Chinese Food at the Phoenix, Histon
This is one of my favourite restaurants, so much so that when I took the pictures of the busway, I included a picture.
Phoenix Chinese Restaurant, Histon
I went last night and had an excellent meal.
As a coeliac I sometimes fear restaurants, as I’m not sure about how things are cooked. The waiter explained that most dishes are cooked with potato flour, which surprised me and that soy sauce was a problem.
For a starter, I had crispy lamb wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Note that lettuce leaves are a great alternative to pancakes and totally gluten-free.
I followed it with beef and lemon chicken. That incidentally uses custard powder, which I wasn’t sure about, but I have had no reaction today.
So if you’re travelling down the A14, visit the Phoenix, which is about two kilometres from the road on the B1049 going north.
Aspall Cyder in Greene King Pubs
My local pubs, which are Greene King, have now started serving Aspall Cyder on draught. I’m not sure whether this is Greene King policy, but I suspect that as Aspall is a Suffolk brand and we tend to be parochial, you can’t sell Strongbow against a proper local cyder. So I suspect that Greene King have had to allow their landlords to stock a rival product, as Aspall is distributed by Adnams.
If you haven’t tried it yet, draught Aspall Cyder has made me forget all about trying to find any decent gluten-free beer.
Was Robert Enke a Coeliac?
When I heard of the sad death of Robert Enke, the German goalkeeper, I wondered if his depression was caused by being a coeliac. Note that one of the symptoms of coeliac disease is depression, because your brain doesn’t get all the vitamins it needs. All top class sportsmen are fit and extremely well-monitored for any small health problem. They also often take high-pasta diets to improve stamina.
There have been several cases of top-class sportsman suffering depression and other similar problems, when they appear to have everything going for them.
I would never have posted this question, but someone found this blog, by typing “Robert Enke Coeliac” into a search engine. So I’m not the only person who thinks that this might possibly have been his problem. Note that I said might and I’m only speculating.
It should also be said, that if one in a hundred of the UK population is a coeliac, why is Hayley Turner, the very successful jockey, the only known coeliac?
Comments to easyJet
I was asked to comment on my latest flight by easyJet. Here’s my main comment.
I took the one flight home from Amsterdam and although you’ve called it outbound it was inbound for me, as I live half-an-hour north of Stansted.
I try to avoid Schipol, despite visiting Den Haag fairly often.
Lately though, I have been driving using Norfolk Line, as I usually go for four to five days and bring all sorts of goodies that Holland doesn’t have. I’m also a coeliac and stock up with things like Dr. Schar’s bread-mix which are unavailable in the UK. This is much easier in a car.
But it is Schipol that really annoys me. The easyJet gate at Schipol is a long walk and is distinctly unfriendly with no seats. I also always take a laptop and find the security annoying.
So there is nothing wrong with easyJet, it is just Schipol, which compared to Stansted is distinctly passenger unfriendly. Especially for people like me, who never buy anything in the shops.
I should also add, that your new big box crisps looked nice, but nowhere in the guide did it say whether they were gluten free or not. If you said what was, you might sell more. As it is I only just buy a coffee and no food.
Looking at my travel folder, I notice that I haven’t used easyJet from Schipol since April the eleventh. I think in that time, I’ve perhaps driven about four times, so the flight experience must be bad. But I have flown easyJet elsewhere for a holiday.
Clapham Junction
I’ve rarely caught a train from this station, but the Train Timetable site said that by travelling via Tottenham Hale, Vauxhall and Clapham Junction was the quickest way to get through London. I was actually travelling from Stansted Airport to Winchester.
Note the Hot Ribena. I used to like that, but now because it is made from wheat glucose, it gives me the runs.
One of the problems of being a coeliac. But the EU says that wheat glucose is fine for me, so it must be OK!
It bloody well isn’t!
Depression and Processed Food
There is a serious report in The British Journal of Psychiatry linking levels of depression with processed food. They are not sure that there might be other factors involved, but the evidence is fairly clear of the link. As it is published in a peer-reviewed journal, everything is obviously scientifically-correct.
On the BBC web site there is an article with a video, where a guy describes how he cured his depression. Watch it! The first thing he says is that he cut out wheat!
Here’s what I said in a letter to the author of the study.
I was very interested to read the summary of your research and hear about it on the BBC this morning.
I used to suffer mild depression, despite being a very successful scientist and engineer, who created two multi-million pound companies. My diet was good, as my late wife tended to believe in proper cooking and we did eat quite a bit in very good restaurants. However, on trips to the US, I always felt worse and often came home early. Could this be because North America has wheat in everything and I was living on burgers?
But in 2003, I was diagnosed as a coeliac and went on a strict gluten-free diet. Since then I’ve really not suffered from that type of depression, although I’ve had to get over the death of my wife from cancer of the heart and my youngest son is now suffering from serious pancreatic cancer. I may be very unhappy and almost desperate at times, but I can talk my way through the problems and it is very different to the depression, I’ve had in the past.
So the question I have to ask, is the missing factor in your research gluten and sensitivity to it?
Only one in a hundred of the UK population are coeliacs, but I understand that your study used middle-aged people. I have a feeling, that many when they approach fifty could benefit by going on a gluten-free or low-gluten diet.
Keep up the good work.
I certainly would prefer to try a natural and balanced diet, than indulge in a few chemicals for depression.
If You Don’t Like the Message, Shoot the Messenger
Professor David Nutt‘s sacking by Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, is a classic case of, “if you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger”.
I should say now that I have never knowingly taken any illegal drugs. I say knowingly, as I might have had some cake with cannabis in it in the 1960s or 70s. On the other hand in those days, I rarely ate cake, so probably that route of illegal imbibing was closed.
I don’t smoke, although I’ve had perhaps a hundred cigarettes in the past, but I do drink some alcohol. I wish sometimes I do drink less. But at least since my wife died, I’ve probably only been near the drink-drive limit once. And that was on my birthday. And at home too!
Now, I’m very much an anti-smoker and don’t let anybody smoke in my house, cars or office. I’m also pretty much against illegal drugs and a lot of legal ones too. As a coeliac, I know how ill a banned substance can make my body. And that is only the gluten found in wheat, barley and rye.
So I think the best advice is to avoid anything that has a negative affect.
But I still drink alcohol. On the other hand, if a doctor, said to me that I mustn’t drink it, I would find something else like Belvoir Ginger Beer to waste my money on.
Read Professor Nutt’s bio and research history and you’ll see that the word eminent was designed to be used for him. So when Johnson sacks him for speaking the truth, we should all take note. On the one hand, we should read and take action on what the Professor says and on the other we should distrust even more what Prudence and his wretched Government, try and bambozzle us with.
A Pleasant Surprise
I enquired about booking a box at Ipswich Town Football Club and we were discussing food, when I said that I was a coeliac. The lady at the other end said that was not a problem, provided they had a day’s notice. She said that they were increasingly being asked for gluten-free meals in their catering and their chefs were trained accordingly.
What was also good, was that the lady on the phone knew all about it, without referring to a chef or a manager.
Let’s hope this is a sign to come for mass catering.
White Horse, Brancaster Staithe
My late wife and I ate several times at this pub on the North Norfolk Coast.
Today, I had to visit a friend in the area and we had lunch in the restaurant. For a bad day in October, that was cold and looked to be turning wet, the restaurant was full. Perhaps it was more a day for eating and drinking rather than walking.
I said that I was a coeliac and I was told that everything on the menu was either naturally gluten-free or could be modified.
So I had salmon and potato fishcakes. I can’t remember the last time I had any decent fishcakes.
With a pint of Aspall‘s cyder as well.
Heaven!
Note that the group also have a similar and equally good pub called the Fox at Willian. This is useful as it is close to junction 9 of the A1(M). It’s so much better than the Service Area a few kilomtres to the north.
Ridiculous Holiday Compliants
This list on the Telegraph‘s web site is very funny!
I have highlighted the one about Goa. It was a very good place for a coeliac to have a holiday. The thought makes me want to go back!
The Anonymous Widower 