Gluten-Free on Hope Street
Hope Street is the street that links Liverpool’s two cathedrals. It is also one of the best places to eat gluten-free I’ve found. I ended up eating in a restaurant called Host, but there were several places with gluten-free offerings. I probably made the wrong choice of meal, as I had a lamb shank in a curried sauce with root vegetables, as it was so difficult to cut up with my gammy left hand. But it was lovely!
Host on Hope Street
Now to Sort the Fridge
The fridge is a nuisance in that it seems most of the shelves and the door fitments are missing or broken. But the mechanical bits that do all the work, seem to be working well.
Luckily it’s a Siemens and I’ve been able to find the replacement parts section on their web site with a little bit of help from Dino at Concept Kitchens.
So on Monday, I’ll dismantle everything and see what is needed.
A Typical Shop
I took this picture after I unloaded my backpack and shopping bag yesterday.
A Typical Shop
Note the Genius bread, Pinney’s smoked salmon, Waitrose ginger cake, goat’s yoghurt and milk and the raspberries and juice. I forgot the eggs, but otherwise, I have enough for two days.
I think that it is true to say that as I can shop every day and getting there is either a walk or a free bus ride, I’m shopping differently now.
Now that I’ve got some operating instructions for the cooker, I can also eat a greater variety of food, at least in the way they are cooked. Yesterday, I used the griddle pan to cook myself a rather nice steak, whch I served with some microwaved vegetables. I wouldn’t have normally used the latter in the past, but they were on offer and peas and sweetcorn made a change.
I think it’s also true to say that as I go past a shop every day, it makes it a lot easier. I’ll go again today, as I need some envelopes to post some goods, I’ve sold on eBay.
Baumatic Delivers
I have perhaps been a bit harsh on Baumatic and their cooker, but yesterday, they sent me the instruction manual in the post, having identified the cooker from the picture I sent them by e-mail.
That scores quite a few points.
Why We Are Obese!
A woman has just admitted on Radio 5, that she starts the day with two Red Bulls and a Mars Bar.
Enough said!
New Year in the South
Last night, I went to a New Year’s party in South London. Because of the various transport options and the fact that I can’t drive, I decided to take two buses; a 21 to Lewisham and then a 75 onwards towards Croydon. If it hadn’t been New Year, but say a Sunday lunch, I’d have taken the East London Line and walked to and from the stations at both ends. But in a way, I wanted to prove that someone who has had a stroke can cope with the same problems everybody else has to deal with.
So how did I cope?
The outward run was pretty easy, as I’d done most of the journey on the 21 before. I had thought of taking the East London Line, but I wanted to be sure of the interchange for the return. I did have to wait about fifteen minutes for the 75 at Lewisham and the wait would have been improved if the bus stop had had a proper display announcing the arrival of the buses. I also got off at the wrong stop and had to walk back, but that was my mistake.
Coming home was slightly more difficult and this was mainly due to having to take the N47 to London Bridge from Lewisham rather than my intended 21. But as there was no information of any sort at Lewisham, I felt that keeping going was a better option than waiting. From London Bridge, northbound buses were thin on the ground and everything was rather crowded, so in the end I got a 43 to just past the Angel and walked home. It wasn’t the best option, but I quite like walking cities at night and always have. The trip didn’t appear to be too dangerous, with the biggest obvious danger seeming to come from police cars rushing up and down everywhere and some fairly frightening characters on the bus. But no-one bothered me in the least way at all.
So would I do the trip again on a New Year’s Eve? A lot depends if I get invited to a party again.
But I wouldn’t chose to stay as late again and would probably prefer a train or tube back most of the way.
On the other hand, why miss a good party!
So thanks to all who entertained me last night.
An Update on Honest Bread
The two main uses I have for bread is to make toast for quick snacks like beans or scrambled egg on toast or to make some sandwiches when I go to somewhere like the football and I know that a gluten-free snack, except for perhaps a banana, will be unavailable.
Genius bread fulfils these purposes, but Honest bread does not.
I ate some yesterday, with a friend who lives a lot of the time in France and we both agreeed it was much like brioche. Fine for some purposes, but not for our lunchtime scrambled egg.
She felt it would make a superb bread and butter pudding.
I doubt I will be buying it again.
Walking a Lady Back to the Bus
Mary, an old friend for about thirty-five years came to see me today and we got some more of the boxes unpacked and few pictures up on the walls. As someone, who has earned her living from preparing food professionally several times in her life, she also tried to help me fathom out the cooker. In the end we baked some haddock, with onions and tomatoes. And it was very delicious too! Or at least we both thought so! But then I’d cooked it and she’d worked the oven.
She had to get back to her car to get home, so about seven-thirty I walked her back to get the bus back to the Central Line. Mary is about two years younger than me, so as we walked along, I asked when was the last time, she’d been properly walked back to get the bus home. She thought it was perhaps when she was about 19. After we’d said good-bye, I reflected on when was the last time I walked a lsdy to the bus. I may be wrong, but I can’t remember it since about 1966, when I walked a girlfriend to get her bus back to Aigburth in Liverpool. In all the time C and I were together we either went home together or drove in a car. I may have walked the odd lady to a tube or train, after a business meeting or because we were working together, but to a bus, never!
It was all so relaxing and very pleasant really!
The Next Gluten-Free Food Opportunity
Yesterday’s visit to the cafe at St. Paul’s has got me thinking. What is going to be the next gluten-free opportunity. I was served gluten-free bread there and I suspect it might have been something like Genius. So perhaps the opportunity in a large metropolis like London is the supply of a range of quality GF bread and rolls. They will be a premium product as they will be aimed at restaurants and quality food shops. Get the product right and no self-respecting restaurant will be without its GF bread probably delivered almost daily. Remember in the late 1800s, virtually every part of London had their own craft bakers. Most incidentally were German.
Would the same also apply to beer?
I don’t know, but in probably ten years time, the market will be very different.
Carluccio’s Start Selling Gluten-Free Pasta
According to the manager of their Islington Upper Street branch, they’ve now started selling the gluten-free pasta they serve in the caffes in the attached shops, where the demand is strong enough.
But yet again we have another reputable company targeting the coeliac market. Who’d be a specialist gluten-free food manufacturer?
They’ll be one main group of winners; coeliacs like me.
The Anonymous Widower 