's going out between 12pm and 2pm on reading4u.org.

For my international readers -

10pm - Melbourne
5am - L.A. (I'll get a recording)
2pm - Germany

Helen Wright is the presenter of the local food show and she wanted to talk to us about the Reading, Steady, Cook! Competition that we took part in last year. It was all very nice and we each did a little chat on the things we cooked (or organised in Abby's case) and the whole experience.

I think the competition part and interviews are going to be covered in the first 30 mins of the show.

After that we did a bit of cake eating and reviewing. Pretty sure I made some rather silly comments because both the Apple and Walnut Cake and Chocolate Brownie we're fantastic.

I'll try and get the names of the companies that supplied them. They were both organic, small independents. They both do mail order I believe, infact I think one of them does a cake basket scheme pretty similar to the vegetable basket schemes from people like Riverford etc etc.

I'll try and get the names of both and links to websites and post them up later.

Also yesterday I did one of my favourite things to do in the whole world and that is buy cookery books.

I needed to get some about running a professional kitchen, I still need more of these, especially books that regard food safety practices but I also got a couple that I just know are going to inspire me.

Check them out if you like a good cookbook -

‎1. The Science of Good Food: The Ultimate Reference on How Cooking Works by David Joachim, Andrew Schloss
2. Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen
3. French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David
4. The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit

I absolutely adore all Elizabeth David books. The way she writes them is so personal and the stories told within the recipes themselves can somehow magically take you there to where she is making the dish...Such a wonderful woman.

The Flavour Thesaurus is one I'm eager to get reading. It lists pages upon pages of food combinations. I've only scanned through it quickly in the book shop and there are some classic ones as well as some very obscure ones that I'm keen to experiment with.

Gonna take while to get through them all but I'll let you know how I get on.

Anyway would lovely if any of you could get to listen to the radio show and maybe add some comments to the shows/stations messageboard.

The organisers of the competition are keen to get going on the 2011 competition and want to make it even bigger and better this time around so if anybody is interested in taking part please do let me know and I'll forward you the relevant contacts or have the organisers contact yourselves.

Hopefully I'll be ineligible due when it comes round again because of course I hope to be a professional by that time and the competition is only open to amateurs....Maybe I can be a venue for the heats ...... Now there's an idea !?!?

Still there.....

Damn this bally coughiness I have. Damn and blast and damn again.

It's not going to beat me, too many things on my mind to be bullied into submission by some nasty chest gremlins.

So this morning I realised that I'll not be able to make another trip to Ibiza this year due to other expenditure requirements. Still I've already been once this summer and I had such a wonderful time that I really don't feel too perturbed by not going again.

Terrible that the people in the news have to once again focus on the stories of drug misuse and supply on the island and not the fact that 1000's upon 1000's of people go there throughout the year and manage to have a wonderfully magical time completely away from this one road in one resort that these stories emanate from.

One report says that 97% of the visitors to the island are taking drugs !!! What a complete load of rubbish. Whoever grabbed this number out of the sky quite obviously has never been there and if they have it was to the "West End" of San Antonio which for anybody non familiar is just one street and a few bars off it. 300 Yards long at most!!!

The name "West End" conjures up an image of a sprawling metropolis of flashing lights, Theatre and Cabaret however this "West End" is merely a haven for juvenile delinquent binge drinkers and to be honest I am quite pleased it is there because it keeps the horrid oiks that populate this area well out of the way of the other quite fantastic parts of not only that resort but the whole island.

Take these propaganda reporters to Sands or Ushaia over in Playa Den Bossa or perhaps take them up for a stroll around D'Alt Villa followed by a shopping trip in Ibiza Town then let them decide if it's a drug fuelled haven of sex and shame. Maybe take them around the wonderful beaches at Benirras, Calle Comte, Salinas or take a boat trip over to Formentera.

Take them up to the round family resorts of Santa Eularia and Portinax and let them watch smiling children swim in the crystal clear waters and build sandcastles on the beautiful award winning beaches.

Have these people ever sat down to a lovely meal at Villa Mercedes by the port only a minutea walk away from the "West End"? Have they sat amongst friends with a nice ice cold jug of Sangria and watched the sunset by Café del Mar? Have they had traditional Paella over at Calle D'Hort while looking out over the sea to the magical rock of Es Vedra?................Maybe they have but it's just not news is it?

Yes people there do take drugs, not 97% of people though !!! It shouldn't be encouraged in anyway, shape or form but irresponsible reporting isn't going to do anything other than antagonise the problem.

It really winds me up how these stories are manufactured by people just desperate to get their names in print and forgetting what a detrimental effect it has on the lives of the people living and working there.

Apart from the exporting of Salt Ibiza relies solely on Tourism and with the season approaching it's end some dimwit journalists decide that there is not enough easy news to comment on so they jump on the first bandwagon they see, grabbing numbers out of the air.

Makes me laugh that these people spend years and years at university to gain journalism degrees thinking that they are going to be the next big reporter but ultimately what they end up doing is searching the gutter hoping to pick up on one scrap of news that might earn them enough to fund there next purchase of baked beans.

These are probably the same people that 5 years ago, on their summer year out, we're the exact same people the are reporting on. Harbouring a grudge because just like so many people who go out there each year in search of a dream they too came back with nothing but a big student loan and very angry parents.


Oh my I've gone off on one again................

Where was I................?

Right............ERM...........OK.........Pub stuff.

I think too that this whole pub malarky is going to cost quite a bit to get going even before we've got to a stage where we can approach potential investors. Lots of legal things to set up and lots of paperwork to pay these guys to mull over prior to making a full commitment so it still could be good money going nowhere.

Still there is absolutely no point going in feet first and making a mistake that could ultimately cost a hell of a lot more.

There is also the added value it gives to our business plan showing that we've deliberated fully and have taken very diligent steps towards ensuring that it is concise and achievable. All these things should stand us in good stead when looking for backers.

I'm going to make a start on designing a full menu during my spare time this week including complete costings, price breakdowns and profit margins etc etc. I need to make it pretty simple but also take into consideration the stock that'll be being used and how I can get maximum usage out for absolutely everything I buy.

Need to also make considerations for shelf like and storage conditions as stock rotation and ensuring that there is absolutely no chance of the food becoming contaminated by any nasties. I'm pretty good with things like that anyway but I think I'll enrol myself in food safety course all the same. These certificates are necessary for anybody wanting to serve food to the public so just as the NCPLH award it'd just be sensible to get it done right away.

Will be speaking to a lawyer later who has been recommended to me as a specialist in the licensing trade. I'm hoping that he'll be able to assist us right through this opening stage and then for all things necessary going forward.

Never spoken to a lawyer before, quite daunting really. Mind you most people I know who have been in contact are for negative things and not for such a positive things as this.