Clapham Uncommon
This company was featured on the BBC London News. It concerns the growing of speciality vegetables and herbs in one of the deep level air-raid shelters under Clapham. Wikipedia says this about the shelters.
Each shelter consists of a pair of parallel tunnels 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) in diameter and 1,200 feet (370 m) long. Each tunnel is subdivided into two decks, and each shelter was designed to hold up to 8,000 people.
So they’re quite large! And there’s eight of them in total! But some have already been used for other purposes!
Canada Bans Marmite
I have some sympathy for the Canadians about this story on the BBC, as I can’t stand the stuff. C, on the other hand, was an addict, and I miss taking her, her morning cup of hot Marmite every day.
Is this discrimination against the British, as there is nothing in the article about banning the similar product from Australia; Vegemite? But according to Wikipedia, Vegemite is also banned.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
This is a Lindsey Bareham recipe that I did for supper yesterday. I’d decided to do it in the morning, but when Waitrose were selling 400g packs of diced braising steak for just £2.25, I couldn’t resist making two portions of the ragu, with one for supper and one for the freezer.
I started by taking the whole pack of diced braising steak, which I seasoned and browned it in a couple of tablespoons of hot oil in my Le Creuset shallow casserole.
Browning The Diced Steak
The meat was then scooped out of the casserole and then 100g each of finely chopped onion and celery, together with some garlic, a tsp of thyme and a pinch of chilli flakes were then gently softened in the meat juices and tossed for five minutes.
Cooking The Onion, Celery And Spices
I then took 100g of finely chopped chestnut mushrooms and added them to the pan. I cooked this until it was all dark and juicy.
Cooking The Mushrooms
I then chopped the meat and added this to the pan.
150 ml of red wine was added and it was allowed to bubble up for a few minutes, before stirring in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes.
It was then baked in the oven for 60 minutes at 160°C.
I served it with some of Carluccio’s gluten-free pasta.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
My one mistake was perhaps not to put in quite enough wine, so it was perhaps a tad dry.
I shall make this again, I see the diced steak on offer at Waitrose. I know I don’t need to economise, but it shows you can make a delicious meal for two with £2.25 of steak, an onion, some celery, a tin of tomatoes, some spices and some wine.
This recipe also shows the usefullness of my shallow casserole. It is definitely something that I don’t regret buying.
A Delicious Way To Cook Salmon
Last night i cooked one of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes. it’s called Roast Salmon with Paprika, Garlic And Parsley.
I just put the salmon in a dish and after brushing it with olice oil gave it ten minutes in the oven at 200°C. I then covered the fish with a mixture of paprika, garlic abd fresh parsley.
Roast Salmon with Paprika, Garlic And Parsley
It was delicious.
Some might not like the broccoli I served with it, but that is personal taste. C wouldn’t have put her mouth, nose or fingers near it!
lindsey incidentally, has a new cookbook out called Just One Pot. You can buy it here from her web site. I shall be getting a copy!
Spitalfields For A Gluten-Free Meal
As I found at Nottingham recently, restaurants that can do a good gluten-free mea, tend to cluster. I’ve eaten in three places in Spitalfields; Carluccio’s. Leon and Pizza Express, but a new one called Canteen has opened.
Canteen In Spitalfields
All gluten-free meals are marked and they also state.
Other dishes can be made gluten-free on request.
Why don’t a lot more restaurants say that, as I know from experience many good chefs can make food gluten free.
Cheering Myself Up!
I’ve just cooked myself two sausage, bacon and bean pies; one for tonight and one for the freezer.
Two Sausage Pies
This always cheers me up, but it would be so much nicer to cook one for me and one for an attractive, intelligent lady!
I’ve always done something practical, when I was feeling down at Christmas. I can remember at about 17, I painted the wheels of my car, a fetching shade of blue! And then, when I was developing software, I’d always fix a tremendous number of bugs at every holiday.
The trouble with programmers today, is that they don’t have that level of dedication.
An Advantage Of Clapham Junction Station
One of the advantages of changing at Clapham Junction station is the bridge with lots of kiosks. I bought this excellent fresh lemonade for £1.90 at Knot Pretzels.
An Advantage Of Clapham Junction Station
We need more kiosks with lemonade ready-to-go.
A Street For Coeliacs In Nottingham
On Saturday, the fourteen of December, I went Nottingham to see Ipswich play.
As I often do in the city, I had a meal in French Living in King Street, as they know their gluten-free well.
They have now expanded to include a creperie that does gluten-free and King Street, where they are, now has two chain restaurants, which are safe for coeliacs.
So if you want gluten-free food in Nottingham, head to King Street.
I took the tram up the hill from the station. and then it was a short walk.
It will be interesting to see if other restaurants opening in the area, will also do gluten-free offerings.
Can This Christmas Get Any Worse?
Yesterday’s lunch with my son and his friends went well, but I had to come home, as I wasn’t feeling well! Nothing serious and I suspect it was just the effect of the cold dry weather, affecting my gut. I don’t think I ate any gluten, but it was as if I had. So it was alone and back to watching old Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise on BBC2.
To make matters worse, when I returned home, I did find that I’d left a window open, when I went out. The house had a temperature of eighteen. At least, the open window only let the cold in.
At least, I was able to use the air conditioning to take the chill off of the temperature. But of course, the humidifier I’d hired in to get the humidity up had failed. Although, I’m doubtful it was ever working properly.
Why does she hate me so much? You can understand, why I feel that religion and God, herself, is so much rubbish.
I went to bed at about ten last night, as bed was the one warm place in the house. The temperature was about 20 °C with a humidity somewhere in the low thirties.
I slept well as I always do and decided to get up at five, as I was fully awake. I thought there might be some good news on the cricket and with the air-conditioning on, I might get the temperature up to twenty-three or so.
But of course, the news from Melbourne was its usual load of old rubbish.
And then the letter R on my e-mail computer packed up. Try typing anything sensible without that letter. It could have been worse, as the E might have failed. So now, I’m using my other computer, which is not as easy for my one-handed typing. It also doesn’t run my preferred Windows Vista.
At six-thirty, I decided to have a hot bath. That was good, but the bathroom is stone cold, as the heating isn’t really working.
In an hour or so, I’m going to get my paper and see if I can find a nice warm cafe. Sadly, there isn’t a hotel near me with a restaurant I can trust. Carluccio’s don’t open until eleven.
At least though, I’ve got plenty of porridge and some bacon, eggs and beans for a fry-up. I’d love to have some sausages, but they’re all in my freezer. But would they freeze out before next weekend, if I got them out now? The nearest supplier is one of two Sainsbury stores, which open at ten. I’ll need to go to one, as I’m virtually out of gluten-free bread.
I still intend to get to Doncaster, and as I write this, I haven’t got a lift. I did think there’d be someone in the area going north with a space, so I didn’t make alternative provisions. This would have been to book a place on the coach from Newmarket. I can get there by taking a train to Stansted and then using a taxi. But it is now too late to book the coach.
So if I do go, it’ll be a 113 bus to Apex Corner and then hitching up the A1.
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the return to some degree of normality.
Next winter, I’ll book myself into a five-star hotel on Christmas Eve. Then when it all goes pear-shaped, I’ll at least ruin the Christmas of a lot of other people.
You Don’t Say No to Suffolk
I don’t drink much spirit, but I do like the odd glass of whisky. So I was pleased that the new Adnams whisky is now available.
I first read about the availability of the whisky in this article in The Times. The article tells how it is illegal for spirit and beer to be made on the same site, due to a law dating from the 1700s.
What Adnams did is outlined in this paragraph from the article.
Although the law had never been repealed, Mr Adnams tested its validity by submitting an application to HM Revenue & Customs. “We got a reply in only three months saying yes,” he said.
No-one in his right mind, ever says no to an obviously sensible suggestion from supposedly sleepy Suffolk.
I’m looking forward to getting a bottle!
It may be a novelty to most of the world, but when I started drinking Adnams bitter, they only had thirteen pubs and supplied a few clubs in the local area.
The Scots will not be quaking in their boots yet, but then Watneys thought they could crush this then tiny brewery from Southwold, by buying many of East Anglian’s breweries, including all in Norfolk. Red doors are still associated with bad beer and service all over East Anglia.
The Anonymous Widower 