Why Do I Want To Win a Cake Stand?
I bought some very nice strawberries from Waitrose on Friday.
Strawberries From Waitrose
Why would I want to win a cake stand?
Dr. Rosemary Says It’s OK To Eat Eggs
Rosemary Leonard has just been recommending that we eat more eggs, saying that they have proteins that are good for your eyes and vitamins D and B12.
An interesting thing she said was that Mexicans eat the most eggs per person. Someone said, this was because Mexico is a poor country, but it would be interesting to know why.
For the Royal Wedding, a friend and his Mexican wife stayed. On knowing that I was a coeliac, she said that Mexicans don’t eat much bread. But they do eat maize-based tortillas.
Does anybody have any information on the numbers of coeliacs in Mexico and how they get on? I suppose that their diet will be ruined by their neighbour to the north.
Byron Hamburgers
I ate in Byron Hamburgers at Islington Green tonight. It was good and it made a nice change for me to have a real gluten-free hamburger and chips.
I also got to thinking about the similarities between my father and Lord Byron.
For a start they were both poets, although my father’s output wasn’t very large and was much less famous and was meant to be spoken with a Cockney accent. But then my father was probably a better printer than the noble Lord.
They both married women with the surname of Millbank, although Byron’s wife had a spelling of Milbanke.
And then just like I am a computer programmer, so was Lord Byron’s daughter; Ada, Countess of Lovelace.
But that’s as far as the links go.
Do Tinned Artichokes Make You Rich?
I’ve just looked up the richest women in the UK.
I was once in Waitrose in Newmarket and one of the top ten was buying lots of tinned artichokes.
Is there a connection?
I Don’t Like Polenta
If offered polenta cake, I’d usually say thanks but no thanks.
However, in Carluccio’s in Upper Street last week, because I had time to kill, I popped in for a coffee and asked if they had any gluten free snacks to go with it. The waiter, who knows I am a coeliac and am very particular, then showed me an enormous polenta cake, which he assured was safe for me. Although the slice was quite large, I decided to have one.
I didn’t regret it, as it was very good. It was about three pounds though, but it would have been big enough to share.
So that’s another thing off the list of things I won’t touch!
I did try to buy another slice in their caffe at St. Pancras but they didn’t have one. So if you want to try one, check before going.
Problems with Genius Bread
I like the Genius gluten-free bread, as the texture seems to be just right for me. It also makes very good toast, which I like to have with proper jam or marmelade. I suppose, I’ve been eating it for perhaps a year, since it started to be stocked in Waitrose in Newmarket.
But I’ve been having problems with it lately, in that it tends to grow a spotty mould after only a couple of days, so I have to throw it away. This probably started a couple of months ago.
I thought that it might be me, but then I use the same bread bin as I did in Suffolk, I keep the bread properly wrapped, when I’ve cut it for the first time. I also thought it could be the air in London, which hasn’t been of too high a quality since about CHristmas.
But then in Waitrose in Upper Street, Islington, when I was reaching for a new loaf, a lady was doing the same. So I asked her, if she’d had a problem with the bread and she said yes.
I did report it in store at Customer Services to an assistant, who seemed to know the product well as she said she had a wheat intolerance.
So is this a temporary problem or something more serious?
A First Visit to ExCel
ExCel is an exhibition and conference centre in London’s Docklands. Despite it being opened for several years, I’ve never gone.
Until today, when I went to see Grand Designs Live.
It is certainly a lot better than Earls Court or Olympia, which have been tired for years.
I was even able to get a gluten-free salad and a fresh orange juice.
Gluten-Free Salad and Juice at ExCel
My only worry is the wooden disposable cutlery. It often isn’t strong enough for my hands.
I remember asking for any gluten-free options at Earls Court some years ago and got a reply which was something like. “There is none and anyway if we offered anything, we wouldn’t sell any, as you’re the first that’s asked.”
I got no reply to my letter of complaint.
Some People Have All the Luck
This pub will be coining it in after the wedding.
The Shape of Things To Come
BBC London has just reported live from a party in Canning Town. Some may think that the royal wedding is a waste of space, but not the East End.
Roll on the Olympics!
Harira
This is another recipe from One-pot Cooking (“Australian Women’s Weekly”)
The ingredients are as follows and are enough for four.
- 100 g. of green lentils
- 500g diced lamb, cut into 1 cm. pieces. I got it from the butchery counter in Waitrose already cut up.
- 1 medium onion, chopped finely.
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed. I used garlic granules.
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- pinch of saffron threads
- 1.5 litres water
- 400g can chikpeas, rinsed and drained
- 100g of long grain rice.
- 3 small tomatoes, finely chopped
- ¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
The method was as follows.
- Cook lentils, lasmb, onion, garlic and spices in a large flameproof casserole dish, sirring until lamb is browned.
- Add the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for one hour.
- Add chickpeas, rice and tomato to dish.
- Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until rice is just tender.
- Stir in the parsley.
It was simple, pretty quick and everybody liked it.
The Anonymous Widower 