A First Risotto
I like risotto, but I’d never made it until last night.
The problem started because, I only had limited fresh food in the fridge and I needed to conjure together something from a pack of smoked haddock, asparagus, sprouts, tomatoes and spring onions. I found this recipe for spring onion and smoked fish risotto on the BBC Good Food site.
The ingredients I used were.
- 500g smoked haddock, cod or trout
- chicken stock, fresh, cube or concentrate, made up to 1.5 litres
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 450g risotto rice
- 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced diagonally (green included)
- 150g mature cheddar, grated
These quantities make enough for six, but as I’m only one, I made half and froze the other two packs. Will they be OK? Only time will tell.
I should say that the Waitrose risotto rice was a month past its sell-by date and I had to cut the mould off the chess. But then if you are a non-driver in the middle of nowhere, you have to be thankful for small mercies.
The method was as follows.
- Put the fish in a large frying pan. Pour over enough chicken stock to cover, bring to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Allow the fish to cool a little in the stock, then skin and flake it. Add any leftover chicken stock to the poaching liquid and keep hot. (If you’re using trout, just skin and flake it and heat the stock).
- To make the risotto, cook the onions in a little butter then add the garlic and risotto rice, stirring well to coat in the butter. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring each time to bring the starch out of the rice and give the risotto a creamy effect. When the rice is almost cooked, stir in the fish and spring onions. Stir in an extra knob of butter and the cheddar and serve.
The rice took 20-25 minutes to cook, but it was worth it. It wasn’t very difficult to get right either and it used just one frying pan. The latter is always welcomed.
The out-of-date food had no effect either.
Whether the frozen risottos are any good, I do not know.
A Quick Caserrole
On Saturday night, a quick meal was in order, so we took a tray of vegetables to be baked in the oven from Waitrose and put two small lamb steaks in it and then livened it up with a slurp of red wine. It took forty minutes in the AGA and was delicious.
Trundling to Marseilles
Trundling is the word, as the TGV took just under three hours to get from Nice to Marseilles and then four and a half to get from Marseilles to Lille. And it’s not one and a half times the distance.
After my experiences on the journey down with the catering, I decided to bring my own, which I bought from a small supermarket near to the station. I arrived on the train with two bottles of Coke, some Roquefort, some butter, a pack of Trufree crackers, crisps, some fruit bars, two bananas and a free plastic knife. Never forget that, when you have a picnic.
Lunch, Puzzles, Phone and Notepad
Note too the paper cup from Paul. I can’t drink too well out of bottles, but found that this cup I got with coffee at the airport is excellent to stop my dribbling. But my menu shows the problems you have when travelling as a coeliac. The Roquefort was nice though and went well with the crackers.
The train left on time at 10:28 and it is very much a stop start journey with stops at Antibes (10:50), Cannes (11:00), St. Raphael (11:34), Les Arcs (11:52), Toulon (12:37) and it arrived at Marseilles at 13:20. That was just over twenty minutes late, but then the line from Nice to Marseilles is not a TGV line and carries all types of local traffic.
I think if I go south on the train again, I’ll go as far as Marseilles and then either go to a resort near there like Bandol or hire a car.
Just out of Nice I passed the Marina Baie des Anges.
Marina Baie des Anges
It describes itself as the world’s most beautiful marina, but that is probably subjective. Anyway, I think it’s awful and is starting to show its age from the railway.
We once went there with our two youngest children and had a holiday in a boat on the Mediterranean. It is perhaps a holiday we never talked about much and we never did something like that again. All I can remember was my youngest’s passion for eating duck every night in the various restaurants we visited and an outboard motor that was very temperamental.
Most of the journey to Marseilles was along the coast and you passed from one bay to another.
Agay
Here is the bay at Agay. This was a place that we visited in the boat and it is a lovely sheltered anchorage.
So although the journey is slow, there is a lot to look at.
Cambridge to Nice by Train
I was dropped at Cambridge early, as since my stroke I get almost paranoid about missing anything. It’s probably that I’m insecure. But then I always was a bit! I’m just moreso now. But I really had no worries as my credit card and the reference number from Eurostar got the tickets issues without any fuss.
The outcome was that I got the 7:15 out of Cambridge instead of the 7:45 and sat comfortably in First Class. I should say that the extra two single tickets from Kings Cross to Cambridge cost me just £15 for the pair. And as I’m travelling First all the way to Nice, I get First to London. First Capital Connect are not always praised for their service and punctuality, but I had no problems and arrived in London on time.
But of course it was into the main station at Kings Cross, rather than the old surburban one which is just a short walk from St. Pancras International.
Kings Cross Station
As I knew I had a fully flexible ticket, was thirty minutes early and I had to pick my tickets up from the station, I decided to see if I could catch an earlier train. It’s the paranoia again, as I was rather worried that I might miss the connection in Paris, so a few extra minutes might be welcome.
Let’s say the flexible ticket worked and instead of being on the 9:32, I was on the 8:55. But I was told there might be a problem with my gluten-free meal, so would I mention it at the gate. I think the paranoia ruled the stomach and I preferred to be early and hungry, rather than full and late. It was just as well.
The guy on the gate made a note and said that he’d try to get it sorted.
He did and the first thing the steward said when I boarded was that they had the gluten-free breakfast.
That in itself felt that at least someone was looking after me!
The trip was uneventful and I tried yet again to take a picture of the Dartford Bridge from the train. At least this time I was ready for it, not like when I took the journey a couple of months ago on a Javelin.
Dartford Bridge from Eurostar
The only other new feature of note on the English side of the Channel is the station at Stratford. For my liking it is too stark and nothing but concrete at the moment. Surely not something for the entrance point to the London 2012 Olympics. But then, I suspect it hasn’t been properly finished and a good bit of colour helps most things.
On the other side of the Channel the train rolled along as it should across the flat open countryside of Northern France.
Flat France
You can understand why they didn’t have much trouble building this high speed line, as except for Lille, it missed out all the towns and villages. But then France has a lot more space than we do.
Gare du Nord, Paris
I arrived on time into Gare du Nord or Gare Nord, as they call it now, and had ninety minutes or get to the Gare de Lyon. I had been intending to take a taxi, but as I had the extra time I took the RER D from under the station.
It was a wise choice.
A young lad about eighteen or so was by the ticket machines, dressed in a vest which said that he was there to help. He showed me how to use the machines and told me that I needed track 44. Paris is certainly trying to make sure that they welcome visitors! But then tourism is a cut-throat business these days and personal service is something that always works.
Paris RER
Note the double deck! Will Crossrail be that way? I doubt it.
Gare de Lyon, Paris
But then I had an hour to spend in the Gare de Lyon.
Le Train Bleu, Gare de Lyon, Paris
Le Train Bleu Restaurant, that evokes pre-war travel and glamour, is still there, although it does have an Express version as well. Perhaps, we don’t have as much time as we used to.
The station is being upgraded and probably not before time, as such as St. Pancras, Milan, Berlin and even dear old Liverpool Street show that a good station creates the right experience.
The train left on time for the long haul to Nice. To say it is a large train would be an understatement. It is two TGV Duplex or double-deck units coupled together. Short of a boat, it must be one of the largest people carriers around. According to Wikipedia each set carries 545 people.
You do wonder about trains though!
A friend is joining me at Nice for a few days and they have just phoned me from Lyon. Their plane has diverted there because is on the ground there because of mist at Nice! Do I hear herds of thundering tortoises?
Now I’m the tortoise, as the train threads its slow way through Toulon and all stations to Nice. Not the best.
Neither was the snack I got. Despite asking several times in my worst French, I ended up with a fish thing clearly labelled gluten. So I picked out a few bits of fish and potatoes and left the rest. I hope I’m OK. Why didn’t the silly woman show me the packet and I could have read it?
We’re barely walking pace at the moment and my friend has just arrived in Nice. Perhaps this train is always late, as it was the last time I caught it. That was between Antibes and Nice in 2007 on one of the last holidays with my late wife. It seemed strange to use it as a local train then, but everybody does.
Still the countryside is all green and it’s sunny.
TGV Duplex Arrives at Nice
Finally we arrived in Nice about a quarter of an hour late.
And then I got ripped off by the taxi driver.
Who cares? There are worse things in life! But it’s probably why I avoid them like the plague.
A Tax on Coeliacs – 2
It’s funny, but all the budget forums I’ve read so far have got coeliacs in them moaning about the tax on cider. There are three in this article in the Guardian for a start.
If nothing else, Darling has at least got coeliacs talking about their condition on the Internet.
As they make up one percent of the population, could they have an effect on the election? Probably not, but it does show how stupid Darling is. Surely, he needed to bring in a flat tax rate for drinks like cider, so that cheap crap was taxed heavily and the good expensive stuff wasn’t.
But then in most cases you have to be stupid to be a politician!
Vitamin B Complex for Coeliacs
I mentioned in this post some research, which investigated the “effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease”. These were stated that they might lead to strokes.
I have since contacted the lead researcher, Muhammed Hadithi, and he said the following :-
Your option to take vitamin B complex supplement is in my opinion very justified and wise.
Our findings were also confirmed but probably not published by group of Joseph Murray in Mayo clinic. Coeliac is risk for hyperhomocysteinemia and secondary blood vessel disease that can be well compensated by taking vitamin B complex. These vitamins can not do us any harm anyway and the benefits outweigh their costs.
If this simple pill might have a positive and as there is unlikely to be harm, I have now started taking them.
A Tax on Coeliacs
Darling has put the tax on cider up significantly.
It may be alright for those who can drink beer! But I can’t!
A Scare to Laugh At?
Last night I noticed that one of my eyes was very red. This morning it wasn’t any better, but it wasn’t any worse.
Was it blood pressure? Was it the statins? Was it the aspirin? Or was it something much worse?
So I got driven to the drop-in Health Centre in Haverhill and feared the worst. Perhaps that was that I had to wait twenty minutes or so, but then there did seem to be quite a few walking wounded in the centre.
When I did see the doctor, he gave me a bit of a thrice-over, had a deep look into my eyes and said that it couldn’t be any of the first three, as only one eye was badly affected. He said it looked very sore and said that it could be caused by hay-fever.
Too right! I suffered badly last spring and when I got the prescription for some drops at the pharmacy a few minutes later, the pharmacist said that he was dolling them out at a high frequency!
It’s funny, but before I was diagnosed as a coeliac, I never suffered from hay-fever. Now, I usually spend a rotten spring. You win some and you lose others. I suppose my immune system was so crap before, it wasn’t good enough to give me hay-fever.
A New Face for an Old Lady
I found this article on the British Library web site. It’s called Stroke and Coeliac Disease and is from Italy.
I’ve ordered it. I hope it’s worth the price.
The Anonymous Widower 