She Blew The Bloody Door Off!
Echoing the classic Michael Caine line from The Italian Job, Margaret Goodwin has shown our intrepid boys how to do it, as reported in the Telegraph.
But she was only using rhubarb chutney!
As I write various would-be terrorists are experimenting with their mothers’ chutney recipes. It has been reported that in some places, rhubarb is now in short supply!
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
This is another Lindsey Bareham recipe from The Times. If you have a subscription as I do, it’s here.
I modified it slightly to be for two people, although in the end, I cooked a half quantity for just myself.
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
I used the following.
- 400g. cod fillet
- 2 tbsp of Carluccio’s olive oil with lemon.
- 200 g. cherry tomatoes.
- 100 g. of frozen peas.
- 100 g. gren beans.
- 200g. small new potatoes
- 3 anchovy fillets in olive oil.
- A few fresh mint leaves.
You just cook the fish with the oil and tomatoes in the oven at 200°C for 6-8 minutes with the olive oil and tomatoes.
Preparing To Cook The Fish
The vegetables are cooked in two saucepans and then everything is combined.
The Combined Vegetables
As the first picture shows, you just make a mound, put the fish on top and then garnish it with the tomatoes.
I Don’t Want Another Card
I am trying to declutter my life.
I Don’t Want Another Card
So the one thing, I don’t want is another card. In fact these days, I don’t bother with loyalty cards. If I don’t get decent service, I go elsewhere. Shops, restaurants, train operators and airports, have to earn my loyalty.
If I look at Heathrow, I might go out from there if I could use Terminal 5, as there is a decent gluten-free restaurant there.
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.
As
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.
The Anonymous Widower 