Giving Up On Real Garlic
Is this lazy, as I’ve just bought some garlic granules in Waitrose? But I do find getting the pesky cloves out and crushing them.
On the package of garlic granules is a recipe for Garlic Mushrooms.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C or Gas Mark 7.
- Remove the stalks from 500g medium cup mushrooms and arrange the mushrooms, rounded side down, in a baking dish.
- Mix together 75g. softened butter, 2 tsp garlic granules, the juice and grated zest of half a lemon, 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper.
- Divide the garlic butter between the mushroom cups.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the garlic butter is sizzling.
- Serve with bread to mop-up the juice.
Pizza Express in Swansea
I made very little progress in finding a gluten-free restaurant in Swansea, so it had to be a tuna salad with a glass of wine at Pizza Express.
It was a great improvement on my dreadful trip to Coventry, where the waitress had learned her trade by watching Catherine Tate videos. But saying that, Pizza Express in Leeds had been very good too.
Swansea is also a Pizza Express with good views of the old Swansea Castle.
Swansea Castle
The waiter also told me how to find the Liberty Stadium, which wasn’t shown on any direction signs or maps.
Network Rail’s Pigeon Eradicator
This is not what you think it is on the platforms at London Paddington!
Network Rail's Pigeon Eradicator
It has shades of Hancock in The Radio Ham, where he was annoyed with pigeons on his aerials, so he gave them 1,000 volts and a very cheap thrill.
You may think it is to stop the pigeons sitting on the video cameras, but it is a fiendish device to kill them, by giving them a large electric shock. Note how one camera is angled so it can see the pigeons on the spikes. This allowed the charge to be accurately timed. The pigeons are then recycled in the meat pies on the trains from London.
Football Shirt Sponsorship
Years ago, many of the top football clubs had shirts that were sponsored by drinks companies.
I’m just watching Manchester United and Everton on the television. United are sponsored by Aon, who are an insurance company, although they are a lot more than that! Everton on the other hand are sponsored by Chang, which is a beer company. To me, a brewer is someone who makes real ale, and I doubt that the Thai company who makes it observe the same principles as say Adnams or the Germans. I don’t think that you would call Chang a significant player in the UK drinks market. It’s certainly something that I as a coeliac couldn’t drink safely. The tie-up between Everton and Chang also has some interesting links to post-tsunami projects, so it could be seen as being benficial to both partners. It certainly doesn’t promote excessive drinking.
So are any other clubs in the English Premier League sponored by drinks companies. Carlsberg used to sponasor Liverpool and in fact the Premier League, but I don’t think they do anymore. Obviously, advertising at football in England doesn’t make sense to them now.
So who sponsor the shirts of the other teams? The complete list is here.
- Arsenal – Emirates – airline
- Aston Villa – FxPro – financial trading
- Birmingham – F & C Investments – finance
- Blackburn Rovers – Crown Paints – paint
- Blackpool – Wonga – finance
- Bolton – 188Bet – gambling
- Chelsea – Samsung – electronics
- Everton – Chang – alcoholic beverages
- Fulham – FxPro – financial trading
- Liverpool – Standard Chartered – finance
- Manchester City – Etihad – airline
- Manchester United – AON – finance
- Newcastle United – Northern Rock – finance
- Stoke City – Britannia Building Society – finance
- Sunderland – Tombola – gambling
- Tottenham Hotspur – Autonomy – technology and Investec – finance
- West Bromwich Albion – Homeserve – emergency repair experts
- West Ham – SBOBET – gambling
- Wigan Athletic – 188Bet – gambling
- Wolverhampton Wanderers – Sportingbet – gambling
If you look at many of these companies, it is unlikely I would ever deal with them. Perhaps the only ones I might use are the airlines and perhaps one or two of the finance companies. As to the betting companies, I wouldn’t use any as if I have a bet it’s on Betfair. But the only company, which anyone could possibly have any serious objection to is Wonga, which is a very high interest rate lender, that I would never touch with a bargepole. Unless of course, they were to pay me serious money for consultancy, which is unlikely.
With the exception of Everton and their deal with Chang, there are no sponsorships from alcoholic beverage companies. I think this is a good thing.
Surely though, the sponsorship of Stoke City by the Britannia Building Society is the most interesting, in that no-one can have objection to a well-run building society can they? Especially, as it is one of the longest running deals in English football.
When it comes to the nPower Championship, I can’t remember seeing a drinks company on a shirt this season.
So what about the Scottish Premier League
- Aberdeen – Team Recruitment – recruitment
- Celtic – Tennents – alcoholic beverages
- Dundee United – Calor – energy
- Hamilto – Reid Furniture – furniture
- Hearts – UKIO – finance
- Hibernian – Crabbie’s – alcoholic beverages
- Inverness – Orion Group – recruitment
- Kilmarknock – Verve – motor dealer
- Motherwell – Commsworld – communications
- Rangers – Tennetts – alcoholic beverages
- St. Johnstone – Taylor Wimpey – house builder
- St. Mirren – Carbrini – sportswear
One or two of these might have changed, but two stand out. Both Glasgow teams are sponsored by the same alcohol company.
Surely with their history of alcohol-fuelled violence at the matches and domestic violence afterwards, this is a very good idea.
Especially, as alcohol can’t be advertised on television and all Old Firm matches are televised.
In fact, I would support a total ban of the shirt sponsorship by alcohol companies throughout Europe.
How To Get Up a Coeliac’s Nose
If there is one thing that annoys me living here, it is the amount of junk I get through my letter box. Most is flyers for fast food restaurants, none of which I would dream of using. As most of the food on offer is gluten-rich, it would do me harm.
I actually had one today from Subway, who claim that all their meat is halal. But their gluten-free offerings can be counted on the fingers of Nelson’s right hand.
I shall be sending a copy of this post to Subway.
Table Tennis at the Duke of Wellington
I did try to play table tennis a few months ago, but my eyesight wasn’t good enough.
Tonight though, I went down the Duke of Wellington in the Balls Pond Road and played a couple of games for charity. I was a lot better.
I also had some very good Wye Valley asparagus with a poached duck egg on top. I did have a chat with the manager and they know their gluten-free.
The strange thing about the pub is that it is a few doors away from where some my ancestors lived in the 1850s. I just wonder if, I’m not the first member of my family to drink in the pub. I’m certainly the first to play table tennis.
Food Use-By Dates
There are reports that food use-by dates are to be changed to cut food waste.
I am a coeliac and am possibly lactose intolerant. For this reason I’ve changed to goat’s milk.
One of the benefits compared to cow’s milk, is that a one litre bottle, lasts a full three weeks and never goes off, which is a great help, as I live by myself. I’ve a little bit left in the current bottle, but the use by date is April 12th.
So I’m healthier and save money!
The Disappointing SS Great Britain
I found Brunel’s SS Great Britain very disappointing.
SS Great Britain
This is the best view you can get of the ship without paying £12.90 a person. That is just too much! Compare with how the Belfast or the Cutty Sark are displayed in London, where you can get a good view of the outside for nothing.
When you only have a couple of hours to visit an attraction, there needs to be some way to get a flavour.
The cafe was a bit of a disappointment too, as nothing was marked gluten free and it took a great deal of time to find out what was OK for me. In the end I had some very nice soup, but I still paid for the bread I didn’t need. Not that I worried about that, as the food was more important, but it would make it difficult for a family of coeliacs.
Immigration and Bad Food Induced Health Problems
David Cameron did one important thing in his speech and that was lay out facts. People will argue he has been selective, but at least he tried.
I live in Inner London and as I’m a double immigrant in the 1800s, I can’t really moan about immigrants can I? But I do get fed up with the proliferation of junk food shops everywhere, often staffed by exploited low-wage earning people with dodgy immigration status. These establishments also are constantly putting flyers for gluten-rich food through my door. I am getting a notice made that politely asks the delivery people to put them in the wheelie bin by the door, to save me the trouble.
So perhaps we should make junk food more expensive for health reasons and to combat obesity. The easiest way to do this would be to impose a high minimum wage for those who work in the fast food industry. And then make sure it is strictly enforced!
Dr. Rosemary Gets It Right
Dr. Rosemary Leonard complained about giving cheap chocolate bars with newspapers on BBC Breakfast today.
The process annoys me, especially as the bars are always gluten-rich. In fact, I no longer use W H Smith because of their practices, unless I don’t have a choice and then I just leave the vouchers on the counter.
The Anonymous Widower 