The Best Food I’ve Ever Tasted
I’ve eaten in some amazing restaurants and I’ve also eaten very well in my own house or those of others.
But whether, I’m talking about meat, fish, fruit or vegetables, all good food has one thing in common.
It has been cooked from the finest ingredients, that have been grown or gathered with the utmost care.
I remember eating some vegetables once in guest house in a small stately home, that was owned by the local farmer somewhere near Bishop Auckland. He had grown the vegetables in the kitchen garden and didn’t serve any vegetables he didn’t grow. I’ve also eaten vegetables and chickens raised in the same way on a West Indian island and the taste couldn’t be faulted.
I actually don’t think either of these places were certified organic, but they were just grown, by someone who knew their stuff.
And this is the key fact, when you are growing food. It’s all about knowledge and careful husbandry.
I’ve also had beef, that was illegally home-killed by the farmer. But as he shot the animal in the field, there was no stress. It was without compare!
The trouble is that most people don’t know the taste of real food! To find out the difference this summer, try a few strawberries from a proper farm or garden, where they are grown with care and compare them to those in the local supermarket.
I don’t like parsnips. But three years ago, we did a favour for a farmer, who grew them for the supermarkets. He brought round a tray of just harvested and hand washed parsnips from the field, as part of the thanks. Because they were quality vegetables, just an hour or so out of the field, they were unrecognisable when compared to the product sold in any supermarket. And yet they were the same!
In my view, the only reason to buy organic food, is that the farmer has put more care into its production. So for a start they’ve probably grown it in their best field, and as they get a premium price, they’ve made sure, it’s had the best of husbandry.
Apparently, It’s Romanian Horsemeat!
According to this report on the BBC, the horsemeat at the heart of your burgers and lasagne is of Romanian origin.
What the article doesn’t say is that the reason why horses are being killed in Romania because they are now no longer allowed on the road. This was said by an expert on the BBC News.
So these horses and our consciences are the victims of a Road Safety campaign in Romania.
At least the horses are dead before they are transported all the way across Europe. This couldn’t always be said for some of the meat we export, as it is exported live, so that the recipients can say it is locally killed.
It just shows how stupid everybody involved is, as to take a given number of animals to somewhere in Europe, takes three animal trucks or one refrigerated one. I’ve also taken a competition horse all the way from Suffolk to Scotland, and this needs stops on the way and a good rest in a field or large stable with lots of straw at the end, to make sure the animal is in the correct state to compete.
A farmer friend, who rears top quality meat for Waitrose and others, told me that, the law should be that all meat should be shown as EU-killed in the shop, so that the French, Greeks and Italians, couldn’t say it was locally-killed.
But then when did the EU do something sensible, where animal welfare is concerned.
Some Stupid Smokers
It was too wet to get my camera out, with it raining terribly badly an hour or so ago.
However, two women, were huddling under an umbrella outside the pub on the corner, trying to have a fag.
If the fags don’t give them cancer, the weather will give them pneumonia!
You can only die one way, but these two stupid women will certainly manage to do it before their time.
Have Carluccio’s Cracked Wi-Fi?
In Manchester yesterday, I had a breakfast-cum-lunch in Carluccio’s in Manchester Piccadilly station.
It was the first of their caffes, where I found that wi-fi had been installed. As it was a station that supposedly had Network Rail’s wi-fi, I gave it a go and found that I could collect to Carluccio’s network.
And very good it was too! It was also pretty hassle-free, in that there was no login or registration process. Which is as it should be!
I hope that they don’t find their hot-spot gets used as a free download for masses of data, but there is nothing worse than going into a pub or restaurant and finding that getting a Wi-fi connection is a complete hassle.
But then, all I ever want to do is check e-mails, read a few web pages or use the machine locally. I don’t listen to music, play games or watch videos or live action on a small device.
Manchester’s Disorganised Public Transport
Coming from London, you get to know, what properly connected and information-rich public transport can do for you.
Arrive at any Underground station and they’ll be staff to speed you on your way, with proper ticket information booths at many mainline stations like Euston. Nearly every bus stop, in the capital, also has a local map and a spider map for buses in the area. And of course every bus stop now has a full text message information system.
Yesterday, I went to Blackburn to see Ipswich play. I chose to go the direct but slower route via Manchester, as this would allow me to have a decent lunch in Carluccio’s in Manchester Piccadilly station.
I arrived at the station courtesy of a Virgin Train’s Pendolino just before twelve and without any difficulty, bought myself an Off Peak Return from any Manchester station to Blackburn for the princely sum of £6.15, from a well-staffed Virgin Trains ticket office. At least I didn’t have the ticket problem, that I had at Liverpool on this day, where staff seemed to be non-existent.
I had an excellent brunch in Carluccio’s before setting off to Manchester Victoria by tram to get the direct train to Blackburn. Piccadilly to Victoria is a standard tram journey across the city, if you’re going onward like I was, after coming up from London, but as seems to be common on all Manchester transport, the system assumes everybody knows where they are going. There was no staff on the tram station to ask either.
Some might object, that there was no specific Senior ticket and you have to pay the full fare. I could afford the £1.10, so what does it matter. But other visitors might not be so affluent. After all, Sheffield allows me on their trams with my Freedom Pass, which of course doubles as an England-wide bus pass. But not on Manchester trams!
The train to Blackburn was one of the clapped out Pacers and Sprinters like these.
Two Clapped Out Trains
It was clean and worked reasonably well, but the passenger information system was very nineteenth century. It was a new line to me and I was no idea, where I was and which was the next station. As it was Blackburn was obvious.
Blackburn station has had a bit of a makeover, but this does not apply to anything to do with the buses. I was thinking about getting a taxi, when I saw a 1 bus, which said it went to Darwen via Ewood Park. Again, there was no-one to ask about which bus to take and where to get it.
It was then the usual rigmarole of getting a ticket issued on the bus, which I felt like promptly dropping amongst the litter on the floor of the bus. Why can’t we have a UK-wide system for bus ticketing based on London’s successful Oyster? I hate to use the term no-brainer, but if ever there was one, this is it. But I suppose cities, like Manchester, wouldn’t want to use a London-developed system, just as they won’t use two-door buses or fit good on-board information systems.
I’ll deal with the match later and then it was repeating the process on the bus to get back to the station. There was just a list on the shelter of times and no text message information system, to know how long we’d have to wait in the cold.
Luckily, I just caught a train to Manchester Victoria and the helpful inspector, said it would be easier to change at Bolton station. I did change, there but there was no chance of a cup of tea, whilst I waited.
The Closed Buffet At Bolton Station
Finally, I ended back at Manchester Piccadilly, in the little satellite station at the back. I knew where to get the London train and made it with perhaps two minutes to spare. I paid the £15 upgrade to First Class and was one of four in the carriage. I suppose the television presenter, Garth Crooks, was pleased, as he could just fall asleep for most of the way, without being bothered by large numbers of football experts. I did laugh though, as he pulled a cap low over his face and would a thick scarf round his neck, as he walked through a fairly deserted Euston station.
So if I was the Mayor of Manchester what would I do?
1. Put a proper Manchester Transport information booth in Manchester Piccadilly station. After all, the main bus interchange in Manchester is in Piccadilly Gardens, ehich is not a short walk away.
2. Make sure, it’s obvious how you get a tram from Piccadilly to Victoria.
3 Bring Senior Tickets on the trams into line with the rest of the country. I would also like to see the ability to use Oyster and bank cards as payment on the buses and trams, so that it is easier for visitors.
4. How about moving to London’s two-door disabled and passenger-friendly information-rich buses? This one might even get more people out of their cars, as I believe they have in London.
5. Manchester needs maps everywhere! Or at least somewhere!
6. A few more staff would help too!
I know Blackburn is outside of the Greater Manchester area, but a lot of the same things apply.
I suppose the problem, is that if you use public transport in large parts of the north, you’re a loser, so you should get lost and not be a drain on car-owning tax-payers!
Manchester public transport, must be a nightmare for the blind. Or don’t people go blind in the north?
The Other Side Of French Horsemeat
We may get worried about horsemeat appearing in burgers and lasagne, but I don’t think that those like me, who choose their food with care, have much to worry about, as I said here.
But one point about the French and horsemeat has been quietly forgotten. The French, like we do, love their heavy horses. And coming from Suffolk, you don’t forget that horses like the Suffolk Horse are on the endangered list. Quite frankly, they are just so expensive to keep!
The French have a pragmatic solution to keeping their heavy horses alive.
They eat them!
I remember an article in the equine press some years ago, which said that the French heavy horses, were in much better health than the British ones, precisely because of their role in the meat trade.
The Own Goal Of The Season
The press are having a field day about Gareth Barry’s superb own goal for Manchester City yesterday. Here’s the article in The Sun.
At least though there is some sort of justice, as after all the Premier League isn’t fair, where some teams spend money like water. Or should that be oil?
The Anonymous Widower 