Twenty Three Celias
I’ve now unpacked all the beer and they’re sitting on the kitchen worktop.
Twenty Three Celias
There was twenty four, but one got drunk.
My Celias Arrived Yesterday
At about ten on Wednesday morning, I ordered 24 bottles of Celia lager from DeliDevine.
Last night just as I was sitting down to my supper, there was a ring at the door and on looking out of the window there was a van from Fedex.
I opened the door and the jaunty driver put the 24 bottles inside.
I know you might get served a little quicker down the pub, but just over 24 hours to get a heavy parcel delivered, isn’t too bad in my view.
The Celia lager is very much worth drinking and I’m starting to add used bottles to my recycling box.
As it’s also available in some pubs, you can actually try before you buy, as I did a few days ago.
It’s also better than the Estrella Damm Daura, that I have to carry home from Waitrose.
Food Wars In Israel
Most stories to come out of Israel are not about how well Orthodox Jews and Muslims get on, but this one from The Australian is. Here’s the introduction.
IT was meant to be a battle for supremacy in the kitchen and, perhaps, for the right to claim ownership of the cuisine.
But Israel’s most popular cooking contest has achieved what decades of peace talks have failed to do after turning an orthodox Jew and a Muslim Palestinian into firm friends.
As Jackie Azoulay and Salma Fiyumi completed their dishes in the Masterchef final on Wednesday, they cheerfully embraced on national television.
It’s just a pity that the leaders of both sides can’t sit down with these two women and have a really good meal.
My next door neighbour years ago, had been a Colonel in the British Army. At one time, he had been enforcing the British mandate in Palestine, so he knew the area well.
He said that the only way to tell if the various people in the area, were Jew or Arab, was from their surname. It would appear, these two women have performed that wonderful feat of turning the clock back constructively.
Marks And Spencer Make Allergies Clearer
One of my problems with supermarkets and ready meals, is that you often have to turn them upside down to read the allergy information, as with Waitrose’s fish pies. Today though, I bought a newly-introduced meal of slow cooked venison in a red wine and onion sauce from Marks and Spencer.
Marks And Spencer Make Allergies Clearer
Note the blue patch on the packaging showing the allergies. It’s getting there, but the allergies could be better shown still. For this product, they are cow’s milk. I’m not sure, but I think in the past it was just milk.
Someone at Marks and Spencer, has been thinking.
I’d also see a universal word or symbol for no allergies. Or perhaps for none of the common allergies, like fish, shellfish, gluten, celery, milk, mustard, buts and wheat. But then I’ve come across or heard of people allergic to rice, soya, chickpeas and potatoes.
Subway Are Against The Tax On Toasted Sandwiches
Surprise! Surprise!
I saw this in the window of the Subway next door to the Harris and Hoole in Southgate.
Toast The Tax
I can understand their corporate anger, but it still doesn’t get round the fact, that their shops have nothing to offer a coeliac like me.
So how about a gluten tax, based on the amount of poison in the product? Or even just a simple bread tax? The latter would only be applied to non-real bread of course.
To Southgate For a Cup Of Tea
This morning, I took the Piccadilly line to Southgate to try out one of the new Tesco-financed coffee-shops called Harris and Hoole.
The tea was excellent and properly served in a pot. Note the triple-barrelled tea timer, which could time your tea to exactly 3, 4 or 5 minutes. If they’d sold them in the shop, I’d have bought one, but they don’t at present. But they are available on-line from here!
The staff were attentive and if they can replicate this style, the company may have created something like an updated traditional coffee shop, that you still see occasionally in places like Harrogate. It certainly has a better ambience than Starbucks and is laid out with quite a bit of space.
At present, they don’t have any gluten-free offerings, but apparently, they’re working on it. They do though have EatNakd bars.
Overall it’s a good concept and I wish them well, despite the Tesco connection. My allergy to the supermarket chain stems from a business run-in years ago and where there are alternatives I go elsewhere.
In the 1950s and 1960s, when I was at Minchenden Grammar School just up the road, the only coffee bar was the Mayfair a few doors towards Cockfosters from where Harris and Hoole is now. That place was beloved of teddy-boys and served coffee in those shallow Pyrex cups. It was off-limits during school hours!
Let’s Tax Fizzy Drinks!
There has been a call this morning, for a tax to be put on fizzy sugary drinks. It’s reported here on the BBC.
I would not be affected by such a tax, as I suppose the only high sugar drink, I take is the odd smoothie, when I need to take my pills out.
I did however chat to someone yesterday, who has retired from a job, where they looked after obesity and diabetes in the community. Judging by that pair of jobs, there is a serious connection between being overweight and getting diabetes.
So perhaps, it would be a good idea to try to cut down on all that sugar! On the other hand, we perhaps shouldn’t go for artificial sweeteners, as many like the outspoken, DogtorJ, believe them to be a problem. He incidentally is a vet, who is a coeliac, and has come to some interesting research-based conclusions.
I doubt we’ll ever see a tax on fizzy drinks, as the industry wouldn’t allow it and I suspect, it would be a vote loser.
A Beer Called Celia
I just had to try a gluten-free beer called Celia, as that was my late wife’s name. I found that they served it in a pub called The Regent in Liverpool Road, Islington. It just happened to be Liverpool Road, didn’t it? As of course we met in Liverpool in 1966!
A Beer Called Celia
It wasn’t a bad beer at all and I shall be drinking more of it.
But how long will it be, before we see a proper gluten-free real ale on draught in pubs. I suspect it’ll be there by the end of this decade.
Quinoa
I’ve never knowingly tasted quinoa, but it does come up occasionally on the gluten-free lists I belong to.
I was thus drawn to this article about the grain in the Guardian. The title
Quinoa: good, evil, or just really complicated?
Probably sums it all up well.
Gluten Free Bread Hunting In Brixton
By accident I heard about WAGfree in Brixton, which sells wheat and gluten free products in Brixton Village underneath the railway line. so I just had to go and find them and buy some bread.
It wasn’t difficult to find and these are some pictures I took, together with some of the bread, when I got home.
I liked the bread, although some might find it a little bit cakey. In some ways it was a pity I arrived when I did, as I was too early for their savoury products like quiches.
On the other hand, they can’t be doing too badly, as they just opened an outlet in Selfridges.
I thought that upmarket shop was one place, that certainly isn’t WAG-free! Certainly one footballer I know off, who is married to a coeliac, will probably be visiting.
I shall go to Selfridges myself next time, as it’s an easier journey.
The Anonymous Widower 