EggsMilkButter Opens Tomorrow!
I’ll soon have a nice cafe opposite for coffees and snacks called EggsMilkButter. It opens tomorrow.
I wish them every success.
Has London Got Friendlier?
Every Sunday morning, I take the Overground to Shadwell, where I switch to the DLR and go to Royal Victoria station, from where I get the Emirates Air-Line over the Thames to the O2. From there, I go to Canary Wharf station, where I have a late breakfast in Carluccio’s. This was my intension this morning, but I left my Oystercard behind, so I took the Jubilee line from Canning Town station to get to Canary Wharf. I’ve done it now perhaps six or seven times and it allows me to get a good view on the mood of London. Today everybody was very chatty and there was a generally friendly mood.
This wasn’t the first time, that I’ve noticed this upbeat mood on a personal level in recent weeks. One particular feature, is that I’ve had more talks with black people lately, than I’ve ever had in my past sixty-odd years. Could it be, that the Olympics is helping us to live together better, as in fact we all have more common interests, than those things that divide us?
In one instance, I walked away from a bus, with a black woman about my age, chatting about our health problems, both of us remarking that twenty years before, we’d have probably not said a word.
If this is the legacy of 2012, I’m all for it! Or is it just that finally we’ve developed a modern society?
Drinking My Way Back To Health
I got severely dehydrated in this house, due to the high solar gain , which caused temperatures of over thirty with zero humidity.
On the One Show on the BBC a few weeks ago, a guy from Loughborough University, suggested using milk as an electrolyte to help athletes recovery. Searching the Internet, found a few serious papers on the subject from reputable Universities. Since then, I’ve been drinking a couple of glasses of goat’s milk each day and my various pains and bad throat seems to have calmed down.
Last winter, I didn’t suffer to the same extent, but I did remark to a doctor, that I felt cappuccinos helped.
Obviously, the air-conditioning is helping too and the temperature now is about 24°C with about a 50% humidity.
The Best Restaurant For Coeliacs In The UK
For my birthday yesterday, my son took me to Arbutus in Soho for dinner with a couple of friends.
It was the usual high standard and everything was immaculate as usual.
I must have been a dozen times or so now, including twice for lunch this year and it never fails to delight with some unusual ways of cooking. Last night I had peas in a puree with roast vegetables as a starter, followed by rabbit, which was one of C’s favourites. The rabbit was accompanied with a little cottage pie in a ramekin dish, containing the vegetables and some small pieces of meat, probably from the legs of the rabbit. Now that is a simple idea for a dinner party, where the main dish is say a leg of lamb. In which case you’d use some lamb mince in the pies.
I’ve said that this is the best restaurant for coeliacs in the UK and it may well be. But there are few restaurants in the world, that do gluten-free food as well as Arbutus.
Arbutus isn’t cheap, but for a special occasion, say before seeing a show in Shaftesbury Avenue to celebrate a wedding anniversary, it must be unrivalled. C and I went a couple of times after seeing a matinee on a Saturday.
One thing they do is sell all the wines in 25ml. carafes. This cuts the cost and if you’re incompatible in terms of wine with your partner, like I am with my teetotal son, you can indulge your taste.
The restaurant is also very easy for me, as I just get a 38 bus to Chinatown and walk up Frith Street. Sadly last night Transport for London, didn’t provide one of their New Buses for London. I shall be complaining!
Wot! No Potatoes!
I bought an egg and potato side salad in Waitrose this morning for my lunch today.
Wot! No Potatoes!
I’d half put it on the plate, when I noticed it had lots of tomatoes and no potatoes.
I was in the Islington branch today and showed them the photo. They gave me another one, which I’ll have for lunch with some smoked salmon.
One For The Freezer
I like a fish pie and use a recipe from Jamie Oliver to cook a big one for a party.
Yesterday I had a fish pie from Waitrose for my supper.
A Waitrose Fish Pie For One
Last night’s was so good so today, I bought another one and put it in my freezer.
It may not be as good as mine, but at least it’s gluten free, readily available and in the double size it would be ideal for entertaining a lady. Not that I’m being lucky in that area at the moment! But then who wants a wreck with a gammy left hand, poor eyesight, a stubborn mind and no driving licence? But I do have a little bit of what attracted Debbie McGee to Paul Daniels. I’m also taller than Mr. Daniels with more hair! So I’m not giving up yet!
A Comedy Turn At Highbury Corner
I went up to the new littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner this afternoon. No problems in the shopping and in fact the shop is better than its medium sized sister at Islington, as the gluten-free selection is better and the self-service tills are easier to use.
Catching the 277 bus home, I was treated to one of the funniest comedy drunk acts in quite a few years. An obese lady, probably about fifty, with hair died a bright purple, was trying to board a bus. The stream of invective would have outshone a navvy, who had just dropped a sledge-hammer on their foot. When I arrived the lady driver of the bus, opened the door and let me in. she seemed totally unmoved at the invective and smiled widely, when I said thanks for waiting for me. In the end, the drunk was left on the pavement, still screaming loudly, much to the amusement of passengers.
One of the great advantages of Routemasters and their predecessors, was that the conductor could give a signal for the driver to leave quickly. I’ve actually seen a conductor do this, when a drunk was balanced on the rear platform and then give a small push, to make sure the drunk toppled into the road. Health and safety would stop such extreme measures these days.
Not A Bad Curry!
I had this lamb rogan gosh at the Olympic Park yesterday.
Not A Bad Curry!
It wasn’t at all bad and it was certainly better fare than I’ve found at most sporting events.
As I don’t appear to have suffered any ill effects, I would assume it was made with gram flour.
Seeig this picture though, I might say that it tasted better than it looked.
Totnes Declares Itself A Coffee Chain-Free Town
I like this article on the BBC web site about how Totnes is trying to keep the coffee chains out of the town.
Perhaps, it’s because, my maternal grandmother, who was born just round the corner from where I live now, had Devonian ancestry and that’s where I get my stubbornness from.
I Can Only Take So Much Lettuce
For lunch today, I had some smoked salmon and one of Waitrose’s potato and egg side salads. I don’t eat all the lettuce, but all the others bits like tomatoes and cucumber do get devoured.
So why do we put so much lettuce in a salad? Perhaps, it’s to feed our pet rabbits? I don’t have one!
The Anonymous Widower 