The Link Between Junk Food and IQ
A study from the University of Bristol appears to show that children, who eat a lot of junk food, have lower IQ levels at eight.
Who’d have thought that all those burgers, sandwiches and breaded chicken were not good for you? After all they must be as when you travel around like I do, it is all I can find for lunch. So I take my own gluten-free meals. Perhaps most places are not as bad as Scunthorpe, but there are a few horrors out there.
It will be interesting to see if there is a correlation between children’s IQ and the quality of the special diets on offer in the location.
Pan-Fried Fish with Lemon Hollandaise Sauce
This recipe is double-nicked, in that I got it from Fish Fanatics and they got it from the Seafish Industry. I’ve just cooked it with the disaster-prone flour and it was definitely worth stealing. But as the real beneficiaries are the fishermen and their industry made up the recipe, does anybody really care?
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve two.
- 2 sole or plaice fillets, defrosted and skinned. I actually used haddock, line-caught of course
- 30g (1oz) plain flour
- salt and freshly milled black pepper
- 1 15ml spoon (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 30g (1oz) butter
- 125ml hollandaise sauce
- 1 15ml spoon (1 tesp) lemon juice
- fresh chopped parsley, to garnish
The method is as follows.
- Dip the fish in seasoned flour. Shake off any excess.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the butter. Cook each fillet for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Add the hollandaise sauce and lemon juice. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish and serve with potatoes and green vegetables.
Fish Paste Sandwiches Updated
I’ve just made myself some sandwiches for the journey to Ipswich for the football today.
Fish Paste Sandwiches Updated
The bread is Genius, the pate is from Pinney’s of Orford, the butter is Benecol and the cucumber is an organic one from Waitrose.
So different to the fish paste sandwiches that were a treat on Sundays in the 1950s.
W H Smug
This was Private Eye’s name for W H Smith and I’m not sure if the magazine still uses it.
I find them an irritating store, as they do lots of things that annoy me.
Take yesterday, I paid for my copy of The Times by putting my subscriber’s voucher in the quick pay pot, as one assistant had told me to do a couple of weeks ago. Then I saw that the March edition of Modern Railways had arrived, picked it up and then went to pay for it. But I was then told, I’d have to pay for both items in the same place. So in the end, I left the magazine on the counter and walked to St. Pancras and bought it there. It wasn’t actually an extra trip, as I wanted to visit Boots to see if they had an Eat Nakd bar. They didn’t! Boots please note!
Paying for the magazine was then the usual No-No-No conversation, as I declined evething on offer and gave all the bits of paper back to the assistant.
Next time I travel, I’ll make sure I get my travel supplies before I leave home.
Ice Cold in Cornwall
I went to Cornwall for the weekend with friends.
Cold wasn’t the word for the weather.
Icicles at Boscastle
This was the walk by the river in Boscastle. In the end we retreated to the Wellington Hotel for some delicious hot chocolate. We also had an early dinner there before returning to London. The menu was very coeliac and vegetarian friendly.
I had some delicious liver and bacon. All that B12 seems to have freshened up my skin quite a bit.
Daura in the Angel, Islington Waitrose
The Estrella Damm Daura was there all the time, but rather hidden away at the bottom of the Free From section. The bottles and packaging are very red by the way.
I think shops need to think how they sell GF beer. Sainsbury’s put it with the special beers and Waitrose have done the opposite. Perhaps they need some clever stickers on the shelves to point people in the right direction.
The Angel Waitrose is very small, so they have a space problem. I’m sure there’s a labelling or web solution, which would help the stores and shoppers alike.
Carluccio’s Have Formalised the Gluten-Free Breakfast Menu
I was in the Upper Street branch today and the manager showed me a copy of their gluten-free breakfast menu. Effectively, they’ve had it for some time, but it’s now properly printed.
He also said that they are doing a lot of gluten-free meals.
Carluccio’s to Sell Gluten Free Pasta in Their Delis
I have just received this message from Carluccio’s.
I just wanted to drop you a line to say from this week we have added the Gluten Free pasta into our range across all the delis and so it is available to buy for £2.95 for 500gm packet.
It ceertainly is pretty good pasta. I’ve just got to learn how to cook it properly.
Boots Help Coeliacs to Keep Marching
I’ve complained in this blog about the lack of suitable gluten free snacks for coeliacs, when you’re on the move. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when I discovered EatNakd bars in Waitrose.
They aren’t stocked in too many obvious places, but I did find that Boots in Liverpool Street station had an extensive display in their takeaway food section.
In some ways this is bad news, as the bars are a bit addictive, despite being a delicious way to fill a hole.
I’ll be contacting Boots to find out their policy on this issue.
The Anonymous Widower 