Virgin’s Second Class First Class Offering On Saturdays
I travelled up and down to Manchester in First Class. To say it wasn’t crowded would be an understatement.
Empty First Class On Virgin Trains
I have no problems with the seats or tables, but the food at weekends leaves a lot to be desired for a coeliac like me.
I’ve noted before that Virgin don’t have anything gluten-free except drinks and it gets worse as bananas have been deleted.
If Hull Trains can do an excellent gluten-free meal,surely Virgin can!
As it was because the train was late into Euston, I could have had a problem, but despite being rather bare, Marks and Spencer provided something good.
I don’t think I’ll be going First Class on Virgin so often.
Galettes With The Precision And Care Of A Surgeon
I haven’t had a crepe or galette in over fifteen years. But I bought one from this stall in Camden Market.
It was well-worth waiting for. I won’t wait as long next time.
As you can see the gluten-free galettes are made from buckwheat flour.
Why the surgical reference? Go and have your delicious pancake ask the guys; one French and one Spanish.
Guys like this really show up most chains of fast food, as what they are – purveyors of toilet fodder!
Lovely Liver
Lovely Liver
For supper last night, I cooked some liver which I had bought from Marks & Spencer.
It was in lots of slices and I just fried it in olive oil, serving it with a fried onion and some potatoes and sprouts.
It was rather nice considering my limited cooking skills.
What About Gluten?
I love this notice from Waitrose.
What About Gluten?
The notice says.
Bread sliced here may contain nuts, peanuts, sesame and other allergens.
There is no mention of the biggest allergen in bread; gluten.
Who’d Want To Live In Chelsea?
I wanted to go to a shop called Mr.Resistor in Parson’s Green. Hopefully, they’d be able to provide me with lights that solved my lighting problems. Sadly the light that might have solved the problem was out of stock, so I decided to come home. I had gone by taking a bus to Liverpool Street station, then the Central line to Notting Hill station for the District line to my destination, which was close to Parson’s Green station. The problem had been the bus, as all of the traffic in the City was gridlocked. Possibly because of the Crossrail works.
So instead of retracing my steps, I thought about getting a bus to perhaps South Kensington, where I could get some lunch at Carluccio’s. I really don’t like taking pot luck in an area I don’t know, as getting glutened isn’t fun! I did find a bus stop, with a choice of just one bus; a 22 to Piccadilly Circus. At least it was going in the right direction, but then it got stuck in traffic, due to all the tractors and white vans. Kingsland High Street may not have the glamour of the King’s Road, but at least the traffic keeps moving. In the end, I dived into the Piccadilly line at Knightsbridge station and took a train to Holborn, where I got a friendly 38 bus to the Angel. I just had time to grab my supper and some sandwiches from Marks and Spencer before I had to come home to catch an appointment.
Chelsea may have advantages, but I certainly didn’t see any today. Get past Piccadilly Circus and the traffic frees up, you’ve got the Underground and lots more bus routes. But then I suppose those in Chelsea and the surrounding areas of London don’t believe in public transport and clog up the roads with their tractors. It’s significant to me, that Kensington and Chelsea is one of the London boroughs in greatest opposition to the new London sewer. Could it be that the councillors are getting so many complaints about where to park during the construction?
On the other hand, this trip showed how Crossrail 2 or the Chelsea to Hackney line is badly needed. But do the residents of Chelsea want it constructed given the problems Crossrail is causing in the City. Parson’s Green station is incidentally pencilled in, as a station on the new line.
Next time, I go that way, I’ll take the Overground to West Brompton station and then change to the District line.
Why Can’t I Shop In One Store?
Sainsburys and Waitrose are side-by-side at the Angel, but as the picture shows, I have to shop in both.
Why Can’t I Shop In One Store?
This Waitrose doesn’t sell any decent gluten-free bread, whereas their store a mile or so at Highbury Corner does. So before going to Waitrose, I had to get the bread from Sainsburys.
A Problem For A Jewish Coeliac
Now I’m not Jewish, although I’m suspicious that my coeliac disease comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish line from my great-great-great-grandfather who came over to work in the fur-trade at the start of the nineteenth century.
I do like to have eggs for breakfast and if I cook them at home, I will generally have them with beans and bacon. Today, though, I was on the way to IKEA via the Angel, so I popped into Carluccio’s. Usually, in such a situation, I have eggs florentine with a portion of pancetta. The pancetta is a great way to mop up the sauce and the yolk from the poached eggs.
I suppose if you are Jewish, you could accept the offer of Scottish gluten-free oatcakes. The oatcakes are fine, but they are a bit hearty for breakfast.
A Superb Gluten Free Meal At Kings Cross
I popped into Kings Cross station and had a superb gluten-free meal at Leon.
As you can see the surroundings weren’t bad either for the sit down part of a fast food restaurant. It made your average burger joint look exceedingly plastic, tacky and in the worst possible taste from across the pond.
To cap it all, the Catalan Salad and White Bean Stew with a Fresh Lemonade was just £8.55.
Cracking The Code
This story from the BBC’s web site shows how rapid DNA sequencing has been used to crack an MRSA outbreak.
It also shows how fast it will be in future to sequence DNA. This could lead to all sorts of new treatments for illnesses like cancer.
We should be hailing the scientists who did this! But others will say it’s wrong to mess with DNA.
As someone with a minor genetic disease, I hope we see more successes in the next few years.
On the other hand, if someone said to me, we could cure your coeliac disease, by giving you a gene change, I’d say no!
Poached Smoked Haddock With Poached Eggs
After my experience at the Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool, I thought I’d try to do this myself. I asked an honourable friend how to poach the fish and she suggested using the microwave. I then found this method on Yahoo.
If you don’t want to spend ages with the other recipes just put it in a shallow dish with a little milk and water (equal amounts) and a knob of butter on top then whack it into the microwave for three/mins full power.
Here’s what it looked like before it went in the microwave.
Smoked Haddock Before Cooking
And here it is after the cooking.
Smoked Haddock After Cooking
To poach the eggs, I used these mini-poachers from John Lewis.
Mini-Poachers From John Lewis
Here they are sitting in the pan.
Two Eggs Poaching
They can either sit or hang on the side. The eggs didn’t turn out of the poachers too well.
Poached Smoked Haddock and Poached Eggs
But they tasted alright and I suspect I’ll get them better next time.
By the way it looks like John Lewis is out of the mini egg poachers. Perhaps a lot of mothers are going to get them for Christmas. After all they only cost four pounds each.
The Anonymous Widower 