An Incident In Pizza Express
Last night, I went to a new-for-me Pizza Express in Curtain Road, close to Shoreditch High Street station.
I always have the same meal in Pizza Express, and that’s a bottle of Aspall Cyder and a gluten-free caprisiosa pizza. The pizza comes on a slate.
Gluten-Free Pizza At Pizza Express
It was of the usual high standard and was exactly like the one in the picture, which I took in their restaurant in Islington.
But when I started to cut it, with their pizza cutter, the action set up a vibration, which meant the various bottles and glasses on my table started to migrate about.
I didn’t notice what was happening, until I heard the half-drunk bottle of Aspall cyder fall on the floor, where it didn’t break, but proceeded to spin, spilling some of the cyder on the floor.
I retrieved the bottle and I judged very little had been split, despite the fall as it virtually filled my half-pint glass. A half-pint glass is 284 cl. and the bottle of cyder is 330 cl. But I had had a long drink before the bottle fell.
I think the incident shows the strength of the Aspall bottles, which were brought in to save glass.
An Excellent Reason For A Coeliac To Subscribe To The Times
A few weeks ago, The Times had a revamp and put Lindsey Bareham’s Dinner Tonight recipe at the bottom left of page 2. It makes the recipe easy to cut out and keep. Here’s one I cut out earlier!
A Recipe Cut From The Times
The great thing about her recipes, is that many are naturally gluten-free or can easily be made so. This new position, means you can check the recipe before buying the paper.
This morning, I got to asking myself if they now print properly, as in their old position in the paper, it meant you had to print about six sheets of paper, most of which went in the bin.
I am a subscriber to The Times, as I like their sudokus and other puzzles, so I logged in and found the recipes. To print now, is a lot easier, as if you only print the first page, you only get the recipe and none of the garbage, that you often get when printing a page from the Internet.
Dinner Tonight Recipes From The Times
This morning, I printed three recipes, that have appeared in the paper in the last week.
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Why Is Marks And Spencer At Eastfield, So Bad For Gluten-Free Food?
Sometimes, I will buy a gluten-free sandwich from Marks and Spencer! Not often, as their selection at the moment in many stores tends to be just a cheese ploughman’s, which has never been my favourite, as I generally only eat soft or blue cheeses. But most stores in London and especially those at stations sell them, as they did yesterday in Birmingham New Street station. My two local Marks at Islington and Finsbury Pavement, always have them.In the week, I also bought the excellent gluten-free breaded cod from Finsbury Pavement.
But why are there no sandwiches at the large Marks in the Eastfield shopping centre at Stratford? Or gluten-free cod either! It’s as though specific gluten-free products have been banned at Eastfield, as try to get a gluten-free meal there in any restaurant and they say they haven’t got anything. I also heard that the other restaurants said they didn’t want a Carluccio’s there.
So if you’re gluten-free, I recommend that you don’t go anywhere near the dreaded Eastfield!
Virgin Trains Are Getting There!
I travelled up to Birmingham today in First Class on Virgin Trains. They now have an improved breakfast menu, which is available on all trains leaving Euston before 10:00.
Virgin Trains Are Getting There!
I’d had breakfast earlier at home and anyway I was on the 10:23, so I was too late! However I did get three cups of tea and a bottle of water thrown in to my £25 fare bought the previous evening.
Marks And Spencer’s Gluten-Free Breaded Cod
I had this for supper last night.
Marks And Spencer’s Gluten-Free Breaded Cod
And very good it was too! I just baked it in the oven for 18 minutes or so. The potatoes were small ones from Waitrose, done in the microwave.
I haven’t anything to cook chips. I did think about going to get some from McDonalds up the road. But didn’t!
The Joy Of Birmingham By Train
An old friend phoned up last night and we decided to have lunch in Birmingham today.
So I got on the Virgin Trains web site and bought myself a ticket to Brum for this morning at nine last night for just £25.75, which gets me to New Street station in good time to walk to Carluccio’s. I should be in the centre of Birmingham about two hours after leaving home
I didn’t buy myself a return ticket, as I want to look at several things in the city and am unsure about, whether I’ll come home to either Euston or Marylebone. So I’ll buy a walk-up ticket in steerage, when I decide to come back.
I just used the Transport Direct web site to see how long it would take someone else to drive. They reckon it will be just under two and a half hours, but they recommend taking a fifteen minute break. The cost in a medium-sized petrol car is £20 plus the parking.
So cost is probably about the same, if you exclude the cost of ownership of the car, but the train is thirty minutes quicker. I can also use my phone and wi-fi.
My one beef at a lot of big stations, is that they don’t have a decent restaurant, cafe or pub, where you could have a quiet meeting, close by. Birmingham New Street is a special case, as they are rebuilding the station, but some don’t provide hardly anything except gluten-rich fast food. Manchester Piccadilly, Kings Cross and Waterloo are setting a standard, that all others should try to follow. Where for instance is a good Indian restaurant in a station?
Romeo’s Gluten Free Bakery
It’s not open yet, but this is an interesting development opposite Islington Town Hall on Upper Street, just ten or so shops towards the Angel from the Fish and Chip Shop.
Romeo’s Gluten Free Bakery
I wish Romeo, his staff and of course his products well. I shall try to be there the day the bakery opens.
My First Tomato And Onion Salad
I’ve always preferred tomato and onion salad to those with greenery, so today I made one to go with a steak and potatoes.
My First Tomato And Onion Salad
I got the recipe idea from the Daily Mail and all I did was slice an onion and some tomatoes and put some lemon juice and olive oil on top. The recipe is here.
I do wonder whether my liking for tomato and onion salad is because it seems to calm my mouth, when I get dried out in the winter. After all I like eating tomatoes! Is that for the same purpose?
Rescued By Eurostar
I hadn’t got a ticket for Eurostar, as let’s face it, what good would it have done me, as I didn’t turn up in Brussels at a date and a time, remotely near anything I could have expected.
So when my number was called after a wait of a few minutes, I approached the ticket counter with more than a little apprehension. After my luck, I fully expected to be told that as it was a Friday and the start of the school holidays, that no seats were available until Tuesday at the earliest.
But the pleasant lady smiled broadly, like air hostesses do in adverts, except that she meant it, and said she could get me on a train in an hour for €190. Expensive, but then it was a last-minute walk-up and what else could I do, as I can’t swim? I then asked how much Premium Economy was and she said €204. So I paid the extra fourteen euros and within an hour I was on my way back to Blighty. Incidentally booking now for next Friday, I’d save somewhere around £80.
On the train, I got a fulsome apology for not being served a gluten-free meal, but I knew that to get one, you have to book in advance. But at least the food was infinitely better than the rubbish you get on German trains, where gluten is compulsory in all snacks.
The train had a very unusual passenger.
A Very Unusual Passenger
The balloon was tied to a child’s buggy. It did give one of the stewards a bit of a fright, as he came through the door.
I was of course, on time in London. But let’s face it, Eurostar have one great advantage. With the exception of the Channel Tunnel and various junctions, it is a virtually straight line largely under their control. So could we expect that HS2 will be a more reliable railway than the West Coast Main Line? I think the answer will be yes!
A Few Hours In Hamburg
I got to Hamburg about eight in the evening and my first priority was to get a hotel. It was a new hotel by the station and I booked for two nights.
Hamburg Station
The hotel was a disaster, or more likely the weather was, as my meter was showing 32°C and 70% humidity. I had to wedge the window open with my shoe and that just made the room hotter, as the air outside got in.
When the Tourist Office opened at ten, I was outside and got myself a free map, after a breakfast of orange juice and coffee, as true to form, there was nothing gluten-free in the station.
The map wasn’t the best, as it was far too large and was gradually disintegrating in the heat and humidity.
Hamburg’s Street Map
As the picture shows, it was impossible to hold with one hand. Luckily there were a few decent signposts and maps.
A Map In Hamburg
Eventually, I found my way to the impressive Rathaus.
Hamburg’s Impressive Rathaus
I had heard of a restaurant called Rudolph at Hafen City, that did gluten-free pizza. If this was as good as those in Munich, then this looked to be worth investigating for supper in the evening. The Internet entry said, that it was near to the U-bahn station. So I went into the U-bahn, quickly and easily bought a ticket and then spent thirty minutes wandering underground trying to find the platform for Hafen City. If I sometimes find Green Park and Kings Cross stations bad in London, they have nothing on the Rathaus station in Hamburg.
Eventually, I didn’t get tpo Hafen City, as the station hasn’t been built yet. So was this a case of “We have ways of getting you lost!”. It was also so unlike Munich, where things the information systems seemed to work well. But I also had a good map from the hotel.
It was then that I said that I should cut my losses and move on. So I went back to the hotel, packed my bag and then returned to the station, where I bought a ticket for Amsterdam.
The Anonymous Widower 