Cod Fish And Raisin Pie
Our excellemt guide in Corunna mentioned that this was a meal she liked.
It sounded good to me, so I just had to look it up. I found a non-gluten-free version here.
This recipe isn’t gluten-free, but I suspect it could easily be made so.
The Oldest Parador In Spain
The parador by the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is the oldest parador in Spain.
Part of our tour included coffee, tea and cakes in the hotel. Our tour guide even rustled up a delicious gluten-free muffin for myself. It was labelled sin gluten, with a crossed grain symbol, so coeliacs won’t have difficulty with the language. In fact my Italian pronunciation of celiachai worked well enough in Spain, as the words are similar sounding.
Before we had our snack, I had actually retreated into the hotel to get a coffee because of the cold, which cost me the princely sum of €2.50.
Local Food At Santiago de Compostela
There was a cafe by the bus station and they did give us tastes of the local food.
The almond biscuits, which are from that area of Spain were delicious and gluten-free. I’ve never seen them before, but why are they not in gluten-free selections in shops and on-line?
Gluten Free Drinks At Waitrose In Canary Wharf
I was surprised that there was no gluten-free beer at Waitrose in Canary Wharf, but there was a new variety of Aspall’s cyder, I’d not seen before called Lady Jennifer
Have The Sale Of Eggs Benedict Declined With The Change Of Pope?
I often have Eggs Benedict for brunch on Sunday, as I did today. Hence my question!
Wikipedia gives a couple of explanations for the name of the dish. I like this one.
In the early eighteenth century Pope Benedict XIII was so fond of a particular egg dish, that he requested it very often. It is also believed that Benedict XIII had an illness which contributed to his desire for the egg dish.
I seem to be a bit addicted to eggs and always have been.
Holy Toast
With the election of a new Pope, my slice of toast this morning was appropriate.
Holy Toast
Unfortunately, it is gluten-free toast, and as coeliacs these days, can’t be Catholic priests, I doubt the Pope would appreciate the subtle flavours and merits of this toast.
Sad really, as one of the most influemtial Catholic priests of recent years; Derek Warlock, was a coeliac.
A Liverpudlian Hotel
I’ve just come back from Liverpool, where I stayed in the Hope Street Hotel. It is one of my favourite city hotels and I would rate it as the best city hotel, I’ve stayed in, in the UK. It certainly magnitudes better than one famous London hotel, C and I stayed in, where we were constantly interrupted all night by the reception wanting someone, with the same name as myself.
What I like most about it, is that it is a real Liverpudlian hotel, where the staff reflect the true nature of the city, where they have a joke and a tale for everyone. So many luxurious city hotels, as the Hope Street Hotel is, are very anonymous and could be anywhere. In some, I’ve stayed in, you find no local staff at all.
It is also an excellent gluten-free hotel, that actually bakes all of its own bread, including the gluten free. How many hotels do that? On Thursday night, I ate in the restaurant and they’d also made their own ice cream. Also, as befits a coastal city, there is always plenty of fish on the menu.
C liked her baths and the bathroom in the room I had was spectacular.
A Spectacular Bathroom
She would have loved it, although despite several tries she never managed to book the hotel.
I have feeling that I got a room upgrade because I booked with a Platinum Amex card. It’s happened to me quite a few times in 4 and 5-star hotels, as often a lot more guests want the cheaper rooms, so those they know or have a decent card get the upgrade.
Every time I go, the hotel seems to get better. This time, they had fitted new televisions which gave access to all the Freeview channels and Sky Sports. So often C and I stayed in a hotel, where her favourite Radio 4 wasn’t available and most don’t have my favourite Radio 5 either. But Hope Street has both and also all of the odd ones like BBC3 and ITV4.
Full Freview Television
Note that the Hope Street Hotel scores 4.5 on Trip Advisor, as opposed to the Lowry in Manchester, which scores 4. Remember too, that the Hope Street Hotel is at the heart of the University and many attractions in the city. Most of the other places you want to go are just a walk down the hill and if you need one a taxi back.
Got A Migraine, Have Sex!
Research from the the University of Munster in Germany has shown that sex may be a better cure for migraine than painkillers. It’s all here in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph.
I wonder what Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells thinks of this?
Incidentally, I used to get the odd migraine, until I was diagnosed as a coeliac and went gluten-free.
Mincepiration
What a lovely name for a cookery book featured in The Times yesterday. The recipes they showed were all gluten-free or could be made so by using gluten-free flour.
I may not buy the book, but I think I’ll try and find a copy and have a browse.
A year ago, I’d have just bought it on Amazon. But their tax antics and the offensive tee-shirts, they have sold recently, have put me off buying from them.
Microwaveable Bread
For lunch today, before I took the train to Ipswich to watch the football, I went into Carluccio’s in Spitalfields and had a cup of tea and Eggs Benedict.
The eggs were delicious, but they would be so much better with some toast.
It struck me at the time, that a food scientist should be able to come up with a bread in a packet, that after a couple of minutes in the microwave was perfectly acceptable to soak up the egg yolk and the Hollandaise sauce.
After all, there are some very good meals you just cook in the microwave. As I often do after the football, I’ve just had a delicious Marks and Spencer’s curry and rice.
Surely a method of making a couple of slices of decent bread must be possible?
The Anonymous Widower 