Dinner In The Gherkin
I went to a dinner last night at the top of the Gherkin, that was organised by an event club to which I belong.
The dinner itself was pretty good and the views were superb.
The View From The Gherkin At Night
But the club has been recently taken over and the new organiser was showing all the skills that Ed Miliband has shown with the Scottish Labour Party.
I doubt I shall be going to any of their events again.
My First Shop-Bought Fishcakes In A Dozen Years
I was in Marks and Spencer at Eastfield and looking for a piece of fish for my supper, when I saw some gluten-free fishcakes.
I probably haven’t had any since Waitrose in Newmarket stopped selling their locally-sourced ones in about 2000.
But I do like fishcakes and except for the odd meal in an expensive restaurant, I’ve hardly ever eaten any in the intervening years.
I actually bought one packet of the salmon and one of the cod, so tonight, I ate one of each and put the others in a sealing container for perhaps Sunday.
They didn’t disappoint, after I cooked them in the oven at 220°C for 16-18 minutes.
I think it’s true to say that these and other products in Marks and Spencer’s Made Without Wheat range, taste so good, that even the most fussy of eaters couldn’t tell the difference between these and the standard products.
The only problem with their gluten-free products is finding the new ones in the store.
I found these excellent fishcakes totally by accident.
Pontypridd And The Station
I came back down to Pontypridd to take the line back up to Merthyr Tydfil.
I had a pleasant lunch there in the very busy Cafe Royal. I’ve never had a chicken curry, which contained very recognisable strips cut from a couple of large slices of chicken.
The station is at present having a ten million pound upgrade, which includes a new bay platform, so that extra trains can run to and from Cardiff.
Lifts and a new footbridge are also promised. There are full details here.
If Network Rail, their architects and buildings do their usual standard of work, then this could be a station of which the town can be very proud. Unlike many stations, it appeared to be right in the heart of the town.
The Best Meal I’ve Ever Had On A Scheduled Train
I’ve eaten on many trains and used to regularly enjoy breakfast on Ipswich to London in the past, when they had a dining car. In some ways the most memorable was a return from Teeside to London behind a Class 55, where the driver showed what a Deltic could do.
I’ve also travelled with C on the Eastern and Oriental Express.
But no meal on a train could compare with the one I ate going from Paddington to St. Ives in one of First Great Western’s InterCity 125s. They call it Pullman Fine Dining.
I had found out that they were serving lunch on the 11:30 from Paddington, so I booked myself on that train. There was a bit of a mix-up between the train times and the web site, but as you can see, I got my high-class lunch.
As a coeliac, what really impressed me was the professional way they dealt with allergies. In fact, if anybody wants to open a restaurant, they could do no better than copy the openness.
The two courses I ate were excellent, as was the service.
I do hope that this form of catering leads to similar offerings on other lines.
There was only two things wrong with the meal.
I had to eat it by myself and it would have been so much better with a travelling companion.
The other was that First Great Western don’t have a card, which says when this service is offered. I’m off to Cardiff on Tuesday, so could I get lunch on the way down?
A Cure For Obesity
There was a discussion on BBC Radio 5 yesterday about the link between obesity and lack of exercise. So I texted in my four pennyworth.
I’m going away for a few days, so I cleared up the junk mail in my hall. There was enough from fast food restaurants to heat my house for a couple of days. Perhaps if you’re obese you could be sentenced to delivering these leaflets, as the exercise might help.
The program liked it and read it out.
But on a serious note, should it be made illegal for fast food companies to distribute leaflets through peoples doors without a paid-off licence.
Perhaps someone should be paid to distribute simple recipes through the doors.
How many people receiving a very tasty and healthy recipe from say Sainsburys, would actually buy the food and cook it?
I’ve lived with only two women for most of my life; my mother and my wife. Neither were innovative cooks and often we ate the same food in rotation. As an example, I can’t remember either finding a recipe in the paper or seeing it on the television and then cooking it.
I may lack cooking skills, but I am not unadventurous, so if I see a simple recipe, I’ll often buy the ingredients and cook it.
Perhaps to improve the food in this country, we all need to be less afraid of experimenting.
Last night I cooked this simple fish recipe from Mary Berry. Tonight, I’ll cook a sausage and bean casserole from Lyndsey Bareham in The Times. This gives me two portions, one for tonight and one for the fridge. As I’m going away tomorrow until Friday, the second portion will be there ready when I return late on Friday, if I need it.
Is This The Ideal Bread For A Lone Coeliac?
Yesterday, in Marks and Spencer, they had sold out of my usual bread, so I bought a pack of Brown Bloomer Slices.
There are six or so slices in the pack, which costs £3.15, and it is pretty good either fresh or as toast, as the pictures show.
I hope you don’t get the impression that I live on toast and jam, but I am partial to a cup of tea and toast in the afternoon, if I’m at home.
These slices are ideal for me, as they are good untoasted and cut in half they fit my toaster. The toast isn’t bad either!
This loaf would be good, if you’re having a coeliac friend staying for a couple of nights or just coming round for a meal, as the way it’s packed it will keep for a day or two.
But for my purposes of a coeliac living alone, it does everything I need and as a loaf seems to last about three days, that means it probably costs me around a pound a day or fifty pence a slice. As my daily State Pension is around twenty pounds a day, I think I can afford it.
One problem is that as the bread has no crusts, which might cause friction in some families.
I wonder how many cafes and restaurants will start using this bread, as it seems to be in most Marks and Spencer’s stores, except possibly those in stations. The pack size would satisfy a couple of patrons on perhaps two days.
Marks and Spencer have either designed the product and pack size very carefully or they’ve just struck lucky.
I don’t care as the product is excellent.
Before Overground – Bush Hill Park
A Pleasant Tidy Station In The Suburbs – Rating 7/10
Bush Hill Park is one of the few stations, that is in reasonably good nick.
The station isn’t step-free, but if you can arrange that you always get on and off the train so you can walk out directly, you can avoid climbing over the footbridge. Network Rail says this about the station.
There is step-free access to each platform, but not between platforms.
For a station in a residential area, it’s well surrounded by shops, with a good sprinkling of cafes and restaurants. There is even a pub, that could be reasonable.
So it could be one of those stations, where you go to have a meeting for business or pleasure.
Before Overground – Cafe Issues
The stations to be incorporated into the Overground from the Lea Valley Lines have a sprinkling of cafes, like this one at Hackney Downs.
I got a nice cup of tea there, but on chatting with the owner, there are issues that London Overground need to sort out with these little cafes and other shops in the stations.
I also feel that in some of the smaller stations, the only decent small premises are the booking office, which was often closed. As it is Transport for London’s policy to do away with booking offices, perhaps some could be revamped as retail premises.
At Rectory Road, there was only one lonely guy sitting in the booking office. He should be on or watching the platforms, not hidden away!
The Properties Of Turmeric
I’ve often thought that curries seem to perk me up and I posted about it two years ago.
Now there’s this report from Germany, entitled Brain Repair May Be Boosted By Curry Spice. Here’s a flavour.
A spice commonly found in curries may boost the brain’s ability to heal itself, according to a report in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy.
The German study suggests a compound found in turmeric could encourage the growth of nerve cells thought to be part of the brain’s repair kit.
I think, I’m off for a curry tonight!
Food Tasting At Leon
C always used to say about me, that I couldn’t handle bones. Whereas a good part of the population like to eat spare ribs, I tried them just once and haven’t tasted them in perhaps thirty years. If we had chops for supper, she would always take mine after I’d finished , and then strip any spare meat. In fact, when I have chops now, I always buy them without the bone. I also am one of the few men, who can’t carve.
It’s not a phobia or anything like that, it’s probably down to a problem with my hand and arm.
It’s also not just meat, but I really can’t fillet fish on my plate. Although, I’m getting better at that, if someone presents me with a plaice or sole on the bone. I’ve also got form about getting bones stuck in my throat, as this post shows.
I had been asked to taste a new gluten-free chicken by Leon, so I went with a friend to their restaurant in Spitalfields.
Gluten Free Chicken At Leon
The chicken unfortunately was on the bone. It is cooked in a herb crust and is served with a dip of choice.
Despite the bones, I quite liked it, although of the dips I tried, some of them were more to my taste than others.
I might try one again, but now I know it has bones, I would probably stick to one of their bunless burgers.
I’ve asked my companion for an opinion and I’ll post it when I get it.
But you have to admire Leon for being upfront with calling a product Gluten Free Chicken. How long before this initiative is copied?
And how long before we get Gluten Free Lamb etc.?
Ten years ago, coeliacs like me had a problem finding good food in a restaurant. Now in the average town or city centre, this choice has got a lot easier in the UK. But like the Tap on the Line, there are still restaurants trying to do good food, who don’t have a clue!
Recently Carluccio’s have changed their bread from an excellent brown one, to something best described as a crap white.
Restaurants that don’t cater for coeliacs and the gluten free, now have a problem, in that there are now several restaurant chains, who take gluten free meals seriously!
I once asked Gordon Ramsey about his attitude to those who asked for gluten-free food in his restaurants. He said that if when you book, you say you’re gluten-free and they say they can’t handle it, then the establishment is not a good restaurant.
I would take this further. And restaurant that thinks it’s at the top of its class, that doesn’t say what dishes are gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegetarian or vegan etc., is definitely not at the top.
The Anonymous Widower 