Moroccan Chicken Casserole
This is something I wouldn’t have cooked, as if asked I would have said that I didn’t like apricots. But it was very nice. As I cooked it late at night, I actually froze it in four small pots and have only ate it after defrosting in the AGA.
The great advantage for me about this recipe is that it only uses one saucepan.
I got it from Crazy Squirrel.
You will need the following for four.
- 8 Chicken thighs – I used 4 breasts cut in half
- 2 Onions, chopped
- 2cm piece Root ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 180g Dried apricots
- 500ml Chicken stock – I made a gluten-free stock from a Marigold bouillon powder
- Salt and freshly ground Black pepper
And this is how you make it.
- In a large saucepan fry the chicken thighs over a high heat until brown all over (approximately 10 minutes).
- Add the onion and spices and fry for a further 5 minutes until the onion has softened.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
It is very simple.
The Advantages of European Time
I was at Newmarket Races last night and got chatting to a friend about one of my beefs with the UK; the fact that we don’t have the same time as most of the UK.
To take a narrow view, horse racing would benefit enormously, in that with longer evenings, there would be a much longer time, when evening meetings would be viable. As they would generally be an hour later, there would be much more time to finish work and come racing, so it would be likely that current evening meetings would benefit. Not that last night wasn’t a large crowd!
Now if racing would benefit, so would lots of other outdoor activities and sports, from just walking in the park to playing a game of golf. I also think that some sports like football, where they use floodlights would benefit financially as they wouldn’t need to be used so much. Aren’t we supposed to be saving energy?
There is always the argument that more children would get injured going to school in the dark. This is wrong, as when we didn’t put the clocks forward in the winter of 1968-69, the number actually went down, as most accidents occur after school and then it was light. Incidentally, I worked at ICI at the time, and the worst thing that happened was that people left their lights on when they parked after driving to work. Cars warn you now!
And there is the argument about farmers not wanting to get up in the dark. I have kept horses for years and you do a lot of the work according to the sun and not the clock. All my farmer friends are the same and don’t care at all what the clock says.
So is the real reason, we don’t have European time, the fact that if we did, the tabloids would say that we are cow-towing to the wishes of the EU. Bollocks!
You will note I have not said anything about the international advantages of being on the same time as Europe. They are so overwhelming, I’ve not bothered.
Status Quo at Newmarket
I went to Newmarket Races last night and after racing Status Quo performed.
Status Quo at Newmarket
They were very good. Strangely they are not a band that I’ve followed, which was probably because I was at Liverpool University in the 1960s and tended to follow the bands I’d seen there.
It was interesting to note that Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt got together in 1967. That means that they have been a partnership longer than I was married to my late wife, who I met coincidentally early in the same year.
It’s almost sad for me!
Captain Pugwash Sails Away
John Ryan, the creator of Captain Pugwash, died last week. He gave generations of kids, myself included, lots of fun.
Thank you, John!
One anecdote on the radio was that when first aired in the 1950s, the animation was done live using three easels. That’s shows a certain confidence.
How to Complain – Part 2
The Times yesterday had a long article yesterday on the story I detailed under How to Complain. Read the Time article, as there is some interesting on-line comment from other disgruntled passengers.
One thing that the article says, is complain with humour.
Years ago, I had a couple of bad experiences on PanAm, so I vowed never to fly them again. At the time, my company had a US Head Office in Houston and I used to go a couple of times a year. But at the time, the alternatives were fly either to fly British Calendonian direct or Braniff via Dallas. Now, I know my flying and after various incidents, I didn’t like DC10s, so I often went by a roundabout route, changing perhaps in Chicago or Boston.
But then PanAm decided to fly TriStars direct from Houston to Gatwick.
So I thought I’d give it a try and was actually pleasantly surprised. Especially, as the planes were often half-empty and you could usually find four seats in steerage to lie across for the flight back to Blighty.
So as the article in The Times says, I used humour not to complain, but to thank them for the service. I remember, I started the letter with something like.
What’s gone wrong with your airline? I vowed some years ago never to fly with PanAm again, after some bad experiences, but after flying between Gatwick and Houston, I certainly will again, after the great service.
I got a very nice letter in the same vein in return and continued to fly PanAm to Houston until the company was sold. Unfortunately, I don’t have the letters now.
But it does show, that humour is the best policy.
The problem now, is that a lot of complaints are handled in countries, where the British, American or French, sense of humour is not understood, so the jokes may fall on deaf ears.
It’s funny, but all airlines mentioned no longer exist.
The Anonymous Widower 