Was My Dinner Last Night What It Said On The Packet?
When I came back from Huddersfield last night, I was a bit peckish.
One of the problems had been that the only gluten-free sandwiches available in the Marks and Spencer in Piccadilly station was cheese and pickle.
Yuck! Only Cheese And Pickle!
I do eat quite a bit of cheese, but I generally only eat ones with the extra mould in them like Rochfort. And for some reason cheese and pickle sandwiches are not of my liking.
I did think about stopping off in Islington at either Carluccio’s or my favourite Indian restaurant, but as it was so cold, I decided to see what I could get in Marks and Spencer’s at the station and then get a bus home immediately. So I bought one of their roast pork dinners for the microwave, as that would mean I’d be able to cook it quickly.
Roast Pork With Cider Sauce
It is a favourite of mine, as I find that the sauce calms my throat well. It’s a bit sticky and I suspect like ginger cake, it absorbs the rhinitis and transfers it to the acids in my stomach.
Can I be sure I was eating pork, without a full DNA test?
It certainly tasted like pork and the meat was light and in slices, so the only other thing it could have been was perhaps a very plump bird.
So I doubt that it was anything but pork and I certainly don’t think it was horse.
But reading the ingredients, were the Apples Bramleys, the Cabbage Savoy or the Oil Rapeseed?
Surprisingly the mashed potato, which I’ll admit was nice contains double cream. The other surprising ingredient was the lemon juice in the roast pork.
It certainly didn’t contain any of the dreaded gluten.
Mother Knows Best
Yesterday, Slummy Mummy in The Times had two interesting thoughts courtesy of her mother.
The first was an absolute gem.
Since it’s people in towns who like badgers, we should exchange them for urban foxes.
Now that’s an idea! But it might get rid of the last few urban hedgehogs. The second was a sensible aside on the subject of horsemeat.
You’ll be glad to know that everything is shop-bought,” she says, opening the fridge door with a flourish. It is full of Findus lasagnes.
“They were on offer. I got them before they were withdrawn
I bet she’s not the only one who took advantage.
Innocent Sell Out
Innocent smoothies have sold out to Coca-Cola and you can read about it here in the Guardian.
In some ways it’s rather sad.
But in some ways, it’s due to the culture that says you can’t be small and create a global brand. Although, over the last few years, some global British companies like ARM and Brompton have done just that.
I won’t stop having the odd smoothie, but I do think that in the UK, their sell-out may have opened up the market for a new brand to move into the hole. After all, look how we’ve all fallen out of love with Starbucks, if the morgue in Islington is anything to go by.
Germany’s Development Minister’s Marie Antoinette Moment
Marie Antoinette famously set that people could eat cake, but this story from Germany, is in a similar vein.
Germany’s development minister has suggested that horsemeat mislabelled as beef should be distributed to the poor.
Dirk Niebel said he supported the proposal by a member of the governing CDU party, and concluded: “We can’t just throw away good food.”
The opposition dismissed the idea, but a priest said it should be considered.
He does have a point, but surely the suspect beef could be used as dog or cat food, rather than given to those, who might not want it.
After all if it has horse in it, what other things are there. I bet there’s a load of gluten for a start.
Crazy Ticket Prices
Yesterday, I went to the football at Ipswich. I’ve always found evening matches difficult and expensive, as I’ve never really found a sensible gluten-free restaurant or cafe in the town and usually I have to pay through the nose, to come out of London in the rush hour. Yesterday though, I decided to come early on the four o’clock train and then go to Woodbridge to have a curry in the Royal Bengal by the station, before getting a train back to Ipswich for the match.
I’d expected to have to buy two return tickets, one for Liverpool Street to Ipswich and return and another for the short journey between Ipswich and Woodbridge. But I was sold a return from the Zone 6 Bounday to Woodbridge for just £20.95. This compares with the two tickets I bought on Saturday to get to Ipswich for a total of £18.25. So the extra journey to Woodbridge cost me £2.70. An Off Peak Senior Day Return would appear to cost £2.80 bought on the Internet.
So it would appear I got a bargain. There was also no problem using the effectively one ticket to do two journeys.
I also saved twenty pounds by not travelling in the rush hour, which was enough to pay for the meal.
It would be nice to have a decent gluten-free restaurant somewhere between Ipswich station and Portman Road.
A Good Gluten Free Party
Tonight, I went to the launch party for Celia lager at the Regent Pub in Islington.
The pub supplied some of their gluten-free pizzas and there was also a selection of savouries like quiches from the WAGFree Bakery in Brixton.
What more could a coeliac want?
Everybody seemed delighted with the beer and the accompanying food.
I’ve already virtually finished the twenty-four bottles of Celia lager I bought a couple of weeks ago from Deli Divine and ordered some more yesterday. So at least I’m voting with my wallet.
The Guy From Iceland Has A Point
In this article on the BBC web site, the boss of the Iceland chain, blames councils for forcing down meat quality and prices.
Local councils are to blame for driving down food quality with cheap food contracts for schools and hospitals, the boss of Iceland has said.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Malcolm Walker said the “problem really lies” with councils buying food from the poorly supplied catering industry.
He may not be totally right, but I do think he has a point.
I must admit, that I have met several individuals, who through their farm or company have supplied the big supermarkets for a number of years and from their comments, dealing with the supermarkets isn’t always as difficult, as the press would have us believe. But then saying the supermarkets are honest and good, doesn’t sell newspapers.
An Obvious Shortcut
I did chuckle, when I saw this sign outside of a pub.
An Obvious Shortcut
It’s funny, but Π for pie is rather obvious and simple, but I’ve never seen it used this way before.
When Did We First Test For Horse DNA In Beef?
This may seem to be an obvious question, but I can’t seem to be able to find the answer on the Internet.
There is also the related question of when were we able to test for equine DNA in beef?
After all, if we’ve been able to do this for some years, could we have detected the fact that crooks were putting horse in beef earlier? And then there’s how long has it all been going on?
Perhaps, we should ask people if they find a Findus beef lasagne or any of the other suspect products in the freezer with a date of last year, they should take it to get tested.
Love Is In The Air!
Or is it the Tube?
Love Is In The Air!
I took this picture this afternoon. I hope this guy’s extensive preparations went down well with his wife!
In some ways, I miss St. Valentine’s Day more than others, as C and I usually went somewhere nice to have a meal. I’d also usually got her some nice underwear or cashmere from one of the many on-line sales after Christmas. She was very easy to buy underwear for, as she was a very common size and she always liked expensive sets, that she knew had been picked up for a bargain.
It’s now six years since I had a good St. Valentine’s Day. Tonight, I’ll be cooking myself a pork chop with some vegetables and watching the football. I shall probably have a couple of Celias.
The Anonymous Widower 