A Lazy Fish Pie
This was one from Lindsey Bareham in The Times last week, called an Emmental and Spinach Fish Pie.
A Lazy Fish Pie
It was little effort at all, and I made two, one of which I froze.
Twin Pies
I shall be eating it on Saturday night, when I get back from the football.
Customer Service – First Great Western Style
Yesterday, as I said in this post, I missed my 09:07 train to Exeter, due to problems on the Metropolitan line.
I knew that to get to Exeter, I would have to get another ticket for the next train, which was the 10:07. One of their staff said to go to the ticket office and see what they would do.
I did and went to the First Class window, where after explaining the problem, they checked thoroughly and then endorsed my out of time ticket for travel on the 10:07. I should say, that I expected to have to buy another ticket and was at my politest. As there wasn’t a queue full of angry passengers, just a couple of anxious ones, this might have helped.
But it does go counter to the sort of Jobsworth behaviour reported on programmes such as Watchdog.
Coming back, there was a Travelling Chef on the train. And I ordered this smoked salmon salad.
A Salad From The Travelling Chef
Note the French dressing in a little bottle, with all the ingredients and allergy information on the outside. That is a good idea, that should be copied more often.
I also had two complimentary glasses of wine.
And how much did the salad cost? – Just nine pounds! As it was served at my seat, I think that was good value.
I asked if you could buy the meals in Standard Class. Apparently, you can and you get it in a plastic box with plastic cutlery.
So it would appear that the discrimination is in the service!
Sausages And Balsamic Onions
I cooked these the Lindsey Bareham way last night and I’m putting the guts here for ease of access.
For myself, I use three Black Farmer sausages and an onion of about 120 grams.
I cooked the sausages like this.
Fry the sausages in a tbsp oil over a low heat, turning every so often, until crusty and done to your liking. Mine took 30 minutes.
The onion is finely sliced then cooked like this.
Heat a tbsp oil in a second frying pan and add the onion. Cook briskly, tossing constantly for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring often, until slippery soft. Add a measure of balsamic vinegar and two of water. Let it bubble away. Turn off the heat.
The result with some microwaved small potatoes is shown.
Sausages And Balsamic Onions
It may take a bit longer than a quick fry, but it is a lot nicer.
Samvo – A Betting Cafe
I’ve seen this type of outlet in Scandinavia, but I hadn’t realised we had them in the UK.
Samvo – A Betting Cafe
They could be an interesting addition to the High Street if they serve good coffee and snacks, as they’ll obviously have toilets. I do sometimes have the odd bet and it should be a much better environment, than the average betting shop, which tends to be where a lot of the local unfortunates gather to loss their hard-earned money. This extract from this page on thee Internet, explainsSamvo‘s philosophy.
“They’re Betting Cafés,” he explains. “We wanted to create something different on the high street, a little more high class; a stylish refit with sofas, somewhere comfortable. The whole café style is more relaxed and it’s very important for us to build a nice atmosphere for the customers to enjoy. We also like the technological aspect so we make sure we’ve got HD TVs as standard and Racing Post touchscreens.
I think we’ll see more of this concept!
A Clock On A Pizza Hut
We don’t normally associate fast food joints, with nice pieces of street art.
A Clock On A Pizza Hut
But I did see this exceptional clock on a Pizza Hut in Central London.
Only In Waitrose In Islington
I couldn’t help noticing the carrots in the Waitrose in Islington.
Only In Waitrose In Islington
Perhaps, though the idea worked as I bought two!
I’ve seen carrots stacked neatly in places like India and Africa, but never in the UK.
Let Them Eat Horse
Princess Anne has stirred everybody up, with her statement on why we should eat horsemeat. It’s reported in her mother’s Daily Telegraph. Here’s the first paragraph.
The Princess Royal, who is President of World Horse Welfare, says that Britain should consider eating horsemeat because it would improve standards of care for the animals.
As someone, who has been around horses for a lot of his life, I totally agree with what she said.
One point is that in France, their heavy horses are in much better state than ours! Ours, include the Suffolk horse, which is becoming one of the rarest animals on the planet. The reason the French horses are in better state, is that they are kept for the production of meat.
A Very Good Football Trip
As I said here, my trip to Blackpool, yesterday, started well at Kings Cross.
As I had a few minutes before the Glasgow train to Preston, I had time to visit the Virgin First Class lounge at Euston. I think some companies charge extra for the lounge if you’re on a cheap ticket or close it altogether at weekends, but Virgin don’t seem to penny pinch like that at Euston.
The train was on time to Preston, but it did look very much like rain.
Approaching Preston
As I had booked to Blackpool North station, which is a walk of three kilometres to the ground, I asked if I could use my ticket to Blackpool South station, which is only about eight hundred metres. I was informed that there would be no problem by someone from Northern Rail! I certainly hadn’t found a Jobsworth.
The guy on the train gave the same story and I arrived at the station to walk to Bloomfield Road.
Walking To Bloomfield Road
I made it in plenty of time, walking in the sun, although the weather was threatening.
It really started to rain, just as I got under cover in my seat.
The match was a topsy-turvy affair, with Ipswich winning with the odd goal in five, scored in stoppage time. Ipswich were one-nil down at half-time, so unusually for a manager, Mick McCarthy threw caution to the wind and played with four forwards across the field.
He got the result all the Ipswich fans wanted and you do wonder, if he hasn’t found the best way to use the talent he has available.
I must admit, I did look at the two Blackpool goals last night on the BBC and I can’t help feeling that if Cresswell and Smith had been playing, one or both of these goals might not have been scored.
In the end the Ipswich fans all went about their journeys home happy with the result, so the two Blackpool goals didn’t matter.
As it connects better to the London trains, I decided to do the long walk to Blackpool North station. However, I didn’t have to walk all the way, as I found a 14 bus, that went near the station. There was the usual silly ticketing palaver, you get with a bus pass outside London and I do wonder if bus companies have shares in those that produce ticket paper.
I got a crowded train to Preston fairly easily, but it arrived there, just as a Euston train was departing. A Virgin employee told me, I had an hour to wait, but as I had an Off-Peak ticket I could take any train. I then realised, it would be nice to eat something, so as a Manchester Piccadilly train was alongside, a gluten-free supper in Carluccio’s at Piccadilly station beckoned. I could then take one of the more numerous trains to London. The Virgin also told me, that the Manchester to London trains weren’t busy, as City and United weren’t playing.
Where had all the Jobsworths gone?
I had my supper in Carluccio’s at a fast pace and made the 19:35 train with ease. I had intended to upgrade to First, but as I got four seats and a table to myself in Stearage, I didn’t bother. In fact the fifteen pound upgrade, I didn’t buy, virtually paid for my meal in Carluccio’s.
As I’d arrived in Piccadilly virtually dead on seven, I’d ordered, waited for and eaten my meal in about half-an-hour, whilst checking the news and the football results on the excellent wi-fi. So with luck, I’d be able to go straight home from Euston and catch the start of Match of the Day.
I did! It had been a very good trip.
In a few years time, going from London to Blackpool will be a lot easier, as they are electrifying the line from Preston, as part of the major electrification between Manchester, Liverpool and Preston. It has also been stated that this will mean a tour-hourly service of faster electric trains to and from London. But as I’ll still have the problem of getting a decent gluten-free meal on the way down, but as it will be a greatly improved service from Blackpool to Manchester Piccadilly, I can still go via Manchester and have a decent meal, whilst changing trains.
In fact, if like I did, you have a ticket from Blackpool North to London, you will have several stations, where you can change onto a fast train to London, if you just missed a direct train and didn’t want to wait two hours. You could change at Preston, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool or even Wigan North Western.
I can’t help but feel, that this long-awaited electrification is going to make a lot of difference to the whole of the triangle based on Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool.
It should have been done years ago!
A Simple Ham And Vegetable Soup
I cooked this on Friday, using the leftover vegetables from the fish pies, I cooked earlier in the week. The recipe was based on this soup from Nigella.
I started by chopping up an onion, two garlic cloves and a fresh chilli and sautéing them in olive oil until they were soft.
Onion, Garlic And Chili
I then added a diced carrot, two diced sticks of celery, one bubble of some of Waitrose’s ham hock, some chicken stock and some water. I brought it to the boil and then simmered it for an hour.
Simmering The Soup
After that, I added a few sliced courgettes, half a cup of frozen peas, a small tin of three bean mix and a generous handful of pasta and then cooked it for ten minutes, until it was nice and hot.
Cooking The Courgettes, Peas And Pasta
The only problem, was that I made it a bit thick, but it tasted good.
A Big Bowl Of Soup
I think next time, I’ll make a bigger pot of it and work out how to freeze it for later.
Delia has a page here about freezing soups and a whole list of soups. But beware, the page is full of annoying adverts.
Shopping Lists For My Favourite Recipes
I’ve been meaning to do this for some time.
Medium onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
500 grams extra-lean minced beef
2 tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Waitrose organic tomato paste
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
250 ml, beef stock
1 cup frozen peas
1 kilo of King Edward or similar potatoes
1kg potatoes
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
150g good Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
½ a fresh red chilli
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
300g salmon fillets, skin off and bones removed
300g undyed smoked haddock fillets, skin off and bones removed
125g king prawns, raw, peeled
A good handful of spinach, chopped
A couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
Most of the others I do, are so simple, that I don’t need a list.
The Anonymous Widower 