What Doctors Won’t Tell You
The Guardian puts the boot in to a publication, some think should be banned, in this article.
It gave me a good laugh.
I’ve had several people say that if I eat bread made from organic wheat, it won’t harm me. But not for some years, as now the organic freaks are often on a wheat-free kick as well.
Eurostar Go For The East Coast Franchise
I have noticed that Eurostar are bidding to run the trains to the North and Scotland from Kings Cross.
I do hope that if they do run it, they bring the excellent gluten-free food from their continental services.
Lots Of Taxis But No Buses
I felt hungry, so I felt the best thing to do was move on towards Manchester, as there didn’t appear any good coffee or gluten-free snacks. This greeted me as I walked back to Preston station.
Lots Of Taxis But No Buses
Is this the cause of the city’s bus problems at the rail station? Moving the taxi rank to the side would allow buses to call at the station properly. But then rule one in planning traffic around railway stations and city centres is not to annoy the taxi drivers. and as I suspect many taxis are driven by ethnic minorities, rule two is not to annoy ethnic minorities.
But something must be done in Preston to make the city centre more viable. With a proper interchange at the station, it might encourage the use of buses to get to the outlying towns around the city. At present I suspect, that you have no excuse but to drive.
As a coeliac, Preston is a place, I wouldn’t put on a list of places to change trains. the only restaurant I know there, that I’d trust to do gluten-free well is Pizza Express.
The best thing about Preston was the train I took to Huyton.
Ready Meals
I have just realised I’ve not eaten a shop-bought pre-prepared ready meal for about five to six weeks now. I have had a couple of cartons of soup for lunch, as I’m trying to keep my liquid levels up.
Usually, I cook something from scratch.
On the other hand, I was looking around my local Sainsburys in Dalston, yesterday and there seemed to be some frozen ready meals from a company called Kirstys.
The range is shown here.
If I’m late and need a meal urgently, I might try one.
Chorizo Hash With Peas
When I returned from Liverpool, I was tired and didn’t really have time for shopping, so i rustled together a version of the chorizo hash by Lindsey Bareham, I cooked a couple of weeks ago.
Chorizo Hash With Peas
As I had a few peas in the fridge, I threw them in as well.
The supper was delicious.
A Gluten Free Breakfast On Virgin Trains
I went to Liverpool today on the 08:07 Virgin train from Euston. I was in First and got this gluten free breakfast as part of the ticket.
A Gluten Free Breakfast On Virgin Trains
It came with lots of tea and an orange juice, and very good it was too! Sadly, I think it is only served Monday to Friday until 09:59, as I reported here.
The scrambled egg was particularly nice and was some of the best I’d had that wasn’t home cooked or in a top class hotel. It certainly gave the impression that it was freshly cooked and hadn’t been stewing for a couple of hours.
An interesting point on the price of train tickets is that it cost me £42.90 to go up in First and £25.50 to come back in Standard. So my comfortable seat, breakfast and extra tea, cost me £17.40.
Carluccio’s Gluten Free Bread Is In The Soup!
I had soup for lunch in Carluccio’s one day this week.
Carluccio’s Gluten Free Bread Is In The Soup!
The gluten free bread made excellent croutons.
Tarragon Chicken
This is another of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes from The Times. The original is here.
I started by chopping an onion in my little chopper.
An Onion In My Chopper
I continued by gently frying it in some butter in my frying pan.
Spftening The Onion
This should take about 15 minutes. Whilst it was cooking, I cut up three mini chicken fillets into small pieces.
A peeled, finely chopped and crushed garlic clove with a pinch of salt was added to the onion and cooked for a couple of minutes.
The chicken was then added, turning the pieces as they changed colour.
Cooking The Chicken
A teaspoon of flour was then sprinkled over the top and stirred. 150 ml. of chicken stock was added and the mixture was allowed to bubble up and thicken. Season as required, add one teaspoon of chopped tarragon and three tablespoons of thick cream and then stirring occasionally, let it cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Finally adjust the seasoning to taste, with salt, pepper and lemon.
Dinner Is Served
It was good and I served it as Lindsey suggested with green beans and new potatoes.
Which Is The Best UK University For Students With Coeliac Disease?
When I went to Liverpool University in the 1960s, I hadn’t been diagnosed with coeliac disease, but this article from the BBC web site about students with nut allergies got me thinking.
In my travels around the country, I find cities and towns vary with their knowledge of the disease. For instance, London, Brighton, Cambridge and Liverpool are easy cities for a coeliac and others like Ipswich, Blackpool and Middlesbrough are difficult.
I think drinking could be the biggest problem, as it is only in a few places you can drink a pint of something gluten-free, like real cider. At least these days, there is a wide availability of microwaveable meals from the major supermarkets that are gluten free and there are now reliable Indian restaurants, who cook with gram flour everywhere. And you can usually find a Pizza Express. Who’d have thought that good gluten-free pizza would be available nearly everywhere, a few years ago?
I think in the 1960s, being a coeliac, would have been a real problem at university and I probably would have taken an easy option to stay in London with my aunt. I couldn’t have lived with my parents in Felixstowe, as there was no University in the county.
So my life as a coeliac would have been totally different. I certainly wouldn’t have met my wife and would have missed out on forty very happy years.
A Wet Night In Islington
I needed supper last night and although I had food in the fridge, I went to Pizza Express at the Angel.
The great advantage is that the bus stop is right outside the restaurant.
So although, the rain was amazing, I didn’t get too wet.
The gluten-free pizza was good too!
The Anonymous Widower 