Ipswich Town Signing Tells It As It Is!
Ipswich Town’s new signing, Aaron Maclean is reported to be critical of the shopping in the town centre.
T’was ever thus! And it’s not just the shopping, but the pubs and restaurants as well!
When I first started drinking in the early1960s, I was living in Felixstowe. At that time pubs in Suffolk closed at eleven, but those in Ipswich closed half-an-hour early. So no-one in their right mind invested in pubs in the town. What made matters worse, was the great rush out to the county to get an extra half-hour of drinking time.
Before, I was a coeliac, when C and I lived north of the town in the 1970s and 1980s, we rarely ate there and if we did it was usually in the Golden Panda, a restaurant where we knew the owner and the establishment gave a name to one of our horses.
Although, we both worked there, except for Boots and Marks and Spencer, I doubt we ever bought anything of substance there.
Now I just go for the football and always arrange any meal before I get to the town, as it is a veritable gluten-free desert. People have tried to open decent restaurants but only a couple have lasted. If you want a good meal, you go a few miles outside the town.
Ipswich suffers too because of rivalry with Bury St. Edmunds. Ipswich has the trains, the football club, the port and perhaps a better hospital, whereas Bury has a cathedral, the beer, much better shops and a pro-business Council. The only other thing better in Ipswich is the street sculpture and the art galleries. Ipswich used to have Suffolk’s only airport, but it shut that, as the Council decided it was just rich men’s indulgences.
I blame the Council of the latter part of the last century. They were so anti-business, that even though we had created a hundred or so jobs in the town, we got no co-operation and help, as they wanted real manufacturing jobs. Their great saviour was Robert Maxwell, who effectively did nothing for Ipswich except shut Ransomes and Rapier.
Eating Gluten-Free In The Hague
In The Hague on Tuesday night, we went out to dinner to a restaurant called Sapori d’Italia in the Javastraat. It’s the second time, I’ve eaten in that road and although both weren’t cheap they were excellent and knew their gluten-free.
We had a lot of real Italian antipasti of which the most unusual was a very garlicky crostini on gluten-free bread. It was obviously, easy to make and surprisingly gluten-free toast makes a good crostini.
We also went for lunch on Wednesday to an Italian style cafe, where gluten-free was again no problem.
The Netherlands may have very quirky train ticketing, but their cooking for coeliacs is pretty good.
An Excursion In Brussels
I had nearly three hours to wait for my train in Brussels Midi and as I wasn’t sure about our eating arrangements, I thought a quick snack would be in order in the city. From previous experience, I know that the city has good places where I can get a good gluten-free meal.
A quick look around the station after my gentle argument with the guy in Information, indicated that there was nothing but bars and gluten-rich snack places in the station. There was a Starbucks, but you don’t go to one of the gastronomic capitals of the world to go to Starbucks.
So I decided to get a Metro to the area around the cathedral. I couldn’t fathom out the automatic machines, but at least there was a friendly ticket office, where they could understand my French. After getting confused and being sorted on the line to take to go north by an Italian from Milan, where we mused on the confusing maps and directions in the Brussels Metro, I finally got to a station called de Brouckère somewhere near where I thought I wanted to be. I emerged and found my way with ease.
If I’d had more time there was an exhibition of the Terracotta Army, which looked worth visiting.
Eventually, I found a street full of Thai restaurants, which I walked down to the end and found a welcoming-looking place called Le Roi des Belges.
So I took a chance and entered.
I asked if the waitress if the food and especially the plat du jour of salmon was gluten free. It wasn’t just gluten-free but delicious, being cooked with asparagus, tomatoes, herbs and mashed potato. The Belgian speciality of frites was absent. with a Pepsi, it cost me just €12.
it appeared to me though, that this could be the sort of restaurant, that will often be full. So be prepared to go somewhere else, if you turn up on the off-chance.
I walked on to the next Metro station and got the tram back to Brussels Midi.
When I was on the high speed train, it made another stop in Brussels Central station. If you know the city, then you might pick up your onward train to The Netherlands from here.
Keep Calm And Eat Pizza
I saw this sign in the window a La Porchetta restaurant.
Keep Calm And Eat Pizza
I keep calm most of the time, but I can’t find anywhere to eat pizza in London. Unless anybody knows of reliable gluten-free pizza in the city.
They Don’t Just Rescue Dogs
The BBC is showing this news story about rescuing a dog from the icy waters of Lake Erie.
Many years ago, I visited one of our Artemis clients on the shores of Lake Michigan. I’m not sure of the time of year, but it was very cold and there was snow everywhere, when we flew into Benton Harbor. I remember the guy at Hertz had got all the engines of the cars running in the parking lot.
The client I was visiting was the nuclear power station called AEP Cook. I’ve been over several nuclear power stations and together with the old Sizewell A, this was the one, that was run in the most professional manner.
I remember asking whether they got any problems with the locals. The answer was that because waste heat from the power plant, in the winter, the ice tended to melt and the warmth also attracted the best fish in Lake Michigan. So regularly, they had hauled fishermen out of the water, who’d fallen through the ice.
Some people need their heads examined.
That was also the trip, where we had lunch in a restaurant that reminded us of the Rook Restaurant sketch in The Two Ronnies. Except the ubiquitous element was beans, as that is the area of the United States, where navy beans are traditionally grown.
What Do They Put In The Chicken Tikka Dupiaza At The Angel Curry Centre?
I went to the Angel Curry Centre in Chapel Market, Islington last night and had my usual shamee kebab followed by chicken tikka dupiaza.
I feel a lot better this morning, as the pain I’ve been suffering in my jaw has lessened. It did the same a couple of weeks ago after a curry.
I can’t think that their currys are very different from the standard recipe, although I suspect they do put something in, that others don’t.
So what is in the average chicken tikka dupiaza? I found this recipe on a site called Curry Frenzy. They’ll even sell you the spices to make your own!
It looks like the spices are chilli, garlic, ginger, turmeric and some mild curry powder.
I suppose I should keep eating the curry. Especially, if the weather remains this cold.
Is Curry Good For Me?
Last night I had a good curry at the Angel Curry Centre in Chapel Market at the Angel.
My throat hasn’t been good lately, but it certainly seems to have improved after the curry.
But then it’s not just curry that does that. Marks and Spencer’s roast pork in a cider sauce has a similar calming effect. There are various articles on the web, which say curry does have good effects. like this one.
But then C and I always used to go for a curry on Monday nights, although in later years we didn’t go quite as often.
So I know one thing I’m going to do to improve my health and that is have a weekly curry.
Allergies
This chicken Provençal from Waitrose was rather nice.
Waitrose Chicken Provencal
But why can’t we have the allergy information on the front? That way, I wouldn’t need to pick up the package and turn it over.
Incidentally, this dish has fish in it. That surprised me, but it was defined as anchovy on the packet.
On the subject of allergies, Waitrose has brought out a range of chilled foods by Heston Blumenthal. All seemed to have added gluten. A pity really, as I recently heard of a sensitive coeliac, who went to his restaurant and had no problems.
Carluccio’s Christmas Menu
When you are a coeliac in a group at an office or other place of work, you are often the only one and when Christmas comes, it is a source of tension and often unhappiness about where you have the Christmas lunch.
Carluccio’s this year have come up with a Christmas menu, that has a choice of turkey, sausage and lentils, cod, steak or two risottos. Only the turkey is not gluten-free. This is the menu for my local restaurant in Islington.
I think they’ve come up with a Christmas menu for everybody.
A North South Divide
I went into a branch of a well-known restaurant chain in Liverpool today and asked for a lemonade with my lunch.
The waitress brought a fizzy one, whereas in their London or Cambridge branches, they usually assume that you want a still one! In some places they do ask, which is probably the right thing to do. Just as most places do with water!
So does the north want fizz in their lemonade? And the south doesn’t!
I mst say that some things don’t seem to change in Liverpool though. The waitress was bright, keen and chatty, even if she only scored a small bit less than perfect. I can remember them like that in the 1960s. Although they were much worse trained then!
One in particular brought meals for C and myself on a tray, which she placed on the table, so that one meal was over the table and the other was hanging over the edge. She then took the meal over the table and placed it for C, which meant the other meal upturned the tray onto the floor. To make it worse, it was her first night. So she burst into floods of tears.
The Anonymous Widower 